World's first all-diamond ring is worth $77 million

Last April we mentioned about the first ring made entirely of diamond. What was just a concept then and design on paper is reality now. Geneva based jeweler Shawish unveiled the world's first all-diamond ring at Basel 2012. This blindingly dazzling ring is made from 150 brut carat rough diamond from Brazil. To cut the diamond and shape it into this unique ring Mr. Shawish developed a copyrighted process, and he and his technician successfully developed laser equipment which allowed them to cut directly into the diamond. It took them almost a year to develop the process.

The color of the diamond ring is certified an E and the clarity is VS1. Although the final weight of the ring is unknown, it is valued at approximately $77 million.

Watch The Future, Smartphone Wrist Control Concept

A new watch concept has been created by F.Bertrand called the “Watch The Future”, which has been designed to enable you to link to application on your smartphone. Enabling you to control and receive updates directly on your wrist.

The “Watch The Future” concept wrist watch can display the weather, your contacts, stock exchange information, SMS messages, Facebook updates, your GPS location and more. As well as keeping you update-to-date with the current time.

The innovative watch concept would keep the application you use most at easy access, and would even change the icons location on the strap according to the position of your wrist.

Other options that would be available to add to the watch include the possibility to track your pulse and even your emotions. It even enables you to keep track of your phone by ring it when you can’t quite remember where you put it.

Unfortunately due to the watch being just a concept don’t expect it to arrive in stores soon. But do expect the technology to start to making its way to wrist style devices over the coming years, allowing you to interact with your smartphone in new and exiting ways.

"The Hunger Games" opened with a staggering $155 million

The highly anticipated drama "The Hunger Games" opened with a staggering $155 million in estimated U.S. and Canadian weekend ticket sales, beating Hollywood's loftiest expectations and ranking as the third-highest domestic opening in history.
The debut for the film, which tells the story of an oppressive society's teen death match, ranked behind only last summer's "Harry Potter" finale and 2008 Batman movie "The Dark Knight," distributor Lions Gate Entertainment said on Sunday.
The performance topped industry forecasts for an opening of about $125 million from Friday through Sunday.
"Hunger Games" set records for highest opening of a film that was not a sequel and biggest debut outside of the summer blockbuster season, Lions Gate said.
The movie took in an average of $37,467 at 4,137 locations.
"Hunger Games" is a post-apocalyptic drama based on the first of three best-selling young adult novels by Suzanne Collins. Jennifer Lawrence plays Katniss Everdeen, a teen girl who fights in a televised battle-to-the-death ordered by her society's rulers. Everdeen becomes a beacon of hope for freedom against the totalitarian government.

Wider 42: A Boat That “Unfolds” in 12 Seconds

The Italian Wider 42 premiered at the Palm Beach International Boat Show. Wider is indeed a wider with its 42 feet maximum length that can be achieved with a press of a button

he mobile extensions are at both sides of the hull. This will double the deck area and will give the boat complete stability.

Wider was conceptualized by Tilli Antoinelli, founder and president of Pershing Yachts. The Wider 42 and the Pershing Yacht company is based in Mi Monte Porzio, Italy.

The Wider designs target the open-day cruisers. The company is presently planning to ramp up production for new yachts, both larger and smaller models of the Wider 42.

Wider “aims to invent new formulas for travelling by sea, proposing bold, original solutions” and the new 42 footer, from well-known designer Fulvio De Simoni, is exactly that – an open yacht with automatic, patented and quite revolutionary system.

Real Madrid's $1 billion Artificial Island Resort will rise up in UAE

Spanish soccer super-team Real Madrid has taken an important step toward serious real-estate by announcing to construct a $1 billion luxury resort in the UAE. The resort, which is best described as a theme park, is ensured a unique location- an archipelago of artificial islands upon which it will be constructed. The haven for soccer obsessed will include two high-rise hotels, luxury villas, a 10,000 seat ocean side football stadium, a marina and a hi-tech museum devoted to the history of the Team. The 430,000 square meter project will be constructed in partnership with the UAE government and is all set to open by 2015

Real Madrid’s president Florentino Perez expects to see a whopping one million faithful fans swarm the island in its first year of opening itself. According to him, it is a decisive and strategic step towards strengthening their institution in the Middle East and Asia.

There’s no official word on who is behind the conception of the Resort but it follows on the close heels of a trend that is gripping Middle-east and surrounding areas wherein a number of ambitious artificial islands are designed for the super wealthy. Few among them are Azerbaijan’s artificial archipelago which has also recently been dubbed as the World’s Tallest Tower, Qatar’s man-made resort and The World Dubai island.

Raging Bull

There’s no better automotive brand to experiment with wild design than Lamborghini. With this in mind, Mark Hostler designed the Ferruccio concept as an unrestrained vision of what the automaker’s future vehicles might look like. The flamboyant design takes inspiration from the signature multifaceted, “stealth fighter” aesthetic, but also applies a new design language of aggressive (almost violent), sharp points and dramatic lines that can best be described as crystalline.

The Ferruccio also showcases innovations in the future of performance and environmental consciousness. The trademark of Lamborghini’s flagship supercars has always been a large v12, but in the current climate of environmentalism, car manufacturers are now using smaller, turbocharged engines to meet emissions regulations without compromising on performance. The Ferruccio combines these two ideas, using upcoming technologies in engine design and manufacturing. A v12 is under the hood, but has a comparably small 5.0 liter unit, boosted by two turbochargers The main difference, however, is that the engine would be camless, and activate its valves using computer-controlled pneumatic solenoids. This combination of technologies allows the Ferruccio’s engine to stick to Lamborghini’s power philosophies while being environmentally and economically conscious.

£20bn in loan for Britain's small businesses.

The Government is to give banks up to £20bn in loan guarantees to prompt credit easing for Britain's small businesses.

The National Loan Guarantee Scheme (NLGS) allows banks to borrow at a cheaper market rate.

The scheme is designed to give firms access to loans at one percentage point lower than non-NLGS borrowings.

The first tranche of £5bn will be offered to participating banks, who are supposed to pass on the entire benefit they received from the guarantees.

Businesses with an annual turnover of up to £50m are to be given NLGS access.

However as revealed on Monday by Sky News economics editor Ed Conway, several banks will not participate in the programme.

Europe's biggest bank, HSBC, and the Co-operative and Clydesdale banks have decided to opt out.

The country's other main lenders - Barclays, Santander UK, Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland - have signed up for the scheme.

The Treasury had originally hoped all key lenders would participate.

Chancellor George Osborne said: "The Government promised to help small businesses get access to lower interest rates.

"Today, we deliver on that promise with a nationwide scheme. It's only because we've earned credibility with our deficit reduction plan that we have low interest rates, and it's only because of this scheme that we can pass the benefits of those low rates onto businesses."

The Government is not guaranteeing individual loans to businesses and participating banks must retain the NLGS credit risk.

But Labour shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna said the scheme is not enough to inject confidence into the sector.

He told Sky News: "Over the last 12 months half of businesses who wanted to get an overdraft were refused.

"It is partly because we have problem with the lending culture and overly cautious banks.

"But I do think the Government's economic policy has massively dented business confidence too."

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) also warned the scheme was "not a panacea".

John Longworth, BCC director general, said: "The current economic challenges mean that the Government must look at new and innovative ways of providing credit to viable firms.

"While credit easing is a step in the right direction, it is not a panacea for all the problems faced by businesses trying to access finance."

Biplane Could Be Key to Faster Supersonic Travel

Commercial supersonic travel has long been out of the market, ever since the Concorde stopped its services in 2003. Nine years later, the findings of a group of university researchers may just lead to cheaper, quieter, and more fuel-efficient supersonic travel. The team of Qiqi Wang of Massachusetts Institute of Technology explored the possibility of flying with two wings to a side, which would then make a biplane. According to the research findings, this would then result to less drag (about 50 percent) than the usual aircraft, less fuel to fly (as an effect of the less drag), and most importantly, less sonic boom. Wang credits Adolf Busemann, whose biplane design in the 1950s completely takes shock waves out of the picture.

The group designed an automated simulation program to check the biplane model’s performance. It was only after 700 various wing measurements and 12 different biplane speeds were the team able to come up with the best design for the biplane’s wings.

UPS got new $6.8 billion deal

The United Parcel Service Inc.’s brown-suited hordes will have even more access to Europe once the delivery giant’s new $6.8 billion deal with Dutch company TNT Express goes through.
Hoofddorp, Netherlands-based TNT agreed to be bought by UPS for 9.5 euros, or $12.55 a share after rejecting an earlier bid for 9 euros, or $11.88 a share. That’s a 54% premium on TNT’s $8.16 closing price on Feb. 16, the last trading day before acquisition talks were first announced.
The deal, executives said, means more besteldienst for everyone. That’s Dutch for “parcels delivery.”
UPS is looking forward to tapping TNT’s extensive road freight network through the continent and expects the purchase to boost its performance in Asia and Latin America as well.
The joint company is expected to pull in $60 billion in annual revenue a year, with about 36% of sales generated outside the U.S. Atlanta-based UPS said Jan. 31 that its full-year revenue for 2011 was up 7.2% to $53.1 billion, with just over a quarter of the amount coming from abroad.
UPS currently serves 220 countries and territories.
The arrangement with TNT would allow UPS to catch up to the current leader in Europe: Deutsche Post DHL. Deutsche Post claimed 17.6% of the parcels delivery market on the continent in 2010, according to research group Transport Intelligence. TNT had 9.6% while UPS had 7.7%.
“The additional capabilities and broadened global footprint will support the growth and globalization of our customers' businesses,” said UPS Chief Executive Scott Davis in a statement.
The companies said in a joint note that they expect regulatory approval for the deal by the end of the third quarter.

Royal Mail Pension Windfall To Go On Deficit

A £28bn windfall from transferring Royal Mail pensions to the state will be used to pay down the deficit rather than to invest in major projects, according to the Treasury.

Officials believe the deal may be approved in time for Chancellor George Osborne to announce it in Wednesday's Budget and the cash could be available in weeks.

When the transfer takes place, the Government will be able to sell off shares, bonds and properties worth billions.

Some MPs hoped the money would be spent on infrastructure, such as building schools, roads or power stations.

But the Treasury has said it will go towards the coalition's main priority - reducing the deficit, which is annual shortfall between what the Government spends and how much it gets back.

The state is taking over the Royal Mail pension scheme - which comes with a deficit of nearly £10bn - in a bid to make the organisation more attractive to private investors when it tries to sell it.

Due to accounting rules, the move will not show up on Government books as debt as the £37.5bn liabilities will be absorbed into the rest of the state pension system.

The Communications Workers Union (CWU) has welcomed the state's decision to take over the pensions but opposes the privatisation plan.

"This (transfer) will protect the pensions of postal workers who have faithfully paid contributions for decades," a spokeswoman said.

"We've consistently argued that the Government has a moral obligation to take on the pension deficit, partly as owner of the company and for allowing Royal Mail to take a 13-year contributions holiday.

"They laughed in our face when we suggested it so it's been a long journey getting here," the spokeswoman added.

80 2 100 crap you might or not

80. If we could shrink the earth’s population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, there would be 57 Asians, 21 Europeans, 14 from the Americas and 8 Africans. Only 1 would own a computer.
81. All elephants walk on tiptoe, because the back portion of their foot is made up of all fat and no bone.
82. Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.
83. Hawaii has the only royal palace in the United States.
84. Chicken liver can be used to change A type blood to O type blood.
85. It takes only 8 minutes for sunlight to travel from the sun to the earth, which also means, if you see the sun go out, it actually went out 8 minutes ago.
86. The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.
87. An octopus has 3 hearts.
88. If the population of China walked past you in single file, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.
89. The hair on a polar bear is not white, but clear. They reflect light, so they appear white.
90. Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people do.
91. The combination “ough” can be pronounced in 9 different ways; Read this: “A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed.”
92. The blue whale has a heart the size of a small car and its blood vessel is so broad, that a person could swim through it.
93. A left-handed person finds it easier to open a jar than a right-handed person because they can supply a stronger anticlockwise turning force than a right-handed person. However a right-handed person will find it easier to tighten the jar up afterwards.
94. The orbit of the Moon about the Earth would fit easily inside the Sun.
95. A chameleon can move its eyes in two directions at the same time.
96. Typewriter is the longest word that can be made only using one row on the keyboard.
97. Because of the rotation of earth you can throw a ball farther to the west than to the east.
98. The name of all the continents ends with the same letter that they start with.
99. Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
100. There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar (euro, pound).

World's richest man

Carlos Slim Helu & family
Net Worth $69 B As of March 2012
Follow (1204)
At a Glance

Chairman, Telmex
Age: 72
Source of Wealth: telecom, self-made
Residence: Mexico City, Mexico
Country of Citizenship: Mexico
Education: Bachelor of Arts / Science, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
Marital Status: Widowed
Children: 6



Carlos Slim Helu retains the title of world's richest man for the third year in a row despite a fortune that's $5 billion smaller than a year ago-primarily ­because of a lower share price for telecom giant America Movil, which accounts for more than half his net worth. In April the company was fined $1 billion by Mexican regulators for monopolistic practices, but is appealing the decision. Slim is spending more time working with his Carlos Slim Foundation and the Telmex Foundation than he has in the past. His goal: philanthropic work that develops human capacity.

The euro zone may raise 700 billion euros

The euro zone may raise the combined lending power of its bailout funds to close to 700 billion euros from 500 billion in a trade-off between German opposition to committing more money and calming markets, euro zone officials said.

Euro zone finance ministers and central bankers will discuss the size of their bailout funds - the temporary European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and the permanent European Stability Mechanism (ESM) in Copenhagen on March 30-31.

The 440 billion euro EFSF and the 500 billion ESM now have a combined lending ceiling of 500 billion euros, which means that in the 12 months from July 2012 when they co-exist, they cannot lend together more than 500 billion euros.

Markets have long been pushing for a higher capacity for euro zone lending to make sure the 17-nation bloc has enough money to bail out even its large members like Italy or Spain, should that be necessary, but Germany has been adamantly opposed to such an increase.

"Given that the situation is difficult in several countries, it seems to me the easiest option is the least ambitious one," one senior euro zone official said.

Out of its 440 billion euros of lending power, the EFSF has already committed 192 billion euros to bailouts for Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

"One possibility would be to say the EFSF has made commitments of 192 billion euros, but the ESM should start fresh with 500," the senior euro zone official said.

"The combined lending capacity would go from 500 billion to 692 billion, roughly 700 billion. That is one of the options under discussion and that is probably the least ambitious and therefore politically the easiest," the official said.

A second euro zone official confirmed this was a likely solution, although both noted several options were being examined and the final decision was still uncertain.

(Reuters) - (Reporting By Jan Strupczewski; editing by Rex Merrifield)

Argentina Takes Aim At Falklands Oil Firms

Last Updated 10:43 16/03/2012
Argentina has threatened to take legal action against companies involved in oil drilling around the Falklands, increasing further tensions with the UK over the disputed islands.
Argentina's foreign minister Hector Timerman said there would be "administrative, civil and criminal" penalties against the companies involved.

He said "the resources of the South Atlantic are the property of all the Argentines", including any oil found off the shores of the islands they call the Malvinas, which have been controlled by Britain since 1833.

The UK Foreign Office described the move as "wholly counter-productive" and said the 3,000 Falkland islanders had every right to develop the oil industry in their own waters.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "These latest attempts to damage the economic livelihoods of the Falkland Islands people regrettably reflect a pattern of behaviour by the Argentine government.

"From harassing Falklands shipping to threatening the islanders' air links with Chile, Argentina's efforts to intimidate the Falklands are illegal, unbecoming and wholly counter-productive.

"We are studying Argentina's remarks carefully and will work closely with any company potentially affected to ensure that the practical implications for them are as few as possible."

Rockhopper Exploration, based in Salisbury, Wiltshire, is the only company so far to strike oil. It has been seeking a $2bn investor to fund crude production from last year's discovery.

A spokesman for the company said it would not be commenting on the matter.

Prime Minister David Cameron said in New York that he had discussed the conflict with US President Barack Obama and that America clearly supports the status quo.

"I wanted to stress how important it is for Britain to set out how clearly we support the right of the Falkland Islanders to determine their own future. They want to remain with us and that is very clear," Mr Cameron said, as he wrapped up a three-day visit to the US.

"To me it is very important that we stick up for the right of self-determination," he added.

As the 30th anniversary of the 1982 war approaches on April 2, Mr Cameron said he wants to send "a very clear signal to the rest of the world - Argentina and others - that while the Falkland Islanders want that status, Britain will help them keep that status".

China's BoCom raises $8.9 billion in private placement

HONG KONG/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's fifth-largest lender, Bank of Communications Co Ltd , will raise $8.9 billion to meet tighter capital requirements by placing shares with existing shareholders such as HSBC and the country's finance ministry.

China is set to see a flurry of fund-raising this year, with state-run China Securities Journal saying in December that publicly traded banks were expected to raise more than 100 billion yuan in share offerings.

Besides HSBC and the Finance Ministry, the country's national pension fund as well as tobacco companies Shanghai Haiyan and Yunnan Hongta will also subscribe to the rights offer.

Under the 56.6 billion yuan private placement, new Shanghai-listed shares will be priced at 4.55 yuan and Hong Kong-listed shares at HK$5.63.

"A private placement is probably ideal under the current circumstances," said Alex Lee, an analyst at DBS Vickers in Hong Kong.

"These are likely to be long-term shareholders, and that removes the likelihood of selling pressure you may get if you have a general rights issue to a more fragmented general audience," he said.

The new cash will mean BoCom, which has the lowest capital adequacy ratio of the five largest banks in China, will not pursue any more fundraising in the next 3-4 years, bank executives said in a call with analysts.

HSBC said it will pay about HK$13.2 billion for about 2.4 billion new shares from its own cash, bringing its shareholding to no less than its current 19.03 percent.

"Maintaining our stake in BoCom reinforces our position as the leading foreign bank in mainland China and is consistent with our strategy to deploy capital in faster growing markets," HSBC Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver said in a statement.

The fundraising will lift BoCom's core tier 1 capital ratio to over 10 percent from 9.24 percent core capital ratio now. Its tier 1 capital ratio will climb to over 13 percent, executives said.

That compares with 10.57 percent for larger rival China Construction Bank and 10.03 percent for Industrial and Commercial Bank of China .

Hong Kong-listed shares for BoCom, originally set up to fund communications and transport projects, have risen 14 percent so far this year, roughly in line with a 15 percent gain in the broader Hang Seng index .

This month, Industrial Bank Co said it will raise up to 26.4 billion yuan by issuing shares to four institutional investors to supplement its capital base and improve its capital adequacy ratio.

Other Chinese lenders likely to tap equity markets in the coming months include China Merchants Bank and China Minsheng Banking Corp , according to a report by Mizuho Securities.

China is planning to roll out new rules on banks' capital requirements on July 1, the 21st Century Business Herald reported last month.

UK 100 year bond

George Osborne is planning to take advantage of Britain's historically-low interest rates by issuing so-called 'super bonds', which will not be repaid for 100 years or more.
The Chancellor believes that the UK's safe haven status - thanks to its triple-A credit rating - can save billions of pounds in debt repayments by locking in a low yield on the bonds.

But such a move would also mean that children not yet born will continue to pay interest throughout their lives on debts racked up during the financial crisis of 2008/09.

Mr Osborne will launch a consultation in the Budget.

By maintaining a low interest rate on a large proportion of the UK's national debt, the Treasury also believes it will help insulate Britain from potential market instability in the future.

It is something of a return to the end of the First World War.

To help pay off the country's vast debts, Britain issued perpetual gilts, on which the capital is never repaid but interest continues to be charged for ever.

These debts - along with some issued to pay for the 18th century South Sea Bubble - are still held by the Treasury.

The UK already issues long-term bonds of up to 50 years - double the length of
those of many other European states.

No decision has yet been taken on whether the perpetual gilt model would be used by Mr Osborne.

A Treasury source said: "This is about locking in for the future the tangible benefits of the safe haven status we have today.

"The prize is lower debt interest payments for taxpayers for decades to come. It is a chance for our great-grandchildren to pay less than they could otherwise have expected to because of this Government's fiscal credibility."

The UK's borrowing costs have fallen as low as 2% - largely a result of the austerity drive.

Credit rating agencies have maintained the UK's triple-A status in return for the country getting to grips with its debt mountain.

The Office for Budget Responsibility is expected to release figures indicating that a rise of just 1% in bond yields - the interest rate paid on Government debt - would increase the cost of financing it by a total of £20bn over the years to 2016/17.

Labour has said it will examine the proposals in full.

Rachel Reeves, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, said: "This is not extra borrowing to help build a stronger economy for the future but to pay for the costs of economic failure and the bills of a growing dole queue.

"Britain already has more long-term debt than other countries but we will look hard to see if this proposal actually delivers value for money for the taxpayer."

However, the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) was more cautious.

Its chief executive Joanne Segars said: "A 100-year bond would be too long for most pension funds and we don't think that many would buy them.

"Pension funds are looking for 30, 40 and 50-year index-linked debt and would much rather the Government issue more of those.

"Even if a 100-year bond were attractive in duration, there would be a question mark over whether it would yield a strong enough return for investors."

Double Barrel Pistol

Arsenal Firearms has this month unveiled a new addition to their range of handguns with the launch of the AF2011-A1 Double Barrel Pistol. Which is the first industrial double barrel semiautomatic .45 caliber pistol created.

As you can imagine the new AF2011-A1 dual barrel pistol features a number of custom parts, such as: single slide, the single frame, the single spur double hammer, the single grip safety, the single body double mainspring housing to name just a few.

Japan's Asahi will buy Zoll Medical Corp (ZOLL.O) for $2.21 billion,

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Asahi Kasei Corp (3407.T) will buy Zoll Medical Corp (ZOLL.O) for $2.21 billion, or $93 a share, a premium of 24 percent over the medical equipment maker's last closing share price, the two companies said on Monday.

Both boards have approved of the cash deal, and the transaction should close in the second quarter of this year, they said in a joint statement.

"This transaction will allow us to build on Zoll's strong U.S. business position and its technology leadership, with Zoll forming the cornerstone of our critical care business," Asahi Kasei President Taketsugu Fujiwara said.

Zoll, a maker of resuscitation and critical care devices, derives a fifth of company revenues from a wearable defibrillator, it said in November. The company will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Asahi Kasei on completion of the deal and the current Zoll management, units and operations will remain intact.

Zoll said on January 19 it returned earnings per share of $0.29 for the first quarter, above expectations for $0.26 on revenues of more than $133 million.

Zoll's shares rose last month to a record high of $76.22, up more than 64 percent from a year earlier and up from just over $11 in 2009.

Asahi Kasei identified ageing as a trend and sees emerging demand for healthcare as a strategic sector for the company in the future. Asahi Kasei signed an agreement last July with Zoll to market and distribute its wearable defibrillator in Japan.

Shares in Asahi Kasei closed on Monday at 518 yen, up from 517 on Friday. They have risen 11.6 percent this year, underperforming the benchmark Nikkei (.N225), which is up almost 17 percent so far this year.

The Japanese company derives more than half of its sales from its chemicals and fibres business with another third coming from homes and construction materials. Electronics make up 9 percent of sales and health care 7 percent.

Almost 90 percent of its operating profit comes from chemicals and fibres and its homes and construction segments. Just over 5 percent comes from health care.

(Reporting by Miki Kayaoka and Neil Fullick; Editing by Chris Gallagher)

Google pays Apple $1 billion to be search default

Talk about a mega blockbuster mammoth of a deal! According to one analyst, Google could be paying as much as $1 billion to be the default search engine in Safari on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac systems. I guess they really do have more money than God. In fact, God probably bugs them for lunch money at this point.
hat number isn’t just guesswork. They did plenty of number-crunching to arrive at this conclusion. And we are talking about the iPhone, the most sought after phone since its debut, and the same is true of the iPad.

According to Business Insider, if the iPad continues to grow it will surpass PCs in 5 years. At that point an Apple switch to another search provider could be devastating for Google. So you begin to see how that number makes a lot of sense. It will be interesting to see what happens between these two companies in the coming years.

Inexplicable The Everest Disappearance in 1942 (History)

George Leigh-Mallory (pictured: second left, back row) and Andrew C. Irvine were less than a thousand feet below the peak of Everest on June 8, 1924. Then swirling, wind-driven snow and mist hid them from the telescope in the base camp below – and they were never seen again. Everest was conquered “for the record” in 1953, but the tantalizing possibility remains that two men had reached its summit almost 30 years before.

Leigh-Mallory, 36, had participated in two earlier attempts on Everest. The leader of this third expedition described him as the “living soul of the offensive; the thing had become a personal matter with him.” Irvine, 22, had little mountaineering experience but was skilled with the bulky, cumbersome oxygen gear. They had made camp the night before at 26,800 feet, sending their Sherpa bearers down to tell the others that they hoped to reach the peak early the next morning. For some reason they got a late start or were held up in the early part of the climb, for it was 12:50 p.m. on the eighth when they were observed at 28,227 feet. Then the clouds closed in – and the only evidence ever found of them was Leigh-Mallory’s or Irvine’s ice axe, discovered along their route in 1933. Perhaps they fell into an icy crevasse or were swept away by an avalanche that entombed them far below the challenging peak of Everest. The answer, like the climbers themselves, was lost in clouds at the top of the world.

EDF To Pay £4.5m After Misleading Customers

Energy firm EDF has agreed to pay millions of pounds to 70,000 vulnerable customers after breaching the terms of its licence.
The energy regulator said that EDF Energy's doorstep staff failed to provide potential customers with complete information during the sales process, for example on some contract terms or on the way in which their monthly direct debits had been calculated.

Ofgem also said that staff in EDF call centres made claims about savings before knowing their statements were accurate, and sometimes assumed that the customer was on a standard tariff without checking.

The settlement means that EDF will set aside £3.5m for a £50 refund to about 70,000 customers who have received its Warm Homes Discount.

It will also be making a £1m donation to an energy awareness campaign run by Citizens' Advice.

EDF said it acknowledged "limited shortcomings" in some elements of its sales processes during 2010 but has stressed that the settlement is not a fine.

It also pointed out that as soon as breaches came to light, swift action was taken.

Martin Lawrence, managing director of energy sourcing and customer supply, said: "We're obviously disappointed that we failed to live up to the high standards that we expect of ourselves.

"As soon as the issue was identified we immediately took action to satisfy ourselves that we're fully compliant."

Ofgem said customers would be better served by EDF making payments to benefit those customers in need, rather than imposing a fine.

It said that by accepting some shortcomings in its sales practices EDF had escaped a bigger penalty.

Sarah Harrison, Ofgem's senior partner in charge of enforcement, said: "In the energy market in general much more needs to be done to restore consumer confidence and all energy suppliers should now get behind Ofgem's reforms to introduce a simpler, clearer and more competitive energy market."

Meanwhile, the most recent quarterly energy complaints data compiled by Consumer Focus, showed that EDF Energy remained the worst performing supplier out of the 'big six'.

Audrey Gallacher, director of energy at campaign group Consumer Focus, said: "EDF Energy has made some headway on addressing its problems but it is disappointing that the company remains firmly on the bottom of the league table again.

"A line needs to be drawn under these issues so the company's customers know they have a service they can rely on."

Ofgem said said it was continuing its investigations into sales practices at Scottish Power, SSE and npower.

Facebook Interest Lists Turn Your Profile into a Personal Newspaper

Facebook has announced that it will be launching Interest Lists over the coming weeks. It appears that these Interest Lists will turn up on people’s accounts randomly and some may get them early, while others have to wait a while. This is sort of an expansion to the interests Facebook already allows you to choose.
Facebook says when your account has the ability to activate Interest Lists you will see the “Add Interests” icon here in the upper left-hand corner of the newsfeed. Users will also be able to create lists from the Create Lists prompt on the Interests page.

Facebook says that these new interest lists will help you turn your Facebook profile into a personalized newspaper. Results from these lists will be placed into your normal newsfeed for you to peruse. There will be traditional news section lists for sports and business among others and you’ll be able to choose personalize lists for things like tech news for specific sports players. When you think about this?

Google Earth-Style Patient Avatar To Help Doctors

A "Google Earth" style map of the human body could revolutionise the way patients are treated, scientists said today.

A digital replica of a patient would be created using their medical data to give an overall picture of their health. The 3D computer avatar which would then allow doctors to test how different treatments would work on that person's body.

Professor Alejandro Frangi of Sheffield University said: "There is a lot of data about us in the healthcare system, but it is fragmented. I think the modelling framework gives us a mechanism - I like to see it as Google Earth, putting all of these different layers of information together."

One application already being piloted is a model of a cerebral aneurysm which could assist clinicians in predicting how likely rupture would be and if treatment is necessary.

The technological advance could also help predict the likelihood of bone fractures in patients with osteoporosis by producing a musculo-skeletal model from bone density data.

Professor Frangi said: "By developing models of complete organ systems, such as the cardiovascular system, we can help clinicians predict whether treating a constriction in one coronary artery, for example, might improve or worsen blood supply in other coronary arteries in patients with multiple lesions.

"Because it's currently impossible to make these kinds of predictions, clinicians are often forced to deal with one issue at a time in diseases that are in fact multifactorial or systemic.

"Our models will enable doctors to handle illness in a more holistic way."

Julian Gunn, from the department of cardiovascular science at the University of Sheffield, added that the move would see patients' treatment move "from the 19th century to the 22nd century".

The system could be in place in the next 20 years, according to the Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Modelling (known as Insigneo), which has been set up by the University of Sheffield and the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Professor Wendy Tindale, consultant clinical scientist and scientific director at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, said: "There's a desperate need to find new technologies that can help us improve the treatments we provide to patients, but too often developments by academics never cross over into clinical practice.

"What is different about Insigneo is the direct link between engineers, computer scientists, clinical researchers and practising clinicians.

"This ensures the models we develop will be relevant to, and therefore will be used in, the clinic."

FBI offers $1m reward for ex-agent's return

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation is offering one million dollars for information leading to the safe return of one of its former special agents.
Bob Levinson has not been seen in public since he travelled to Iran in 2007.  It's thought he's being held hostage in the border region of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Levinson's wife Christine joined FBI top brass on Tuesday to remember the husband she hasn't seen for five years. On the steps of the Bureau's Washington DC Field Office, she said: "There are no words to describe the nightmare my family and I have been living everyday.  I never imagined that we would still be waiting for Bob to come home five years later." The small gathering of FBI staff was joined by the organisation's current director Robert Mueller - the guy putting up the one million.

Part of the 'family'

Muellter told Mrs Levinson and her friends and family: "We in the FBI are working everyday to bring your husband, your father and your grandfather back home to you." The FBI says a million dollars is a lot of money but they've had success with this type of reward in the past, and though Levinson was a retired offer, he's still part of the "family" and it wants him back. In a video posted on the website helpboblevinson.com, Levinson, who served 28 years in law enforcement [22 at the FBI], can be seen saying telling his captors' camera that he's in poor health. He was working as a private investigator when he went missing on a trip to Iran's Kish Island in 2007. It's thought he was looking into tobacco smuggling.
A new set of photographs has been released showing how Levinson may have aged during five years captivity. The FBI's launching a publicity campaign in Southwest Asia to highlight Levinson's plight.
For his wife Christine, concrete news of her husband can't come soon enough.  She was almost in tears as she read out these words during Tuesday's news conference: "We hope one day soon to post the following message; thank you everyone Bob is home."

Hublot unveils world's most expensive watch worth $5 Million

Inlaid with more than 1,200 diamonds, of which six stones weigh more than 3 carats each, the world’s most expensive wrist watch was unveiled by Swiss watchmaker Hublot at Baselworld. Worth $5 million, this dazzling timepiece was crafted by 17 people and it took 14 months to set more than 140 carats of diamonds on the it. Jean-Claude Biver, president of the Hublot, said it would be hard to make a more expensive watch "because the surface of the watch is limited". He has also suggested that several people have expressed interest in acquiring it.

Barclays Boss Sees Pay Package Cut To £6.3m

Barclays bank has slashed the salaries and bonuses of its top five executives by an average of 48%, with chief executive Bob Diamond's total package cut from £9m to £6.3m.
Mr Diamond's pay for 2011 is made up of a £1.35m salary, £2.7m worth of shares paid in three instalments over the next three years, and a performance related long-term incentive worth £2.25m payable after three years.

Barclays, which did not receive any taxpayer funding during the 2008 financial crisis, will pay its top eight executives £37.2m in salaries and bonuses for last year.

The two highest paid members of staff at the bank got total packages worth £6.7m and £6.5m respectively.

Their names have been withheld but it has been reported that, in 2010, Barclays' two highest paid staff were Jerry del Missier and Rich Ricci who jointly run its investment banking division Barclays Capital and were paid £14.2m and £14m respectively.

The Olympic Journey

Get ready to be inspired. The Olympic Journey: The Story of the Games is coming to the Royal Opera House for the duration of the Olympic Games in 2012. BP and the Royal Opera House are collaborating with The Olympic Museum to create a free and unique exhibition telling the Olympic story through the endeavours of ancient and modern Olympians. It will include artefacts, graphics, film and audio from The Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland. These are being shown in London for the first time, and the exhibition therefore promises to be a highlight of the London 2012 Festival, the finale of the Cultural Olympiad.

From ancient Greece forwards, the history of the Games is all about stories of perseverance and triumph. Visitors to the exhibition will get to see all of the Olympic Medals since 1896 and all of the Olympic Torches since 1936. There will also be a ‘Hall of Champions’ featuring the stories and inspirational achievements of great Olympians from the modern Games.

Visitors will be taken on a journey from ancient Greece, the original home of the Olympic Games, through the vision of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the man behind the revival of the Games many centuries later. The experience will continue with the stories of some of the iconic Olympic athletes and moments of the last hundred years of Olympic history.

Whitney Houston left her fortune to daughter

(Reuters) - Whitney Houston, who died suddenly last month in a Beverly Hills hotel room, has left her fortune to her 19-year-old daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown, according to the singer's will.

Under terms of the will filed late on Wednesday in Atlanta, funds from the singer's estate will be put in a trust to benefit her daughter. The young woman will get part of the principal when she turns 21, more money at age 25 and the balance when she celebrates her 30th birthday

Global currency war

Amid all the furious G7 money printing of recent years, Brazil was the first to sound the air raid siren in the “international currency war” back in 2010 and it continues to cry foul over the past week. With its finance ministry issuing fresh warnings last night over hot-money flows being dropped by western economies on its unsuspecting exporters via currency speculation, Brazil’s central bank then set off its own defensive anti aircraft battery with a surprisingly deep interest rate cut late Wednesday. Having tried everything from taxes on hot foreign inflows to currency market intervention, they are braced for a long war and there’s little sign of the flood of cheap money from the United States, Europe and Japan ending anytime soon. So, if you can’t beat them, do you simply join them?
The prospect of a deepening of this currency conflict — essentially beggar-thy-neighbour devaluation policies designed to keep countries’ share of ebbing world growth intact — was a hot topic this week for Societe Generale’s long-standing global markets bear Albert Edwards. Edwards, who represent’s SG’s “Alternative View”, reckons the biggest development in the currency battle this year has been the sharp retreat of Japan’s yen and this could well drag China into the fray if global growth continues to wither later this year. He highlighted the Japan/China standoff with the following graphic of yen and yuan nominal trade-weighted exchange rates.
Edwards goes on to say that this could, in turn, create another explosive FX standoff between China and the United States if Beijing were to consider devaluation — the opposite of what the protectionist U.S. lobby has been screaming for for years.

“We have long stated that if the Chinese economy looks to be hard landing, as we believe it will, the authorities there will actively consider renminbi devaluation, despite the political consequences of such action.”
“Clearly, the US will not respond well if China chooses to devalue. But China might argue that as its reserves are now declining there is clear downward pressure on its currency and that, after all, the US has asked it to allow market forces to have more of an influence!”

'Vampire Woman' Helps Domestic Abuse Victims

Last Updated 11:12 08/03/2012
A Mexican woman who turned herself into a vampire look-a-like after suffering years of domestic violence is helping other victims.
Mother-of-four Maria Jose Cristerna, who is known as Vampire Woman, is a 36-year-old former lawyer from a Catholic family background.

Not only is 98% of her body covered with tattoos, but she has had fangs dentally implanted into her mouth and titanium horns surgically placed beneath the skin on her head.

She says she became interested in expressing herself through piercings and tattoos as a way of recovering from the trauma of abuse and now uses her appearance to help raise awareness and help other victims.

"At first people were interested in my looks because it was cool, because it attracts attention and because it's something different," she said.

"But I see it as something good among all the bad, because I'm giving a message. I won't be able to change the thinking of the entire world, but I'm always there to help the people that need it."

Rich Revealed: Record Year For Billionaires

Last Updated 23:44 07/03/2012
Mexican telecoms tycoon Carlos Slim has been named the world's richest person for the third year in a row with a fortune estimated at $69bn (£43.8bn).
Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates, 56, held on to second spot with a net worth of $61bn (£38.77bn) in Forbes' 25th anniversary issue of its world billionaire rankings.

He was followed by US investment guru and head of the Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate Warren Buffett, 81, with a net worth of $44bn (£27.96bn).

A record 1,226 billionaires made the list this year, up from 1,210 in 2011, with an average net worth of $3.7bn (£2.35bn).

They came from 58 countries, with most hailing from the US, followed by the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, the Americas and the Middle East and Africa.

There was plenty of movement on the list, with 128 billionaires entering for the first time and 117 dropping off.

Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, 27, continued his rise up the ranks with a net worth of $17.5bn (£11.12bn), making him the 35th richest person in the world.

Last month, the social networking site filed paperwork to become a public company, seeking to raise $5bn (£3.1bn) in the largest floatation ever by an internet company on Wall Street.

The most notable people to leave this year's list were Harry Potter author JK Rowling and Jim Balsillie, former co-chief executive of Research in Motion, the maker of BlackBerry.
The first British billionaire listed is at number 78 - the Duke of Westminster, Gerald Grosvenor, one of the UK's biggest landowners.

Virgin boss Richard Branson, industrial design innovator James Dyson and high street retail tycoon Philip Green and his wife Cristina came in at number 255, each with a fortune of $4.2bn (£2.66bn).

Steve Forbes, chairman and editor in chief of Forbes Media, said he believed British entrepreneurs should be performing better.

He told Jeff Randall Live on Sky News: "I think one way to get more entrepreneurial activity in UK is to drop your very high capital gains tax rate.

"We did that 30 years ago which helped Silicon Valley blossom.

"I hope Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne do the same for the UK.

"You're not moving very fast and you should be because you have all the ingredients for good growth."

U.S. to sell $6 billion in AIG stock

The Treasury Department plans to sell $6 billion of American International Group stock and struck another deal for the insurer to pay down $8.5 billion more in obligations, taking a major step forward in an election year to unwind the unpopular crisis-era bailout. AIG said the agreement with the government would allow it to pay down what it owed in a special purpose vehicle, AIA Aurora, and free up some of the company's collateral, including interests in aircraft lessor International Lease Finance Corp and Asian insurer AIA Group.  The special purpose vehicle was set up in December 2009 in exchange for a reduction in the debt that AIG owed the New York Federal Reserve.

Wednesday's announcements come as President Barack Obama, a Democrat, fights to win a second term in office and withstands attacks from Republicans for wasting taxpayer money. Under the previous Bush administration and then Obama's government, Treasury used $182 billion in taxpayer funds to prevent AIG's stockpile of credit default swap contracts from infecting the global financial system. The U.S. government still owns 77 percent of AIG. Once the company repays Treasury for AIA, the value of the government's stake would total about $41.8 billion, Treasury said in a statement.

AIG said it intends to repurchase up to $3 billion of its own stock once the Treasury's offering is priced. The U.S. government hired Citigroup Inc, Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley to coordinate the offering.
AIG last traded at $29.45 a share on Wednesday, slightly above the break-even price of $29 per share.
Treasury also said AIG is expected to repay the $8.5 billion from the following sources:

* $5.6 billion in expected proceeds from AIG's recently announced sale of ordinary sales of AIA;

* $1.6 billion in expected proceeds from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's final disposition of Maiden Lane II LLC securities announced on February 28, and

* $1.6 billion in escrowed cash proceeds from AIG's sale of its American Life Insurance Co subsidiary to MetLife Inc.

(Reporting by Doug Palmer and Rachelle Younglai, Editing by Gary Crosse and Bob Burgdorfer)

Strong solar storm heading for Earth

(Reuters) - A strong geomagnetic storm is racing from the Sun toward Earth, and its expected arrival on Thursday could affect power grids, airplane routes and space-based satellite navigation systems, U.S. space weather experts said.

Facebook Gets $8 Billion From Credit Line

 Facebook Inc. (FB) the operator of the world’s most popular social-networking website, got $8 billion in financing.
The loans consist of a $5 billion five-year revolving line of credit and a $3 billion 364-day bridge loan, the Menlo Park, California-based company said today in a regulatory filing.

JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of America Corp. and Barclays Plc arranged both facilities.
Borrowings under the revolver will pay interest at 1 percentage points more than the London interbank offered rate, according to the filing. Lenders in the deal will be paid a 10 basis point fee on any unused portions, according to the filing.
Facebook’s new five-year credit line will replace its existing $2.5 billion revolver.
Debt under the bridge loan will initially pay interest at 1 percent more than Libor, then it will increase to 1.25 percentage points after 180 days.
Facebook, led by co-founder Mark Zuckerburg, filed for an IPO last month, pursuing what may be the largest internet offering on record.

iPad 3 Announced, Features HD Retina Display

Apple has just announced their third generation tablet, the iPad 3, and as rumored the new iPad comes with a 9.7 inch Retina display that has a massive 2048 x 1536 pixel resolution.

The new iPad 3′s Retina display features 264 pixels per inch, and as we heard earlier the device will come with a new A5x processor, which according to Apple features quad core graphics.
The iPad 3 also features a new iSight camera, with auto-focus, face detection and the ability to record full HD video in 1080p, the camera is backside illuminated and it features a 5 megapixel sensor.

On top of that it comes with support for 4G LTE and HSPA+, and also dual carrier HSDPA, and Apple has said that the new iPad 3 can deliver the same battery life if the iPad 2, with 10 hours of battery life and 9 hours over 4G.

The new iPad 3 will be available for $499 for the 16GB Wi-Fi only version, $599 for the 32GB WiFi model, and $699 for the 64GB WiFi model, the WiFi and 4G model will retail for $629 for the 16GB version, $729 for 32GB version and $829 for the 64GB version and it will go on sale on the 16th of March, and will be available to pre-order from today.

Sluts of the world, unite.

Or, as they say in Israel: "Be proud to be a sharmuta,” which is a Hebrew slang term for a woman who is sexually open.

Tel Aviv will host its first SlutWalk on March 16 and join a series of marches around the world in which women protest against male-dominated society's habit of blaming sexual harassment, or even rape, on a woman's appearance, Haaretz reports.

Yaara Lieberman-Kalif, an organizer of the Tel Aviv march, says that the effort in Israel started in Jerusalem.

"We hope it will be like it was abroad," she says.

"We will not ask anyone to come wearing revealing clothes, because the goal of this march is the opposite of coercion, it is to highlight the option of every woman (and man) to dress as she wishes, without social criticism."

The goal of using the rather blunt word "sharmuta" is to remove its negative connotation and present in a positive light feminine sexual openness, which is no less natural and legitimate than masculine sexual openness, said Lieberman-Kalif in the Haaretz interview.

Canadian women organized the first SlutWalks a year ago in Toronto, after a policeman said at a crime prevention safety forum that "women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized."

A march was organized to protest his wording, which reflected a commonly held view that a woman who dresses in what is considered sexy attire is basically asking for rape, harassment or any other degrading, abusive and criminal treatment.

Since last year, SlutWalks have been organized in Canada, the US and Singapore. This month will see SlutWalks, or Mitzad Sharmutot in Hebrew, in Tel Aviv, followed by one in Haifa a week later.

And in April, sluts will make it to Jerusalem. No word on whether it'll be before or after Easter.

Gold traders keep up purchases as prices flat

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Gold traders in India, the world's biggest buyer of bullion, continued to book the yellow metal as prices stayed near their lowest level in a week, dealers said.

* The most-active gold for April delivery on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) was steady near its week's low of 27,820 rupees per 10 grams at 3:04 p.m.

* "Demand is pretty good as traders are finding these prices attractive," said Ketan Shroff, director of Pushpak Bullion in Mumbai.

* Currently, wedding and festival seasons are underway in India, which consumes about 900 tonnes of the yellow metal yearly.

* The rupee, which weakened to its lowest level in seven weeks in early trade, kept the downside in prices limited. The local currency plays an important role in determining the landed cost of the dollar-quoted yellow metal.

* Silver also traded flat. Silver for May delivery on the MCX on the MCX was 0.08 percent lower at 57,661 rupees per kg.

(Reporting by Siddesh Mayenkar; Editing by Harish Nambiar)

Campaigners Protest Over Record Fuel Prices

Last Updated 09:32 07/03/2012
Car drivers and hauliers will lobby Parliament later to protest against sky-high fuel taxes and rising petrol pump prices.
They will present a report to 10 Downing Street calling for a cut in fuel duty before a mass lobby of MPs.

Organised by FairFuelUK, the protest comes after average UK petrol prices hit a record high of 137.79p a litre.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) report says that even a modest cut in fuel duty of 2.5p per litre would create 180,000 new jobs.

The main findings of the report were given to Treasury Minister Chloe Smith last week by FairFuelUK spokesman Quentin Willson and the organisation's founder Peter Carroll.

Their meeting took place after separate findings showed UK drivers were paying the highest fuel taxes in Europe.

Mr Willson said on Tuesday: "We have shared the findings of this report with MPs and ministers.

"However, with only weeks to go to the Budget, we are concerned that the Government is not listening and not taking on board the significance of these findings.

"Families and businesses are being crushed by these cruel levels of tax - 82p on every litre we buy. It's damaging the economy and holding back growth."

Mr Willson went on: "The people are clamouring for the Government to look at fuel duty.

"This research shows that a cut in fuel duty won't cost the Treasury a penny. It can cut duty and do any of the other options if it so wishes.

"So it is wrong of the Government to say it's a choice between a fuel duty cut and other measures. It can, and should, cut fuel duty now."

Sarkozy: Too Many Foreigners In France

Last Updated 01:57 07/03/2012
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said there are too many foreigners in France and has pledged to cut the number of new arrivals in half.
As the country's presidential election campaign gathers pace, Mr Sarkozy insisted France's attempts to integrate foreign arrivals into its culture and society had become paralysed.

"Our system of integration is working more and more badly, because we have too many foreigners on our territory and we can no longer manage to find them accommodation, a job, a school," he said in a television debate.

Mr Sarkozy has been accused of moving to the right in the run up to the presidential election in order to recruit voters tempted by anti-immigrant candidate Marine Le Pen.

He said that while immigration could remain "a boon" for France in many areas, it must be controlled more tightly through tougher residency qualifications for newcomers.

"Over the five-year term I think that to restart the process of integration in good conditions, we must divide by two the number of people we welcome, that's to say to pass from 180,000 per year to 100,000," he said.

Mr Sarkozy also announced new plans to limit some welfare benefit payments currently available to immigrant workers to those who have enjoyed residency for 10 years and have worked for five of those.

France will vote in the first round of a presidential election on April 22, followed by a second-round run-off on May 6.

All recent opinion polls forecast that Francois Hollande will emerge victorious.

kirat.org informative site

The Kirats

The Kirats were the aborigines of north-eastern Himalayas. According to Baburam Acharya, they came to Nepal in about 700 B.C. and ruled over it. They were short and had robust bodies, broad checks, flat noses, thin whiskers, and dark eyes. They were well trained in the art of warfare, and were very skillful archers. They were the ancestors of the present day Kiratas: - Kulung, Thulung and Yellung. Yalamber, the first Kirati king of Nepal belonged to the Yellung clan.

Read more Click here

Google recasts Android Market with new name

Google Inc is renaming its online storefront for music, books and digital goods, its latest move to raise its profile in the market for electronic content sales and to better compete with Apple Inc and Amazon.com Inc.

The company has retired the Android Market name for its store that sells apps, videos, music and electronic books on the Web and on mobile devices. From Tuesday, the store will be rebranded as the Google Play Store.

The change is designed to make it clearer to consumers that Google offers a broad catalogue of content in addition to the apps programmed for smartphones and tablets based on its Android operating system.

"Some people see the Android icon on their homescreen and they think it's just for apps," said Chris Yerga, engineering director for Android Digital Content, in an interview with Reuters on Monday.

The name is being introduced three and a half years after Google launched its Android Market as a central outlet for consumers to download the mobile apps created for the growing number of Android-based smartphones.

Android is the world's No.1 smartphone operating system, used in smartphones sold by Motorola, Samsung and HTC, among others.

There are more than 450,000 Android-compatible apps available from third-party software developers versus 550,000 apps available for Apple iOS devices such as the iPhone and iPad.

In the past year and a half, Google has expanded the menu of offerings in the Android Market to include digital books, music and videos - markets where Apple and Amazon have robust businesses. Apple said in October that more than 16 billion songs have been downloaded from its iTunes store. Amazon said last year that it sells more digital books than print books.

Google's variety of outlets for selling different types of digital content - consumers could purchase electronic books at a special Google books website as well as on the Android Market website - was confusing for consumers, Yerga said.

And the applications for consumers to play music and videos, or read the books they purchased also had different names, creating further confusion, he said. On Tuesday, Google's various media applications will all feature the Play branding as part of their names.

"Our goal with this is to bring more people to the store," Yerga said. "Maybe that person who is an avid book reader or music purchaser now becomes aware of 'Hey I can also get videos here, I can get games here.'"

Reuters

David Cameron gets a £20,000 personalised iPad app to govern the country

When you are expected to be politically correct, financially sound, and a gadget lover what would you splurge on? Well, not a personalised iPad app for sure. But then again not everyone is as bold as the UK PM David Cameron. The personalized iPad app will come at a cost of £20,000 ($31,720) to the taxpayer. So what does it do you ask? It is said to feature a management dashboard that will enable the PM "instant access to crime statistics, unemployment figures NHS waiting lists and the latest polling data". It will also allow access to news from a particular constituency that is achieved by integrating Google search trends and Twitter feeds of MPs and government officials and that way he can also monitor his ministers and the working of his government.

Cheetah Robot Breaks Land Speed Record

A robot known as the Cheetah has lived up to its name setting a new land speed record for legged machines by running at 18mph on a treadmill.
Developers Boston Dynamics said the record was clocked at a laboratory in Massachusetts.

The Cheetah project has received funding from the US military's Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa).

It is part of a programme aimed at achieving theoretical and experimental advances in the science of robotics.

It broke a land speed record for legged robots that was set in 1989 when a two-legged robot at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ran at a speed of just over 13mph.

Dr Alfred Rizzi, chief robotics scientist at Boston Dynamics, said the aim is ultimately to get the Cheetah running much faster and in an outdoors environment.

"We designed the treadmill to go over 50mph but we plan to get off the treadmill and into the field as soon as possible.

"We really want to understand the limits of what is possible for fast-moving robots."

Fraud In UK Rises To Record Levels

Last Updated 17:50 05/03/2012
Jason Farrell, Sky News Investigations
Fraud has risen to a record level according to a new report seen exclusively by Sky News.
The UK's Fraud Prevention Service Cifas has found that some crimes have risen dramatically.

People are more likely than ever to have their identities and bank account details stolen and misused.

In the last year overall fraud has risen by 9%. The majority of these crimes involve identity (ID) fraud - and ID fraud on loans is up 58%. ID fraud used to manipulate bank accounts is up 35%.

Criminals are mining for more in-depth information so they can commit bigger frauds.

Attempts to obtain someone's credit file have increased dramatically from 285 in 2007 to 4,841 in 2011.

The economic downturn has made people more vulnerable to organised fraudsters, falling prey to employment scams, tricked into laundering money for criminals, more likely to give out their bank details for the offer of a payment or good value loan down the line.

Richard Hurley from Cifas said more people are also attempting to commit fraud from their own bank accounts. He said: "The figures show a record level of fraud, over 236,500 cases.

"These are proven frauds. This is not just suspicious activity but there is a level of proof that allows the police to act.

"What is most alarming is the amount of identity fraud. It makes up 58% of all frauds."

He added: "There is an economic pinch on, so people are doing things that perhaps two or three years ago they wouldn't be doing."

The report suggests that it has never been easier to get a person's private information. Raiding bins is one method but the internet has opened up the game.

Data has become of intrinsic value to the modern fraudster and evidence suggests they are able to obtain a wider tapestry of information.

Passport numbers, date of birth, financial footprint, telephone numbers, email addresses and passwords are all dangerous in the wrong hands.

Mr Hurley said: "The Financial Service industry has a responsibility to speak to its customers to make sure they are putting checks in place to look after their details... making sure firewalls and anti-virus software are in place, making sure passwords are not easily ascertainable from a Facebook account, for example."

Hermès' $1.9 million diamond-studded handbag

If you thought carrying a Birkin bag speaks of luxury, then you are yet to discover the luxurious and most opulent one the brand has to offer. Hermès has come out with stunning new diamond-studded miniature totes worth £1.2 million ($1.9 million) each. These miniature totes are set in gold and come studded with thousands of precious stones. But these aren't really bags, as they have been designed as bracelets with the handbag strap resting on the wearer's wrist.
Created by designer Pierre Hardy, the rose gold version of the Kelly bag sports the crocodile scale effect and features 1,160 diamonds. Two years in the making, the design will be limited to just three units.

Apple's App Store: 25 billion downloads

Some lucky individual--we don't know who just yet--will collect an iTunes gift card worth a cool $10,000, as the App Store hits 25 billion downloads after just more than three and a half years in existence.

Apple's App Store has served up 25 billion downloads, the company announced today.

The iPhone and iPad maker's main Web site was festooned with a banner trumpeting the milestone, but the 25 billionth downloader--and consequent contest winner--has not yet been announced. That lucky individual will receive a gift card for the iTunes Store, worth $10,000. (That's a lot of Beatles ring tones.)

Last January Apple ran a similar promotion for the 10 billionth app downloaded, also awarding a $10,000 gift card. That was a follow-up to the company's 2009 award to the person who downloaded the 1 billionth app. That first time was a bit more generous, with 13-year-old Connor Mulcahey nabbing a $10,000 iTunes gift card along with an iPod Touch, MacBook Pro, and one of Apple's Time Capsule devices.
The acceleration in App Store downloads has been swift since the business launched in July of 2008. The store hit 1 billion downloads in its first nine months, reaching 5 billion downloads in June 2010. By January 2011, the company tallied 10 billion downloads, a number that topped 18 billion in October of the same year.
Apple has said that it pretty much breaks even running the App Store. But the point of the enterprise is not to profit from the sale of apps, but to make Apple's devices more useful, and more attractive to gadget buyers.
Apple said it would unveil the winner of the 25 billion contest within 10 days

Japanese team invents device that silences the overly-wordy

It’s such a bummer to get stuck with a person who doesn’t know how to shut up. If only there’s a way to shut them up without hurting their feelings (or punching their faces. Haha!) A pair of Japanese researchers just might have the answer.

Kazutaka Kurihara from the National Institute of Advanced Science and Technology and Koji Tsukada from Ochanomizu University were the brains behind this device they coined as the “SpeechJammer”

It takes the form of a gun and you point it at the person’s mouth to commence peace and quiet.  It works by recording the person’s voice through a directional microphone. It then adds a 0.2 second delay and fires the recorded speech back to the loquacious speaker. The brain needs instant feedback to continue speaker. Hearing a constant echo of their voice disrupts with this system and brings the “target” to a sudden halt.

In a paper describing their invention, Kurihara and Tsukuda emphasized that communication maybe an important medium to resolve conflicts, but too much of it may add fuel to the fire.

The SpeechJammer is confirmed to shut up even the loudest chatterboxes. It is an oversized gun that looks like it can wipe your memory out. Just pointing the monstrosity that is the SpeechJammer is enough to get a shock. Add in a sneer and evil laugh and you don’t have to turn it on!

The SpeechJammer may be the best in stopping speech, it has no power of stopping that annoyed person you just pointed a weird gun at. Try staying at most 30 feet away just in case.

Solar Powered Lamp To Replace Kerosene In Developing Countries

Some areas in developing countries have little or no access to electricity. In these areas, once the sun goes down, the world is lit by little glimmering kerosene lamps. But it is a known fact that kerosene lamps has many cons like kerosene fires, health risks, air pollution and the high cost of kerosene.

A new lamp was invented to replace the kerosene lamp harnessing something free: sun power. Little Sun, as it is aptly called, is the latest work of Olafur Eliasson, A Danish-Icelandic artist better known for his experiments in spatial and light perception, and Frederik Ottesen, a solar entrepreneur.

Little Sun is a flower shaped LED lamp that can be worn anywhere: attached on the body, a lamp base, mounted on a bicycle, or hung to a wall or ceiling. If charged outdoors for four hours, it provides five hours of light come sundown. Little Sun delivers ten times more light than the kerosene lamp at a tenth of the cost.

It will also last longer since the rechargeable battery has a life expectancy of three years. This invention is in line with the World Bank’s aim to improve energy access and studying conditions for children without the harmful effects of kerosene lamps.

Little Sun is expected to be released in summer. With that, Eliasson is coming up with expansion plans such as a solar-powered cellphone charger and radio.