Awesome Video Reveals Every Road, Flight Path And Shipping Lane On Earth

'Welcome to the Anthropocene' Earth Animation from Globaïa on Vimeo.



A fantastic video has been created by Globaïa that shows all the transportation routes around our planet Earth. including all the roads, shipping lanes and flight paths, linking the continents together.

The animation was created by Globaïa for the short film ‘Welcome to the Anthropocene’ commissioned for the Planet Under Pressure conference. Where Scientists discussed the possibility of starting a new geological era, called the Anthropocene. Which encapsulates the period of geological, environmental and biological transformation of the planet by humans.

he name Anthropocene has been created from, “anthropo” which means human and “-cene” meaning new, and refers to the effect of humans on Earth ecosystems. Wikipedia explains:

“The Anthropocene is a recent and informal geologic chronological term that serves to mark the evidence and extent of human activities that have had a significant global impact on the Earth’s ecosystems. The term was coined by ecologist Eugene F. Stoermer but has been widely popularized by the Nobel Prize-winning atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzen, who regards the influence of human behavior on the Earth’s atmosphere in recent centuries as so significant as to constitute a new geological era for its lithosphere.

In 2008 a proposal was presented to the Stratigraphy Commission of the Geological Society of London to make the Anthropocene a formal unit of geological time.”

G20 pledges more than $430 billion for IMF

The Group of 20 nations on Friday pledged more than $430 billion to better than double the International Monetary Fund's lending capacity and protect the global economy from the euro zone's debt crisis.

The commitments seek to ensure the IMF's resources are not overwhelmed should the crisis spread. Greece, Ireland and Portugal have already received bailouts, and investors are worried about Italy and Spain, whose economies are the third and fourth biggest in the euro zone.

Although the global lender would be able to use its increased firepower to help any country or region in need, Europe's crisis was the driving force behind the push for more funding.

"There are firm commitments to increase resources made available to the IMF by over $430 billion," the G20 nations of developed and emerging economies said in a communique.

Worries about the euro zone's debt crisis have dominated talks among finance officials in Washington this week for the semiannual meetings of the IMF and World Bank. The IMF has warned the crisis presents the gravest risk to the global economic expansion.

In a reminder of the financial stress, 10-year government bond yields in Spain topped 6 percent for the third time this week. Rising yields reflect investors' demand for higher returns to compensate for perceived increases in risk, and there are fears that Spain's borrowing costs will become unaffordable.

"The tail risks facing the global economy only months ago have started to recede," the G20 said after a meeting. "However, growth expectations for 2012 remain moderate, deleveraging is constraining consumption and investment growth, volatility remains high partly reflecting financial market pressures in Europe and downside risks still persist."

Emerging markets won assurances from their G20 partners that their growing economic clout would be rewarded over time with greater voting power in the IMF. Brazil, in particular, had pushed for such a pledge.

Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega said after the G20 meeting that the BRICS group of leading emerging nations - which also includes Russia, India, China and South Africa - had unanimously agreed to provide more money for the IMF.

(Writing by Stella Dawson and Tim Ahmann; Additional reporting by Walter Brandimarte and Leika Kihara; Editing by Neil Stempleman and Leslie Adler)

Hampshire II superyacht by Feadship is a paradise for sports and adventure

Feadship, which is a superyacht building rumored to have worked with Steve Jobs in the past before his demise, has a cool new yacht designed for a special Feadship owner who is a connoisseur of sports and adventure. A 78.50 meter custom motoryacht named as Hampshire II has been launched by Feadship on 14th April at the Feadship Kaag yard and Feadship director Dick van Lent was also present to pay tribute to the owner. The unique selling point of the Hampshire II is the foredeck that has a helicopter landing platform in teak which can be transformed into a playing field for basketball, tennis, baseball, badminton and football. The superyacht has a phenomenal beach club with two platforms that are flanked across either sides and the outdoors have a wealth of impressive detailing in the design.

The interiors of the Hampshire II touts classic grandeur with a typical English style bar on the bridge deck, a passageway in the engine room with full height glass walls and a striking color combination of Ferrari red, white and black across the room. The Hampshire II by Feadship incorporated with state-of-the-art technology, functional design and exceptional craftsmanship has set a new standard for superyachts in the near future.

Oldest European book is bought by British Library for $12 million

The British Library can finally claim the seventh century St. Cuthbert Gospel as their own. For a price of £9 million ($14 million) they were able to purchase the book which was already in their possession (on loan) since 1979. Scot McKendrick, the head of history and classics at the British Library said "It is undoubtedly one of the world's most important books". The St. Cuthbert Gospel is the Gospel of St. John and was discovered in the saint's coffin 900 years ago. From the Cuthbert's coffin the book is made a long journey starting at the island of Lindisfarne in 698 and ended up in Durham in 1104. It is also believed to be the oldest surviving European book and has its original red leather binding which is in top condition.

British Library will display the book to the public in London as soon as the deal between them, Durham University and Durham Cathedral has been finalized

The $15 million iPad-controlled Adastra superyacht in China

Life as a millionaire can be good, but life as a billionaire has to be really good especially if you can afford a $15 million superyacht. The Adastra, is the newest superyacht to joins the list of "The luxury toys of billionaires" (okay…we made up that). This very sleek and futuristic looking superyacht was commissioned by shipping tycoon Anto Marden and was launched in China. Designed by Sussex-based yacht designer John Shuttleworth it took all of five years for the completion of The Adastra. The 42.5 meters long Adastra is 16 meters wide and weighs 52 tons. The hull of this superyacht is made from super strong combination of glass and Kevlar. It is capable of traveling 4000 miles at 22.5 knots without refueling and can be controlled with an iPad.

The Adastra boasts of one Caterpillar C18 engine and 2 Yanmar outrigger engines. It has a capacity of housing nine guests and six crewmen. It features a saloon area on the main deck and lounge area, dining table, sofa and bar area and navigation station. During the launch of this yacht Mr. Shuttleworth mentioned to Boat International "The challenge of turning this concept into a viable luxury yacht has taken us to further research and to develop new thinking on stability and comfort at sea for this type of craft".

$35 Billion mini-Las Vegas

(Reuters) - Billionaire Sheldon Adelson said on Wednesday he plans to spend $35 billion on a mini-Las Vegas strip in Spain where he is courting the country's two top urban areas, Barcelona and Madrid, with plans for a casino complex.

Adelson, chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corp, was speaking at a press conference ahead of the opening of his new $4 billion casino property in Macau, the world's largest casino destination.
"We are looking at 12 integrated resorts, 3,000 rooms each. A mini Las Vegas, about half the size of the Las Vegas strip in Spain for the European market," said Adelson, one of the world's richest men worth an estimated $25 billion according to Forbes.

Microsoft Purchases AOL Patents For $1 Billion

Microsoft has just splashed out over a $1 billion to purchase patents from AOL. The deal worth $1.056 billion will be sealed by the end of 2012 and AOL will exchange 300 patents to Microsoft who will be able to use them under a non-exclusive license.

The patents and patent applications relate to advertising, content generation, content management, multimedia and security. Tim Armstrong, AOL’s Chairman and CEO explains:

“We continue to hold a valuable patent portfolio as highlighted by the license we entered into with Microsoft. The combined sale and licensing arrangement unlocks current dollar value for our shareholders and enables AOL to continue to aggressively execute on our strategy to create long-term shareholder value.”

AOL is expected to sell stock from one of the subsidiaries as part of the transaction; resulting in taxes connected with the sale being rendered immaterial.

AOL is also planning to utilise approximately $40 million of existing deferred tax asset to offset charges related to its remaining patent portfolio, as well as forward a ’significant’ amount of the proceeds to AOL shareholders.

A rare golden fish sold to a Chinese businessman for $38,000

The rare golden snapper fish found in the Bangladeshi port city of Chittagong may not have fetched as much as the Tuna fish found in Tokyo or the $736,000 Tuna fish found in Japan, but has definitely fetched a price which is considered high in this particular part of Asia. A Chinese businessman from Hong Kong has paid $38,000 (3.05 million Taka) for the 37-kilogram fish which boasts of a “tasty bladder and succulent flesh”. He bought it from Jehangir Saudagar who works at the Fishery Ghat market near Chittagong port, who in turn had bought the snapper from fisherman returning from the Bay of Bengal.

The rare golden snapper was purchased by Mr Saudagar at an auction, beating out at least 500 other traders. He continued to lay the bid out doing other traders, for he knew that the fish would fetch a heavy price. According to Zoology professor Norman Siddiqui, only three or four golden snappers are caught in the Bay of Bengal each year, which explains the high bid for this type of fish.

Google’s Sergey Brin Spotted Wearing Project Glass Prototype

Yesterday Google released a teaser video for their augmented reality glasses which the company calls Project Glass, and now Google’s co-founder, Sergey Brin has been photographed wearing a project glass prototype.

The photo below was taken by Thomas Hawk, and as you can see it features Robert Scoble, who spoke to Sergey Brin about the glasses and he confirmed that he was wearing a prototype device.

He quickly told me it is a prototype. I saw a bluish light flashing off of his right eyeball. I could only guess that my Google+ profile flashed up, or maybe some PR voice said “stay quiet” or something like that.

But the glasses are real. Very light looking. Most of the people around us had no idea that these glasses are pretty special

We still don’t have any details on when Google intend to launch their augmented reality glasses, as soon as we get some more information we will let you guys know.

$27 million bowl

It isn’t everyday that a 900-year old artefact goes under the hammer. So when a Chinese bowl. which is that rare comes up for auction, there will be several buyers; after all it is a part of their long living dynasty. Put up at the Sotheby's auction in Hong Kong, an anonymous bidder paid a staggering $27 million for the bowl from the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) which was estimated at $10 million.

One of just 79 piecees left in the world, the hammer came down after 8 bidders competed for a good 15 minutes for the flower-shaped bowl. Sotheby's adds that the bowl is "arguably the most desirable piece of Ru official ware remaining in private hands"

Microsoft announced a concept car mustang

Towards the end of last month Microsoft announced a concept car is was creating with help from West Coast Customs to inspired developers to build apps and automotive technologies for the future. The project uses a 2012 Ford Mustang that looks like a 67 Mustang fastback. Now the finished car has been showcased by West Coast Customs showing exactly what gone inside Microsoft’s Mustang.

The video below show all the customisation that have been carried out on Microsoft’s Mustang from dashboard tablets, Xbox 360 consoles to rear projection display. Using a Microsoft Windows smartphone you can keep tabs on the car’s location even when it is out of sight. Locate, unlock, and start the car all from the Viper SmartStart app. You can view more details about the customisation within the Mustang over at the Channel 19 website.

Cool $3,203,225 for this masterpiece

It is not the first time that an Indian masterpiece has broken records at an auction. The latest Indian creation to have made headlines and broken records is a masterpiece by Indian artist Bagta. Sold at Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asian Art auction held by Bonhams, this artwork stunned one and all when it exceeded six times its high estimate price of $50,000 and fetched a cool $3,203,225 when the hammer went down for the third time.
The previously unrecorded work by the Indian artist and the cover lot of the sale is a portrait of the imposing figure of Rawat Gokal Das celebrating 'holi' with his consorts. It was consigned by a collector who bought the piece nearly two decades ago for a mere $125. Dated 1808 and measuring 16 x 22 inches, this work is a class apart. The masterpiece sold at the auction is one of the rare representations of the artists large scale creations. Given that it fetched six times its estimated sum, I am sure the bidding battle to acquire this piece must have been an exciting one.

Nearly £5bn online revenue

Online and mobile advertising reached a new high of nearly £5bn last year, helped by a massive increase in video and social media adverts.

Internet advertising leapt by 14.4% in 2011, to reach £4.8bn - a £687m rise on the previous year, according to the report from the Internet Advertising Bureau UK (IAB), conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

It was the biggest increase in internet advertising in five years.

Video advertising saw particularly strong growth and now accounts for 10% of all online display advertising.

Expenditure on online video doubled to £109m in 2011, up from £54m the previous year.

The format has grown more than eight-fold since 2008, when video spend was £12m.

It reflects increasing numbers of people watching TV online, with 27.3 million of the 38.5 million people who went online in the UK on their PC in February viewing streamed content.

The popularity of social media networks drove a 75% increase in banner ads on platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn, to reach £240m last year, also an eight-fold increase since records began in 2008.

Social networks accounted for 27% of all the time spent online in the UK in 2011.

Advertising on mobile devices also leapt last year, by 157% to reach a new high of £203m.

This increase was driven by the increased popularity of smartphones and tablets, such as the iPhone and iPad, new touchscreen technology and 3G.

Tim Elkington, director of research and strategy at the IAB, said: "Online and mobile advertising have experienced staggering growth since this study began in1997.

"Advertisers increasingly recognise the central role that online plays in their marketing campaigns."

By sector, finance spent the most on display advertising, ahead of fast-moving consumer goods and then retail.

This was followed by entertainment and the media, then technology.

Madonna's $28 million Beverly Hills mansion is up for sale

The queen of pop Madonna has decided to put up her French Country-style mansion at Beverly Hills on sale for a staggering $28 million. What's news is that she has pocket listed the property, which means that a real estate agent has a contract to sell it, but it is not been advertised. She reportedly picked it up in 2003 when she was married to English director Guy Ritchie for around $12 million. The 5,800-square-foot home is said to have three bedrooms, with added space. So who's going to be its lucky new owner, only time will tell.