NBC Assessing ‘Space Race’ After Virgin Galactic Crash Kills One Pilot, Seriously Injures Another

NBC says it's “gathering information on the situatuon” after Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo spacecraft crashed today in the Mojave Desert, killing one pilot and seriously injuring another. The fatal accident occurred one year after NBC announced it had bought the space travel reality series  Burnett had been pitching with British mogul Richard Branson. titled Space Race, in which everyday people would compete for a trip into space on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo. The…

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Cable One Says It’s Doing Just Fine After Dropping Viacom Channels

This could be disquieting for Viacom, even though Cable One — owned by Graham Holdings Co. — is small fry in the cable playground. Cable One made noise in April when it stopped carrying 15 Viacom channels saying that they had become too expensive with programming that's too easy to find online. Here's one consequence: It ended Q3 with 476,233 video subs - down 15.1% from the same period last year — according to GHC's earnings report out today.
But Cable One doesn't seem…

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John Carpenter Q&A: Why ‘Halloween’ Didn’t Need Sequels & What Scares The Master Of Horror

John Carpenter keeps his office in a converted hillside Hollywood home, on a quiet tree-lined street evocative of the sleepy suburb Michael Myers terrorized in 1978's Halloween. Inside, the walls are lined with memories marking Carpenter's four decades in film: original prints, awards, figurines of Kurt Russell as Snake Plisskin and the Creature From The Black Lagoon movie Carpenter spent years trying to make at Universal, a sculpture commemorating the prankster goosings…

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Bill Maher Blasts Commencement Speech Flap; Calls On College Students Nationwide To Support Him

Bill Maher says he intends to give the commencement speech at Berkeley's December graduation ceremony and challenged liberal college students nationwide to condemn an effort by the Berkeley student group that invited and then tried to un-invite him, because “my reputation isn't on the line. Yours is.”
Maher, earlier this week, had announced via Twitter that he would not comment until tonight's broadcast of his HBO late-night show, on the effort by some University of…

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Former Mortgage Scammer Cleaned Ebola Doctor’s Apartment

The attorney general flagged the contractor. The city says the work was performed correctly, but says the situation is under review.













Sal Pane outside the building where Dr. Craig Spencer, who was infected with Ebola, lives on Oct. 24, 2014.


Brendan Mcdermid / Reuters











The public face of the cleanup of the home of a New York doctor infected with Ebola is a former mortgage scammer and convicted felon released from prison in 2011 whose company won the high-stakes city contract despite his well-known recent past.
Mayor Bill de Blasio's aides have known of Salvatore Pane's background since Monday, officials confirmed to News, and City Hall quietly stopped working with his firm — but a City Hall official defended his work.

New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman flagged the contract because his office — led at the time by now-Gov. Andrew Cuomo — won a judgment against Pane and his previous companies in 2010 for "engaging in fraudulent and illegal acts," officials said.
Pane's practice of extracting money from New Yorkers under the guise of helping them with crushing mortgages had a New York Times column devoted to it. Now he's a leading public face of New York City's emergency response. He was interviewed by Al Jazeera America, Fox News, and in the New York Times; Bloomberg News reported that Cuomo personally called Pane to put Bio-Recovery on the Ebola case.
But none of those reports have drawn the connection between the handsome cleanup technician — pictured in Reuters photos outside the doctor's Harlem apartment — and the mortgage cases, perhaps because Pane has changed the spelling of his last name to "Pain."

"Our attorneys became aware of this situation on Monday and we immediately notified the mayor's office and the governor's office," Damien LaVera, the communications director for Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, told News Friday. "We will continue to monitor the situation, provide any assistance our state and city partners request, and take any actions we deem necessary to protect the public interest."

Pane, in an interview, rejected any connection between his past and his Ebola work, and confirmed his past criminal and civil legal issues as well as having changed his name.

"I hope I've done what I've had to do to rebuild my life," he said. "I'm not a bad guy."
A de Blasio aide said the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene verified that officials checked the cleanup of the apartment afterward, and found the work was successful and the job was performed correctly. There have been no allegations of subpar work by Bio-Recovery employees, according to the city.

"The city first became aware of this situation this week, and has been reviewing the facts," Phil Walzak, a spokesman for the mayor, told News on Friday. "Bio-Recovery has not received any further work from the city as we review this situation."

Melissa DeRosa, the communications director for Gov. Andrew Cuomo, said that after being alerted of the claim that the governor had contacted Pane, state officials checked to see if the state had any contracts with Pane. DeRosa told News that Pane has no contracts with New York state.

Alerted to a statement — unsourced in the Bloomberg News report — that Cuomo had sought out the man he sued in his capacity as New York attorney general just four years ago, DeRosa said, "This is completely false and ... deeply disturbing."
Asked about the reported call from Cuomo, Pane denied he'd ever claimed to have spoken to the governor. He told News, "We were on call with every high-level government official, but I can't speak to if Gov. Cuomo was on the call." Cuomo's office said no high-level officials spoke to Pane.

A city aide confirmed that Bio-Recovery was on calls with health officials related to the apartment cleaning, but said no commissioners or top City Hall officials were on the call to their knowledge.

In addition to Dr. Craig Spencer's apartment, Bio-Recovery also cleaned Gutter, the Brooklyn bar and bowling alley where Spencer had gone earlier this month.

"We cleaned every square inch of the place — every hole in every bowling ball," Pane told the New York Post. "Every pin, every lane, every receiver, every sink, every toilet. We disposed of all paper goods, anything that was open — all toilet paper rolls. Because it's a bowling alley, we had to chemically strip the oil from the floors."
But just a few years before he was playing a key role in a global public health crisis, Pane was in a different business — one in which he also marketed himself effectively, and one which ended badly.

In the late 2000s, Pane ran two distressed mortgage companies, American Modification Agency and Amerimod, and appeared widely on television as an expert on how to help people with troubled mortgages fix their problems. In 2010, Pane and his company "engaged in fraudulent, deceptive, and illegal business practices that violated New York's consumer protection and real property laws," according to a pleading filed by then-state attorney general Andrew Cuomo. Justice Emily Jane Goodman of State Supreme Court in Manhattan filed a permanent injunction against the companies.

On unrelated charges, Pane spent nine months, from June 2010 to March 2011, in jail for operating a vehicle without a license — first-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a vehicle, according to prison records, which is a felony.

In an interview with News, Pane was adamant that Bio-Recovery is an upstanding company and separate from his past. He said he had begun doing cleanup work in 2001, working at his neighbor Vincent Santella's company. Pane said the two did work for, and were partners with, the late Ron Gospodarski, the first owner of Bio-Recovery, who died in April 2013. "We all worked here and then we started working together," he said.

"Let's not hurt a good company. If it does I'll resign," he said. Pane said he had changed his surname from Pane to Pain because of an incident with a stalker.

In television and radio interviews, Pane has said the firm has more than 20 years of experience in crime scene cleanup. During the anthrax scare of 2001, Bio-Recovery decontaminated ABC Studios in Manhattan; the firm was then owned by Gospodarski. Pane told News that another Bio-Recovery employee, Vincent Santella, bought the firm from Gospodarski's estate, though public documents weren't immediately available to confirm the details of the transaction.

City documents say Bio-Recovery has been a contractor for city agencies for the last six years, but there is no standing contract, and Bio-Recovery is contracted on a case-by-case basis. The contracts are too small, a city official said, to require detailed disclosure in the city's Vendex program, which was created to screen out questionable contractors.

And the continuity between the company's old and new ownership is far from clear.

A former employee of Bio-Recovery, Manny Sosa, told News on Thursday, "They are not the company we were. I have no idea who they are."

Pane said he knew Sosa, and charged that Sosa had been fired three years before Gospodarski's death.

When asked about Pane's comments on Friday, Sosa reiterated that he did not know Pane or Santella. He said he had worked for Gospodarski since 1999, and left on his own.

Today, Bio-Recovery is one of four crime scene cleanup entities connected with Pane: Bio-Recovery, All Island Bio-Recovery, Long Island Trauma, and the Crime Scene Cleanup Association.

EPA records list Pane as the operator of All Island Bio-Recovery and Santella as the regulatory contact.

When called, phone numbers on each of the websites go to the same business — Bio-Recovery. Additionally, many of the testimonials across the three sites — Bio-Recovery, All Island Bio-Recovery, and Crime Scene Cleanup — are identical. Two of the websites feature many of the same photos of cleanup sites.

Pane confirmed to News that it is one business, and said the different sites are a "marketing" tactic.

Multiple calls to other Bio-Recovery employees by News were not returned.

There is at least one questionable claim on Bio-Recovery's website.

On the about page of its website, Bio-Recovery claims to have an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau, "for its many years of excellent service." When the link is followed, Bio-Recovery's profile on the website says the business is not accredited with the organization.

When contacted by News, a source at the Better Business Bureau said Bio-Recovery's use of the BBB seal on its website is against policy.

"They will be receiving a cease and desist letter" for using the BBB seal on the Bio-Recovery website, the source said. "It's trademark infringement."

Mike Hayes contributed reporting.




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Halloween Horror: Pete Hammond’s Top Three Fright Classics (Video)

Saw is getting a major theatrical re-release in light of its 10th anniversary  and the fact that today is Halloween. It is one of the few pure horror titles, after last week's Ouija and Annabelle  a couple of weeks ago, that is out there in theaters for the holiday. It seems Hollywood has really let horror fans down this year. Where's all the new stuff , the potential new classics.  I'm disappointed, studios. This should be your bread and butter this time of year. And…

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‘Bad Judge’ & ‘A to Z’ Cancelled By NBC, Will Finish Original 13-Episode Orders

Following another set of underwhelming numbers last night, NBC has pulled the plug on Thursday freshman comedies Bad Judge and A To Z. They are not being pulled from the schedule — both will stay in the 9 PM and 9:30 Thursday slots. Both also will complete their 13-episode original orders. Legal comedy Bad Judge starring Kate Walsh has shot 10 episodes, romantic comedy A To Z  has finished 11 episodes to date.
Neither comedy got traction on what has been a very…

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‘POTUS’ Drama About U.S. President Corrupted By Power Set At Fox With ’24’ Trio

Amidst a tumultuous second term for President Barack Obama who is facing an uphill battle at the midterm elections next week, comes POTUS, a drama project in development at Fox from Homeland and 24 executive producer Howard Gordon.
Described as a topical and high-intensity drama and part wish-fulfillment/part cautionary tale, POTUS follows an American President frustrated with politics as usual, who decides to play by his own rules. It tells the story of a man with good…

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‘Gotham’ Ratings Surge For Fox On Multi-Platform Viewing

The realities of the 21st century television landscape have served a story first set in the late 1930 very very well. A month after its premiere, Fox's freshman Gotham has hit a total multi-platform audience of 22.2 million, according to the network. Not only is that a pretty impressive number for the WBTV produced world of Batman backstory but it is actually a 168% life over the Live + Same Day audience of 8.3 million that the series got for its 8 PM September 22…

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Miles Fisher Joins ‘Man Seeking Woman'; Michael Liu In ‘Sin City Saints’

Miles Fisher (Final Destination) has booked a multi-episode recurring role opposite Jay Baruchel on FX comedy Man Seeking Woman, from Lorne Michaels' Broadway Video. Described as a sweet and absurd look at the life-and-death stakes of dating, it centers on Josh Greenberg (Baruchel), a naive romantic on a desperate quest for love. When his longtime girlfriend dumps him, Josh enters the dating scene, a nightmarish hellscape of untold horror. Despite the agony, Josh…

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Daily Picdump #1230

Daily Picdump #1230































Continue to Daily Picdump #1229 >>>


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16 Out Of This World Things That Happen At A Nick Jonas Concert

Close Encounters of The Thirst Kind. A rundown of Nick Jonas’ Thursday night concert at the Troubador in West Hollywood.









You will see lights shining from above as you arrive at your destination, almost as if they're heaven sent or from another planet.







instagram.com














He takes you to church.



His voice hits high notes and laces up sneakers to do more runs than Ariana Grande.


Vincent Sandoval / WireImage














He will (sadly) be fully clothed.



NOT EVEN A FLASH OF HIS ABS. COME ON.


Vincent Sandoval / WireImage

















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Google's Copresence might link iOS and Android like never before

Devices with different operating systems are traditionally limited in the ways they can interact with one another, but Google may be working to fix that with a feature called "Copresence."Google Copresence is a tool that will let iOS and Android devices that are in proximity to one another exchange files, photos, directions, messages, and more, according to Android Police.The site says that with Copresence, the devices can authenticate with one another using Bluetooth or location information, then transfer data back and forth via Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi direct.The images above were reportedly unearthed in the latest Google Play Services APK, and they clearly show different types of handsets and tablets - iPhones and iPads and Android devices - interacting with one another. Dynamite with a laser beamDevelopers have reportedly also glimpsed a Copresence API in various documentation, among other clues.The feature is being compared to Android Beam, a hidden gem for NFC-enabled Android devices, and Google's Nearby, a feature that was rumored over the summer.In fact, it seems Copresence may be an evolution of what we were previously hearing about as "Nearby," or the name of the technology behind the Nearby feature.Either way, word is we'll be hearing more straight from Google within "the coming weeks."iOS is losing to Android in the global tablet market

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HTC's new Rapid Charger cuts certain phones' charging time by 40%

Most people are content to simply plug their smartphone into a charger when they go to bed, unhook it in the morning, and maybe give it another boost in the car on the way home.But charging tech is improving in leaps and bounds lately, and HTC has just...

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Dell's new Venue 8 Pro 3000 is another affordable Windows tablet

There always seems to be more room for high-end Windows tablets like the Surface Pro 3, and the same may be true for the other end of the spectrum.Enter Dell's new Venue 8 Pro 3000, an affordable Windows 8.1 tablet with zero bells and whistles.The Dell Venue 8 Pro 3000 starts at $200 (about £125, AU$230), which is more expensive than some of its contemporaries, but it also has slightly better specs.These include an 8-inch 1280 x 800 display and 32GB of storage.The high roadUnfortunately the Dell Venue 8 Pro 3000 has little in common with the svelte Dell Venue 8 7000, an Android tablet with an impressive screen and camera.The rest of the Venue 8 Pro 3000's specs are exactly what you'd expect: an Intel Atom processor, just 1GB of memory, microSD expansion up to 32GB, Bluetooth, microUSB, and 5- and 1.2-megapixel cameras.You can certainly do worse at that price, but better is always an option as well when you're shooting this low.Bargain basement Windows 8.1 tablets are about to flood the market

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Hands On With Microsoft’s New Fitness Wearable, The Band

 Dropping out of left field like a foul fly ball from the Kansas City Royals this week, the Microsoft Band was a surprise. Part fitness band, part computer, part mobile Twitter and stock-checking smartgadget, the Band is a mix of things.
And it pretty much works. It’s still a bit clunky, as you might expect from first-generation hardware, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the Band. Read More

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Changing The Rules Of E-Commerce

 In late summer, Mayfield and CRV co-hosted a dinner for entrepreneurs at e-commerce 2.0 companies, including Brit& Co, Dolls Kill, Dropship, Indiegogo, Kiwi Crate, LeTote, Massdrop, Pebble, Peek, Poshmark, The Hunt, Tophatter, Touch of Modern, Trendalytics, Udemy and Urban Remedy. Over dinner and drinks these executives discussed the factors making e-commerce cool again for investors… Read More

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Stunning Underwater Bridal Portraits Are Far From The Average Shoot

We’ve all seen wedding photos on the beach, but what about wedding photos that really make a splash? After experimenting with a variety of pregnant mermaids, one Florida-based photographer, Adam Opris, went to great depths to capture mesmerizing brides taking the plunge into the weightless, underwater realm. Opris works with brides in a variety of subaquatic shoots to […]
Stunning Underwater Bridal Portraits Are Far From The Average Shoot

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This 900-Pound Pumpkin Carving Of A Baby Elephant Is Amazing (Photos)

Forget the traditional Jack-O-lanterns this Halloween. In honor of this haunting holiday, Pumpkin Sculpt USA transformed a massive 900-pound pumpkin at the Bronx Zoo into an intricate elephant sculpture. It’s just as cool as the time we showed you this T-Rex pumpkin. This incredible piece of pumpkin art was created to draw attention to the mission of 96 […]
This 900-Pound Pumpkin Carving Of A Baby Elephant Is Amazing (Photos)

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Adding Cats To Famous Rap Album Covers Makes Them Infinitely Better (Photos)

What happens when you combine an obsession with cats and a love for hip-hop? Apparently, you get Meow the Jewels, a deluxe new album from hip-hop duo Run the Jewels. It purrfectly swaps out all of the instrumentals for cat noises. Finally, a soundtrack that really speaks to all of the crazy cat ladies (and men) out there. But, it doesn’t […]
Adding Cats To Famous Rap Album Covers Makes Them Infinitely Better (Photos)

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Ian Fraser, Emmy-Winning Music Director, Dead At 81

The 11-time Emmy winner, Television Academy Peer Group Governor and music director for the 1995 Henry Mancini/Leslie Bricusse Broadway adaptation of Victor/Victoria died at home Friday in Los Angeles after a long battle with cancer. He was 81.
“It is with profound sadness that we have learned of the passing of Ian Fraser, after a courageous battle with cancer,” Television Academy chairman and chief exec officer Bruce Rosenblum said in a statement released by the…

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‘The McCarthys’ Debuts Low, ‘Elementary’ Down In Return, ‘A To Z’ Hits Dreaded 0.7 Rating

UPDATE PM: As could be expected following the underwhelming numbers this morning, NBC just moved in to cut the runs of both A To Z and Bad Judge to their original 13-episode orders, effectively canceling the freshman series which will remain in their Thursday slots.
The final ratings brought some Halloween horror to CBS' first post-football Thursday, with major downward adjustments for The McCarthys, Elementary, Mom and Two And A Half Men.
The McCarthys slipped two tenths…

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Samsung Announces The Galaxy A5 And Galaxy A3, Its “Slimmest Smartphones To Date”

 Samsung vowed to introduce more metallic devices when it revealed its disappointing Q3 2014 earnings yesterday, and it wasted no time doing so after announcing the Galaxy A5 and the Galaxy A3 — two metallic devices that it calls its “slimmest smartphones to date.” Read More

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Sony Writes Off $1.5B From Its Mobile Division As It Cuts Smartphone Sales Target Again

 Sony replaced the head of its mobile division yesterday, and today its latest earnings report gave a clearer indication of why. Sony’s mobile unit increased its revenue in the last quarter of business (its Q2 2014) by 1.2% to $2.83 billion, but the company wrote down the valuation of the business by a whopping $1.58 billion. Read More

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Blackmailers Threaten To Unleash Ebola If They Don’t Receive Ransom

The Czech government has received emails from people threatening to infect the public with Ebola unless a ransom of one million euros in Bitcoin is paid. The anonymous blackmailers claim to have obtained the virus from Liberia and warn that if their demands aren’t met, Ebola will be unleashed in Prague and then to the rest […]
Blackmailers Threaten To Unleash Ebola If They Don’t Receive Ransom

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Timelapse of the 2014 Albuquerque Hot Air Balloon Fiesta

Here’s a fun timelapse of the 2014 Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta (previously) filmed by Knate Myers. The annual event is currently the largest hot air balloon event in the world, seeing over 500 balloon teams take flight over a 9-day period.

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Tory Kittles Moves To ‘The Colony'; Kevin Rahm In ‘Bates Motel’

Tory Kittles (Bessie) has landed a series regular role on The Colony, the USA Network drama pilot from Carlton Cuse. Written and executive produced by Cuse and Ryan Condal, The Colony is a family drama/thriller about life in Los Angeles after a mysterious "foreign" occupation. Kittles will play Broussard, a strong but kind man with a hidden past and a double life. Juan José Campanella will direct the pilot which is being co-produced by Legendary Television and UCP…

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Adam Rodriguez Joins ‘The Night Shift’ As Recurring

Adam Rodriguez (Magic Mike, CSI: Miami) has booked a major recurring role on NBC drama series The Night Shift. Rodriguez is set for a minimum of five episodes in Season 2, which begins production November 10 in Albuquerque, NM. Rodriguez will play Dr. Joey Chavez, the newly hired night call trauma surgeon at San Antonio Memorial Hospital. He is an Air Force vet that served in Iraq whose personal experiences have led him to investigate his cases with an Eastern medicine…

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CBS Buys Dan Kopelman Guy Comedy

CBS has put in development a comedy written by Dan Kopelman (Rules Of Engagement, Malcolm In The Middle), which he is executive producing with Aaron Kaplan of Kapital Entertainment for Warner Bros. TV.  The untitled multi-camera project revolves around four best friends from college who are still living together as bachelors 10 years after graduation.
This marks the latest collaboration between Kopelman and Kaplan. Last season, they sold a comedy spec by Kopelman with…

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Bette Midler Wings Way To First UK TV Special; ITV To Feature Songs & Sit-Down

Singer-actress Bette Midler will appear in her first UK television special later this fall with Bette Midler: One Night Only. Hosted by Ab Fab's Joanna Lumley, the ITV program will feature musical performances intercut with an interview with Midler and a look back at her career. Among the tunes she'll perform are Beaches anthem “Wind Beneath My Wings,” 1990 hit “From A Distance” and “The Rose,” the title song from her 1979 breakout movie for which she received a Best…

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‘Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee’ Season 5 Trailer: Seinfeld, Jimmy Fallon, Kevin Hart, More

Seinfeld's online video shorts in his Crackle show Comedian In Cars Getting Coffee have scooped up lots of awards in the Internet space over their first four seasons, and the whole project seems to be keeping zillionaire Jerry as entertained as his audiences.
Now Crackle's released the trailer for Season 5, which launches online in a week, at mid-day on Nov. 6. Guests this season include Fred Armisen, Jimmy Fallon, Kevin Hart, Amy Schumer, Miranda Sings and Ali…

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‘The Colbert Report’ Has An Official End Date

A couple of weeks age, Stephen Colbert said there were 32 episodes to go for his Comedy Central late-night gig. Tonight on The Colbert Report, he announced its official end date: December 18. The veteran host will take over CBS' Late Show from David Letterman next year. Larry Wilmore's The Minority Report will take over Colbert's post-The Daily Show time slot in January…

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‘Bellator 131: Ortiz vs. Bonnar’ Card Finalized With 12 Bouts

The full card for Bellator 131 has been finalized for one of the biggest events...

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U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team Visit The Ultimate Fighter Gym

  As anticipated, this historic season of The Ultimate Fighter: A Champion Will Be Crowned,...

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MOVING ON! Jones Camp In Talks With Reebok

UFC light-heavyweight champion, Jon “Bones” Jones is tired of his Nike shoe and apparel line....

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Report: Paulo Filho Shot In Brazil, Condition Unknown

Former WEC middleweight champion, Paulo Filho is finding himself under fire, and not his usual...

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Gary Goodridge: “I don’t like Daniel Cormier. — He’s just a little punk ass kid.” – Exclusive

  If you missed Monday’s BJPenn.com Radio show then you missed MMA legend Gary Goodridge’s...

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Kevin Reilly Back In Talks For Top Turner Post

The on-again, off-again Turner-Kevin Reilly courtship is back on. Soon after Turner Broadcasting toppers broke off negotiations with the former Fox chairman two weeks ago, the two sides restarted conversations. I hear that Turner Broadcasting President David Levy's string of meetings last week with prospective candidates to succeed  Steve Koonin included a sit-down with Reilly. There hasn't been anyone else to emerge as a serious alternative for the post in the past two…

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Daniel Radcliffe Sports ‘Horns'; Jean-Luc Godard In 3D: Specialty Box Office Preview

Just in time for Halloween, Daniel Radcliffe gets some special powers and couple of appendages growing from his temples in Radius' Horns, which will be this week's biggest rollout among specialty newcomers. The title received a warm welcome at a Cinema Society event attended by its stars this week in New York. This week's newbies are dominated by nonfiction fare, though with some exceptions. Kino Lorber is opening French/Swiss maestro Jean-Luc Godard's Goodbye To Language…

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Maggie Gyllenhaal, Ewan McGregor Find ‘The Real Thing’ Elusive In Broadway Debuts

Tom Stoppard's 1984 dazzler gets the matinee-comedy treatment from director-of-the-moment Sam Gold in a revival that leaves its attractive stars, both in their Broadway bows, deeply in the lurch. Glib and weirdly chilly for a literate comedy-drama about love, commitment, the sanctity of words and the enduring perfection of "You've Lost That Loving Feeling," the Roundabout Theatre Company production is as full of ideas as the play itself -- all of them wrong.
Director Sam…

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In depth: Microsoft Band: 5 things you need to know

Microsoft has officially entered the wearables space. In a move not many saw coming, the company known for the Xbox One just announced the release of the Microsoft Band, its very first smart band.There are several blog posts out detailing the new wrist ware but we've narrowed down the most important things you need to know. 1. What is it?The Microsoft Band weighs in at 2.12 ounces with a width of 19mm and thickness of 8.7mm. The display screen is 11mm by 33mm and features a touch-enabled TFT full-color display. The band has 64MB internal storage and an ARM Cortex M4 MCU processor.There are ten sensors built into the device: an optical heart rate sensor, 3-axis accelerometer, gyrometer, GPS, ambient light sensor, skin temperature sensor, UV sensor, capacitive sensor, microphone and a galvanic skin response sensor.You can also set email, text, calendar, social, incoming calls and alarm notifications to pop up on your wrist.Microsoft has also partnered with several companies like Starbucks - which will let you scan your wrist instead of your Starbucks card. The Microsoft Band also syncs data with RunKeeper and MyFitnessPal, plus Gold's Gym, where you can get workout prompts while tracking your fitness.You'll also get access to Cortana if paired to a Windows Phone 8.1 - meaning you can take notes or set reminders with your voice. She can also give driving directions and more just like she would from a mobile device.2. Microsoft Health platformAlong with the Band, Microsoft has a new health initiative in the form of an app called "Microsoft Health."Microsoft Health pulls data from multiple health and fitness devices into one cloud location. From there, it will recommend different workout plans, sleeping routines and more based on the information. The "Intelligence Engine" will continue to learn from your habits and over time, give you even more precise advice.However, the only devices and services you can use with the app are UP by Jawbone, MapMyFitness, MyFitnessPal and RunKeeper.Microsoft Health is available to download on Android, iOS and Windows Phones.3. Pricing and availabilityThe Microsoft Band is available starting October 30 in limited quantities from MicrosoftStore.com and physical Microsoft Stores in the US for $199.So far a global rollout hasn't been announced, but expect it soon.4. CompatibilityInterestingly, the Microsoft Band will be a cross platform fitness tracker. The band will work with Windows Phone 8.1, iOS 7.1 and 8, and Android 4.3-4.4 devices all over Bluetooth. Some features, like Cortana on the Windows Phone, require a data or Wi-Fi connection.5. Early comparisonIt seems like Microsoft is in a good position to join the top wearables. Though it's expensive, it's packed with a ton of sensors and could almost be a smartwatch because of all its different notification features. In fact, the Microsoft Band comes close to acting and looking like the Samsung Gear Fit. But the band has the upper hand in allowing cross platform compatibility, having GPS and looking a tad less bulky. The addition of a health platform is also nice and provides quite a bit of potential with its ability to constantly learn and suggest different things to you. This app could very well be the the band's defining feature setting it apart and above the rest of the pack.So far, it looks like a nice first attempt from Microsoft.

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Review: Plantronics BackBeat Pro

Introduction and DesignPlantronics may have started off as a mono headset company, but over the past few years the company has been making some pretty good moves into the stereo category, leveraging their expertise in Bluetooth to deliver some solid wireless earphones, like the BackBeat Fit.The company has now turned to the premium headphone market. The BackBeat Pro combines Plantronics' Bluetooth stereo smarts with noise cancellation, twin device pairing and a fairly massive battery life to create a compelling headphone offering.Weighing in at 340 grams, the headphones are heavy on the scales, but feel significantly lighter on the head. And given the feature set, the extra weight feels worth it.DesignThe BackBeat Pro is available in any colour you like, so long as you like black. The simple colour scheme sort of matches its target market though – this is a pair of headphones for the type of people who would normally buy a pair of Bose QuietComfort 25.That said there is a subtle purple lining to the inside of the over-ear headphones, so you get a touch of Joker in with your Batman.Like all over the skull headphones, the strap expands and contracts to fit your head. But one nice design decision is that when you take the headphones off and wear them around your neck, the headphone cups fold down so the padding rests on your collarbones, rather than straight up, like many other designs.This means that the headphones are just as comfortable to wear around your neck when you can't have them on.Each headphone has controls integrated into its design for easy access. The left cup has a large, circular button on top that will start and pause your music, with a rotary dial that will fast forward or rewind tracks. The noise cancelling switch also rests on the back of the left cup.The right headphone, meanwhile, has your call/answer button on the cup, with a volume dial around the outside, with the power switch at the back.At the bottom of the right headphone is a pass through button as well, which activates the inbuilt microphone so you can hear people talk to you without stopping your music.The end result of this design is that everything is ridiculously easy and intuitive to control. Where some other Bluetooth headphones have smaller buttons scattered across the design, the BackBeat Pro are simple to control and navigate.There's also a standard 3.5mm headphone jack at the bottom of the left headphone, so you can listen to music with a wired connection, getting around all those pesky wireless transmission restrictions on aircraft.It also helps work around the emergency situation of running out of battery, although that wasn't a situation we encountered during our tests.If there was a single design element we didn't like, it's the fact that the headphones don't fold up for portability. Seriously, chucking these in your carry on is going to take up a lot of precious space, where alternatives like the Bose are a lot more compact.Performance and VerdictPerformanceThe good news for music fans is that the Backbeat Pro has some very nice audio quality. What's more, they sound great both with and without the noise cancelling features activated.Overall, the audio is quite well balanced. Bass is solid but not overwhelming, the mids shine through, while the high frequencies get plenty of coverage.The noise cancellation is also good, especially when partnered with the passive cancellation you get from having the headphones encase your ears. It can't compete with the active noise cancellation on a pair of Bose headphones, but it's almost a case of the BackBeat Pros having great sound with really good noise cancellation, as opposed to Bose's tendency to have amazing noise cancellation with really good sound.As you might expect, the Bluetooth integration here is top shelf. Not only do you get a Class 1 radio on the inside, which allows you to listen to music up to a distance of 100 metres from your device, but the BackBeat Pro also allows you to pair two devices simultaneously.The streaming quality was solid - the connection only really dropped out when we walked a good distance from the source, and even then there were a few walls between the headphones and the device playing music.Using the headphones for making and receiving phone calls was great, with one of the best quality connections we've found on a Bluetooth pair of headphones.The dual pairing is incredibly useful too. Pair the BackBeat Pro to your phone and your tablet, and it will seamlessly switch between the two.You don't even need to do anything to make it work, other than stop what was playing on one device before playing another.It's not perfect though. For a start, every device you pair with the headphones is referred to as a phone, be it an actual phone, a tablet or a games console. The little voice that tells you what's going on will announce "phone one connected" or "phone two connected", but that doesn't help you if you're not sure which device is phone one or phone two.The next challenge is pairing itself. To pop the headphones in pairing mode, you need to hold the answer/call button for two seconds. But there's no audible feedback, and if you press too long, you'll just activate Siri or Google Now.For Android users, you can get around it with the embedded NFC chip, but iPhone 6 or PS Vita users don't have the luxury.Still, the convenience still outweighs the challenge in a big way.Also convenient is the battery life. Plantronics say that it will give you 24 hours of Bluetooth playback with noise cancelling activated.In real world use, that means that you might – just might – need to recharge the headphones once a week.Plantronics managed this extraordinary feat by including a couple of sensors that automatically stop music playback when you take the headphones off, saving battery life. These sensors do occasionally get it wrong – run for the bus and you might find your music stops and starts on every second step, for example – but the music does automatically start playing again when you put them back on.Bluetooth 4.0 also helps conserve juice, while a deep sleep mode can keep the battery going for up to six months.If you do run out of battery life, it's a simple matter of plugging in a standard headphone jack, and you can keep listening (albeit without noise cancellation). And when you go to charge, the Backbeat Pros will go from 0 to 100 per cent battery life in about three hours.We LikedThere is so, so much to like about these headphones. Audio quality is great, noise cancellation is really good and the controls are super intuitive.The dual-pairing Bluetooth, 100m range and passthrough button that lets you hear the outside world and your music at the same time all warrant a mention too.But it's the battery life that makes everything come together. At a time when it's getting harder and harder to go too far from a power point thanks to average battery life, being able to go at least a week between charges is a huge relief.We dislikedAs much as we loved these headphones though, there's still plenty of room for improvement.For a start, the lack of identification between paired devices is frustrating. Whether it's a voice-to-text upgrade that will identify your device's name or something simpler, it would be nice to have more detail about what's connected.It would also be nice if there was a bit more feedback when the headphones are put into pairing mode, so it can be easily done without taking them off. The Backbeat Pros are also a tad heavy. You don't really notice it while wearing them, and it does allow for the integrated battery, but as with most gadgets – lighter is always better.Final VerdictAt AU$349 / £250 / US$250, these are not a cheap pair of headphones. But they are an investment in both comfort and convenience, and if Bose has taught us anything, it's that those are features people are willing to pay for.Sure, they're not perfect, but having the ability to pair to multiple devices simultaneously, without having to panic about battery life constantly is an amazingly enticing proposition.But when it comes down to it, these are some of the most versatile, best performing headphones we've encountered. Given that they are also Plantronics' first foray into the high-end Bluetooth headphone space, it kind of makes us excited to see what the company will do next.

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Another cable company hints at standalone subscription service

Starz may soon join HBO in ditching cable bundle exclusivity in favor of offering a standalone subscription service as well.That's what Starz CEO Chris Albrecht hinted at during an investor call today, according to The Verge."While you will hear more from us on this over time, I can tell you now that we have the content right [and] the technology platform and infrastructure in place to ensure that the Starz businesses are positioned to capitalize on these new opportunities, both here in the US and abroad," he said.He added that it's an "obvious" choice and that Starz and similar companies "stand to gain tremendously" from it, the site said.Stand alone, subscribe togetherStarz has its own exclusive original content, including Outlander, Black Sails, Da Vinci's Demons, and others, though they aren't quite as strong as HBO's Game of Thrones, True Detective and others.HBO announced its own standalone streaming service on October 15, and last we heard rumor said it might cost as much as $15 per month.Allegedly the company doesn't want to compete too hard with its own bundled cable service, but there's a chance it might shoot itself in the foot with that price as well.No hints yet as to what Starz might charge for its own streaming service, but hopefully it's less than that. It also remains unclear whether these services will truly be standalone or will be bundled with internet service, so here's hoping for more info soon.Netflix overtakes HBO to reach impressive milestone

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Hands-on review: Google Nexus 6

Google Nexus 6 is a supersized version of the new Moto X that has been given a two-handed booster shot and, appropriately, received a Lollipop.This is the first new smartphone to run Android 5.0 Lollipop and, really, there's no better way to experience all of the changes Google has made to its operating system.It parades the new Material Design interface on a massive 6-inch display, moves seamlessly between apps thanks to the latest Snapdragon processor and 3GB of RAM, and lasts all day with a Qi-chargeable 3220 mAh battery.Nexus 6 isn't for everyone, especially one-handed texters who think a 5.2-inch Moto X pushes the limit, but Motorola has may be the best Android phablet with few feature misgivings.Key featuresThe Nexus 6 features a head-turning 5.96-inch AMOLED display that is not only bigger and brighter than the Moto X, it edges out the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus in every way.That's because it doubles down on Apple's full HD screen with a more stunning 1440 x 2560 resolution and 493 pixels per inch. It's officially welcomed into the Quad HD club. Yes, that Quad HD club already includes Android members like the LG G3 and Samsung Galaxy Note 4, but Google Nexus 6 stands out from the pack with its exaggerated display.There's no 6-inch juggernaut like it and its edge-to-edge display and on-screen soft buttons maximize the screen real estate while minimizing the overall phone's dimensions. It's bigger without feeling overbearing: 159.3mm (6.27in) tall, 83.0 mm (3.15in) wide and a depth of 3.8mm - 10.1mm (0.15in - 0.39in). It weighs noticeable but acceptable 184g (6.49oz).DesignGoogle Nexus 6 also feels better in the hand for its size. Motorola's design, borrowed from the Moto X, gives it a sturdy BendGate-free aluminum metal frame and gently curved back.The curve feels natural against my hand or, in most cases, hands and the plastic back is at least smooth. There are no Moto Maker customizations for wood or leather backs here. Nexus 6 colors are limited to either Cloud White or Midnight Blue with the advantage of being compatible with Qi wireless chargers, a feature all tricked-out Moto X phones don't support.Google's new phone also benefits from dual speakers at the top and bottom and comes with a Turbo Charger that juices up the phone with six additional hours of battery in just 15 minutes.SpecsAt the heart of the Nexus 6 is a 2.7Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 quad-core processor that has an Adreno 420 GPU. It's a top-of-the-line chip for Google's largest Android phone yet.Backing that up is 3GB of RAM and a reasonable 32GB or 64GB of internal storage. Notice, there's no silly 16GB model to cheapen the value.All of these Nexus 6 specs aren't overkill. It's important for the lightweight, but feature-filled Android Lollipop update that's pre-installed on the phone. Android does more things at once than ever: running multiple apps, receiving notifications that hit the new lockscreen, swiping left for the instantly accessible Google Now and saying "Okay Google" to perform voice searches.CameraAround back, there's a 13-megapixel camera that seems to be on par with 13-megapixel Moto X snapper. It's not. It has a better Sony IMX214 sensor with a wider f/2.0 aperture and optical image stabilization.This trumps the Moto X camera specs that compromise of an older sensor and lacked OIS. It's also far superior to what we got with 8-megapixel Nexus 5 camera last year. We'll evaluate camera performance with plenty of samples, run conclusive battery life tests and pour over every other feature in-depth throughout the week.Availability and priceThe Nexus 6 US release date is November 12 on T-Mobile. Likely to follow suit are AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and US Cellular given their vague, but apt "early November" launch window. Pre-orders via the Google Play Store began today and Nexus 6 sold out immediately.We're a little less clear on a UK release date and, frankly, anywhere else outside of the US. Officially, Nexus 6 launches in 28 countries, but nowhere else has a firm launch date or price.Nexus 6 costs $649 for the 32GB model and $699 for the 64GB model, a fair price given the specs and internal storage.This is the same price the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 16GB model that's smaller in both physical and storage size. Given US-to-UK phone price trends, the UK price could start just north of £600.Early verdictThe death of the Google Nexus program has been greatly exaggerated, and this year's stock Android phone ironically resulted in an exaggerated Moto X. Its tremendous display, premium specs and debut of Android 5.0 Lollipop make one of the best phablets to date.There's still more testing to be done before we score this review. In-depth processor tests, battery measurements and camera samples are still to come. We'll go over every inch of the new Nexus 6, just like we're doing for its tablet counterpart, the Nexus 9.

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Hands-on review: Nintendo 3DS XL (2014)

While Nintendo's Wii U home console has struggled – delivering agonisingly long waits between first party titles and weaker versions of third party ones – the Nintendo 3DS handheld has long been the dominant force in the portable market, leaving Sony's PS Vita and its PSP predecessors choking on its dust.The latest incarnation of Nintendo's compact gaming powerhouse – somehow both straightforwardly and confusingly named the New Nintendo 3DS XL – introduces a number of subtle upgrades, making it the best portable gaming system Nintendo has ever produced, but still leaving room for improvement. Whether these upgrades will make it an essential purchase if you own the, er, "old" Nintendo 3DS XL depends on a few things. Things like how much of an annoyance you find carrying around the Circle Pad Pro accessory, and if you think the new console's small C-stick is a suitable substitute for the Pro's full-sized circle pad. Then there's the question of whether you need the added processing power – set to be first employed by a port of Xenoblade Chronicles, a JRPG with very niche appeal, but with more games promised.And finally there's the question of how likely you are to use the console's NFC feature to play with Nintendo's Skylanders and Disney Infinity-aping "Amiibo" figurines.C-stick it to meOf these considerations, arguably the most controversial is the New 3DS XL's introduction of a second directional stick (the C-stick) just above the console's four face buttons. Not controversial because of its inclusion here, but because of its absence from earlier consoles. This is something we can't help feeling should have been in place from the very first 3DS. Ever since Nintendo introduced titles like Resident Evil: Revelations and Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D in early 2012, gamers have been asked to buy the Circle Pad Pro (or the Circle Pad Pro XL variation) accessory in order to access the second directional pad required to play these games properly. Since the launch of the original 3DS, Nintendo has released both the 3DS XL and the 2DS, but it's only now, with the New Nintendo 3DS XL that the Big N has decided to add a second directional stick. It's long overdue, but welcome nonetheless.More disappointing is the fact that instead of a second full-sized circle pad, the console features a small stick that feels both less satisfying and less accurate than the Circle Pad Pro. While playing Resident Evil: Revelations the stick felt slow and inaccurate, but we suspect that has as much to do with the software as the hardware – Resi does offer a very particular brand of frustrating survival horror after all.To counter this we also tested the console with Nintendo's new Super Smash Bros. title. The chaotic action of the game made it tricky to properly gauge the C-stick's effectiveness – it really is a frenzied hurricane of a game – but we can say that due to its lack of give, the very firm C-stick can feel less responsive than you would hope.It's entirely possible we'll warm to the C-stick once we've spent more time with it. At this stage it feels inferior to the Circle Pad Pro's offering, but we've had years to get used to the feel of two circle pads. It will take more than a couple of hours to retrain our brains and thumbs.Of course, none of this would be an issue if the New 3DS XL gave you the option of using your Circle Pad Pro XL. Sadly it does not.Press my buttonsAccompanying the C-stick in the New 3DS XL's bag of tricks is the addition of ZL and ZR buttons, sitting inside the 3DS' long-standing L and R bumpers. At first their placement seemed odd – we'd have expected them to sit below the bumpers, like the triggers on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One controllers – but we found it quite comfortable, with the buttons proving easy to hit without accidentally brushing the bumpers. How much these buttons will be put to use by future titles remains to be seen, but their addition could force 3DS owners to make the upgrade.If not that, it will be the new console's additional processing grunt, which we're told will see games released for the New 3DS XL that won't run on older consoles. We didn't notice any benefit while playing Super Smash Bros. or Resident Evil: Revelations (curious that Nintendo used a game that's two and a half years old to show off its new hardware) but that's actually a good thing. After all, these games really shouldn't offer an inferior experience on the consoles for which they were designed.Something you won't be able to enjoy on your older 3DS is the joy of Nintendo's amiibo, which uses the console's NFC functionality to take collectable figurines and place playable versions of those characters in games across the 3DS and Wii U consoles. We didn't get a chance to try this out during our brief time with the New 3DS XL, but parents' wallets should be warned that their youngsters might be about to develop a collecting compulsion.The one area where the New 3DS XL truly shines is in the viewing angle department. Older 3DS consoles had a very restrictive sweet spot that meant you had to keep your console very still in order to enjoy its 3D graphics. Stray even a fraction from the dead centre of the console and the screen would go blurry, resulting in tired eyes, and in some cases a slightly queasy feeling. The 3DS XL's screen is a dramatic improvement. While its dimensions remain unchanged (even a slight upscale would have helped make this an essential purchase), its viewing angles are far superior thanks to the introduction of subtle face tracking. The experience is more forgiving than on older consoles, and our eyes weren't strained in the way they have been after past sessions.Kind of a new lookOverall, Nintendo has given the New 3DS XL a subtle redesign, keeping the console's dimensions and general look the same, but with a few subtle tweaks in the details. The cartridge slot is now located at the console's front on the left side, with the stylus located at the front on the right. The port for the charging cable now sits in the centre at the back and the face buttons are now colour coded red, yellow, blue and green, rather than the grey of old. The power button has been moved from the right of the screen to the front of the console, while the Start and Select buttons have been moved from below the screen to sit on its right.The storage cards have also been shrunk from SD to MicroSD, with capacities of up to 32GB accepted. The new slot is hidden underneath the back cover, and you'll need a small Philips head screwdriver to change it over.The new incarnation of the XL console is launching in the functional, if uninspiring, colors of Metallic Blue and Metallic Black. The glossy finishes have a more premium look than the matte of the original 3DS XL, but they do get covered in fingerprints very quickly and are a little conservative. We wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo has something more outlandish up its sleeve – purple, anyone?The New 3DS XL will launch on November 21 in Australia, coming in at the same price point as the original 3DS XL of AUD$249.95 (we imagine pricing in the UK and US will follow suit, matching that of the original 3DS XL in those territories).Early VerdictIf it sounds like we have slightly limited enthusiasm for the New 3DS XL, it's only because this great – and it really is great – handheld could have been even better. And knowing Nintendo, there's every possibility our imaginary console will become a reality at some point in the future. As it stands, this is still the best handheld Nintendo has ever produced (yes, even better than your hallowed Game Boy). If you're in the market for a portable gaming system you could do a lot worse.

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The Co-Creator Of Android Is Leaving Google

Andy Rubin, who oversaw Google’s Android division until 2013, has left the company. The Wall Street Journal first reported the news.
















Bobby Yip / Reuters / Reuters











Andy Rubin, the co-founder of Android before it was acquired by Google in 2005, has left Google, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. A representative from Google confirmed the departure to News.

Rubin joined Google as part of the company's acquisition. But the move is not particularly surprising, as Rubin took a step back from Android to work in Google's robotics division, leading Google's quick-rising star Sundar Pichai to take over the division.

Pichai, well-liked at Google's Mountain View headquarters, took over the division in March last year. It was the first sign of the consolidation of Google's products under Pichai, who previously ran Google's Chrome projects. Most-recently, the company elevated Pichai to be head of the company's entire product division.

Under Rubin's lead, Google launched the first phone running Android in 2008. Since then, Android has taken a dominating market share over other smartphone operating systems across the world. Some of the most popular new smartphone manufacturers, like China-based Xiaomi, run modified versions of Android.

Google, too, has launched its own line of Google-branded Android phones and tablets under the company's Nexus project. Google selects specific manufacturers to develop the phones, which don't include the customized versions of the operating systems.

During Android's rise, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs said he'd go "to thermonuclear war" with Google, as detailed in Walter Isaacson's biography of Jobs. "I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong," Jobs said, according to the biography. "I'm going to destroy Android, because it's a stolen product. I'm willing to go thermonuclear war on this."

Rubin is leaving to start an incubator for startups focused on hardware, according to the Journal.

"I want to wish Andy all the best with what's next," Google CEO Larry Page said in a statement to provided to News. "With Android he created something truly remarkable—with a billion plus happy users. Thank you."

A representative from Google declined to comment further on Rubin's departure.




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Yahoo Poaches Amazon Ad Exec Lisa Utzschneider, Ned Brody Takes Ad Tech Role

 Some executive musical chairs and an interesting poach/hire at Yahoo, announced today. The company has named Lisa Utzschneider as its SVP of sales for the Americas, nabbing her from Amazon, where she was VP, global advertising sales and had been with the company since 2008. Meanwhile, Ned Brody, who had been in the Americas role, is taking a new position as SVP, advertising technology and… Read More

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Instagram Video Ads Go Live Because Everything Good Must Come To An End

 Instagram has at long last debuted video advertisements after rigorous testing and hands-on work with brands. And because they are advertisements, none of that rigorous work really matters because we simply hate advertisements. With video ads, th...

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NaturalCycles Expands Its Contraception App Subscription Service In Europe

 Swiss founded startup NaturalCycle, which has been testing its contraception app in the Nordics since last December has now opened it up to the U.K. market, making its first move to scale the subscription service which aims to offer women an alte...

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Google’s New Bookmarking Service, Previously Called Stars, Has Gone Live

 Google Stars, the long-rumored bookmarking service from Google, has now publicly launched, but with little fanfare. That Google was working to update its bookmarking service has been known for some time. In May, a developer who had been digging into the service leaked a copy of the “Google Stars” extension, as it was called at the time, while it was still being tested. And now,… Read More

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In The Best Conditions, iOS-Exclusive Vainglory Is A Top-Notch MOBA

 A few weeks back I drove down to the San Mateo headquarters of Super Evil Megacorp, the developer behind Vainglory, one of the prominent MOBAs built specifically for tablets (and, as we discovered at September’s iPhone event, the iPhone 6). Read More

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Novelty T-Shirt Maker Print Syndicate Raises $4.25M Series A

 Print Syndicate, an e-commerce store that sells printed T-shirts and other fashion and home decor goods, has raised $4.25 million in Series A funding led by Data Point Capital. Read More

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9 Celebrity Tweets You Missed Today

Here’s what happened today!























































































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Millennials and Midterms: Why America’s Youth Needs To Get Out And Vote (Video)

Disclaimer: is a non-partisan organization. We reached out to an equal number of politicians from both the Democratic and Republican parties for this video, the individuals featured are those who responded. Likewise, this video does not constitute an endorsement of the politicians featured.  Midterm elections are on November 4, 2014. There’s a lot […]
Millennials and Midterms: Why America’s Youth Needs To Get Out And Vote (Video)

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Jina Moore's Ebola Story, And Why News Is Investing In Foreign Correspondents

“You have to be in a kind of dialogue that involves eye contact.”






News' Jina Moore arrived on Oct. 13 for her second trip to Liberia since the largest epidemic of Ebola on record spiraled out of control this summer. On her second day in the country, she sat down with a man she'd gotten to know on the last trip, an assistant minister of health, who said something surprising: That by several measures, the number of new Ebola cases was going down.

This is not the sort of thing you want to speculate on, or to tweet. Media coverage of Ebola has been broadly alarmist, sloppy, and wrong, focused on the wrong place — New York — while West Africa suffered. Jina is a veteran correspondent who has thought deeply about "the Africa story" and about telling Africans' stories. Her 2012 essay, "The White Correspondent's Burden," is required reading, and her coverage of Ebola in Liberia was early, humane, and wrenching.

Jina is, in short, exactly the sort of correspondent News' foreign editor, Miriam Elder, looks to hire as we build a new kind of international news operation. Her story last Thursday breaking the news of the Liberian Ebola decline helps explain why News is investing so heavily in putting great, experienced reporters around the world, doubling our foreign desk to more than a dozen correspondents. And her stunning body of work from Liberia demonstrates why we think there's so much room for ambitious new journalism in this sometimes hidebound space.

Jina followed up on the official's stunning assertion with the kind of reporting that has, after decades of cuts to much of legacy media, increasingly been replaced by reliance on official sourcing and spin. The World Health Organization, keeper of the official Ebola numbers, was giving no hint that the shape of the epidemic had radically changed, so Jina worked her vast array of official and unofficial sources to verify the new pattern.

She started with the data, spending two and a half hours with the Health Ministry's numbers cruncher who supplies the WHO with data. She spoke to James Dorbor Jallah, the deputy incident manager at the National Ebola Command Center, who told her that "new case numbers are going down."

Then she talked to the people in the business of beds and bodies. She called the "burial team" leader, whose heroism she'd previously documented, who told her that his group was collecting fewer bodies, and that they were coming from treatment centers, not homes. She spoke to the doctor who supervises the country's Ebola Treatment Units, who had once told her that they were out of hospital beds — and who now said there were beds to spare. She spoke to the ETU nurses, who confirmed that the crowding had eased. She spoke to the people running the country's dedicated information line, who were getting fewer calls.

This reporting would have been impossible from New York or Washington or Nairobi, where Jina is based. It is too complicated and high-stakes for phone calls — "You have to be in a kind of dialogue that involves eye contact. And graphs," Jina told me. It is also still expensive, despite advances in communications that have deeply changed reporting and afford her an audience of unprecedented scale. It requires specialized training to avoid Ebola and a plan to give Jina the best medical care should, god forbid, she contract the virus. And, most of all, it requires Jina's remarkable combination of intelligence, rigor, experience, and hard work.

"You have to be able to put the data next to every tranche of human experience in responding to the Ebola outbreak, and to see that the human experience and the numbers line up," she said. "You wouldn't be able to do that anywhere else."

It would have been hard for a reporter on her first trip to the country, who wouldn't have noticed, for instance, that there were simply fewer ambulances screaming through the streets than there had been months earlier. And it would have been hard without Jina's long commitment to relying on the local sources who know the most, and not on international or American voices to tell African stories. About nine of her sources on the story were Liberian, she said, though she also spoke to a few officials at international organizations.

"If you just talk to some Liberians they know a lot of stuff, and they have a lot more hours of expertise in dealing with Ebola than anyone else in the world," she told me.

Four days after Jina's story, the New York Times' great Sheri Fink and New York Review of Books made similar observations. Thursday, the WHO confirmed that Ebola is in fact down, based on the numbers Liberian officials had given Jina a week earlier.

This is a story we will continue to report, and to handle with care.

"No one wants to make it look like the crisis is over," Jina said. "If you stop too soon you have a bigger problem on your hands than if you never started at all."

But it's an important story and, most important amid a haze of panic and misinformation, it's a true story.




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Students Vow Continued Protests Over Disappearance Of 43 Schoolmates In Mexico

“We want them to find our schoolmates,” said Raymundo, a spokesman for a group of 95 students who occupied a subway station that services of one the city’s largest markets. John Stanton reports for News from Mexico City.













Students in a Mexico City subway station protest the disappearance of 43 of their colleagues


John Stanton / Via











MEXICO CITY — Students from the Escuala Normal de Especializacion began occupying metro stations in this bustling city Thursday as part of ongoing efforts to pressure Mexican authorities to find 43 missing students in the state of Guerrero.
The students, who attended one of the 16 Escuela Normales in the country that train poor and rural teachers, disappeared Sept. 26, following a confrontation with local police.
"We want them to find our schoolmates," said Raymundo, a spokesman for a group of 95 students who briefly occupied the Estacion Metro Merced, which services of one the city's largest markets.
























John Stanton / Via











Investigations into the disappearance has lead to not one but nineteen mass graves. None so far have contained the remains of the students, though the most recent is still undergoing forensic tests. Investigators currently believe that after firing on the students — who had commandeered several buses to take them to a protest — the police delivered missing students to members of the Guerreros Unidos cartel, telling them that the students were members of a rival drug gang.

Two cartel hit men admitted to killing at least some of the students and dumping them in a pit -- although their bodies have not yet been recovered, the Financial Times reported earlier this month. So far, 56 people have been arrested in connection to the disappearance.

The incident has sparked mass protests across Mexico, including here in the capital where college and high school students have engaged in marches and temporary occupations for weeks, and student activists are organizing a general strike that could start November 5th.







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Indian Man Arrested For Homosexuality After Being Filmed On Wife's Spy Cameras

“My husband is a homosexual performing acts against nature,” the wife said in her complaint to Bangalore police.



















Police in the Indian technology hub Bangalore have arrested a 32-year-old man for homosexuality after his wife installed secret cameras in their house and recorded him having sex with another man.

This may be the first case of someone arrested for consensual sex under India's law criminalizing "sex against the order of nature" since it was reinstated by India's Supreme Court in December.

The wife said in a statement filed with police on October 20 obtained by News that she decided to install secret cameras because, after one year of marriage, "there is no sexual contact between me and my husband." She said she had been "suffering thinking that my life was ruined," and called for the police to "take legal action against my homosexual husband." She also said her parents, who arranged the marriage with his parents, "have suffered mental trauma," and asked police to take action against her in-laws for having "cheated me and got him married to me."

A lawyer for the husband could not be immediately reached. The couple's names have not been released, and the copy of the police complaint shared with News had been redacted to conceal their identities. The wife describes herself as a 31-year-old "dental doctor," and the husband is software engineer for the Indian company Infosys.

India has had a law against homosexuality on the books since it was a British colony, but prosecutions under the code, known as Section 377, have been relatively rare. More often, the provision has been used by police for extortion or harassment of LGBT people, according to Indian human rights activists, such as occurred in November 2013 when 13 people were arrested under the provision in the middle of the night in the city of Hassan in the state of Karnataka. The law was technically unenforceable at the time of this sweep, because the Delhi High Court had struck down 377 in 2009 as a ruling as a violation of LGBT people's human rights.

A two-judge panel of the Indian Supreme Court reinstated the provision in December, however, saying that "Section 377 … does not criminalize a particular people or identity or orientation. It merely identifies certain acts which if committed would constitute an offense." The court agreed in April to hear one final challenge to this ruling, but hearings have still not been scheduled.

Danish Sheikh, a lawyer with the Bangalore-based Alternative Law Forum — which worked on the challenge to 377 and is offering legal support to the arrested engineer — said that this arrest challenges some of the logic used by the judges to uphold 377. During arguments on the provision, Sheikh said in an email, Justice Sudhansu Jyoti Mukhopadhaya implied that the law would never result in prosecutions of private, consensual sex because "If something is [done] in private, who knows?"

"The Supreme Court in its deliberations felt that the dangers of Section 377 existed only through blackmail and extortion," Sheikh said. "What is particularly significant in [this] case is the blatant scale of intrusion of privacy which has allowed for prosecution under 377 to take place."

Neither the accused nor his attorney have made public statements since his arrest this month, but the wife has spoken to Indian media outlets including the Bangalore Mirror and the radio station 93.5 RED FM.

She said she "never wanted him to go to jail," but was responding to accusations from her husband and his parents that she was at fault for their failing marriage. That's when, she said, "I decided that he should be punished."

"I did ask him many times, 'are you gay,' very politely I asked him," she told 93.5 Red FM's Disha Oberoi. "I asked him, 'if that is so, please ... confess it to me. We will sort it out,' something. He said to me, I am having some illicit affairs, I am not performing duties as a wife, I'm very arrogant, I've been always quarrelsome right from the beginning. All these accusations. I just wanted to see, there was no sign of remorse. He told me right away — very harshly he told me — 'If you want a divorce, I'm ready to give you a divorce. Walk out of my life.'"

She said she had also confronted her mother-in-law, who responded, "If you're not interested to stay with my son, then you're free to walk out."

"I saw the arrogance and attitude from him and from his family — that is why I took this step," she said, adding that she was afraid people will treat her poorly as a divorced woman.

















Listen to 93.5 RED FM's interview with the wife, which begins at 3:00 minutes into this recording.







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You Might Start Seeing Ads In Your Uber

The taxification of Uber?
















Gas4Ads.com











WASHINGTON — A small California startup wants to help Uber drivers cope with one their top grievances about working for the ridesharing giant — cost.

Driver activists have taken to the streets and online forums in recent weeks and months to complain about Uber allegedly taking a larger cut of their fares and lowering prices without consulting them.

Kaz Moayedi, a 36-year-old who also runs a digital marketing firm, created Gas4Ads early this summer to try and alleviate those issues. The company, which is not affiliated with or expressly approved by any ridesharing app, seeks to reimburse drivers for companies like Uber and Lyft the cost of gas in exchange for prime ad placement — right at the eye-level on the back of their headrests.

"I'm an Uber fan," Moayedi said. "So I took some rides and spoke to some of the drivers, and saw a need."

Moayedi wouldn't provide News with the exact formula he uses to determine how much he'd pay back drivers, but it involves drivers sending in their weekly statements to Gas4Ads and once they calculate how far they'd driven, the company pays them back.

Joseph DeWolf, the co-founder of the California App-Based Drivers Association, said he has mixed feelings about that program. On the one hand he said drivers should be free to do what they want to increase their income. But he also noted that part of the benefit of what Uber offers is the fact that it's an alternative to a taxi. And placing ads inside, or even eventually outside, the vehicle could change that "not-a-taxi" feel.

"Personally I wouldn't do it because it cheapens the experience," he said.

DeWolf added that though Uber may not ban it directly, it's possible that if a rider dislikes the with-ad experience, a driver could receive a low rating, which could lead to a sudden suspension.

Uber didn't return a request for comment on their rules about third-party advertising services, and there isn't much historical context to guess how they'd respond if the program becomes popular. Uber drivers are "independent contractors," so theoretically they can do whatever they want with their vehicles.

"From what we know we're not going against any rules, if we did we wouldn't be doing it," Moayedi said. "From our perspective we aren't breaking any rules."

Uber has placed ads inside its own cars before, like when Delta advertised new USB ports on its airplanes by placing USB ports inside some Uber taxis.

But if there are other third-party advertising clients for Uber drivers, they have either been unsuccessful or poorly advertised. A quick Google search on the topic yields few results.

Gas4Ads is still in its very early stages. Mostly through Facebook advertising and word of mouth, Moayedi said he's managed to sign up a few hundred drivers, though he wouldn't provide any documentation. The true test will come either the first or second week of November, when the company will run its first big beta test in Los Angeles and Orange County, California, the only two cities it is in right now.

The company also has yet to draw any major advertisers — it's mostly local businesses and advertisers for local conferences — but Moayedi said if the beta launch is successful, they could try to expand.

"It's something that as it went along…it just seems like some people weren't making as much money as they hoped," Moayedi said. "Overall [reaction has] been very positive. Taking home some extra money was always something on top of their minds."




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Hillary Clinton Confronted By Biggest Immigration Disturbance Yet

United We Dream confronted Clinton in force. The effect was jarring.
















Chris Keane / Reuters











COLLEGE PARK, Md. — In a wave of staggered protests, five groups of loud and persistent activists disrupted Hillary Clinton's speech at a rally here on Thursday.

The incident marked the latest, and rowdiest, in a series of public actions meant to press Clinton to disclose her stance on the executive actions to slow deportations
that President Obama is expected to announce after the midterm elections.

For about 10 minutes of a stump speech at the Ritchie Coliseum at the University of Maryland College Park, Clinton had trouble making her words heard over the shouts and hollers from the immigration activists with United We Dream, a national advocacy group that has targeted Clinton at her public speeches this year.

Last week, four protesters from a United We Dream affiliate caused a minor disturbance at Clinton's rally for Sen. Kay Hagan in Charlotte, North Carolina.

But the demonstration on Thursday was the group's biggest effort yet.

The protests, timed at intervals from different parts of the auditorium, had a startling effect. Clinton was about five minutes through her remarks here — a stump speech to support Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee in Maryland — when the first wave of hecklers started shouting from the audience.

They held signs that read, "Choose Families Over Politics."

When the group of about six activists on the main floor started yelling, Clinton kept to her speech. But eventually, she acknowledged the cries from the crowd.

"Immigration is an important issue in this state," Clinton said.

Martin O'Malley, the outgoing governor here, passed a state version of the DREAM Act two years ago granting in-state tuition to young undocumented immigrants.

The crowd of Clinton and Brown fans overpowered the first round of hecklers, who were escorted out by security. "Hill-a-ry! Hill-a-ry!" the audience chanted.

"If they'd just waited a little while, I was getting to the DREAM Act," Clinton joked.

"I'm a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform," she added.

"We have to treat everyone with dignity and compassion."

But that's not the answer these activists were looking for. The idea of the demonstrations — according to protesters who have participated in them this year and officials from United We Dream — is to pressure Clinton to say whether she supports the executive actions Obama has said he'll take after the election.

Greisa Martinez, a 26-year-old activist from Texas who was one of those escorted out by security, said the group was there to show its displeasure with reports that the president is considering excluding a key group from future executive actions: the parents of undocumented immigrants given temporary legal status in 2012.

"She tried to make it seem like we were advocating for the DREAM Act when she knows very well that's not what we're asking for," Martinez said.

"We wanted to ask, 'Madam Secretary, where do you stand on administrative relief? We demand relief for our families — and where do you stand on the president acting?'"

The United We Dream activists said last month that Clinton will be a continuing target of actions like the one last week in North Carolina and Thursday in Maryland.

When it seemed like the protests had died down, Clinton returned to the normal rhythm of her speech. Then another group of activists started chanting "We Shall Overcome" in a sing-song voice from the risers. More waves of protests followed.

There appeared to be about five groups dispersed about the hall. In total, the United We Dream activists here on Thursday numbered at least a dozen.

Each time another round of shouts started from one part of the auditorium, security found the hecklers and escorted them out.

The confrontation is the latest and largest disturbance at a Clinton event from immigration activists across the country — including California, North Carolina, Florida, Texas, New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

United We Dream officials said the organization believes they are starting to make a mark by continually putting the issue to Clinton publicly.

Martinez, the protester who was part of the group singing and chanting as they were escorted out, said she connected and spoke with several white, middle-aged women who were at the event to support Clinton. Martinez told them she was protesting because she was worried she might lose her mother to deportation.

As Martinez was escorted out, she said the group of women joined her and the other protesters in singing "We Shall Overcome."

Martinez said the Latino and immigrant communities deserve to know where Clinton stands on granting some kind of legal status for their parents.

Towards the end of her speech, Clinton added, "It's always good to have some debate and discussion in an election season like we're having now."














LINK: The Final Recommendations For Immigration Actions Are Being Sent To Obama

















LINK: DREAMer Activists Plan To Keep Confronting Hillary Clinton On Immigration










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Rand Paul Uncertain About Ebola Quarantines

Paul, who thinks there should be visa restrictions for people coming from Ebola-affected countries, says it’s unclear if some states’ quarantine policies honor the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus.
















Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group / MCT











WASHINGTON — Republican Sen. Rand Paul is unsure if the mandatory, Ebola-related quarantines in New Jersey and New York qualify as lawful imprisonment, he told News on Thursday.

"I think it's a complicated issue," Paul said. While the states think they have the right to quarantine returning Ebola health workers, "is there a conflict between state and federal law?"

"One of the primary freedoms we've had in our country" is "habeas corpus, the right of legal petition as to why you're being held," he said. "It's unclear or not that is honored in these situations."

Both New York and New Jersey announced quarantine measures for health workers returning from treating Ebola patients in West Africa last week, though New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo later walked back the measure, saying those under quarantine could stay in their homes. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie came under fire for having a nurse who has not tested positive for Ebola quarantined; she threatened to sue, to which Christie responded, "Get in line." Other states, including California, have also implemented mandatory quarantines.

Paul has been a vocal proponent of travel bans for people coming from countries in West Africa affected by the Ebola epidemic, and has accused the Obama administration of downplaying the real threat posed by Ebola.

He said his "preference" is still "visa restrictions," but that "for American citizens it's a little more difficult."




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Pro-Life Group Sends Official-Looking "Public Health Alert" Mailers To Iowans

“Children in your area are vulnerable”… to the Democratic Senate candidate.
















Josh Brennan/Amy Kernan











WASHINGTON — Susan B. Anthony's List, a prominent anti-abortion lobbying group based, is sending voters in Iowa a mailer that looks like an official warning of a disease outbreak.

"ALERT — CHILDREN IN YOUR AREA ARE VULNERABLE TO A PUBLIC HEALTH THREAT THAT CONTINUES UNCONTROLLED," reads the envelope.

Inside the mailer, the "potentially life-threatening public health danger" is revealed to be Democratic Senate nominee Bruce Braley's support for abortion rights. The letter contained inside the mailer, while carrying on the ominous tone from the envelope, uses fairly standard voter persuasion language.

Amy Kernan, a Davenport, Iowa FM radio host who says she is personally pro-life but favors legal abortions received the mailer Thursday. She said the envelope was jarring and called the mailer "disgusting."

"I get home from work, and this thing falls onto the ground and it says 'public health alert.' Of course, like anybody, even though I'm not scared of the whole Ebola thing I'm thinking, 'oh maybe they're telling us it's in our neighborhood,'" she said.

Kernan, who posted the mailer to Facebook, says she is a registered Democrat but regularly votes split tickets. She said the mailer helped turn her her against Republican nominee Joni Ernst and she intends to vote Braley.

The mailer was posted on Twitter, by the brother of one of Kernan's friends.

A representative for Susan B. Anthony's List did not respond to an email and phone call.














"Abortion is a very serious public health risk both for the child whose life is ended and the mother who may suffer health complications," group spokesperson Mallory Quigley wrote in an email. "Voters deserve to know where their candidates stand on this life and death issue."
























Josh Brennan/Amy Kernan




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NRA Ad Firm Actually Hired A Consultant To Disprove Grindr Ad Claims

The previously reported ad supporting Republican Senate candidate Tom Cotton on the gay hook-up ad is “100% fake,” the political consulting firm working with the NRA says.




























WASHINGTON — The political consulting firm that has worked with the National Rifle Association to promote Tom Cotton's Senate run in Arkansas hired a consultant Thursday to look into claims that the gun-rights group advertised on a gay hook-up app.

Brett Buereck, the president of Majority Strategies, the firm that has advertised for Cotton on behalf of the NRA, told News that the ad is "100% fake" on Thursday. He said the firm had engaged a third party for the investigation — "Dr. Neal Krawetz, the man who authenticated the president's birth certificate."

Buereck sent News an eight-page report from Krawetz, which states, "The findings in this report conclude that the screenshot was altered and the ad was digitally inserted into the picture."

On Wednesday, The Daily Beast reported that "the NRA is running ads for a socially conservative Republican candidate" on the app, Grindr.

Asked about the pro-Cotton ad and another ad that appeared to support Iowa Republican Senate candidate Joni Ernst, Grindr initially released a statement saying, "We have both direct advertisers as well third party ad networks which supply advertising to the app. The ads you reference were served by one of these third party ad networks." Noting the company has a policy against third-party ad networks using political ads, the Grindr statement concluded, "In this instance, we've reached out to the third party networks to have these ads removed."

Within hours, though, the NRA and Majority Strategies told CNN the group wasn't responsible for the ad. Additionally, Buereck claimed the ad was "doctored."

On Thursday morning, asked whether the ad could have inadvertently shown up on Grindr through a third-party ad network purchase, NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam told News, "Neither the NRA nor any of our immediate vendors, or those down the line, purchased ad space on Grindr. This was not an NRA ad. The ad was doctored and is a fake. Period."

Arulanandam added that Buereck would be able to provide more details. A couple hours later, Buereck did respond to News' questions, stating, "We can say definitively that we did not permit Grindr to run this ad. Most sophisticated firms are now targeting based on audience and not apps or websites. Based on the error analysis that our mobile firm did, it is highly likely that the image was doctored using photoshop or another tool."

Grindr has not responded to several requests from News on Thursday about the statements from the NRA and its consulting firm.


















Read the report:







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Sunset Overdrive Review: A Genuinely Fun Game, Once You Get Past First Impressions

 Microsoft’s console exclusives are arguably what it needs to make up ground on PlayStation, despite its continued hold on the beloved Halo series. Its brand new Xbox One game, Sunset Overdrive, looks in part to be an answer to Sony’s fan favorite Infamous series, since both offer a lot of grinding, wall-climbing and parkour-ish behavior. And despite a quirky face that takes… Read More

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Immediately Is An Email App For Sales Reps That Tracks When Messages Are Read

 SquareOne, an email startup that launched its iOS app for organizing messages earlier this year, has now pivoted to become Immediately, an email app designed with the needs of sales reps in mind. The new app, which is currently live on the web an...

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Trialfire Begins Selling Code-Free Analytics Service For Apps And Websites

 Toronto-based startup Trialfire is launching a service so companies can track customers as they interact with applications and websites without the need for data analysts and technical support. The company’s new software allows companies to collect every user click, navigation and entered field, without the need for fancy coding. “This way you don’t have to add any custom code… Read More

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Myths And Misconceptions Of Our Wearable Future

 Wearables as a second brain. The Internet of Self and Things. One trillion sensors…. There’s no doubt that a sensor-laden world is the buzz of the town. The next Big Thing. In fact, there is so much buzz that many consumers probably dismiss it as hype. Yet, in spite of all this hype, as a 30-year veteran of Silicon Valley’s semiconductor and sensor industry, this is about as… Read More

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Equity Crowdfunding Service Seedrs Acquires Junction Investments, Plots US Expansion

 Seedrs, a company based in London that deals with equity crowdfunding, has an eye on the U.S. market. Today, it announced that it has acquired Junction Investments, which is based in California, and operates in a similar market space. As a compan...

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Meet Samantha, Ethan App’s Sister

 Samantha is a girl living in New York City. She’s old enough to drink and experienced enough to give love advice. But other than that she prefers to keep it anonymous, like Gossip Girl. Read More

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Andy Rubin Is Leaving Google To Start A Hardware Incubator

 Andy Rubin, best known for his work on Android at Google, is leaving the company. According to The Wall Street Journal, Rubin will build an incubator for what it describes as companies working with “technology-hardware” products. Google confirmed the departure to us with a canned statement from Google CEO Larry Page: “I want to wish Andy all the best with what’s next.… Read More

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Daily Picdump #1229

Daily Picdump #1229






























Continue to Daily Picdump #1228 >>>


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How Lazy Are You Compared To The Rest Of The World?

A study.
























































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9 Celebrity #TBT Photos You May Have Missed This Week

Mario Lopez and Will Smith hanging out together in the ’90s kicks off this week’s #Throwback Thursday.









Mario Lopez posted this cool photo of himself hanging out with Will Smith in 1993.







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Barbra Streisand remembered the time she had President John F. Kennedy sign an autograph for her.







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Stevie Nicks took us back to her "Gypsy" days.







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EE launches its 4G+ network in London

EE has just announced the launch of its 4G+ network which can be accessed from around 150 sites across central London.The 4G+ network is also known as LTE-Advanced and can reach up to 150Mbps download speeds, making it faster than fibre optic home broa...

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Nintendo is building a sleep tracker - but you won't actually wear it

Nintendo's mysterious 'quality of life' project is finally beginning to take shape, with the company announcing that it's working on a sleep-tracking device. But what's most interesting about this product is that it isn't a wearable. Nintendo's gizmo is designed to work independently; it doesn't need to touch your body, it'll have very little waiting time, and apparently requires minimal setup.The device, announced by Nintendo CEO and president Satoru Iwata in an investor briefing, uses radio waves to monitor a user's heart rate, movement, respiration and fatigue. It then fires that data over to servers for analysis.The device is being built in collaboration with RedMed, a US manufacturer of technology for people with sleep disorders. Users will receive frequent updates about their quality of sleep, which will be sent to smart devices and dedicated Nintendo gaming platforms.We won't be seeing it for some time though, as Nintendo is planning to launch its Quality of Life program in 2016. Sleep cycle"We expect the QOL-improving platform to provide us with new themes which we can then turn into games that operate on our future video game platforms too," said Iwata. "Once we have established such a cycle, we will see continuous positive interactions between the two platforms that enable us to make unique propositions."The Wii Fit franchise was Nintendo's first foray into health, and proved a massive success for the company. But with a market now flooded with Fitbits, Jawbones and the likes, it'll be harder to stand out.However, let's not forget that Nintendo has taken a variety of forms in its long lifetime, venturing into playing cards, love hotels, food, and even a taxi service, before it started making games. So we have faith that it can pull off health tech too.Nintendo 2DS - barmy or brilliant?

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Zambia's New President Once Called Himself "The Highest Pure Honky" In African Politics

Formerly a popular member of Parliament, he’s now head of the country for the next 90 days.



















"I am the acting president at the moment. It has just been passed by cabinet," he said in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph. "This made him Africa's first white president of a democratic government ever 'except maybe the Venetians in the days when they ran the world,'" the British newspaper reported him as saying.

Scott is one of only 40,000 white citizens among Zambia's population of 13 million, a position that had the potential to be fraught with racial tensions. But Scott has been embraced by the country where he was born. "He is a black man in a white man's skin," said Nathan Phiri, a bus driver, to Reuters. "The very fact we accepted him as vice-president shows that we consider him as one of us."

At the time of his appointment as appointment to the vice-presidency in 2011, Scott was a former agriculture minister and member of parliament who had just won his home constituency by a landslide. Sata had just beaten the incumbent president, Rupiah Banda, the latter of whom accepted the results and stepped down to retire quietly. One professor at the University of Zambia told the BBC that he believes that Sata chose Scott as his deputy "in order to 'link' Zambia to foreign powers, and because he was a major funder of the Patriotic Front (PF) party, helping it to gain power for the first time in 2011 after Mr Sata spearheaded the modernisation of the party."

Scott soon thereafter called himself "the highest pure honky" official in sub-Saharan Africa.

"I have long suspected Zambia is moving from a post-colonial to a cosmopolitan condition," he said at the time. "People's minds are changing. They are no longer sitting back and dwelling on what was wrong about a colonialism. There's a Caribbeanisation, there's a range of colours – so what?"





















Zambia's vice president Guy Scott greets defense and security chiefs shortly after taking over as acting president


AP Photo











In an interview with The Guardian last year, Scott made clear his opinion on such topics as Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe, how he really feels about South Africa, on his views of homosexuality, and on allegations that the administration he serves is oppressive.

On Mugabe: "I'm sure any good African nationalist admires Mugabe .... Racism in Zimbabwe is a serious issue. I was sent to school down there and it was like being in the Hitler Youth: the theories about black inferiority and this kind of stuff."

On South Africa: "The South Africans are very backward in terms of historical development ... I hate South Africans. That's not a fair thing to say because I like a lot of South Africans but they really think they're the bees' knees and actually they've been the cause of so much trouble in this part of the world.

I dislike South Africa for the same reason that Latin Americans dislike the United States, I think. It's just too big and too unsubtle."

On allegations of oppression: "I really am very hard-pressed to find a corner I can sit in and believe that we're looking at a one-party state again."

"It doesn't help that people don't know where Zambia is and they don't know what Zambia is like. If you were to write a story about America getting out of hand and going to a one-party state, everybody knows so much about the United States that they won't believe you.

"If you say, 'Somewhere over there in the African hinterland, not far from where Marlon Brando had a house surrounded by stakes with heads of his enemies on, not far from the Congo, there's a place where there's a one-party state …' Well, there probably is, probably several. And so it's a lot easier for that because there's no built-in balance."

On homosexuality in Zambia: "I think you've got so much cleaning up to do of killings and defilements and this and that, it's almost self-indulgent to think, 'Well, why don't we sit here and talk about gay rights?'"

"It's indulgent politics that assumes yes, we don't actually have 7 million unemployed people. Realistically, I think even an average gay, if you gave him a list of all the concerns Zambia had, would not necessarily put gay rights on top."

"There's tonnes of gay joints in this town. Well, not tonnes but they're there, well known. It's entirely the same phenonemon you get anywhere else. It's live and let live. Stirring up and making it worse, that is the biggest danger. Let sleeping dogs lie is an easier policy."







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