Steven Paul Jobs, Dies 1955-2011

Diposkan oleh Unknown on Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Steven Paul Jobs, Dies 1955-2011
Steven P. Jobs, the Apple Inc. chairman and co-founder who pioneered the personal-computer industry and changed the way people think about technology, died Wednesday at the age of 56.


His family, in a statement released by Apple, said Mr. Jobs "died peacefully today surrounded by his family."
The company didn't specify the cause of death. Mr. Jobs had battled pancreatic cancer and several years ago received a liver transplant. In August, Mr. Jobs stepped down as chief executive, handing the reins to longtime deputy Tim Cook.


Steve Jobs: Personal Media Pioneer
"Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being," Mr. Cook said in a letter to employees. "We will honor his memory by dedicating ourselves to continuing the work he loved so much."


During his more than three-decade career, Mr. Jobs transformed Silicon Valley as he helped turn the once-sleepy expanse of fruit orchards into the technology industry's innovation center. In addition to laying the groundwork for the industry alongside others like Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates, Mr. Jobs proved the appeal of well-designed products over the power of technology itself and transformed the way people interact with technology.


"The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come," Mr. Gates said in a statement Wednesday.


The most productive chapter in Mr. Jobs's career occurred near the end of his life, when a nearly unbroken string of successful products like the iPod, iPhone and iPad changed the PC, electronics and digital-media industries. The way he marketed and sold those products through savvy advertising campaigns and Apple's retail stores helped turn the company into a pop-culture phenomenon.


At the beginning of that phase, Mr. Jobs described his philosophy as trying to make products that were at "the intersection of art and technology." In doing so, he turned Apple into the world's most valuable company with a market value of $350 billion.


After losing considerable weight in mid-2008, Mr. Jobs took a nearly six-month medical leave of absence in 2009, during which he received a liver transplant. He took another medical leave of absence in mid-January, without explanation, before stepping down as CEO.


Mr. Jobs is survived by his wife, Laurene, and four children.
Mr. Jobs turned Apple into the largest retailer of music and helped popularize computer-animated films as the financier and CEO of Pixar Animation Studios, which he later sold to Walt Disney Co. He was a key figure in changing the way people used the Internet and how they listened to music, watched TV shows and movies, and read books, disrupting industries in the process.


"Despite all he accomplished, it feels like he was just getting started," Disney CEO Robert Iger said in a statement Wednesday.


Mr. Jobs pulled off a remarkable business comeback, returning to Apple after an 11-year absence during which he was largely written off as a has-been. He went on to revive the struggling company by introducing products such as the iMac all-in-one computer, iPod music player and iTunes digital-music store.


Beyond PCs
Apple now produces $65.2 billion a year in revenue compared with $7.1 billion in its business year ended September 1997. Apple dropped the "computer" in its name in January 2007 to underscore its expansion beyond PCs.


Although Mr. Jobs officially handed over the reins of the company to Mr. Cook, his death nevertheless raises a question for Apple of how it will sustain its success without his vision and guidance. Other companies, including Walt Disney, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and International Business Machines Corp., experienced some transitional woes before eventually managing to thrive after their charismatic founders passed on.


But few companies of that stature have shown such an acute dependence on their founder, or have lost the founder at the peak of his career. Several years after Mr. Jobs was fired from Apple in 1985, the company began a steady decline that saw it drift to the margins of the computer industry. That slide was reversed only after Mr. Jobs returned in 1997.


Mr. Jobs also leaves behind many tales about his mercurial management style, such as his habit of calling employees or their ideas "dumb" when he didn't like something. He was even more combative against foes like Microsoft, Google Inc., and Amazon.com Inc. When Adobe Systems Inc. waged a campaign against Apple for not supporting Adobe's Flash video format on its iPhones and iPads in April 2010, Mr. Jobs wrote a 1,600-word essay about why the software was outdated and inadequate for mobile devices.


He maintained uncompromising standards for the company's hardware and software, demanding "insanely great" aesthetics and ease of use from the moment a shopper walked into one of Apple's stores. His attention to detail shaped some of the distinctive features of Apple's products.


Mr. Jobs enforced strict secrecy among employees, a strategy that he believed heightened anticipation for new products. News of his death came a day after Apple unveiled its newest device, the iPhone 4S, without him on stage.


Mr. Jobs, the adopted son of a family in California, was born on Feb. 24, 1955. A college dropout, he established his reputation early on as a tech innovator when, at 21 years old, he and friend Steve Wozniak founded Apple Computer Inc. in the Jobs family garage in 1976. Mr. Jobs chose the name, in part, because he was a Beatles fan and admired the group's Apple records label, according to the book "Apple: The Inside Story of Intrigue, Egomania, and Business Blunders" by Wall Street Journal reporter Jim Carlton.


The pair came out with the Apple II in 1977, a computer that was relatively affordable and designed for the mass market rather than for hobbyists. It went on to become one of the first commercially successful PCs, making the company $117 million in annual sales by the time of Apple's initial public offering in 1980. The IPO instantly made Mr. Jobs a multimillionaire.


Among Steve Jobs's legacy was a gift for presentation and speech-making that changed the way tech companies unveiled new products, Lauren Goode reports on a special edition of the News Hub. Photo: Getty Images.


Not all of Mr. Jobs's early ideas paid off. The Apple III and Lisa computers that debuted in 1980 and 1983 were flops. But the distinctive all-in-one Macintosh—foreshadowed in a TV ad inspired by George Orwell's novel "1984" that famously only aired once—would set the standard for the design of modern computer operating systems.


Even then, Mr. Jobs was a stickler for design details. Bruce Tognazzini, a former user-interface expert at Apple who joined the company in 1978, once said that Mr. Jobs was adamant that the keyboard not include "up," "down," "right," and "left" keys that allow users to move the cursor around their computer screens.


Cultivated Image
Mr. Jobs's pursuit of aesthetics sometimes bordered on the extreme. George Crow, an Apple engineer in the 1980s and again from 1998 to 2005, recalls how Mr. Jobs wanted to make even the inside of computers attractive. On the original Macintosh PC, Mr. Crow says Mr. Jobs wanted the internal wiring to be in the colors of Apple's early rainbow logo. Mr. Crow says he persuaded Mr. Jobs it was an unnecessary expense.


Even in his appearance, Mr. Jobs seemed to cultivate an image more like that of an artist than a corporate executive. In public, he rarely deviated from an outfit consisting of Levi's jeans, a black mock turtleneck and New Balance running shoes.


As Apple expanded, Mr. Jobs decided to bring in a more experienced manager to lead the company. He recruited John Sculley from PepsiCo Inc. to be Apple CEO in 1983, overcoming Mr. Sculley's initial reluctance by asking the executive if he just wanted to sell "sugar water to kids" or help change the world.


After Apple fell into a subsequent slump, a leadership struggle led to a board decision to back Mr. Sculley and fire Mr. Jobs two years later at the age of 30. "What can I say—I hired the wrong guy," Mr. Jobs brooded in a PBS documentary. "He destroyed everything I had spent 10 years working for."


Steve Jobs is shown above at an Apple conference in June, one of his final public appearances as CEO.


Mr. Jobs then created NeXT Inc., a start-up that in 1988 introduced a black desktop computer with advanced software. The machine suffered from a high price and some key design decisions. But its operating system would eventually become a foundation for OS X, the software backbone of today's Macs, after Apple purchased NeXT for $400 million in December 1996.


In 1986, using part of his fortune from Apple, Mr. Jobs paid filmmaker George Lucas $10 million to acquire the computer-graphics division of Lucasfilm Ltd. The company Mr. Jobs formed from that purchase, Pixar Animation Studios, went on to create a string of computer-animated film hits, such as "Toy Story." Mr. Jobs sold Pixar to Disney in 2006 in a $7.4 billion deal.


In Mr. Jobs's absence, Apple began foundering, and computers using Intel chips and Microsoft software became increasingly dominant. By 1997, Apple had racked up nearly $2 billion in losses in two years, its shares were at record lows and it was on its third CEO—Gil Amelio—in four years.


Eight months after the deal to buy NeXT in December 1996, Mr. Amelio was ousted and Mr. Jobs appointed interim CEO, a title that became permanent in January 2000. One former Apple employee recalls Mr. Jobs joking soon after he returned that "the lunatics have taken over the asylum and we can do anything we want."


Series of Stumbles
Mr. Jobs, who was given a salary of $1 a year along with options to Apple stock, made a series of changes. He killed the struggling Newton handheld computer and trimmed a confusing array of Mac models to a handful of systems focused on the consumer market.


In May 1998, he introduced the iMac, an unusual one-piece computer that sported a colorful translucent case. Apple launched an ad campaign featuring the phrase "Think Different," featuring photographs of creative individuals including Albert Einstein and Muppets creator Jim Henson.


While shareholders cheered the changes, Mr. Jobs flexed his power on Apple's Cupertino, Calif., campus.


Within months of taking over, he replaced four of the five top executives with former NeXT underlings. He issued emails forbidding employees to bring pets to the office or to smoke, even in parking lots. He threatened to fire anyone caught leaking company documents.


Apple had stumbles during Mr. Jobs's second stint, including a cube-shaped Macintosh that failed to catch on and was scrapped in 2001. The failure was one reason Apple posted a quarterly loss and warned it would miss estimates several times in 2000 and 2001.


But big hits followed. In 2001, Apple introduced the iPod, which transformed digital music players. Apple has more than 70% market share in the market.


A key advantage was the iTunes Music Store, opened in 2003. Mr. Jobs helped persuade major record labels to sell recordings for 99 cents each. The store, which has sold more than 16 billion songs, became an incentive for people to buy iPods because, for much of its history, songs from the iTunes store could be downloaded only to Apple's music player.


Bench of Executives
At the same time, Mr. Jobs was building his bench of executives. He recruited Mr. Cook, a former Compaq Computer Corp. executive, in the late 1990s to straighten Apple's operations and promoted him over time to chief operating officer.


In 2004, Mr. Jobs had to lean on this bench when he disclosed that he had had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his pancreas. Apple revealed the procedure in early August 2004, but a person familiar with the situation said Mr. Jobs first learned of the tumor during a routine abdominal scan nine months earlier. The board and Mr. Jobs said nothing to Apple shareholders as the Apple executive, during that time, dealt with the tumor through changes to his diet, the person said.


In June 2007, Mr. Jobs made another splash when Apple introduced the iPhone. Mr. Jobs was typically hands-on in the creation of the iPhone. People familiar with the matter say the former CEO was the one who made a decision to change the screen of the iPhone from plastic to glass after he unveiled the product at the Macworld trade show in 2007. The iPhone team scrambled to procure glass that would meet his standards, so the devices could be manufactured in time for the launch.


Despite skepticism about Apple's ability to enter an already competitive market dominated by the likes of Research in Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry devices, Apple became a force in the mobile phone market, selling 92 million iPhones as of December 2010.


Last year, Mr. Jobs also unveiled the iPad tablet computer to great fanfare. Apple has sold more than 29 million iPads as buyers snapped them up. People who work closely with Mr. Jobs said the project was so important to him that he was deeply involved in its planning even while recovering from his 2009 liver transplant.


Those who knew Mr. Jobs say one reason why he was able to keep innovating was because he didn't dwell on past accomplishments and demanded that employees do the same. Hitoshi Hokamura, a former Apple employee, recalls how an old Apple I that was displayed by the company cafeteria quietly disappeared after Mr. Jobs returned in the late 1990s.


"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose," Mr. Jobs said in a commencement speech at Stanford University in June 2005, almost a year after he was diagnosed with cancer.


Steven Paul Jobs, Dies 1955-2011
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304447804576410753210811910.html
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U.S. is in falling satellite's potential strike zone, NASA says

Diposkan oleh Unknown on Friday, September 23, 2011

U.S. is in falling satellite's potential strike zone, NASA says

A satellite on the verge of falling back to Earth appears to have begun slowing down but will not re-enter the atmosphere until late Friday or early Saturday U.S. time, according to NASA.

The United States is once again an unlikely but potential target for the 26 pieces of the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, expected to survive the descent. Those pieces, made of stainless steel, titanium and beryllium that won't burn, will range from about 10 pounds to hundreds of pounds, according to NASA.

NASA said Friday morning that it would be hours before it would be able to zero in on the time and place of the re-entry.

Mark Matney of NASA's Orbital Debris team in Houston said there's no way to know exactly where the pieces will come down.

"Keep in mind, they won't be traveling at those high orbital velocities. As they hit the air, they tend to slow down. ... They're still traveling fast, a few tens to hundreds of miles per hour, but no longer those tremendous orbital velocities," he explained.

Because the satellite travels thousands of miles in a matter of minutes as it orbits -- even just before it begins re-entry -- it will be impossible to pinpoint the exact location the pieces will come down. On top of that, Matney said, the satellite is not stable.

"Part of the problem is, the spacecraft is tumbling in unpredictable ways, and it is very difficult to very precisely pinpoint where it's coming down even right before the re-entry."
FAA: Pilots watch for falling satellite
Where will satellite debris strike?

Because water covers 70% of the Earth's surface, NASA has said that most if not all of the surviving debris will land in water. Even if pieces strike dry land, there's very little risk any of it will hit people.

However, in an abundance of caution, the Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday released an advisory warning pilots about the falling satellite, calling it a potential hazard.

"It is critical that all pilots/flight crew members report any observed falling space debris to the appropriate (air traffic control) facility and include position, altitude, time and direction of debris observed," the FAA statement said.

The FAA said warnings of this sort typically are sent out to pilots concerning specific hazards they may encounter during flights such as air shows, rocket launches, kites and inoperable radio navigational aids.

NASA says space debris the size of the satellite's components re-enters the atmosphere about once year. Harvard University astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell noted that the satellite is far from being the biggest space junk to come back.

"This is nothing like the old Skylab scare of the '70s, when you had a 70-ton space station crashing out of the sky. So, I agree with the folks in Houston. It's nothing to be worried about," McDowell said.

Pieces of Skylab came down in western Australia in 1979.

The only wild card McDowell sees is if somehow a chunk hits a populated area.

"If the thing happens to come down in a city, that would be bad. The chances of it causing extensive damage or injuring someone are much higher."

NASA said that once the debris hits the atmosphere 50 miles up, it will take only a matter of minutes before the surviving pieces hit the Earth.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/09/23/us/us-nasa-satellite/index.html

U.S. is in falling satellite's potential strike zone, NASA says
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Yemeni President Returns Home

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Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh returned after undergoing treatment in Saudi Arabia, a government spokesman said Friday, and was greeted by a nation in turmoil.

Saleh returned to Yemen after a three-month medical stay in Saudi Arabia, said Mohammed Albasha, the Yemeni government spokesman.

Protesters have been calling for the ouster of the longtime president, who had been recuperating from injuries he received in a June attack on his palace. He has vowed to finish his term.

Government forces shot in the air to celebrate his return as tanks patrolled the streets of Sanaa. By noon, a massive crowd had gathered in central Sanaa to rally in support of the president.

Fierce clashes erupted in Sanaa between Republican Guards and soldiers under the command of a defector, Gen. Ali Mohsen. The fighting occurred mainly in the Hasaba and Dayeri districts.

Earlier in the day there were isolated clashes between anti-government fighters and Republican Guard forces in at least four areas in Sanaa, Yemen's capital.

Medics in Sanaa's Change Square report 12 deaths in Sanaa and one in the city of Taiz since midnight. There were 18 other injuries, they said.

The deaths are not from military fire but as a result of snipers and explosions hitting protesters, they said. No casualties have been reported from the military clashes.

Saleh has called for a cease-fire for all factions to ease the way for political dialogue and reach an agreement.

"Saleh stressed that the solution is not in the barrels of guns and cannons, but in dialogue, understanding and stopping the bloodshed and protecting life and preserving the security, stability and resources of the country," the state-run news agency reported.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the U.S. position on Yemen hasn't changed: America wants a peaceful transition of power.

"We want to see Yemen move forward on the basis of the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) proposal, and whether President Saleh is in or out of the country, he can make this happen by signing this accord, stepping down from power, and allowing his country to move on," she said.

Mohammed Qahtan, the spokesman for Yemen's opposition Joint Meeting Parties, said the president's return "does not affect us" and "the revolution will continue peacefully until all its goals are accomplished."

Yemeni activist and blogger Atiaf Alwazir said she is concerned.

"It's terrible news," Alwazir said of Saleh's return. "It's shocking because our concern was that he would try to place his son in charge. We didn't think he would return. We're very tense and we don't know what to expect. It's the polarization in the country that is so worrying right now. Whether he steps down or not, we don't know what to expect because the country is so polarized right now."

Protests Friday were a continued the demonstrations against Saleh that have stretched on for months.

Demonstrators began protesting Saleh's 33-year-old regime on February 11 inspired by the revolution in Egypt.

A month later, Saleh offered to draft a new constitution that would establish a parliamentary system, but protesters persisted in calling for his resignation, and numerous high-ranking political and military officials resigned or were dismissed.

Saleh balked after making overtures to accept an agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council to step down.

Amnesty International said that since February, 200 people have been killed and more than 1,000 injured in the protests.

Government officials have repeatedly denied accusations of excessive use of force, and said the government is committed to establishing a peaceful transfer of power.

Yemeni officials have said forces cracked down on those committing acts of violence during protests."




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Super sexy and most beautyful Japany girl Leah Dizon

Diposkan oleh Unknown on Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Leah Dizon is a model, singer, actress, and TV personality in Japan. Her ethnicities include Chinese, Filipino and French.

Leah Dizon profile- Full name: Leah Donna Dizon (リア・ドナ・ディゾン) 莉亞•迪桑 | Birthday: September 24, 1986 | Birth place: Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | Blood type: O | Height: 167cm / 5'6" | Weight: 52kgs | Bra size: C | Shoe size: 24cm | Nationality: American | Spoken languages: English, a little Japanese, spoke a bit of Tagalog when she was little | Hobbies: Singing, dancing, shopping, drawing, tennis, badminton | Favorite foods: Pho, McDonalds, Shabu-Shabu, Yakiniku | 









Favorite books: A Catcher in the Rye, The Kitchen God's Wife, Harry Potter, Memoirs of a Geisha, Of Mice and Men, The Slaughterhouse Five, The Virgin Suicides | Favorite musicians: Amber Barry, Amuro Namie, B'z, Cassie, Deftones, GLAY, Hamasaki Ayumi, Kanzaki Keishi, Korn, Moriyama Naotaro, Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Shiina Ringo, The Smashing Pumpkins, Utada Hikaru, X JAPAN

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Obama To Push For New Minimum Tax Rate For Millionaires

Diposkan oleh Unknown on Saturday, September 17, 2011

President Barack Obama will announce Monday he is calling for a new minimum tax rate for Americans making more than $1 million a year, FOX News Channel confirmed Saturday.

The new tax plan, which the White House is calling the "Buffett Rule" after billionaire investor Warren Buffett, was first reported by The New York Times.

The Buffett Rule will reportedly ensure that those wealthy individuals are contributing at least the same percentage of their earnings as middle-income taxpayers.

Obama is due to speak about his strategy to reduce the deficit in remarks at the White House's Rose Garden on Monday.

Citing administration officials, The Times said Obama will urge Congress to overhaul the federal income tax code next year. They said the Buffett Rule will only affect 0.3 percent of taxpayers, or less than 450,000 individuals. It will replace the alternative minimum tax, a plan which negatively affects millions who are considered upper middle class, and may allow average Americans to receive a tax cut.

Last month, Buffet wrote in The Times, "My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress."

Buffett said that while he paid nearly $7 million in taxes last year, the figure was only 17.4 percent of his taxable income, well below the average taxpayer.

The new plan would help offset the cost of Obama's $447 billion jobs creation plan, The Times reported, but is likely to draw opposition from Republicans who believe raising taxes on the wealthy discourages investment.

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Google+ Project: It's Social, It's Bold, It's Fun, And It Looks Good — Now For The Hard Part

Diposkan oleh Unknown on Thursday, September 15, 2011

Last night, you may have heard talk of a mysterious black bar appearing on the top of Google.com. Or you may have even seen it yourself. No, you weren’t hallucinating. It was a sign of something about to show itself. Something big. Google+.


What is Google+? It’s the super top-secret social project that Google has been working on for the past year. You know, the one being led by General Patton (Vic Gundotra) and General MacArthur (Bradley Horowitz). Yes, the one Google has tried to downplay as much as humanly possible — even as we got leak after leak after leak of what they were working on. Yes, the one they weren’t going to make a big deal about with pomp and circumstance. It’s real. And it’s here.

Sort of.

You see, the truth is that Google really is trying not to make a huge deal out of Google+. That’s not because they don’t have high hopes for it. Or because they don’t think it’s any good. Instead, it’s because what they’re comfortable showing off right now is just step one of a much bigger picture. When I sat down with Gundotra and Horowitz last week, they made this point very clear. In their minds, Google+ is more than a social product, or even a social strategy, it’s an extension of Google itself. Hence, Google+.

How’s that for downplaying it?

“We believe online sharing is broken. And even awkward,” Gundotra says. “We think connecting with other people is a basic human need. We do it all the time in real life, but our online tools are rigid. They force us into buckets — or into being completely public,” he continues. “Real life sharing is nuanced and rich. It has been hard to get that into software,” is the last thing he says before diving into a demo of Google+.

What he proceeds to show me is a product that in many ways is so well designed that it doesn’t really even look like a Google product. When I tell Gundotra and Horowitz this, they laugh. “Thank you,” Gundotra says very enthusiastically. Clearly, they’ve put a lot of work into both the UI and UX of Google+.

The first thing Gundotra shows me about Google+, and the first thing you’re likely to interact with, is something called “Circles”. You may recall that talk of this feature leaked out a few months ago — though it wasn’t exactly right. In fact, our story from months prior about a feature of Google +1 (the name of the network at the time which ended up being the name of the button — more on that in a bit) called “Loops” may have been a bit closer. That is, Circles isn’t actually a stand-alone product, it’s a feature of Google+ — an important one. “It’s something core to our product,” Gundotra says.

It’s through Circles that users select and organize contacts into groups for optimal sharing. I know, I know — not more group management. But the truth is that Google has made the process as pleasant as possible. You simply select people from a list of recommended contacts (populated from your Gmail and/or Google Contacts) and drag them into Circles you designate. The UI for all of this is simple and intuitive — it’s so good, that you might even say it’s kind of fun. It beats the pants off of the method for creating a group within Facebook.

Gundotra realizes that many social services have tried and failed to get users to create groups. But he believes they’ll succeed with Circles because he says they’re using software in the correct way to mimic the real world. More importantly, “you’re rewarded for doing this,” he says. How so? A big feature of Google+ is the toolbar that exists across the top of all Google sites (yes, the aforementioned black one). Once your Circles are set, sharing with any of them from any Google site is simple thanks to this toolbar.

Speaking of this black toolbar, which was codenamed the “Sandbar” as Google was working on it, Horowitz explains that it arose from the fact that sharing models on different sites are all different. The toolbar is an attempt to unify them. This toolbar will exist across all Google properties (though it may take some time to fully roll out). And down the road, you can imagine browser extensions, mobile versions, etc. But again, we’re on step one here.

Next, Gundotra showed off a feature called “Sparks”. He was quick to note that even though it’s a search box, this is not some sort of new search engine. Instead, he calls is a “sharing engine”. “Great content leads to great conversations,” he says. With Sparks, you enter an interest you have and Google goes out and finds elements on the web that they think you’ll care about. These can be links to blog posts, videos, books — anything that Google searches for. If you find something you like, you can click on an item to add it to your interest list (where it will stay for you to quickly refer to anytime you want). Or you can see what others are liking and talking about globally in the “Featured interests” area.

“Our goal here is to connect people. And everyone has a camera in their pocket,” Gundotra says as he shows me “Instant Upload”. This feature of Google+ relies on the use of an Android devices to take photos or shoot video. From a new app, you’ll do either of these things and the content will automatically be uploaded to Google+ in the background and stored in a private album (which you can share with one click later).

Another feature of Google+ is called “Huddle”. It’s essentially a group messaging app that works across Android, iPhone, and SMS to allow you to communicate with the people in certain Circles. When I asked why they wouldn’t just use Disco, the group messaging app that the Slide team within Google built, Horowitz would only smile and pretend that he didn’t know what I was talking about.

Finally, there’s a feature called “Hangouts”. “Everyone has high-speed networks these days, but how many use group video chat?,” Gundotra asks. “Not a lot.” He notes that while there are technical challenges, and some cost money, the biggest problem is that it’s socially awkward to video chat with someone. The Google+ team set out to fix this by thinking about neighbors sitting out on porches. If your neighbor is sitting there, you know that they’ll likely be interested in striking up a conversation. In fact, it would be rude for you to walk by and not say anything.

With that in mind, Google+ Hangout attempts to solve the social problem of video chat by making it easy for you to let others know that you’re interested in chatting. And if you’re already chatting with a Circle, everyone else in that Circle will get an alert to come hang out. This works for up to 10 people. And seeing it in action is a bit magical. Gundotra starts a Hangout with some co-workers and as they join, conversations start between multiple people. But the Google+ system is smart enough to focus on who is controlling the conversation in any given minute. This makes the conversation easy to watch. It was almost as if an editor is working behind the scenes, cutting between people.

Even cooler is that you can share a piece of content, like a YouTube clip, and everyone in the Hangout can watch it together while talking about it. It sounds a bit cheesy, but it’s really pretty great.

After the rundown of all of these features, Google+ may sound a bit convoluted. But the key to the project is the attempt to unify everything. This is done via the toolbar (which features a drop-down showing you all of your relevant Google+ activity), but also on the mobile apps (again, Android and iPhone), and, of course, on the web. The Google+ site is the main stream on which you’ll find everything. From here, you can easily switch between all of your Circles, share content with any of them, start a Hangout, look up Sparks, etc.

All of the information flowing through the system does so in real time. As something is shared with you, it appears at the top of your stream. It’s a bit like FriendFeed, in this regard (which I love).

You’ll also find a link to your Google+ Profile, which will replace your old Google Profile if you have Google+ enabled. On this profile you’ll find not only a stream of everything you’ve shared across Google+, but also your +1 content. That’s likely important. While there has been plenty of speculation (by myself and others) that the +1 Button is already a dud, the larger picture is still a bit hidden. While Gundotra and Horowitz declined to specifically talk about it too much, you’ll see a +1 button on all Google+ content — the +1 Button clearly ties deeply into all of this. It is going to be their Facebook “Like” button.

All of this sounds great so far, but what about the downsides? Whether they’ll admit it or not, Google is making a bold and perhaps risky move by attempting to attack social from scratch. What if they flop again?

From the little that I’ve seen so far, Google+ is by far the best effort in social that Google has put out there yet. But traction will be contingent upon everyone convincing their contacts to regularly use it. Even for something with the scale of Google, that’s not the easiest thing in the world — as we’ve seen with Wave and Buzz. There will need to be compelling reasons to share on Google+ instead of Facebook and/or Twitter — or, at the very least, along with all of those other networks. The toolbar and interesting communication tools are the most compelling reasons right now, but there will need to be more of them. And fast.

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Everything You Need To Know About Google+ (Including What The Heck It Is)

Diposkan oleh Unknown

Google finally announced Google+, its next effort in social.

Basically, Google+ is an amalgamation of several services we already use. The idea, according to Google, is to do them better.

We'll have a full review and impressions soon. In the meantime, check out our breakdown of what Google+ can do below.

Google Circles are groups of friends you organize by topic: Friends, Family, College Buddies, Roommates, etc.

From your Circles page you drag and drop your contacts into each of these groups, which makes it easier to share what you want with them.


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Miss Colombia told off for not wearing undies

Diposkan oleh Unknown on Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Miss Universe organisers have been forced to reprimand a contestant for not wearing underwear during media appearances in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Photographers snapped more than they bargained for as Miss Colombia Catalina Robayo went commando while wearing very short skirts and speaking to reporters as part of her official pageant duties last week, Fox News reports.

President of the Miss Universe Organisation Paula Shugart told Fox she was shocked when she saw what looked like Ms Robayo's bare nether regions on the front page of a newspaper.

"When I saw the [commando] picture on the front page of one of the local papers and was very, very surprised," Ms Shugart said.

But when pageant officials confronted Ms Robayo, the 22-year-old insisted she had been wearing underwear, Ms Shugart said.


All the contestants have since been lectured about dressing appropriately.
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FALLEN BEAUTY QUEENS: Where Are They Now?

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FALLEN BEAUTY QUEENS: Where Are They Now?
Miss Universe 2011 hasn't even aired yet (it's on tonight) and already, two competitors are sparking controversy.

Catalina Robayo, Miss Colombia, has been snapped one too many times without her underwear on.

And Scherri-Lee Biggs, Miss Australia, apparently had to be told to get some competition bikini bottoms with a bit more coverage.

As of now, they're both still set to compete -- but they'd better watch their step.

Scandalized beauty queens rarely make a real comeback -- and often, the fall from grace is only the first part of the way down.


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Colombian media insist Catalina Robayo is Miss Universe favorite

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While bookmakers and international media are paying little attention to Miss Colombia, leading Colombian media insist that Catalina Robayo is among the favorites to be crowned Miss Universe Monday evening.

The international attention Robayo received last week following her reported scolding after being caught going commando did not lead to a change in the 66 to 1 betting odd on websites where gamblers bet on who will win the world's most prestigious beauty pageant. Following commando-gate, most English-language media focused primarily on Miss USA, Miss China, Miss Angola and Miss Australia.

According to beauty pageant website Missology's last prediction of Monday's results, Miss Colombia will not reach the final 15. The website predicts Miss Ukraine will win the pageant, followed by Miss Peru, Miss Malaysia, Miss Philippines and Miss Netherlands.

Latin television network Univision does place Miss Colombia among the finalists. Robayo occupies the 8th spot in the network's Miss Universe Top 14.

Colombian media take Robayo's chances to win even further. According to newspaper El Espectador, "Robayo has been the favorite among journalists these days because of her good performance and ease when responding to the incisive questions of the media and the jurors."


Newspaper El Tiempo added that "just like every year, the Colombiana is favorite ... at least of the latinas."

Ivan Lalinde, presentor of Miss Universe on Colombian television network Caracol, told El Tiempo that Miss Colombia "has attracted attention far beyond the scandal over whether or not she was wearing underwear. Carolina Robayo has a great personality and that helps to feature in an event of this category."

The website of RCN, the network that will not be broadcasting the event, did not report on Miss Colombia's chances, but instead featured an article on the soap opera that will be aired at the same time as the Miss Universe competition.

Colombian media insist Catalina Robayo is Miss Universe favorite
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Miranda Kerr Wallpapers

Diposkan oleh Unknown on Sunday, September 11, 2011





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U.S. Mint Officer Admits He Stole And Sold $2.4 Million In Coins

Diposkan oleh Unknown on Friday, September 9, 2011


Money isn't necessarily safe in the hands of those who mint it. A U.S. Mint employee pleaded guilty to theft of government property and tax evasion, admitting he swiped $2.4 million in coins with errors and sold them to a California coin distributor. The $1 presidential coins he admitted to stealing were missing lettering, and the convict knew he could get a premium for them because the errors gave them more value in the coin collecting market.

According to the AP, the man was set free on $50,000 bail and will face sentencing Dec. 20.


The presidential coins are copper with brass cladding, and have been printed since 2007, emblazoned with the image of dead presidents. The Mint prints an image of one president for three months before moving on to the next one in chronological order.

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Paris Hilton Wallpapers

Diposkan oleh Unknown on Wednesday, August 31, 2011





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