China regulator approves Apple’s iPhone 6 for sale in China

BEIJING — Apple Inc’s iPhone 6 can now be sold in China, after the firm received a license for the device to be used on China’s wireless networks.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said on its website on Tuesday that it had approved the iPhone 6 after Apple addressed potential security risks that could allow personal data to leak.

The iPhone 6 had been released in other countries, including the United States, on September 19 but Apple did not give a release data for China.

The approval paves the way for Apple to sell the iPhone 6 in China, the world’s largest smartphone market and one of Apple’s biggest for iPhone sales. Analysts expect the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus to sell well in China, where many people prefer phones with larger screens.

The MIIT said it had conducted “rigorous security testing” on the iPhone 6, and that it had held talks with Apple on the issue. Apple also shared with the ministry materials related to the potential security issues, which it said were related to diagnostic tools, the statement said.

Apple sold a record 10 million units of the iPhone 6 models in the first weekend after their launch, which excluded China. Last year, the U.S. tech firm sold 9 million iPhone 5S and 5C models in 11 countries, including China, in the same period.

Apple was not available for immediate comment.

source: interaksyon.com

Ozzy Osbourne says Black Sabbath to record new album

NEW YORK (AFP) | Some 45 years after pioneering heavy metal, Black Sabbath will return to the studio for a new album that could be the band’s last, frontman Ozzy Osbourne says.

Osbourne, in an interview published Monday, said Black Sabbath had a “great” experience with last year’s comeback album “13″ and a subsequent tour.

The heavy metal godfather, 65, said he told his wife and manager Sharon Osbourne that he wanted to return to his solo work unless Black Sabbath came together for another album.

“I said, ‘Sharon, I ain’t fucking 21 anymore. If we’re going to do it, I want to do it before I’m 70! Time isn’t on our side,’” he told Metal Hammer magazine.

“So she made the call and came back and said ‘Yeah, the record company wants another album,’” he said.

Osbourne said Black Sabbath has not yet written new music but plans to return to the studio in early 2015 for what would be the band’s 20th studio album. He said the band members had not decided whether to record in their native Britain or in Osbourne’s adopted Los Angeles.

But Tony Iommi, Black Sabbath’s lead guitarist and driving force behind the music, in a recent message on his website said he has “been in the studio writing and listening to some of my earlier ideas for songs.”

Osbourne acknowledged that Iommi’s health could affect the next album as the guitarist has been treated for cancer.

“Obviously a lot of it is coming down to Tony’s health,” Osbourne said.

He said that the band planned to work again with Rick Rubin, the influential producer whose work has spanned genres from hip-hop to metal. Rubin produced last year’s “13,” which was Black Sabbath’s first album in 18 years and reached number one on album charts in both the United States and Britain.

The band helped pioneer heavy metal, starting with its self-titled first album in 1970. Black Sabbath incorporated elements of the blues into a heavier guitar sound, accompanied by themes of the occult, which often alarmed religious groups.

Amanda Bynes arrested for DUI again

Amanda Bynes was arrested for DUI early Sunday in Los Angeles, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The CHP pulled her over around 4 a.m. and took her into custody on a misdemeanor charge of suspicion of driving under the influence of a controlled substance. According to the arrest report, the officer pulled her over because her Mercedes SUV stopped for a red light in the middle of an intersection.

"The driver, identified by her drivers license as Ms Amanda Bynes, appeared to be under the influence," the arrest record said.

She was taken to a station in nearby Van Nuys, booked and released on a $15,000 bond around noon the same day. She was described as "cooperative during the entire process."

The former Nickelodeon star also was arrested on a DUI charge in 2012. She pleaded no contest to alcohol-related reckless driving in February 2014, and was sentenced to three years of probation.

In 2013, she went into rehab, got out and was living with her parents. She received psychiatric treatment last year after authorities said she set a small fire in the driveway of a home in Thousand Oaks.

Bynes, now 28, starred in her own Nickelodeon variety program, The Amanda Show and appeared in several movies, including What a Girl Wants.

A phone message left for Bynes' attorney, Richard Hutton, was not immediately returned, the Associated Press reported.

source: usatoday.com

Writers and readers go mobile and social at Wattpad

SAN FRANCISCO — Allen Lau considers himself living proof that love of good writing is alive and well in the age of streaming video and terse text messages.

He offers as further evidence the 32 million people who each month visit online literature social network Wattpad, which he and Ivan Yuen launched eight years ago as an online venue for writers and readers to connect.

“Wattpad is the world’s largest community for reading and writing,” Lau told AFP during a recent visit to San Francisco to meet with investors in the Toronto-based startup.

“We’ve created a mobile and social storytelling experience.”

Of the more than nine billion minutes spent monthly reading at Wattpad, about 85 percent is done using smartphones or tablet computers, according to Lau.

More than a million Wattpad users are writers, who typically upload a chapter at a time while readers tune in the way they might watch episodes of a television series.

“We make story telling very different and unique,” Lau said.

Readers shape stories 


Readers share feelings, thoughts and criticisms with one another and authors at the social network, sometimes shaping fates of characters or directions of stories.

“Writing and reading have traditionally been very solitary experiences,” Lau said.

“In this case, writers get constant feedback from readers in real time; and from the reader perspective it is almost like watching a TV show with 10 million people all at once.”

Readers are free to wait until books are complete and then binge on chapter after chapter, but that is rarely the case at Wattpad. The most common question fired off at the service was said to be “When will the next chapter be released?”

After Wattpad noticed writers providing links to music videos to listen to as background for reading, the social network added a way to embed YouTube clips.

“It has been so widely used, if you go to YouTube and search ‘Wattpad’ you will find millions of videos,” Lau said.

“The writing is the main actor, but we have supporting characters: video and sound.”

Wattpad sees a quarter of a million chapters uploaded daily, with about 24 hours worth of reading arriving at the service each minute.

Less than half the visits to Wattpad come from the United States, and the service is growing strong in an array of countries including Turkey, Italy, Britain, and Spain.

“Not everyone has an e-book store, a library, or a regular book store, but everyone will be on the Internet and everyone will have a smartphone,” Lau reasoned.

“I am the walking proof that it is rubbish people aren’t reading as much; the Internet is helping people to read and write more.”

Writers find fame

The Wattpad mobile application is free, as is access to work uploaded by writers. More than half the stories on Wattpad were written on mobile devices.

Wattpad writers don’t get paid, but exposure at the social network provides opportunities for them to make money.

Publishing house Simon and Schuster gave Wattpad author Anna Todd a sizable advance to make a series of books out of “After” stories she wrote on her Android smartphone and uploaded to the social reading network, according to Lau.

Hundreds of writers reportedly have seen their work on Wattpad lead to traditional publishing deals.

In collaboration with USA Network, Wattpad has commissioned a writer to create prequel stories intended to promote a coming “Dig” television show.

“This is one of the first,” Lau said of the partnership.

“Whether a TV show or Starbucks, all good brands have good stories to tell. And where else can they tell their story but the world’s largest story-telling platform?”

While Wattpad remains focused on growth, not revenue, companies can sponsor stories at the network or commission writers to craft tales tied to brands.

Revenue from sponsorships is shared with writers, according to Wattpad.

Wattpad’s popularity has soared in the Philippines, where the first television adaptation of a story from the social network is heading for prime time television.

Books and films have also been made there from Wattpad works.

Wattpad has raised about $70 million in venture capital funding, the most recent round in April.

Terms of service at the Wattpad.com include not using, copying, or distributing content without express permission.

source: interaksyon.com

Apple iPhone rollout marred by ‘bendgate,’ dropped cell service

SAN FRANCISCO — Two new Apple products hit speed bumps on Wednesday: iPhone 6 Plus buyers discovered their phones can bend when placed in back pockets, and the company pulled its latest mobile operating system after reports of dropped cellular service.

“Bendgate,” as the problem has already been dubbed on social media sites, is a reminder of 2010′s “antennagate,” when iPhone 4 users reported a design flaw that caused dropped calls.

Apple did not comment on the bending-phone reports. But it did announce that it was investigating reports of an issue with an update of its iOS 8 operating system and in the meantime had pulled the version designated 8.0.1.

The bendable-phone situation might prove particularly troubling for those who wear skinny jeans, according to reports on Facebook and Twitter. The phrase “Your pants are too tight for your phone” has already received hundreds of mentions.

Some say the device, which has a lightweight aluminum shell, is more malleable than expected, but that might fall short of a design flaw, according to analysts.

Overall, evaluators seem flummoxed.

“A ‘bendability test’ hasn’t been part of our breakability testing to date because up until this week we’ve never seen a phone thin enough to make this a potential issue,” said a spokesman at SquareTrade.

SquareTrade, which provides warranties to iPhone users, said it planned more tests later on Wednesday.

Reports on the quirk first surfaced on Unbox Therapy, a gadget-review show on YouTube.

Brandwatch, a company that tracks and analyzes data from social media sites, said only a small number of people tweeted about the “bend” in the days leading up to Sept. 22. But after the release of the YouTube video, which had racked up over 6 million views by midday Wednesday, Twitter mentions of the “bend” had skyrocketed to 75,000.

Tweets are flying about the “bend in your pocket,” the challenge of wearing “tight pants,” and that the iPhone 6 Plus bends “with bare hands,” said Brandwatch spokeswoman Dinah Alobeid.

Another key topic, she said, is a comparison with the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 phone, which has nearly 4,500 mentions.

Apple spokespeople did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but at least one rival smartphone maker jumped at the chance to weigh in.

“I would challenge you guys to bend our Passport,” John Chen, Blackberry’s chief executive officer, said on Wednesday at an event in Toronto to unveil its newest phone.

On Monday, Apple said it had shipped 10 million units of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus since it began selling the phone on Friday.

Apple stock edged down 89 cents, or 0.87 percent to $101.75 on the Nasdaq on Wednesday.

source: interaksyon.com

NASA's MAVEN spacecraft enters Mars orbit

WASHINGTON DC - NASA's MAVEN spacecraft began orbiting Mars on Sunday, on a mission to study how the Red Planet's climate changed over time from warm and wet to cold and dry.

"Based on observed navigation data, congratulations. MAVEN is now in orbit," said Dave Folta of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center just before 10:30 p.m. (0230 GMT).

The unmanned orbiter has traveled more than 10 months and 442 million miles (711 million kilometers) to reach Mars for a first-of-its kind look at the planet's upper atmosphere.

The data from the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft aims to help scientists understand what happened to the water on Mars and the carbon dioxide in its atmosphere several billion years ago.

How Mars lost its atmosphere is one of science's biggest mysteries. The answers could shed light on the planet's potential to support life -- even if that was just microbial life -- long ago.

MAVEN's findings are also expected to help add to knowledge of how humans could survive on a future visit to the Red Planet, perhaps as early as 2030.

"Mars is a cool place, but there is not much atmosphere," said John Clarke of the MAVEN science team.

"It is very cold, it is well below zero. The atmosphere is about half a percent of what we are breathing," he added.

"But we know that Mars could change and it was probably different in the past. There is a lot of evidence of flowing water on the surface from Mars's ancient history."

Mission begins

Next, MAVEN will enter a six-week phase for tests.

It will then begin a one-year mission of studying the gases in Mars's upper atmosphere and how it interacts with the sun and solar wind.

Much of MAVEN's year-long mission will be spent circling the planet 3,730 miles above the surface.

However, it will execute five deep dips to a distance of just 78 miles above the Martian landscape to get readings of the atmosphere at various levels.

NASA is the world's most successful space agency at sending rovers and probes to Mars, and past missions have included the Viking 1 and 2 in 1975 and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2005.

The US space agency's latest robotic vehicle, Curiosity, is exploring Gale Crater and Mount Sharp, looking for interesting rocks and returning data on whether the Martian environment shows evidence of a past ability to support life.

Later this week, an Indian spacecraft, the Mars Orbiter Mission, will be on course to reach Mars.

The unmanned MOM probe is set to enter Mars's orbit in the next few days after 10 months in space, marking India's first mission to the planet to search for evidence of life.

"We are not the only show that is happening on Mars this week," said Gary Napier, a spokesman for Lockheed Martin, during a NASA television broadcast of the orbital insertion.

"Everyone at NASA and its partners wishes that team all the best."

source: interaksyon.com

Australia to introduce tougher anti-terror laws

SYDNEY -- The Australian government will introduce tough new legislation in parliament next week to tackle terrorism, reports said Saturday, in the aftermath of the biggest crackdown in the country's history.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott will seek sweeping counter-terror powers when the proposals go before the house on Wednesday, NewsCorp Australia reported.

Thursday's unprecedented raids in Sydney and Brisbane had foiled a plot by Islamic State jihadists to carry out gruesome "demonstration executions" which could have taken place within days, Abbott said.

Security has also been stepped up in the capital Canberra, and at military bases, airports and sporting events after parliament and government officials had been mentioned as potential targets in "chatter" between extremist networks in the Middle East and Australia.

Fifteen people were arrested when hundreds of police officers raided dozens of homes in Sydney and Brisbane on Thursday, but only one person remained in custody on Saturday, officials said.

Omarjan Azari, 22, was charged with planning a terrorist act that prosecutors said was intended to "shock, horrify and terrify" the community and involved the "random selection of persons to rather gruesomely execute" on camera.

Federal police had for the first time used preventive detention orders to hold three of the 15 without charge, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported. The men were released Friday.

The orders are designed to counter an imminent threat of attack and can be used to hold people for up to 14 days.

But Abbott says current legislation is inadequate to fight the threats to Australia from groups such as Islamic State, which he has described as the nation's greatest national security challenge.

Under the new powers, advocating a terrorist act will become illegal, The Weekend Australian said.

The new offence will carry a maximum five-year jail sentence and make it illegal for an individual to intentionally counsel, promote, encourage or urge a terrorist act, the newspaper said.

Police will also be given powers to secretly search the homes of suspects.

The government will further seek powers to proscribe visits to cities or regions where terror groups are active. People travelling to such areas without a valid reason could face prosecution.

"There's legislation that will shortly come before the Parliament to boost the range of offences," Abbott said Thursday without providing details.

"It's not always easy to prove that someone has been engaged in terrorist activity overseas.

"It's often very hard to get witnesses ... so we'll be strengthening offences in this area," he said.

The government believes up to 60 Australians are fighting alongside IS jihadists, while another 100 are actively working to support the movement at home.

Canberra has committed 600 troops and aircraft to the US-led coalition gearing up to destroy the IS organization in Iraq.

source: interaksyon.com

Sterling soars on Scottish vote, Asian shares rise

SYDNEY - The British pound rose sharply after the Scottish independence vote indicated Scotland would remain in the United Kingdom, while Wall Street's overnight gains and Alibaba Group's red-hot initial public offering underpinned Asian shares.

Sterling was last up 0.6 percent at $1.6489 after rising as high as $1.6525, a marked turnaround from a 10-month low of $1.6051 touched just last week. Investors awaited final results, with figures so far indicating a solid win for the "No" camp.

"The results appear to be leaning toward 'No,' and this indirectly lifted the dollar against the yen," said Masashi Murata, currency strategist for Brown Brothers Harriman in Tokyo.

Sterling's rise against the yen took the Japanese currency down more than two full yen to buy 180.66 yen, its lowest since late 2008.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.2 percent, supported by cheer on Wall Street, where both the benchmark S&P 500 and the Dow Jones industrial average set intraday record highs. But the Asian index was still on track for a weekly loss of about 1.4 percent.

Sentiment was also underpinned by news that Alibaba Group Holding priced its IPO at $68 a share, the top end of the expected range, raising $21.8 billion on Thursday in one of the largest-ever stock offerings.

Japan's Nikkei stock average was up 1.6 percent after earlier touching a seven-year high, getting a tailwind from a weaker currency as the dollar pushed to a new six-year high of 109.46 yen. It was last up 0.4 percent at 109.14 yen.

The Nikkei also got a lift after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he aims to carry out as soon as possible reform of the country's $1.2 trillion public fund, the Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), in a reshuffle seen as good for equities.

"It's mainly short-term hedge funds chasing the market higher today by buying futures and index-heavy weight stocks," said Norihiro Fujito, a senior investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.

The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. unit against a basket of six major peers, stood at 84.272, edging down about 0.1 percent on the day after it climbed as high as 84.743 on Thursday, its strongest level in more than four years.

The euro steadied at $1.2923 after refreshing a 14-month low on Thursday, when it fell as low as $1.2834.

Risk sentiment was tempered by geopolitical clouds on the horizon. The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved a bill requested by President Barack Obama to arm and train moderate Syrian rebels fighting Islamic State militants, which now goes to Obama to sign into law.

Obama said the strong bipartisan support showed Americans were united in the fight against Islamic State militants.

"The emergence of the militant group ISIS in Syria and Iraq, and recent increase in efforts to fight it, has ushered in a new era of geopolitical risk" in the Middle East and North Africa, strategists at Barclays wrote in a client note.

"We think the stage seems set for a prolonged period of heightened regional uncertainty, with risks potentially spilling over into global oil markets and other economies and financial markets in the region," they said.

Brent crude held below $98 a barrel on Friday, but was set for its first weekly gain in three on the possibility of lower OPEC output. Brent edged down to $97.65 a barrel, while U.S. crude slipped slightly to $92.97.

Spot gold inched lower to $1,224.35 an ounce after touching $1,216.01 in the previous session, its lowest since Jan. 2 on speculation about an earlier-than-expected U.S. interest rate hike.

source: interaksyon.com

Manny Pacquiao’s message to Floyd Mayweather: Stop blabbing and fight me

GENERAL SANTOS – Philippine boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao threw down a fresh challenge to Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Thursday, daring the American world champion to “fight me” instead of setting terms that could torpedo the dream bout.

“He’s all talk. Until now he has not yet agreed to fight me. Instead of blabbing, he should face me atop the ring,” Pacquiao told AFP in an interview.

Ring fans the world over have been baying for a mega-fight between two of the world’s greatest boxers of their generation, but previous talks have always broken down before a deal could be signed.

Pacquiao, 35, has held world titles in eight separate weight divisions.

He is training to defend his World Boxing Organization welterweight title against another undefeated American, Chris Algieri, in Macau in November.

Mayweather, who scored a lopsided victory over Marcos Maidana in a rematch in Las Vegas on Saturday, pushing his record to 47-0, later denied he was trying to safeguard his unblemished record by avoiding Pacquiao.

However, he said a Pacquiao bout would have to be on the American’s terms.

Pacquiao retorted Thursday that great fighters did not duck facing the best and did not let any challenge pass by.

“I’m tired of his alibis. If he really wants to fight me, he knows how to reach me. We can fight anytime, anywhere,” Pacquiao added.

The Filipino, who has won 56, lost five and drawn two fights, also dismissed the manner of Mayweather’s second Maidana win, in which the American retained his World Boxing Council and World Boxing Association welterweight titles.

“To me, Maidana won that fight. Mayweather’s face and lips were swelling compared to Maidana’s unblemished face,” Pacquiao said.

Ahead of his bout in Macau, Pacquiao said he would not underestimate Algieri, 30.

“I’m not taking Algieri lightly. He’s taller than me and moves around the ring with savvy. That’s why I started my training early,” Pacquiao said.

His assistant trainer Buboy Fernandez said they would focus on developing a game plan, as well as honing Pacquiao’s technique and footwork.

“Algieri uses the ring well and he loves to lean on the ropes. We must devise a strategy to counter this,” Fernandez added, warning Pacquiao to beware of the American’s left uppercut.

“He’s fast, but not as fast as Timothy Bradley. So he can be an easy target for our boxer,” Fernandez said.

American Bradley beat Pacquiao in a controversial split decision in 2012, but lost the rematch by unanimous decision last April.

source: interaksyon.com

Judge dismisses wig lawsuit against rapper Nicki Minaj

ATLANTA | A judge has dismissed a $30 million federal lawsuit by a celebrity hair stylist who accused rapper and former “American Idol” judge Nicki Minaj of stealing his designs for the colorful wigs that helped boost her career.

Although the wigs Minaj wore are “unique and distinctive in the ordinary sense of the word,” they were not recognizable by the public as having been designed by Terrence Davidson, the stylist who brought the lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Harold Murphy ruled Thursday.

Davidson, whose celebrity clients include singers Patti LaBelle and Jennifer Hudson, began working for Minaj in 2010 and designed her wigs for high-profile events worldwide, said the suit filed in Atlanta last February.

The rapper also wore Davidson-designed wigs in a music video for the song “Super Bass,” according to the lawsuit. One of Minaj’s best-known wigs is called the “Pink Upper Bun.” When Davidson stopped working for Minaj more than a year ago, the pop star began copying his wig designs and selling them online, he alleged.

Davidson’s representatives claim it is the first-ever intellectual property lawsuit over wigs. They did have an immediate comment Thursday on the suit’s dismissal.

source: interaksyon.com

iPhone comes out of a ‘bygone era’, reviewers hail bigger handset

Bigger is better and Apple Inc has finally realized that and given iPhone users a product that may be low on novelty but high on improvements, reviewers wrote.

Most reviewers say that the iPhone 6 is the best smartphone available or “ever made”, while the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus has been described as a “phablet” that will give competition to Samsung Electronics Co Ltd’s Galaxy S line of ‘big’ Android phones.

“I think it’s a terrific phone. In my view, it’s the best smartphone on the market, when you combine its hardware, all-new operating system, and the Apple ecosystem whose doors it opens,” Walt Mossberg wrote of the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 in the tech blog Re/code.

Geoffrey Fowler, who reviewed the phones for the Wall Street Journal, said Apple has “successfully addressed its size deficiency.”

Mossberg said the increase in the screen size is a “catch-up” feature. But it is seen as a welcome change by Fowler, who said the iPhone “felt stuck in a bygone era called 2012″ before the launch of the bigger phones.

New York Times reviewer Molly Wood appreciated the new “thinner, flatter and more rounded shapes” of both the phones. But she pointed out that the sleek look comes at the cost of the phones feeling “slippery”. (nyti.ms/1woWs9r)

The improvements made to the operating system – the iOS 8 software, and that to the camera were given a thumbs up by reviewers across the board. However, most believed that Apple could have done more to enhance the battery life of the phones.

Joshua Topolski, who reviewed the phones for Bloomberg, said they were faster than their predecessors.

“Apple will tell you that these are the fastest mobile devices it’s ever made, and it wouldn’t be lying. These phones scream,” Topolski wrote.

The new iPhone 6 goes on sale on Sept. 19 in the United States.

source: interaksyon.com

Obama sends 3,000 troops to W. Africa to 'turn tide' on Ebola

WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama will try to "turn the tide" on the Ebola epidemic Tuesday by ordering 3,000 US military personnel to west Africa to curtail its spread as China also dispatched more experts to the region.

The White House said Obama will travel to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta -- where US Ebola victims were treated -- to make the announcement, meant to spur a global effort to tackle the outbreak that has already killed 2,400 people.

It comes as alarm grows that the worst-ever Ebola epidemic which spread through Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea before reaching Nigeria, is out of control. A separate strain of the disease has appeared in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Most of the US effort, which will draw heavily on its military medical corps, will be concentrated in impoverished Liberia -- the worst hit nation -- with plans to build 17 Ebola treatment centres with 100 beds in each.

China is also sending more medics to neighbouring Sierra Leone to help boost laboratory testing for the virus, raising the total number of Chinese medical experts there to 174, the UN said Tuesday.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday it was reconvening its emergency committee in Geneva which declared the outbreak an international health emergency in August, to consider further measures to limit its spread.

Obama will announce that US Africa Command will set up a headquarters in the Sierra Leone capital Monrovia to act as a command and control centre for US military and international relief programmes.

But the main element of the push is a six-month training and hygiene drive to tackle the disease head-on.

US advisors will train up to 500 Liberian health care providers per week in how to safely handle and treat victims and their families in a bid to shore up the country's overwhelmed health infrastructure.

The intervention will involve an estimated 3,000 US military personnel, senior officials said, many working at a staging base for transit of equipment and personnel.

Washington will also send 65 experts from the public health service corps to Liberia to manage and staff a previously announced US military hospital to care for health workers who become sick with Ebola.

Ebola prevention kits, including disinfectant and advice, will also be supplied to 400,000 of the most vulnerable families in Liberia.

"What is clear is in order to combat and contain the outbreak at its source, we need to partner and lead an international response," said one senior US official, on condition of anonymity.

China said it is sending a mobile laboratory team to Sierra Leone, where more than 500 people have died so far from Ebola. The 59-person team from the Chinese Centre for Disease Control will include epidemiologists, clinicians and nurses, the WHO said.

"The newly announced team will join 115 Chinese medical staff on the ground in Sierra Leone virtually since the beginning," the agency's chief Margaret Chan said, hailing the new commitment as "a huge boost, morally and operationally".

Liberian Red Cross health workers wearing protective suits carry the body of a victim of the Ebola virus on September 12, 2014 in a district of Monrovia. AFP

source: interaksyon.com

TV host Paolo Ballesteros hospitalized for ‘mild stroke’

In a post that appeared in both his Twitter and Instagram accounts Monday night, TV host Paolo Ballesteros let his followers know that he was confined at the Marikina Valley Medical Center.

The post read, “Staying in tonight. Marikina Valley Medical Center. hyper tension daw. transient schemic attack. mild stroke pero hindi naman nagprogress. salamat naman. doing some lab tests tomorrow. 200 ang bp antandaaa ko na!! hehe. feeling better now. Thanks.”

At least several Instagram users, presumably Paolo’s friends and the official Instagram account of his GMA noontime show “Eat Bulaga”, were also tagged in the post.

Included in the post is a photo collage of Paolo himself and snapshots of his hospital sheet or pillow with the logo of the hospital, his arm receiving dextrose via the intravenous route and his hospital bracelet with his name on it.

What made Paolo’s post particularly intriguing was the hash tag #bangkokpillspahihistopmuna, suggesting that he had been taking the slimming pills designed to suppress one’s appetite and it might have caused his mild stroke.

Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration warned against the sale and use of Bangkok pills not only because it is not authorized by the FDA but also because it contains substances like ephedrine, bisacodyl, furosemide, phentermine and fenfluramine that are not safe for public consumption and may cause side effects like hallucination, paranoia, insomnia, respiratory problems, hypertension and development of heart valve abnormalities, kidney failure and even death.

At least one of Paolo’s fellow Dabarkads in “Eat Bulaga”, Ruby Rodriguez tweeted this message of support for him:

source: interaksyon.com

Apple helps iTunes users delete free U2 album

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple on Monday began helping people boot U2 off their iTunes accounts after a cacophony of complaints about not wanting the automatically downloaded free album by the Irish rock band.

U2 performed at the close of an Apple event last week marked by the unveiling of new large-screen iPhones, a smartwatch from the California company, and word that free copies of the band’s new “Songs of Innocence” album were instantly delivered to the more than half-billion iTunes accounts around the world.

The musical gift hit a sour note for iTunes users to took to social media to complain about precious iPhone storage space being taken up by a digital album they didn’t want and couldn’t figure out how to get rid of.

“If you would like U2′s Songs of Innocence’ removed from your iTunes music library and iTunes purchases, you can choose to have it removed,” Apple said at a freshly launched SOI Removal web page that let people delete the album with a click of an on-screen icon.

Apple warned that once “Songs of Innocence” was removed, it could not be gotten back free of charge.

“I managed to delete U2 off my iPhone. It’s a beautiful day,” one Twitter user said in a message playing off a verse from one of the band’s hit songs.

The digital album was made available free to anyone who has, or opens, an iTunes account by October 13.

U2 used the Apple event stage at a performing arts center near the iPhone, iPad, iPod, and Macintosh computer maker’s headquarters in the city of Cupertino to release their new album.

U2 frontman Bono described the album, the band’s first since “No Line on the Horizon” in 2009, as deeply personal and called the release “instant gratification.”

U2 — who released some of the most acclaimed albums in the 1980s including “The Joshua Tree” and “Rattle and Hum” — could have expected major sales for a new album.

While Apple did not disclose financial arrangements for the free release, U2 has collaborated for years on products with the company.

source: interaksyon.com

Microsoft to spotlight new Windows software September 30

SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft on Monday sent out invitations to a September 30 event at which it is expected to provide a glimpse at the next version of its Windows operating system.

The US software titan revealed little with invitations that read: “Join us to hear what’s next for Windows and the enterprise.”

The event slated to take place in San Francisco will be aimed at developers behind programs designed for computers powered by Windows software, and at businesses that depend on Microsoft programs in their networks.

Microsoft was said to be working on a separate version of Windows for smartphones and tablets, as it works to adapt to lifestyles centered increasingly on Internet-linked mobile devices.

source: interaksyon.com

LVMH’s TAG Heuer has plans for smartwatch: paper

ZURICH — French luxury group LVMH’s watch brand TAG Heuer has plans to launch its own smartwatch, the head of its watch business told a Swiss newspaper.

“We want to launch a smartwatch at TAG Heuer, but it must not copy the Apple Watch,” Jean-Claude Biver told Sunday newspaper NZZ am Sonntag.

Switzerland’s watch industry is facing competition from smartwatches that allow its wearers to make calls, receive messages or monitor their fitness by connecting to their smartphone.

“We cannot afford to just follow in somebody else’s footsteps,” Biver said, adding the Swiss watch industry would present smartwatches at the latest at the Basel watch fair next spring. He did not give further details on the planned smartwatch.

Biver and TAG Heuer could not immediately be reached for comment.

Apple which has so far been absent from the smartwatch market, unveiled its Apple Watch last week.

LVMH’s biggest watch brand, TAG Heuer, which also makes the luxury smartphone Meridiist, said last year it had made a one-off smartwatch for members of the Oracle sailing team.

source: interaksyon.com

Rare flawless 'Blue Moon Diamond' goes on display in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES -- A rare blue flawless 12-carat diamond, one of the world's rarest gems, was the newest attraction at the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles on Friday, adding a vibrant sparkle to the museum's gem collection. 

The "Blue Moon Diamond," was purchased in its uncut rough form for $25.6 million by diamond manufacturer Cora International in February this year, and will be on loan in the Los Angeles museum until January 2015.

The deep blue stone has been categorized as an extremely significant find because of its unique color, clarity and size. It is internally flawless, with no inclusions.

"You get many different vivid blues, but this blue is an absolutely phenomenal color, the saturation is off the charts," said Suzette Gomes, chief executive officer of Cora International. "I have never, in all my time in diamonds, seen a color like this." 

The stone has also piqued the interest of scientists, raising geological questions of its origins.

Eloise Gaillou, a mineral sciences expert at the Natural History Museum, said diamonds come from 90 miles (145 km) below the Earth's surface, thus giving some insight into what is happening in the Earth's mantle.

"The origin of the color blue is boron, a light element that has not much to do so deep inside the earth," Gaillou said. "Blue diamonds are rare because boron doesn't happen very often down there, so it's going to tell us more about the why, how, and maybe the when as well," she added.

The Natural History Museum's minerals collection has about 3,000 gemstones out of nearly 150,000 specimens of rocks, minerals and meteorites, many sourced from California.

source: interaksyon.com

Huawei Technologies uncovers corruption in internal probe

BEIJING — Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, China’s largest telecom equipment maker, found four employees in violation of the company’s policies on corruption as part of an internal inspection, a source familiar with the matter said.

In response to the findings, Huawei has held training sessions to educate employees on how to steer clear of possible bribery, the source said, declining to be identified because he was not authorized to speak about the matter to the media.

The internal probe coincides with a government crackdown on corporate misbehavior within both foreign and domestic firms. Chief Executive Ken Hu told the Financial Times on Thursday that graft inspections were done every year and “nothing new,” adding that it only attracted media attention this year.

Huawei has declined to address the exact nature of the cases. Local financial news outlet Caixin, which first reported the inspection last week, said a total of 116 employees were implicated in soliciting and accepting bribes from outside sales agents in exchange for rebates.

“In the enterprise market, Huawei is firmly implementing an open, transparent and stable channel policy, in order to pursue fairness and justice in the market, and to fight firmly against any form of employee practice that fails to meet the standards we set for ourselves,” Huawei said in a statement this week.

source: interaksyon.com

Apple unveils ApplePay mobile wallet

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple unveiled a new mobile wallet on Tuesday aimed at allowing consumers to use iPhones linked to credit cards for more secure, convenient payments.

Apple chief Tim Cook said the ApplePay system would replace an “antiquated payment process” with “an entirely new payment system” that allows consumers to touch their phones to retail terminals.

The new payment system will be built into the new iPhones and Apple’s operating system which were also unveiled Thursday.

Cook said that each day in the United States alone “that’s 200 million times that we scramble through our credit cards and go through what is a fairly antiquated payment process.”

He said other efforts have failed because the companies introducing mobile wallets were working on the basis of “their self-interest” instead of the user experience.

Cook showed a video of a consumer tapping a phone on a payment terminal, commenting, “it’s so cool.”

source: interaksyon.com

Apple unveils two big-screen iPhones, smartwatch‎

Apple unveiled on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) two new versions of the iPhone, boosting the screen size of the iconic smartphone to 4.7 and 5.5 inches.

Unveiling the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, Apple chief Tim Cook said the company was launching “the biggest advancement in the history of iPhones.”

Apple senior vice president Phil Schiller, speaking in Cupertino, California, said the new iPhones were “simply stunning” with polarized glass displays and bodies that are “thinner than ever before.”

“These are the best phones ever made,” Schiller said, as he described the new devices at a major set-piece event streamed live online.

The new iPhone 6 will start at the same price of existing iPhones at $199 for US customers while the iPhone 6 Plus will be at $299 with a two-year contract.

Schiller said the devices would be available in at least 115 countries by the end of the year.

Apple will cut the price of existing iPhone 5S and 5C with the launch.

Apple’s move, expanding the latest iPhone with a four-inch screen, comes as consumers are switching to handsets with bigger displays to watch videos and browse the Internet.

Observers say the timing is right for Apple to introduce a generation of iPhone 6 models with screen sizes stretched to tap into users’ love for “phablets” that combine the features of smartphones and tablets.

Apple chief Tim Cook said, “it’s the best iPhone ever.”

Apple straps computing to wrist with Watch

Apple also unveiled a smartwatch dubbed simply “Watch.”

“Apple Watch is the most personal device we have ever created,” Apple chief executive Tim Cook said while announcing the hotly-anticipated move into wearable computing.

The watch comes in two sizes and an array of choices of interchangeable, fashionable bands. Cook introduced Apple Watch with the “one more thing” introduction that was a trademark of iconic Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

“It is the next chapter in Apple’s story,” Cook said of the first new product category to be entered by the company since the death of Jobs in 2011.

“We invented intimate ways to connect and communicate directly from your wrist; it works seamlessly with iPhone and it is also a comprehensive health and fitness device.”

Apple has been working on Watch for a long time, and didn’t just shrink the iPhone and strap it to the wrist, Cook told a rapt audience in a performing arts center in Silicon Valley where Jobs introduced the Macintosh computer 30 years ago.

While Apple Watch has touch-screen capabilities, many controls were designed into a “digital crown” button to avoid fingers from blocking screens.

Sensors on the Watch can detect a wearer’s pulse, and the devices tap into motion sensing features in iPhones to provide a “comprehensive picture of activity” and get help working toward fitness goals, according to Apple senior vice president of design Jonathan Ive.

Applications for Watch including map software that guides people to destinations with gentle “taps” on the wrist.

source: interaksyon.com

Apple eyes future course with new devices

SAN FRANCISCO — Tech trend-setter Apple charts its future course Tuesday amid expectations for new big-screen iPhones and possibly an “iWatch” which could shake up the world of wearable computing.

Apple has maintained its customary arch silence, but a frenzy of speculation suggests a push into a new segment as it seeks to broaden the appeal of its iconic iPhone.

Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey said a widely predicted iWatch launch would “be one of its most important and brand-reinforcing launches in years.”

According to new Forrester data, 25 percent of US adults online anticipate purchasing a wearable device in the next year, and 42 percent are specifically interested in a wrist device.

“Apple will show again how computing platforms are won or lost on the one-two punch of eager consumers and hungry ecosystem partners,” McQuivey said.

Regaining its old magic

Apple is seeking to show that it hasn’t lost its magic and to shift attention from a recent celebrity photo theft scandal.

Tuesday’s event is at a performing arts center where late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs introduced the Macintosh computer 30 years ago, fueling talk that a new “big thing” is on the way.

“I’m expecting a few surprises, despite all the pre-event reports,” said Yankee Group analyst Carl Howe in a tweet.

Work on a wrist-worn computing device with a heath theme is believed to have begun years ago at Apple, inspired by Jobs and his battle with an illness that took his life in 2011.

Apple is fine-tuning a new mobile operating system that could allow for mobile payments and includes a health platform, which could mesh nicely with an “iWatch” for tracking activity, sleep, pulse and more and connecting to an iPhone or iPad.

Observers say the timing is right for Apple to introduce a generation of iPhone 6 models with screen sizes stretched to tap into love for “phablets” combining the features of smartphones and tablets.

An Adobe Digital Index report found that people prefer screens larger than five inches when browsing the Internet on mobile devices.

Browsing the Internet on smartphones with four-inch screens, like those on iPhones, dropped 11 percent during the past year, according to the report.

Apple has seen sales growth for iPhones, but slower than its rivals like Samsung, which sells an array of big-screen smartphones.

Dave Hoch at the research firm Localytics predicts a wave of upgrades because roughly one-fourth of the Apple devices in use are the iPhone 5 — which was released two years ago preceding the 5S and 5C — and are likely to be replaced.

“This is likely because most iPhones come with a cheaper price if the consumer locks into a two-year contract, putting the average consumer on a two-year upgrade cycle,” Hoch said in a blog post.

‘Blockbuster’ demand

Greg Sterling at Opus Research said this data suggests potential sales of 50 million units of the iPhone 6 for the US alone.

“These numbers argue it has the potential to be a blockbuster for Apple,” he said in a post on the Marketing Land blog.

The iPhone has a leading share in the US market of some 40 percent, but its worldwide share of the smartphone market is less than 12 percent, according to surveys.

Gartner analyst Van Baker predicts Apple will unveil an iPhone 6 with a screen increased to 4.7 inches, and that odds are strong for a 5.5-inch version.

“There is gigantic pent-up demand for a larger iPhone,” Creative Strategies president Tim Bajarin told AFP.

“Apple will likely have a monster fourth quarter.”

New iPhones are expected to feature near-field communication chips that will let them be used as mobile wallets, challenging services such as Square or Google Wallet.

Apple would be asking people to trust it with health and financial data after taking a bruising over the release of nude photos of celebrities including Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence from its cloud.

Apple says there was no breach of its iCloud and that the celebrities had their accounts hacked by using easy-to-guess passwords, or by giving up their personal data to cybercriminals posing as Apple.

source: interaksyon.com

One Direction teases for new album with single

NEW YORK | Boy band One Direction, whose last album was 2013′s top seller, on Monday announced a November release for their latest record and streamed a free single to whet fans’ appetites.

The British heartthrobs’ fourth album — entitled, simply, “Four” — will go on sale on November 17. In a message to fans on their website, One Direction offered free downloads for one day of the first track, entitled “Fireproof.”

“Fireproof” stays largely true to One Direction’s style, with light guitar-based pop backing up multiple singers, avoiding the heavier sound with which the band flirted on their last album, “Midnight Memories.”

“Midnight Memories” sold four million copies worldwide last year, making it the most-bought album of 2013 even though it was released in late November.

One Direction have been prolific in their output since storming onto the stage in 2010 with performances on the British talent show “The X Factor.”

On October 11-12, a film of one of the band’s concerts in Italy — called “Where We Are,” after the name of their tour — will air in cinemas around the world, following up on One Direction’s documentary film “This Is Us” last year.

One Direction joins a list of bands that have chosen to release albums entitled simply by their number in their respective discographies, with artists as diverse as Beyonce and Stone Temple Pilots also making records called “Four” or some variation thereof.

Listen to “Fireproof” here:

source: interaksyon.com

Dollar gains ground on yen, Japan shares test highs

SYDNEY - The U.S. dollar was holding broad-based gains in Asia on Tuesday in a boon for shares of Japanese exporters but a burden for oil, gold and stocks in the energy majors.

As the dollar finally broke to a six-year peak on the yen and a one-year top on the euro, Brent oil sank to 16-month lows while gold carved out a three-month trough.

A falling yen tends to be viewed as positive for Japanese exporters and corporate profits, and helped lift the Topix 0.2 percent to 1,301. That was within a whisker of this year's peak at 1,308.08 and a break there would put it on ground last trod in July 2008.

According to Nomura Securities, a fall of 1 yen against the dollar boosts aggregate operating profits at Topix firms by 300 billion yen.

Markets elsewhere in the region were steady with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan down a slight 0.1 percent.

Despite market concerns over China's economy, stocks there have been buoyed by talk of more stimulus and reform measures.

The CSI300 of the leading Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listings edged higher on Tuesday having put in its best performance in a year last week with gains of almost 5 percent.

On Wall Street, the Dow closed down 0.15 percent, while the S&P 500 fell 0.31 percent but the Nasdaq eked out a 0.2 percent gain.

Energy led the decline, with the S&P energy index .SPNY off 1.6 percent and Exxon Mobil down 1.5 percent.

Investors were now eagerly awaiting the launch of new products by Apple later on Tuesday in a much-hyped event at Cupertino, California.

Apple has fed high expectations, with promises by executives that the company's best product pipeline in 25 years is being readied inside its secretive facilities.

Dollar up, pound down

In currencies, the dollar index climbed as far as 84.425, bringing into view the July 2013 peak of 84.753. A break there will take it to highs not seen since July 2010.

Giving bulls encouragement was a research from the San Francisco Fed noted that investors are pricing in a lower trajectory for interest rates rises than members of the Fed itself are.

"The market's interpretation is that perhaps it had better re-price those expectations," said Emma Lawson, senior currency strategist at National Australia Bank.

As a result, yields on 10-year U.S. Treasuries rose to 2.496 percent US10YT=RR, up from a low of 2.3870 touched last Friday after the soft August payrolls report.

The greenback raced to a high of 106.28 yen, while the euro slumped to a low of $1.2878. Investors were already giving the common currency a wide berth after the European Central Bank surprised on Thursday with a fresh round of stimulus.

Sterling was nailed to 10-month lows after a second opinion poll found a marked increase in support for Scottish independence just 10 days before the country votes on whether to break away from the United Kingdom.

The TNS poll found support for independence had risen six points to 38 percent, just a pip behind the 'No' camp at 39 percent. That follows a YouGov poll that showed approval of independence at 51 percent against the unity camp's 49 percent, the first to find a majority for a 'Yes' vote.

The YouGov poll caused tremors in financial markets on Monday, knocking the pound lower and hurting stocks of companies with a large Scottish presence. Sterling was at a fresh trough of $1.6079 on Tuesday in Asia.

The gains for the dollar meant losses for commodities, with gold down at $1,255.56 an ounce after losing more than 1 percent on Monday.

Brent crude oil eased another 6 cents to $100.14, after slumping as far as $99.36 overnight, the lowest since May 2013. U.S. crude managed to bounce 30 cents to $92.96 a barrel.

source: interaksyon.com

Hawks owner to sell team after another NBA racism scandal

NEW YORK – Atlanta Hawks co-owner Bruce Levenson said Sunday he’ll sell his controlling interest in the NBA team in the wake of racially charged remarks he made in an e-mail two years ago.

Levenson’s decision to voluntarily sell comes after the NBA’s ugly fight to remove Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling after racist remarks he made to a girlfriend became public.

After months of legal wrangling and resistance by Sterling, the Los Angeles club’s $2 billion sale to former Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer was made official in August.

Levenson, who has been the Hawks’ controlling owner since 2004, clearly hopes to spare the NBA a similar episode.

“After much long and difficult contemplation, I have decided that it is in the best interests of the team, the Atlanta community, and the NBA to sell my controlling interest in the Hawks franchise,” he said in a statement on Sunday.

He said chief executive Steve Koonin will oversee all team operations and take all organizational reports as the sale process proceeds.

Levenson said he was “truly embarrassed” by the words in the e-mail, which he said were “inappropriate and offensive”.

Writing to Hawks President Danny Ferry, Levenson tries to address issues relating to low attendance and the need for more season ticket holders and corporate sponsorship — giving the opinion that the team needed to attract more affluent white fans.

In the e-mail Levenson says he believes “the black crowd scared away the whites and there are simply not enough affluent black fans to build a signficant season ticket base.”

Levenson says the e-mail “trivialized our fans by making cliched assumptions about their interests (i.e. hip hop vs. country, white vs. black cheerleaders, etc.) and by stereotyping their perceptions of one another (i.e. that white fans might be afraid of our black fans).

“By focusing on race, I also sent the unintentional and hurtful message that our white fans are more valuable than our black fans.”

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who banned Sterling for life from all league activities, praised Levenson for notifying the league himself of the e-mail.

The league launched its own investigation into the circumstances, but Levenson told Silver he was selling before the probe was completed.

“As Mr. Levenson acknowledged, the views he expressed are entirely unacceptable and are in stark contrast to the core principles of the National Basketball Association,” Silver said.

“He shared with me how truly remorseful he is for using those hurtful words and how apologetic he is to the entire NBA family — fans, players, team employees, business partners and fellow team owners — for having diverted attention away from our game.

“I commend Mr. Levenson for self-reporting to the league office, for being fully cooperative with the league and its independent investigator, and for putting the best interests of the Hawks, the Atlanta community, and the NBA first,” the commissioner said.

Zero tolerance

Koonin issued a statement of his own, posted on the team’s website, calling Levenson’s statement “extremely disappointing” and the e-mail in question “alarming, offensive and most of all, completely unacceptable …

“In partnership with the NBA, we will work to ensure that a new ownership team will be put in place that is united and committed to the Atlanta community.”

When the recording of Sterling’s comments scolding V. Stiviano for associating with black friends was made public by TMZ.com in April, Levenson was among the NBA owners to quickly denounce the 80-year-old Clippers owner.

At the time, Levenson, the co-founder of United Communications Group, told an Atlanta radio station the league should have “zero tolerance” for racism and discrimination.

The scandal roiled the entire NBA, and in the storm that followed, Sterling initially agreed to the sale of the team, but then abruptly withdrew his support.

His wife, however, moved to sell the Clippers as a trustee of the family trust that owned the team after Sterling had been declared mentally incapacitated — triggering a court battle between husband and wife.

interaksyon.com

S&P 500 ends at record as jobs report eases Fed worries

NEW YORK - U.S. stocks ended higher on Friday, lifting the S&P 500 to a fresh closing high, after a weaker-than-expected jobs report was taken as a sign that the Federal Reserve will not begin raising interest rates anytime soon.

Stocks had traded lower after the government reported fewer U.S. jobs were created in August than expected.

By early afternoon, however, major indexes turned positive, led by utilities. Fed officials have made it clear that they see the labor market as still struggling, which partially justifies keeping rates at rock-bottom levels.

"The nonfarm payroll numbers fell well short of expectations, but the market reaction suggests a stronger-than-consensus number might have been met with a downward bias in equities," said Jim Russell, senior equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Cincinnati.

"What we saw today called off the dogs to some degree and took the heat down a notch or two from investors' concern about rate hikes."

Utilities gained 1.2 percent as investors turned to the group for their income appeal with bond yields falling in response to the payrolls data. Utility shares often benefit as bond yields fall because the companies pay relatively rich dividends.

Power generator NRG Energy Inc rose 1.9 percent to $30.89, and XCEL Energy Inc advanced 1.9 percent to $32.48.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 67.78 points, or 0.4 percent, to 17,137.36. The S&P 500 was up 10.06 points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,007.71. The Nasdaq Composite added 20.61 points, or 0.45 percent, to 4,582.90.

For the week, the Dow and the S&P each gained 0.2 percent and the Nasdaq rose 0.06 percent.

Family Dollar Stores Inc shares lost 1.2 percent to $79.11 after the discount retailer rejected Dollar General Corp's sweetened takeover bid. Shares of Dollar General fell 2.3 percent to $63.01.

Apple shares edged up 0.9 percent to $98.97 after the company said it planned to add new security features to its iCloud service.

Retailers lost ground. Michael Kors shares lost 4.5 percent to $76.39 after the company announced a secondary offering of 11.6 million shares.

Gap Inc shares fell 4.2 percent to $44.65 after worse-than-expected same-store-sales in August.

About 5.2 billion shares traded on all U.S. platforms, according to BATS exchange data, compared with the five-day average of 5.1 billion.

source: interaksyon.com

Facebook ready to spend billions to bring whole world online: Zuckerberg

MEXICO CITY — Facebook Inc is prepared to spend billions of dollars to reach its goal of bringing the Internet to everyone on the planet, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said on Friday.

“What we really care about is connecting everyone in the world,” Zuckerberg said at an event in Mexico City hosted by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim.

“Even if it means that Facebook has to spend billions of dollars over the next decade making this happen, I believe that over the long term its gonna be a good thing for us and for the world.”

Around 3 billion people will have access to the Internet by the end of 2014, according to International Telecommunications Union (ITU) statistics. Almost half that, 1.3 billion people, use Facebook.

Facebook, the world’s largest social networking company, launched its Internet.org project last year to connect billions of people without Internet access in places such as Africa and Asia by working with phone operators.

“I believe that … when everyone is on the Internet all of our businesses and economies will be better,” Zuckerberg said.

source: interaksyon.com

Intel and Fossil to create wearable tech

SAN FRANCISCO — Chipmaker Intel Corp on Friday said it would work with watches and fashion accessory retailer Fossil Group to develop wearable computing devices.

The collaboration comes as Intel tries to expand beyond the personal computer industry into new markets, including tablets and a growing wave of “smart” watches and other Internet-connected garments.

As well as cooperating on technology-oriented fashion products, Fossil will help Intel’s venture capital arm look for investments to accelerate innovation in wearable computing, Intel said in a statement.

Intel has also been working with design company Opening Ceremony to launch a fashion bracelet with semi-precious gems, communications features and wireless charging.

source: interaksyon.com

Should you be paranoid about data privacy on the Internet, or even on your smartphone?

It did not come slowly.

A random search for a random thing on a random site for some reason, just a minute after closing the tab and refreshing another, an ad for the site appears on Facebook.

This is what it’s like using the Internet in the United States. This is one of the reasons to wonder if the National Security Agency (NSA) really does take data from social media.

Hair dryers I looked at Amazon just a few moments ago suddenly appear on the ads part of my Facebook timeline. Shopping sites and food delivery services pop up between updates of friends. Suddenly Tumblr has sponsored pages you don’t remember ever seeing before.

I first noticed these ads creeping its way into all of my social media a few days into my stay in New York. I had finally gotten a phone and opened the Twitter app to check my feed. A few swipes down there it was: an ad for a store in Manhattan complete with a picture of the Empire State Building.

It seemed weird to notice it at first but I barely saw ads in my Twitter feed when I was in Manila.

Oh sure there are ads on Facebook and your email, I see those all the time. But the speed at which these ads come on to your social media here is just unbelievable. And it isn’t just Google ads. These are ads tailored for you; based on where you are. I was on vacation in California over Christmas and I got ads for In-N-Out, in New York I get ads about Bank of America and the New York City Ballet (and not Shake Shack oddly).

A friend who is doing his concentration (in my school each student chooses a concentration, kind of like a major) on health and science wrote an article about privacy and phones. He told me that because I kept my location services on and that I check my social media, there is a lot of data that my phone is giving away about me.

Data, like — I get lost most of the time so my location services are always on or I keep searching for cheap hair dryers and Macbook chargers on Amazon.

Companies pay a lot for that information. Well maybe not the getting lost part, maybe, I hope.

This kind of advertising is just so common in the United States that so many companies do this kind of thing.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say some companies in the Philippines aren’t that sold on the idea yet. But I’m not going to be surprised if pretty soon you open up your Twitter in Manila and see the same exact thing happening.

Just imagine a tweet from Jollibee on your feed at 3PM even if no one retweeted them and you don’t follow them. And you notice it because you tweeted just seconds ago about palabok.

It’s not a wonder why Americans become so paranoid about their privacy over the Internet.

I can’t say I’m paranoid about my data being analyzed by companies or worse the NSA. I’m still at the point where I find it amazing that I suddenly get location-based tweets.

But the moment I get an ad about beer just as I walk past a random bar on a random street then I think that’s when I’ll double check my privacy settings on my phone.

So NSA if you ever read this, I do like beer and hair dryers and cheap chargers. Also
Shake Shack. Build my profile based on that.

source: interaksyon.com

Sofia Vergara is highest paid TV actress at $37 million: Forbes

NEW YORK | For the third consecutive year, Colombian actress Sofia Vergara, one of the stars of the hit ABC comedy “Modern Family,” is the highest paid actress on U.S. television, with estimated earnings of $37 million, Forbes magazine said on Wednesday.

Like last year, Vergara, who earns $325,000 for each episode of “Modern Family,” outpaced Mariska Hargitay, the Emmy-winning star of NBC’s “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit,” who came in second with $13 million. Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting, 28, of CBS’s “The Big Bang Theory,” came in third, with $11 million.

“At 42, the ‘Modern Family’ star continues her streak in large part due to her business savvy,” said Forbes.

In addition to her TV work, Vergara has endorsement deals with beverage, cosmetic, clothing and other companies. She also co-founded Latin World Entertainment, a talent, management and entertainment marketing firm.

Hargitay, the 50-year-old star of the longest-running drama series currently on TV, earns $450,000 per episode and bulks up her earning through syndication profits.

Emmy winner Julianna Margulies, 48, of the CBS legal drama “The Good Wife,” was in a three-way tie for fourth place with Ellen Pompeo, 44, of the ABC drama “Grey’s Anatomy,” and 32-year-old Cobie Smulders, of the CBS sitcom “How I Met Your Mother.” Each actress earned an estimated $10 million.

Forbes’s list is determined by estimating pre-tax earnings between June 2013 and June 2014 from the actresses’ TV work, endorsements, residuals and advertising work, and by talking to agents, managers and lawyers. The estimate does not include management fees and other expenses.

Actress Mindy Kaling, 35, the writer, producer and star of “The Mindy Project,” on the Fox network, clinched the No. 7 spot with $6.5 million. Lena Dunham, the 28-year-old creator and star of the HBO series “Girls,” made it into the top 10 with earnings of $3.5 million.

The top 10 actresses on the 2014 list made a combined $140 million. That compares with the $214 million combined earnings of the 10 leading TV actors.

source: interaksyon.com

Facebook goes down for some users

SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook Inc went down briefly for an unknown number of U.S. users on Wednesday afternoon in what appeared to be the latest outage to affect the world’s largest social network.

Several users had earlier reported getting an error message, “unable to connect to the Internet” when attempting to sign in.

Facebook said the log-in problems arose after what it called an infrastructure-configuration adjustment.

“We immediately discovered the issue and fixed it, and everyone should now be able to connect,” a Facebook spokesman said.

source: interaksyon.com

Guinea detects Ebola in new region as US warns outbreak out of control

CONAKRY/DAKAR - Guinea's government said on Wednesday that Ebola had spread to a previously unaffected region of the country, as US experts warned that the worst ever outbreak of the deadly virus was spiraling out of control in West Africa.

Guinea, the first country to detect the hemorrhagic fever in March, had said it was containing the outbreak but authorities announced that nine new cases had been found in the southeastern prefecture of Kerouane.

The area, some 750 km (470 miles) southeast of the capital Conakry, lies close to where the virus was first detected deep in Guinea's forest region. The epidemic has since spread to four other West African countries and killed more than 1,500 people.

"There has been a new outbreak in Kerouane but we have sent in a team to contain it," said Aboubacar Sikidi Diakité, head of Guinea's Ebola task force. He insisted the outbreak was being contained.

The nine confirmed cases were in the town of Damaro in the Kerouane region, with a total of 18 people under observation, the health ministry said in a statement.

The latest outbreak started after the arrival of an infected person from neighboring Liberia, the ministry said. Guinea has recorded a total of 489 deaths and 749 Ebola cases as of Sept. 1.

President Alpha Conde urged health personnel to step up their efforts to avoid new infections.

"Even for a simple malaria, you have to protect yourselves before consulting any sick person until the end of this epidemic," Conde said in a televised broadcast. "We had started to succeed but you dropped the ball and here we go again."

Cases of Ebola have been reported in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Nigeria, Senegal and Democratic Republic of Congo. The cases in Congo, which include 31 deaths, are a separate outbreak unrelated to the West African cases, however, the World Health Organization has said.

Outbreak not under control

In a stark analysis last week, the WHO warned that the Ebola epidemic in West Africa could infect more than 20,000 people and spread to 10 countries. It outlined a $490 million roadmap for tackling the epidemic.

Doctor Tom Kenyon, director of the US Centers for Disease Control's (CDC) Centre for Global Health, said on Wednesday the outbreak was "spiraling out of control" and he warned that the window of opportunity for controlling it was closing.

"Guinea did show that with action, they brought it partially under control. But unfortunately it is back on the increase now," he told a conference call. "It's not under control anywhere."

He warned that the longer the outbreak went uncontained, the greater the possibility the virus could mutate, making it more difficult to contain. Ebola is only transmitted in humans by contact with the blood or bodily fluids of sick people, though suspected cases of airborne infection have been reported in monkeys in laboratories.

A senior US official rebutted a call from medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) for wealthy nations to deploy specialized biological disaster response teams to the region. MSF on Tuesday had warned that 800 more beds for Ebola patients were urgently needed in the Liberian capital Monrovia alone.

"I don't think at this point deploying biological incident response teams is exactly what's needed," said Gayle Smith, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Development and Democracy on the National Security Council.

She said the US government was focusing efforts on rapidly increasing the number of Ebola treatment centers in affected countries, providing protective equipment and ensuring local staff received training.

"We will see a considerable ramp-up in the coming days and weeks. If we find it is still moving out of control we will look at other options," Smith told a conference call.

The US Department of Health and Human Services said on Tuesday a federal contract worth up to $42.3 million would help accelerate testing of an experimental Ebola virus treatment being developed by privately held Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc.

Human safety trials are due to begin this week on a vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline Plc and later this year on one from NewLink Genetics Corp.

source: interaksyon.com

Google starts quantum computing research project

Google Inc said a research team led by physicist John Martinis from the University of California Santa Barbara will join the company to start a project to build new quantum information processors based on superconducting electronics.

The Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab is a collaboration between Google, NASA Ames Research Center and the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) to study the application of quantum optimization related to artificial intelligence.

“With an integrated hardware group, the Quantum AI team will now be able to implement and test new designs for quantum optimization and inference processors based on recent theoretical insights as well as our learnings from the D-Wave quantum annealing architecture,” Google’s director of engineering, Hartmut Neven, said on its research blog.

Google, which is working on projects including self-driving cars and robots, has become increasingly focused on artificial intelligence in recent years.

Earlier in January, Google acquired privately held artificial intelligence company DeepMind Technologies Ltd.

source: interaksyon.com

Apple, FBI investigate massive celebrity nude photo ‘hack’

LOS ANGELES | The FBI and Apple were urgently investigating Monday after an apparent massive hack of a cloud data service unleashed a torrent of intimate pictures of dozens of celebrities across the Internet.

Anonymous posters to online message boards boasted of having nude images of scores of female stars including Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence and top model Kate Upton.

Reports suggested hackers had “ripped” private images from Apple’s iCloud online data storage, a potentially embarrassing — and damaging — breach for the California tech giant.

“We take user privacy very seriously and are actively investigating this report,” said Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris, the Re/code website reported.

The FBI has also joined the hunt, other US reports said.

“The FBI is aware of the allegations concerning computer intrusions and the unlawful release of material involving high profile individuals, and is addressing the matter,” The Los Angeles Times quoted Laura Eimiller, spokeswoman for the FBI in Los Angeles, as saying.

“Any further comment would be inappropriate at this time,” she added.

Some of the pictures had previously been circulated on message forums, and others appeared fake, but some major stars expressed outrage and threatened legal action.

“This is a flagrant violation of privacy. The authorities have been contacted and will prosecute anyone who posts the stolen photos of Jennifer Lawrence,” Lawrence’s agent told entertainment media.

Upton’s lawyer, Lawrence Shore, told Us Magazine: “We intend to pursue anyone disseminating or duplicating these images to the fullest extent possible.”

By late Sunday, Twitter had begun suspending accounts that linked to the Lawrence photos, tech news site Mashable reported.

Among the scores of celebrities whose pictures were allegedly stolen were singer Avril Lavigne, actress Hayden Panettiere and United States soccer star Hope Solo.

Former Nickelodeon star and singer Victoria Justice said the images claiming to show her nude were anything but the real deal.

“These so called nudes of me are FAKE people. Let me nip this in the bud right now. *pun intended*” she tweeted.

A spokesperson for actress and pop star Ariana Grande told BuzzFeed that images said to be of her are “completely fake.”

‘CREEPY EFFORT’

But horror movie actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead confirmed that some of her private pictures were in circulation and condemned those who stole them and who circulated them.

“To those of you looking at photos I took with my husband years ago in the privacy of our home, hope you feel great about yourselves,” she tweeted.

“Knowing those photos were deleted long ago, I can only imagine the creepy effort that went into this. Feeling for everyone who got hacked.”

The scale of the breach became apparent on Sunday when users of the 4chan message board, a diverse online community that has been criticized in the past for misogyny, began sharing pictures.

Some more mainstream news and entertainment sites took up the story — and some linked to the images before taking them down amid legal threats and public outrage.

According to a report on news and gossip site Gawker, users of a AnonIB — an anonymous photo-sharing platform — have been boasting of a hack since last week.

Some users, hiding behind pseudonyms, made an apparent attempt to sell the pictures or to trade them with fellow hackers for others.

SECURITY HOLE?

Tech news site The Next Web reported what it said was evidence that hackers had found a weakness in Apple’s “Find my iPhone” service, an app that tracks lost or stolen handsets.

Apple has patched the alleged hole, the report said, but not before news of it spread in the hacker community, perhaps allowing unscrupulous strangers to access private online data.

But other reports suggested that the pictures could have been collated from multiple sources, perhaps not including iCloud at all, and may have been gathered over several years.

News site Deadspin said it had been contacted in early August by a source claiming he had been offered the pictures for sale.

The scale of the hack, and the targeting of women in the public eye, quickly revived the debate on social media about privacy concerns and about misogyny on the Internet.

The scandal also posed a public relations challenge to tech companies, who have been marketing online storage like iCloud, DropBox or GoogleDrive as a safe haven for users’ private data.

Several popular tech blogs marked the story by providing advice on storing private data safely, by using advanced encryption and two-step password identification or by keeping it offline.

source: interaksyon.com