Saturday, November 30, 2013

Deutsche Borse to open Cloud Exchange, treat computing as a commodity

Deutsche Börse launches marketplace for trading outsourced storage and computing capacity

World's first neutral trading venue for "cloud computing"/ Trading to commence beginning of 2014/ Standardised trading for cloud computing resources/ Clients have free choice of providers

2. July 2013

Deutsche Börse: Deutsche Börse today announced that it will launch a trading venue for outsourced storage and computing capacity – so called "cloud computing" resources – in the beginning of 2014: Deutsche Börse Cloud Exchange AG is a new joint venture formed together with Berlin-based Zimory GmbH to create the first neutral, secure and transparent trading venue for "cloud computing" resources.

The primary users for the new trading venue will be companies, public sector agencies and also organisations such as research institutes that need additional storage and computing resources, or have excess capacity that they want to offer on the market.

"With its great expertise in operating markets, Deutsche Börse is making it possible for the first time to standardise and trade fully electronically IT capacity in the same way as securities, energy and commodities," said Michael Osterloh, Member of the Board of Deutsche Börse Cloud Exchange.

As the first international, vendor-neutral marketplace of this type, Deutsche Börse Cloud Exchange will set and monitor standards regarding the product offering, admission procedure, changes of provider and guaranteed purchased capacity. Clients will be able to choose capacity providers freely, as well as select the jurisdiction that will apply to the outsourced data. The product offering will initially include outsourced storage capacity and computing power.

Product standards and technical provision will be developed in close cooperation with potential marketplace participants and related parties. These parties include representatives from the traditional IT environment, national and international SMEs, and large corporations from a wide range of industries, such as CloudSigma, Devoteam, Equinix, Host Europe, Leibniz- Rechenzentrum, PROFI AG, T-Systems and TÜV-Rheinland.

„The cloud marketplace of Deutsche Börse offers companies a further choice to purchase top secure and tested cloud-services from T-Systems. Due to the high level of standardization this will all be done with great speed and efficiency and with up-to-date prices", said Frank Strecker, responsible for the cloud business of T-Systems.

Founded in May 2013, Deutsche Börse Cloud Exchange AG is a joint venture of Deutsche Börse and Zimory, a Berlin-based specialist in cloud management that ensures that the users connected to the marketplace have easy access to the cloud capacity they have purchased.


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20 Sleeveless Tops to Wear in This Heat

Even for July, it's been incredibly hot across the country, especially if you live on the West Coast. While you're probably spending most of your time hiding in the air conditioning, you still have to go outside at some point probably. Wearing a lightweight minimal maxi dress is one option (and pairing a camisole with shorts is another) but both of these aren't necessarily appropriate for the office. For the days when you require a bit more coverage than flimsy silk can provide, try the sleeveless shell top. It's an airy option that pairs well with anything from trousers to a pencil skirt. Pair Tibi's black and white printed version with a slim black skirt and heels, or add a jolt of color with Maison Martin Margiela's bright blue version layered under a blazer. For the weekend, Topshop's neon pink and slightly cropped take would look great with shorts while MSGM's patterned top goes well with a neutral A-line mini. Click ahead to see all of these and more, because there are still at least eight more weeks of this heat and humidity.


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Sorority Sister Who Sent Berserk E-Mail Is Back As Female Bro

The literary and journalistic potential in the University of Maryland’s “Deranged Sorority Girl” emailer was immediately apparent. “Someone get this lady a blog,” Maureen O’Connor wrote. And, lo, someone did. But not, it turns out, a lady blog. Former Delta Gamma Rebecca Martinson published her first column yesterday on The Bro Bible, a blog devoted to frat bro culture, and perhaps a more logical home for the woman who once wrote, “Newsflash, you stupid cocks.” Having written the book on the importance of not being "so fucking BORING," she now takes on “Getting a Guy to Text You the Morning After.” 

Martinson boldly sticks a fork in the old “three-day rule.”  The cause of death? Alcohol-induced memory loss. She writes:

Another archaic rule of three, however, endures. The three-date rule.

I hope the next installment is “Cunt-Punting 101.”


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Samsung to build five new R&D centers in Korea for $4.5 billion

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Samsung R&D center

You gotta spend money to make money. Samsung knows that, which is why the Korean powerhouse will be spending about 5 trillion won (roughly $4.5 billion) to build five new R&D centers over the next three years. All of the facilities will be in the company's homeland, with a $1 billion research center set to open in southern Seoul late in 2015. At that particular building, it's expected that some 10,000 employees will take up residence, focusing primarily on design. Samsung also plans to dedicate new R&D centers to materials and component development, as well as chips and displays. In 2012 Samsung dropped a company-record 11.9 trillion won (about $10.5 billion) on R&D, and there's no sign that it'll be slowing down anytime soon. In fact, its research budget is up about $1.4 billion from 2011. Sure, there might not be as much of an immediate windfall from the investment, like you might see from an advertising blitz or lawsuit, but we're willing to bet it keeps Sammy competitive for much of the foreseeable future.

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Kate Middleton’s ‘Feelings,’ and More Royal Baby News

With Kate Middleton about to give birth any day now (but please, please not tomorrow, because that would ruin our barbecue plans), the media is publishing literally anything they can come up with about the royal fetus. Meanwhile, journalists have set up camp on the sidewalk outside St. Mary’s Hospital, where Kate is to give birth in the private Lindo Wing. Read on for more scintillating tidbits about organic baby food and other creepy gifts from weird fans.

1. The hospital scene
In order to preserve order outside the hospital (you know, should an ambulance need to drive through), a press pen complete with risers has been set up in the parking lot. Crowds of photographers are already there, so the world will know as soon as Kate arrives.

Uncomfortable-looking press pen at the hospital.

2. Kate's status
Us Weekly has a lengthy report from an unnamed source full of generic quotes about how "great" Kate's feeling. A selection: "She's full of energy and really rather used to the bump ... Naturally she is a little nervous about the big day, what new mum wouldn't be?" Also: "She's still busy, making sure she's done as much as possible for the new house before the baby is born." And finally: "She's healthy, the baby is healthy." So not revelatory, but still nice to know.

3. The weird gifts
Artist Kaya Mar, who has previously satirized political subjects like Chancellor George Osborne in his paintings, has been loitering around the hospital with a large portrait of Kate Middleton as the Virgin Mary, complete with a halo, a suckling infant wearing a crown, and a Corgi at her feet. It's pretty weird, but at least it's more interesting than her royal portrait.

4. The less-weird gifts
While Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla were making a public appearance in Wales, representatives from the food manufacturer Plum presented them with an enormous basket of organic baby food. They were one-upped by the Finnish government, who sent a cardboard box containing baby clothes, nail clippers, cloth diapers, a hairbrush, a teething ring, and — for the Duke and Duchess — bra pads and condoms. Bonus: The box doubles as a crib in a pinch, according to the Daily Mail. How thoughtful!

5. The due date
Still July 11, says Us Weekly, but that's a silly assumption, since she plans to give birth naturally so it could come anytime now.


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13 Pop Stars Who Sang for Dictators

Jennifer Lopez is feeling the heat this week for singing “Happy Birthday” to the authoritarian ruler of Turkmenistan. The former Soviet state is considered “one of the world’s most repressive countries”; it once shut down the entire Internet in order to stop a video of its president falling off a horse from disseminating. Lopez’s publicist has said the party was a corporate event put on by China National Petroleum for its executives in oil-rich Turkmenistan — it just happened to fall on the president's birthday — and Lopez never would have attended “had there been knowledge of human right issues of any kind.”

Naive as it sounds, we're inclined to believe it. Say what you will about Dennis Rodman schmoozing with Kim Jong-un or Naomi Campbell accepting “dirty-looking stones” from Charles Taylor. Who among us could have picked Turkmen president Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov out of a lineup? Let alone named his human rights abuses?

Nor is J.Lo the first pop star to sing before googling, unwittingly bringing international human rights abuses to the attention of the Us Weekly crowd. From Sting to 50 Cent, the music industry’s free speech beneficiaries are the preferred American and British export of cash-flush dictators everywhere. Rather than pile on this Fourth of July weekend, discover what pop stars can teach you about repressive states the world over.


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Friday, November 29, 2013

Rodarte on Their True California Inspirations

Sisters Laura and Kate Mulleavy, the design duo behind Rodarte, have always found unlikely inspirations for their dramatic, art-influenced and heavily referential designs. A connection to the mystical, natural side of the West Coast, mixed with the grittiness of downtown L.A., helps them reshape the definition of the California Cool Girl into an ethereal vixen equally fit for the red carpet or taking 'shrooms in the Mojave dessert. This month, in an interview with Wilder Quarterly, the two reveal how California's diverse landscapes — from stark, arid Death Valley to lush, hippie Big Sur — have inspired some of their collections. Photographer Todd Cole then shot some of the sisters' favorite and most inspiring locales. Click on to see the images and read an exclusive excerpt of the interview.

What is it about the culture of California that appeals to you?

Kate Mulleavy: People still, to this day, come out West because they want to be an actor, make it big, or realize some far-out idea. People are coming out here to become something. We worship the imaginative landscape here. This mythology does exist in other places because people go to New York to make it as well. But the difference is the social structure here is more confusing because everything is made up. L.A. is a created landscape, so there isn’t the same hierarchy.

KM:  Our spring 2010 collection is based off of Death Valley and inspired by the California condor. For our collection, we were interested in the idea of a scorched landscape where there is an incredible amount of life and biodiversity. We created our own creation myth of someone spontaneously combusting to be reborn as a phoenix. It was really based off of this notion of the California condor and survival, but also heavily inspired by a trip to Death Valley. When you’re in Death Valley you feel — it doesn’t matter what your political or religious beliefs are — you feel something deeply primitive and connective. You feel something about history in the earth and how things survive and evolve.   

KM: The beaches in Northern California are pretty much where we spent our childhood.

Laura Mulleavy: I like the culture that develops [around the beach] and I also like the naturalness of it. One of my favorite things as a kid was to look in tide pools. I loved that. The smell of the ocean mixing with eucalyptus is still something that conjures my entire childhood.

KM: When we go to Big Sur it feels like going home. Our connection to it is so strong because we grew up about an hour and a half from it. I think of the writers that lived there and the mythology of it. Even if we’re not that person, I think somehow, deep inside we all wish we could access something [like that] about ourselves. There’s something in all of us that — whether it’s a fantasy or strange desire to go out in the middle of the unknown and live and be free — to exist deep inside. It’s a place where the mythology of the place is as strong as the actual physicality of it.

LM: The Monterey Bay Aquarium has exhibits that show what grows deep inside the ocean. It’s just amazing because it is like looking at the most beautiful floating world of creatures and entities that you have ever seen — there’s a fragility to everything. And the colors are an incredible mix of subtle pastels and vibrant neons. I don’t think you’d ever make anything that beautiful. Big Sur has a fragility to it as well. You just feel like you want this to exist forever but you know that things evolve and change.

KM: The Santa Cruz Boardwalk and the beach is number one for me. It is a huge part of who we are. One of my favorite films, The Lost Boys was filmed there. It exactly captures what Santa Cruz is like growing up there. The interaction of skate, surf, poets, hardcore kids, hippies, new-agers: there isn’t another place like it. I think my true obsession with fashion comes from growing up there because I have such visceral memories of the way people dressed.


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Sony's Crackle arrives on BlackBerry 10, reminds us to not watch Bad Boys II

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Sony's Crackle arrives on BlackBerry 10, reminds us to not watch Bad Boys II

Slowly, but steadily, BlackBerry's building its BB10 app catalog with some major gets. Today, that burgeoning list grows by a very important one with the addition of Sony's Crackle. The free, ad-based streaming video service, which culls together content from Sony's various TV and film studios, is available to download now from BlackBerry World. It's also compatible with the Q10's teeny, 3.1-inch screen, so if you hate your good eyesight, you can devote an hour or two to reliving the opus that is Bad Boys II. Sure, popular apps like Instagram, Hulu Plus and Netflix have yet to make their way over to BB10, but you can't fault the Waterloo-based outfit for getting users what it can. Even if that means bringing them Bad Boys II.

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BlackBerry and Sony Bring Crackle App to BlackBerry 10 Smartphones

Sony Pictures Television's popular video entertainment network, Crackle, will be available for download on BlackBerry World

[Culver City, CA and Waterloo, ON] – Sony Pictures Television and BlackBerry® (NASDAQ: BBRY; TSX: BB) announced today the availability of the Crackle app for BlackBerry® 10 smartphones on the BlackBerry® World™ storefront.

Crackle is a popular, next-generation video entertainment network that offers hundreds of Hollywood movies, television series and originals for free with minimal commercial interruption. Content is uncut and unedited, and programmed from several genres, including action, comedy, crime, anime, horror, music, thriller and sci-fi. BlackBerry worked with Crackle to create the app for the new BlackBerry 10 platform, and is now available for the BlackBerry® Z10 and BlackBerry® Q10 smartphones.

Crackle is available in 22 countries, including the U.S., Canada, the UK, Australia, Brazil and other countries in Latin America.

"Crackle users have demanded a high-quality, cross-platform viewing experience when and where they want it," says Phil Lynch, senior vice president, Digital Networks & Games, Sony Pictures Television. "With the launch of the Crackle App on BlackBerry 10, we're excited to offer BlackBerry customers the opportunity to access Crackle's premium programming on the go."

"Mobile entertainment is a very important part of the BlackBerry 10 experience," said Martyn Mallick, vice president of Global Alliances and Business Development for BlackBerry. "The Crackle application is a great complement to the robust catalogue of television shows and movies on BlackBerry World."

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Navy awards weaponized railgun manufacturing contract to BAE Systems

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DNP Navy awards electromagnetic railgun manufacturing contract, proves we're living in the future

Just over 18 months after making its video debut, the Navy's electromagnetic railgun has a manufacturer. BAE Systems -- known for e-ink-powered tank camouflage, autonomous spiderbots and machine-gun-mounted lasers -- won the government contract and hopes to have phase-two prototypes ready "as early as next year." While the current design is capable of firing one shot, the Office of Navy Research hopes for six to ten shots per minute. If that doesn't scare you, consider this: The pulse-driven projectiles travel at Mach 6 and can hit targets over 100 nautical miles away. Don't worry, it's not too late to rethink that career of sailing the high seas as a pirate and get to work on that accounting degree instead.

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Gaultier Couture Gowns Ideal for Snack-Stashing

If models at today's Jean Paul Gaultier show wanted to keep an extra meal on hand for convenience, then they were in luck: Most of the dresses had enormous pockets, some so large you could fit a whole picnic in there. In fact, putting stuff in there could be risky, because it might get lost in those giant quilted folds, and the next thing you know you've got a three-day-old sandwich kicking around in your skirt.

But in all seriousness, this show was fun and over-the-top in all of Gaultier's usual ways, which was nice to see as he gears up to launch a more commercial diffusion line, Gaultier2. Just because he's trying to tap into the mass consumer market doesn't mean he's abandoning his wacky couture designs. (Our only qualm: Where was Andrej Pejic?)

Other highlights: leopard-print everything, including tights and sequined jackets. The show concluded with French reality TV star Nabilla Benattia, who danced down the catwalk in a padded bustier and Cindy Lou Who hair. Tacky in the best way, as always.


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Boston University sues Apple over chip technology patent

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Boston University sues Apple over chip manufacturing patent

We usually associate Boston University with brain studies and bat-chasing UAVs; we'll have to add technology patent lawsuits to the list. Following similar claims versus the likes of Amazon and Samsung, the university has sued Apple for allegedly infringing on a 1997 patent for making gallium nitride thin films used in semiconductors. The university wants both financial compensation (likely the real objective) and a ban on US sales of the purportedly offending iPad, iPhone 5 and MacBook Air. Neither side is commenting on the case, although we suspect that it will end with a whimper, not a bang. Like many big tech firms, Apple tends to fight patent lawsuits when it expects to win, and settle out of court when it doesn't. We'd add that the patent expires in 2015 -- a Boston University victory would have relatively little effect on Apple's future.

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Thursday, November 28, 2013

Scientists grow human liver from stem cells, hope to relieve transplant woes (video)

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Stem cells used to create human liver tissue

Stem cell research has resulted in several important breakthroughs in medicine, such as rebuilding the larynx and regenerating spinal cord connectors. Now the liver, one of the most highly sought after organs on the donor transplant list, could get some serious stem cell assistance as well. A team of scientists led by Takanori Takebe of Yokohama City University has successfully created a miniature version of the human liver with the help of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC), which are derived from adult somatic cells. They developed the iPSC into generalized liver cells called hepatocytes, at which point the researchers mixed in endothelial cells and mesenchymal stem cells, left the petri dishes alone for a couple days, and voila -- an extremely tiny version of a human liver, said to be the first-ever functional human organ grown from stem cells, was born.

The liver "buds," as they're known, measure five millimeters long and are the sort you would find in human embryos shortly after fertilization. When implanted in mice, the baby livers managed to perform all the functions of their adult equivalents. The researchers' next step would be to generate liver buds that are a touch closer to normal liver tissue -- like the addition of bile ducts -- and to see if they can mass produce them by the tens of thousands. Don't go wasting your liver just yet though, as it'll likely be years before the likes of you and me will be able to have a lab-grown liver in our bodies. In the meantime, check out the time-lapse video after the break to see a young liver bud take shape in a petri dish.

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Boxee Cloud DVR to shut down following Samsung deal, goes dark July 10th

Boxee Cloud DVR to shut down following Samsung deal, goes dark July 10th data = {blogUrl: "www.engadget.com",v: 400};when = {jquery: lab.scriptBs("jquery"),plugins: lab.scriptBs("plugins"),eng: lab.scriptBs("eng")}; var s265prop9 = ('20648938' !== '') ? 'bsd:20648938' : ''; var postID = '20648938'; var modalMNo = '93319243', modalVideoMNo = '93320648', modalGalleryMNo = '93304207'; when.eng("eng.omni.init", {pfxID:"weg",pageName:document.title,server:"acp-ld39.websys.aol.com",channel:"us.engadget", s_account: "aolwbengadget,aolsvc", short_url: "",pageType:"",linkInternalFilters:"javascript:,",prop1:"article",prop2:"home entertainment",prop9:s265prop9,prop12:document.location,prop17:"",prop18:"",prop19:"",prop20:"", prop22:"jon-fingas", prop54:"blogsmith",mmxgo: true }); adSendTerms('1')adSetMOAT('1');adSetAdURL('/_uac/adpagem.html');lab._script("http://o.aolcdn.com/os/ads/adhesion/js/adhads-min.js").wait(function(){var floatingAd = new AdhesiveAd("348-14-15-145",{hideOnSwipe:true});}); onBreak({980: function () { adSetType("F");htmlAdWH("93319243", "LB", "LB"); adSetType("");}}); EngadgetMenu NewsReviews Features Galleries VideosEventsPodcasts Engadget ShowTopics Buyers Guides Sagas Store Hands On More Betterer HD Mobile Alt Announcements Cameras Cellphones Desktops Displays Gaming GPS Handhelds Home Entertainment Household Internet Laptops Meta Misc Networking Peripherals Podcasts Robots Portable Audio/Video Science Software Storage Tablets Transportation Wearables Wireless Acer Amazon AMD Apple ASUS AT&T Blackberry Canon Dell Facebook Google HP HTC Intel Lenovo LG Microsoft Nikon Nintendo Nokia NVIDIA Samsung Sony Sprint T-Mobile Verizon About UsSubscribeLike Engadget@engadgettip uswhen.eng("eng.nav.init")when.eng("eng.tips.init") onBreak({980: function () {htmlAdWH("93308280", "215", "35",'AJAX','ajaxsponsor');}});Boxee Cloud DVR to shut down following Samsung deal, goes dark July 10th HDBypostedJul 3rd, 2013 at 11:36 PM 0

Boxee Cloud DVR, RIP

If you're like us, you were wondering what impact Samsung's acquisition of Boxee would have on Boxee's Cloud DVR service. Unfortunately, we don't have good news. Boxee is shutting down the service on July 10th, and customers will lose access to their TV recordings at the same time. We're not surprised by the move, but it effectively shuts the company down within the space of a week. When Boxee's apps, the Boxee Box and the Live TV add-on are either gone or on their way out, there aren't really products left to offer -- it's all Samsung from here.

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Best Bet: Suno Paneled Overlap Dress

Sifting through all of the end-of-season sales can be overwhelming, especially when it comes to finding the hidden gems that get overlooked in favor of high-ticket items like shoes and bags. This Suno dress surely slipped through the cracks considering that nearly every size is still available. Combining the brand's exuberant prints with a figure flattering wrap silhouette, it's a rare seasonless find that would look great all year round. Throw it on with bare legs and strappy sandals right now and add some tights with an ankle boot come fall.

Suno paneled overlap dress, $238 at Les Nouvelles


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BBC to broadcast Wimbledon final and semi-final matches in 3D

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Image

Though ESPN 3D's imminent demise might be evidence to some that 3D TV isn't exactly killing it, BBC has confirmed that it will cover Wimbledon again this year with that extra dimension. In particular, it will broadcast selected matches, including the men's and women's finals and semi-finals, in free-to-air 3D for those with the Red Button service and supported sets. Wimbledon marked its first-ever 3D broadcast two years ago, and the BBC is also experimenting with 4K coverage this year with Sony, albeit exclusively at a live spectator "experience zone" on the finely manicured grounds. The network also said it would up its live streams from six to ten to go with its YouTube coverage -- meaning UKers who miss a single grunt will have only themselves to blame.

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John McCain Stands Up for Dirty Jokes

First they came for your guns. Now they’re coming for your dirty jokes. Or so thinks John McCain. The Arizona senator took a stand for sex jokes, valentines, and masculine pronouns in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder last week.

The perceived threat to such communications came from a set of campus sexual-assault policy reforms prescribed by the Departments of Education and Justice last month. It was written in response to a string of mishandled sexual assault cases at the University of Montana and designed as a blueprint for other rape-ridden campuses. For reporting purposes, the agreement defined sexual harassment as “any unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature,” an expansion from the separate, legal standard for sexual harassment under Title IX: harassment “so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively bars the victim’s access to an educational opportunity or benefit.” Conservative pundits and, apparently, McCain believe the new definition will impinge upon students’ free speech and, in a Tarantonion turn of phrase, “de-eroticize the university.”

But, as ThinkProgress explains, the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights has said over and over that the new definition will not govern the enforcement of sexual harassment policies. It's just to prevent students from being discouraged from reporting sexual harassment or assault, something we know happens all the time, and not just out of a totally rational fear of retaliation. Then let the universities decide whether it constitutes a hostile environment or not. 

Until that idea makes it into McCain’s skull, he is worried the expanded definition could mean that all kinds of banal encounters will qualify as sexual harassment. As outlined in his letter to Holder:


You hear that, girls who hate it when guys ask them out on dates? McCain’s got his eye on you.


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Ladies, Men Hate Your Wedges

Earlier today, The Huffington Post posted the results of a poll that asked 2,103 men what they considered to be the "least attractive shoe trend." The wedge shoe, with a 71 top disapproval rate, ranked highest. It's followed by Uggs (67 percent), Crocs (63 percent), platforms, flip flops, and other foot-protectors that live on with no shame in this list. But to add an extra level of complication, sneakers took the final spot on the list, with a quarter of men considering them unattractive. So, uh, question: In which category did the sneaker wedges fall?


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Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Limbo now available for iOS, terrifies gamers with its elegant simplicity

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DMP Limbo leaps into iOS, terrifies users with its elegant simplicity

Starting today, Limbo, the 2D side-scrolling game that both charmed and terrified us on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, is available for iOS devices. Dino Patti, the CEO of indie developer Playdead, tweeted the announcement about the game's launch with a link to the iTunes store, and from early reviews, the iOS port doesn't disappoint. Limbo tells the story of a young boy searching for his sister in an eerie monochromatic landscape; the game's restrained visuals and minimalistic sound effects are guaranteed to haunt you long after you stop playing. Both new gamers and fans who've come to love Limbo on their consoles can get their scares on the go -- for the price of $4.99 -- by heading over to the source link below.

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Tiffany’s Executive Stole $1.3 Million in Jewels

A former Tiffany & Co executive who stole over 1 million dollars worth of jewelery is facing 30 years in prison, reports WWD. Ingrid Lederhass-Okun, who started with the company in 1991, was let go from her position as Vice President of Product Development due to "downsizing," but not before helping herself to a hefty employee discount. Over a two-year period, Lederhass-Okun stole over 165 items, including "diamond bracelets, platinum or gold drop and hoop earrings, platinum diamond rings and platinum and diamond pendants" and sold them to a Manhattan jewelery reseller. When her employers asked her wheres the inventory was, she reported the items as lost, damaged, or being held for a use in a special PowerPoint presentation. The jewelry, much like the promised PowerPoint slides, was never recovered. 


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Yahoo acquires Xobni, aims for smarter contacts in its services (updated)

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Yahoo acquires Xobni, aims for smarter contacts in its services

Yahoo must be starting the summer with an acquisition spree: it bought Qwiki yesterday, and it's buying Xobni today in a deal that AllThingsD estimates is worth $30 million to $40 million. The acquisition gives Yahoo a developer with experience in creating automatic, connected address books -- a perfect fit for a web giant that has been revamping its email and social services. Neither of the new partners is talking about what they'll create together, although Xobni is no longer accepting new customers for its paid services and has pulled downloads for both Smartr Contacts on Android and Xobni for BlackBerry. It's a gentler transition than we've seen with other takeovers, although we wouldn't get too comfy when most of Xobni's services go dark after July 2nd of next year.

Update: Our colleagues at TechCrunch hear that the acquisition price may be over $60 million.

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Plasma thruster could propel small satellites into deep space for cheap

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DNP Interplanetary CubeSat plasma thruster kickstarter project, July 4 launch

A few years from now, we might be able to send small satellites into deep space for cheap using a new propulsion system being developed by University of Michigan engineers -- assuming they raise enough money via Kickstarter. Called CAT (CubeSat Ambipolar Thruster), it's designed to propel 10 x 10 x 10 centimeter CubeSat blocks far beyond the planet's orbit using only solar energy for fuel. Thus far, similar satellites can only orbit the Earth after going along for a ride on current rockets that are larger and more expensive. In the future, CATs could head to the asteroid belt, or even as far as Saturn and Jupiter to investigate water on their moons. The $200,000 its engineers aim to raise (in exchange for your name etched on the golden layer of a spacecraft panel) will go towards the CAT engine's development and testing. The team could send an experimental thruster to space as soon as 2014 with help from NASA-Ames and Google, with a spacecraft launch targeted for 2015.

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Traveling Solo: A Manifesto for the Modern Woman

The first time I took an international trip alone, I was faking it. Well, it’s not like 20-year-old me pretended to fly to Paris and travel across Europe to visit a friend in Budapest. After failing to land a summer newspaper internship, I impulse-bought a plane ticket I couldn’t afford. The deception was there from the start: For some reason I lied and told everyone it was a great deal. It wasn’t. I told my parents I had enough money to see the trip through. I didn’t. I told my then-boyfriend I was super excited about it, that I knew how to have fun alone. I didn’t. I swore up and down that it wasn’t a big deal that I didn’t speak French or German or Hungarian and had no clue about the culture in most places I’d be traveling. I’d never been out of the U.S. before.

Hence all that faking it. I tried so hard to pretend I was the carefree world traveler I desperately wished I’d been raised to be. But in truth I didn’t really know how to have fun alone. I was too scared I’d sound like an idiot ordering at restaurants, so I just bought bread and cheese from the grocery store and ate in public parks. I didn’t make friends with other travelers. I walked until my feet felt like they were going to fall off, then walked some more because I wasn’t sure how and where to relax. I probably would have had a better time if I’d just owned up to being the naive American girl that everyone else saw.

The perception is that 20-year-old me is the norm when it comes to women traveling alone. We might be accomplished professionals or on our third vacation to southeast Asia or just generally happy and confident out in the world alone, but the societal reflection is scared college girl who needs protecting. It’s telling that the State Department doesn’t offer “tips for men travelers.” I was surprised when, after I quit my job in 2010 and embarked on a 5,500-mile road trip around America, how many people expressed concern for my safety, as if every national park and Sonic Drive-In were little more than clubhouses for rapists and murderers.

Like the act of going to a bar alone, traveling solo is a quick way to take the societal pulse about an independent woman. First and foremost, we worry about her safety. Then we feel a twinge of pity; she couldn’t find anyone who wanted to come along? (In case you had any doubt that traveling couples are the default, consider how most hotels and other travel bookings cater to pairs.) And if she seems to be having a good time, we’re even more confused. What is she hiding? She must be faking it.

By design, travelers are surrounded by total strangers — a population that women have been mostly socialized to fear. And, sure, there are still very real safety concerns in some parts of the country and the world. When I asked a friend of mine who’s an avid solo traveler — Colombia, India, Croatia — whether she worries about herself while running around the globe on her own, she replied, “I get the occasional pang about maybe getting acid thrown in my face or sexually assaulted when I travel to countries that have a high level of economic anxiety or disadvantage in addition to a strong patriarchal culture. But I still seek it out because it stimulates me.” She texted me this from the airport, about to depart for an impromptu trip to Baja.

And, of course, sometimes it does go bad. In a recent essay for The American Reader, Vanessa Veselka pondered the fate of several murdered women hitchhikers:

We could use a few more freewheeling, drug-fueled odes to the open road with female protagonists. Thelma and Louise, though undeniably fabulous, is two decades old.

Even when women are portrayed as out in the world alone, there’s a twinge of pity. What extremely sad event or life shakeup led her to take this solo trip? This could be called the Eat Pray Love effect — named for Elizabeth Gilbert’s bestseller about her global quest for spiritual wholeness in the wake of her divorce. A more recent example (and in my humble opinion, a much better read) is Wild, Cheryl Strayed’s memoir of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail alone. While it’s ultimately an empowering tale, it’s another Oprah-endorsed female travel narrative that begins with more heartache and longing than wanderlust and curiosity. Other hikers are frequently confused by Strayed’s solo presence on the trail. “You’re way too pretty to be out here alone, if you ask me,” one guy tells her. She hadn’t asked him.

Yet whether they’re heartbroken nomads or gleeful road-trippers, solo women travelers are actually the norm. In a 2013 poll of travel agents (ok, I’m already a little skeptical because who uses a travel agent? but let’s roll with it), “agents reported that it’s much more common for woman to travel alone than men, with 73 percent of agents polled noting that more female travelers embark on solo trips than their male counterparts.” The average solo traveler is a 47-year-old female. Odds are she’s not wasting much travel time sobbing to her boyfriend — who’s back in the U.S., where he managed to land a highly coveted internship — from a pay phone in the common area of a dumpy hostel in Montparnasse.

Last month, ten years later, I embarked on the second solo international trip of my life. A travel magazine sent me to Osaka for a week, and I had a great time eating squid pancakes and offending salesgirls by accidentally stepping into dressing rooms with my shoes on and Instagramming neon signs and getting drunk with weird businessmen. I was not maimed or murdered, but I may have been pitied. It’s hard to say. I was having such a great time, I didn’t really notice.


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Julianne Moore Is Reed Krakoff’s New Face

Julianne Moore is one of fashion's favorite actresses — she gets front-row seats at all the best shows, like Lanvin and Calvin Klein, and walked in Tom Ford's runway show in 2010. She's also fronted campaigns for major brands like Bulgari and Talbots, the latter of which isn't exactly high fashion but probably made up for it with the paycheck. Now she appears in Reed Krakoff's fall campaign, according to WWD, which is a coup for both her and the designer, who's in the process of breaking away from the Coach brand (he'll officially step down from his role as CEO and president next year).

Moore's allegiance to Krakoff dates back to his brand's beginning — she has regularly attended his shows since 2010. He has previously chosen high-fashion models like Julia Nobis, Stella Tennant, and Karen Elson to front his campaigns, perhaps as a means to distance himself from the mass appeal of Coach, whose faces have included popular celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow. That Krakoff is partnering with a non-model for the first time — albeit one with lots of luxury cachet — suggests he's moving his brand to a higher level instead of working to differentiate himself from Coach. Or hell, maybe he and Moore were just having cocktails and she offered. Who knows. The Polaroid-esque pictures, shot by Krakoff himself, are artsy and pretty.


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