Intel triple quad quad core chip will run your phone in 10 years

Intel triple quad quad core chip will run your phone in 10 years

Quad core chips are a flagship smartphone feature right now, but Intel is planning for the future: within the next decade, the company sees processors in smartphones and tablets with as many as 48 cores all working in parallel, enabling features and applications that would be impossible today.

Watch George Lucas explain the Disney deal in his own words

Watch George Lucas explain the Disney deal in his own words

Lots of articles have come and gone since the HUGE news that Lucasfilm has been picked up by Disney, but now there's video from the man himself, George Lucas, talking about his feelings on passing the torch.
What follows is almost a little sad, because, despite the benefits of moving to Disney and even though he will remain a creative consultant on future projects, this is still the moment George Lucas officially retires. Yes, the prequel trilogy may have not been up to snuff for those of us who obsessed with the original films as children, but it's still weird to watch a man who has crafted one of the most rich and complex universes in the history of science fiction take his bow.

2012 Hyundai Elantra GT Concept By Bisimoto Engineering


Hyundai is continuing to unveil their line-up for the 2012 SEMA Auto Show with the addition of an unbelievable Elantra GT developed in cooperation with Bisimoto Engineering. We say unbelievable because the tuning company has managed to scoff at the standard model’s modest 148 HP and juice up the engine to produce a mind-boggling 602 HP.
How did they achieve this amazing output? Bisimoto Engineering got to work adding Arias pistons, Bisimoto con-rods, a Turbonetics turbocharger, AEM water-methanol injection, and Bisimoto high-pressure injectors. As a result, the 1.8-liter “Nu” engine now delivers 602 galloping ponies for this little hatchback. In order to handle the extra power, the Elantra GT was also equipped with a new set of 18" wheels combined with a progress coilover suspension and sway bar.

This 14-foot Star Wars AT-ST costume just won Halloween

This 14-foot Star Wars AT-ST costume just won Halloween

The good ol' Star Wars franchise is all abuzz right now, so why not go all-out with a Halloween costume that would make both George Lucas and Mickey Mouse respect your awesomeness? Look no further, and say hello to the man-sized AT-ST.
Yes, one intrepid Star Wars fan has managed to build a 14-foot AT-ST costume, which essentially functions with the wearer below the outfit controlling it. The suit was modeled on a toy model of an AT-ST, then blown up to use as a costume.

Lydia Callis - Mayor Bloomberg Updates New Yorkers on City's Response to Hurricane Sandy


Mayor Bloomberg Updates New Yorkers on City's Response to Hurricane Sandy Oct 29th 2012

Tesla Model S: The 2013 Yahoo! Autos Car of the Year



The 2013 model year brought consumers a fleet of new machines, and the editors and writers of Yahoo! Autos tested over 100 new models this year, from the brutish Ford Shelby GT500 to the gas-sipping Toyota Prius C. But all those appear to be automotive afterthoughts when compared to that futureshock of an electric sedan and Yahoo! Autos' Car of the Year: the Tesla Model S.
PayPal co-founder Elon Musk's foray into the car game started in 2008 with the nimble Tesla Roadster, a Lotus Elise makeover that swapped an internal combustion engine for a suitcase full of lithium-ion battery packs. But where that coupe was a high-tech experiment disguised as a $100,000 eco-conscious status symbol, the seven-passenger, $50,000-on-up Model S sedan promised to be a make-or-break machine that would determine whether Silicon Valley-based Tesla Motors can survive as a legitimate purveyor of reliable everyday cars.

The most horrifying dates ever!

Ghosts, goblins and other Halloween scares don’t hold a candle to these tales of love gone wrong. Read on and take heart that these disastrous dates didn’t happen to you

He made her blood run cold
“A friend of a friend called me for a date, and we agreed to go for a walk. Things were going well, until he mentioned that he was a member of a secret church in which the only women allowed were ‘goddesses.’ He started talking about vampirism but was elusive about his own vampire status, saying ‘Real vampires never say they’re vampires.’ Needless to say, the date ended really quickly after that!”
— Heather M.*, Newark, DE 

He was haunted by his own past
“I had a first date with a recent divorcé at a lovely Italian restaurant on a Saturday night. I proceeded to order eggplant Parmesan. As soon as I said it, he started choking, even though he had nothing in his mouth. Apparently, that was his ex’s favorite dish — and as I was about to find out, he was still hung up on her. I offered him water, the waiter whacked him on the back... but he wound up having a full-blown panic attack, so I called an ambulance. Since I couldn’t ride in the ambulance because I wasn’t a relative, I had to meet him at the hospital, where doctors determined that he was still so upset that he was committed to psychiatric care. By the time his paperwork was processed, my date couldn’t remember my name. Even so, he asked me to go to the store and buy him cigarettes, underwear, and deodorant. When I returned to the hospital, I suppose that was our second date, because it was already Sunday... but it was also our last.”
— Sherry Davey, Brooklyn, NY


How to Protect Your Sandy Insurance Claims

<p>               A row of houses stands in floodwaters at Grassy Sound in North Wildwood, N.J., as Hurricane Sandy pounds the East Coast Monday Oct. 29, 2012. The powerful storm made the westward lurch and took dead aim at New Jersey and Delaware on Monday, washing away part of the Atlantic City boardwalk, putting the presidential campaign on hold and threatening to cripple Wall Street and the New York subway system with an epic surge of seawater. (AP Photo/The Press of Atlantic City, Dale Gerhard) MANDATORY CREDIT
(Reuters) - For some homeowners, the aftermath of Sandy could bring a whole second round of troubles. After the storm passes, they may have to negotiate with their insurers to get the cash they need to repair wind and water damage.

Homeowners' insurance companies have gotten tougher as weather has become more cataclysmic. They've raised rates, carved out some coverage and tucked in new wind and hurricane exclusions and deductibles.

Homeowners need to play the game right if they want to get claims paid quickly and thoroughly. You can start early - here's what to do now and later.

In darkened NYC, safety on the list of concerns

A woman shops for groceries by flashlight in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012. ConEd cut power to some neighborhoods served by underground lines as the advancing storm surge from Hurricane Sandy threatened to flood substations. Floodwaters later led to explosions that disabled a substation in Lower Manhattan, cutting power tens of thousands of customers south of 39th Street. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

NEW YORK (AP) — Faced with the prospect of days without power and swaths of the city plunged into darkness at night, police brought in banks of lights and boosted patrols to reassure victims of a monster storm that they won't be victims of crime.
Some prominent galleries in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood hired private security and apartment building superintendents suddenly became guards. In Coney Island, about 100 police officers stood on corners or cruised in cars to guard a strip of vandalized stores and a damaged bank, to the relief of shaken residents.

Storm's cost may hit $50B; rebuilding to ease blow


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Superstorm Sandy will end up causing about $20 billion in property damages and $10 billion to $30 billion more in lost business, according to IHS Global Insight, a forecasting firm.
In the long run, the devastation the storm inflicted on New York City and other parts of the Northeast will barely nick the U.S. economy. That's the view of economists who say a slightly slower economy in coming weeks will likely be matched by reconstruction and repairs that will contribute to growth over time.
The short-term blow to the economy, though, could subtract about 0.6 percentage point from U.S. economic growth in the October-December quarter, IHS says. Retailers, airlines and home construction firms will likely lose some business.
The storm cut power to more than 8 million homes, shut down 70 percent of East Coast oil refineries and inflicted worse-than-expected damage in the New York metro area. That area produces about 10 percent of U.S. economic output.

Tokyo's claustrophobic capsule hotel


The capsule concept has been around for at least 30 years, starting out as lodging for businessmen working or partying late who missed the last train home and needed a cheap place to crash.

Capsule hotel

Why Buying Star Wars Was a Brilliant Move by Disney

Screen Shot 2012-10-31 at 1.12.08 PM.png

Movie stars aren't the most valuable thing in Hollywood. Neither are whip-smart screenwriters, superstar directors, or deep-pocketed producers. The single most valuable thing in the movie business is owning popular content with a great track record and the possibility of future sequels. That's where the money is.

And that's why Disney is on a Popular Movie Franchise Spending Spree. In 2006, it paid $11 billion for Pixar. In 2009, it paid $4 billion for Marvel. And yesterday, it paid another $4 billion to acquire Lucasfilm and the right to continue the Star Wars franchise into the future.

Six key questions to sniff out bad contractors



Getting antsy to remodel your home? You might think your kitchen or bathroom needs a remodel right this minute, but remember: Haste makes waste.
Rather than rushing to hire the first - or even cheapest - contractor you come across, asking the right questions upfront will help you filter out the bad apples and find a reputable contractor to meet your needs.
"I want my clients to feel 100 percent comfortable with me," says Shawn Kruse, president of the Remodeling Contractors Association of Connecticut and owner of Kruse Home Improvement, LLC. "And honestly, the more investigation they do about me and questions they ask me, the better it is for me. It helps me get the job."

Inside Breezy Point: An Inferno in a Flood

Reporter's Notebook:  ABC News' Keturah Gray and Jim Dubreuil
When we were sent out on Monday afternoon to report on the "holdouts" of Hurricane Sandy - those who refused to leave their homes despite New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's mandatory evacuation orders - we expected winds and rain, but thought it was nothing that we couldn't handle.
We had our bottled water, our rain gear, our chips and were ready to tough out the storm with the citizens of Breezy Point, a beach town in Queens on the far end of New York City, and a place where Jim has family.
We were two of the last to arrive over the Marine Parkway Bridge before it closed to the public at 2 p.m. ET, and we joined up pretty quickly with 30-year-old Mary Lepera. She gave us a tour of the neighborhood and explained why she, like so many others, planned to stick out Hurricane Sandy at home: She'd spent her whole life there and wasn't about to abandon her home.

When Floodwaters Rise, Web Sites May Fall

Here is a lesson every Web site manager may be taking away from Hurricane Sandy: It is probably not a good idea to put the backup power generators where it floods.
As computer centers in Lower Manhattan and New Jersey shut down or went to emergency operations after power failures and water damage Monday night, companies scrambled to move the engines of modern communication to other parts of the country. Others rushed to find fuel for backup power generation. In some cases, things just stopped.
“Suddenly, nobody could get online,” said Arianna Huffington, president and chief executive of The Huffington Post, which went offline about 7 p.m. Monday when the computer servers of Datagram, which distribute its work on the Internet, stopped working because of rising water in Lower Manhattan.
About six hours later, Huffington Post was online, but it crashed again several hours later. It was running again at 8 a.m. Tuesday.

Taylor Swift's Massive Album Sales


Week Ending Oct. 28, 2012. Albums: 1,208,000!

Taylor Swift's Red sold 1,208,000 copies in its first week, the greatest one-week total since Eminem's The Eminem Show sold 1,322,000 in its first full week in June 2002. It's the second-highest one-week sales tally ever for a female artist. Britney Spears' Oops!...I Did It Again sold 1,319,000 in its first week in May 2000. (Swift should get extra credit for degree of difficulty. It's much harder to do this now than it was back then when records were, you know, selling.)
Wrap your head around this: Red sold more copies than every other album in the top 50 combined. (More than every other album in the top 52, to be precise.)
The tally for Red is up from the 1,047,000 that Swift's previous album,Speak Now, sold in its first week in October 2010. And that was up from the 592K copies that her sophomore album, Fearless, sold its first week in November 2008. And that was way up from the 39K that her first album, Taylor Swift, sold in its first week in October 2006.
Swift is one of only four artists to ring up first-week sales of 1 million or more copies more than once. The others are Backstreet Boys*NSYNCand Eminem. This makes Swift the first female artist and the first country artist to achieve this feat. And she's just the second artist, following Backstreet Boys, to see its sales increase from its first million-selling first-week to its second. Details below.

One Hurricane, Five Workers and 1,000 Pizzas

Uncle Paul’s Pizza, located on 46th St. and Vanderbilt Ave. in New York City, stayed open during Sandy, making -- and even delivering -- more than 1,000 pizzas in 30 hours.
Small businesses looking to make a name for themselves in a crowded market, take note. Want to edge out your competition? Try staying open during a hurricane, then making -- and even delivering -- more than 1,000 pizzas in 30 hours.

That’s what Uncle Paul’s Pizza, located on 46th St. and Vanderbilt Ave. in New York City, did during Hurricane Sandy. The startup, less than four months old, managed to crank out more than 1,000 pizza pies with just five workers while the hurricane raged outside, according to co-owner Dino Redzic.

East Coast surfers chase Sandy's silver lining


While most are boarding up their homes and searching for higher ground while hurricane destruction ensues, a small fraction of thrill seekers embrace the rare opportunity to capture some of nature's bounty. In fact, chasing hurricanes is pure sport for East Coast surfers. And they've had plenty of experience perfecting it in recent years thanks to improved forecasting and a steady flow of storms. Sandy, like most of the others, was filled with silver linings. 

Bogus Jeep-to-China ads by Romney draws fire from Obama in campaigns’ last gasp


That squib of a false story I wrote about Thursday claiming that Jeep was moving U.S. production to China grew a Hemi engine and raced off this weekend, after Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney touted the story in a rally, then ran an ad in Ohio trumpeting the bogus claim. The backlash was strong enough for the Obama campaign to put out their own ad Monday calling it an outright lie. Tuesday, the chief executive of Chrysler even weighed in with his own rebuttal. 

Lydia Callis: During Superstorm Sandy, All Eyes on Bloomberg's Super Interpreter


During Superstorm Sandy, while New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg addressed anxious citizens about storm damage and safety issues, all eyes were on the petite, impeccably dressed woman to his right—Lydia Callis, his official sign language interpreter. 

PHOTOS: New York after Superstorm Sandy

While the mayor spoke in his trademark businesslike monotone and stiff, stilted Spanish, Callis brought his words to life, adding expression and emotion as her fingers and hands flew to translate each briefing into American Sign Language. 

Homeowner's Association Targets Boy's Fort

In this spooky, Halloween-themed episode of Broken News, a homeowner's association in Texas is trying to tear down a nine-year-old boy's fort. They claim it violates their architectural rules. Little do they know, the only thing worse than an unsightly wooden fort is...a GHOST FORT! BOO! Plus, in our second story, people are getting married in an Ikea. By choice. I hope the wedding goes better than the Bride of Frankenstein's. HAPPY HALLOWEEN! VIDEO

Bank Makes Gold Card With Real Gold


MOSCOW - American Express may call one of its cards the Gold Card, but a bank in Kazakhstan is announcing plans to issue an exclusive new bank card it claims is the world's first made entirely of gold, diamonds and pearls.
Sberbank-Kazakhstan announced plans to issue a limited edition Visa Infinite Exclusive card, made with pure gold, 26 diamonds, and inlaid mother of pearl, according to a press release posted on the bank's website.

Sandy Helps Push Gasoline Prices Lower


Gasoline prices are likely to keep falling, after Super Storm Sandy shut down highways and air travel across the East Coast.
"We're not going to see prices move higher because of this storm. We're going to see prices move lower," said Tom Kloza, oil analyst at OPIS. RBOB gasoline futures were down a half percent, at $2.62 per gallon in afternoon trading Tuesday.
Gasoline at the pump continued to decline, with the national average for unleaded regular $3.53, a penny lower than Monday and 11 cents cheaper than a week ago.
Kloza and others said gasoline could move higher in the short term but the dynamic favors lower prices.
"My guess is we'll have 20 to 25 states that will have prices below where they were a year ago," he said. "It could be in the $3.40s (a gallon) by next week. There's a huge swatch of the country that's going to be closer to $3."

Fighter shows why you’re supposed to protect yourself at all times (VIDEO)


Sometimes, MMA fighters will try to make their fight exciting by dropping their hands and daring their opponent to hit them. UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva did it in his easy win over Stephan Bonnar, and Nick Diaz is quite well known for making this move.
To beg for a punch, a fighter should have confidence in his or her chin. He or she should be positive that this won't happen:
Yep, that's why the referees remind fighters to protect themselves at all times.

Tempers flare in NJ city where thousands stranded - EVEN Though they were WARNED to Leave BEFORE Storm hits!

A firehouse is surrounded by floodwaters in the wake of superstorm Sandy on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, in Hoboken, N.J. Sandy, the storm that made landfall Monday, caused multiple fatalities, halted mass transit and cut power to more than 6 million homes and businesses. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)

HOBOKEN, N.J. (AP) — Officials in the city of Hoboken, N.J., are defending their response to severe flooding from superstorm Sandy.

Atlanta TV broadcaster miraculously predicts fumble return for TD one play before it happens


Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. Just ask PlayOn! Sports color commentator R.J. Lewis.
Lewis, who serves as the color commentator for Atlanta (Ga.) Douglass High, made a rather remarkable prediction with Douglass trailing Rockmart (Ga.) High, 54-0. Rather than call a touchdown via any traditional means, Lewis said he thought one would come via a defensive score.

Superstorm Sandy Rumors Cost Congressional Campaign Manager His Job


The congressional campaign manager who confessed to spreading falsehoods on Twitter during Hurricane Sandy has resigned from Christopher Wright's New York City congressional campaign.
Shashank Tripathi, under the guise of his Twitter handle @ComfortablySmug, sent out several pieces of misinformation during the worst of the storm Monday.

Inside Breezy Point: An Inferno in a Flood


When we were sent out on Monday afternoon to report on the "holdouts" of Hurricane Sandy - those who refused to leave their homes despite New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's mandatory evacuation orders - we expected winds and rain, but thought it was nothing that we couldn't handle.
We had our bottled water, our rain gear, our chips and were ready to tough out the storm with the citizens of Breezy Point, a beach town in Queens on the far end of New York City, and a place where Jim has family.
We were two of the last to arrive over the Marine Parkway Bridge before it closed to the public at 2 p.m. ET, and we joined up pretty quickly with 30-year-old Mary Lepera. She gave us a tour of the neighborhood and explained why she, like so many others, planned to stick out Hurricane Sandy at home: She'd spent her whole life there and wasn't about to abandon her home.

China’s Newest Stealth Fighter Takes Flight

The J-31 on its debut flight. <em>Photo: via China Defense Mashup</em>

China’s newest stealth fighter prototype reportedly took  off on its first test flight over the Shenyang Aircraft Company airfield in northeastern China on Wednesday morning. The 10-minute aerial debut of the twin-engine Falcon Eagle represents a huge leap forward for China’s ambitious stealth warplane program.
But more than a month after the Falcon Eagle first appeared in blurry photos apparently shot and posted online by Beijing’s army of sympathetic bloggers, there are still more questions than answers about China’s second stealth fighter model.

Right on Cue: Can iTunes chief fix Apple's maps and Siri?

An executive shuffle has dropped two troubled services into the hands of Eddy Cue. CNET has a behind-the-scenes look at Apple's master negotiator and product resuscitator.


In Apple's never-ending negotiations with record labels, iTunes boss Eddy Cue often played the good cop to Steve Jobs' bad cop. But for current CEO Tim Cook, Cue may well be Mr. Fix-It.
In a surprising executive shuffle, Apple announced Monday that Scott Forstall, who runs software development for the iPad and iPhone, would be leaving the company, along with retail chief John Browett. Cue, an Apple employee for 23 years who was chief of iTunes since it launched in 2003, has now absorbed control of the Siri voice recognition service and the disappointing Apple Maps.

Microsoft Sued Over Windows Live Tiles


Microsoft is being sued over the "Live Tiles" it uses in its phones and Windows 8 RT.
SurfCast, in a complaint filed yesterday in a U.S. District Court in Maine, said Microsoft infringes one of its four patents -- No. 6,724,403 -- by "making, using, selling, and offering to sell devices and software products" covered by SurfCast's patent. That includes mobile devices using the Windows Phone 7 and Windows Phone 8 operating systems as well as PCs using Windows 8/RT. The company also said Microsoft is contributing to infringement by encouraging developers to make app tiles for the Windows Store.

New synthetic molecule could destroy allergy attacks in seconds

New synthetic molecule could destroy allergy attacks in seconds

Allergies are stupid. They're your immune system's way of being dramatic for no reason, and the side effects often induce misery, and sometimes, death. Existing medications can treat the symptoms, but what you really want to do is stop the reaction from triggering in the first place, and a new designer molecule can do that.

2012 Mazda CX-5 Urban

mazda cx-5 urban picture

SUVs aren’t exactly the kind of cars that attract attention from tuners, but Mazda has shown up to the 2012 SEMA Show with a number of upgrade packages based on the CX-5, just to highlight the amazing customization possibilities for this model. One of these packages is called the CX-5 Urban - a concept car inspired by styles found in fashion and architecture.
2013 Koenigsegg Agera R wallpaper image

To your average car buyer, Koenigsegg may be nothing but gibberish, but to a car buff, it is one of the baddest car manufacturers on the planet. Founded in 1994 and having produced limited numbers of each of its production models – CC8S, CCR, CCX, CCXR, Trevita, Agera and Agera R – it has quickly become a unicorn in the hypercar realm. Unfortunately, the unquestioned leader of the hypercar realm, to date, has been Bugatti and its record-setting Veyron.
Well, Car and Driver Abroad got an invite to Sweden to come drive the Agera R around the Swedish automaker’s track in an attempt to prove that the Agera R is a different animal than the Bugatti Veyron. With this comes a fantastic video of Car and Driver whipping the Agera R around a windy track and really testing how well this hypercar can handle...and it performed admirably.

PC Modded Into A Book


Some guy decided to mod a PC into a book. Kinda neat, could've used a better power switch and larger screen, but cool none the less.

Whedon On Romney

Tech News No One Cares About - Oct. 2012

We are starting off today's installment of TNNOCA with news that Disney bought LucasArts for over $4B. Say hello to more Star Wars movies and Mickey - Yoda crossovers. Next up, the devastating news that Apple is delaying iTunes 11. Oh no, what will we do now? Also, while we are talking about Apple, it seems that the lack of an apology will get you forced out of the company after 15 years. No worries, no one liked that guy anyway. Speaking of not being liked, Activision is laying off more people. Hey, did you knowWikipedia is almost done? Wait. Done with what? Finally, the science behind how much caffeine it takes to kill you. Come to think of it, some of you might actually care about that last one. big grin

Google Unveils Ten Inch Nexus Tablet - UNDER WHELMING?


Apparently Google unveiled a 10" Nexus tablet yesterday and no one noticed. No big iPad/Surface press event? Talk about launching a product totally under the radar. confused
Google Inc unveiled a larger version of its Nexus-branded tablet computer on Monday, and updated its mobile gadget and online content offerings as competition with Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Microsoft Corp heats up ahead of the holiday sales season.

Apple's Scott Forstall ousted over Maps apology

Following the furor over the company's mapping service, the iOS software chief refused to sign a letter apologizing for its shortcomings and got the boot as a result, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Scott Forstall introduces Apple&#39;s new Cards app.

The exit of Apple iOS software chief Scott Forstall was apparently anything but quiet. Forstall was forced out after he refused to sign a letter apologizing for problems with Apple Maps,according to the Wall Street Journal.

Sean Bean explains why he didn't make it into the Hobbit trilogy

Sean Bean explains why he didn't make it into the Hobbit trilogy

Director Peter Jackson got most of the old gang back together when he was putting together his Lord of the Rings prequel trilogy The Hobbit—but a few former castmates didn't make the cut. So why didn't Sean Bean (Boromir) get an invite?
Blame that darn continuity, as The Hobbit takes place about 60 years before the events ofLord of the Rings.
Despite his recent acclaim in the hit series Game of Thrones, Bean said he wasn't invited back because his character wasn't around during the Hobbit-era of J.R.R. Tolkien's writings, so he didn't fit.

Google Employee Loses Prototype Phone In A Bar


Phone lost in a bar? Better send in the secret Google police...oh wait, they did. Just wait until Apple hears that Google is infringing on its patent to lose phones in bars. eek!
"Dave sort of freaked out. [He said] ‘Google lost a phone. You just got a guy fired…The Google police are coming,’" Barton recalled to the tech magazine. "I probably shouldn’t have shown it to him. But I did. He didn’t work for Google, but Google had him pretty worked up. They told him he could be an accessory or something."

How to make an awesome swirling Rorschach mask on the cheap

Video: How to make an awesome swirling Rorschach mask on the cheap
Looking for a last-minute solution to your Halloween costume indecision? This moving Rorschach mask may be a quick and inexpensive way to go.

Disney buys LucasFilm—and promises another Star Wars movie!

Disney buys LucasFilm—and promises another Star Wars movie!
This might be the biggest entertainment news of the year. The Walt Disney Company has just purchased LucasFilm in a multi-billion dollar deal that rivals the money it dished out to buy Marvel Entertainment in 2009. But the even bigger news might be that Disney's already planning a seventh Star Wars film—and they want it out within three years.

The two companies jointly announced the purchase Tuesday in a press release, and confirmed that the purchase includes rights to the Star Wars franchise, including live action and animation production and "consumer products." In the same release, Disney also announced plans for the 2015 release of Star Wars Episode 7, with Star Wars creator George Lucas serving as a "creative consultant." The company also said it plans "more feature films expected to continue the Star Wars saga and grow the franchise well into the future."

Rumor of the Day: Could this be the intro for Superman: Man of Steel?

Rumor of the Day: Could this be the intro for Superman: Man of Steel?

Apart from the intriguing teasers that debuted a while back, we haven't seen a whole lot of Zack Snyder's Superman reboot Man of Steel. Now, thanks to a nifty online leak, we might've just found the snazzy logo intro for the film.
A brief action graphic has surfaced via YouTube showing what appears to be a zippy, alien-esque reveal of the Superman logo fading from the film title that could be either a part of a future trailer or from the final film itself. Or it could be a really awesome fan-made clip. We don't know.

Why this secretive new sci-fi film could be a Dark Knight reunion

Why this secretive new sci-fi film could be a Dark Knight reunion

So you think that the team that brought us the Dark Knight trilogy is going its separate ways now that the saga has ended? Think again.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Wally Pfister, the cinematographer who has shot every film by director Christopher Nolan since 2000's Memento—including all three of Nolan's Batman films—will make his directorial debut with an original new science fiction movie called Transcendence.

Most U.S. Drones Openly Broadcast Secret Video Feeds



Four years after discovering that militants were tapping into drone video feeds, the U.S. military still hasn’t secured the transmissions of more than half of its fleet of Predator and Reaper drones, Danger Room has learned. The majority of the aircraft still broadcast their classified video streams “in the clear” — without encryption. With a minimal amount of equipment and know-how, militants can see what America’s drones see.
Unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, have become the single most important weapon in America’s far-flung pursuit of violent extremists. Hundreds of American Predators and Reapers fly above Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan, and Afghanistan — watching suspected enemies, and striking them when necessary. Nearly 3,000 people have been killed in the decade-long drone campaign.

Will Jonathan Ive's new job mean the end of Apple's faux leather?

Will Jonathan Ive's new job mean the end of Apple's faux leather?

Yesterday, Apple experienced its biggest corporate shakeup since the late Steve Jobs first handed the reigns over to Tim Cook. Most notably, Scott Forstall, the man some blame for the Maps debacle, is out. But another appointment, Jonathan Ive as the new director of Human Interface, could mean the end of Apple's addiction to skeuomorphic software interfaces.

NYC Data Centers Hit By Hurricane Sandy


Power outages caused by Hurricane Sandy are causing problems for data centers in the affected area.
The local power company, Consolidated Edison shut down power to portions of lower Manhattan this evening in an effort to prevent damage to underground equipment. That coincided with when Gawker.com and Gizmodo.com went offline. In a Twitter update at 4:21 p.m. PT, Gizmodo said: "We'll be back soon! There was a data center battery failure after the power went down in Lower Manhattan. Generators powering up." Buzzfeed.com is also down, saying: "Our site is down. Problems with NY-area servers due to Sandy." Livestream.com says it's experiencing "a major outage."

Link ‘Pirate’ Sentenced to Pay $13k To Victims


Seriously? The NBA, NFL, NHL, WWE and TNA went through all this trouble for a whopping $2,600 each? I wonder how much this case cost taxpayers?
Earlier this year the U.S. authorities arrested Yonjo Quiroa of Comstock Park on suspicion of operating several websites that linked to unauthorized sports streams. Following his arrest, Quiroa was detained for more than nine months, and he has now been sentenced to time already served plus deportation to his home country. In addition the site admin has to pay restitution to five major sports leagues, totaling $13,000.

Halloween Costume Made By Father of the Year 2012


Best. Costume. Ever.

Foxconn Sued By Family of Brain-Damaged Worker


Trying to cut off funding to a kid that lost half his brain in a workplace accident to save a few bucks? Stay classy Foxconn. frown
His plight came to light after Reuters reported that Taiwan firm Foxconn sent telephone text messages to his family telling them it would cut off funding for his treatment and other expenses if they did not remove him from hospital in Shenzhen city and submit him for a disability assessment 70 km (43 miles) away in Huizhou, where the company says he was hired.

Nurses attack in bloody red band Silent Hill: Revelation trailer

Nurses attack in bloody red band Silent Hill: Revelation trailer

It doesn't get a ton of publicity, but 2006's Silent Hill remains one of the best videogame-to-movie adaptations ever done. It's creepy, atmospheric and true to the broad strokes of the original game. The sequel opens this weekend, and a new red band trailer shows they're definitely trying to up the ante in the creep-factor.
By far one of the creepiest components of the games and films have been the freaky nurses, and the latest trailer for Silent Hill: Revelation 3D is all about those jerky monsters.

Seven questions to ask before refinancing



Wondering if refinancing your mortgage is something you should look into? That answer depends on what you want to get out of it.
Refinancing, or paying off your existing mortgage with a new one, could be worth it when it saves you money. And with interest rates near historic lows - around 3.5 percent as of mid-September, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association - it very well could help you save.
However, just because rates are low, doesn't mean that refinancing is the right option for everyone.
In fact, refinancing costs and rates vary on a case-by-case basis.

Amazing 3D art tricks the eye

3D art
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U.S. Sues BofA for $1 Billion Over Mortgage Losses

<p>               In this Monday, Oct. 14, 2012, shows a Bank of  America branch in downtown Miami. Bank of America said Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2012, that it narrowly turned a profit from July through September, good enough to beat Wall Street expectations. The bank earned $340 million in the most recent quarter, which works out to a fraction of a penny per share. Financial analysts expected an 11-cent loss, according to a poll by FactSet, a data provider. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
The federal government filed a civil lawsuit against Bank of America Corp. (BAC), alleging the second-biggest U.S. bank by assets saddled taxpayers with losses by misrepresenting the quality of home loans it sold to mortgage-finance firms Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac (FMCC) .

The action, filed Wednesday in federal court in Manhattan, seeks at least $1 billion in damages. The filing represents a novel effort by the government to defray costs tied to the 2008 bailout of Fannie and Freddie, and potentially opens a new front against a banking industry already dealing with hefty legal costs.

Tanker Run Aground by Superstorm

Powerful storm surges from Superstorm Sandy caused a nearly 170-foot water tanker to run aground in Staten Island, N.Y., on Monday night.
The front third of the tanker is grounded into Front Street. The city's waterfront was largely destroyed, which includes a number of businesses on the water.
The 168-foot tanker was moored about a mile away when Sandy's powerful force propelled it toward land.
No one was on the tanker and no one was hurt as a result of it running aground.
Sandy struck the East Coast on Monday night, leaving a trail of massive flooding, power outages and destruction. President Obama has issued disaster declarations for New York and New Jersey.