Iran nuke deal could push oil prices lower

NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices could be headed lower after the preliminary nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers, even though it does not allow Iran to export more oil.

In the short term, the deal may make it easier for Iran to sell the oil it is already allowed to sell under the sanctions, which would increase supplies on the world market. And the newfound cooperation between Iran and the West eases tensions that pushed oil prices higher in recent years.
But the deal, described by both sides as only a first step, raises the possibility that a more comprehensive agreement would eventually allow Iran to restore oil production to pre-sanctions levels. That could add 1 million barrels per day of oil to world markets — enough to meet the entire global growth in demand for 2014 projected by the International Energy Agency.

US flies B-52 bombers in China's air defense zone

Washington (AFP) - Two US B-52 bombers flew over a disputed area of the East China Sea without informing Beijing, US officials said Tuesday, challenging China's bid to create an expanded "air defense zone."

The unarmed aircraft took off from Guam on Monday and the flight was previously scheduled as part of a routine exercise in the area, the defense officials said.

"Last night we conducted a training exercise that was long-planned. It involved two aircraft flying from Guam and returning to Guam," Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steven Warren told reporters.

No flight plan was submitted beforehand to the Chinese and the mission went ahead "without incident," Warren said.
The two aircraft spent "less than an hour" in China's unilaterally-declared Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) and did not encounter Chinese planes, he said.
A defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed to AFP the two US planes were B-52 bombers.

Surprise! Elderly Connecticut twins were secret millionaires

Kathleen Magowan may have passed away in 2011 at the age of 87, but her surprising charitable donations have given her a very unexpected legacy: she's being called a "secret millionaire."

During her lifetime, the former first grade teacher and her twin brother, Robert, amassed a fortune of nearly $10 million, much to the surprise of residents in their community of Simsbury, Connecticut.
Kathleen Magowan's estate is valued at $6 million. (Courtesy of Vincent Funeral Home)Kathleen Magowan's estate alone was estimated at nearly $6 million and after her passing she willed sizable sums of her wealth to places she held dear.

With new Genesis, Hyundai aims to burnish brand

NAMYANGJU, South Korea (AP) -- Hyundai has revamped the luxury Genesis sedan for the first time since 2008, attempting to elevate its brand and grab a bigger share of U.S. car sales as competition from American and European automakers erodes Hyundai's dominance in its South Korean stronghold.
Since entering the U.S. in 1986, Hyundai Motor Co. has carved out a niche with buyers looking for cheaper alternatives to Toyota's big-selling Camry and Corolla marques. Sophistication, power and style have not been qualities typically associated with its brand. Now, South Korea's largest automaker hopes to expand sales by competing more boldly with BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota's Lexus and other high-end models.
The new Genesis, unveiled Tuesday, will be available in the U.S. early next year and will be the first Hyundai luxury sedan sold in Europe. Y.J. Ahn, a director of Hyundai's American business, said the redesigned sedan will help drive 10 percent growth in Hyundai's U.S. sales next year from 734,000 vehicles expected this year. The automaker's U.S. market share declined to 4.7 percent in the first nine months of this year from 4.9 percent in 2012.

Penny Lane: Gitmo's other secret CIA facility

WASHINGTON (AP) — A few hundred yards from the administrative offices of the Guantanamo Bay prison, hidden behind a ridge covered in thick scrub and cactus, sits a closely held secret.

A dirt road winds its way to a clearing where eight small cottages sit in two rows of four. They have long been abandoned. The special detachment of Marines that once provided security is gone.

But in the early years after 9/11, these cottages were part of a covert CIA program. Its secrecy has outlasted black prisons, waterboarding and rendition.

In these buildings, CIA officers turned terrorists into double agents and sent them home.

It was a risky gamble. If it worked, their agents might help the CIA find terrorist leaders to kill with drones. But officials knew there was a chance that some prisoners might quickly spurn their deal and kill Americans.
For the CIA, that was an acceptable risk in a dangerous business. For the American public, which was never told, it was one of the many secret trade-offs the government made on its behalf. At the same time the government used the threat of terrorism to justify imprisoning people indefinitely, it was releasing dangerous people from prison to work for the CIA.

Nearly a dozen current and former U.S officials described aspects of the program to The Associated Press. All spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the secret program, even though it ended in about 2006.

Boston Dynamics' ATLAS robot trips on debris

As disaster response robots go, the humanoid ATLAS from Boston Dynamics is by far the most advanced. It's also the robot least likely to be trusted by those it attempts to rescue, owing to its similarity in appearance to the titular genocidal robots of the Terminator franchise. As of late, however, ATLAS has appeared a lot less threatening than your average red-eyed time traveler.
As part of DARPA's Robotics Challenge, which will begin trials this December 20th in Florida, DARPA has been furnishing a number of teams with ATLAS units. To prepare for what will assuredly be a rigorous and competitive challenge, the teams have recently been putting their ATLAS units through their paces. It's a process which hasn't exactly fueled much hype about the humanoid robots.

18-rotor electric helicopter makes maiden flight

Aside from being emission-free, the German-built Volocopter VC200 is a VTOL aircraft that aims to offer a calm and quiet ride.

If its 18 rotors aren't enough to get you excited, this crazy flying machine has a "pleasant sonorous sound," according to German engineers who built the Volocopter VC200.
The successor to the even more outrageous Volocopter VC1 is being billed as "the world's first green helicopter," but a number of other projects have also claimed that title.
The multicopter recently took to the skies for the first time in a series of remote-controlled, unmanned flights in an arena in Karlsruhe, Germany.
"Rich and incredibly quiet sound, absolutely no noticeable vibrations in the flight, convincing structure with a great, new spring strut landing gear, and an extremely calm rotor plane," was how Alexander Zosel, managing director of developer E-volo, described the nine flights, which lasted a total of about 20 minutes.

Watch live as SpaceX launches into the commercial space race

Today at 5:37 p.m. EST, SpaceX will enter the history books. Carrying a massive commercial satellite, the private spaceflight company's upgraded Falcon 9 rocket will lift off, carrying its payload into orbit. The flight will officially welcome SpaceX into the commercial spaceflight marketplace, something that those in the know think will have a dramatic impact on the nascent industry.

"The entry of SpaceX into the commercial market is a game-changer. It's going to really shake the industry to its roots."

That's a quote from Martin Halliwell, the chief technology officer at communications satellite company SES. He's putting his money where his mouth is, too. Today's payload is his company's SES-8 satellite. To get the satellite into the proper geostationary orbit, the SpaceX rocket will have to fly higher than it has to date.

Jellyfish-inspired drone takes flight

A new drone which takes its shape from the fluid undulations of a jellyfish has flown for the first time. It's a little odd to base the design of a flying robot on a slow-moving sea-dweller, but the results speak for themselves. And what's more, the drone's creator believes it's an improvement on current mini-drone designs.
That's because many mini-drones designed today are built to emulate the winged flight of a fruit fly. But if they want to stay aloft, fruit flies have to constantly make in-flight adjustments to compensate for air currents. Recreating a fly's active, quick-acting flight stabilizers in a robotic frame takes up space. When you're designing insect-sized drones, anything that takes up extra space and weight is a real buzzkill.

One of my favorite cars is the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, the modern equivalent to the timeless 300SL. If you don't know either of these cars by model, maybe this will help: they're Benz's iconic coupés with the gull wing doors.
With the LA Auto Show starting tomorrow, Benz decided to jump the gun with the announcement of a new concept car that knocks the socks off the already impressive SLS AMG. Meet the AMG Vision Gran Turismo.
Wait, the Vision Gran Turismo? Isn't the second half of the name a video game? Yes, it is — and that's because the Virtual Gran Turismo is a concept car designed to exist solely in virtual form. It's a concept car designed to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the PlayStation racing simulator Gran Turismo.

Transforming Kawasaki concept debuts at Tokyo Motor Show

The heyday of the electric motorcycle may be fast approaching. At least, that's what motorcycle manufacturers like Kawasaki would have us believe. A number of electric choppers and scooters are already out there, but as the electric motorcycle market grows, so does the extremeness of their designs.

Valve readying its own virtual reality prototype with Steam

Ask any PC gamer and they'll tell you the same thing: the future of gaming is ripe for Valve to disrupt. Not only is Steam more popular than ever (no doubt thanks to those incredible Steam sales), but it's all about to get even more exciting with the Steam Machines and that wild Steam Controller.
And that's not all Valve plans to introduce next year. At its Steam Dev Days developer's conference on January 15-16, Valve's Mike Abrash will demonstrate an "assembled prototype" and "discuss what the hardware is like, and the kinds of experiences it makes possible." The Steam Dev Days site says the prototype will outline "what VR could, should, and almost certainly will be within two years" as well as show off how Steam will be optimized for a VR experience.

Notch: Wearable tech meets precise motion tracking

Wearable technology is all the rage right now. From gesture-translating rings to smartwatches to light-up dresses, the next fashion trend will involve combining high-tech with clothing, accessories and jewelry. The fitness industry has also jumped on the bandwagon, giving us motion tracking to make us better at sports and exercise. Notch, a newcomer to the wearable tech market, plans to take those concepts further by providing sensors that attach to clothing around specific points of the body. Users can then track movement and monitor that information via an iOS app.

Second Life creator developing new virtual reality world

Imagine putting on an Oculus Rift and not just playing a game, but also interacting with an all-encompassing environment. Imagine stepping into an avatar and being able to fully explore a virtual world complete with its own sights, textures, tastes and experiences. Second Life creator Philip Rosedale wants to make these imaginings into a reality. He has quietly created the High Fidelity project to explore the next iteration of virtual worlds.

China Launches Investigation into Pipeline Explosion

China has launched a broad investigation into safety at oil and gas pipelines, state media reported on Monday, as the death toll from an explosion at a Sinopec pipeline last week rose to 52.

The blast at the eastern oil hub of Qingdao on Friday was China Petroleum & Chemical Corp's (Sinopec) deadliest known accident and is one of the worst publicly reported industrial disasters in China this year. PHOTOS

Western Digital Black² Dual Drive Review - $299 MSRP

Another review of Western Digital's Black² Dual Drive has hit the internet today. This time around it is the folks at TechwareLabs doing the reviewing.

So, how did WD solve the mystery of getting the benefits of both an SSD and an HDD in a single drive form factor? Well, the answer is literally in the question, they managed to sandwich a 120GB SSD and a 1TB spinning drive into a single 9.5mm 2.5″ form factor drive, the Western Digital Black² Dual Drive.

Google's Sponsored Products Could Cost You More Money

Is this really a mystery? Does anyone even click on Google's sponsored product links? I'd rather hit Amazon for a lower price and get free shipping while I'm at it.

That's the contention of the Financial Times, which recently ran an analysis of various products that show up among Google search results. Five out of every six items that appeared in the sponsored items section were more expensive than those hidden deeper in the results, according to the newspaper. And on average, the sponsored products were 34 percent higher.

Google-Backed 23andMe Ordered to Halt DNA Test Service

FDA approval? We don't need no stinking FDA approval! Wait, we do? Whoops.

23andMe Inc., the Google Inc.-backed DNA analysis company co-founded by Anne Wojcicki, was told by U.S. regulators to halt sales of its main product because it’s being sold without "marketing clearance or approval." "FDA is concerned about the public health consequences of inaccurate results from the PGS device," the agency said today. "The main purpose of compliance with FDA’s regulatory requirements is to ensure that the tests work."

The 2016 M8: BMW's First Supercar Since the Legendary M1

It's rumored to have 640 to 670 horsepower, thanks to an upgraded version of the M5's direct-injected 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8. It can go 0-62 in about 3 seconds, is made from materials such as carbon fiber and titanium -- which could give it the best power-to-weight ratio of any BMW street car -- and is the first supercar from the blue-spinner crew since 1981.

iPhone 6 concept proposes wraparound, bezel-free display

A new iPhone 6 concept design proposes an interesting wraparound display that would turn the left side of the handset into a tiny display ready to give users fast access to certain settings or apps including volume controls, flashlight, alarm, calculator, camera and music player controls. The overall design of this concept iPhone 6 is based on the current iPhone 5s model, although the device still proposes an interesting feature that could help Apple increase the size of the handset without modifying its overall size: a bezel-free display.

'Knockout Game' Suspect Charged With Hate Crime

The Brooklyn, N.Y., man accused of assaulting an Orthodox Jew in what appears to be another case of the knockout game is being charged with a hate crime for the alleged attack.
Amrit Marajh, 28, was charged with harassment as a hate crime after he allegedly punched the 24-year-old Orthodox Jewish man Friday morning.

The unidentified victim believes he was attacked as part of the deadly "knockout" game, where an attacker aims to knock out the victim with a single sucker punch, police said.

The violent game has been linked to assault reports in at least six states, and three people have been killed in suspected knockout attacks.
The unidentified Brooklyn victim said he was walking home early Friday morning in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn when he was assaulted and heard his alleged attackers daring each other to punch him out minutes before one actually assaulted him, according to police.

Mustang Mach II: The Two-Seater That Almost Was

Some love affairs just aren’t meant to be, like Liz Taylor and her seven husbands. Then there was Ford’s on-again, off-again romance with two-seat vehicles. They tried to make it work in the 1950s with the T-Bird. But, while the car sold well in its original configuration, by 1958 it had gained a back seat in an effort to widen its market appeal.

The boys from Dearborn tried again with the Mustang I concept vehicle in 1962. The auto won acclaim on the show car circuit, but marketing interests led the company to once again modify the production machine to fit four. The new pony car’s sales went through the roof, and by the mid-60s it appeared that the two-seater idea and Ford were not to be a match.

Lucra L148 supercar

From a workshop in San Diego, builder Luke Richardson hopes to craft the next great American supercar. Dubbed the Lucra L148, this 700-hp coupe will be Richardson's bid to push his company into the realm of European makers such as Lotus. PHOTOS

School superintendent charged in rape case inquiry

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio school superintendent, two coaches and a principal were charged by a grand jury that investigated whether other laws were broken in the rape of a drunken 16-year-old girl by two football players, the state's attorney general said Monday.

The special grand jury convened in Steubenville had investigated whether adults like coaches or school administrators knew of the rape allegation but failed to report it as required by state law.

DeWine said the case initially was about the teenagers involved but had become just as much about the adults, including the parents.
"How do you hold kids accountable if you don't hold the adults accountable?" he said.

DeWine said he believes the grand jury's work is done, barring any new evidence.

The charges against the superintendent, Mike McVey, include felony counts of obstructing justice, DeWine said. McVey wasn't immediately available for comment, but the district planned to issue a statement later Monday.

Air Force Plans to Arm Next-Gen Fighters with Laser Weapons

The US Air Force is looking ahead to the next generation of fighter jets weapons platform and wants to arm them with high-powered lasers. The Department of Defense is apparently already on board with the concept and the Air Force plans on have a working test of the platform within ten years.

The Air Force added in its request that it is currently investigating laser and beam control systems independent of the platform from altitudes up to 65 kilofeet — or around 12 miles — and speeds upward of Mach 2.5, the equivalent of 1,854.543225 miles/hour in dry air.

Katie Couric to Become Yahoo’s Global News Anchor

Yahoo is evolving under the guidance of CEO Marissa Mayer into an original in-house programming platform, with well known, big ticket media talent to draw a new audience to Yahoo. The announcement of Couric’s deal and role within Yahoo will be held on Monday.

It’s the latest flashy move by CEO Marissa Mayer to try to goose the staid image of Yahoo and provide users with unique reasons to come to Yahoo.

LG Might Include Custom SoCs in Its Mobile Devices and Tablets

It’s been reported by Digital Times that rumors of LG getting ready to manufacture its own system on a chip are indeed a fact and will likely start showing up sometime next year in LG Smart TVs and mobile devices.

LG is working on two different SoCs. One is a quad-core version and the other an eight-core variant.

Power of Nanotechnology Video Blow Your Mind

Opinion: Prepare to pay for premium Internet

Don't be surprised if, sometime soon, you get a notice from your Internet service provider (ISP) announcing a new Internet-access pricing scheme that looks suspiciously like how you pay for cable TV.
Many popular websites will remain free. But if you want to access, say, Hulu or Netflix or some other movie- or TV-watching site, you may have to pay a premium. Or, to watch ANY movie or TV show, you may have to pay-per-view your ISP on top of what the movie site charges.
Sound outrageous?
Verizon is suing the FCC for the right to control — and charge — how they deliver the Internet. ISPs could charge for basic, premium and PPV access, to charge us more to get some sites faster, to charge sites for delivering their content to us faster, to charge new websites for getting to subscribers to begin with, or throttle or block access to sites it doesn't like or those who don't pay to get accessed.
Even though the case — currently being adjudicated by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the last stop before the Supreme Court — will be judged on technical legal grounds, the repercussions could mean the end of so-called "net neutrality."

What Is "Net Neutrality" Anyway?

Army test next generation nano drone - the Black Hornet

Sgt Carl Boyd, of First Battalion Royal Fusiliers, with a Black Hornet camera helicopter. Salisbury Plane, Wiltshire. The mini spy in the sky, which has a 20 minute fly time is already in use in Afghanistan.

Helicopter drones level up, gain belly-mounted robotic limbs

By now you're probably resigned to the fact that flying robots are among us. They monitor weather patterns, spy on our enemies and even stage a publicity stunt from time to time. For most of us, that might seem like a pretty good niche for a flying robot to fulfill. The Germans have different plans.
Engineers and roboticists at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) have slapped a robotic arm to the belly of a small autonomous helicopter. The idea is to expand the tasks that aerial drones can accomplish by giving them the capacity to manipulate objects that might be hard to reach for humans. The resulting drones, however, look a little like something you'd find in Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory.

New Godzilla tie-in book gives us best look at the monster yet

The more we see of the new monster for next year's Godzilla reboot, the more confident we are that this is a redesign we can believe in.
While that 1998 reboot that we don't really like to talk about much seemed to get just about everything wrong when it came to Godzilla, the next attempt to revitalize the classic kaiju seems to, so far, be getting everything right. It's got acclaimed Monsters direct Gareth Edwards at the helm, and a script that includes work by Frank Darabont. It's got a star-packed cast that includes Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Bryan Cranston, Ken Watanabe and original Godzilla star Akira Takarada. It's also got some killer early footage that, according to those who've seen it, includes more than one monster.

A new casting rumor just made that Crow reboot more interesting

If you weren't excited for that reboot of The Crow before, you might be after you hear who's rumored to be joining it now.
After an impressively extended period of development hell, a new adaptation of James O'Barr's classic comic seems finally to be heading toward production. It's got a director in F. Javier Gutierrez (Before the Fall), a star in Luke Evans (The Raven) and O'Barr himself on board as a creative consultant. Now it might be getting some star power of the zombie-killer variety.

Joe Manganiello: How I Got My 'Psycho' Look With Schwarzenegger in 'Sabotage'

It was 10 years ago that Arnold Schwarzenegger put his movie career on hold to take on the role of governor of California. He returned to the screen this year in "The Last Stand" and "Escape Plan," but his true fans have been itching for him to return to the type of harder-edged films he made in his early days.

The just-released trailer for Schwarzenegger's next action thriller, "Sabotage," shows the former Governator back in fighting form, and it definitely has pleased one Arnold super-fan, "True Blood" star Joe Manganiello (of course, it helps that Manganiello is in the movie, too).

"It looks badass," Manganiello told Yahoo Movies over the phone. "It reminds me of 'Predator,' with these big, badass characters. Everyone looks like a psycho, which is really fun. The audience will get to see recognizable actors in really unrecognizable parts. I can't wait to see whole thing."

10 Clever Uses for the Space Under the Stairs

10 Clever Uses for the Space Under the Stairs By Marie Proeller Hueston, BobVila.com

Creative solutions, ranging from sneaky storage to an extra bathroom, tackle the home's trickiest triangle. PHOTOS

Supersonic Travel: Would you like to get to Sydney, Australia in 4 hours?

While supersonic planes haven’t been available to commercial travelers since 2003, speed freaks can revel in the fact that several new supersonic planes are currently in development.Boeing, Gulfstream and NASA are collaborating on a plane nicknamed the “Son of Concorde,” which would be capable of flying around 2,500 miles per hour. That’s almost twice the speed of the original Concorde, and means a trip from London to Sydney, Australia, would only take four hours, about a fifth of the time it currently takes. The jet would use lighter materials, state of the art engines and a redesigned fuselage to attain the fast speeds.Separately, the Aerion Corporation is working on a new 12-passenger supersonic business jet that would fly at about Mach 1.6, or about 1,200 mph. That’s almost twice as fast as the top speed of a Boeing 747, which is around 650 mph. So a flight from New York to Paris would take about 4 hours and 15 minutes – three hours shorter than current subsonic travel times. The challenge with any new supersonic plane is reducing noise from sonic booms – the loud bangs made by a supersonic plane’s sound waves. Commercial supersonic planes are banned from flying over land in many places because the sonic booms are so distracting to the people below. Researchers at NASA are experimenting with various plane shapes to find the quietest option, which may include a longer, more pointed fuselage than the Concorde had. The need for continued research means supersonic planes won’t be carrying passengers until the start of the next decade, at the earliest. But if it means you can get from London to Sydney in four hours, it will be worth the wait. VIDEO

T-Mobile’s Blunt-Talking CEO Shakes Up the Mobile Industry

T-Mobile US (TMUS) CEO John Legere drew chuckles from competitors back in March when he rolled out his “un-carrier” strategy to cut prices, do away with two-year contracts and separate charges for new phones from regular service fees.

Legere, dressed in jeans and a pink T-Mobile T-shirt, declared of the industry’s standard billing model, "This is the biggest crock of s--t I've ever heard in my entire life. Do you have any idea how much you're paying?"

Bigger carriers Verizon (VZ), AT&T (T) and Sprint (S) may have been put off by Legere’s shock-jock style. But they’re not laughing anymore.

A showman's touch, a bargain-shopper's eye

Giant caves in Slovenia are like an underground Grand Canyon

If you've ever wondered what the Grand Canyon would look like underground, a visit to the Škocjan Caves may be in order. The series of cavernous chambers in Slovenia is on the UNESCO World Heritage List and receives 100,000 visitors a year. Its deep chasms and soaring walls have led to the place being called the "underground Grand Canyon."

Believed to be among the world's largest underground canyons, the location is like a tremendous bat cave (more on that in a moment).

2014 Cadillac ELR, the electric luxury mashup: Motoramic Drives

Pop music inevitably leaves older generations behind, but I find myself enjoying more of it lately through mashups, those unauthorized remixes that feature, say, Snow Patrol playing with Sting, or show that Taylor Swift's breakup lyrics fit perfectly within Weezer's breakup power chords. The best mashups feel like jigsaw puzzles of sound, with genius DJs finding the common edge between songs to craft a new whole without destroying what made the parts hits.

And it was only apt to make them the soundtrack of choice while driving the 2014 Cadillac ELR, a rolling mashup of electricity and gas, thrift and fashion, Motor City steel and Golden State dreams. The question was just how well Cadillac fit all of these notes into harmony — or dissonance.

Every auto show produces a few concept cars that look production-ready, and after a warm reception for the Converj show car in 2009 based off the Chevrolet Volt, General Motors brass ordered a street-ready version with the bare minimum of necessary alterations. (Designers kept the show car parked next to the mock-up in the studio.)

US arrests son of Mexican cartel boss

Los Angeles (AFP) - The son of a leader of Mexico's feared Sinaloa cartel has been arrested in the United States for drug trafficking, prosecutors said Friday.

Serafin Zambada-Ortiz, 23, was detained after being stopped Wednesday as he tried to enter America at Arizona's Nogales border crossing, said the US Attorney's Office for southern California.

He appeared in court Thursday, and is due back before a judge on Monday in Tucson, said spokeswoman Kelly Thornton. Zambada-Ortiz is the son of Sinaloa cartel leader Ismael Zambada-Garcia, also known as Mayo.

He was charged in September with having organized the trafficking of at least 500 grams of a mixture containing methamphetamine and at least five kilos of cocaine, according to the indictment.
His wife Karime Ellameli Torres-Acosta -- the daughter of another deceased drug baron, Manuel Torres-Felix -- was also arrested and taken into custody, but then released.

Exclusive: Enter America's Repository of Pain, 100,000 Weapons of War

Just outside the nation's capital, amid suburban trappings like yogurt shops and yoga studios, chain sports bars and fast food franchises, sits a nondescript building few could guess contains the legacy of two wars terrorists fought with hidden bombs.

It's the FBI's repository of pain.

Inside the brightly-lit and highly secure warehouse that evokes "Raiders of The Lost Ark", the Bureau has neatly stockpiled a "bomb library" of 100,000 remnants of improvised explosive devices, called IEDs, recovered by the U.S. military from battlegrounds mostly in Iraq and Afghanistan.

They've been collected to examine as evidence and intelligence on IED makers, and also to study in order to design technology to defeat them and keep G.I.s alive.

Inside huge white cardboard boxes stacked up to the three-story ceiling are the bits and pieces, the ball bearings and shrapnel, the wires and circuit boards, the melted cell phones and cordless base stations that made weapons responsible for killing hundreds, if not more than a thousand, U.S. troops who deployed in Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn after the 9/11 attacks.

Bus Driver Takes Weapon From Kid and Loses Job

OK, time for a pop quiz: As a schoolteacher or an administrator, you should deal with safety issues by (a) always following proper protocol to the letter, or (b) using common sense based on the particular situation at hand. The answer, according to an Ohio school district that has severed ties with a bus driver over how he handled a student with a knife, appears to be (a) — though a leading national school safety expert disagrees.

The trouble went down last week, when new substitute school-bus driver Dennis Kaliszewski, 60, was driving kids home from Pleasant Valley Elementary School in Parma. Though Yahoo Shine could not reach him for comment, the driver told Cleveland.com that he was heading to his first stop when “it seemed as though the entire bus of students started to yell that a young boy had a knife in his possession.” He says he then pulled over and told the boy, who was probably between 8 and 10 years old, that the bus wouldn’t move until he handed over his knife. After a few promptings by Kaliszewski, the boy eventually brought his small pocketknife up to the driver, who then continued his route.

Human - Alien - genetics - ????? - ( 2611nacdan)

--- But interesting is the background

--- it shall shows a ( Air Force Base level 6 )

--- what does this mean ???

Breaking News Labs Mixing Human DNA Animal DNA

Breaking News Labs Mixing Human DNA Animal DNA A parahuman or para-human is a human-animal Genetic engineering human-animal genetic hybrid or chimera hybrid or chimera. Scientists have done extensive research into the mixing of genes or cells from different species, e.g. adding human (and other animal) genes to bacteria and farm animals to mass-produce insulin and spider silk proteins, and introducing human cells into mouse embryos. Para humans have been referred to as "human-animal hybrids" in a vernacular sense that also encompasses human-animal chimeras. The term parahuman is not used in scientific publications. The term is sometimes used to sensationalize research that involves mixing biological materials from humans and other species.

Teenager Sustains Concussion, Becomes Musical Genius

The human brain is a mysterious organ that scientists don't fully understand. One Denver teen has proved just how complex it is by becoming a musical prodigy after having sustained two concussions in childhood.

“Music is the thing that gets me up in the morning,” Lachlan Connors, a 17-year-old junior at Kent Denver High School, told Denver news station CBS4.

However, that wasn’t always the case. While Lachlan was growing up, his first love was sports — he even dreamed of becoming a professional lacrosse player — but in sixth grade, he fell and sustained a concussion during a lacrosse game. Though he felt a bit dazed at the time, a doctor gave him the go-ahead to continue playing. A short time later, Lachlan took yet another hit, and after being hospitalized for weeks and experiencing epileptic seizures and hallucinations, doctors advised him to discontinue contact sports.

Obamacare's Cadillac Tax: What It Means for You

By Dan Caplinger | More Articles | Save For Later
November 22, 2013 | Comments (17)

Controversies have been abundant lately regarding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. But with so many people focused on the immediate issues surrounding the rollout of health care insurance exchanges, few are looking at other impacts the law will have down the road, including the Obamacare Cadillac tax on high-value employer-provided health insurance.
In the following video, Dan Caplinger, The Motley Fool's director of investment planning, takes a closer look at the Obamacare Cadillac tax and its impact on you and your health insurance coverage. Dan notes that Obamacare imposes a 40% excise tax on employers that provide insurance coverage that costs more than $10,200 for single policies or $27,500 for family policies. Even though the tax doesn't take effect until 2018, employers are already taking steps to address it.

China creates air defence zone over Japan-controlled islands

Beijing (AFP) - Beijing on Saturday announced it was setting up an "air defence identification zone" over an area that includes islands controlled by Japan but claimed by China, triggering a "strong protest" from Tokyo.

China's defence ministry said that it was setting up the zone to "guard against potential air threats" in a move likely to heighten tensions in a bitter territorial row between the two countries.
Along with the creation of the zone in the East China Sea, the defence ministry released a set of aircraft identification rules that must be followed by all planes entering the area, under penalty of intervention by the military.
Aircraft are expected to provide their flight plan, clearly mark their nationality, and maintain two-way radio communication allowing them to "respond in a timely and accurate manner to the identification inquiries" from Chinese authorities.

Twitter Upping Security To Thwart Government Hacking

I feel safer knowing that, after the government stole all our personal information, companies like Twitter, Google and Facebook are finally upping security.

Following in the footsteps of other tech companies, Twitter is beefing up its security to make it harder for outsiders -- including the government -- to uncover data, the company announced Friday. Twitter has added forward secrecy, a security measure that uses temporary, individual keys to encrypt each Web session, instead of relying on a single master key.

LG's Smart TV Spies On You, Reports Your Behavior!

Now that we know LG's smart TVs spy on you, we all need to start watching videos called porked_asian_sticky_buns.mkv downloaded from here. That'll fix em'!

"Smart TVs" are bringing PC-style spyware and banner ads to the living room, collecting detailed logs of data that include every time the channel is changed and the names of every media file watched. In the case of sets from LG, data is being sent to the factory unencrypted, even after users attempt to turn the data collection off.

Dotcom's Baboom Hijacks Web Ads To Show You Its Ads

I'm sure advertisers are going to just love this. The ads that normal companies paid for will be replaced by Kim Dotcom's ads via browser plug-in. And Dotcom thinks no one will have a problem with this?

Baboom users can install a little plugin that replaces the ads you'd normally see on the internet with ones that we control through our ad network. Just as advertisers go to AdWords to buy ads from Google for certain search terms, they'll be able to come to us and buy these ads at half the price and still have ads shown against the same keywords.

Jury Awards Apple $290M More In Damages

Let's see, Apple got $1B the first time around, then had that chopped down to $600M. This time they got $290 million in damages. So....how much do you think will get lopped off on appeal?

A jury on Thursday ruled that Samsung must pay Apple $290,456,793 in additional damages for patent infringement, slightly less than the $380 million Apple had requested. That brings its total award to about $900 million. Samsung believed it owed Apple only $52 million more in damages.

PS4 vs. Xbox One Everything You Need To Know

Everything you need to know about the PS4 vs. Xbox One battle? I'll tell you everything you need to know right here: Xbox owners are buying the Xbox One, PS3 owner are buying PS4s. PC gamers couldn't give a rip either way. Taa Daa!

So, should you upgrade? The answer is "probably not yet." (For PC gamers, the question here is "should I move over to the living room?" but we're not even going to attempt that debate here. If you enjoy playing on PC, please continue to do so.)

Quote of the Day

I find it extremely hard to believe this company would turn down a $5 billion offer from anyone (the devil included), let alone Facebook. Be that as it may, I still think this is quote of the day: 

"The last thing I want to do is sell to Facebook. They're the devil," she said. "This type of a communication is a human right. Everyone in the world deserves it, and I'd never sell to a company that would complicate that."

Follow these 7 easy steps to make your own Iron Throne and rule Westeros

Not content to sit in merely any chair, one intrepid Game of Thrones fan has built his own Iron Throne — and was nice enough to break down the process so you can, too.

I mean, who hasn’t wondered what it’d be like to sit on that glorious, sword-filled throne and look out over your own kingdom (or rec room)? All you need is a plastic chair, foam, some simple construction materials and paint — plus about three weeks of free time — and voila, an Iron Throne!

Plus you won’t have to deal with that lingering threat of potential assassination, so that’s good.

A user over at Instructables has put together a stellar guide explaining the ins and out of the construction process, which is fairly simple (but very time-consuming). Basically, you start with a plastic chair, frame up the swords with yardsticks, cut out the rest of the swords with foam, use straps to fill in the gaps — then get to painting.

Challenge accepted. PHOTOS

(Via The Mary Sue)

Google buys Bump for app to share content with a tap

The Android operator picks up a 5-year-old startup that makes a smartphone app for exchanging files, photos, videos, and contacts with a bump.

Google has purchased Bump, makers of smartphone apps for wirelessly sharing files, photos, and contacts, for an undisclosed sum. Bump CEO and co-founder David Lieb made the announcement in a blog post and tweet Monday morning. Google confirmed the buy to CNET.
Founded in 2008, Bump raised roughly $20 million in funding from a collection of renowned venture firms including Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital before it was picked up by Google. A source told AllThingsD that the deal was valued between $30 million and $60 million.

World's first all-titanium guitar needs no body or neck to shred

Look ma, no body! Or neck! The world's first all-titanium, futuristic-looking Gittler guitar has absolutely no need for them, either. In fact, electric guitars only look like guitars because we've essentially been copying the same design plan for the electric guitar since the 1930s and never bothered to change. All that extra wood is essentially a matter of preference — which Alan Gittler, the Gittler guitar's creator, conveniently stripped away to create the ultimate minimalist guitar in the 1970s.

Researchers turn prosthetics into musical instruments

We've already touched upon the notion that prosthetics are slowly moving from straightforward medical assistance devices to augmentations to the human form. Furthering that notion is a new project that transforms human prosthetics into fully interactive musical instruments.

Da Vinci-designed instrument built and played for the first time

Half a millennium ago a man by the name of Leonardo Da Vinci sat down and sketched a design for something he clearly thought would improve what we now know as classical music. He never built the thing, though. Maybe he was too busy painting some girl's picture or inventing the parachute or something. Whatever the reason, more than 500 years after Da Vinci first sketched up the instrument, it has finally been constructed.

Conan O'Brien Plays "World Of Warcraft" At BlizzCon 13

Conan O'Brien played a little World of Warcraft at BlizzCon 13 with hilarious results. Thanks to [H] forum member ShamisOMally for the link.

$3,500 Fine for Writing a Negative Online Review

What the hell!?! A $3,500 fine for a bad review? And, to make matters worse, Ripoffreport.com charges $2,000 to remove a review?

In an effort to ensure fair and honest public feedback, and to prevent the publishing of libelous content in any form, your acceptance of this sales contract prohibits you from taking any action that negatively impacts KlearGear.com, its reputation, products, services, management or employees.

Should you violate this clause, as determined by KlearGear.com in its sole discretion, you will be provided a seventy-two (72) hour opportunity to retract the content in question. If the content remains, in whole or in part, you will immediately be billed $3,500.00 USD for legal fees and court costs until such complete costs are determined in litigation. Should these charges remain unpaid for 30 calendar days from the billing date, your unpaid invoice will be forwarded to our third party collection firm and will be reported to consumer credit reporting agencies until paid.

Nuclear force feeling 'burnout' from work

WASHINGTON (AP) — Key members of the Air Force's nuclear missile force are feeling "burnout" from what they see as exhausting, unrewarding and stressful work, according to an unpublished study obtained by The Associated Press.

The finding by researchers for RAND Corp. adds to indications that trouble inside the nuclear missile force runs deeper and wider than officials have acknowledged.

The study, provided to the AP in draft form, also cites heightened levels of misconduct like spousal abuse and says court-martial rates in the nuclear missile force in 2011 and 2012 were more than twice as high as in the overall Air Force.

These indicators add a new dimension to an emerging picture of malaise and worse inside the intercontinental ballistic missile force, an arm of the Air Force with a proud heritage but an uncertain future.

Late last year the Air Force directed RAND, a federally funded research house, to conduct a three-month study of attitudes among the men and women inside the ICBM force. It found a toxic mix of frustration and aggravation, heightened by a sense of being unappreciated, overworked, micromanaged and at constant risk of failure.

Remote and rarely seen, the ICBM force gets little public attention. The AP, however, this year has documented a string of missteps that call into question the management of a force that demands strict obedience to procedures.

What 11 Billion People Mean for Water Scarcity

Editor's note: By the end of this century, Earth may be home to 11 billion people, the United Nations has estimated, earlier than previously expected. As part of a week-long series, LiveScience is exploring what reaching this population milestone might mean for our planet, from our ability to feed that many people to our impact on the other species that call Earth home to our efforts to land on other planets. Check back here each day for the next installment.

After 14 years of drought, Lake Powell is less than half full.

Water flows into Lake Powell, nestled between Utah and Arizona, from high in the Rocky Mountains via the Colorado River. More than 30 million people in seven states depend on the mighty Colorado for water to grow crops, fuel power plants and keep cities such as Las Vegas alive. But this year, the worst drought in a century has slowed the flow to a trickle.

In August, the federal Bureau of Reclamation cut, by 9 percent, the amount of water people in the southwestern United States could draw from Lake Powell. As states and counties squabble over their allotment of water in the coming years, hydroelectric plants (including the one on the Hoover Dam) could idle, and farmers are bracing for reduced crop production.

Congress honors American Indian code talkers

WASHINGTON (AP) — For decades, the wartime service of 96-year-old Edmond Harjo and other American Indian "code talkers" was something that wasn't even officially acknowledged, let alone publically recognized.

But on Wednesday, Harjo sat in the Capitol's Emancipation Hall soaking in a standing ovation from hundreds of people — after an introduction from House Speaker John Boehner.

Harjo, a member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, is one of the last surviving members of a group of American Indians who used their native language to outwit the enemy and protect U.S. battlefield communications during World Wars I and II. In a ceremony Wednesday, congressional leaders formally awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to American Indians known as code talkers honoring the service of 33 tribes.

Jump in Shoplifting Hurt Penney

Shoppers are buying more at J.C. Penney Co. They're also stealing more.

The retailer said Wednesday that theft spiked in the third quarter after it removed sensor security tags from merchandise while it shifted to a new inventory-tracking system that uses radio tags.
Shoplifting took a full percentage point off the department store chain's profit margins during the quarter, Chief Executive Myron "Mike" Ullman said. That was just one more weight that dragged the 1,100-store chain down to a loss of nearly half a billion dollars even as it showed some improvement getting long disaffected customers to spend again.
Penney is struggling to right itself after a disastrous overhaul under former Apple Inc. executive Ron Johnson, who drove customers away when he did away with promotions and eliminated in-house brands in an effort to simplify and modernize the chain's offerings.

Jaguar F-Type Coupe arrives in British villain style

Jaguar has decided to market its new F-Type Coupe as a “British villain,” or so the executives told us as the car was unleashed onto the world Tuesday night: “stylish, calm, calculating, and a little sexy.” As annoying as that characterization might be, when they rolled the red Coupe out, it also seemed terrifyingly accurate. Originally designed as the CX-16 Concept, the Coupe has now come to life, a sinister bullet of a car, with deeply dramatic “heart lines” that swoop from the front grille to the back tail-light, designed to turn heads and drive deep into underground fortress garages.

Army Colonel Wants Unattractive Women in Ads: Here's Why

"Be All That You Can Be"— unless you are beautiful, that is. A high-level strategist working to shape the Army's PR message about women in combat has recommended that their publicity photos and pamphlets feature "ugly" or "average looking" women.

More on Yahoo: Military Plans Would Put Women in Most Combat Jobs

In a leaked email obtained by Politico, Col. Lynette Arnhart, who has served in the military since 1989, wrote, "In general, ugly women are perceived as competent while pretty women are perceived as having used their looks to get ahead." She added that the Army typically selects publicity shots with attractive-looking women and attached an article with an example. "Such photos undermine the rest of the message (and may even make people ask if breaking a nail is considered hazardous duty)." Instead, she suggested, a photo of a woman with a mud-streaked face, for example,"sends a much different message—one of women willing to do the dirty work necessary in order to get the job done."

Winamp Is Officially Dead

Winamp, has officially whipped the last llama's ass it will ever whip.

Winamp.com and associated web services will no longer be available past December 20, 2013. Additionally, Winamp Media players will no longer be available for download. Please download the latest version before that date. See release notes for latest improvements to this last release. Thanks for supporting the Winamp community for over 15 years.

14% Of All Crimes In NYC Involved Apple Products

Awww, isn't this cute? Theft of Apple products is so rampant in New York that they've actually given it a nickname: "Apple Picking."

Apple products are the most common items stolen in New York City. Last year, they accounted for 14% of all crimes in the five boroughs. So far in 2013, 45% of all robberies involved mobile devices, more than half involving iPhones (many criminals forget to turn off the Find My iPhone app).

Sony: Do Not Return Insect Infested PS4s

If you are one of the 1% that ended up with a defective PS4, Sony wants to make sure your console isn't infested with bugs before you send it back for replacement. Thanks to everyone that sent this one in.

Sony: PS4 Failure Rate More Than Double Initial Estimates

Sony has confirmed that the PS4 failure rate has jumped from .4% up to 1%. And the countdown to people freaking out over my accurate but intentionally misleading headline in 3...2....1.

With less than 1 percent of shipped systems affected by these problems (up from 0.4 percent in a previous claim), the number of broken systems is reportedly within the "expected range" for a product launch. While we're certainly used to new devices that ship with a few bugs in tow, that figure still leaves a lot of unhappy gamers -- one percent of the million-plus PS4 buyers would still equate to 10,000 people. Sony says it's working to get these systems replaced; let's hope it moves quickly.