Groupon's New CEO Insists The Company Is 'Misunderstood'

Raise your hand if you think that the problem with Groupon is that the company is just misunderstood by everyone. Anyone?

Last week Groupon's shares hit an all-time low, only days after appointing Rich Williams as its new CEO in place of co-founder Eric Lefkofsky. What's more, Groupon recently ceased operations in Puerto Rico, Taiwan, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and a handful of other countries, adding to notable layoffs the company announced back in September. All of this is to say that Groupon, which offers coupons and deals to online customers, is at a crucial point in its short history -- how much longer can it go on like this?

Another Kickstarter Disaster: The Coolest Cooler

I guess I'd be pretty upset too if I was a backer of this Kickstarter. Nothing sucks worse than seeing the product you've been waiting a year for show up for sale to the public on Amazon. 

Last August, one of the most financially successful Kickstarter campaigns of all time concluded. It was a cooler called the Coolest, which was pricey but promised to contain most of what you need for a beach party. $300 backers were supposed to receive the Coolest, which would retail for $500. Then backers noticed that the product was available on Amazon’s crowdfunded products section… even though original backers from over a year ago hadn’t received theirs yet.

Intel’s 72-core processor is coming to desktop computers next year - 2016

You think your PC gaming rig has a powerful processor? You haven’t seen anything yet. PC World reports that Intel wants to put its so-called Knights Landing chip into a limited number of workstation desktop computers starting next year. Knights Landing, which Intel says is its most powerful chip to date, is a 72-core processor with 8 billion transistors. Next year will mark the first time it’s been used in workstations.

Why Boeing's Design For A 747 Full Of Cruise Missiles Makes Total Sense

After the Carter Administration's cancellation of the B-1A program due to fiscal concerns, the rise of air-launched cruise missiles and the possibility of developing a stealth bomber, Boeing put forward a low-risk, relatively cheap, cruise missile delivery vehicle alternative based on the mighty 747. It was called the Cruise Missile Carrier Aircraft, or CMCA for short.

The idea was relatively simple, turn the premier long-range commercial hauler into an arsenal ship capable of carrying between 50 and 100 air-launched cruise missiles (ALCMs). At the time the AGM-86 air-launched cruise missile was all the rage (it is still in service today) so the 747 CMCA concept was built with the 21ft winged missile in mind.

Charlie Sheen to Make ‘Revealing Personal Announcement’ on ‘Today’ Amid Tabloid HIV Reports

Charlie Sheen will appear on NBC’s “Today” on Tuesday to make “a revealing personal announcement” during an interview with Matt Lauer,  the network announced Monday.

News of the live in-studio interview comes just as National Enquirer publishes a report that the former “Two and a Half Men” star is HIV positive, and has been concealing his status.

"Cowardly murder": Ex-drone operators speak out about their jobs

Washington (AFP) - America's use of drones to kill suspected jihadists around the world is driving hatred toward the United States and causing further radicalization, four former airmen have said.

In an open letter to President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and CIA Director John Brennan, the four former drone operators said they were involved in the killing of innocent civilians, and had gone on to suffer Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Science Says Super Bacteria Coming to Kill Us Is Imminent, "People Will Die"

According to a study published in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, scientists in China have discovered significantly increased levels of bacteria resistant to the antibiotic colistin in pigs. The drug is a last line of defense against a host of bacterial infections, many of which are common in people. Researchers said they expect the resistant bacteria to spread outside of China, if it has not already done so.

"What is particularly worrying about this is the mechanism of this resistance means that it can spread very easily between species. So global spread is likely." Liz Tayler of the World Health Organization told BBC4 Radio. "This paper suggests that this has already spread out of China and into Malaysia."

Exclusive: U.S. probes Bosch in VW cheating scandal - sources

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. authorities are investigating German auto supplier Robert Bosch GmbH [ROBG.UL] over its role in Volkswagen AG's massive scheme to cheat U.S. emission standards, according to people familiar with the matter.

Federal prosecutors with the U.S. Department of Justice are examining whether Bosch, the world's largest auto supplier, knew or participated in Volkswagen's years-long efforts to circumvent U.S. diesel emissions tests, the people said. Bosch built key components in the diesel engine used in six Volkswagen models and one Audi model that the automaker has admitted to rigging to defeat emissions tests. Federal authorities are also investigating how deeply the scheme permeated VW’s hierarchy, according to people familiar with the matter.

“They Used To Be Okay With Just A Kiss. Now They All Want To Bang-Bang!”

If you don’t think the casting couch exists, ask someone who’s faced it many times…

I was more than a little nervous when Sharika Raina, a film and television actor, greeted me at her front door. It’s not every day that I get to meet cute, on-air personalities (or any women in general), but my anxiety wasn’t about that. It was about the ‘why’ of the meeting. I was here to talk to Sharika about her casting couch experiences.

As I entered, the first thing that caught my eye was her 'Bar Council of India’ Sanad (certificate), neatly framed over a sofa. “Of course, I’ve practiced law. I used to work with my father. I was a corporate lawyer!” You’re wondering, right – how does one go from corporate law to acting? “By auditioning, auditioning, and then auditioning some more.”

New charges for ex-Taco Bell exec - Benjamin Golden - in Uber fracas

A Taco Bell executive who lost this job after allegedly beating an Uber driver — an incident caught on video — was slapped Tuesday with further criminal charges that put him at risk of spending up to a year behind bars and paying a $10,000 fine.

Benjamin Golden, 32, who lives in Newport Beach, California, was charged with four misdemeanor counts by the Orange County District Attorney's office on Tuesday, a day after a YouTube video of the Uber car incident went viral.

The DA accused Golden of assault on public transportation property, battery on a public transit employee with injury, assault and battery. Golden originally was charged with misdemeanor assault and public intoxication by Costa Mesa police.

BAE Systems just invested $30M in a new rocket engine that could revolutionize space travel - Skylon/SABRE/Reaction Engine

British defense contractor BAE Systems, one of the world’s foremost purveyors of futuristic defense technologies, just officially announced that it plans to invest roughly $31.7 million to help develop a hybrid rocket engine with Britain’s Reaction Engines Limited. If completed, the Synergistic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine –or SABRE for short— would revolutionize the industry of space travel with its ability to operate not only in outer space, but within Earth’s atmosphere as well. Though testing is still likely many years out, the new cash infusion from BAE Systems will allow REL to expand its research and officially complete a test model.

“This investment by BAE Systems reflects the strength of British engineering and technology and our ambitions as a leading space nation,” says MP Jo Johnson, the United Kingdom’s Minister for Universities and Science. “I am sure that this partnership will strengthen both organizations — helping to create more jobs in the UK’s growing space sector and ultimately to make the SABRE engine a reality.”

View gallery

.

The SABRE engine

Death rate on the rise for middle-aged white Americans

For decades, nearly all Americans -- in every age and racial group -- have seen decreases in death rates. But in the last nearly 15 years, middle-aged white Americans have been left out, according to a study.

Death rates for white Americans ages 45 to 54 climbed half a percent each year between 1999 and 2013, researchers at Princeton University found using mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the previous two decades, the death rate for this group had dropped by 2% each year. Middle-aged blacks and Hispanics continued to see a 2% annual decline between 1999 and 2013.

"We have come to expect mortality rates in middle age to continue to decline, which they did throughout most of the 20th century...it was really a surprise to see a sustained period when mortality rates actually increased (among middle-aged white Americans)," said Anne Case, professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University.

Target - announces 13 U.S. store closures

Target is closing the doors to 13 of its stores.

On Wednesday, Target (TGT) confirmed that the locations across the U.S. would be closing by January 31, 2016.

A Target spokesperson said "the decision to close a Target store is not made lightly."

She added that before the company decides to make a closure, a store's financial health is evaluated over a long period of time. "Typically, a store is closed as a result of seeing several years of decreasing profitability," she said.

The Latest: Commander defends probe of Illinois cop's death

ROUND LAKE BEACH, Ill. (AP) — The latest developments in the investigation into the shooting death of an Illinois police officer in August. (All times local):

11 a.m.

Authorities are defending the time it took to conclude that an Illinois police officer killed himself and was not killed by others.

Lake County Major Crimes Task Force Commander George Filenko told reporters Wednesday that police Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz elaborately staged a crime scene, scattering his pepper spray, baton and other equipment before shooting himself twice on Sept. 1.

Lake County Sheriff's Office spokesman Christopher Covelli added that investigators had to filter through thousands of pages of financial documents, 6,500 pages of text messages and 40,000 emails.

Britain: Russian jetliner may have been downed by bomb

LONDON (AP) — British and U.S. officials said Wednesday they have information suggesting the Russian jetliner that crashed in the Egyptian desert may have been brought down by a bomb, and Britain said it was suspending flights to and from the Sinai Peninsula indefinitely.

Intercepted communications played a role in the tentative conclusion that the Islamic State group's Sinai affiliate planted an explosive device on the plane, said a U.S. official briefed on the matter. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss intelligence matters publicly.

Tarantino says he won't be intimidated by police boycotts

NEW YORK (AP) — After a week of backlash from police groups threatening to boycott his upcoming film, Quentin Tarantino stood by his comments about police brutality and said he wouldn't be intimidated from voicing his opinion.

Tarantino told the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday that law enforcement groups are trying to bully him. "Instead of dealing with the problem of police brutality in this country, better they single me out," Tarantino told the Times.

Bunker-Like Underground Mansion Is One Way to Dodge Zoning Rules

Real estate developer and rugby team owner Steve O’Connor wanted to build a mega-mansion in the English countryside. The only problem: Local zoning codes wouldn’t allow a space as large as he envisioned to be built above-ground.

So he went underground.

The tragically powerful story behind the lone German who refused to give Hitler the Nazi salute

(Wikipedia/Amanda Macias/Business Insider) August Landmesser refused to do the "Sieg Heil" salute during a Nazi rally at the Blohm Adopted by the Nazi Party in the 1930s, Hitler's infamous "sieg heil" (meaning "hail victory") salute was mandatory for all German citizens as a demonstration of loyalty to the Führer, his party, and his nation.

August Landmesser, the lone German refusing to raise a stiff right arm amid Hitler's presence at a 1936 rally, had been a loyal Nazi.

Landmesser joined the Nazi Party in 1931 and began to work his way up the ranks of what would become the only legal political affiliation in the country.