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.

Digital Delivery Allows Companies To Ship Broken Products Without Refunds Or Returns

Alright, I'm posting a link to this story because I know you guys are going to have something to say about this. Is this guy onto something or just on something?

Not so long ago, if you bought a book with missing pages — or a DVD that skipped, or a CD or video game that wouldn’t play — you took it back to the store and got an exchange or a refund because obviously the manufacturer did not intend to provide you with an incomplete or broken product. The relatively new era of digital media delivery has improved upon this by allowing content providers to patch files and fix errors, but it’s also allowing companies to knowingly release inferior and/or broken products, often without giving the consumer any way to seek redress.

Bill Gates: Microsoft Has Met With 'A Lot' Of CEO Candidates

Who knew selecting a new CEO could be so emotional?

So much for the stereotype of the four-eyed nerd with a calculator for a heart. Microsoft chairman Bill Gates struggled to fight back tears as he told shareholders Tuesday that the company has met with "a lot" of CEO candidates in its hunt to find a replacement chief executive for the outgoing Steve Ballmer.

The Pentagon's doctored ledgers conceal EPIC waste!

LETTERKENNY ARMY DEPOT, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - Linda Woodford spent the last 15 years of her career inserting phony numbers in the U.S. Department of Defense's accounts.
Every month until she retired in 2011, she says, the day came when the Navy would start dumping numbers on the Cleveland, Ohio, office of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, the Pentagon's main accounting agency. Using the data they received, Woodford and her fellow DFAS accountants there set about preparing monthly reports to square the Navy's books with the U.S. Treasury's - a balancing-the-checkbook maneuver required of all the military services and other Pentagon agencies.
And every month, they encountered the same problem. Numbers were missing. Numbers were clearly wrong. Numbers came with no explanation of how the money had been spent or which congressional appropriation it came from. "A lot of times there were issues of numbers being inaccurate," Woodford says. "We didn't have the detail … for a lot of it."
The data flooded in just two days before deadline. As the clock ticked down, Woodford says, staff were able to resolve a lot of the false entries through hurried calls and emails to Navy personnel, but many mystery numbers remained. For those, Woodford and her colleagues were told by superiors to take "unsubstantiated change actions" - in other words, enter false numbers, commonly called "plugs," to make the Navy's totals match the Treasury's.

Auditor Quits Job With Epic Email

The Hollywood trope for epically quitting a job is hard to beat. From Bridget Jones telling her boss, "Frankly, I'd rather have a job wiping Saddam Hussein's a--," to Andy in "The Devil Wears Prada" throwing her cell phone in the Place de la Concorde fountain, these carefully constructed scenes would be hard to replicate in real life. But a young woman from Texas proved that it's not entirely impossible. Glory — a name she coined to keep her anonymity — resigned from her position as an associate auditor at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) by sending out an eyebrow-raising email to her colleagues, complete with hashtags, describing her hatred of auditing and her "#chattycathy" co-workers, as well as the 10 reasons why Beyoncé is the queen of the world.

Elon Musk Is Playing With Fire — and Tesla May Get Badly Burned

Shareholders have applauded Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk for "requesting" a government investigation into a spate of fires in the automaker's Model S sedan, in the hope an inquiry will turn up nothing and give the company a clean bill of health. But Musk's account of how the investigation developed clashes with the government's explanation, and other efforts to defend the company seem to be raising more questions than answers.

Sony Disappointed By "Low" PS4 Review Scores

Honestly, if I was this guy, I wouldn't worry about low review scores as much as I would all the problems people have been having with their launch consoles. The day before launch Sony pegged hardware failures at .4%, then came the avalanche of reports from customers having a wide variety of issues. Low review scores are the least of the company's problems if these issues persist. 

Sony president of Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida is disappointed by the PlayStation 4's "low" software review scores, but he does not think the critical marks will have an adverse effect on the system's launch.

A producer may have just revealed major Batman vs. Superman details

We’ve been trying to glean any tidbit we can about Zack Snyder’s Batman vs. Superman, but a film exec might’ve just dropped some major bombshells. Or, maybe he’s just messing with us.

Film producer Daniel Alter (Hitman, The Apparition), who is currently working with Warner Bros. on some projects, took to Twitter to drop some major info about the Man of Steel sequel. Of course, all of this could just be Alter repeating rumors — but the guy works at the same studio, so it stands to reason he might’ve heard some rumblings about the script.

Source code snippets open door for raw photos on Android

It's not built into Android yet, but Google has been overhauling the OS's camera interface to be more photography-friendly. Raw photos can offer higher image quality.

Android device owners might be able to take photos in a higher-end raw format in the future, according to details tucked away in the source code for the mobile operating system.
As spotted by Ars Technica, Google programmers have been working on a revised camera interface that exposes new features to Android app programmers. Among the features in the "new camera API" (application programming interface) are support for raw photo formats and burst-mode shooting that can take a rapid sequence of photos.

Apple to start following you around its stores, report says

(Apple stores are reportedly about to be equipped with iBeacon transmitters that connect to iPhones. These are intended to enhance your shopping experience.)


There are so many people in Apple stores these days that it's hard to hear conversations or even think straight.
That, perhaps, is one of the small reasons that the company is reported to be implementing its iBeacon system, which is designed to make your shopping experience even more experiential.
iBeacon was slipped onto iOS 7 as a surprise, something that portended the future.
And, as my colleague Roger Cheng experienced, it's already being experimented with by Major League Baseball at the New York Mets' Citi Field. There's certainly the need for a better experience there.

NVIDIA G-SYNC Technology: An In-Depth Look

The gang at Benchmark Reviews has taken an in-depth look at NVIDIA's G-SYNC technology. Here's a quote from the full article:

A very special new piece of hardware technology has recently been released at a conference in Montreal on October 22, 2013. The new technology is called G-SYNC, by NVIDIA. G-SYNC seems to be the answer for a major complaint from PC gaming community regarding image quality in fast-moving video games. Tears, stutters, and lag are told to be totally eliminated with this new technology.

Watch Russian meteorite's impact via security cam

Moments after exploding with the energy of an atomic bomb in the skies over the city of Chelyabinsk, the space rock quietly let itself into a lake outside of town, not far from the watchful eye of a security camera.

Last February, a fireball streaked past the Russian town of Chelyabinsk, releasing 500 kilotons of energy as it ran up against some serious resistance from Earth's atmosphere and exploded, blowing out windows all over town in the process. The biggest resulting chunk of space rock finally ended its journey by crashing into a frozen lake a few dozen miles away.

Anonymous Hacker Gets 10 Years

Seriously guys, being a member of Anonymous doesn't pay. They get busted every time they hack something and, with sentences like these, it just doesn't make any sense ruining your life trying to be "cool."

Anonymous hacker Jeremy Hammond knew that he was going to serve serious time for his role in the 2011 hack of Stratfor Global Intelligence. But holy crap, the judge threw the book at the guy! The 28-year-old Chicago native was just sentenced to 10 years in federal prison. For hacking.

DOE Awards R&D Contract To NVIDIA

The Department of Energy’s Office of Science and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) have awarded $25.4 million in research and development contracts to five leading companies in high-performance computing (HPC) to accelerate the development of next-generation supercomputers. Under DOE’s new DesignForward initiative, AMD, Cray, IBM, Intel Federal and NVIDIA will work to advance extreme-scale, on the path to exascale, computing technology that is vital to national security, scientific research, energy security and the nation's economic competitiveness.

It's Time To Admit That Apple Is Blowing It

I don't know if I would say Apple is blowing it (they have a mountain of cash and legions of faithful customers), but the company sure is getting its butt kicked by Samsung.  

Apple fans have developed excuses for Apple's lagging sales. The most popular is that Apple is a "premium" gadget maker, not a hoi polloi gadget maker, and it only wants to sell its phones (and tablets) to people who can afford to pony up for them. Apple, in other words, is like BMW, not Ford.

Terrence Howard blasts Downey, Jr. for his messy Iron Man departure

Considering how big the Marvel universe has become, the company has done a pretty good job of keeping actors from hit movies around to make sure things are consistent — well, except for one.

As most fans already know, Terrence Howard played Col. James “Rhodey” Rhodes in the first Iron Man flick, then was replaced by Don Cheadle for the next two sequels. Marvel always cited a vague contract dispute, but now Howard has opened up about what really went down — and he says it’s all Robert Downey Jr.’s fault.

According to Howard, “the person [he] helped become Iron Man” (aka Downey) pushed him out during contract negotiations, and took his raise for himself, apparently leaving Howard with a smaller offer.

Explore the Venice canals with Google Street View

Having previously charted the terrain of hard-to-reach areas such as the Grand Canyon and Great Barrier Reef, Google has added another notch to its belt.

Thanks to the Google Trekker, places that are inaccessible by car can be captured and mapped in Street View. The Trekker's latest conquest? Venice, Italy, home to such famous sights as St Mark's Square, Rialto Bridge, and the Doge's Palace.
To capture the water city in all its glory, Google sent the Trekker out on foot, on gondolas, and on Venice's famed water taxi service, the vaporetto. Though Venice is renowned for its maze-like layout, the Street View implementation means you're never too far from a map to work out exactly where you are.

What smartphone OS do you use?

While it looks like Android is running away with the smartphone market, the competition is still alive and well.

People have a tendency to identify with their mobile operating systems. They may be saddled with nicknames like fandroids, Apple fanboys, or Windows Phoners (OK, I made that last one up). It's a choice that can feel like an emotional decision as much as a practical one.
The numbers certainly tell a story. Android has hit 81 percent market share for smartphone shipments globally, according to consulting group IDC.

Getting edgy: Samsung phone to get wraparound display?

A Galaxy smartphone with a three-sided display could reach the consumer market in 2014, says Bloomberg.

Samsung reportedly plans to unveil a Galaxy smartphone with a three-sided wraparound display next year.
Citing information from "two people familiar with the plans," Bloomberg said Friday that the display would wrap around the edges of the phone, allowing people to read messages from an angle. Each of the three sides would also function independently. From the description, it sounds as if you'd be able to view your normal front display and then see a small amount of additional information wrapped around on the right and left sides of the phone.

Scientists tracking iceberg twice size of Atlanta

After breaking from Antarctica, the massive iceberg could drift toward South America and threaten shipping lanes.

If you're in dire need of ice for your next party, set sail for Antarctica.
An iceberg about twice the size of the city of Atlanta broke off from the Pine Island Glacier and scientists fear it may threaten shipping in the Southern Ocean as it moves into open waters.
The vast block has an area of about 270 square miles, about the size of Singapore. It recently put about a mile between itself and the glacier after a rift formed in July.
When it makes its way out of Pine Island Bay in West Antarctica, it could drift toward the Drake Passage between the continent and the tip of South America.

FBI: Cyber-Attacks Surpassing Terrorism As Major Domestic Threat

I would be more likely to believe a statistic like this if it wasn't followed up by statements like "Congress should be wary of rolling back surveillance programs like the one employed by the National Security Agency."

During his first testimony as the new FBI director, James Comey told Congress on Thursday that while the threat of traditional terrorist strikes inside the United States is now lower than it was before 2001, the potential threat from cyber-attacks continues to rise. "That’s where the bad guys will go," Comey said, as quoted by the Guardian. "There are no safe neighborhoods. All of us are neighbors [online]."

CIA's Financial Spying Bags Data on Americans

Information on International Money Transfers Includes Financial and Personal Data of Americans.

 

The Central Intelligence Agency is building a vast database of international money transfers that includes millions of Americans' financial and personal data, officials familiar with the program say.

The program, which collects information from U.S. money-transfer companies including Western Union, is carried out under the same provision of the Patriot Act that enables the National Security Agency to collect nearly all American phone records, the officials said. Like the NSA program, the mass collection of financial transactions is authorized by a secret national-security court, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Xbox One vs. PlayStation 4 console size showdown

In just a few hours, the PlayStation 4 launches in the U.S (bricking and HDMI troubles not withstanding. Then, in exactly one week, the Xbox One goes on sale. It's going to be madness.
Although we've seen both next-gen consoles a handful of times and we've had the chance to preview some of the games, nobody has really sized up both consoles, side by side, console y console. The folks over at PC Games.de managed to get their mitts on both consoles and did what any geek would do: they took pictures comparing the two.

AMD Announces Industry First "Supercomputing" 12GB Server Graphics Card

AMD today announced the new AMD FirePro™ S10000 12GB Edition graphics card, designed for big data high-performance computing (HPC) workloads for single precision and double precision performance. With full support for PCI Express® 3.0 and optimized for use with the OpenCL™ compute programming language, the AMD FirePro S10000 12GB Edition GPU features ECC memory plus DirectGMA support allowing developers working with large models and assemblies to take advantage of the massively parallel processing capabilities of AMD GPUs based on the latest AMD Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture. AMD FirePro S10000 12GB Edition GPU is slated for availability in Spring 2014.

NVIDIA Shield Review

The guys and gals over at Neoseeker have spent a little quality time with the NVIDIA Shield handheld gaming device.

The NVIDIA Shield is an Android-based gaming handheld that launched earlier this July, featuring a 5-inch, 1280x720 touchscreen display and a built-in console-style controller. In addition to support for Android game titles on the Google Play store, the Shield can even stream PC games running on a PC with a GeForce GTX 650 graphics card or better. It can even output to HDTVs via mini-HDMI.

Marines killed in Calif. were doing dangerous job

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The job is one of the most dangerous in the Marine Corps.

The four Marines killed Wednesday while clearing unexploded ordnance at California's Camp Pendleton were bomb removal technicians. It is one of the few positions in which the Marine Corps allows team members to quit at any time. That's because their mental focus could mean the difference between life or death, either for themselves or their fellow troops.

Few quit, despite the inherent risks that come with finding and getting rid of unexploded munitions — whether on the battlefield or on a U.S. base, according to former bomb technicians.

The four were killed around 11 a.m. during a routine sweep to make a range safer for future training exercises at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, said a Marine official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. There was no live firing on the range at the time.

Base officials said they would not release details until an investigation into the cause of the accident is concluded. They released the names of the dead Thursday night.

After JFK, a Secret Service transformed

The date most closely associated with the Secret Service probably isn’t its founding in 1865. It’s not 1902, when it took over full-time protection of the president following William McKinley’s assassination. It’s probably Nov. 22, 1963 — when John F. Kennedy was killed, shot dead as he rode in a convertible with the top down, his government bodyguards powerless to help.

“It isn’t something that we’re marking. It wasn’t a good day for us or for the country,” Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary told Yahoo News. “It was a dark day.”

But 50 years later, there’s no mistaking that JFK’s death — and the June 1968 killing of Robert Kennedy, and the March 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan — utterly transformed the small agency with one of the government’s biggest jobs.

If the White House is, in the tongue-in-cheek words of several presidents, “the crown jewel of the federal penal system,” that would make the Secret Service the country’s most elite prison guards.

But in 1963, there were only 350 Secret Service agents, and the agency had a budget of $5.5 million. Those numbers have climbed to 3,500 agents and $1.5 billion today.

Car Mechanic's Birthing Invention May Be a Lifesaver - Odón's Device

Jorge Odón isn't the first auto mechanic to ever come up with an idea for a new product, but he's probably the first one in his field to invent a medical device meant to save a baby's life at birth.
His idea was first hatched in 2007, when Odón, of Argentina, watched a YouTube video on how to retrieve a cork from inside a wine bottle. The trick worked by stuffing a plastic bag inside the bottle and blowing into it. As the bag expanded, it trapped the cork and the demonstrator was able to pull out the bag, along with the cork. That night, Odón was struck with inspiration during a dream: What if the same extracting method could be used during childbirth for babies stuck in the birth canal?

Elon Musk interested in electric pickup truck and supersonic jet

When Elon Musk speaks, the world listens. The man behind Tesla and Space X has bold new plans to possibly build an electric pickup truck according to Business Insider. That's not the only new thing Musk wants to build either. The New York Times reports Musk also wants to build a supersonic jet.
The electric pickup truck would be made by Tesla and be similar in size to the Ford F-150 pickup truck. Musk told Business Insider that the pickup truck would not be a commercial one (too bad!) and that it could revealed in five years.

Scientists claim world's oldest creature (shame they killed it finding out)

The Ming clam was thought to be 405 years old. Now Welsh scientists know it was 507 years old. Sadly, their probing it for its age killed it.

As Kelly Clarkson ought to have sung: What doesn't kill you makes you older.
In the case of the Ming clam, however, it stopped aging when scientists at Bangor University in Wales decided to see just how old it really was.

More Taxpayers Are Abandoning the U.S.

Year's Tally for Expatriations Sets Record; Increase Comes Amid Tax Crackdown on Offshore Assets

This year will set a record for expatriations by U.S. taxpayers, with at least a 33% increase from the previous high in 2011.

The Treasury Department published the names of 560 people who either were U.S. citizens renouncing their citizenship or long-term residents who turned in their green cards during the third quarter.
That brings the total so far this year to 2,369, according to Andrew Mitchel, a tax lawyer in Centerbrook, Conn., who tracks the data. For all of 2011, the number of published expatriates was 1,781, he said.

Senator seeks disclosure of NSA role in non-terrorism domestic cases

WASHINGTON, Nov 14 (Reuters) - A Democratic Senator introduced legislation on Thursday to bring greater government transparency, oversight and due process whenever authorities use information gathered for intelligence purposes to make domestic non-terrorism cases against Americans.
The bill calls for prosecutors to notify defendants in non-terrorism criminal trials if intelligence information was secretly used in any part of an investigation and to provide access to relevant information that is not classified.
A Reuters story in August revealed that the Drug Enforcement Administration routinely passes intelligence tips it receives from the National Security Agency to federal agents in the field, including those from the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service and Homeland Security, to help them start non-terrorism drug, money-laundering and tax cases.

Inside Microsoft's Cybercrime Center

Microsoft says its new dedicated cybercrime center is a perfect example of what the company's business intelligence and big data tools can do to stop malware, identity theft and other cybercrimes.

It’s a CSI kind of place, clearly equipped for its high-tech mission, but also airy and inviting with its modern glass, chrome, and wood. The Cybercrime Center is home to laboratories; offices and ultra-secure evidence rooms; and cutting-edge software and tools.

The Repairable PC Is Dead

If you are truly a PC enthusiast, how can something like this ever happen? Could you imagine owning a computer that you didn't build?

We are both dyed-in-the-wool PC enthusiasts, tinkerers and system builders by nature. We have both built, fixed, optimized and upgraded so many systems over the course of our professional lives that we lost count after the first few hundred, however many years ago that was.

'Killer Robots' Could Be Outlawed

I think we will all breathe a little easier if this comes to pass.

The first steps towards the outlawing of "killer robots" could be taken on Thursday, as a UN committee meets to decide whether to investigate banning the controversial technology.

Snapchat Spurned $3 Billion Acquisition Offer from Facebook

Snapchat, a rapidly growing messaging service, recently spurned an all-cash acquisition offer from Facebook for $3 billion or more, according to people briefed on the matter.

The offer, and rebuff, came as Snapchat is being wooed by other investors and potential acquirers. Chinese e-commerce giant Tencent Holdings had offered to lead an investment that would value two-year-old Snapchat at $4 billion.

Share of young US adults who move hits 50-year low

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. mobility for young adults has fallen to the lowest level in more than 50 years as cash-strapped 20-somethings shun home-buying and refrain from major moves in a weak job market.

The new 2013 figures from the Census Bureau, which reversed earlier signs of recovery, underscore the impact of the sluggish economy on young people, many of them college graduates, whom demographers sometimes refer to as "Generation Wait."
Burdened with college debt or toiling in low-wage jobs, they are delaying careers, marriage and having children. Waiting anxiously for their lucky break, they are staying put and doubling up with roommates or living with Mom and dad, unable to make long-term plans or commit to buying a home — let alone pay a mortgage.
Many understood after the 2007-2009 recession that times would be tough. But few say they expected to be in economic limbo more than four years later.
"I'm constantly looking for other jobs," says Jeremy Bills, 27, of Nashville, Tenn., who graduated from Vanderbilt University in May 2011 with a master's degree in human and organizational development. Originally from Tampa, Fla., Bills has stayed put in his college town in hopes of finding a job in management consulting or human resources. Instead, he has mostly found odd jobs like pulling weeds and dog-sitting.

Mass burial held in Philippine city hit by typhoon

TACLOBAN, Philippines (AP) — The air was thick with the stench of decay as sweating workers lowered the plastic coffins one by one into a grave the size of an Olympic swimming pool.

Scores of unidentified bodies were interred together Thursday in a hillside cemetery without any ritual — the first mass burial in this city shattered by last week's Typhoon Haiyan.
Six days after the disaster, some progress was being made in providing food, water and medical aid to the half-million people displaced in the Philippines. Massive bottlenecks blocking the distribution of international assistance have begun to clear.
Soldiers on trucks gave out rice and water, and chainsaw-wielding teams cut debris from blocked roads to clear the way for relief trucks in Tacloban, the capital of the hardest-hit Leyte province.
Thousands of people continued to swarm Tacloban's damaged airport, desperate to leave or to get treatment at a makeshift medical center.

Jean-Claude Van Damme splits between moving Volvo semis, awesomely

When we look back on history to tell our children about the lost wonders of civilization that they will never enjoy, we must inevitably include the golden epoch of 1988 to 1999, when a Belgian martial-arts expert would chop a film a year into the world's consciousness, all based on his karate talents and unparalleled ability to do the splits.
Jean-Claude Van Damme may not be the film star he once was, but time has not dulled his flexibility — which he demonstrated today with the release of a brief meditation featuring his trademark move between two moving Volvo semi trucks.
Part of Volvo Trucks' "Crazy Stunts With Our Trucks" promotional campaign, this effort was apparently the first time JCVD had attempted his trademark stretch between two semis moving in reverse — and for those who doubt, Volvo maintains there's no computer-generated trickery or reverse filming underway. (That it demonstrates "Volvo Dynamic Steering" more than the awesomeness of the muscles from Brussels can and will be argued by future generations, but do note that the trailer on the semis stay straight while backing up.)
To pull it off, Volvo commandeered a closed airport in Spain and waited for sunrise. Van Damme, being Van Damme, needed only one take to make it work.

I suppose if you're a trucking fleet manager or a private owner-operator of a semi hauler, seeing Van Damme place his blessing via his killer feet upon a machine might sway a purchase order or two. But this means more to Van Damme-ists; if we're ranking this among the all-time great splits, I'd place it ahead of the Timecop fight scene but behind some of the iconic Bloodsport moments, simply because of its more meditative nature. Its power lies in distilling the essence of Van Damme's talents into one minute of Enya-backed entertainment. Look closely, children, for Van Damme is our Van Gogh of groins.

ATF 3D Printed Gun Exploded When Tested

It was made by the government, did you expect anything different?

Google Bombarded By Government User Data Requests

Imagine all the things that the government could actually get done if they weren't so busy with this crap.

Law enforcement requests to Google have tripled in four years but we're still stuck with the same internet privacy law we had in 1986. If police need a warrant to open someone's mail than they should need one to rifle through someone's email, regardless of its age or if it's stored on a company's server. It's time Congress and the president updated (the) Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) so there's only one standard for government access to the content of our electronic communications: a warrant based upon probable cause. Anything less is indefensible.

U.S. carrier starts Philippine storm relief as Aquino comes under pressure

TACLOBAN, Philippines (Reuters) - A U.S. aircraft carrier "strike group" started unloading food and water to the typhoon-ravaged central Philippines on Thursday, as President Benigno Aquino faced mounting pressure to speed up the distribution of supplies.

While relief efforts picked up, local authorities began burying the dead - an important, if grim, milestone for a city shredded by one of the world's most powerful typhoons and the tsunami-like wall of seawater believed to have killed thousands.
"There are still bodies on the road," said Alfred Romualdez, mayor of Tacloban, a city of 220,000 people reduced to rubble in worst-hit Leyte province. "It's scary. There is a request from a community to come and collect bodies. They say it's five or 10. When we get there, it's 40."
Many petrol station owners whose businesses were spared have refused to reopen, leaving little fuel for trucks needed to move supplies and medical teams around the devastated areas nearly a week after Typhoon Haiyan struck.

Linger-yay: All the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show Pics You Can Handle!

Fashion and music take center stage at the 2013 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show Wednesday night in New York (the show will air Dec. 10 on CBS). Check out photos of the over-the-top lingerie getups, musical performances by Taylor Swift and Fall Out Boy, pink carpet arrivals, and backstage model shenanigans. PHOTOS

"I'm obsessed!" Andrews says. She's not talking about the 49ers; she means New York City and Los Angeles barre studio Physique 57, known for tiny but highly efficient balletlike movements that give dancer definition. Physique created this do-anywhere plan just for SELF; Andrews demos.
You'll Need: A set of 3-pound dumbbells. Those aren't wussy weights—we guarantee you'll firm with these exercises.
Your Plan: Do 2 sets of each move in any order four times a week. PHOTOS

Domed refuge now cauldron of misery for survivors

TACLOBAN, Philippines (AP) — Close your eyes and hold your breath, and you could imagine you are in a normal sports stadium. You hear a ball bouncing and the children's cheers echoing under the cavernous dome.

Open your eyes and you see rain-soaked trash littering almost every inch of the ground and exhausted refugees sprawled across seats. A sign taped on the wall next to a small, dank room by the stairwell tells people not to defecate or urinate there. It is clear from the stench that many have ignored this advice.

For the thousands of people jamming the Tacloban City Astrodome, the great hall with a solid roof was a heaven-sent refuge when Typhoon Haiyan rammed the eastern Philippines last week. Evacuated from their homes along the coast in time, they had a place to hide from the furious winds and gigantic water surge. But along with shelter, their constant companion now is misery and hunger.

It's been six days since the typhoon struck but no aid has arrived at the Astrodome. Not a single relief worker is in sight.

'Pink Star' diamond auctioned for record $83 million

Geneva (AFP) - A plum-sized diamond known as the "Pink Star" was auctioned in Geneva Wednesday for $83 million, a world record for a gemstone.

David Bennett, chairman of Sotheby's jewellery division in Europe and the Middle East, brought down the hammer in a Geneva hotel after an intense, five-minute bidding race between four contenders.

The winner, a bearded man apparently in his sixties sporting a Jewish skullcap, ended pitted in a one-on-race against a telephone competitor to whom Patty Wong, chair of Sotheby's in Asia, spoke in Mandarin from the auction room.

6 tons of seized ivory being crushed in Denver

US officials crushing 6 tons of illegal ivory to send global anti-poaching message.

COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (AP) -- U.S. officials are destroying more than 6 tons of confiscated ivory tusks, carvings and jewelry — the bulk of the U.S. "blood ivory" stockpile — to support the fight against a $10 billion global trade that slaughters tens of thousands of elephants each year.

Officials on Thursday will use rock crushers to pulverize the stockpile, accumulated over the past 25 years, at the National Wildlife Property Repository just north of Denver. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will donate the crushed ivory particles to a museum to be determined for future display.

Service officials showed off thousands of ivory tusks, statues, ceremonial bowls, masks and ornaments to be destroyed — a collection they said represented the killing of more than 2,000 adult elephants.

What America's Forests Looked Like Before Europeans Arrived

European settlers transformed America's Northeastern forests. From historic records and fossils, researchers know the landscape and plants are radically different today than they were 400 years ago.
But little direct evidence exists to prove which tree species filled the forests before they were cleared for fields and fuel. Swamp-loving plants, like sedges and tussocks, are the fossil survivors, not delicate leaves from hardwood trees.
Now, thanks to a rare fossil discovery in the Pennsylvania foothills, scientists can tell the full story of America's lost forests.

Army vet pulls woman from tracks: 'You're not going to die today'

As a Chicago train was barreling toward them, Army veteran Brian Eckerman pulled a woman from the tracks in a daring rescue. He jumped to action when a he saw a woman he thought she had fallen, but it was a suicide attempt and she fought him as he labored to pull her to safety. Eckerman learned electrical currents in the U.S. Army reserves, and with a ballerina’s precision he danced with an unwilling partner over the first third rail. “So then I also had to go across the second one and I kind of had to man handle her cause there was no other choice so I kind of had to whip her,” said Eckerman. “I look up and see the train is rushing toward us.” But the train stopped. He credits his mom, a retired CPD officer, with the instillation of compassion. “I credit her with raising me right to always help somebody in need,” said Eckerman. He never made eye contact with the distressed woman who fought until the end, but they did exchange words. “’I just wanna die today I just wanna die’ and I said, ‘You’re gonna be okay, you’re gonna be okay. You’re not gonna die today.’” She did not die and Eckerman says gravely, "thank God it all worked out." VIDEO

Carbon fiber-wrapped LaFerrari supercar billed as Ferrari's fastest

Raymond Wong

Tuesday, March 5, 2013 - 2:44pm

Credit: Ferrari

Joining the debut of the McLaren P1 and Lamborghini Veneno at the Geneva Motor Show is Ferrari's successor to the Enzo and its first hybrid supercar: LaFerrari.
LaFerrari (meaning "The Ferrari") is the Italian automotive company's fastest car, ever. The 2,800-pound supercar has a 6.3-liter V12 engine, 949 horsepower (163 horsepower from the electric motor), and can go from zero to 62 miles per hour in under three seconds, and to 124 miles per hour in under seven. Ferrari also claims LaFerrari can complete the famed Fiorano Circuit in one minute and 20 seconds — five seconds faster than the Enzo can. LaFerarri's top speed has yet to be pinned down, but it will reportedly be faster than 217 miles per hour (enough to beat out the McLaren P1).

First all-carbon solar cell made from nanotubes and buckyballs

Part of the reason that solar cells aren't on top of every roof everywhere harvesting energy is that they're expensive, and part of the reason that solar cells are expensive is because they're made with exotic elements like indium. How about, let's instead make them with one of the top five most common elements in the entire Universe: say hello to the all-carbon solar cell.

Engineers build first carbon nanotube computer

Move over silicon. There’s a new player in town in the semi-conductor category. Meet the carbon nanotube. Its use in electronics means faster and more efficient devices. And now, engineers at Stanford University have successfully built the first computer to ever use carbon nanotube technology.

Build your own gaming controllers with this DIY kit

If you've ever wondered just what it would take to build your own motion controller, you're in luck. The answer might usually be something like "a degree in programming and a bucket of cash," but right now there's an alternative that won't have you pulling your hair out or staring at mind-numbing walls of code.

World's first algae-powered building switches on

Algae — that squishy, filmy substance you'd rather not have seeping through your boots — just might be running your home in the near future. While algae has already been put to use creating bio-diesel, the newly opened BIQ House is the first building to be powered by the stuff.

Microscopic electronics injected directly into mouse's brain

In an experiment that lends itself readily to conspiracy theory circles, a pair of scientists have developed an electronic implant that can be delivered into the brain by injection. The entire device is only 25 microns thick and about one quarter the width of a human hair, which is the entire point of its invention.

More NSA Transparency Would Lead To More Privacy Invasion

The NSA can't tell you how many Americans they've spied on because....wait for it...wait for it....it would lead to an even bigger invasion of privacy than it already is. Ummm, what?!?

Robert Litt, general council for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said that determining the exact number of Americans whose data is collected would actually be a larger invasion of privacy than any that might already be happening. According to Litt, determining this number would require NSA analysts to look further into data — such as an email address — than they normally would, thus bringing up more information about that person just to determine if they were an American. He also said finding a more exact number would be quite resource intensive for the agency.

SnapChat Turned Down $3B Offer?

I find this story very hard to believe but, if it is true, thy are idiots for not taking the money.

Mobile messaging startup Snapchat rejected an acquisition offer from Facebook Inc that would have valued the company at $3 billion or more, according to a Wall Street Journal report on Wednesday.

MIT's shapeshifting display renders content physically in 3D

Touch is one of our most primal senses, a way to tangibly interact and receive data about our surroundings. Widely available digital touchscreens have allowed us to use this input in many different ways, but it's still a bit limited when it comes to actual interaction with our environment.
To bring back a semblance of the tactile, researchers at the MIT Media Lab have created a 3D, shapeshifting surface called inFORM that allows users to execute common physical interactions with digital matter. Potential uses can range from the simple, yet powerful holding of a person's hand from thousands of miles away, or bringing a 3D model to life for enhanced creativity.

Your old computer monitor is now a decorative tile

Fireclay on Kickstarter crushes old computer and TV monitors into home decor.

We all know recycling is better than stuffing landfills full of obsolete electronics, but items like bulky old CRT computer monitors and televisions can be challenging to reuse. Fireclay Tile has found a creative way to grind that old glass into a product that will look good in your home.
Fireclay's freshly launched Kickstarter project is aimed at funding the production of recycled CRT tiles. The $10,000 funding goal is slated to go toward molds for the tiles.
It turns out that CRT glass makes for a pleasantly neutral gray tile. Yes, it does look a lot like staring into the depths of a turned-off, old-school TV screen, except it doesn't take up an entire corner of your living room.

DIY 'Dune' sandworm costume will spice up your cosplay

Prepare to feast on unsuspecting humans when you don this homemade "Dune" sandworm costume.

I recall being entirely squicked out by the giant sandworms in the film version of "Dune." Now, if I so choose, I can recapture and own that feeling by following Instructables user canida's directions for making a sandworm costume.
The clever costume design begins with a $13 kid's-play tunnel. After that, you need 6 yards of sandworm-tan fabric, mouth-pink fabric, posterboard, wire, and a large cardboard box. You will need some basic sewing skills to pull the costume off, but the end result is a wonderfully squirmy and toothy worm outfit.

Summer Glau teases ass-kicking (and a love triangle) on Arrow

The Arrow gang will be heading to Russia on a hunt for Deadshot, but they’ll apparently have a stowaway — so is Summer Glau joining the team?

Well, not exactly, but she will be flying off and getting into trouble with Oliver, Diggle and Felicity. You see, Oliver tries to disguise their Deadshot hunt as a business trip … but Glau’s savvy Isabel Rochev knows there’s something up, so she tags along for the ride. Cue shenanigans.

Scientists to capture black hole destruction in real time

Scientists believe that super massive black holes lie at the center of most galaxies, and our own Milky Way doesn't seem to be any different. As it turns out, our black hole even has a name: Sagittarius A* (or Sgr A* for short; that last bit is pronounced "A-star"). And it might treat us to an unparalleled showcase of mass destruction over the next year.
While researchers are not able to directly observe black holes, as they emit no light or matter, scientists can observe the behavior of the celestial bodies around the massive space suckatrons.
Here's a video comprised of images taken of Sgr A* over the past 10 years by the European Southern Obervatory's "Very Large Telescope" (VLT) based in northern Chile.

Newly discovered black holes defy 40 years of theories

Some of the oldest star clusters in the known universe should not contain black holes, at least according to modern theories. However, a team of astrophysicists have recently discovered black holes in these groups of stars, challenging what we now know about these clusters and where and how black holes develop.

ZTE Eco-Mobius: A sleek modular smartphone we want right now

Thanks to concepts such as Phonebloks and Motorola's Project Ara, the idea of modular smartphones is starting to become more than a work of fiction. Another company has also stepped up to the plate with its own take on a modular smartphone.
ZTE Corporation isn't exactly a family name. The Chinese telecommunications company makes and sells a few budget (really budget) smartphones and Mi-Fis in the U.S., but its devices are hardly ever ahead of the curve in terms of design. You definitely wouldn't ever associate the company with premium products.

World's largest orange diamond fetches record $35.5 mln

Geneva (AFP) - A spectacular and rare orange diamond, the largest known gem of its kind, was auctioned for a record $35.54 million in Geneva.

"It's a world record price for an orange diamond, it's a world record price per carat for any coloured diamond," the Christie's auction house said of the sale, on Tuesday.

"It's a tremendous price, a magnificent price," it added, likening the purchase of such a prized coloured diamond to buying a Picasso or Van Gogh painting.
The price works out at $2.4 million per carat, beating the previous record of $2.15 million for the Vivid Pink Diamond sold in Hong Kong in 2009.
"At the back of the hall, 29 million francs ($31.5 million, 23 million euros). Sold!" the Christie's auctioneer said as the fiery almond-shaped gem was snapped up in a room of about 200 people in a luxury Geneva hotel.

20-Something Homeowners: How We Bought a Home So Young

For millennials, homeownership is no longer the rite of passage into adulthood that it once was.
Call it a sign of the times. Facing crushing student loan and credit debt and a still-shaky job market, people under the age of 35 account for just 37% of homeowners in the U.S., down from 40% in 2007, according to Census data.
This is despite the fact that it is cheaper to buy a home than rent in just about every major U.S. metro.

“I think that for sure, there are people who are just never going to own,” says Brendon DeSimone, real estate expert for Zillow. “They either got nailed in the bad housing market or got their credit ruined or live paycheck to paycheck. There’s a whole new class of renters out there.”

While the statistics and data bear out the conventional wisdom that America is becoming a nation of renters, there are exceptions to every rule. Some young people have gone against the new norm and taken a gamble in the housing market anyway.

Whether that meant moving in with Mom and Dad for a few years or selling off their possessions in order to afford a downpayment, they've proven homebuying isn't quite as far-fetched as it may seem...for better or for worse.

No Hope Left for Obamacare’s Website, Techies Say

Nearly a month and a half into the dismal Obamacare rollout, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services communications director Julie Bataille told reporters on Tuesday that CMS has begun emailing at least 275,000 people who had gotten “stuck” attempting to create accounts on the glitch-ridden HealthCare.gov, asking them to come back to the site and “try again.”

Bataille refused to say whether all 275,000 people would be able to use the exchange at the same time without crashing the system. Instead, she dodged specifics about the progress programmers have been making on the website’s repair efforts and how CMS would be able to meet its Nov. 30 deadline — the day the Obama administration has promised to have the site up and running “smoothly for the vast majority of users.”

“The system is getting better each week,” Bataille said. She didn’t specify whether the website would be completely fixed and glitch-free, though. Instead, she pointed to other ways consumers could sign up for insurance through the exchanges “whether that is via direct enrollment with insurance companies to meet the pent up consumer demand or … calling the call centers or enrolling in person.”

Mike Tyson Leaves Little Unsaid in New Autobiography ‘Undisputed Truth’

It has been nearly 20 years since Mike Tyson, now 47, fought his most violent -- and therefore memorable -- bouts. He didn’t wear a robe or socks when he entered the ring — all he wore was a mean face that practically said, “I can kill you with one punch.”

Tyson’s life outside the ring has been equally memorable and equally violent, and he has spared few details in his new autobiography Undisputed Truth.
Asked by ABC News correspondent Paula Faris whether he felt any shame for his 1992 rape conviction or for biting off part of Evander Holyfield’s ear in 1997, Tyson admits, “None of that stuff shames me. Only thing that shames me is that I was really poor.”
Tyson’s mother was an alcoholic who shuttled him from home to home in one of Brooklyn’s bleakest neighborhoods, Brownsville. He thought himself lucky if the roof over his head had heat and hot water.

'How I Saved $1 Million'

Five 401(k) millionaires share their secrets to reaching their first million in retirement savings.

Start young

Courtesy: Chis and Laurie DonahueName: Chis and Laurie Donahue
Age: 55
City: Naperville, Ill.
Saved: More than $2 million (together)

After decades of saving, Chris and Laurie Donahue have both accumulated million-dollar nest eggs.

Each started saving as soon as they began collecting a regular paycheck in their 20s."We've been at this for 33 years and have never stopped investing, even when the markets go crazy," he said.

Donahue, who works in the tech industry, said he was putting away more than 10% of his earnings when he was earning around $22,500 a year in 1981. Now, he earns six-figures, making it much easier to set aside that kind of money.

Survey Reveals the "Ideal Age" for Women to Have Children — and It's Total Nonsense

I had my first child at 33-years-old. Practically an old lady, according to all of you.
As Slate notes, according to a new Gallup poll, most Americans think that women should start having children by age 25.
That's the ideal.
Do you know what I was doing at 25?
Dancing on bars after 4 too many shots of Jagermeister. Dating as many men as possible to figure out that guys who kick in your car door probably aren't the marrying kind. Working my way to the top of the journalism food chain, first at FOX in Salt Lake City and later ABC in New York City, both of which involved 10-hour workdays. I was traveling. New York City, Mexico, London, Italy … you get the idea. I was grabbing myself a big ol' handful of life whilst trying very hard not to create it, because that wouldn't have been ideal. For me.