Police arrest man who burned more than 100 cars

BERLIN: A man who set fire to more than 100 cars in Berlin, a wave of attacks blamed by some on political extremists, was motivated by envy and frustration, police who arrested him said Sunday,October 23, 2011

The 27-year-old told police that being jobless and in debt led him to set 67 luxury cars alight in one three-month run. (Reuters)

Chocolate fashion show in Paris

PARIS: On the stiletto heels of Paris Fashion Week, models will sashay down the catwalk enrobed in garb of an entirely different kind this week: cocoa.

Chocolate-covered ladies will model haute couture designs at the annual Salon de Chocolat show in Paris where chocolatiers and designers will illustrate chocolate trends against a baroque-burlesque backdrop.

Collaborations include chocolate house Cacao Barry, and visual designer Willy G, whose strapless dress is studded with macarons and profiteroles. The dress, says the designer, was inspired by the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl who, legend has it, brought cocoa to mankind. The Aztecs also traded cacao beans as currency.

French singer Juliette Katz will model the dress of tulle, taffeta and Aztec jewelry at the gala fashion show October 19. The dress will also be displayed every day at 5 pm beginning October 20 in a nightly fashion show for the public.

Other chocolatier and designer collaborations include Jean-Paul Hévin and designer Caroline Chuu for Aya, and Jacques Bellanger and Audrey Biarnais.

The Salon de Chocolat takes place in Paris between October 20 and 24.

Monkeys lured with potatoes in Japan

TOKYO: Monkey’s were treated to a feast in the Japanese city of Beppu in an effort to stop them from creating mischief.

What was different about this feast was that instead of giving the monkey’s fruits and various vegetables, they were only fed potatoes.

A cart full of potatoes was presented to more than 1000 monkeys who consumed it without any hesitation within minutes.

Vivid yellow 33-carat diamond sold for $6.5mn

NEW YORK: A vivid yellow diamond weighing 32.77 carats which sold for $6.5 million to an anonymous bidder was the highlight of Christie's Magnificent Jewels sale in New York on Wednesday,19 October 2011

The sale raised $46,599,650, and was 83 percent sold by lot and 93 percent by value, the auctioneer said.

"Despite recent volatility in the financial markets, the jewelry world continues to hold strong with active participation from top private collectors and members of the trade for superb gems and jewels," said Rahul Kadakia, Head of Jewelry at Christie's New York.

Japanese man eats 32 boiled eggs in a minute

TOKYO: A Japanese man astonished the people by eating 32 boiled eggs in one minute.The 33-years old Takeru Kobayashi also holds the world record for hot dog eating for six years.

Canadian man completes 11-year round-the-world walk

MONTREAL: A 56-year-old Canadian man who left home after his business went bankrupt completed an 11-year walk around the world on Sunday, and told a crowd of well-wishers his new goal was to promote peace.

Jean Beliveau - who arrived to a hero's welcome in Montreal from loved ones, lawmakers and supporters -- said his "real mission" was to lobby Canada and other governments to create "ministries of peace."

"We are all different, and that is what is beautiful about life on Earth - our different colors, different beliefs, different political systems," he said.

"Those are all musical notes... we must create harmony from them, create a common tune," an emotional Beliveau told the crowd assembled at city hall in the old part of the city.

Beliveau left Montreal on the day of his 45th birthday - August 18, 2000 - after his small sign business went bankrupt. He decided to run around the world to try to escape the pain.

The Canadian ran all the way to Atlanta, Georgia before slowing his stride for what would become the longest uninterrupted walk around the world: 75,000 kilometers (46,600 miles) across 64 countries.

Over 11 years, he traveled across deserts and mountains. He fell in love for nine days in Mexico, wore a turban and a long beard in Sudan, ate snake in China, and was escorted by armed soldiers in the Philippines.

Upon his return on Sunday, Beliveau reunited with his mother, whom she had not seen throughout his 11 years on the road. She welcomed him in a tight embrace.

Longtime girlfriend Luce Archambault, who offered Beliveau emotional and financial support throughout his journey, and his two children from a previous marriage were also on hand for the celebration.

More than 100 supporters walked the final kilometers with Beliveau through the streets of Montreal.

Beliveau said a so-called "ministry of peace" could lead to the creation of a team that would lecture students on peace issues, as well as a Canadian peace corps.

The idea is backed by the Society to Promote Departments of Peace.

"We may never have peace but if we take one step forward, and then another, I think we can create a better world together," Beliveau said.

Archambault, who flew to join Beliveau wherever he was once a year so they could spend Christmas together, said last month: "I'm his Penelope and he is my Ulysses." (AFP)

Man gets double hand transplant

BOSTON: A US man spoke Friday of his happiness at the prospect of touching his young grandchildren for the first time, following a rare double hand transplant at a Boston hospital.

Richard Mangino, 65, lost his arms below the elbows and his lower legs from an infection in 2002. After a 12-hour operation by a 40-strong surgical team at Brigham and Women's Hospital -- best known for pioneering face transplants -- he got donated hands.

In his first remarks, he thanked the family of the donor.

"My family and I grieve for the loss of your loved one. I am humbled and overwhelmed with emotion. Thank you for this incredible gift," he said in a statement.

But Mangino said his main emotion now was happiness at the prospect of regaining a more normal life and, above all, the ability to play with his grandchildren.

"The one miracle I have prayed for, since my oldest grandson Trevor was born, was to be able to feel the sense of touch again. To touch his and Nicky's little faces, and stroke their hair, and to teach them to throw a ball. To me, that would be a miracle," he said in the statement.

"And today, my miracle has come true. And I am eternally grateful."

The father of three had until now used prosthetic limbs and had some success in living a normal existence, reportedly driving a car, playing guitar and using a computer.

However, those achievements were not easily managed. He told thebostonchannel.com that the loss of one limb requires a person to use a quarter to a third more energy.

"So if you lose four limbs, then you can imagine: one of your days is like two days for me," he said.

"Just getting dressed before was a mountain. All those things I've been doing for the past nine years -- people would say you are a miracle. And I would tell them it took 25 or 30 miracles a day to be that person. And now I won't have to perform miracles now just to get up in the morning," he told New England Cable News Friday.

The transplant involved delicate connection of skin, tendons, muscles, ligaments, bones and blood vessels.

Only 21 double hand transplants have previously been made around the world, with the first in the French city of Lyon in 2000, according to the International Registry on Hand and Composite Tissue Transplantation.

Simon Talbot, the lead surgeon, told MSNBC television that "the results so far have been an amazing success."

However, Mangino needs months of therapy and it will take at least half a year for him to regain a sense of touch, the surgeon said. (AFP)

Table salt used to boost digital storage: scientists

SINGAPORE: Scientists in Singapore said Friday they have discovered a process that can expand the data storage capacity of computer hard disks six-fold using a common kitchen ingredient -- table salt.

The discovery was made by Singapore's national research institute the Agency for Science, Technology and Research, in collaboration with the National University of Singapore and the Data Storage Institute.

The institutions have "developed a process that can increase the data recording density of hard disks to 3.3 Terabits per square inch, six times the recording density of current models", they said in a statement.

"This means that a hard disk drive that holds 1 Terabyte (TB) of data today could, in the future, hold 6 TB of information in the same size using this new
technology."

The discovery has been published in scientific journal Nanotechnology as well as the Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology B.

Scientists were able to boost data storage capacity by packing more bits -- miniature structures which hold information -- in neater patterns compared to the random configurations used in current hard disk drives.

"It's like packing your clothes in your suitcase when you travel. The neater you pack them the more you can carry," the statement said.

The method -- called bit patterning -- had previously not been feasible as scientists were unable to see the outlines of the bits clearly after they had been printed onto a film in a process much like developing photographs.

But adding table salt into the solution used for bit imaging allowed the outlines to stand out in sharp relief.

"It can give you a very high contrast. We are now able to see fine lines that would normally be blurred out," Joel Yang, the Singapore scientist who discovered the salty recipe, told AFP.

"Otherwise you can try your best to pattern these bits very closely but they will all end up being gigantic blurred-out blobs," said Yang of the national research agency's Institute of Materials Research and Engineering.

Yang predicted that the salted bit-patterning process will be adopted by the industry by 2016 "when the current techniques run out of fuel and (hard drive manufacturers) need to find alternate methods" of increasing data storage space. (AFP)

World’s biggest chocolate bar

Weighing almost six tonnes and measuring 13ft square, the world’s biggest bar of chocolate has been made in Derbyshire. The giant bar, weighing almost six tonnes, was created by confectionery firm Thorntons to mark its centenary.

Guinness World Records confirmed the huge bar had beaten the previous record set by a Chicago chocolate maker in September.

More than 50 staff helped construct the massive bar at Thorntons’ factory in Somercotes.
A giant mould, placed inside an inflatable tent in the factory’s car park, was filled with chocolate over 10 hours by bucket-carrying volunteers.

Its final weight was 5,827kg (12,846lb) - beating the previous record of 5,529kg (12,190lb) set by World’s Finest Chocolate. The record attempt was the idea of Paul Bell, who works in the factory’s toffee department.

He said: “My favourite childhood film was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. There was a scene in it where a massive chocolate bar comes in and gets shrunken. “I thought it would be great if we could do the reverse. It’s been a really great success.” The company said the giant bar would be smashed up and sold in stores to raise money for charity.

After 350 years, Irish judges throw off their wigs

DUBLIN: Ireland's judges are to end the tradition of wearing horsehair wigs that dates back over 350 years to British colonial rule, the country's Courts Service said Thursday.

"A change in Court Rules made today, will end the requirement for judges to wear wigs in court," a statement said.

The Superior Courts Rules Committee, chaired for the first time by recently appointed Chief Justice Susan Denham -- Ireland's first female top judge -- approved the court rules change that does away with the requirement for ceremonial wigs to be worn in the Supreme and High Courts.

A similar rule change will apply to judges in the Circuit Court after the change is signed into law by Justice Minister Alan Shatter.

Wigs have been worn in court as "a matter of rule, tradition and law" since about 1660, the time of the restoration of the English monarchy, and survived Ireland's transition to independence in 1921. (AFP)

Sony halts 93,000 online accounts in new breach

TOKYO: Sony said on Wednesday it suspended 93,000 accounts on its online entertainment networks after detecting a wave of unauthorised sign-in attempts, months after a huge breach forced it to halt some services.

The attack took place between October 7 and 10 and succeeded in matching valid sign-in IDs and passwords from about 93,000 accounts on its PlayStation Network, Sony Entertainment Network and Sony Online Entertainment services.

Sony said credit card details associated with those accounts were not compromised as a result of the hacking incident.

The entertainment giant has temporarily locked the accounts and said it is continuing investigations into the extent of the access attempts.

It said it would notify affected account holders to advise them to reset their passwords.

A Sony spokesman said that as it moved to shut down the accounts after detecting the hacking bid, "a small fraction" of the 93,000 accounts were accessed and information such as names, birthdays and gaming achievements could have been seen.(AFP)

Environmentalists call for toilets on Everest

KATHMANDU: An environmental group is asking the Nepal government to consider installing portable toilets on Mount Everest for climbers caught short at the roof of the world.

Eco Himal says the thousands of trekkers who set off from the South Base Camp in Nepal each year would do a better job of keeping the place clean if they and their porters had somewhere civilised to go when nature called.

"Human waste is a problem, of course," said the group's director, Phinjo Sherpa. "I am merely suggesting that if we have public toilets they can be used."

Many groups bring expedition toilet cans, but Phinjo Sherpa said porters were often left with little choice but the nearest snowdrift.

Environmental activists say Everest is littered with the detritus of past expeditions, including human waste and mountaineers' corpses, which can take decades to decompose because of the extreme cold.

Phinjo Sherpa said installing the toilets would be discussed as part of a wider waste management plan being prepared by the government that would encompass popular peaks throughout the Everest region.

"If there could be two or three toilets that would be good but this is just at the planning phase. We will have to decide what is a good idea and what isn't," he said.

Climbers spend tens of thousands of dollars trying to reach the 8,848-metre (29,028-foot) summit of Everest, but campaigners say few pay much attention to the rubbish they leave behind.

There is no definitive figure on how much trash has been left on the mountain, but the debris of 50 years of climbing has given Everest the name of the world's highest dumpster.

The privately-funded Eco Everest Expedition, a Nepal-based coalition of environmentalists campaigning to keep the mountain clean, has collected more than 13 tonnes of garbage, 400 kilogrammes of human waste and four bodies since 2008. (AFP)

Japanese scientist unveils 'thinking' robot

TOKYO: Robots that learn from experience and can solve novel problems -- just like humans -- sound like science fiction.

But a Japanese reasearcher is working on making them science fact, with machines that can teach themselves to perform tasks they have not been programmed to do, using objects they have never seen before.

In a world first, Osamu Hasegawa, associate professor at the Tokyo Insitute of Technology, has developed a system that allows robots to look around their environment and do research on the Internet, enabling them to "think" how best to solve a problem.

"Most existing robots are good at processing and performing the tasks they are pre-programmed to do, but they know little about the 'real world' where we humans live," he told AFP.

"So our project is an attempt to build a bridge between robots and that real world," he said.

The Self-Organizing Incremental Neural Network, or "SOINN", is an algorithm that allows robots to use their knowledge -- what they already know -- to infer how to complete tasks they have been told to do.

SOINN examines the environment to gather the data it needs to organise the information it has been given into a coherent set of instructions.

Tell a SOINN-powered machine that it should, for example: "Serve water".

In a labratory demonstration, the machine begins to break down the task into a series of skills that it has been taught: holding a cup, holding a bottle, pouring water from a bottle, placing a cup down.

Without special programmes for water-serving, the robot works out the order
of the actions required to complete the task.

The SOINN machine asks for help when facing a task beyond its ability and crucially, stores the information it learns for use in a future task.

In a separate experiment, SOINN is used to power machines to search the Internet for information on what something looks like, or what a particular word might mean.

Hasegawa's team is trying to merge these abilities and create a machine that can work out how to perform a given task through online research.

"In the future, we believe it will be able to ask a computer in England how to brew a cup of tea and perform the task in Japan," he said.

Like humans, the system can also filter out "noise" or insignificant information that might confuse other robots.

The process is similar to how people can carry on a conversation with a travelling companion on a train and ignore those around them, or can identify an object under different lighting and from various angles, Hasegawa said.

"Human brains do this so well automatically and smoothly so we don't realise that we are even doing this," he said.

Similarly, the machine is able to filter out irrelevant results it finds on the web.

"There is a huge amount of information available on the Internet, but at present, only humans are making use of such information," he said.

"This robot can connect its brain directly to the Internet," he said.

Hasegawa hopes SOINN might one day be put to practical use, for example controlling traffic lights to ease traffic jams by organically analysing data from public monitors and accident reports.

He also points to possible uses in earthquake detection systems where a SOINN-equipped machine might be able to aggregate data from numerous sensors located across Japan and identify movements that might prove significant.

In a domestic setting, a robot that could learn could prove invaluable to a busy household.

"We might ask a robot to bring soy sauce to the dinner table. It might browse the Internet to learn what soy sauce is and identify it in the kitchen," said Hasegawa.

But, cautions the professor, there are reasons to be careful about robots that can learn.

What kinds of tasks should we allow computers to perform? And is it possible that they might turn against us, like in the apocalyptic vision of Stanley Kubrick's film "2001: A Space Odyssey".

"A kitchen knife is a useful thing. But it can also become a weapon," he said.

While Hasegawa and his team have only benign intentions for their invention, he wants people to be aware of its moral limits.

"We are hoping that a variety of people will discuss this technology, when to use it, when not to use it.

"Technology is advancing at an enormous speed," he said. "I want people to know we already have this kind of technology. We want people with different backgrounds and in different fields to discuss how it should be used, while it is still in its infancy." (AFP)

World's oldest car sells at auction for $4.6 mn

WASHINGTON: A steam-powered car considered the oldest vehicle in the world still running has sold at auction in the United States for more than $4.6 million.

The De Dion-Bouton et Trepardoux Dos-a-Dos Steam Runabout, nicknamed "La Marquise," which was built in France in 1884, sold for more than twice its estimate at auction Friday in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

RM Auctions listed its top speed as 38 miles per hour (61 kilometers per hour) and said it had only had four previous owners over the past 127 years.

The late Texas collector John O'Quinn had bought the historic car, which participated in the first automobile race in 1887 and four separate London-to-Brighton runs, for $3.5 million in 2007.

The identity of the new owner was not given.

US media reports noted that another car, housed at the National Motor Museum of Britain, also lays claim to the title of the world's oldest vehicle. However, the reports said the British car, built in 1875 by Robert Neville Grenville, has only three wheels, requires someone to ride along and tend the boiler, and bears little resemblance to a modern automobile.

The four-wheeled De Dion-Bouton was constructed for the French Count De Dion -- one of the founders of the company that built it. It was named "La Marquise" after the count's mother.

The $4.6 million price tag includes a 10 percent buyer's premium, which goes to the auction company.

"With impeccable provenance, fully documented history, and the certainty that this is the oldest running family car in the world, 'La Marquise' represents an unrepeatable opportunity for the most discriminating collector," the catalogue said. "It is unquestionably and quite simply one of the most important motor cars in the world." (AFP)

Scientists to develop deep ocean seismic network

SAN DIEGO: The Scripps Institution of Oceanography has been awarded a $1 million grant to develop a deep sea seismic network. Scientists hope this new system will plug current monitoring gaps.

Ships typically deploy earthquake sensors in the ocean that gather data for a certain amount of time before they are retrieved by vessels.

Scripps will pair with industry in the project that's being funded by the National Science Foundation. Data from the sea floor sensors will be transmitted to a surfboard-sized autonomous unmanned vessel on the ocean's surface, and then to shore via satellite.

Researchers say the unmanned vessel would be able to stay stationary for longer periods of time, allowing for more data collection. (AP)

China's richest village opens skyscraper hotel

BEIJING: One of China's tallest buildings has opened for business in the nation's 'wealthiest village' of Huaxi, a symbol of the country's breakneck economic growth, officials and state press said Monday.

The Longxi International Hotel is 328 metres (1,082-feet) high and cost $470 million to build, an official in Huaxi told.

There are around 10 taller buildings in China - including the Shanghai World Financial Center, the third highest in the world - but all of these are in major cities.

Huaxi, however, is still classed as a village in east China's Jiangsu province despite having expanded significantly over the years, engulfing nearby villages and its population growing to 50,000 from 1,600 in the 1960s.

Once a poor farming community, it has boomed during the past 30 years of China's economic reform.

Dubbed a "model socialist village", Huaxi's wealth is based on the collective funds of registered households who have amassed money in industries such as steel and textiles.

Most household revenues are reinvested into further projects on a mandatory basis, keeping the cycle going.

According to the official China Daily newspaper, 200 village households are shareholders in the 74-storey, five-star hotel, each providing 10 million yuan ($1.5 million) in capital for the project.

"The building is a symbol of collectivism," the paper quoted Zhou Li, Huaxi's deputy Communist Party secretary, as saying.

But some critics dispute the village's "socialist" labelling, saying it has instead become a symbol of capitalism in the communist state.

Huaxi Group, the corporation that manages the village's business, has 2,000 shareholders - all registered residents. Non-residents are not allowed to be shareholders, even if they work there.

According to the official, the village's success has become a focal point for a long-standing nationwide government campaign to "study the Huaxi experience".

The hotel is expected to accommodate businessmen engaging in the village's vast industries, officials coming to study the Huaxi model, as well as flocks of tourists visiting the region, he said.

The building also includes a revolving restaurant, a rooftop swimming pool, mall, theatre, spa and an ox made of a ton of gold on the 60th floor. (AFP)

Man with world's largest feet finds fame

PARIS: The first thing that people notice about Brahim Takioullah is not his feet - which he hopes will make him famous - but his enormous height. He stands more than eight foot (246 cm) tall.

As he strolls through downtown Paris people gasp, stare, take his picture and ask: "Are you the tallest man in the world?" He's not, not quite, but he does have the biggest pair of feet on the planet -- and that's official.

Judges from Guinness World Records came to France to measure him and confirmed his suspicion that he had record-breaking feet -- his left measuring one foot three inches (38.1 cm) in length and his right, one foot 2.76 inches.

Takioullah cannot stand up straight in the small flat he shares with his mother in the Paris suburbs, has difficulty getting into a taxi or the Metro, and can never move around without attracting attention.

But he is surprisingly good humoured about his situation, smiling and posing for cellphone snaps and politely answering questions about his condition, a rare medical problem that he hopes to cure through surgery.

Takioullah is from Morocco, and grew up in a small village -- grew up fast. In one year in his teens he put on more than three feet (one metre) in a spurt.

Now 29, no-one thought to investigate his unusual size until he was 18.

Acromegaly is a pituitary gland disorder that causes the body to produce excessive growth hormone. The brain tumour can lead to other problems aside from great size, and Takioullah was advised to seek surgery.

But first he decided to finish his university studies in geography. When he began treatment, he was already huge and closing in on the world's tallest man, eight-foot three-inch (2.51 metre) Sultan Kosen of Turkey.

Five years ago, a French doctor brought him to Paris for treatment, and he is not expected to reach Sultan's height record.

Takioullah contacted Guinness himself to challenge for the record, and says he is proud to have it recognised, though daily life is not without its problems.

He hopes one day to have a specially built car he could drive himself, but for now even getting a pair of shoes stretches his budget -- he takes a European size 58, which no shop has ever stocked.

This week he met an orthopedic podiatrist to be fitted with a specially made pair designed to support his huge weight.

French doctors are working to reduce Takioullah's brain tumour, and he hopes his newfound fame will help him find the specialist treatment he needs.

"The record now will be known around the world, and experts anywhere around the planet may be able to help," said Craig Glenday of Guinness World Records, publisher of the famous guide to the world's extremes. (AFP)

Titanium treasure found on Moon

PARIS: A new map of the Moon has revealed an abundance of titanium ore that is up to 10 times richer than on Earth, a finding that could one day lead to a lunar mining colony, astronomers said on Friday.

The discovery was made thanks to a camera aboard the US Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which swept the surface of the Moon, scrutinising it in seven different light wavelengths.

Mark Robinson of Arizona State University, who presented the research at a conference in Nantes, western France with Brett Denevi of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, sifted through the data for telltale jumps in the ratio of ultra-violet to visible light.

They established this signature thanks to rock samples brought back to Earth by Apollo 17 astronauts in 1972 and images of the area around the mission's landing site by the Hubble space telescope.

Titanium is as strong as steel but nearly half as light, which makes it a highly desired and also very expensive metal.

On Earth, titanium is found, at the very most, in around one percent of similar types of ore. But the new map found abundances in the lunar maria that range from about one percent to 10 percent, the conference organisers said in a press release. In the lunar highlands, abundance was around one percent.

The meeting gathers, for the first time, members of the European Planetary Science Congress and the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences.(AFP)

First super bus made in Holland

AMSTERDAM: The first super bus has been developed in Holland costing 7 million pounds and was flown to the United Arab Emirates where it will be used by a sheikh.The super bus crafted with state-of-the-art materials which seats 23 passengers and had a top speed of 155mph.

The hi-tech bus means the sheikh will be able to complete the 75-mile commute from Dubai to neighbouring Abu Dhabi in under 30 minutes.Made of lightweight materials including aluminium, carbon fibre, fibreglass and polycarbonate, it is 49ft long (15 metres), 8ft wide (2.5 metres) and 5ft 5in high (1.65 metres).

Passengers will be able to enjoy comfort equal to that of a luxury limousine or private jet. The super bus has eight gullwing-style doors on each side to allow for a swift exit.

Zlata, "The Longest Limber Legs On Earth"

Zlata was known as the most flexible woman on earth today, she appears on many contortions magazine with a various costume such as latex, snake skin and many more themes. Zlata was born in Russia 24 years ago. she was listed as one of the world’s most extreme contortionist.

 At 5ft 9ins and weighing just eight and a half stone, Zlata spends most of her day working out and training for shows around the world.

Zlata said: ‘Doing  poses for magzines, just feels very natural to me. Sometimes it can get a bit uncomfortable if I have to hold a pose for a long time in photo shoots.

Google Earth eclipses one billion downloads

SAN FRANCISCO: Google Earth software has been downloaded more than one billion times, and that stellar achievement was marked Wednesday with a website showcasing ways the interactive replica of the planet is used.

OneWorldManyStories.com features 40 real-world tales of how people around the globe have used Google Earth to follow dreams, defend nature, explore distant places, or learn about the planet.

Of course, Google Earth maps let people travel virtually to locales where such stories play out.

"Google Earth is probably one of the most downloaded applications of all time in terms of raw numbers," product manager Peter Birch told AFP.

To provide context, Google Earth and Maps vice president of engineering Brian McClendon pointed out that a billion hours ago humans were living in the Stone Age and that a billion minutes ago the Roman Empire was flourishing.

"We're proud of our one billion milestone, but we're even more amazed at the way people have used Google Earth to explore the world," McClendon said.

"When we founded Keyhole, Inc. back in 2001 we never imagined our geospatial technology would be used by people in so many unexpected ways," he continued. (AFP)

A Mouse Made for Drug Dealers

What kind of person needs a scale in their mouse? A small-time hustler, obviously. Brando's mouse offers a kind of discrete simplicity that any drug dealer could appreciate.

Selling drugs is wrong. Just wanted to get that out of the way before I said this mouse

could help you get away with it. Underneath its smooth enclosure is a small digital scale. It can measure up to 500g, more than enough to accurately measure and keep track of a small supply. Because think about it. Would your average Joe have any use for this? No. So I think Brando knew exactly what they were doing here.

World’s most expensive cars

It is hard to imagine someone would actually spend 8 million dollars on a car instead of using it for something more productive and something more needed. However, if you have the money and the opportunity, you will definitely place a few of these amazing cars in your garage.
Here are 5 world’s most expensive cars:

1. Bugatti Veyron $1,700,000.

This is by far the most expensive street legal car available on the market today. It is the fastest accelerating car reaching 0-60 in 2.6 seconds. It claims to be the fastest car with a top speed of 253 mph+.

2. Lamborghini Reventon $1,600,000.

The most powerful and the most expensive Lamborghini ever built is the second and it takes 3.3 seconds to reach 60 mph and it has a top speed of 211 mph.

3. McLaren F1 $970,000.

It was built 15 years ago and it has an unbelievable top speed of 240 mph and reaching 60 mph in 3.2 seconds. Even as of today, the McLaren F1 is still top on the list and it outperformed many other supercars.

4. Ferrari Enzo $670,000.

The most known supercar. The Enzo has a top speed of 217 mph and reaching 60 mph in 3.4 seconds. Only 400 units were produced and it is currently being sold for over $1,000,000 at auctions.

5. Pagani Zonda C12 F $667,321.

The Pagani Zonda C12 F is the 5th fastest car in the world. It promises to delivery a top speed of 215 mph+ and it can reach 0-60 in 3.5 seconds. Source

The world’s most expensive bra

The fantasy bra with a design as dazzling and ethereal as Angels wings.The creation features 2,900 pavé-set white diamonds in 18k white gold weighing a total of 112 carats.The centerpiece of this once-in-a-lifetime piece is a stunning 70-carat, pear-shaped flawless diamond.

adidas adizero f50 Powered by miCoach

Football is faster than ever before and the need for speed has never been greater. Now powered by miCoach, the adizero f50 is not only the fastest boot on the planet, it is also the smartest. miCoach turns the adizero f50 into the ultimate digital training tool by letting you track and upload performance data including speed, maximum speed, number of sprints, distance, distance at high intensity levels and time.

The adizero f50 boot includes a cavity in the outsole unit which houses the revolutionary miCoach SPEED_CELL™. The miCoach SPEED_CELL™ captures 360° movement and measures key performance metrics including speed, average speed (recorded every second), maximum speed (recorded every five seconds), number of sprints, distance, distance at high intensity levels, steps and stride rates. The on-board memory stores all your measurements during your game or training for up to seven hours and then wirelessly transmits the on pitch performance data to your tablet, PC or MAC.

The stats can then be shared with friends on Facebook, introducing a fun and competitive edge to training as stats can be compared between each other, or even with adidas professional players such as Leo Messi, as they upload their personal results. The stats can also be uploaded to existing training plans via the miCoach website, which are then built into personalised coaching programmes that miCoach technology creates specifically for a user.

And the revolution continues in 2012 when you will be able to play the miCoach football video game online using your own real-life abilities. Whether online or in the stadium, the adizero f50's electrifying, speed-inspired looks will leave zero doubt as to who is the fastest.

Adidas Vice President of Global Football, Markus Baumann said "We have been working to develop a boot with a brain for some time and what we have produced will revolutionise the football industry. What makes the boot unique is that for the first time you will be able to compare yourself to some of the best players in the world''.

The launch of the adizero f50 also heralds an exciting new stage of development for miCoach technology. miCoach technology has always proved adidas' position as market leader in the use of data in sport to enhance athlete performance and the introduction of miCoach in the adizero f50 clearly demonstrates the capabilities of capturing and evaluating every athlete's performance by making it available to all.

"Data has been monitored and evaluated to increase performance in elite athletes for many years. adidas will now bring this service to the consumer, firstly with the launch of the adizero f50, and then through a further range of intelligent products capable of storing, monitoring and evaluating performance on the field of play" commented Simon Drabble, Director of Interactive Technology at adidas.

The adizero f50 includes other key adidas technologies including Sprintweb, which provides stability during high speed movements, Sprintskin, a revolutionary single layer synthetic for incredible ball-feel and reduced weight and Sprintframe, which uses geometrics and a new stud construction to offer the perfect balance between lightweight and stability. The adizero f50 is also lightest in class, weighing in at only 165g. The new adizero f50 powered by miCoach will be available at adidas own retail outlets and specialist stores worldwide from November in high energy / electricity / white and black / warning / electricity at €210. Additionally, the adizero f50 miCoach bundle is available from wholesale outlets at €245 and includes a pair of adizero f50 boots (in colorways as before), a Speed Cell™ and a smart device dongle miCoach CONNECT for iPod and iPhone as well as the miCoach CONNECT for PC / MAC.

Samsung Omnia W offers Windows Phone Mango experience

Samsung seems to have got their strategy down pat in the world of smartphones – they’re doing gangbusters where the Android scene is concerned, selling more than 10 million units of the Samsung Galaxy S2 to date despite being launched rather recently,

and while their own set of bada-powered phones aren’t doing too hot, Samsung still finds the time to support another operating system – Windows Phone, where the latest model to be announced would be the Samsung Omnia W that will be the first Samsung device that runs on Windows Phone Mango, the latest version of Microsoft’s mobile operating system.

As with most of the other high end phones from Samsung these days, your eyes will be treated to quite the performance thanks to a vivid Super AMOLED display and overall industrial design, not to mention enjoying enriched content and a social communication experience that is enabled by People Hub. Basically, Samsung is marketing the Omnia W as a different kind of handset which puts people at the center of everything.

Obviously when it comes to phones, most people would want to check out just what kind of specifications it will bring – and the Samsung Omnia W does not disappoint. From the 3.7” Super AMOLED display, you will also find no lack in processing power thanks to a beefy 1.4GHz processor, 14.4Mbps HSPA connectivity support, a 5-megapixel camera at the back while there is a VGA camera upfront for video calls, 512MB RAM, 8GB of internal memory as well as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support.

With half a dozen specialized Microsoft applications thrown into the mix to deliver an engaging content and communication experience, you can be sure that the Samsung Omnia W is perfect for those who tend to be more social than the rest. The Windows Phone People Hub will be integrated with social networking services such as Windows Live, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, making sure that you won’t have any troubles keeping in touch with the rest of your social circle.

No idea on pricing though, but we do know that the Omnia W will hit Italy first at the end of next month, with a gradual global rollout that comprises of the rest of Europe, CIS, Latin America, Africa, South East and South West Asia.

Source: coolest-gadgets.com

BlackBerry Torch 9860: Keyless, not clueless

Key features:

3.7" 16M-color TFT touchscreen of WVGA resolution (480 x 800 pixels)
Quad-band GSM support and quad-band 3G with HSDPA
Single-core 1.2GHz QC8655 processor
768MB RAM
BlackBerry OS v7
BlackBerry’s proprietary email service and data security
Wi-Fi b/g/n connectivity
GPS receiver and BlackBerry maps preloaded, digital compass
5 megapixel camera with autofocus and a LED flash
HD video recording, 720p@30fps
2.5GB of inbuilt storage
4GB MicroSD card prebundled
Optical trackpad
Four physical buttons at the bottom
Solid build
Hot-swappable microSD card slot (up to 16GB)
DivX and Xvid video support
Office document editor
3.5 mm audio jack
Smart dialing
Ultra-fast boot times

'Invisible key' invented by Taiwan scientists

TAIPEI: A team of Taiwanese researchers have developed an "invisible key" technology which allows users to unlock their doors by means of simple hand gestures, the head of the team said Monday.

"In the future, you won't have to worry about losing or forgetting your keys," said Tsai Yao-pin, who teaches at the Technology and Science Institute of Northern Taiwan.

At the heart of the technology developed by his team is a chip that can detect movement in three dimensions, as used in Nintendo's Wii video game console, he said.

The technology allows users to easily unlock their doors by repeating a gesture preset in the sensor, according to Tsai.

The "invisible key" won him a gold medal at the four-day Taipei International Invention Show and Technomart which ended Sunday.

He estimated that it make take half a year for the invention to go commercial as several interested companies have approached him. (AFP)

INDIAN DEBUTS WORLD’S CHEAPEST TABLETS

In September last year it was reported that India had come out with the prototype of a touchscreen tablet PC said to cost only 1/14 the price of an iPad. And it seems they are really serious about it.

Yesterday, India launched its much-anticipated “computer for the masses”, saying that it is an effort to meet Indian’s hope to get its 220 million children online and to lift the rural poor out of poverty.

The world’s cheapest tablets known as Aakash (translated as Sky) are developed by budget manufacturer DataWind.

The Aakash tablet is being sold for $45 to the general public, with subsidised $35 (approx. 1,700 Rupees) versions selling to students and teachers.

The Aakash is equipped with an Android 2.2 OS, 7-inch touch screen, a pair of USB ports, and 256 megabytes of RAM, according to the New York Times. Sounds really not bad for only $35.

China’s “Heavenly Palace” launches

JIUQUAN: China successfully launched an experimental craft on Thursday paving the way for its first space station amid a blaze of national pride, bringing the growing Asian power closer to matching the United States and Russia with a long-term manned outpost in space.
The Tiangong 1, or "Heavenly Palace," blasted off from a remote site in the Gobi Desert at 9:16 pm (1316 GMT), adding a high-tech sheen to China's National Day celebrations on October 1.

Premier Wen Jiabao watched as the small, unmanned "space lab" and the Long March rocket that heaved it skyward from a pad at Jiuquan in northwest Gansu province, lifted off under clear skies, in images shown live on state television.

It is the latest show of China's growing prowess in space, and comes while budget restraints and shifting priorities have held back U.S. manned space launches.

"Its name ... speaks for a dream home the Chinese have long envisioned in the sky. In Chinese folklore, a heavenly palace often refers to the place in outer space where deities reside," the official Xinhua news agency said.The big test comes weeks after its launch, when the eight tonne craft attempts to join up with an unmanned Shenzhou 8 spacecraft that China plans to launch.

Space docking tests conducted with the Tiangong 1 will provide experience for the building of a permanent manned space station around 2020, mission spokeswoman Wu Ping said.
China's government will hope to set a successful Tiangong mission alongside other trophies of its growing technological prowess, including the launch of a trial aircraft carrier.And the launch, just before China's National Day holiday, was accompanied by an outpouring of proud support for the country's technological achievements.

"I feel great pride in being Chinese today. This is another great step forward for China in space," wrote Shi Zhongshan on the popular Twitter-like microblogging site Sina Weibo.
However, some wondered why all the fuss considering recent problems on another engineering feat China had lauded, the rapid development of its rail system.In July, 40 people died in a collision on a high-speed rail line in eastern China, and
this week more than 200 people were injured when two subway trains ran into each other in Shanghai.
"I'd prefer more attention be paid to the high-speed train and Shanghai subway crashes than to Tiangong 1. The later is related to face, but the former is to do with our lives," wrote "Weixiao Xiaoran," also on Weibo.

Engineers had been watching launch preparations nervously, after another Long March rocket malfunctioned and failed to send an experimental satellite into orbit last month.
Beijing is still far from catching up with space superpowers. The Tiangong launch is a trial step in Beijing's plans to eventually establish its own space station.Russia, the United States and other countries jointly operate the International Space Station, to which China does not belong.

But the United States will not test a new rocket to take people into space until 2017, and Russia has said manned missions are no longer a priority for its space program, which has struggled with delays and glitches.

Earlier this month, NASA unveiled plans for a deep-space rocket to carry astronauts to the moon and Mars. President Barack Obama has called for a human expedition to an asteroid by 2025 and a journey to Mars in the 2030s.

China launched its second moon orbiter last year after it became only the third country to send its astronauts walking in space outside their orbiting craft in 2008.It plans an unmanned moon landing and deployment of a moon rover in 2012, and the retrieval of lunar soil and stone samples around 2017. Scientists have talked about the possibility of sending a man to the moon after 2020.

China is also jostling with neighbors Japan and India for a bigger presence in space, but its plans have faced international wariness. Beijing says its aims are peaceful, and military involvement natural given the enormity of the undertaking.

"The military enjoys unique advantages in organizing and coordinating such large-scale activities, and its involvement in aerospace missions is an international practice," Defense Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng said this week. (Reuters)

New iPhone expected from Apple on Tuesday

SAN FRANCISCO: Apple Inc. is unveiling a new, more powerful version of its wildly popular smartphone more than a year after it launched the iPhone 4.

Last week, Apple Inc. e-mailed invitations to a media event at its headquarters in Cupertino on Tuesday morning. The invite says "let's talk iPhone," implying the secretive company intends to show off the latest version of the device.

The first iPhone came out in 2007, and the phone's signature slick looks, high-resolution screen and intuitive software has gained millions of fans over the years. There were 39 million iPhones sold just between January and the end of June.

Beyond the iPhone itself, the Tuesday event is anticipated as Apple's first major product unveiling in years that won't be led by Steve Jobs, who resigned from the CEO post in August after being out on indefinite medical leave since January.

The Apple co-founder is now its executive chairman. And though Jobs did emerge from medical leave twice this year to present Apple's innovations most recently in June to show off its new mobile software and iCloud content storage service his successor, Tim Cook, is expected to take the lead this time.(AP)

'Artificial leaf' turns sunlight into fuel: US study

WASHINGTON: US scientists have developed an "artificial leaf" that converts sunlight into a chemical fuel that could be stored and used later, according to a study published Friday.

When placed in a container of water, the silicon solar cell -- with catalytic materials on each side -- generates oxygen bubbles on one side and hydrogen bubbles on the other, which can be separated and collected.

The gases could then be fed into a fuel cell that recombines them into water while producing an electric current, according to lead researcher Daniel Nocera, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

The device is the subject of a paper in the journal Science co-authored by six researchers from Sun Catalytix, a solar-energy firm founded by Nocera.Nocera says the "leaf" is made entirely of abundant, inexpensive materials.The sheet of semiconducting silicon is coated on one side with a cobalt-based catalyst, which releases the oxygen, and on the other with a nickel-molybdenum-zinc alloy, which separates the hydrogen.

"I think there's going to be real opportunities for this idea" Nocera said in a statement accompanying the article."You can't get more portable, you don't need wires, it's lightweight, and it doesn't require much in the way of additional equipment, other than a way of catching and storing the gases that bubble off."

The device will not be ready for commercial production, however, until systems are developed that can collect, store and use the gases, he said."It's a step," Nocera said. "It's heading in the right direction." (AFP)

Electric cars set to hit Paris roads

PARIS: Paris will on Sunday launch an ambitious electrically powered car-share service that it hopes will not only improve the quality of life in the City of Lights but also herald a revolution in sustainable urban transport.

But the “Autolib” venture also constitutes a risky gamble both for Bertrand Delanoë, the Socialist mayor of Paris, and for Vincent Bolloré, France’s best-known corporate raider and buccaneering entrepreneur, who is supplying the electric cars and operating the new service.

In the volatile French pre-electoral political climate, Mr Delanoë hopes to repeat with the electric car project the huge popular and political – albeit costly – success of the Vélib bicycle-sharing scheme, which he launched four years ago.

The city of Paris, and its neighbouring suburban communes, have together invested more than €200m to construct the necessary infrastructure, from parking spaces to battery recharging stations. Organisers hope the project will eventually reduce the numbers of privately owned cars in the city’s crowded boulevards, while also cutting pollution.

Woman survives live grenade lodged in face

MEXICO CITY: A woman in Mexico is being called a "miracle woman" after surviving a grenade being fired into her face.Karla Flores, 32, was selling seafood on the street in Culiacán, Sinaloa when she heard a bang and something hit her, knocking her down.

She felt a burning sensation in her face and when she raised her hand to it there was blood. Soon after, she lost consciousness.When Flores woke up in Culiacán General Hospital she thought a stone or rock must have been lodged in her face.

"The doctor asked me what happened. I told him that I thought a stone hit me,” the mother-of-three said. "Then they started to look and discovered that it was some kind of projectile, but they didn't know what it was."

The X-ray and the tomography showed a strange object stuck between the superior and inferior jawbones.Then they realized—it wasn't a stone, it was a live grenade.The hospital was put on alert because the deadly explosive could go off at any moment and kill everyone within 32 feet.

Barely able to breathe, Flores was isolated and the hospital's patients and staff evacuated.
Most of the doctors didn't want to operate and hospital head, Dr. Gaxiola Meza, asked for volunteers.

Four brave people came forward. Along with two explosive experts from the Mexican army, they took Flores to an open field to operate—in case they made a mistake, nobody else would die.

Only under local anesthesia, Flores was given a tracheotomy so she could breathe and four hours later was recovering.The device was extracted from her head by a doctor wearing no armor and guided by military experts. Flores lost half her teeth and has some scaring but said she is happy to be alive.

Two-faced cat sets record as oldest living "Janus" cat

CONWAY: Frank and Louie is the world's oldest two-faced cat, which is not to say he is deceitful or insincere.Rather, the fluffy, gray feline with two mouths, two noses and three eyes, turned 12 years old this month, setting the record for "longest surviving Janus cat," Sara Wilcox, a Guinness World Records spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

The name "Janus cat" was coined by British zoologist Dr. Karl Shuker, based on the two-faced Roman god of transitions, gates and doorways.

Frank and Louie has a case of craniofacial duplication, an extremely rare congenital condition resulting from a protein with the odd name of sonic hedgehog homolog (SHH).

The disorder, also known as diprosopia, can cause part or all of an individual's face to be duplicated on its head. It has been recorded multiple times in the domestic cat (Felis catus), but few of the resulting two-faced kittens survive into adulthood, Wilcox said.

Frank and Louie was born on September 8, 1999 and his remarkable life will be commemorated in Guinness World Records' new 2012 edition, Wilcox said. (Reuters)

'E-gate' adds face recognition to airline security

SAN JOSE: Silicon Valley-based AOptix  introduced new "e-gates" that recognize faces as well as irises of passengers before opening to let them board flights.

"This is what we call the future of passenger boarding," AOptix director of corporate communications Brian Rhea said as an InSight Duo electronic gate was tested at the San Jose International Airport in Northern California.

AOptix e-gates that confirm identities based on iris scans are already in use at airports in Britain and Qatar and at a "high-security facility" in the US capital.

The new system making its public debut at a Biometric Consortium Conference in Florida on Tuesday is touted as the first to add facial recognition to scanning irises, which are unique to every person.

Those being "enrolled" look briefly at a scanner, which maps faces and eyes in seconds. Biometric data stored in computers is synced to bar codes on boarding passes or other documents.

Someone trying to get on a flight places a boarding pass on a reader at an e-gate and looks into a nearby screen, which can check whether irises and faces match information on record. Security gates only open for correct matches.

AOptix, founded 11 years ago in Northern California by astronomers, paired biometric scanning technology with gates made by Germany-based Kaba.

The company said it has seen interest in combined iris-face identification systems from officials who run high-security buildings, airports, or border checkpoints.

E-gates will not spare people from routine security screening at airports.

Airlines tend to keep biometric data only for the short-term, dumping it after flights are completed and the data is no longer necessary for security checks.

The iris or face databases linked to Duo e-gates at locations such as border checkpoints or building entrances would be up to those in charge of security. (AFP)