George Clooney Plans to End Brad Pitt's Career with a Prank

George Clooney and Brad Pitt are world famous -- not just for their acting talent, blockbuster appeal and good looks, but for their penchant for executing elaborate (and hilarious!) pranks on their costars and friends. But as Clooney tells it, Pitt should be afraid -- very, very afraid.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/george-clooney-plans-end-brad-pitts-career-prank/1-a-422647?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Ageorge-clooney-plans-end-brad-pitts-career-prank-422647

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#SciAmBlogs Wednesday - Sword-Swallowing, Fracking, Aurorae, Secrets, and more


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Bora ZivkovicBora Zivkovic is the Blog Editor at Scientific American, chronobiologist, biology teacher, organizer of ScienceOnline conferences and editor of Open Laboratory anthologies of best science writing on the Web. Follow on Twitter @boraz.

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--> Bora ZivkovicBora Zivkovic is the Blog Editor at Scientific American, chronobiologist, biology teacher, organizer of ScienceOnline conferences and editor of Open Laboratory anthologies of best science writing on the Web. Follow on Twitter @boraz. Bora ZivkovicBora Zivkovic is the Blog Editor at Scientific American, chronobiologist, biology teacher, organizer of ScienceOnline conferences and editor of Open Laboratory anthologies of best science writing on the Web. Follow on Twitter @boraz. Bora ZivkovicBorn in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia), Bora was always interested in animals and nature. His studies in veterinary medicine were interrupted by the 1990s war in the Balkans, when he arrived in the USA. He went to graduate school at North Carolina State University where he studied how bird brains measure time of day (circadian rhythms) and time of year (photoperiodism). He started ‘A Blog Around The Clock’ in 2004. He teaches introductory biology to non-traditional students at North Carolina Wesleyan College, organizes the annual ScienceOnline conference, and edits Open Laboratory – the annual anthology of the best writing on science blogs. - http://coturnix.org - boraz Contact Bora Zivkovic via email.
Follow Bora Zivkovic on Twitter as @boraz. Or visit their website.-->

#SciAmBlogs Wednesday ? Sword-Swallowing, Fracking, Aurorae, Secrets, and more

Bora ZivkovicAbout the Author: Bora Zivkovic is the Blog Editor at Scientific American, chronobiologist, biology teacher, organizer of ScienceOnline conferences and editor of Open Laboratory anthologies of best science writing on the Web. Follow on Twitter @boraz.

The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=252bbeb72dae4a5f70133faafdc088f2

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Abusive working conditions at Apple exposed (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? The New York Times published on Wednesday its second bombshell of a story on inhumane working conditions at Apple's Chinese manufacturers. So how will the world's most valuable company, notorious for its secrecy, respond?

So far, with silence.

The Times profiled Apple's extensive use of overseas manufacturers on Sunday, but after Apple's astonishing earnings report on Tuesday, the Times returned with a follow-up report far more damning than its previous one.

Reporters Chares Duhigg and David Barboza spoke with several former Apple executives, employees and other individuals who have worked with the company, many of whom detail, in the Times' words, the "human cost" of making products like the iPad.

"We could have saved lives, and we asked Apple to pressure Foxconn, but they wouldn't do it," a former consultant told the Times. Foxconn is a major manufacturer that supplies to companies including Apple and Hewlett-Packard.

Despite being given access to the Times' findings, Apple declined to comment for either of the paper's stories. It almost never comments on any stories, good or bad. But that may have to change.

Foxconn has been subject of damning reports before, but few with as much in-depth reporting and as much harrowing evidence. Moreover, this is now in the New York Times, the most high-profile of news outlets, and the stories are already subject to Pulitzer Prize speculation.

This latest story uncovers everything from underage labor to hazardous waste to toxic chemicals. It even touches on large-scale explosions at factories.

Foxconn denied many of the reported conditions, and Apple says it is working toward improvements. It conducts annual audits, and CEO Tim Cook has insisted that conditions are getting better.

Yet the consultant quoted in the Times said that Apple is less responsive to reports of poor safety conditions than other companies.

"Companies like H.P. and Intel and Nike push their suppliers," the consultant said. "But Apple wants to keep an arm's length, and Foxconn is their most important manufacturer, so they refuse to push."

A former executive told the Times, "If you see the same pattern of problems, year after year, that means the company's ignoring the issue rather than solving it."

Cook said on Tuesday's earnings call that China was a top region for potential growth, and it appears Apple thinks it could have made even more than the $46.3 billion in revenue it announced Tuesday if its manufacturers could have produced more.

Apple is notorious for its secrecy. Its executives rarely - if ever - grant interviews. It launches its products at its own private events where it can try to control who attends.

The company is even private about opening its revenue-churning stores, and its own employees must be careful with whom they speak.

The Times has now published two revelatory, reproving pieces of journalism in less than a week that involve people intimately familiar with at least one part of the Apple supply chain.

It appears Cook, new to the CEO job, has a tough new challenge ahead -- besides how to spend all that cash.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/enindustry/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120126/media_nm/us_apple_nytimes

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Yahoo delivers another listless performance in 4Q (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO ? Yahoo slipped further behind in the online advertising race during the fourth quarter as the Internet company entered the fourth year of a revenue slump.

The results announced Tuesday marked the latest in a succession of disappointing performances. The persisting malaise led to the firing of Carol Bartz as CEO four months ago.

Yahoo Inc. recently replaced Bartz with PayPal executive Scott Thompson, anointing him as the fourth CEO in less than five years to try to snap the company out of a funk that has depressed its stock. Thompson, who was hired just three weeks ago, promised to move quickly to fix the problems.

"There is no question we need to do better and we will," Thompson assured analysts in a Tuesday conference call.

The company earned $296 million, or 24 cents per share, in the October-to-December period. That is down 5 percent from $312 million, or 24 cents per share, a year earlier.

The earnings matched analysts' estimates, but the company missed Wall Street's revenue target.

Fourth-quarter revenue dropped 13 percent from the previous year to $1.32 billion. After subtracting advertising commissions, Yahoo's revenue totaled $1.17 billion, or $20 million below analyst projections. It's the 13th straight quarter that Yahoo's net revenue has declined from the prior year.

Although Thompson said it was still too early to share precise details about his turnaround strategy, he said he will close some Yahoo services. That could mean layoffs. Yahoo added 400 employees in the fourth quarter to end the year with 14,100 workers. It lost one of its co-founders last week when Jerry Yang resigned from the company's board and gave up his role as "Chief Yahoo."

Bartz had also closed or sold some of Yahoo's less popular services while jettisoning jobs to cut costs and sharpen the company's focus. Those moves, though, didn't increase Yahoo's revenue or stock price, leading the company's board to fire her in September with more than 15 months remaining on her contract.

"This company has been through such a rotating cast of characters that it's reached the point where it needs action, not words," BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis said.

Besides closing services, Thompson said Yahoo will expand into some fields where he sees opportunities to make money. He didn't elaborate on that or on which services to close.

Thompson also pledged to develop more innovative products to keep Yahoo's audience of 700 million users on its websites for longer periods. Accomplishing that could make Yahoo more attractive to online advertisers. Thompson said he hopes to harness the data that Yahoo collects about its audience to help advertisers do a better job of putting their marketing messages in front of the people most likely to buy their products.

"I'll always ask a lot of questions and I'll immerse myself in the details but when it comes to making decisions, I make them quickly and then push to move fast, fast, fast," Thompson said.

But Yahoo isn't promising a quick start under Thompson's leadership. Yahoo predicted its net revenue in the current quarter will range from $1.02 billion to $1.1 billion. The mid-point of that target works out to $1.06 billion, unchanged from last year's first quarter.

Investors appear to be taking a wait-and-see attitude with Thompson. Yahoo's stock shed 14 cents to $15.55 in extended trading after the report came out. The stock price has fallen by about 40 percent from five years ago.

Yahoo's downturn in revenue has occurred as advertisers are shifting more of their budgets to the Internet as people spend more of their time on the Web. The biggest beneficiaries of this boom so far have been Internet search leader Google Inc. and Facebook, the owner of the largest online social network.

While Yahoo continued to struggle during the final three months of last year, Google's revenue rose 25 percent from the same period in 2010. As a privately held company, Facebook doesn't disclose its financial results, but data compiled by independent research firms show that its website has been luring advertisers away from Yahoo.

Google has become so dominant in Internet search that Yahoo teamed up with another rival, Microsoft Corp., in an effort to become more competitive and save money. Yahoo's search engine now relies on Microsoft's technology to handle most requests. The alliance, forged in mid-2009, hasn't generated as much revenue so far as Yahoo had hoped, although there were signs of progress in the fourth quarter.

Net revenue from search totaled $376 million in the fourth quarter, a 3 percent decrease from a year earlier. The company, which is based in Sunnyvale, Calif., had been suffering year-over-year declines of more than 10 percent in previous quarters.

As it tries to boost its revenue and lift its stock price, Yahoo is considering selling its stakes in China's Alibaba Group and Yahoo Japan. Yahoo is pursuing those negotiations with "great enthusiasm," according to Tim Morse, the company's chief financial officer. Neither Morse nor Thompson elaborated on when a deal might be reached.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_hi_te/us_earns_yahoo

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South Africa: Madagascar leaders "irresponsible" (AP)

PRETORIA, South Africa ? Regional heavyweight South Africa says efforts to mediate a solution to Madagascar's political crisis have been frustrated by the irresponsible behavior of the Indian Ocean island nation's rival leaders.

South African deputy foreign minister Marius Fransman gave his blunt assessment before heading into a meeting Tuesday with factions from Madagascar, which has been in turmoil since President Marc Ravalomanana was toppled in 2009 in a coup led by Andry Rajoelina.

Fransman says a weekend attempt by Ravalomanana to fly home from his South African exile was premature, "unfortunate and it was irresponsible."

Fransman also says Rajoelina, who blocked Ravalomanana's journey mid-flight Saturday, was irresponsible for threatening to arrest Ravalomanana.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_re_af/af_madagascar

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"The Most Amazing Highest Resolution Image of Earth Ever," Says NASA [Space]

NASA has released a new Blue Marble image, showing the United States of America. According to them, it's the "most amazing, highest resolution image of Earth ever." Blue Marble 2012 bests the 2010 edition and the original one. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/uUE9GhMfCNk/the-most-amazing-and-stunning-highest-resolution-image-of-earth-ever

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Fresh iPhone Apps for Jan. 23: Wordy: The Logophile?s Primer, Earth-Now, Triple Town, Niko (Appolicious)

-Start the week by expanding your vocabulary and learning a bit about climatology with today?s Fresh iPhone Apps. Wordy brings a fresh word of the day your way each day, with all kinds of dictionary and thesaurus information from multiple sources, and Earth-Now uses NASA data to show the state of various types of information about the planet on a touch-controlled globe. In games, freemium title Triple Town combines match-3 and city-building gameplay, while platformer Niko uses physics-based controls and tricky levels to challenge players.

For the word-loving iOS user, Wordy is a nice addition to your app library. Every day, the app provides you with a new word of the day, providing the definition, thesaurus entries, synonyms and other information.

You?ll get lots of vocabulary words out of Wordy, and the app is specially designed just for the iPhone. It packs information from lots of different sources, including Websters, The American Heritage Dictionary and The Century Dictionary, and is great for users who want to expand their knowledge of the English language.

Earth-Now (iPhone, iPad) Free

Education app Earth-Now brings all kinds of data about the planet to one place, casting it as a touch-sensitive globe that you can spin and zoom-in on. Earth-Now presents various bits of information laid out over the globe that show the state of the planet like carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere, global temperature, ozone density and ?vital signs.?

Earth-Now is full of climatology information and gets its information from science compiled by the Earth Science Communications and Visualization Technology Applications and Development Teams at NASA. It?s easy to get a space-eye view of the planet and see all the app?s information in just a few seconds.

Part match-3 game, part city builder, Triple Town is quite an addictive freemium title. The premise is similar to other games in the match-3 genre, such as Bejeweled.?You place three objects of the same type next to each other to score points, but in Triple Town, each group you make of an object creates a new, better object: grass groups make bushes, bush groups make trees, tree groups make houses.

The goal is to keep adding to your settlement for as long as possible by making groups, filling the grid with objects. If you get into a bind, you can use coins you accumulate through each round of the game to purchase objects you need, like extra trees or houses. Once you run out of moves, you can start all over again and see how big your city can become.

Niko (iPhone, iPad) Free

Niko is a platformer with some interesting physics-based gameplay mixed in. You play Niko, a cat-like character working to save his friends. You do that by heading through the game?s levels, leaping and sticking to walls and other platformers in order to reach things you can collect throughout the game. Your goal is to flip switches and collect as many coins as you can in order to track up a high score in each level.

A freemium title, Niko comes with its first six levels for free, with more available through an in-app purchase of $1.99. Each side-scrolling level has multiple paths through it, and you?ll need to explore thoroughly to discover each one?s secrets and get the best score you can on each stage.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/applecomputer/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/appolicious_rss/rss_appolicious_tc/http___www_appolicious_com_articles10834_fresh_iphone_apps_for_jan_23_wordy_the_logophiles_primer_earth_now_triple_town_niko/44271724/SIG=144jo5gqn/*http%3A//www.appolicious.com/tech/articles/10834-fresh-iphone-apps-for-jan-23-wordy-the-logophiles-primer-earth-now-triple-town-niko

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Source: http://www.freelancewritingjobs.me/a-completely-independent-evaluate-rental-car-insurance-coverage/

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