Fully customized all-Gold photo frame and more.

When actress Tonto Dikeh's boyfriend, malivelihood, got a job to do some "gold" customization for the gifts to be presented to big guests at President Jonathan daughter's wedding in Abuja, he was excited as that is how he makes his money. But he didn't realize that such extravagant spendings is too much for a politician.

Jonathan is not a businessman. He hasn't made any reasonable cash until he came into politics. As such, many in the country who can't feed are angry that Nigeria's money is being spent lavishly. People are complaining on the social media and the Presidency decided to turn the heat on Tonto Dikeh's boyfriend.

The guy has been forced to deny that President Jonathan paid for the Gold customization. More below...

...and to save the situation, the guy has complied with the order from the Presidency!

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Allison-Madueke Paid Women To Protest; This Is What She Got

Allison-Madueke Paid Women To Protest; This Is What She Got

The level of illiteracy in Nigeria is being exploited by those in political offices. These women were hired by the embattled Minister of Petroleum, Dieziani Alison-Madueke's agents to protest as the National Assembly gets set to probe the billions she has spent galivating on luxury private jets.

Unfortunately, these women don't even know the difference between "LIVE" and "LEAVE"...

...so sorry, for our poor Nigerian women!

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What we used to see is a case of some ladies feeling or looking sad at their wedding because they are forced to marry a man by family pressure. But what could make a man look like this sad at his own wedding?

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President Kenyatta joins in congratulating Margaret and her team for their historic feat today during the London Marathon. There is no doubt that the Beyond Zero Campaign will entirely change the lives of Kenyan women and children says President Kenyatta. The president extends his congratulations to their elite runners Wilson Kipsang, Stanley Biwott, Edna Kiplagat and Florence Kiplagat for their remarkable performance. They all ensured that Kenya stood tall here in London today. He could not be prouder.

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Hmmmm....wonders shall never end! A policeman, Anthony Ibemere, has told an Igando Customary Court in Lagos that his wife, Uloma, should return his N1.2 million bride price if she insisted on divorcing him.

38-year-old Anthony was responding to a divorce suit filed by Uloma, his wife of four years, who accused him of battery. He accused his wife of hiding her marital status by telling people that she is single.

In the words of the husband: “Uloma should return the money I gave her parents during our traditional marriage if she insists on the dissolution of our four-year-old marriage.

“She joined a group of single ladies in her church. I went to the church with our wedding pictures as a proof that she’s married which led to her suspension.”

Anthony said Uloma had abandoned their matrimonial home since November 24, 2012, when he informed the church of her marital status. He pleaded with the court not to grant the divorce until he sees his money.

On her part, 27-year-old Uloma, a factory worker, told the court that Anthony turned her into a punching bag mostly when he was drunk. “My husband is a drunkard. Whenever he comes home drunk and wants to make love to me, I always refuse him. I want him to make love to me when he’s in his right senses.

“And when I refuse him, he will make love to me by force," she added. She begged the court to separate them, saying she's tired of the marriage.

The magistrate said more time is needed to rule on the controversial case and thus adjourned till April 16.

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Below is a funny blow-by-blow account of what happened at the big wedding in Abuja:

I attended the wedding reception of President’s Jonathan’s daughter, Faith and her husband, Godswill. I am sure most of you saw it live on television but I just might write a behind-the-scene review of what happened in the hall which you could not see. I might write that later. 

Let me just give a slice of it; all these big men you guys see in power and out of it are all hustlers like you and me! The rush to enter the hall, ehn? Captains of industries and Government officials were in a flux and fight to enter the hall which was barricaded by stern security men at the International Conference Centre.  

The protocol is that once the President enters the hall; the doors are shut and no one gets in or out till the President leaves. So, there was a scramble to enter. Me sef shame for some people...

Chai! There were rumpled and creased clothes on people after the scramble. A couple of ladies lost their headscarves and headties and gave us shocking glimpses of their ‘Abolo’ heads! Chai! 

The President’s Security detail at the venue were stern but professional. They didn’t give a hoot who you were. Orders are orders. Everyone who entered; those that mattered wanted to be seen by the President or First Lady and a small line of diffident favour-seekers or friends was formed but many could not pass through the security detail to just greet Mr President. 

Let me shock you guys a bit. The biggest critics of President Jonathan, the opposition parties or cliques, the rabble-rousers and all were mostly there at the wedding! I was shocked! Ehn! Politicians! That’s how they deceive you all by crying wolf and abusing the President yet they run to him to prostrate at night or in private!Those of you who follow blindly these people una go see! Be careful! 

I even saw Dele Momodu, who lambasts President Jonathan every week for the past four years on Thisday backpage on Saturday, taking pictures and going round shaking hands. He shook my hands too. Egbon! Look, in politics there are no permanent friends or enemies: just permanent interests! 

 
I must hand it to GEJ, he shielded his family from public glare. I mean; how many of us know he has three biological children and three adopted with this new bride being an adopted child he took in about 15 years ago? Very touching. 

 
The couple got gifts of over 60 brand new cars as presents from what a close source told me. ‘Bastardly rich’ Nigerians fell over themselves to give presents. Chai! There was a group of orange-scarved women who caused a stampede in the hall after the wedding rushing for gifts and stuff! Wetin? People nor get shame? The presents given to the guests were magnifique! Not anything ostentatious but just cool. 

This Nigeria is great, sha! Odiegwu!

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Top level military men in the Nigerian army who spoke to us [ENDS], and another top Nigerian blogger/ activist on condition of full anonymity, have further validated shocking reports recently revealed by the Voice of America, VoA, about organized, top command sabotage in the ranks of the army, with army operated ambush and assassination squads.

In total 1,710 people were killed in attacks by “unknown” military uniform wearing assassins and incendiarists across Nigeria last week alone.

Apparently troubled by the spate of events in the northeast and around the nation, the soldiers decided to come out and talk to those they could trust; saying that within the ranks, people were afraid of speaking as this could be their end.

The military men told us candidly, “there is no more Boko Haram, Boko Haram is gone, it is military task force doing the killings now.”

The soldiers further described the event the VoA had publicized, stating that another soldier in the ambush who got wounded said the Colonel in charge of the unit left these set of soldiers, taking away all sophisticated fighting equipment and leaving them at the mercy of the better equipped ambushing army unit with only Ak47’s and one or two rounds.

The soldiers described frustration among military men taking part in the battle in the northeast, saying many were abandoning the army because they realize their aim of being soldiers has been undermined and the top military generals who benefit financially from equipment purchase and mobilization funding, and may be involved in a possible plot to depopulate the areas, in the conduction of the ongoing war are not going to stop the sabotage any time soon.

One of the officials who revealed this information, refreshed the events of the killing of Nigeria’s loved and distinguished veteran, General Muhammed Shuwa in 2012; explaining that at the time too, the defense guards stationed by his house were pulled away to facilitate his murder. The military man described so many cases of successful ‘Boko Haram’ attacks including a recent on students in which the army stationed was always suddenly pulled out preceding the attack or cases where the army responded to invaded villages telling them their village was not in their jurisdiction. [See: Revealed: Soldiers Watched As Gen. Shuwa Was Killed-PM News, Lagos]

Accusations of deliberate extrajudicial attacks are not alien to Nigeria’s security services. A recent attack at Keana in Nasarawa state, in which 15 innocent locals were summarily executed by military uniformed men with APC’s and military pickup trucks, has also been blamed on the Nigerian military, and an investigation is being conducted according to military spokesman, Major-General Chris Olukolade. On April 8, the Nigerian Human Rights (NHRC) indicted the military in “Apo 8” killings which happened right in the nation’s capital, Abuja. Locals in Zamfara also accuse the state security of knowing the perpetrators of the recurrent massacres including the latest this month where 250 were killed.

Alhaji Amadu, the village head of Yar Galadima said several leaders of the military uniform wearing assassination squads, namely a certain Buhari (not the ex-president), a Kundu and another terrorist leader, Munjagara, have been arrested and released by government authorities who know where their terror dynasties from where they operate are located. Also related, on the possibility of top Nigerian security department involvement, is a recent ‘revelation’ by a Turkish airline manager about dropping off ammunition for terrorists at Nigeria’s Kano international airport. Nigeria’s government is yet to formally refute these allegations.

The army men further explained that with the amount of military checkpoints in the areas of conflict it was impossible for terrorists to ply freely with Armored Personnel Carriers, APC’s as they did. “No one can move about in those areas with all those checkpoints, how do the terrorists get around… it is because the army gives them passage,” he said.

On the Helicopters flying in Nigeria’s air spaces which has been happening for two years now, a soldier said that a person he knew who was kidnapped for a month in a Boko Haram camp described seeing these choppers fly over to drop weapons and food routinely; he said the food included good chicken and burgers from Mr. Biggs, food ordinary people could not afford and that came from the cities. He said it was impossible for choppers to keep flying safely like so in Nigeria’s monitored airspace without there being military involvement. It is reported that choppers also help the military dressed attackers who have been ravaging the middle belt of Nigeria, the states of Benue, Kaduna, Katsina and Zamfara.

One of the military sources also told us that a popular journalist mediator, Ahmad Saldika, who used to inform Nigerians on the true happenings with Boko Haram, left Nigeria on self-exile to the UAE because he was afraid of being killed by government forces who knew he knew the truth of the situation.

On the Giwa barrack attack that successfully freed hundreds of jailed terrorists, military sources told us that a ‘pin’ on the armored tank stationed to protect the barracks was surprisingly removed and thus the tank could not protect the barrack when ‘Boko Haram’ struck. They also queried why despite the military being informed three weeks to the attack, the military did not adequately beef up security to protect the Giwa barrack from the terrorists attack.

It was explained that Boko Haram was basically eliminated by the Joint task Force, JTF by August of 2013. The sudden withdrawal of the highly successful Joint task Force, JTF, special units that was collaborating well with the Civilian JTF and had succeeded in winning the war and even reported mortally injuring the terror leader, Abubakar Shekau, was a surprise to intelligence analysts world over and to the military men. [See analysis by Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri: Disbanding the JTF in the North-east was a grave mistake; Ynaija] It can be recollected that it was immediately when the JTF reported success and their killing of Abubakar Shekau that the government suddenly announced the withdrawal of the JTF and their replacement with a new army division. This was followed by a new unexplainable escalation in terror and was when, according to the sources the new ‘Boko Haram’ came into being and its methods suddenly changed into the successful invasion and extermination of whole towns in the north by army uniform wearing fighters

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Chibita distances self from Katatumba eviction order

Chibita has since asked the Police to investigate the origin of the document, whose details were published in Saturday Vision.
His office has also issued a press release, stating that the said action was outside the DPP’s mandate.
In a statement, Jane Ouko, the DPP’s spokesperson, said: “We have read with great concern the article titled, “DPP orders Katatumba out of Hotel Diplomate.”
The statement read: DPP, Justice Mike J. Chibita, did not write the March 31, letter attributed to him neither did he direct the Registrar
of the High Court to move an immediate eviction of Boney Katatumba from Hotel Diplomate.
The mandate of the DPP is restricted to the prosecution of criminal cases and guiding of the criminal investigations by the Police. The kind of orders or directions that he is said to have made (as per the Saturday Vision story) are civil orders and, therefore, do not fall within his mandate.
Similarly, the DPP has no legal mandate to direct the Registrar of the High Court to perform any function. No criminal cases pertaining to Boney Katatumba and Hotel Diplomate have been received at the directorate from the Police. We have  established that the Land Protection Unit, whose legal officer is Julius Twinomujuni, and not the quoted James Tusiime, did not receive any such letter from the DPP.

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Battle for the car: will Google, Apple or Microsoft dominate?

 

The battle for the car between Apple, Google and Microsoft has ignited this year with the launch of Apple’s CarPlay and Google’s Android-based Open Automotive Alliance.
Car manufacturers are lining up behind their respective technology banners, with each one pledging allegiance to one or another. Some sit across multiple camps, but others are steadfastly pro-Apple or pro-Google, with Microsoft and the others looking like they’ve been left holding mouldy cheese.

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Flipping and Recommending: Flipboard Buys Zite from CNN

The iPad was supposed to usher in a new age of journalism, publishing, and other ways to get news-like content into our grubby little hands and advertising money into the grubby little hands of the publishers. In some small ways it has succeeded, but if there is a new age it looks much like the old players are still trying to find their place. Or at least find a way that they can make the new age profitable. One of the small corners in this new publishing world that has seemed to work is Flipboard. A magazine App that allows you to curate your own content from Twitter, RSS, and increasingly from a number of sources that create magazines to be read in the App. Today Flipboard purchased Zite, another news reading App that had been purchased by CNN in 2011.

Both Apps serve a similar curation purpose, but the purchase of Zite gives Flipboard a future feature it doesn’t have. That is a recommendation engine. Zite allows you to vote a story up or down. Voting a story up means you’ll see more of that kind of story in the future. Voting it down means you’ll see less. Within Flipboard any type of recommending comes from sharing what you read instead of building a feed or feeds that contains articles that particularly interest you by voting up or down, liking or disliking.

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Google updates Gmail app on iPhone: Now sign-in to Maps, YouTube etc through Gmail

Google has released an update for the Gmail app on iPhone which adds some much desired features. The update, which hits the app on iOS 7, will bring pre-fetching of emails, but more importantly acts as a single-point sign-in window to the major Google services available for iOS.

“The app now fully supports background app refresh, which means your Gmail messages will be pre-fetched and synced so they’re right there when you open the app-no more annoying pauses while you wait for your inbox to refresh,” Melissa Dominguez, Software Engineer at Google wrote on the Gmail blog. The pre-fetching feature will only work if background app refresh has been turned on along with notifications for the Gmail app.

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Facebook Messenger For Windows Phone Now Available For Download

After a long wait, Facebook Messenger app is now available for Windows Phone users. Keeping up to its promised made during MWC 2014, Microsoft has launched the app with all the basic features available in Android and iOS versions. Among the various facilities provided by the FB Messenger app, the prominent ones are - Ability to send the new Facebook stickers and your photos privately, Having group conversations and Sharing your location so people know when you're nearby. Just like the online version of Facebook

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Yahoo continues spending spree with data visualisation firm Vizify

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 web customisation tool Vizify.
As part of the deal, Yahoo will shut down Vizify, so the company is no longer accepting new signups or purchases of paid plans. Vizify will issue refunds to plan holders and send instructions to those who have registered domains or created bios for how to regain that domain or get a "snapshot" of their bios that will be available until 1 September.
In a statement on its website, Vizify said its goal was to transform "information that we all consume and create every day into something more beautiful and personal" - which it has done through graphical bios, infographic cards, and videos.

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Chief financial officer Oppenheimer exits Apple after 18 years

Apple chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer will retire at the end of September as CEO Tim Cook brings on a new lieutenant to navigate slowing growth at the iPhone maker.
Luca Maestri, who joined Apple as vice-president of finance and corporate controller a year ago, will succeed Mr Oppenheimer, Apple said on Tuesday.
Oppenheimer was at Apple for 18 years, during which the firm introduced the iPod and iPhone.
He oversaw a surge in Apple’s cash pile to $158.8bn from $5.46bn in 2004, the year he was promoted to chief financial officer, reinstated dividends in 2012 and returned more than $50bn to shareholders. His departure is the biggest change to executive ranks since Mr Cook ousted mobile-software chief Scott Forstall in 2012.
"When Luca was hired a year ago, we saw the writing on the wall," said an analyst at Piper Jaffray, Gene Munster, who has the equivalent of a buy rating for Apple’s stock.
Mr Oppenheimer said in the statement that he planned to spend more time with his family, get more involved at California Polytechnic State University, travel and finish his pilot’s licence.

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Getty Images goes 'free for all' with new embedding rule

World's largest photo service, Getty Images, has reportedly decided to make its content free for public use after acknowledging that its pictures were everywhere with or without the watermark.
Earlier, if users wanted to get any Getty picture without the watermark, they had to pay for it.
However, the photo service has decided to drop the watermark for the bulk of its collection, in exchange for an open-embed program that would require users to add a footer at the bottom of the image with a credit

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ASI, Google unveil 360-degree online view of 30 monuments

New Delhi: The iconic Taj Mahal is among 30 Indian monuments which can now be "visited" online with a 360-degree panoramic view, thanks to a novel initiative.

 Iconic Taj Mahal is among 30 Indian monuments

Google and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on Thursday jointly launched 360-degree panoramic imagery of 30 out of 100 "nationally-important monuments" including Red Fort, Humayun's Tomb, Jantar Mantar and Qutub Minar among others, viewable to one-third of the world's population.
  
"This is one of the most exciting things that Google has done. Imagine the iconic Taj Mahal, now being accessible to not just over 20 crore Indians on the web but about one-third of the world population, without even having to go there," Managing Director of Google India, Rajan Anandan told reporters.
  
Union Minister of Culture Chandresh Kumari Katoch launched the project at an event organised at the historic Safdarjung Tomb.
  
"Today, we are going to bring our heritage to the doorstep of every person... This project has brought our culture, our heritage, history closer to the people of India, the partnership of Google and ASI has brought Indian heritage online," Katoch said.
  
The search engine giant and the Ministry of Culture had signed a memorandum at the Qutub Minar complex last October, following which the company created a "virtual walkthrough" application using its 'Street View Trekker' technology for the first time in India.
  
"At Google, we love cultural heritage, and this project brings these monuments literally to people's doorsteps," Anandan said.

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Tesla CEO reportedly confirms meeting with Apple but declines to confirm acquisition talk

 

 

Tesla Motors Inc has had “conversations” with Apple Inc, Chief Executive Elon Musk confirmed to Bloomberg TV, but he would not comment on whether those talks revolved around acquisitions, reports Reuters.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported this week that Musk met with Apple Inc’s head of mergers and acquisitions in 2013, stoking speculation about Tesla’s future.  But speaking generally about the possibility of another company buying Tesla, Musk said in an interview with Bloomberg TV that he had concerns.

Rumors have been swirling since news broke this week of a possible meeting between Apple’s top executive for acquisitions and the CEO of electric car maker Tesla.

Citing a person familiar with the matter, The San Francisco Chronicle reported Sunday that the meeting between Adrian Perica and Elon Musk took place last spring. The companies haven’t commented on the report. With $158.8 billion in cash on its balance sheet, Apple certainly has the money to

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HTC set to roll out three wearables including Google Now smartwatch

Washington, Feb. 21 (ANI): HTC is reportedly set to launch three wearable devices at the upcoming Mobile World Congress, including a rumoured Google Now smartwatch.
The Taiwanese manufacturer would introduce a HTC smartwatch, based on Qualcomm's Toq smartwatch and use that company's Mirasol display, featuring Bluetooth connectivity and a music player, apart from an electronic bracelet that plays music.

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Samsung Galaxy S5 Gold variant tipped ahead of MWC 2014 unveiling

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It seems like there is no end to the leaks related to Samsung's 2014 flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S5, ahead of its official announcement.A new leak tips that Samsung will also be introducing the Gold variant of its much-anticipated Galaxy S5 smartphone at the Barcelona event, scheduled on 24 February 2014.
The leak comes via GSMArena who received a purported image of Vodafone's inventory system, which shows a Samsung Galaxy S5 Gold smartphone listed alongside other devices like Apple iPhone 5s and HTC One. As of now, the alleged image of Vodafone's inventory system did not reveal many details about the rumoured Galaxy S5 Gold.
Notably, Samsung is famous for launching a number of variants of its flagship devices. The 2013 flagship smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S4, had a number of variants, namely: Samsung Galaxy S4 Active, Galaxy S4 Zoom, and Galaxy S4 Mini. A Gold colour variant of the Galaxy S4 was also launched quite a bit after the device's global unveiling. However, it seems that the South Korean major might announce the Galaxy S5 in Gold option right at the global launch.

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The Surprising Best Thing about Google Fiber Coming to Your Town

 

A Google Fiber technician gets supplies out of his truck to install Google Fiber in a residential home in Provo, Utah, January 2, 2014. Provo is one of three cities Google is currently building gigabit internet and television service for business and residential use.

Sure, Internet speeds are faster, and the base-level Google Fiber service is cheaper than typical Internet providers. But what might truly set Google Fiber apart from the pack is that the customer service doesn’t suck.
This week, Google announced that it is looking at expanding Google Fiber, its ultrafast broadband Internet service, to nine more U.S. cities. The service, which costs customers $70 per month for 1-gigabit Internet—estimated at 100 times faster than the average U.S. connection—or $0 per month (after a $300 installation fee), is already operational in Kansas City, and has been approved and is in progress in Austin, Texas, and Provo, Utah. Now Google is exploring the possibility of bringing Google Fiber to Atlanta,

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Google Introduces Phone With 3-D Sensors

Google has unveiled a new phone that makes real-time, 3-D maps of its environments. Its “customized hardware and software” includes sensors that gives it the capability to make over a quarter of a million measurements every second. Its uses could include indoor mapping and navigation assistance for the visually-impaired.
“We are physical beings that live in a 3-D world,” Google says. “Yet, our mobile devices assume that physical world ends at the boundaries of the screen.”

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BlackBerry shares set to jump on Facebook's WhatsApp bid

A man walks by a Blackberry sign at the Blackberry campus in Waterloo, September 23, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Mark Blinch

(Reuters) - Facebook Inc's $19 billion bid for fast-growing mobile-messaging startup WhatsApp sent shares of BlackBerry Ltd higher before the opening bell on Thursday as investors placed bets that the smartphone maker's own messaging platform has been undervalued.
BlackBerry shares were up as much as 9 percent in trading after the bell on Wednesday as the deal boosts valuation metrics around the company's own BlackBerry Messaging service.
BlackBerry Messaging, or BBM, was a pioneering mobile-messaging service, but its user base has failed to keep pace with that of WhatsApp and other upstarts, in part because BlackBerry had long refused to open the service to users on other platforms.
WhatsApp, with a user base of about 450 million, has grown rapidly. Its service works on Apple Inc's iOS platform, Google Inc's market-dominating Android operating system and with devices powered by both the Windows and BlackBerry operating systems.

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San Antonio Selected As Potential Google Fiber Network Site

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Mark Strama, Head of Google Fiber in Austin, stands with city leaders at the initial announcement of Fiber

Credit Joey Palacios / Texas Public Radio

Google Fiber has selected San Antonio as one of nine metro areas to potentially receive its super fast internet connection.
With the ability to download 1 gigabyte per second, it’s already 100 times faster than what’s available for most homes in San Antonio. Google and the city announced that plans to bring Google Fiber to the Alamo city are in motion.

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Porsche warns 911 GT3 owners to stop driving

Fire fears prompt Porsche to ask owners of latest hardcore GT3 to stop driving and get their car inspected

Porsche in the UK has told owners of the newly launched 911 GT3 to stop driving their cars and bring them back to the dealership for a check-up as the parent company continues to investigate two cases in Europe where engine fires gutted the £100,000 car.

The VW-owned company upgraded its advice from Wednesday this week when Porsche in the UK confirmed that the German HQ had halted all new deliveries of the hardcore sportscar while engineers searched for the cause of the fires.

In the UK just over 100 GT3s are affected out of a global total of 785 cars sold since deliveries started late last year. Deliveries of a further 1,000 cars have been halted, according to Porsche.

“Safety is the top priority and owners have been advised not to use their car,” a spokesman for Porsche in the UK told The Telegraph. Porsche will offer to transport the car back to the dealership for an inspection of the engine, however the spokesman denied it was a recall. “It’s not a recall in the strict sense of the word. We’re offering customers the opportunity to bring the car back.” He said that Porsche’s investigations in Germany into the cause of the two fires had not yet been concluded.

The widely acclaimed GT3 is the latest in a long line of similarly badged 911s admired by Porsche fans for their light weight and race-car driving experience.

The new car, which costs £100,540 in the UK, includes active rear wheel steering for the first time to improve high-speed stability and low-speed manoeuvrability. The car’s 3.6-litre six-cylinder engine makes 475bhp to give a 0-62mph time of just 3.5 seconds. Top speed is 196mph.
Porsche isn’t the only maker to be cautious about fire incidents. In 2010 Ferrari recalled all models of its then newly launched 458 supercar after a spate of fires were traced back the glue used to secure the rear wheel arch lining to the car’s chassis, which was found to be liable to catch alight when the car was driven for a long time at high speed.
Last year Tesla submitted its Model S electric car for tests by the US government’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to look into a series of fires.

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Facebook falls after WhatsApp deal; Apple slips Mixed views follow $19 billion acquisition of mobile-messaging startup

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Facebook shares slip following social network’s $19 billion acquisition of WhatsApp.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Facebook Inc. shares fell Thursday as investors and analysts weighed in on the social-networking giant’s $19 billion acquisition of mobile-messaging company WhatsApp.

Facebook FB -2.15%  was off by 2.6%, to trade at $66.31 in the wake of the deal announced late Wednesday. The deal includes $12 billion in Facebook stock, $4 billion in cash and $3 billion in restricted stock. Facebook intends to use WhatsApp to strengthen its position in the market for messaging on smartphones and other mobile devices.

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Microsoft announces a media remote for the Xbox One

Microsoft announced a Media Remote for the Xbox One on Thursday, with a worldwide release set for early March.

For those who aren't keen on waving their hands in front of their TV or barking commands at a black box, Microsoft has an alternative, a dedicated Xbox One Media Remote.
Microsoft said in a blog post on Thursday, "For Xbox One owners who want to control their TV and entertainment at the touch of a button via a familiar remote - we introduce you to the Xbox One Media Remote."

The remote will allow Xbox One owners to navigate around the console's interface and is designed for those who do more than play games on the console.
Microsoft explained, "The Xbox One Media Remote lets you control video playback for Blu-ray movies and streaming video on Xbox One.

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Apple, Google clamp down on Flappy Bird clones; reject games with 'Flappy' in the name

#apple #google #flappy bird #flappy bird clones #ken carpenter #mobile gaming

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New Delhi: In order to cash in on the popularity of the now-defunct Flappy Bird game, other developers are apparently coming up with games with the word "Flappy" in the title, but it seems that Google and Apple are cracking down on them and are preventing the clones from hitting the Play Store and App Store, respectively.
Ken Carpenter, from studio Mind Juice Media, tweeted that Apple had rejected his game "Flappy Dragon", telling him "we found your app name attempts to leverage a popular app."
Not only Apple's App Store, his game "Flappy Bird" was also removed from the Gooogle Play Store. Google told Carpenter "do not use irrelevant, misleading, or excessive keywords in apps descriptions, titles, or metadata," said The Verge.

It seems that Apple and Google intend to prevent users from getting duped by any kind of trickery.

When he submitted the game again, the app was again rejected. He could only go through the process smoothly after he changed the name of the game to Derpy Dragon, which is currently available to download, said The Verge quoting Carpenter as saying.

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Kickstarter customers’ passwords taken in data breach

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By Andrew Dowell

Crowdfunding site Kickstarter Inc. said some customer data have been accessed in a computer attack.

The company, which has set up an exchange in which people can contribute often small amounts of money to fund projects such as the documentary “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry” or the Pebble smartwatch, said in a blog post Saturday and emails to users that no credit-card data was compromised.

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How to blow $1.5 million in two weeks

If you have $1.5 Million lying around and not sure what to spend it on, try a $100-plus-a-day vacation on board a private plane. (Photo: Getty Images)

The data accessed included user names, encrypted passwords, email and mailing addresses and phone numbers, Chief Executive Yancey Strickler said in the post

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How laggy is Titanfall far from the cloud?

Titanfall, the first game from Infinity Ward insurgents Respawn entertainment is, as we outlined in our impressions of the beta, quite a lot of fun. It feels fresh and exciting, and is just the sort of thing that has the potential to significantly deflate Call of Duty’s bubble. That beta has unfortunately been delayed in South Africa, but we’ve been playing it locally without the benefit of Microsoft’s cloud. With the nearest Azure datacentre half-way around the planet, how does the game play here in SA?

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Windows 8 lags predecessor in sales

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REUTERS

Windows 8 was designed as a flexible new system that would work equally well on desktops PCs and touchscreen tablets.

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Seattle - Microsoft's Windows 8 system has racked up more than 200 million license sales since its launch 15 months ago, according to Tami Reller, its head of marketing, lagging Windows 7 which sold 240 million within its first year.

The latest Windows 8 sales figure, announced by Reller at a Goldman Sachs technology conference, is the first that Microsoft has made public for more than six months.

The relatively slow sales of Windows 8, and its latest incarnation Windows 8.1, reflect a steady two-year decline in personal computer sales, as smartphones and tablet sales explode. Sales of tablets are set to overtake PCs worldwide next year.

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