Bizarre24

Arrested after boy, 13, killed in 'firearms' incident

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmy) — Mon, 02 May 2016 13:47:00 +0000

A 13-year-old boy has died after a suspected firearms incident in a village in Suffolk.

Two teenage boys have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and are in custody, police said.
Emergency services received reports a boy had sustained "life-threatening injuries" at an address in Thurston at 13:35 BST.
He was taken to West Suffolk Hospital, in Bury St Edmunds, but died shortly afterwards.

Image caption The teenage suspects were arrested by officers and are due to be questioned

Suffolk Police said they believe there was a "discharge of a firearm" and are investigating.
The two suspects have been taken to Bury St Edmunds Police Investigation Centre for questioning.

US president's daughter(Malia Obama) to go to Harvard

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmy) — Mon, 02 May 2016 13:42:00 +0000

US President Barack Obama's elder daughter Malia will attend Harvard University in 2017, after taking a year off following her high school graduation, the White House says.

"Malia will take a gap year before beginning school," a White House statement said.
The 17-year-old will be following in the footsteps of her parents, both of whom went to Harvard Law School.
Her choice of university has been a subject of much speculation.
Malia is the elder of the Obamas' two daughters. She and her sister Sasha, 15, attend the Sidwell Friends, a prestigious local private school.
The Obamas have said they will keep living in Washington after the president leaves office in January, so that Sasha can finish her high school studies there.

Benckiser sold deadly sterilisers in South Korea

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmy) — Mon, 02 May 2016 13:29:00 +0000

British-based firm Reckitt Benckiser has admitted for the first time selling a humidifier disinfectant that killed a number of people in South Korea.

Its Korean division chief Ataur Safdar was attacked by angry relatives as he made the apology at a Seoul hotel.
Reckitt Benckiser is among several firms whose products are blamed for the deaths. It has offered compensation.
About 100 people have died from inhaling the products. Hundreds more are reported to have been injured.
Reckitt Benckiser withdrew its product from the market after South Korean authorities suggested a link between chemicals to sterilise humidifiers and lung conditions in 2011.
"This is the first time we are accepting the fullest responsibility, and we are offering a complete and full apology. We were late, five years have passed," Mr Safdar said.
He added that the company was setting up a multi-million dollar humanitarian fund for the victims and their families.
Many are said to be children or pregnant women.

Image copyright AP

Image caption Emotional relatives rushed to the stage shortly after Mr Safdar took to the stage

Image copyright AFP/Yonhap

Image caption Mr Safdar (centre) was hit and slapped by at least one angry relative

His apology was rejected by relatives at the news conference, at least one of whom hit him shortly after he took to the stage, and he was jostled and heckled.About 500 people are reported to have died or been injured by poisonous chemicals used in humidifier disinfectants manufactured and sold by several companies in South Korea from 2001 to 2011.
Reckitt Benckiser has been criticised for earlier refusing to take responsibility.
Patty O'Hayer, a spokesperson for Reckitt Benckiser, told the BBC: "We do not know how many patients there are. We will compensate anyone who is likely or very likely to have lung disease."
The company, which also makes painkiller Nurofen, was fined last week in Australia for misleading customers.
A court ruled that products marketed as targeting specific pains, such as migraine, were actually identical.

Source

Shot dead during police operation in Goudhurst

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmy) — Mon, 02 May 2016 13:15:00 +0000

The police operation was linked to the death of Roy Blackman, who was killed on 21 March

A man has been shot dead during an armed police operation connected to the suspected murder of a 73-year-old man in Kent, police have said.

The 36-year-old was fatally injured and a firearm was recovered from the scene in Smiths Lane, Goudhurst, on Sunday.
The armed police operation was linked to the death of Roy Blackman, who was beaten to death during a burglary on 21 March.
Relatives of a man wanted over the murder have been informed, police said.
The matter has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
A post-mortem examination following Mr Blackman's death at his home in Biddenden showed he died from multiple blunt-force injuries.

Source

Craig Wright revealed as Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmy) — Mon, 02 May 2016 12:59:00 +0000

Australian entrepreneur Craig Wright has publicly identified himself as Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto.

His admission ends years of speculation about who came up with the original ideas underlying the digital cash system.

Mr Wright has provided technical proof to back up his claim using coins known to be owned by Bitcoin's creator.
Prominent members of the Bitcoin community and its core development team have also confirmed Mr Wright's claim.

Signed blocks

Mr Wright has revealed his identity to three media organisations - the BBC, the Economist and GQ.
At the meeting with the BBC, Mr Wright digitally signed messages using cryptographic keys created during the early days of Bitcoin's development. The keys are inextricably linked to blocks of bitcoins known to have been created or "mined" by Satoshi Nakamoto.

Image copyright AP

Image caption Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto was wrongly identified as the inventor of Bitcoin in 2014

"These are the blocks used to send 10 bitcoins to Hal Finney in January [2009] as the first bitcoin transaction," said Mr Wright during his demonstration.
Renowned cryptographer Hal Finney was one of the engineers who helped turn Mr Wright's ideas into the Bitcoin protocol, he said.
"I was the main part of it, but other people helped me," he said.
Mr Wright said he planned to release information that would allow others to cryptographically verify that he is Satoshi Nakamoto.
Soon after Mr Wright went public, Gavin Andresen, chief scientist at the Bitcoin Foundation, published a blog backing his claim.
"I believe Craig Steven Wright is the person who invented Bitcoin," he wrote.
Jon Matonis, an economist and one of the founding directors of the Bitcoin Foundation, said he was convinced that Mr Wright was who he claimed to be.
"During the London proof sessions, I had the opportunity to review the relevant data along three distinct lines: cryptographic, social, and technical," he said.
"It is my firm belief that Craig Wright satisfies all three categories."
Not everyone has been convinced by Mr Wright's claims and technical proofs. In its article about Mr Wright, The Economist said "important questions remain" about whether he was Satoshi Nakamoto.
In addition, many people involved in bitcoin have taken to social media to express their doubts and have called for further proof.
Some crytographers and developers who worked through the information provided said they had trouble getting verifiable information out of it.
Security expert Dan Kaminsky said the procedure was almost "maliciously resistant" to validation.

How Bitcoin works

Bitcoin is often referred to as a new kind of currency.
But it may be best to think of its units being virtual tokens rather than physical coins or notes.
However, like all currencies its value is determined by how much people are willing to exchange it for.
To process Bitcoin transactions, a procedure called "mining" must take place, which involves a computer solving a difficult mathematical problem with a 64-digit solution.
For each problem solved, one block of Bitcoins is processed. In addition the miner is rewarded with new Bitcoins.

Image copyright Eyewire

Image caption Verifying bitcoin transactions takes a lot of computer power

This provides an incentive for people to provide computer processing power to solve the problems.
To compensate for the growing power of computer chips, the difficulty of the puzzles is adjusted to ensure a steady stream of new Bitcoins are produced each day.
There are currently about 15 million Bitcoins in existence.
To receive a Bitcoin, a user must have a Bitcoin address - a string of 27-34 letters and numbers - which acts as a kind of virtual post-box to and from which the Bitcoins are sent.
Since there is no registry of these addresses, people can use them to protect their anonymity when making a transaction.
These addresses are in turn stored in Bitcoin wallets, which are used to manage savings.
They operate like privately run bank accounts - with the proviso that if the data is lost, so are the Bitcoins owned.

'I want to work'

By going public, Mr Wright hopes to put an end to press speculation about the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto. The New Yorker, Fast Company, Newsweek and many other media organisations have all conducted long investigations seeking Bitcoin's creator and named many different people as candidates.
In December 2015, two magazines, Wired and Gizmodo, named Mr Wright as a candidate after receiving documents believed to be stolen from him that revealed his involvement with the project.
Soon after these stories were published, authorities in Australia raided the home of Mr Wright. The Australian Taxation Office said the raid was linked to a long-running investigation into tax payments rather than Bitcoin.
Questioned about this raid, Mr Wright said he was cooperating fully with the ATO.
"We have lawyers negotiating with them over how much I have to pay," he said.
The stories in December have led to many more journalists and others pursuing him and people he knows, he said.
"There are lots of stories out there that have been made up and I don't like it hurting those people I care about," he said. "I don't want any of them to be impacted by this."

Image copyright Valve Software

Image caption Game network Steam is one of many sites that now accept Bitcoins as payment

"I have not done this because it is what I wanted. It's not because of my choice," he said, adding that he had no plans to become the figurehead for bitcoins.
"I really do not want to be the public face of anything," he said, expressing regret that he had been forced to reveal his identity.
"I would rather not do it," he said. "I want to work, I want to keep doing what I want to do. I don't want money. I don't want fame. I don't want adoration. I just want to be left alone."
Bitcoins are now accepted as payment for a vast variety of goods and services - everything from international money transfers to ransoms for data encrypted by computer viruses. There are currently about 15.5 million bitcoins in circulation. Each one is worth about $449 (£306).
Satoshi Nakamoto is believed to have amassed about one million Bitcoins which would give him a net worth, if all were converted to cash, of about $450m.

Gabi Grecko's assets eclipsed by camel toe in topless selfie fail

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmy) — Sun, 17 Apr 2016 21:10:00 +0000

INSTAGRAM

STEALING THE SHOW: Can you spot Gabi's wardrobe malfunction?

Unfortunately, the same can't be said for her nether regions, which were barely covered by an ill-fitting playsuit worn around her waist.

And we don't know whether the model had hiked the one-piece up too high or was simply striking an unfortunate pose, but the ensuing camel toe was hardly subtle.
Then again, subtle has never really been Gabi's thing has it?

INSTAGRAM
WHY ZOOM IN?: It's like Gabi is highlighting the faux pas...

Instagram

The rest of the hottie's barely-there ensemble consisted of a red wig, statement necklace and two strategically placed ribbons to protect her modesty.
In the beauty stakes, the girlfriend of French Morgan rocked a white manicure, burgundy, glossy pout and heaps of black eyeshadow, for a look that screamed "more is more".

INSTAGRAM

GIFT WRAPPED: We bet Frenchy Morgan appreciated the pics

Still, as Gaby recently reminded us, she couldn't care less what other people think.
The Maxim bombshell recently recorded a foul-mouthed rant in which she admitted she was a "crazy ass b****" and insisted her reputation meant nothing to her.
In a slightly more modest snap, the vixen poses with a pal, who she joked was filling the void left by her absent girlfriend.

INSTAGRAM

SUBSTITUTE GIRLFRIEND: Gabi has been lovesick in recent days

"A friend day I miss my baby #frenchylove," she captioned the post.
The enamoured pair recently commemorated their relationship like only they could – with a double topless extravaganza.
The thing's we do for love...

Tennis video just become an internet smash hit

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmy) — Sun, 17 Apr 2016 20:51:00 +0000

A tennis training video has just become an internet sensation smashing its way to one million views on Facebook.
Starring busty model Elizabeth Anne, the two minute video features endless slow motion shots of her very ample assets.

Since it was uploaded to Facebook the sexy clip has been shared thousands of times with one fan saying "She is playing tennis?????? watched it 23 times, still cant see any tennis..."
Sadly, it's unlikely she'll make it to the court's of Wimbledon this year as her technique is a little off.

YOUTUBE STRETCH: Elizabeth Anne shows off her skills

YOUTUBE

We're not sure that she'll be too worried about her skills as since the video went viral she's been inundated with work requests.
On a recent social medai post the model said: "Busy day and feeling very tired. Long shoot today for an adult bikini company.
"Try having a g-string up your b**t for 12 hours in a studio of mostly all men and tell me how tired you'd feel lol."

YOUTUBE BG HIT: The video has been viewed one million times on Facebook

YOUTUBE SMASHER: Elizabeth Anne has been inundated with work since the video went viral

.Dressed in a tight top its star, Juliana Morgan, explains about the process oil refineries go through when they need to make repairs or build new machinery.
Although many of its 180,000 viewers have been left baffled by its content they just can't stop watching, with one YouTube users confessing: "Seen the video 17 times. I still don't know what is a turnaround."

A Strange photo of dark ghost shadow sends shivers across Internet

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmy) — Sun, 17 Apr 2016 20:39:00 +0000

MYSTERY: A strange dark figure was captured in Mexico

The strange phenomenon was captured in the village of San Sebastian Bernal, now known as Pueblo Magico (Magical Town) de Bernal, in the central Mexican state of Queretaro
.

The footage shows a large dark figure with what looks like outstretched arms suddenly appearing and then disappearing.

The video has been seen several thousand times and a lively comment debate has been sparked between social media users

DUBIOUS: Internet think the figure may be a hologram

Sceptics say the image was either edited or it was a bird flying by, which for a moment formed the figure when sunlight deformed its shadow.
One user wrote: "It's obviously an insect that flew close to the lens."
Whilst another wrote: "First investigate if there was a party at the time because you can clearly see the lights projecting a hologram, this technology is very elementary for those who want to try it, and this is them projecting the image of Jesus accompanied by his angels."

Florida island bird mystery has new twist: Snake cannibalism

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmy) — Sun, 17 Apr 2016 20:26:00 +0000

Cottonmouth snake (Thinkstock by Getty Images)

A Florida island where nesting birds mysteriously disappeared last year is experiencing another confounding event: Snakes are cannibalizing each other.

The Gainesville Sun reports that the birds still have not returned to Seahorse Key, an important nesting site in the Gulf of Mexico for many bird species.

Now, a University of Florida researcher has discovered that the island's cottonmouth snakes that relied on discarded fish scraps from birds as a primary food source have started eating each other.
Researcher Coleman Sheehy told the newspaper that he has witnessed the venomous snakes eating one another.
The island is part of the Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge, and biologists investigating the bird disappearance say they still have no answers.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

USA : Thousands of Chicago teachers prepare for strike

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmy) — Sun, 17 Apr 2016 20:18:00 +0000

Chicago's public school teacher's union conducted a one-day strike on April 1 to protest its lack of a new contract. Its rejection of an arbiter's recommendation Saturday suggests a longer strike to begin in 30 days. Photo courtesy of the Chicago Teachers Union/Facebook

The Chicago Teachers Union is on a trajectory to a strike after rejecting an arbiter's recommendation on a proposed four-year contract.

A strike by the union's nearly 23,000 members could come as early as May 16. Teachers in Chicago public schools have been working without a contract since June 2015.

The report by Steve Bierig, an impartial fact-finder brought in as part of a state-mandated process, called for an 8.75 percent pay raise over four years, raises through seniority and bonuses to encourage retirements. It also included the phase-out of most of the city government's contribution to teacher's pensions. The recommendations were similar to a proposed offer in February, which was rejected by the union's bargaining team.
Bierig noted his proposed deal would have no effect on an ongoing dispute over school funding between state government, particularly Gov. Bruce Rauner and state legislators, and the Chicago Public Schools and the teacher's union. The Chicago school system faces a $500 million deficit.
The union's refusal of Bierig's proposal starts a legally-mandated 30-day cooling-off period, after which a strike could be called.
"The clock has started...We have no choice but to prepare ourselves for a possible strike," Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis said in a statement.
Teachers conducted a one-day strike on April 1 to push forward the stalled contract negotiations and press lawmakers to funnel more state funds to public education.

Ecuador ; 77 dead, hundreds injured in powerful earthquake

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmy) — Sun, 17 Apr 2016 20:16:00 +0000

The International Red Cross is sending hundreds of volunteers to Ecuador to assist with recovery following a powerful earthquake that hit the Latin American country early Saturday evening. Photo from International Federation of Red Cross/Twitter.

Ecuador was hit Saturday with the most powerful earthquake the country has experienced since 1979, leaving as many as 77 dead and hundreds injured.

The 7.8-magnitude quake hit at 6:58 p.m. near the northern town of Muisne, BBC reported, leaving severe and widespread damage in its wake, including a collapsed bridge in Guayaquil about 190 miles away.
The Geophysical Institute in Ecuador reported the quake's epicenter was in the coastal province of Esmeraldas.
Government officials warned Ecuador could experience aftershocks for the next 24 hours, Telesur reported.
President Rafael Correa declared a state of emergency as he flew back from Italy. "This is a very painful test," he said, asking Ecuador's citizens to remain calm and united. "Let's be strong. We will overcome this."
Correa said 10,000 troops and 3,500 police had been mobilized to the affected areas but there had been reports of "a lack of public order" in the city of Portoviejo. Many of those injured had yet to be reached Sunday morning.
"We're trying to do the most we can but there's almost nothing we can do," said Pedernales Mayor Gabriel Alcivar, from his town near the epicenter. He said dozens of buildings were flattened and looters were out.
"This wasn't just a house that collapsed, it was an entire town," Alcivar said.
"I never felt something like that in my life. It was so strong, I was feeling very, very scared," said Carla Peralto, a resident of Boyaca, one of the hardest-hit areas. "I was thinking God please stop that because maybe I die today."
Among the reported damage was an airport tower in the city of Manta, along with several other buildings. Power was reported out and phone service was down.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake struck at a fairly shallow depth of 11.9 miles in a sparsely populated area outside Muisne.
Already, Correa said, the international community has come together to offer help for earthquake victims. He confirmed two rescue teams from Colombia and Mexico were heading to Ecuador to assist national authorities.
Meanwhile, the U.S military announced Sunday it would join relief efforts in Japan following powerful earthquakes that killed 41 people. The first earthquake measured 6.8 on the Richter scale. A second quake measure 7.3.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said his country is "extremely grateful, and we would like to coordinate quickly and have the emergency relief be transported in as soon as possible."
Nearly 100,000 people were evacuated from their homes as rescuers fought rainy weather to search for survivors, Japan's Keye-News reported..
The epicenter was about 150 miles from Oita -- the sister city to Austin, Texas, and the place where Austin resident John Conley was when he was shaken twice from his sleep.
"We were lying in bed fast asleep and suddenly the alarm on my phone went off," he said. Conley quickly realized the alarm was part of Japan's earthquake notification system. "About 30 seconds later the room began to shake, go up and down side to side," he said.
The earthquakes in both Ecuador and in Japan occurred within a geographic area known as the Ring of Fire, a horse-shoe shaped area about 25,000 miles around where a string of 452 volcanoes stretch from the southern tip of South America up the coast of North America, across the Bering Strait, then down through Japan and New Zealand.

This Russian jet barrel rolls over U.S. reconnaissance aircraft

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmy) — Sun, 17 Apr 2016 20:09:00 +0000

U.S. military officials are protesting with the Russian government over a Russian jet barrel-rolling a U.S. RC-135 like this one over the Baltic Sea on Saturday. Photo from U.S. Air Force

A Russian fighter jet barrel-rolled over a U.S. Air Force reconnaissance aircraft over the Baltic Sea earlier this week, in what United States officials are calling "erratic and aggressive maneuvers."

The Russian jet flew within 50 feet of the Air Force RC-135's wing tip on April 14, Danny Hernandez, a spokesman for U.S. European Command said, CNN reported. Russia disputes the explanation of the event.
The Russian SU-27 reportedly began the barrel roll from the left side of the Air Force jet, then went over the top of it to end on the right side of the aircraft, "in an unsafe and unprofessional manner," Hernandez said.
He said the actions of a single pilot "have the potential to unnecessarily escalate tensions between the countries," adding that the United States is protesting with the Russian government.
Russia's Defense Ministry said reports of the incident were "not consistent with reality" and the Russian aircraft's maneuvers were "performed strictly in accordance with the international regulations on the use of airspace."
Russian Ministry spokesman Gen. Igor Konashenkov said the Russian aircraft was dispatched after air defense facilities spotted an unknown target approaching the Russian border at high speed over the Baltic Sea.
The jet was identified as an American reconnaissance aircraft and after visual contact, the U.S. plane "changed its course to the opposite direction, away from the Russian border," Konashenkov said.
Just days ago, Russian fighter jets flew close to the USS Donald Cook in international waters in the Baltic Sea, Voice of America news reported. The crew aboard that warship was shocked to see the apparently unarmed SU-24 planes fly as close as 30 feet from the destroyer, the report said, close enough to create a wake in the water.

shooter of Maryland firefighters released after questioning

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmy) — Sun, 17 Apr 2016 20:06:00 +0000

A man who allegedly shot at Prince George's County, Md., fire department personnel, killing one and hospitalizing a second, as they entered his home was released by police after questioning. Photo courtesy of Prince George's County Fire Department/Facebook

A man who allegedly shot at a fire department crew arriving at his Maryland home, killing one firefighter and critically injuring another, was released by police.
The suspected shooter, who remains unidentified, was taken into custody and released after questioning, since no charges were filed, a police spokesman said.

John Ulmschneider, a veteran of 13 year of the Prince George's County Fire Department, died Friday, after was shot after entering the home in Temple Hills, Md., a suburb of Washington, D.C.
Firefighters arrived after receiving a routine request from the resident's brother, who was worried because his brother, who has blood sugar issues and had recently passed out, was not responding to telephone calls. Police said the fire department crew entered the house after forcing open a door and was met with gunfire.
Ulmschneider was accompanied by another firefighter, Kevin Swain, 19, who was shot four times. He remains hospitalized in serious but stable condition. The brother of the alleged shooter was also shot during the incident, police said, adding the shooting stopped when police arrived. The brother was not seriously injured.
Mark Brady, fire department spokesman, said a call such as Friday's is typical of the fire department's work when someone's safety is concerned.
"The firefighter medics made a decision that this was indeed a reason they needed to get into that house as soon as possible. Time could have been of the essence," Brady said.

Roman villa uncovered in British backyard

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmy) — Sun, 17 Apr 2016 19:58:00 +0000

A massive Roman villa dating to 220 AD was unearthed in the backyard of a Tisbury, England home. The archaeological find uncovered coins, jewelry and evidence the villa had at least 20 rooms on its first floor. Photo courtesy of Historic England/Twitter

The remains of an ancient Roman villa were unearthed in England by a homeowner laying underground electric cables.

Parts of the upscale home, built around 220 AD with at least 20 rooms on the ground floor, were found under the backyard of a 17th century home near the town of Tisbury in Britain's Wiltshire area after an eight-day archeological dig sponsored by Historic England and the local Salisbury Museum.
"The discovery of such an elaborate and extraordinarily well-preserved villa, undamaged by agriculture for over 1500 years, is unparalleled in recent years. Overall, the excellent preservation, large scale and complexity of this site present a unique opportunity to understand Roman and post-Roman Britain," said archeologist David Roberts of Historic England.
Parts of modern-day Britain were in the Roman Empire until the 6th century AD.
The find was uncovered when the owner of the backyard, Luke Irwin, was rebuilding an old barn and sought to add electricity. After some digging he unearthed a floor mosaic only 18 inches beneath the surface, leading to the archeological quest.
Exploratory excavation revealed the walls, and estimates that the structure was three stories tall and over 300 feet long.
Experts also identified a planter Irwin had been using to hold geraniums as an ancient coffin for a child. The dig also uncovered coins, jewelry, animal bones and oyster shells which were brought inland from the British coast, suggesting a family of wealth and influence lived in the villa.
"We've found a whole range of artifacts demonstrating just how luxurious a life that was led by the elite family that would have lived at the villa. It's clearly not your run-of-the-mill domestic settlement. Without question, this is a hugely valuable site in terms of research, with incredible potential. It's one of the best sites I have ever had the chance to work on," Roberts said, adding his non-profit organization likely lacks the funding for a full-scale archaeological investigation.

FedEx employee stows away on cargo flight

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmy) — Sun, 17 Apr 2016 19:54:00 +0000

A FedEx employee accidentally stowed away on a cargo plane after he fell asleep amongst its contents. He was released by airport police Friday. Photo by Mike Fuchslocher/Shutterstock

An unidentified FedEx Express employee reportedly stowed away on a cargo plane traveling from Memphis to Lubbock, Texas after falling asleep among its contents.
The worker is said to have woken up from his snoozing mid-flight Friday before knocking on the pilot's cabin door.
He was not allowed in for safety reasons, but pilots directed the man to sit in an extra seat for landing via telephone, Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport director Kelly Campbell said, according to KCBD news.
After being questioned by Lubbock airport police, the man was not arrested and released to FedEx officials.
"There was no criminal intent," Cambell said, according to Commercial Appeal.
FedEx spokesman Jim Masilak released a statement regarding the incident, saying "there was never any danger to our employees or cargo," and that the company was "fully cooperating with investigating authorities."
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Transportation Security Administration were both notified of the incident.

Fan of Lenovo ? Marshmallow update hits Lenovo A7000

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmy) — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 23:33:00 +0000

Less than a month after the Lenovo K3 Note started receiving it, the Marshmallow update has started rolling out to Lenovo A7000. The update not only brings Android 6.0, but also includes the Android security patch for the month of March.

Weighing in at around 1.3GB, the update is being rolled out over-the-air. So, it may take some time before it hits your device. However, if you are feeling impatient, you can manually check for it by heading to the Settings menu on your device.
Oh, and make sure you have 2GB of free space on your device before downloading and installing the update.

Via

Yes ! ! Android N Developer Preview 2 is out

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmy) — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 23:30:00 +0000

A month or so ago Google surprised the mobile world by launching the first developer preview of Android N way earlier than expected. And now the search giant is pushing out Android N Developer Preview 2 to those who've installed the first one.

While technically this is the third developer preview release for Android N, the second one came immediately after the first and was only meant to fix some bugs.
Today's Android N Developer Preview 2 packs in some new features as well. Apps can define intent shortcuts, which users can then add to their launcher to get stuff done quicker. For example, one such shortcut would let you send a message to a specific contact, or start navigating home in a mapping app.
Emoji Unicode 9 support is baked in too, which means people emoji will look more human. There are also skin tone variations built in, and Unicode 9 glyphs such as bacon, selfie, and face palm.
Certain general API changes have made the cut, as well as bug fixes of course, and a new 3D rendering API called Vulkan should help developers offer "a significant boost in performance for draw-call heavy applications". The full developer-focused details can be found at the Source link below.
If you're already running the Android N Developer Preview, this update will be rolling out to you over-the-air in the following days. Otherwise, if you want to start testing now, just go here and enroll one of your Nexus or Pixel devices in the Android Beta Program. You'll then receive the update shortly (also OTA), no other actions are necessary. Finally, you can download the new release and flash it manually if you're into that type of thing.
Google notes that the Android N Developer Preview is still not ready to be used as a daily driver on your main device, because it's not optimized for performance and battery life.

Source

LG Stylo 2,Galaxy J7, and Kyocera Hydro Reach launch at Boost and Virgin Mobile on Friday

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmy) — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 23:27:00 +0000

This Friday will be a very busy day for Sprint's prepaid brands, Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile. The former will see no less than three new smartphones launching on April 15, while the latter will have to go with two out of three. The trio in question consists of the Samsung Galaxy J7, LG Stylo 2, and Kyocera Hydro Reach.

The Galaxy J7 arriving at Boost and Virgin isn't this year's iteration, instead it looks to be last year's model, but it does have a couple of upgrades compared to the internationally available unit. Namely, it sports 2GB of RAM, and it's also running Android 6.0 Marshmallow right out of the gate.
The J7 also has a 5.5-inch 720p Super AMOLED touchscreen, 16GB of expandable storage, a 13 MP rear camera, a 5 MP selfie cam, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 615 SoC with a 1.4 GHz octa-core Cortex-A53 CPU, and a 3,000 mAh battery. It will be sold by the prepaid carriers for $229.99 plus tax (and obviously sans contract).
The LG Stylo 2 is the successor to the G Stylo from last year. It boasts a 5.7-inch 720p IPS touchscreen, a 13 MP rear camera, a 5 MP selfie snapper, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 410 chipset (with a 1.2 GHz quad-core CPU), 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, and a 3,000 mAh battery. It runs Android Marshmallow and comes with a stylus as its name implies.
The Stylo 2 will be priced at $179.99 plus tax and will arrive at Boost this Friday and at Virgin on May 9.
Finally, the Kyocera Hydro Reach has a 5-inch 540x960 touchscreen, a 5 MP rear camera, a 2 MP front-facing unit, a 1.1 GHz quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of storage, and a 2,160 mAh battery. It runs Android 5.1 Lollipop. Its main claim to fame is the fact that it's water and dust proof. It will cost $99.99 plus tax.

Source

CREO launches its first phone, the Mark 1

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmy) — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 23:23:00 +0000

CREO, a Bangalore, India based startup, has launched its first smartphone in the Indian market, the CREO Mark 1. The Mark 1 is a flagship device for the company, and as such comes with all the hardware bells and whistles, but the main focus for the company is the software.
The phone comes with what the company calls FUEL OS, which is based on Android. It comes with features such as Sense, a universal search engine that can find anything on the phone and can be evoked by a double tap on the home button, Echo, which is a voicemail service of sorts that can work with any carrier,
Retriever, which sends an email to you if another SIM is inserted in your device, smart forwarding to forward calls from one SIM to another one it is unreachable, notification manager, and segregated SMS inbox for messages from people and businesses, with quick reply and copy OTP functions.
But CREO's claim to fame is the 'A New Phone Every Month' initiative, where the company will push out updates to the phone every month that will add functionality to it. And the updates will be based on community feedback and what the users want, and you will be informed of all the changes before you install the update.
Coming to the hardware, the Mark 1 has Gorilla Glass 3 protection on the front and back and a metal frame in Gunmetal Black. On the front is a 5.5-inch QHD display and powering it is a MediaTek Helio X10 with 3GB RAM and 3100mAh battery. The phone also packs a 21 megapixel Sony IMX230 sensor on the back with PDAF, 4K video and 120fps slow-motion capture. On the front is an 8 megapixel shooter with features such as 3D Photos, Live Photo mode, and Beautify.
The company has set up a countrywide service network of 106 centers in 96 cities (set to increase to 300 centers in 150 cities in the coming months) and pick up and drop service in 15 cities. You can also chat with the customer service by typing "CREO Support" in the aforementioned Sense.
The CREO Mark 1 will be available on the company's website and Flipkart for INR 19,999 ($300).

Source

This Controller in Deadly German Train Crash Was Playing Game on Phone: Prosecutors

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmy) — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 23:18:00 +0000

A signal controller at the center of an investigation into a German train crash that killed 11 people admitted on Tuesday to playing a game on his mobile phone while in charge of train traffic on that day, the public prosecutor's office said.

The man was detained on Tuesday after developments in the investigation into the head-on train collision in Bavaria in February, which was Germany's deadliest train crash since 1998.
The prosecutor's office in Traunstein, near the border with Austria, said in a statement that the latest investigation shows that the suspect violated train traffic regulations as his "mobile telephone was switched on in the morning hours of the disaster, an online computer game had been launched and he had actively played over a longer period of time until shortly before the collision of the trains."
"Therefore," the statement added, "the suspect is not only charged with moment's failure," but with "a significantly more serious breach of duty."
The man denied being distracted by the computer game. But the prosecutor's office said the time period in which he was found to be playing the game meant it could be expected that he was not paying attention to a critical traffic intersection.
The controller gave the trains an incorrect signal and then hit the wrong buttons when issuing a distress signal, meaning it was not heard by the train conductors, the prosecutor's office said.
The trains, carrying about 150 people in all, crashed at high speed on a 4-mile stretch of track between the spa town of Bad Aibling and Kolbermoor, near the Austrian border.
The investigation is continuing. No evidence of technical problems has been found to date.

Aerial view of rescue forces working at the site of a train accident near Bad Aibling, Germany, on Feb. 9, 2016. 11 people were killed and about 80 injured when two trains collided head-on. Peter Kneffel / AP

It still hurt like hell when it ended eventhough He wasn't my Boyfriend

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmy) — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 23:15:00 +0000

By Danielle Sepulveres

When my boyfriend broke up with me, he had a friend tell me he was leaving me. Then he told me himself. He asked me to return the necklace he had given as a gift a few months earlier. I shouted. I cried. I said I was going home to flush the necklace down the toilet.
We were 11.

I was upset and confused. But there had never been any confusion about what we were to each other. From the moment we decided we liked each other, I was his girlfriend. In the three years that we were “a couple” — yes, our romance began in third grade — we held hands a lot and I kissed his cheek twice. When we broke up, it was definitive: You were my significant other, and now you’re not.

Adults should not date like they’re 11. But sometimes I think back on that breakup and how everyone expected me to be devastated. (I remember feeling mostly relieved but sobbing like the jilted girl that I was.) The acceptance of how upset I was — which came simply because I had that official “girlfriend” title — made it easier for me to express and embrace it.

As I’ve grown older, I’ve had quite a few “all intents and purposes boyfriends” without the official title. I dated these men for significant amounts of time; they did boyfriend-like things and behaved in boyfriend-like ways. But we never made a genuine commitment or referred to each other with the label. And sometimes that was fine.

But other times there’s an implied casualness that has made me feel as if I’m not allowed to grieve the relationship, or feel broken, when it ends. After all, if he wasn’t my boyfriend, it didn’t make sense to be that upset, right? But even casual relationships, when they go on long enough, become more serious, regardless of the titles attached. Why was I letting a label — or lack thereof — make my feelings seem invalid?

I can think of one guy in particular. One minute I was calmly eating a Mediterranean omelette at brunch, asking the waitress for a second (okay, fourth) mimosa. And the next, my tone of voice was skyrocketing into a barely audible squeak, tears pouring down my face.

“This is so ridiculous,” I choked out. “He wasn’t even my boyfriend. It wasn’t even SERIOUS.”
But it was serious, in a way: We had been in each other’s lives for close to a year and now we wouldn’t be. I had loved him, even though we didn’t say it out loud.
My friends sympathetically nodded, because they, too, know that sometimes emotions trump logic. They know that even when undefined relationships end, and they don’t look like breakups, they often feel like them.

I often try to come up with a word or phrase for what happens when you break up with someone who’s not your boyfriend. When you’ve spent a decent amount of time with someone, that deserves recognition. When you have spent entire days curled around someone in bed debating whether Andy’s boyfriend in “The Devil Wears Prada” is a tool (he is) and why people think stoner jokes are the funniest (they’re not), you’re forming a connection. When you’re sending links all day, every day, to articles because they mention ONE thing we know the other finds interesting, that says you’re thinking about each other even while you’re apart.

[What to feed a broken heart]

When months of time together passed and my non-boyfriend lay his head on my torso one night and said that being with me was his favorite place in the whole world, that was the moment I realized I was in love with him. And that I’d have to “break up” with him.
For me, it was almost worse than when I broke up with a different guy who was definitively my boyfriend. I had to tell my non-boyfriend that I wanted a real commitment. For us not to see other people. Hearing him say he felt everything was fine the way it was prompted me to say, “Okay, well, then I know I can’t do that, so it’s probably best if we’re just friends.” To which he replied, “Danielle, we ARE friends.” And I was forced to hastily add, “Well, friends who don’t see each other naked then!”
Hearing that, to him, we weren’t much more than friends felt like a solid blow to my chest, a pain I felt in my entire body. But I survived.
And it taught me that sometimes, while trying to be progressive or eschew old-fashioned traditions in relationships, I ignored my own emotions. It’s not about needing the girlfriend title, although in that case I realized I wanted it. It’s more about admitting to myself how I’m feeling about another person and not allowing a label (or lack of one) to dictate my emotions after it ends.
Maybe it’s still not worthy of being called a breakup. But I loved him, I ended it, and it still hurt like hell. And that’s allowed.

I bet you didnt know you’re working for Facebook. For free.

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmy) — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 23:06:00 +0000

By Caitlin Dewey

You may think Facebook and Instagram are fun. But you don’t profit from them — Mark Zuckerberg does. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

What do you call a multimillion-dollar, for-profit company that’s run in large part by unpaid or underpaid grunt laborers? A century ago, you might’ve dubbed it robber-barony or sharecropping — if not, you know, outright slavery.
In 2015, though, we call it the social Web: a glorious dystopia where everybody works for likes — as in, “for free” — while a handful of tech tycoons profit.
Never has this been clearer than in the past month, as Reddit — a private company that recently accepted $50 million in venture funding — quelled an uprising among the volunteers who actually run the site: its moderators.
[What will happen to the Internet if Reddit shuts down?]

But insomuch as Reddit relies on digital work to run its business, it is not alone. In fact, that’s basically the elevator pitch of every major Internet institution, from Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to Wikipedia. Even when these sites don’t openly rely on “consumers” to create the content that keeps venture capital, ad revenue or donations pouring in, they’re mining them for other sorts of resources that can be monetized: personal data, structured and aggregate data, clicks.
“Digital labor is like a meeting with free pizza and soda,” quips the new media scholar Trebor Scholz, “but the Stasi is listening in.”
That may seem like a dramatic analogy — the Stasi were, after all, a Cold War-era secret police — but it goes pretty far toward explaining exactly how blurred the lines have become between things we used to consider distinct: things like pizza parties and espionage. Or playing and working.
Uploading a selfie to Facebook, for instance, seems like something we do for fun. But Facebook, the very company that convinced us that online “sharing” was a natural facet of the human condition, uses that selfie to target ads and boost its profits. The same goes for leaving comments on Web sites, where — through a complicated system of display ads and site metrics and tracking cookies — “user” opinions just lead to more money for corporations.
There’s an old Internet truism that warns, “If you’re not paying, you’re the product,” which is almost accurate; it should really warn that, if you’re not paying, you are the product or you’re making it.
Justin Anthony Knapp doesn’t necessarily mind that: With nearly 1.5 million contributions, the 33-year-old Wikipedian is more active on the site than literally anyone else — including members of the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation’s paid staff.
[Wikipedia and the limits of human knowledge]

Every day, Knapp drives his 15-year-old car from Indianapolis’ poorest neighborhood, where he lives, over to a restaurant on the city’s West Side; he delivers pizzas to pay his bills, in between piecemeal work at a grocery store and a crisis hotline.
Every night, Knapp logs onto Wikipedia, where he’s averaged 385 daily edits over the past decade. He thinks he spends a comfortable 20-plus hours a week working on the site now, but he’s had a fair share of 16- or 18-hour days. Arguably, his work plays a large role in the $51 million in donations that Wikipedia scored last year — and also in the staggering $16.5 billion in revenue that Google reported in 2014. (Through its Knowledge Graph, which displays basic factual data and short answers to questions in search, Google leans heavily on Wikipedia’s unpaid editors.)
And yet, though Knapp makes no salary, he claims he’s getting something a lot more valuable: entertainment. Knowledge. The chance to back his values and meet new people.
“I understand that some people want to be paid to do what they love,” he said on the phone from Indianapolis, driving home from his (paid) job. “But when you put a number on the thing you love, it can’t be priceless. If you don’t put a number on it, you assign the value and the meaning to it, yourself — you don’t negotiate that with the market.”
Sociologists call this kind of value “affective currency,” and it’s what keeps many of the social Web’s most prolific unpaid workers in the posting, moderating or editing game. Even when the time commitment becomes incredible — some would say insane — they argue they’re “compensated” accordingly, whether in pleasure or new knowledge or what Scholz calls their “15 megabytes of fame.”
“What’s in it for me?” asked a Reddit moderator who goes by the name Soupy Hands and spends as many as 40 hours a week moderating more than 400 communities. “For one, there’s the feeling of accomplishment that comes with having the power to make a community better.”
For another? “I also enjoy the camaraderie.” Soupy Hands belongs to a network of mods — they run all the wildly popular “SFW” porn Reddits, like r/spaceporn, for space images, and r/foodporn, for food photography — and they oversee their 10 million subscribers pretty collaboratively.

Can something truly be called exploitative, or even labor, if the exploited parties enjoy it? That’s a difficult question and one that theorists haven’t conclusively answered yet.
And still, there’s plenty to suggest that different sorts of labor arrangements would be really good for users and the sites they work on. When people aren’t paid for their work, for instance, the only people who can contribute are the ones who (a) have money from other sources or (b) are overwhelmingly compelled by motivations like power, popularity or revenge. (The writer and tech theorist David Banks has implied this is one of the reasons that Reddit skews so heavily young and male.)
It also sets up a sort of precarious structural imbalance between a site’s corporate management and its class of worker bees: In order to keep them, the site must keep paying out a stream of “affective currency.” But if users stop getting good vibes from the site, or feel as though they’ve been treated badly, there’s no reason for them to continue working. They can, as Redditors did over the July 4 weekend, declare themselves fed up and shut down the site entirely.
“The Reddit incident shows that volunteers who perform all the vital ‘playbor’ are less and less likely to take it much longer,” Scholz said. “They want a slice of the pie or they might form their own platform.”
No one knows what a slice of the pie would look like, or even if editors would take it — particularly on Reddit, where pay-for-play moderation schemes raise a host of suspicions. In a 2014 essay, the Wikipedian and archivist Dorothy Howard proffered one idea: a sort of “Partner Program,” similar to YouTube’s, that compensates super-editors and mods for the role they play in the site’s function. Scholz, the new media scholar, has also advocated a movement called “platform cooperativism,” wherein digital workers self-organize to demand compensation and worker-owned platforms, the same way the traditional labor movement did a century and a half ago.
Should these options fall through, of course, Internet history suggests a litigious alternative: In the late 1990s, AOL’s chatroom moderators sued the company for back wages, claiming the “fun” “opt-in” volunteer work they did constituted an actual job.
Ten years later, AOL paid up: $15 million.

How Facebook wants users to share more about their personal lives

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmy) — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 22:58:00 +0000

By Abby Ohlheiser

(Tobias Schwarz/AFP/Getty Images)

Facebook, like an old “friend” from high school who wants to get coffee and catch up some time, wishes it knew more about your personal life. At least, that’s according to a couple of reports this week outlining a sharp decline in “original,” personal posts from its users, and what Facebook is trying to do to reverse the trend.
According to the Information, sharing across Facebook dropped about 5 percent year over year as of mid-2015. But that includes personal stuff such as engagement announcements, baby pictures or vacation photos as well as links to content that’s already public, such as news articles. And personal sharing has dropped 21 percent year over year, the Information reported.
Facebook’s official statement on the matter emphasizes that “people continue to share a ton on Facebook,” and that “the overall level of sharing has remained not only strong, but similar to levels in prior years.” But it is also clear that the social network would like to do something about that drop in personal sharing. Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has discussed the matter during staff meetings, according to Bloomberg. And internally, employees have borrowed the sociological concept of “context collapse” to describe what’s going on.

[The big myth Facebook needs everyone to believe]

“Context collapse,” basically, refers to the limitless audience of anything you put on the Internet, whether it was intended for a more intimate group of people or not. A joke made among friends might not play well in front of the entire world. Facebook believes that its users are increasingly aware that a post on Facebook meant for personal friends might not stay among personal friends, even if privacy settings limit its intended audience. That’s especially true lately, because quite a few Facebook users now have plenty of “friends” online from different stages of their lives, people they haven’t actually interacted with in years.
So what’s Facebook trying to do about this? Nostalgia mining, for one thing. Facebook started reanimating old posts and placing them on people’s news feeds about a year ago as part of its On This Day feature, which encourages users to then re-share those memories with their friends. The feature was tweaked in October to prevent it from automatically reminding its users of bad memories — a photograph of someone who recently died, for instance or of the aftermath of a house fire. More recently, Facebook has started to aggressively encourage the longtime practice of wishing friends a happy birthday on their timelines.
There are a few reasons why Facebook might not be willing to accept that its users are more comfortable sharing news articles or other public information than they are personal details about themselves. The Information’s analysis suggests that although a decline in personal posts isn’t an immediate threat to the site, a continuation of that trend could be bad news. If people stop sharing interesting things on Facebook — the sorts of things that don’t already exist elsewhere on the Internet, such as news articles — its users will have fewer reasons to check in.
That’s why it’s probably no coincidence Facebook decided to go so big with its rollout this week of a new live video broadcasting feature, now available to all of its users. If people are less interested in sharing text and photo updates about the details of their personal lives on Facebook, maybe the novelty of a live broadcast will bring them back into the oversharing fold.

‘hidden’ Facebook messages folder really disappointing

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmy) — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 22:49:00 +0000

It appears that Facebook users have found another "hidden" messages folder, which is designed specifically to screen out messages from people who aren't your friends.
It's essentially the spam folder for your Facebook messages. For example, when I went into my own account to check it out — and make the sweet GIF you see below — all I found were unsolicited messages, probably from bots, which were saying some variant of "hey beuaty [sic] full." In other words, I wasn't missing much; you may not be either.
To find the so-called "hidden" Facebook messages folder on the iOS app, you actually do have to do quite a lot. First, you have to go into the Settings menu, then hit the "People" option. From there, head to "Message Requests" and then you should see an option for "Filtered Messages." Or check the aforementioned sweet GIF below:
It's definitely true that finding this menu isn't easy. In fact, I couldn't actually find the folder in the Android app, but others have reported that it may depend on which version of the app you have. You can also access it on the Web, by logging into your account, clicking on the Messages icon in the top menu bar, and then hitting the "Message Requests" tab. "See Filtered Requests" should be an option there.
Facebook has likely hidden the folder to keep spam from inundating your inbox, and to prioritize messages from your actual friends. That's likely a good thing for most users. Still, any filtered messages are yours, and you may want to see them — particularly if you were expecting a message from someone and never received it. Those who use their Facebook accounts for business are probably the most likely to find something useful (or infuriatingly late) in their message inboxes, since they're far more likely to get messages from users who aren't friends.

By Hayley Tsukayama
Washingtonpost

The basics you need to know about HTC’s new phone

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmy) — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 22:41:00 +0000

HTC showed off a new phone Tuesday that it hopes will help it break out from the pack of Android smartphones on the market. The HTC 10, named to honor the number of years the Taiwanese company has made its own branded smartphones, is a 5.2-inch premium phone with a focus on high-end audio and camera features.
It's been interesting to watch HTC's product strategy over the past couple of years. As Apple and Samsung have eaten up the majority of market share and mind share, the firm has tried to find its niche by focusing its product line more tightly — putting its effort into very few products, such as a premium smartphone and its recently released virtual-reality headset. So how does the HTC 10 stack up to the competition? A full opinion will follow once review units are sent out, but HTC's announcement gives us the basics.
Distinguishing features: The main distinct selling points for the HTC 10 are its speakers and camera. HTC has a long history of thinking carefully about audio on its phones — it used to have a partnership with Beats back in the day. The company has put a front-facing tweeter and a bottom-facing woofer on the phone to give the sound a greater depth. It also says it has improved the quality of its headphone sound, promising to "pump out richer sound across twice the frequency range."
The firm is also heavily promoting its advanced 12 megapixel camera, bragging that it "may well be the best smartphone camera available today." That claim will have to hold up to some scrutiny, but the firm has included image-stabilizing software on both the rear- and front-facing cameras, for better traditional photos and better selfies. HTC also boasts that its camera does well in low light and can shoot 4K video.

[How LG’s G5 compares to its closest competitors]

Hardware: The 5.2-inch smartphone has the same high-end processor found in competitors, such as the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, and 4 GB of RAM. It also comes with 32 GB of storage and supports expandable memory up to 2 TB. The company is touting the phone's battery life, promising that the HTC 10 will be able to last for at least two days on a single charge.
In terms of its screen, HTC is using what it calls a "Super LED" screen covered in tough Gorilla Glass, promising a display that will show off photos and videos with flair. It also has a fingerprint reader.

Hardware design has always been a strong point for HTC, and the company seems to have returned to form with this latest model, which has more in common with the look of its HTC One and HTC One M8 models, rather than the iPhone-like touches of its immediate predecessor, the M9. The metal-bodied phone comes only in silver and dark gray — not the rose gold or gold options of its competitors — but its attractive curved back and slanting edges give it a pretty unique profile.

[HTC’s new phone addresses all your major Android gripes. But will anyone buy it?]

Software: The HTC 10 will ship with Android Marshmallow, Google's latest operating system, and has taken pains to cut down on app bloat by preinstalling fewer apps. The layout is designed to be more customizable, meaning that users can choose their own icons and place them where they wish. Rather than the traditional grid, HTC said in a news release, "instead you can get creative by dragging icons, stickers and widgets anywhere you like. Layer them, group them, link stickers to apps or get rid of screen icons altogether, the choice is yours."
A hands-on article from PC World notes that HTC has ditched its own calendar app in favor of Google's and doesn't have its own Gallery app. Instead, it uses Google Photos. While some of the duplicate apps have been eliminated, the article said, there are still some duplicate apps, such as for text messaging.
Price: The HTC 10 has a recommended price of $699; pricing plans at carriers may vary. Preorders start Tuesday, and the phone will be on shelves in early May, the company says.