Alibaba develops Smart TV OS, will use it to sell you things

As much as we enjoyed the decade we spent vegging out in front of the shopping channel, we had hoped that the internet had put such days behind us. Not so, thanks to Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, which has developed its own Smart TV OS, separate to Aliyun, in the hope of pumping even more cash out of our wallets. Developed in collaboration with Wasu Media, the duo will launch a set-top box later in the year, and are in talks with companies like Cisco, Haier and Allwinner to produce compatible devices. While customers will be able to use smartphones to stream media and control their TVs, they'll probably be strong-armed into buying apps, shopping at the Alibaba-owned Juhuasuan and even making utility payments via the company's Alipay platform. Looks like we've got no choice but to finally buy that noiseless karaoke microphone we've been avoiding all these years.

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Kennebec Valley Humane Society Asking for Support - WABI TV5

Augusta - The Kennebec Valley Humane Society is dealing with more cats than usual.

Monday morning, 25 cats were brought to them within just three hours of opening their doors.

Their director tells us that summer is their busiest time of year and they're in critical need of support.

From now until September, they're waiving adoption fees for adult cats.

They're also asking for money and supplies to care for those who don't get adopted.
To help, call KVHS at 626-3491, or find them online at pethavenlane.org.

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Source: http://www.wabi.tv/news/41883/kennebec-valley-humane-society-asking-for-support

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You Won't Believe How Smart Dumphones Actually Are

In spite of iOS and Android's quest towards world domination, it's easy for us overprivileged first-world residents to forget that the spread of the smartphone doesn't affect everyone. In fact, only half of all mobile phones shipped in 2013 are expected to be smartphones. The rest are the slower, clunkier, and exponentially cheaper devices officially known as feature phones but more commonly dismissed as dumbphones. Careful, though. They're smarter than you think.

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Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/MgmSXVQz2kw/you-wont-believe-how-smart-dumphones-actually-are-867873092

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Pope fears lost generation of young unemployed

By Philip Pullella

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (Reuters) - Pope Francis said on Monday the world risks losing a generation of young people to unemployment and called for a more inclusive culture, as he headed to Brazil on his first trip outside Italy.

Speaking to journalists on board his plane, Francis expressed concern about how many young people have no jobs and condemned a "disposable" culture which also hurt the elderly.

"The world crisis is not treating young people well ... We are running the risk of having a generation that does not work. From work comes a person's dignity," Francis said in prepared remarks to the papal press corps.

Although the Argentine pope's Latin America is a stronghold of the Church, Protestant faiths have made inroads and more materialist urban populations have eclipsed the rural populace where Catholicism first took root.

Francis, who succeeded Benedict XVI five months ago, will spend a week in Brazil for World Youth Day at a time when many young people in the world's largest Roman Catholic country have been joined mass protests over economic inequalities.

"Young people at the moment are in crisis," the pontiff said. "We have all become accustomed to this disposable culture. We do the same thing with the elderly, but with all these people out of work even they are afflicted by a culture where everything is disposable. We have to stop this habit of throwing things away. We need a culture of inclusion."

Youth unemployment in developed economies is so severe it has prompted the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development to call for more government intervention, possibly including paying companies to hire. Youth unemployment rates in Greece and Spain are near 60 percent.

The biennial World Youth Day is expected to draw more than a million visitors to Rio de Janeiro and nearby sites.

Francis said young people must not be isolated. "When we isolate the young ... we strip them of the possibility of belonging and the young have to belong."

He added: "But even at the other extreme of life the elderly are also the future of a people."

Since being elected, the new pope has repeatedly emphasized that he wants a humbler church and has shunned the Vatican's traditional pomp. He will stay in Brazil in a room similar to those used by other priests rather than the big suite organizers had prepared.

Francis has set up special commissions to reform both the scandal-hit Vatican bank and the troubled central Church bureaucracy.

On the plane he declared: "We need to make an effort to bring everyone into society, this is the sense I want to bring to this trip."

(Writing by Barry Moody; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pope-fears-lost-generation-young-unemployed-130829446.html

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Google Now question

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To use Google now from an app I swipe up and go to Google now and I have to click the search icon to start talking. Is there a way to set it where I swipe up from home that it automatically starts the voice search?

Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

Source: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2372756&goto=newpost

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Comic-Con: ?Community?

by Perry Michael Simon on July 21, 2013

The panel was called ?Community: Celebrating the Fans,? but the Comic-Con Hall H event on Sunday was a mutual love-fest, with Dan Harmon back at the helm for the show?s fifth season and on the panel with Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, Yvette Nicole Brown, Alison Brie, Jim Rash, and Ken Jeong as well as his fellow Executive Producer Chris McKenna.

Taking the stage in an Iron Man costume, Harmon gave a speech crediting fans for saving the show, followed by Joel McHale on video advising fans to tweet with the hashtag #sixseaonsandamovie and introducing moderator Chris Hardwick (?the man who couldn?t make Web Soup work?). Harmon said that he is feeling ?new levels of anxiety that will trickle into the show? Nobody wants to not fail more than me at this point? and added that he is not treating the next 13 episodes as the show?s last. He said that the new season will include an animated episode. Jacobs added that the uncertainty surrounding the show ?is all I know.?

The panelists talked about fan interaction (Brown hailing seeing her first Shirley cosplay, Jeong noting that on a trip to Toronto to promote The Hangover Part 3, he got more reaction for his TV character than for the movie), the writing process (Harmon said that the writers? room has changed with all episodes being broken in advance, although scripts have not been completed), the inspiration for the characters, favorite sets, and Harmon?s epic insecurity (leading to Hardwick leading the audience in a call of ?We love you, Dan!?), plus appearances by writer and portrayer of ?Starburns? Dino Stamatopoulos and someone dressed in a Greendale Human Being mascot costume. And Harmon said that another Dungeons and Dragons episode is in the works.

The show is entering syndication this Fall, launching on stations across the country as well as weekly on Comedy Central.

Source: http://www.nerdist.com/2013/07/comic-con-community/

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Roller coaster death at Six Flags Over Texas Under Investigation

A spokesperson for the park confirmed that the woman died while riding the Texas Giant roller coaster, but would not conform how she died. Witnesses however, told local news media that the woman tumbled over the side of the car, and screamed as the coaster made a sudden maneuver.

?Our thoughts and prayers are with the family. The investigation into the death at Texas Giant is still ongoing. We are working closely with authorities to determine the cause of the accident. The ride will remain closed. In addition, we have canceled the concert that was scheduled for today.?

According to the Dallas Morning News, other passengers on the ride were hysterical as they waited to disembark

John Putman told USA Today that he was in line awaiting his turn on the ride when the car from which the woman fell returned to the ground. Putman said a man and woman got out.

?They were screaming, ?My mom! My mom! Let us out, we need to go get her!? ? Putman said.

?She goes up like this. Then when it drops to come down, that?s when it (the safety bar) released and she just tumbled,? Carmen Brown of Arlington told The Dallas Morning News. Brown said she was waiting in line to get on the ride when the accident happened. She witnessed the woman being strapped into the ride.

?They didn?t secure her right. One of the employees from the park ? one of the ladies ? she asked her to click her more than once, and they were like, ?As long you heard it click, you?re OK.? Everybody else is like, ?Click, click, click.?? Brown told the newspaper.

?Hers only clicked once. Hers was the only one that went down once, and she didn?t feel safe, but they let her still get on the ride,? Brown said.

The ride, The New Texas Giant, won The Golden Ticket Award for best new ride of 2011 by Amusement Today magazine. It reaches 4 stories high and can carry up to 24 riders. It opened in 1990 as an all-wooden coaster and underwent renovation in 2010 to install steel hybrid rails.

The park clarified that the investigation is ?internal? and no other park attractions will be closed because of the accident.

Friday?s accident marked the second guest fatality since the park opened in 1961. The park?s first fatality happened in 1999. A 28-year-old Arkansas woman drowned and 10 other passengers were injured when a raft-like boat on the Roaring Rapids ride overturned in 2 to 3 feet (60 to 90 centimetres) of water.

New Texas Giant REAL POV Six Flags Over Texas Roller Coaster

Source:

Witness: Six Flags coaster victim concerned about seat

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/07/19/women-dies-six-flags/2570527/

Texas Giant to remain closed as Six Flags investigates woman?s fall

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/metro/20130719-woman-falls-to-her-death-from-six-flags-texas-giant-roller-coaster.ece

Woman killed riding Texas Giant roller coaster at Six Flags

http://www.thespec.com/news-story/3902686-woman-killed-riding-texas-giant-roller-coaster-at-six-flags/

Source: http://www.dbtechno.com/curiosity/2013/07/20/roller-coaster-death-at-six-flags-over-texas-under-investigation/

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