'Idol' shows its mean side in season premiere

By Craig Berman, TODAY contributor

FOX

Despite having a nice voice and an inspiring story, Evan Ruggiero did not get a ticket to Hollywood.

?American Idol? made its season 12 debut on Wednesday, and as expected, the judges took center stage. Fox is paying Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban a lot of money, so it makes sense that the first few minutes would be spent making sure we all knew what big stars they are.

But after the introductions and the obligatory crowd shots, once hopefuls actually got down to auditioning, the audience found something else was different this year: There was more casual meanness on Wednesday than in years past, in a sneaky kind of way, as if ?Idol? were sending a message to its viewers.

Take Evan Ruggiero, for example. He was an inspiration, a cancer survivor who lost his leg to the disease but still has a perfectly nice voice, can play the guitar and sounds like a showman. He was a shoo-in to make it to Hollywood ? except that?s not what happened. He got no votes at all ? all four said they were inspired by him, but that doesn?t pay for the flight to California. Is the show that desperate to avoid a sixth straight guy-with-a-guitar champion?

Strange.

Not quite as strange as the editing surrounding Brett Holt?s audition, however. The clips made it sound like he was one of the best voices ever and a unanimous pick to go through ... except that that was all a trick and he actually wasn?t good at all and got cut. What was the point of that?

One new wrinkle for ?Idol? this season is that the show is going beyond the audition cities to seek talent. Randy Jackson went all the way to Staten Island (which may not seem far from New York City, unless you?re in a car during rush hour) to hear 19-year-old Jessica Kartalis after she was nominated by her mother. He gave her a pass to sing in front of the judges. Doesn?t that seem like a guaranteed golden ticket?

It wasn?t. Four more no votes. Thanks for nothing, Mom!

"Idol" also presented not one but two auditioners with heavy accents who failed to make it through: James Bae and Albert Chang. Plus William Hung got a shout-out later in the show.

And yes, there was sniping between Mariah and Nicki, but nothing too crazy ? just disputes over hats and ?Mean Girls? lines and British accents. It?s the amuse bouche for the drama that by all accounts is coming later.

?Idol? did spend some time on singers we?ll be sure to hear again in Hollywood and perhaps beyond. Sarah Restuccio, for example, made it through with a country song, then cemented her status as an early favorite by performing Nicki's ?Super Bass.? Changing the lyrics to ?you all drink Coke? also indicates she has a keen grasp of the product placement forces that drive the show. Plus, based on her background clips, Sarah can shoot a bow and arrow, so if one of the twists this season is a ?Hunger Games? type of event, she?s a good bet to go far.

Subway busker Frankie Ford advanced based on sheer force of personality as much as anything else. Ashlee Feliciano did a nice job closing the show and introducing her family, who fosters and adopts "medically complex" children. And while it?s hard to see Gurpreet Singh Sarin ? ?The Turbanator? ? going far, at least he?ll get another chance to coordinate his outfits at the next stage of the competition. (Or "Idol" will digitally enhance his duds, as the show did with his turban.)

Viewers also got some trivia. For example, now we all know there?s a Camp Mariah, named after Mariah Carey. It serves nearly 300 New York City teenagers each summer in Fishkill, N.Y., and is a career awareness camp rather than a singing academy. Apparently, the career guidance hopeful?Tenna Torres?received was ?make music,? because the Camp Mariah alum was the first to get her ticket to Hollywood.

We also found out that Mariah Carey is very good about making everything about Mariah Carey. Hard to believe that that would inspire conflict, but based on the preview clips, we?ll see a lot of that Thursday during the Chicago auditions.

What did you think of the season premiere? Did you agree with the judges on who to give Hollywood tickets to? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page!

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Source: http://theclicker.today.com/_news/2013/01/16/16553921-american-idol-shows-its-mean-side-in-season-12-premiere?lite

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Stuart Scott Reveals Cancer Has Returned

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/01/stuart-scott-reveals-cancer-has-returned/

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Helicopter crashes into crane on London tower, kills two

LONDON (Reuters) - A helicopter crashed into a crane on top of one of Europe's tallest residential blocks on Wednesday, killing two people as it burst into flames and threw plumes of smoke into the foggy air above central London.

Police said there was nothing to suggest a terrorism link to the crash on the south bank of the River Thames in the British capital, where 52 commuters were killed in rush hour suicide bombings in 2005.

"There was a really loud bang," said Julie Marsden, who works in an office building near the crash site which is close to landmarks such as the headquarters of Britain's MI6 international intelligence agency and the Houses of Parliament.

"We saw the crane fall to the ground and this massive plume of black smoke," Marsden told Reuters.

Witnesses said the helicopter hit the crane on top of the as yet unoccupied 185-metre (200-yard) high cylindrical block - The Tower, One St George Wharf - span out of control, fell to the ground and burst into flames, setting nearby buildings alight.

There was wreckage and debris strewn across roads close to Vauxhall train station, a major transport hub on the south side of London, which was packed with thousands of commuters at the time of the incident shortly after 0800 GMT.

A Reuters reporter at the scene said tangled bits of crane could be seen hanging off the side of the tower, the top of which was still shrouded by low cloud an hour after the crash.

Police Commander Neil Basu said the helicopter was on a commercial flight from Redhill, south of the capital, to Elstree, home to famous British film studios in north London, but had been diverted to a heliport near the crash site.

He said there were 11 casualties including two dead and one critically injured. The emergency services said the pilot was one of those killed and it was not thought anyone else was on board. The other fatality was found near the wreckage and the fire service said it had rescued a man from a burning car.

The helicopter involved was an Italian-made AgustaWestland 109, the company's best selling VIP corporate helicopter, according to a source familiar with the situation. The twin-engined helicopter can carry eight passengers.

OUT OF CONTROL

Rezart Islami, 27, a construction worker from Kosovo who had been on a nearby site, said he saw the helicopter flying fast up the river before it smashed into the crane which then fell and hit two cars.

"I was shocked, it was spinning around and lost control," he told Reuters.

Another witness, Edmir Pishtar, who was in a van outside the building site, said he saw half the crane crash down and cut into two cars on the road. He later spoke to the operator who was about to get inside the crane cab.

"He was literally shaking because he was getting ready to climb into the crane and he was late," Pishtar said.

The Tower, One St George Wharf, is described on its website as the epitome of luxury London living, with 360-degree views across the capital and over the Houses of Parliament.

Builder Brookfield Multiplex said the tower, which is not occupied and is under construction, has 52 floors and houses 212 luxury apartments. Media reports in recent years have suggested the Penthouse apartments could go for as much as 50 million pounds ($80 million).

"Fortunately for us we have done a full headcount and there are no injuries or fatalities among anyone on the site," said Tony Pidgley, chairman of the tower's developer Berkeley Group.

"The crane driver normally starts at eight o'clock but unusually, today of all days, was late."

He said it was too early to speculate on the cause of the crash but helicopters should normally fly 500 feet (150 metres)above tall structures.

Police were questioning witnesses in the area and dozens of emergency vehicles were in attendance, Reuters reporters said. Roads around the area including a route over the Thames were closed off, and bus and rail services were affected.

"There's nothing to suggest any terrorism link," a spokesman for London's Counter Terrorism Command said. The fire service said eight fire engines and 60 firefighters were on the scene.

Helicopters in London are generally supposed to fly along the River Thames but London City Airport said its flights had been disrupted due to low visibility.

The Department of Transport's crash investigation unit said it was preparing the launch an inquiry into the incident.

(Additional reporting by Kate Holton, Paul Sandle, Tom Bill, Louise Ireland and Rhys Jones; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge and Michael Holden; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/helicopter-crashes-near-rail-station-london-bbc-082932342.html

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Microsoft Surface gains Windows 8 market share, should OEMs be worried?

Adduplex have given us a glimpse of their market share number gathered by their Windows 8 Store ad network. The numbers reveal, somewhat counter intuitively, that the Microsoft Surface has increased its share of the Windows 8 market, from 6% a month ago to 7.6% this month?.

Read more at Microsoft News

0

About Microsoft News

As the battle of ecosystems intensify, we can no longer use a company's phone OS without knowing about the rest of its services. Microsoft-News.com aims to bring news of Microsoft's latest moves to remain relevant in the Post-PC world.

Source: http://wmpoweruser.com/microsoft-surface-gains-windows-8-market-share-should-oems-be-worried/

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Glenn Beck Rejected in Bid to Buy Current TV; Al Jazeera Purchases Network Instead

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/01/glenn-beck-rejected-in-bid-to-buy-current-tv-al-jazeera-purchase/

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Use These Tips When Buying Your Home | The White Cube Real ...

There never existed a better time in our economy to buy Louisville Ky real estate. This is a great market to buy into right now, as the rates are low and the required investment is small. The advice here can help you understand more about the most important factors in finding the best Louisville Ky real estate purchase.

If you are looking at buying Louisville Ky real estate as an investment opportunity, it is a good idea to look into properties that will require some work. The good thing is that you will get a good profit from your investment when you repair a fixer. Often you will make quite a bit more than the cost of the repairs.

Do your research to find out about potential properties and how much you can charge for rent. If you are searching for a rental property investment, then a number of essential considerations need to be accounted for in your hunt. Sustainability is important. The property should be in good condition. You should look at the bare bones of a house: the roof should be in good repair, the floors should be level, the plumbing and electrical should be in good working order. Also, when you make an offer on a house it should be contingent upon approval of a home inspection. The second aspect to consider when purchasing is the location. Where the property is located should be a critical part of your decision, because it will be for your tenants. You want to have a rental property located near centers of activity, such as popular retailers, restaurants and other service providers for your future tenants. Lastly, average income in the area is also important. An area with higher income is preferable to those with a lower, average income. Residents in high rent areas may not be as concerned about the precise location as residents in communities that demand a lower rent.

Find a trustworthy partner to work with when buying a large and expensive commercial property. This can help you qualify for a better loan in order to purchase the property. Having a partner gives you an extra person to help pay the necessary down payment and any needed credit in order to be qualified for a loan.

TIP! If you want to buy a house, make time to take its measurements. Ensure that the square foot measurements on the owners? listing matches the number you calculate.

Those who are wise and jump into this swirling market should follow the above article closely. It will help you avoid trouble and walk away with Louisville real estate that is under-priced and growing constantly in value. The key is to purchase the property and hold until the time is right before you make your big move.

For more real estate info, please visit www.GregFly.com or http://www.gregfly.com/louisville-home-sellers/louisville-expired-listings/.

Source: http://thewhitecube.info/use-these-tips-when-buying-your-home

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Equity Markets Still Look Attractive in 2013: UBS's ... - Yahoo! Finance

Hope springs eternal among most stock strategists and Jeremy Zirin, chief equity strategist at UBS Wealth Management, is no exception. Zirin expects moderate gains in stocks this year and says the market will "continue to grind higher as the economy starts to improve."

There are increasing signs that the economy is improving. The four-week moving average for initial unemployment claims has fallen to its lowest level since March 2008 and the housing market continues to gain momentum. Home prices and new home sales recently posted their biggest gains in 2.5 years and builder confidence has risen to its highest level in more than 6.5 years.

Zirin forecasts GDP growth of 2% to 2.5% this year. Growth will accelerate as Washington adopts new fiscal policies, says Zirin.

?The consumer, which is 70% of the U.S. economy, has been very resilient in the face of policy uncertainty but business investment has lagged,? Zirin notes.

Zirin forecasts a 1,540 rolling 12-month target for the S&P 500 in 2013 based on ?fairly robust? earnings growth and relatively low equity valuations. Stocks are relatively cheap with the S&P 500 trading at 12.7x forward earnings versus the long-term average of 14.5, says Zirin.

Related: Stocks are the Only Asset Class to Own: Josh Brown

?For investors looking to preserve purchasing power down the road, equity markets?.still look very attractive,? says Zirin. ?The spread between the earnings yield of equities -- the inverse of the price earnings multiple, of around 6%-7%--and the very low or negative real yield of fixed income securities is at the widest it?s been in two decades.?

Zirin favors dividend growth stocks which he says carry less overall market risk, generate income and have more potential for dividend growth than current high-yielding dividend stocks. More specifically he favors dividend growth stocks in consumer staples, industrials, health care and technology.

?Lots of established mature tech stocks have tremendously strong balance sheets with tons of cash,? he says.

Related: Forget Stocks? Shilling's Backing Bonds for 2013

Some of that cash, however, remains overseas because of current tax policies. If those policies change to allow repatriation of that cash at lower tax rates that ?could lead to a pretty strong boom in repurchases and dividend increases from the tech sector,? says Zirin.

Tell Us What You Think!

Do you agree with Jeremy that stocks are headed higher? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Got a topic you?d like covered? Have a guest you?d like to see interviewed? Send us an email at thedailyticker@yahoo.com

You can also look us up on Twitter and Facebook.

Source: http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/equity-markets-still-look-attractive-2013-ubs-zirin-130556584.html

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Google Glass features 'still in flux', no plans to display advertising on device

It's been a few months since we heard anything new about Google Glass -- fortunately, IEEE Spectrum has managed get a few questions answered by the project's lead, Babak Parviz. While noting that Google Now could be "very compelling" on the new hardware, he stopped short of saying that it would make an outing on the headset. There will, however, be a cloud-based API, which Parviz hopes will help to maintain a consistent user experience -- it's already been used to build both the email and calendar functions on Glass. Perhaps more importantly, when asked whether Google Glass would display advertising to its users, the project lead said that there were no plans for ads on the device. Google's keeping it vague with a precise feature list, but hardware-wise, Parviz says that the team is aiming for the headwear to last a full day on a single charge, with work still underway on head gestures -- still likely to be the least subtle input option alongside the (now patented) trackpad and voice commands. He added that the product is still on track to ship to those early 'explorers' early this year -- we're already polishing our glass block in anticipation.

Filed under: Wearables, Google

Comments

Via: PhoneArena

Source: IEEE Spectrum

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/mSLLJC8S-lQ/

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Nanaimo Concerts | Music, Sports | Recreation | New Years Eve at ...

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Monday, December 31st, 2012
8:00 PM to 3:00 AM

What a better way to ring in 2013 than a party at The Queens with Toy Zebra.
The female duo DJS; The Mewws will be making sure that you're still dancing in between band breaks. Get ready to dance the night away!

There will be party hats and a balloon drop at Midnight

There will be FREE appetizers all night long and FREE Champagne at Midnight.

Source: http://www.harbourliving.ca/event/new-years-eve-at-the-queens-wtoy-zebra/

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SlickPic

In 2010, the nascent SlickPic service took as its mission to improve on what was available in the Web photo sharing space. With Facebook and Instagram's domination of casual photo-sharing and Flickr's deep tools for image organizing and broad photography community, that's a tall order. SlickPic does offer more for your photos than you get in Facebook, but let's dig into the service to see whether they succeeded in topping the major photo-specific sites.

Setup and Signup
SlickPic's signup page claims that it offers the "most generous free photo sharing accounts on the Web." This could be construed as true, up to a point. The service does offer uploads unlimited in number, but not in quality?free-account photos will be shrunk to 1600x1200 if the uploaded image is larger, and the maximum file size is 10MB?not much in this day of DSLRs. And like some online backup services, the "unlimited" storage is qualified by the rubric "Subject to Terms of Use and assumes normal data usage." All of which mean it's not really unlimited.

Once you move up to the $24.95-a-year Plus account level, your photo size limit is upped to 2560x1600, and your file size limit goes up to 15MB per image. But at the same price point, Flickr gives you unqualified unlimited uploading, with a maximum file size limit of 50MB.

You can sign up with your Facebook or Google account to save yourself some data entry. Failing that, you just need a name and email account to get in. An activation link in said email account gets you started with the service.

Interface
One interface peeve I have with this service shows up every time you navigate to the root Web address: You're taken to the promotional main service page, rather than to your own photo stream as you are in most photo sites. Once you get past this page, the design is quite clear and explanatory. A search box at the top lets you find photos by title or keyword, or find other photographers. Site mode options appear next to this?My Home, My Organizer, My Gallery, and My Account. A big orange Upload button is the most prominent thing on your home page. Below this are your usage stats, including page views, comments, and "credits."

A distinguishing feature of SlickPic, these credits let you submit photos for enhancement by pros. Unlike most popular photo sites, SlickPic has virtually no online tools for photo editing?not even brightness or cropping. I started out with 5 free credits in my account, and different levels of photo enhancement cost from 1 for standard edit to 39 credits for photo restoration. When you submit a photo, you can choose a color setting?warmer, original, monochrome, or designer's choice. The service only edits a copy of your photo, so you won't lose the original. I tried three 1-credit standard enhancements. After five days, I still hadn't received the edited photo, so don't expect instant response. If we find that the results are spectacular, we'll update this review and adjust the rating, but the site's lack of any do-it-yourself photo editing tools is a serious flaw.

Uploading photos is a key activity in any photo hosting and sharing site. With SlickPic, you need to create or choose an Album before you can do so. You can select multiple files for upload, and thumbnails appear very rapidly once you start. But there's no drag-and-drop uploading on the site, as is available with Flickr's Uploadr page. A more streamlined way to upload is using one of the service's plugins for software; these are available for Adobe Lightroom, Windows Photo Gallery, Apple Aperture, and iPhoto. A final way to upload photos to your account is via email; the service can generate a long complicated email address for this.

Organizing Photos
You either create a new album for your upload, or add to an existing one. There's no simply adding to your photo stream. You can't apply keyword tags or titles during upload. Once your photos are uploaded, you'll be in My Organizer mode, where you can share, move, copy, and add photos to your enhancement order. Hovering the mouse over a photo thumbnail lets you change its title, rotate it, star it, and add it to a Quick Collection, but I'd also like to see the opportunity to add keywords at this point. Collections are simply ways to group photos from different galleries in one presentation.

Clicking on the photo opens its photo page, where you can indeed finally apply a description and keyword tags in the left sidebar. Helpfully, some keywords were applied automatically based on EXIF and keywording in other apps. A couple of very useful kinds of organizing are completely missing from SlickPic, however?People tagging and geo-tagging.

The gallery view is attractive enough, though free accounts get an unlovely ad bar just above their galleries. Inside a gallery, you have several display options: one large photo, squares, highlights?with one large photo and a side group for switching among pics, wallpaper which jams photos up against each other, and Journal, which looks like blog entries.? The background is pleasingly dark, but eight buttons for social sharing below each add clutter. You can dismiss these by hovering the mouse over the light-gray text "Photo Only," if you find it. I did like the I button, which displays EXIF data such as camera model, lens, and exposure settings. Next to this, the heart and comment buttons allow feedback.

Slickpic's Slideshow view, however, is not full screen, which is a fairly big minus, since nearly all the major photo sites offer this. At least you can set the time in seconds that photos will display.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/bA-oK7RnKDc/0,2817,2413725,00.asp

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Ways To Perform Self-Hypnosis | Life Coach, Business - Career ...

By Administrator on Dec 31, 2012 in Self Improvement

Self hypnosis can be equally as effective as employing a regular hypnotist, as long as you understand what to do.

The smart way to perform self hypnosis is to record your session and play it back to yourself. This means that you can drift into trance without the angst of forgetting your words or any of the other distractions that can cause.

In fact , listening to your own voice as the hypnotist can sometimes be one of the most highly effective kinds of hypnosis. Of course , you've been listening to your own voice for ages so you are able to cope with your accent and understand what you are saying to yourself in the script you're reading.

Find or purchase a hypnosis script that you?re comfy with. You can find masses of these online for free or cheap and there are hypnosis scripts for near enough every situation you can think about.

The mic that comes with your portable computer or webcam could be satisfactory. Experiment and discover. If not, you can get high quality mikes for a few bucks from places like eBay or Amazon.

You might want some background music as well to help with the hypnotic experience. If the recording is purely for your own use, you should be able to choose near enough any track from your collection. If you plan on selling the track to others nevertheless , then you will need to utilize a royalty payment-free track. Again, these can be picked up easily online.

Ultimately, you will wish to mix the music background and your reading of the script together. Whilst Windows does come with some recording software, it's not particularly good at doing this type of thing. Instead , search for an audio program called Audacity. It?s available free and is the one of best recording software applications I've come across. Use it to mix your final track before you burn it to CD or copy it to your iPod.

Rick Smith is a Consulting Hypnotist with MindRelease Hypnosis London who help individual how make your self hypnosis better.

Source: http://www.mylife-coach.net/6767/ways-to-perform-self-hypnosis/

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