Kim and Kanye are engaged!

Kanye West and Kim Kardashian are engaged!
He did the asking in grand fashion, reports E! News. (Would you expect anything less?)
On Monday, on Kim's 33rd birthday, in front of friends and family, Kanye flashed "PLEEEASE MARRY MEEE!!!" up on the big screen at AT&T Park in San Francisco, reports Us Weekly.
He got down on one knee and proposed with a 15-carat diamond ring by celebrity jeweler Lorraine Schwartz. A 50-piece orchestra played Lana Del Rey's Young and Beautiful, followed by Keri Hilson, Ne-Yo and Kanye's Knock You Down, reports E!.
Kim's hairstylist Clyde Haygood was on hand to snap and share a pic of Kim flashing her new bling. "Guess what just happened!! #kimye"
Sister Khloe seemed to be weighing in on Twitter as she wrote: "Wow!!!!! Am I dreaming??!?!" and followed it with: "Tears of JOY!!!!!!! Wow!!!!!!"
In June, Kim and Kany welcomed baby daughter North.
In the February issue of Cosmopolitan Kim said, "[Marriage] is something I know that we both want in our future, but I don't have this sense of urgency about it."
This will be the third marriage for Kardashian, who filed for divorce from basketball star Kris Humphries in 2011 after just 72 days as husband and wife.

Read More : http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2013/10/22/kanye-west-kim-kardashian-engaged/3147997/

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40% Of YouTube Traffic Now Mobile, Up From 25% In 2012, 6% In 2011

It’s hard to get people to concentrate long on anything on their phones and tablets, yet YouTube seems to be the exception. The video service is quickly going mobile, with small screens making up 40% of its traffic now compared to 25% last year, Google said on its earnings call today. In 2011, just 6% of YouTube traffic came from mobile.
Google’s not the only one rapidly shifting a 1 billion+ user base to mobile.
To put its transition in perspective, Facebook said it had 819 million monthly mobile users (73%) out of its total 1.15 billion users in Q2 2013, up from 543 million (56%) of 955 million in Q2 2012, 325 million (43%) of 739 million in Q2 2011, and 155 million (32%) of 482 million in Q2 2010. Note these people used Facebook mobile at least once, but may also have used desktop. Facebook doesn’t share what total percentage of usage comes from mobile, but 41% of its ad revenue comes from phones and tablets, up from 30% in Q1 2013, 23% in Q4 2012, and 14% in Q3 2012.
As former director of product management tweeted today, YouTube has been investing in a great mobile experience for the web and Android for a long time, and more recently for iOS since it took control of the app back from Apple.
Specifically, Walk says YouTube formed the mobile team in 2007 before there was much demand for mobile or revenue there. It transcoded all videos to be able to be served on mobile formats, and did a deal with Apple to get a YouTube app pre-installed on the iPhone.
The increasing importance of mobile to YouTube underlines the need for it to work things out with Microsoftand get a high-quality app released for Windows Phone. After months of back and forth, Microsoft launched a YouTube app it created, but it didn’t meet Google’s standards and was shut down. Earlier this month, a much-stripped-down YouTube “app” for Windows Phone was released that merely boots users to the m.youtube.com mobile site.
The latest YouTube mobile product news includes its plan to let users save and watch videos offline starting in November. Before that, it launched multi-tasking in its iOS and Android apps, allowing people to minimize videos but keep their audio playing while they search and browse for more content to watch. That’s especially helpful for people who use YouTube’s vast library of music videos as a music streaming service. These have all been well-received, and no competitors seem able to challenge YouTube’s reign as the home of user generated video.

SOURCE : http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/17/youtube-goes-mobile/

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Oscar buzz follows Fassbender, Ejiofor in '12 Years'

An undeniably powerful film. Two roles of a lifetime. This is the story of two men who heeded director Steve McQueen's call to lift the curtain on America's darkest chapter. It's a film critics say is destined for the Oscar stage. USA TODAY stacks up the odds.
Michael Fassbender
Age: 36
You know him from: Hunger, Shame, Prometheus, X-Men: First Class
Chasing 12 Years a Slave: "I'd known about it before I got the script," says the German-Irish actor. "For me, after that first experience with Hunger, which really kind of changed my life and just sort of changed the way I work to a large degree, I said to Steve, I was like, 'Look, I read the script, was in tears by the end of it,' and I said, 'Whatever it is, whether it's one day or two days in this, I'd love to be a part of it."
Oscar odds: Very high. "He is a great bet for a nomination," says Dave Karger, an industry Oscarologist and Fandango's chief correspondent. "The supporting-actor category allows for villainy more than best actor does. You see bad guys dominate a little more often in that category. What's interesting is he came as close as anyone possibly can to getting a best-actor nomination two years ago (for Shame) and he didn't get it. Sentiment is with him."
MORE: '12 Years' captures brutality, reality of slavery
Director's take: "There's nothing that he cannot do. Nothing," says McQueen. "And I think he doesn't even know half of it, which is fantastic."

SOURCE : http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2013/10/17/meet-the-men-of-12-years-a-slave/2995931/

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Nexus 5 pops up on Google Play for $349

SOMEBODY at Google is probably in trouble today, as the Nexus 5 appeared briefly on the Google Play store on Thursday.
The Google Play listing, which has since been removed, revealed everything we need to know about the Nexus 5 handset, including its price. The 16GB Google Nexus 5 will be priced at $349 in the US, the same starting price as the 16GB Google Nexus 4 smartphone. This, we assume, means the handset will fetch around £279 in the UK.
The yanked listing also outed a press photo of the Google Nexus 5, which seems to match recent rumours. It shows a chassis similar to that of the LG G2, the leaked monster camera on the rear of the phone and the Android 4.4 Kitkat user interface.
While full details of the upcoming Android iteration remain a mystery, the leaked image shows a redesigned transparent app launcher, redesigned icons for Gmail and Camera, and Hangouts replacing text messages on the main homescreen.
That's not all we know about the Nexus 5, which according to speculation is likely to debut either later today or on 28 October.
The LG-built Google flagship smartphone is also tipped to feature a 4.95in HD 1080p display, a quad-core 2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor and 2GB of RAM, along with dual 8MP and 1.3MP cameras, integrated NFC, support for wireless charging, LTE, a 2,330mAh battery, Bluetooth 4.0 and a 2,330mAh battery.
There's a video of a purported Nexus 5 handset in action below, and you can check out the handset in our Google Nexus 5 release date, specs, price and rumours roundup.

Read more : http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2301460/nexus-5-pops-up-on-google-play-for-usd349

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Google delivers first decent tech results

Google GOOG +8.35%  reported better-than-expected third quarter earnings, as ad buying volume increased. The quarter saw the launch of new “enhanced” ad campaigns, which makes it easier for advertisers to buy a diverse group of ads across a range of devices and platforms — including mobile. The increase in mobile ads, however, also contributed the falling cost-per-click, which continued to decelerate. Mobile ads typically are less expensive.

Google executives declined to quantify the impact the new ad buying program was having on its results so far, saying the company was focused on improving the whole ad buying process.

“It’s a process where we’re all going through this together,” said Nikesh Arora, senior vice president and chief business officer. He said that “advertisers love this new mechanism,” and that Google is seeing great progress with the effort that it launched in February.

In addition to the continued deceleration of the price per click, analysts also expressed concern about the ongoing losses in the Motorola Mobility division, with one noting that the company is about to an annual run rate of about $1 billion in losses there. “It’s still early days for us,” Arora said when asked about when Motorola might be profitable. Google executives declined to predict when it would turn the corner, saying they are in the business for the long haul.

The results put Google’s stock above the $950 mark in after-hours trades — which will be a new all-time high if the shares maintain that level in Friday’s trades. This week has seen the first group of big tech earnings, and the results have been mostly glum from the likes of Intel INTC -0.08% and IBM IBM +0.27%  

While it’s possible that some of the uplift came from tech investors piling on to good news, it’s worth noting that Google’s ad-heavy business has little in common with many of the key drivers for other big tech firms. A slew of results next week may bear that out. 

Read more : http://www.marketwatch.com/story/google-delivers-first-decent-tech-results-2013-10-17

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Snowden says he took no secret files to Russia

Edward Snowden says he left all classified documents in Hong Kong and took none to Russia after fleeing from his job at the National Security Agency, The New York Times reported Thursday.
The former NSA contractor also said he protected the files from China's intelligence agents.
"There's a zero percent chance the Russians or Chinese have received any documents," he declared in what the newspaper described as an "extensive interview" over several days the past week using encrypted communications.
Snowden, who fled Hawaii in June, defended his actions, maintaining that they helped U.S. national security by igniting a debate about the extent of telephone and Internet surveillance programs. He said their "secret continuance" posed "a far greater danger than their disclosure."
He told the Times he left all sensitive files outlining the agency's surveillance techniques with journalists in Hong Kong before flying on to Moscow, where he has been granted temporarily asylum.
He said it would not "serve the public interest" to have taken the documents to Russia.
"What would be the unique value of personally carrying another copy of the materials onward?" he asked.
The Times writes that Snowden said he made the revelations that he no longer had any NSA documents "to explain why he was confident that Russia had not gained access to them. He had been reluctant to disclose that information previously, he said, for fear of exposing the journalists to greater scrutiny."
U.S. officials have expressed fears that other governments may have obtained the secrets, but Snowden said he believes that the NSA knows he didn't give anything to Russia or China.
Snowden considers himself a whistleblower. The Obama administration has charged him with violating the Espionage Act.
In the interview, the 30-year-old Snowden "offered detailed responses to accusations that have been leveled against him by American officials and other critics, provided new insights into why he became disillusioned with the N.S.A. and decided to disclose the documents, and talked about the international debate over surveillance that resulted from the revelations," the Times writes.

SOURCE : http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/10/17/snowden-took-no-nsa-documents-to-russia/3004931/

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BoSox a win from pennant after beating Tigers 4-3

DETROIT (AP) — Mike Napoli’s drive cleared the wall in center field and landed in the ivy — a spot at Comerica Park usually reserved for Miguel Cabrera’s prodigious homers.

In this series, Napoli has been the one hitting key home runs, while Cabrera remains stymied by a tough Boston bullpen.

Napoli opened the scoring with another big long ball, Junichi Tazawa again bested Cabrera in a crucial spot and the Red Sox moved within one win of reaching the World Series by edging the Detroit Tigers 4-3 on Thursday night.

Boston returns to Fenway Park with a 3-2 lead in the AL championship series. The Red Sox can win the American League pennant Saturday, when the Tigers’ Max Scherzer faces the Red Sox’s Clay Buchholz in Game 6.

‘‘Our guys are well aware of where we are,’’ Boston manager John Farrell said. ‘‘But at the same time the beauty of them is to not get ahead of themselves, and that will be the case once that first pitch is thrown on Saturday.’’

Cabrera was thrown out at the plate in the first inning, halting an early Detroit rally, and he hit into a double play against Tazawa with runners at the corners in the seventh. The Tigers scored a run on the grounder, but it was a trade-off the Red Sox were willing to make.

Napoli opened a three-run second with his homer off Anibal Sanchez. Detroit’s starters had allowed only three runs in 27 innings through the first four games of the series. After pitching six no-hit innings in Game 1, Sanchez allowed four — three earned — in six innings Thursday.

‘‘It seemed like he was living on the corners and got us to chase some pitches the first game,’’ Napoli said. ‘‘Me personally, I was just trying to get something up in the zone and see pitches like I always do, and I was able to get something up.’’

Jon Lester allowed two runs and seven hits in 5 1-3 innings. He walked three and struck out three, and the Boston bullpen held on to finish off the fourth game of the series to be decided by one run.

‘‘There’s probably a reason I don’t have any hair,’’ Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia said. ‘‘It’s stressful.’’

Down 4-2 in the seventh, the Tigers put runners on first and third with nobody out when Jose Iglesias and Torii Hunter singled. Cabrera, who struck out with runners at the corners against Tazawa in the eighth inning of a 1-0 loss in Game 3, hit a soft grounder to second for a double play this time.

‘‘We have to go to Fenway and we have to fight hard enough to win a game,’’ Cabrera said. ‘‘If we do that, we have to keep fighting and get the next one. We've done this before, and we've got great pitchers. We just have to do our jobs.’’

Craig Breslow retired slumping Prince Fielder to end the seventh and got the first out of the eighth. Then Koji Uehara retired five straight for the save.

Now Detroit turns to Scherzer, a 21-game winner, to try to extend the season. The Tigers will have Justin Verlander ready to pitch Game 7 if there is one.

Detroit may be without catcher Alex Avila in Boston. He left after the top of the fourth with a strained left knee and is day to day.

Boston led in only four of 36 innings in the first four games, but the Red Sox won two of them. They struck early in Game 5 when Napoli’s drive easily cleared the 420-foot marker in center and landed in the ivy above two rows of bushes. That was the start of a three-run second inning, and it was Napoli’s second homer of the series. His solo shot accounted for the only run of Game 3.

Napoli wasn’t all that concerned with where the ball went, as long as it cleared the wall.

‘‘It can go in the first row for all I care,’’ he said.

Detroit revamped its lineup before its Game 4 win — dropping Austin Jackson from the leadoff spot to eighth and moving almost everyone else up a place. The Tigers went with that same general framework Thursday, but it was Farrell’s adjustments that paid off.

After Napoli’s homer, Jonny Gomes — starting in left field instead of Daniel Nava — reached on an error by Cabrera at third base. One out later, 21-year-old Xander Bogaerts — he started at third instead of Will Middlebrooks — hit a double.

David Ross, catching in place of Jarrod Saltalamacchia, doubled with men on second and third. Only one run scored on the play because Bogaerts didn’t get a good jump from second, but he came home anyway when Sanchez couldn’t handle Jacoby Ellsbury’s line drive back to the mound. It went off Sanchez’s glove for an infield single and a 3-0 lead.

Read More : http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/2013/10/17/bosox-win-from-pennant-after-beating-tigers/bCgTJhujnwPtKqftaXictO/story.html

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