Balcony kisses seal royal wedding

Diposkan oleh Agus Ariefandy Syuhada on Saturday, April 30, 2011


Prince William and Kate Middleton have kissed twice on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after their wedding service in Westminster Abbey.

They were cheered by 500,000 well-wishers who gathered outside the palace, as RAF planes flew past in honour of the new royal couple.

Police estimate a million people lined the procession route from the abbey to the palace.

The bride will now be Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge. 

Prince William drove his new bride back to Clarence House, following a buffet reception at Buckingham Palace, in Prince Charles's classic blue Aston Martin, decked in ribbons and balloons with "Just Wed" on the number plate.

They will return to the palace for evening celebrations later. 

The church service, watched by 1,900 guests, ran smoothly but the prince did struggle to place the wedding ring on the duchess's finger. 

Following a long tradition, the ring has been fashioned from Welsh gold given to Prince William by the Queen. 

After the couple said their vows, in which she did not promise to obey William, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Rowan Williams, declared: "I pronounce that they be man and wife together, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen."

They spent a private moment together with their families, as they signed the marriage register.

Prince William has been given the title of the Duke of Cambridge by the Queen, and Miss Middleton has become Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge on their marriage. 

The duchess, who managed to keep her wedding dress a secret, wore an ivory and lace gown by Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen. The prince wore the red tunic of an Irish Guards colonel - his most senior honorary appointment.

Among guests at Westminster Abbey were singer-songwriter Sir Elton John and his partner David Furnish, former England rugby coach Sir Clive Woodward, and former England football captain David Beckham and his wife Victoria. 

Actor Rowan Atkinson, a close friend of Prince Charles, Prince Harry's friend Chelsy Davy and film director Guy Ritchie were also there.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha, Australian prime minister Julia Gillard and former British PM Sir John Major were among the politicians present. 

For those lining the route, large speakers broadcast the wedding service, and hundreds of millions of people were estimated to watch the proceedings worldwide on television.

According to a lip-reading expert, Prince William told his bride she looked "beautiful" as she joined him at the altar and joked to his father-in-law Michael: "We're supposed to have just a small family affair"
The fly-past at Buckingham Palace involved Lancaster, Spitfire and Hurricane aircraft from the RAF's Battle of Britain Memorial Flight
Out of the 1,900 guests at the Abbey, 1,000 were friends and family, who had been given some of the best seats in the house. The others included overseas royals, politicians, military personnel and representatives of various faiths and charities
After the service, the newly-weds travelled in an open-topped carriage for the 15-minute journey from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace, past London landmarks, including the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and Horse Guards Parade 
More than 1,000 military personnel and musicians lined the procession route
Thousands of street parties were held around the UK, and big screens were put up in many towns and cities. The BBC has been bringing viewers and listeners comprehensive coverage across TV, radio and online, in the UK and around the world

5,000 police officers were on duty, with more than 900 along the wedding route
Police have made 57 arrests in and outside the security zone and questioned masked protesters in central London. 

About two square miles of central London were closed to traffic.
A yellow RAF Sea King rescue helicopter flew over The Mall as the couple drove to Clarence House. It was a surprise for the groom, a search and rescue helicopter pilot.

Royal officials said the couple were involved in planning their wedding day, from the music at the ceremony to the flowers and the cake.

Inside Westminster Abbey, an avenue of trees lined the red carpet leading up to the altar.

The bride walked up the aisle to coronation anthem I Was Glad, by Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, from Psalm 122. Her brother James Middleton gave the Lesson, reading Romans 12: 1-2, 9-18.

Classical compositions by Elgar, Britten and Vaughan Williams featured during the ceremony, alongside the hymn Jerusalem and the English melody Greensleeves.

There was a canape reception for 650 guests at Buckingham Palace. About 300 close friends and relatives will stay on for a formal black tie dinner and disco in the evening, hosted by Prince Charles.

But the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh left for a weekend away after hosting the lunchtime reception and will miss Prince Harry's best man speech and Michael Middleton's father of the bride address.

Despite predictions of showers, it stayed dry for the royal couple. 

Temperatures in London reached around 18C (64.4F) at 2pm.

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Nasa delays shuttle Endeavour's mission

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The final mission of Nasa's Endeavour shuttle has been delayed by at least 72 hours because of technical problems.

The orbiter is being held on the ground while engineers investigate a hitch in a unit that powers the vehicle's hydraulics.

The youngest of America's reusable spaceplanes is set to deliver a $2bn (£1.2bn) particle physics experiment to the International Space Station (ISS).
US President Barack Obama was due to attend the lift-off in Florida.

Also present at the Kennedy Space Center is Endeavour commander Mark Kelly's wife, Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona politician shot in the head by a gunman in January.

The lift-off had been targeted for 1547 local time (1947 GMT; 2047 BST), but was postponed just after midday.

Kelly and his crew had already suited up and were making their way to the shuttle. By tradition, their "Astrovan" would normally stop briefly outside Kennedy's launch control centre before moving on down to the pad, but on this occasion the vehicle pulled in front of the building and parked.
The "scrub" was called moments later.

Managers and engineers are now discussing how long a turn-around they need to deal with what appears to be an electrical problem associated with one of the three auxiliary power units in Endeavour.

A heater that prevents freezing in a fuel line leading to the unit stopped working. Another heater was also displaying unusual behaviour.

Nasa managers suspect a short in an electrical switchbox may lie at the heart of the failure but they will not know for sure until engineers can get inside the shuttle to inspect the unit.

"As we say in this business, 'we will not fly before we are ready'," said shuttle launch director Mike Leinbach.

Local police were expecting up to 750,000 people to gather near the Kennedy spaceport to watch the launch. The impeding retirement of the shuttle programme has drawn huge interest in the final flights of the orbiters.

The Discovery ship was the first to bow out with a mission in February. It is now being dismantled and made safe for museum display.

Endeavour is next. After its 14-day trip to the space station, it will be prepared for exhibition at a science centre in California.

The Atlantis orbiter will end the shuttle programme with a mission in June or July.

Nasa hopes by the middle of the decade to be buying crew transportation services from a range of commercial providers.

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Will the royal wedding break the Internet?

Diposkan oleh Agus Ariefandy Syuhada on Friday, April 29, 2011


Tune in to CNN for live coverage of the royal wedding with hosts Piers Morgan, Anderson Cooper, Kiran Chetry and Cat Deeley. It starts at 4 a.m. ET Friday on CNN, CNN.com and CNN Mobile.

(CNN) -- When Kate Middleton and Prince William kiss on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on Friday afternoon, all bloody hell could break loose online.

Twitter feeds will be buzzing. Photos will be uploading. Websites will be serving up live streams of the royals.

It's possible that all this over-the-pond hullabaloo could shut down major websites, stall wireless networks and, generally, grind the digital chatter to a pace that would frustrate even the commonest of commoners.

But that's just a guess. It's pretty difficult to predict what exactly will happen to the Internet's pipes when the British royal wedding takes place, said Liz Bradley, a spokeswoman for Akamai, an Internet service company that also monitors online traffic.

It's possible major websites will crash because of a traffic influx, she said, but the fact that the wedding starts at 6 a.m. ET means that quite a few people in the United States will wake up to watch it after it's already happened.

That may lessen the burden on the Internet, she said.

Also throw in the fact that many people won't be at their desks during the wedding since it's a national holiday in the United Kingdom and many in the United States will be asleep. Most of the big, Web-crashing events tend to occur during working hours when people are stuck at their desks and can't watch TV.

"We find a lot of times our highest times are when people are at work at their computers and going online," she said. "More and more, we're seeing people go on their computers while they're watching TV, so that's probably also going to happen -- but it might not be as much" as if people were at work.

Still, "my guess is it's going to be a very high traffic day," she said.

Jason Damata, a spokesman for Trendrr, which tracks social-media traffic, said the wedding will be a big TV event but that people will talk about it online, too.

"Certainly there is anticipation, and I bet it's going to be off the charts," he said. "In terms of two-screen behavior (watching on TV and chatting about it on a mobile device such as a smartphone), it will be pretty epic."

Big news, sporting and cultural events have been known to crash websites in the past. When pop icon Michael Jackson died in June 2009, Google News and Twitter both had trouble staying online. 
Twitter's "fail whale," a cartoon that accompanies an error message saying Twitter has been overloaded with too many people trying to post to the site at once, has made appearances during other big events, including the World Cup, which was the biggest Web event to date by traffic
(For statisticians, the World Cup match on June 24, 2010, which occurred at the same time as the longest Wimbledon tennis match of all time, actually was the biggest Web event, Akamai said. More than 10 million links were clicked per minute during that online double-whammy, topping other sporting events, the U.S. midterm elections and violence in Egypt.)

Twitter posted a photo online poking fun at the idea that the company would buy up extra computer space to prep for the royal wedding. The social network did not, in fact, add server space, but the company has been beefing up its infrastructure in an effort to survive these kinds of events, said spokesman Matt Graves. That makes the site less likely to crash now than if this event had taken place in 2010 (thanks for waiting, Wills).

"Essentially we reworked the way Twitter operated," Graves said. "We rebuilt the underpinnings of the site, and we vastly expanded the infrastrure."

The highest-traffic moment in Twitter history occurred four seconds after midnight on New Year's in Japan. At that moment, 6,939 tweets were posted per second.

Graves woudln't say whether he thinks the royal wedding will approach that mark.

"We try not to speculate until stuff happens," he said.

Google and YouTube are running the official royal wedding website, which will stream the event live online, so many eyes will be looking to those tech giants to keep the Internet up and running.

Mobile phone companies are also getting ready.

Wireless networks tend to crash when thousands of people, all in one location, try to place calls or upload data simultaneously. Wireless service was spotty at President Barack Obama's 2009 inauguration in Washington as hundreds of thousands of people tried to share the moment via their phones.

The Wall Street Journal reports mobile phone companies in Britain are adding extra cell towers in hopes people will be able to send photos from the site of the royal wedding in London, which is expected to draw 1 million people.

"Telefónica SA's O2 and Vodafone Group PLC's Vodafone, two of the U.K.'s biggest mobile operators, are upgrading their capacity, deploying extra mobile base stations in key London locations to handle the additional demand for voice and data services," the Journal writes.

"Everything Everywhere, another major U.K. mobile provider, has also been upgrading its network. All will have on-the-ground teams to tweak capacity as the day unfolds. Vodafone has at least doubled its capacity in areas of central London."

We'll have to wait until Friday to see if it all works.

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Real Madrid follow Barcelona in complaining to Uefa

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Real Madrid and Barcelona will make formal complaints to Uefa about each other's actions during their fiery Champions League semi-final first leg.

Barca, who beat 10-man Real 2-0 at the Bernabeu, were upset by Real coach Jose Mourinho's suggestion that they are favourably treated by referees.

Real have responded by claiming Barca tried to mislead the referee with "repeated unsportsmanlike behaviour".

The second leg is due to be played on Tuesday, 3 May at the Nou Camp.

On Wednesday, Mourinho had said: "It's clear that against Barcelona you have no chance. I don't know if it's the publicity of Unicef [the club's shirt sponsor], I don't know if it's because they are very nice, but they've got this power."

But, following an extraordinary meeting of the board, Barca spokesman Toni Freixa retorted: "We want to stand firm when the war of words passes certain limits.

"We believe Mr Mourinho crossed this line.

"We are going to present a case to Uefa's control and disciplinary committee against Mr Mourinho for breaking Uefa's disciplinary code.

"It's unacceptable that anyone can question our titles or our link with Unicef. It isn't our intention to fan the flames but to put them out, because we believe coaches should only talk about footballing matters and not things which could incite violence."

Later on Thursday, Real issued a statement on their website which read: "Upon learning of the unprecedented decision by Barcelona to lodge a formal complaint against Mourinho, Real Madrid announces that it is obligated to follow suit concerning the repeated unsportsmanlike behavior of Barcelona, whose players consistently feigned aggressions with the sole purpose of misleading the referee of the match, which clearly led to the unfair decision to dismiss our player Pepe."
Real also stated that they are fully supporting Mourinho over his comments.

Meanwhile, Uefa has announced it has charged both clubs over incidents in the match.
The case against Real centres on the dismissals of midfielder Pepe and manager Mourinho, the manager's post-match outburst and the behaviour of their fans during Wednesday's match.
Uefa is also looking at the red card shown to Barca reserve keeper Jose Pinto at half-time in their 2-0 win. Both cases will be heard by the Uefa control and disciplinary body on 6 May, three days after the second leg.

Mourinho's anger stemmed from referee Wolfgang Stark's decision to send Pepe off for a foul on Dani Alves on the hour mark, with the score at 0-0.

The Portuguese coach was also sent to the stands after protesting to the fourth official and his mood had not lightened at the post-match press conference.

Mourinho added: "I don't know if it's the friendship of [Spanish football federation president Angel Maria] Villar at Uefa, where he is vice-president.

"[Barcelona's Pep] Guardiola is a fantastic coach, but he's won one Champions League which I would be ashamed to win after the scandal at Stamford Bridge and this year, if he wins it again, it will be after the scandal at the Bernabeu.

"I hope that one day he will win a clean Champions League, with no incidents behind it."
The first "scandal" Mourinho was referring to was the Champions League semi-final between Barcelona and Chelsea in 2009, when the Catalan club reached the final on the away goals rule.
Andres Iniesta's injury-time strike secured the win, but at the final whistle Chelsea's players confronted referee Tom Ovrebo, who had waved away at least four penalty appeals during the game.

Barca went on to beat Manchester United in the final.

Mourinho, who coached Inter Milan to the 2010 Champions League title, after beating Barcelona in the last four, continued: "Why couldn't Chelsea reach the final two years ago? It was a miracle that Inter reached the final last year.

"I am here just to ask this question and I hope to get the answer one day."

Mourinho will now be without the suspended Pepe and Spanish centre-half Sergio Ramos, who was also booked, for the second leg at the Nou Camp.

Barring a successful appeal, Mourinho will be forced to watch the match from the stands.
"Yes, we are out. Sometimes I am a little bit disgusted to live in this world, but this is the world we live in," he said.

"We will have to go to Barcelona and look for some pride, without Pepe who didn't do anything, without Ramos who didn't do anything and without a coach to sit on the bench.

"As soon as Pepe was sent off, all of their problems were solved.

"If, in a sporting sense, it's difficult to turn this around, I would say it's now mission impossible. If we go there and score a goal, they will kill us again. We have no chance. They have to get to the final and that's that."

Following Barca's victory, which came courtesy of two Lionel Messi goals, Guardiola chose to look ahead to the fifth and final encounter against their bitter rivals this season.
"We haven't made it to the final yet, this is the first leg match," he said.

"A team that has nine European Cups never gives up on a tie. We are two games and one draw from being European champions. We will think about the return so we can get to Wembley.

"We are a step away from the final, but we will carry on respecting Madrid very, very much. If we start to believe we are already through, Madrid can punish us. We don't believe we are already there [Wembley]."

"We played a very good match and I would like to congratulate the team."
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Arnold Schwarzenegger eyeing return to 'Terminator' franchise

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He'll be back... if the script is right.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has given Hollywood agency CAA approval to discuss a potential new Terminator movie with studios, a source close to the star confirms to EW, but until Schwarzenegger sees a script and specifics about the project, he will not fully commit to it.

Director Justin Lin (who helmed this weekend's "Fast Five") is reportedly attached to direct the film, but it does not yet have a screenwriter.

The rights to the franchise were sold to hedge fund Pacificor last year in a deal worth $29.5 million after Halcyon Holding -- which had acquired the franchise in 2007 -- declared bankruptcy. Sony and Lionsgate had attempted to jointly bid for the property, but the bankruptcy judge awarded it to the Santa Barbara, California-based hedge fund management company instead.

The most recent film in the sci-fi franchise, 2009's "Terminator Salvation," grossed $371 million worldwide, but did not star Schwarzenegger (although his computer-generated likeness did make a brief cameo in the film's final act). The former California governor's last starring role was in 2003's "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" (global gross: $433 million), and he continues to be strongly identified with the cybernetic assassin that helped propel him to superstardom.

EW reported exclusively last month that Schwarzenegger's first post-governor gig would be the animated series "The Governator," a play off of the title combining "governor" and "Terminator" that became synonymous with his tenure running California's government before he even had the job. "When I ran for governor back in 2003 and I started hearing people talking about 'the Governator,' I thought the word was so cool," Schwarzenegger told EW last month.

With so many speculating over what live-action role he will take on first now that he's left the governor's mansion, it's not a huge surprise that while the 63-year-old is done being governor, he may not quite be done being the terminator.


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Wedding day dawns for Prince William and Kate

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London (CNN) -- Prince William, the second in line to the British throne, arrived at Westminster Abbey Friday morning to marry his college sweetheart Kate Middleton in a royal wedding that has brought London and much of the world to a raucous, flag-waving halt.

They will be known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge after their marriage, the royal family announced shortly before the wedding -- thus avoiding giving the newest member of the royal family any title that would implicitly compare her to Diana, Princess of Wales.

William wore the uniform of a colonel of the Irish Guards, a scarlet jacket and blue sash, as his brother, Prince Harry, accompanied him into the abbey.

Crowds cheered as his car drove the short distance from Clarence House to the abbey.

The most devoted monarchists arrived days before the event and camped out with Union Jacks on their clothes, tents and faces. Some traveled from as far away as Colombia.

Up to half a million people who didn't get one of the 1,900 invitations to Westminster Abbey are expected to watch the event on giant screens at Hyde Park in central London.

Kings, queens, priests and politicians began to arrive at the abbey shortly after 8 a.m., with celebrities such as Sir Elton John and Olympic gold medallist Ian Thorpe among them.

David Beckham arrived with his wife Victoria, with the soccer star sporting his OBE medal on the right lapel of his morning coat. Medals are traditionally worn on the left.

A grim weather report improved slightly on Friday morning, with forecasters backing off their prediction of rain and even suggesting some sun might break through the clouds in time for William and Kate to kiss on the balcony of Buckingham Palace as RAF jets fly past for the culmination of the day's festivities.

Street parties are being held across the United Kingdom, while protests are threatened by Muslim radicals, anarchists and anti-royalists.

About 5,000 police officers are out on the streets, including 110 on horseback and 35 with sniffer dogs -- but the world's media have deployed even more resources, with at least 8,000 staff working in London for the event.

British Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has predicted the ceremony will be seen by an estimated 2 billion people worldwide.

But the British themselves are lukewarm about the event, with just under half saying they were planning to watch it on television, and 56% saying they were not interested.

William announced his engagement to Middleton in November after proposing secretly in a rustic cabin in Kenya in October.

He's the older son of Prince Charles and the late Diana, princess of Wales; a grandson of Queen Elizabeth II; a military search-and-rescue helicopter pilot and, by one recent measure, the most popular member of the royal family.
She's an art history graduate and the eldest child of self-made millionaires who run a party-supplies company.

They met as college students at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, sharing an apartment with a circle of friends before they began dating. She first caught his eye when she modelled in a student fashion show wearing a see-through dress over her underwear, British reports have said -- though there's no chance she'll wear anything similar when her much-anticipated wedding dress, the last major secret element of the wedding, is finally revealed.

The couple will be married in front of nearly 2,000 guests at Westminster Abbey, where British monarchs are crowned, sometimes married, and often buried, alongside major figures from British history including Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Isaac Newton and George Frederic Handel.
The guests also include "Mr. Bean" actor Rowan Atkinson, a personal friend of Prince Charles. Singer Joss Stone will be there, as is former British Prime Minister John Major.

But the guest list is as notable for who isn't on it as who is. Former Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have not been invited, leading to accusations that the royal family favors the Conservative party over Labour. 

Buckingham Palace responded that Major was invited not because he was a Tory, but because he was appointed guardian of Prince William and his younger brother Prince Harry when their mother Diana died in a car crash in 1997.

Margaret Thatcher, a Conservative and the other living former prime minister, declined the invitation. She failed to appear at a Downing Street event in her honor last year because of ill health.
United States President Barack Obama also wasn't invited, raising some eyebrows. The royal family explained that as a matter of protocol, presidents were not invited. The U.S. Ambassador to London is on the guest list, as are most members of London's diplomatic corps.

But Syria's ambassador was uninvited just a day before the wedding in light of his government's current crackdown on protesters. The Crown Prince of Bahrain, whose country is also clamping down on demonstrations, was invited but on Sunday decided not to attend.

The controversies and the couple aside, the wedding looks set to be a very traditional British event in some respects.

It will include the Lord's Prayer, hymns and Bible readings typical of English nuptials, and the always nervous moment when the priest asks that if anyone present knows of a lawful impediment to the marriage, he speak now or "hereafter forever hold his peace."

Of course, the priest asking that question Friday will be Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the titular head of the worldwide Anglican church.

And while it's not unheard of for British weddings to include a singing of "God Save the Queen," this one will be unusual in that the monarch in question will actually be standing in the front row for it.
William will give Middleton a ring of Welsh gold, but she won't return the favour -- and she will not, in her vows, promise to obey him. They will exchange identical vows to love, comfort, honor and keep each other.

Of course, if William does some day become king, Middleton will then presumably have to obey him.
A ComRes poll for CNN when the engagement was announced in November found that just over half of British adults thought William would make a better king than his father Prince Charles, heir to the throne; 58 percent said Middleton would make a better queen than Charles's second wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall.

But the online poll's 2,015 respondents were split on the largely theoretical question of whether the crown should actually skip a generation and pass directly to William when his grandmother Queen Elizabeth dies. Forty-five percent said it should, while 41 percent said it should not.

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Apple, Google and Microsoft have finally cleared up

Diposkan oleh Agus Ariefandy Syuhada on Thursday, April 28, 2011


NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Apple, Google and Microsoft have finally cleared up most of the mysteries about how and why the smartphones their software runs track and store your location. 

Are they tracking you? Sort of. Companies that design smartphone operating systems like Apple, Google, Research In Motion, Microsoft and Nokia all collect data about your location that, the companies say, is kept anonymous and can't be traced back to you. 

The information that's collected is uploaded to massive databases maintained by the companies. A very small part is stored on your phone. The information tracked is actually your specific locations, but rather the locations of the Wi-Fi network routers and cell towers around you. 

What exactly are the companies doing with your data? The information is used for two reasons: To provide a way to locate you if GPS is unavailable, and to more quickly locate a GPS signal when one is around. That information is crucial for maps and many other smartphone apps. 

Your phone consults the massive databases, and, based on theWi-Fi networks and towers surrounding your phone, Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500), Google and others can very quickly approximate your location. 

"It works like this: Your phone says, 'Oh, you're near these eight routers and those three cell towers? This is where you should be,'" explained Charles Golvin, analyst at Forrester Research.

The advantage is that discovering your location based on surrounding networks is very fast. The disadvantage is that it's imprecise. GPS has the exact opposite problem: It's super-precise but can take several minutes to discover your location.

By approximating your location using Wi-Fi and cell networks, your phone can know what part of the sky to search for when it's looking for GPS satellites, significantly speeding up that process.

Why do companies need to use our location data to know where the networks are located? They don't need to, but it's faster, easier and cheaper than the alternatives.

Before the iPhone supported GPS, Steve Jobs made a splashy announcement at the 2008 Macworld conference: He said Apple had formed a partnership with Skyhook Wireless to use that company's catalogue of Wi-Fi hotspots to bring location to its Google Maps application.

At the time, Nokia (NOK) was already using Skyhook for its Ovi Maps app.
But Apple soon realized it could easily crowdsource data from its millions of customers instead.

"Apple started thinking, 'Why do we need to pay Skyhook when we have a boatload of devices out there talking to Wi-Fi networks?" Golvin said.
Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500), which has a much smaller user base of smartphone users, is actually supplementing user-generated data with information collected by teams that drive around searching for Wi-Fi hotspot and wireless network locations. 

Google did something similar with its Street View mapping drive-bys, but the company didn't say whether that information is also used to approximate Android users' locations.

When is your location data being transmitted? Microsoft said in a recent posting that it only collects location data when an application specifically requests it. 

Apple and Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) didn't comment about how often they collect location data.

Who can access that data? You can access your own location information on your device, if you have the technical know-how. Warning: It takes some digging

If you have an iPhone, that data is also currently stored on your computer, but Apple said it will stop doing that when it next updates the iPhone's software. Apple will also soon allow you to encrypt the location information stored on your device.

How far back does the data go? Currently, Apple allows you to access all of your location data, going back months or even years. After its upcoming software update, it will only collect information from over the past seven days and delete everything else.

Google has not commented on how much information it collects. A source with knowledge of Google's location software confirmed several tech bloggers' accounts that Android collects only the last 50 instances of cell tower triangulation data and 200 Wi-Fi hotspot locations.

Microsoft, RIM and Nokia did not comment on how much data they store.

Can you stop companies from collecting your location data? Yes.
Apple automatically turns location services on for iPhone users, but it can be turned off in the settings menu. Until Apple's bug fix, however, the company will still be collecting that data, even when location services is turned off.
Microsoft and RIM (RIMM) also turn on location by default, but both BlackBerry Windows Phone users can shut that feature off in the settings menu.
Google prompts users to opt-in to location services when they set up their Android devices, and if set-up is skipped, it automatically opts the user out. The function can be turned on or off in Android's settings menu. When it's enabled, the Android system responds with a dialog box explaining what information will be collected, asking the user again to accept or deny that access.

"We provide users with notice and control over the collection, sharing and use of location in order to provide a better mobile experience on Android devices," the company said in a statement.

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Breaking News : Storms kill scores in Alabama and other south US states

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Tornadoes and storms in the south-eastern United States have killed at least 193 people, officials say.

In Alabama, the worst-hit state, 128 have died in recent days - including 15 killed by a tornado that devastated the city of Tuscaloosa.

Deaths and widespread devastation are also reported in Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia and Virginia.

A state of emergency has been declared in seven states, and federal aid money is being sent to Alabama.

The US National Weather Service has preliminary reports of nearly 300 tornadoes since the storm began on Friday, including more than 130 on Wednesday alone.

One meteorologist described the tornado that devastated Tuscaloosa as possibly the "worst in Alabama's history".

The city - home to more than 83,000 residents, and to the University of Alabama - was hit by the huge tornado in the early evening on Wednesday.
"Everybody says it [a tornado] sounds like a train and I started to hear the train," Tuscaloosa resident Anthony Foote told Reuters news agency.
"I ran and jumped into the tub and the house started shaking. Then glass started shattering."

By nightfall, the city was dark, with roads impassable, businesses unrecognisable, sirens wailing off and on, and debris littering the streets and pavements, the Associated Press reports.

The city's hospital said its emergency room had admitted about 100 people, but treated four times that number.

Mayor Walter Maddox told reporters the city faced "massive damage on a scale we have not seen in Tuscaloosa in quite some time", and said he expected the death toll to rise.

Falling trees 

A state of emergency has been declared in Alabama.

Northern and central parts of the state bore the brunt of the latest storms. 

Eleven people died in Jefferson County, home to Birmingham, Alabama's largest city.

A shop-owner in Birmingham told AFP news agency that 30 homes near his store had been destroyed by a tornado on Wednesday.

Personal objects swept up by some twisters in the state have been found 50 miles (80km) away, AFP adds.

President Barack Obama said he had spoken to Alabama Governor Robert Bentley and approved his request for emergency assistance, including search and rescue teams. 

Mr Obama said on Wednesday night: "We will continue to monitor these severe storms across the country and stand ready to continue to help the people of Alabama and all citizens affected by these storms."

The storms forced the Tennessee Valley Authority - which provides electricity to nine million people in seven states - to close three nuclear reactors at a power plant in Alabama. Hundreds of thousands of homes have lost power as a result.

"We have never experienced such a major weather event in our history," the Tennessee Valley Authority said in a statement.

States of emergency were also declared in Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee and Oklahoma, following the latest storms and tornadoes.
Mississippi reported 32 deaths on Tuesday and Wednesday - including that of a police officer who shielded his nine-year-old daughter from a falling tree while on a camping holiday. The girl escaped unhurt.

At least 11 people have been killed in Georgia, 14 in Tennessee and eight in Virginia.

The current storm system is forecast to hit North and South Carolina before making its way further north-east.

Storms have hit states across the southern US for weeks, and another major storm system is forecast to bring heavy rain in the coming days.

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Jeff Tweedy opens up about Wilco's new album

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"The working title, as of right now, is 'Get Well Soon Everybody,' " Jeff Tweedy, the singer-songwriter-leader of Wilco, says of his band's eighth studio album, now in the mixing stage at the group's Chicago studio, the Loft, and due for release in September. "If I could say anything to the world at large, that would be it."

The record will be Wilco's first on their own label, dBpm -- shorthand for decibels per minute -- and Tweedy's third set of new songs with his longest-running lineup: bassist John Stirratt, guitarist Nels Cline, drummer Glenn Kotche, keyboard player Mikael Jorgenson and multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansome. The group has recorded more than 20 songs, Tweedy says, "out of the things I had coming in, which was somewhere in the fifties and sixties. It's a pretty great time for me writing-wise."

After Wilco finished touring last year, "we took a little more time off the road than we normally do," says Tweedy. "Certainly, it's been the longest break I've had since my twenties, and that's been a big help, wading out that far from the comfort of the old songs. You have to keep your mind sharp to play your old songs. It's hard to allow yourself to freely think about what you want to do next, when you're that close to doing another show."

The album includes a seven-minute track, "Art of Almost," which starts with shadowy electronics, gently turns into a haunted vocal section, then sprints into a Krautrock-style blowout. There are also two country-flavored songs, the spectral ballad "Black Moon" and the jauntier "Whole Love." "There are two strong threads of material," Tweedy says, "one being a little weirder -- snot-nosed obnoxious pop songs -- and the other more languid, atmospheric-country music." "Whole Love" grew out of "a chord progression I found interesting," he notes. But the arrangements are the product "of six guys being pretty remarkable at communicating without talking and having a lot of trust in each other."

Tweedy points out that the name of Wilco's label -- to be distributed by ANTI -- was originally a working title for the 2004 album, "A Ghost Is Born." "It doesn't make any sense," he admits. "But as a graphic, it looks cool.

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Obama releases original long-form birth certificate

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Washington (CNN) -- The White House released copies of President Barack Obama's original long-form birth certificate Wednesday, seeking to put an end to persistent rumors that he was not born in the United States.
The certificate states, as Obama's advisers have repeatedly said, that the president was born at Honolulu's Kapiolani Hospital on August 4, 1961. 
Doubters insist Obama was born overseas -- possibly in his father's home country of Kenya -- and may be constitutionally ineligible to serve as president. 

"We do not have time for this kind of silliness," Obama told reporters at the White House. "I've been puzzled at the degree to which this (story) just kept on going."

"Normally I would not comment on something like this," the president said. But the country has "some enormous challenges out there" that it will not be able to effectively meet "if we're distracted."


"We're not going to be able to (meet those challenges) if we spend time vilifying each other," he stressed. "We're not going to be able to do it if we just make stuff up and pretend that facts are not facts. We're not going to be able to solve our problems if we get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers."

Obama released a shorter, legally binding "certification of live birth" in 2008, but failed to persuade members of the "birther" movement.

The administration had to make a special request from the state of Hawaii to get the long-form certificate released, White House legal counsel Bob Bauer said. Typically, the state only releases the shorter, computer-generated live birth certification when people request such documentation.


Obama's personal attorney, Judith Corley, picked up certified copies of the long-form document in Hawaii and brought them back to the White House Tuesday evening, Bauer noted.

While the president has tried to make light of the controversy, the question has remained political red meat for some of his critics. A recent CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll showed that nearly 75% of Americans believe Obama was definitely or probably born in the United States. More than four in 10 Republicans, however, believe he probably or definitely was not born in America.

The U.S. Constitution says only "natural born" citizens can become president -- a vague clause that followers of the birther movement contend disqualifies Obama from the presidency, since they believe he was born overseas.

"The president believed the distraction over his birth certificate wasn't good for the country," White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said. "It may have been good politics and good (television), but it was bad for the American people and distracting from the many challenges we face as a country.

"At a time of great consequence for this country -- when we should be debating how we win the future, reduce our deficit, deal with high gas prices, and bring stability to the Middle East, Washington, D.C., was once again distracted by a fake issue," Pfeiffer said. "The president's hope is that with this step, we can move on to debating the bigger issues that matter to the American people and the future of the country."

Pfeiffer told reporters that the birther debate has been politically damaging to the Republican Party. Regardless, the issue remains potent in GOP circles. Potential Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump recently seized on the issue, saying he had doubts about the president's background.

Following the White House's release of the long-form certificate, Trump told reporters in New Hampshire that he is "very proud" of himself for helping to bring about the release of the document.


"I've accomplished something nobody else was able to accomplish," Trump said. "I'd want to look at (the birth certificate), but I hope it's true so that we can get on to much more important matters."

Obama "should have (released the certificate) a long, long time ago," he said.
Trump, a billionaire business tycoon and reality television star, blamed the media for repeatedly bringing up the issue. Trump, however, has frequently raised questions about Obama's birthplace during his climb in recent GOP primary polls.


Allegations that Obama was not born in the United States have been repeatedly discredited. A recent CNN investigation turned up no evidence to support the birther claims.

"This has long been a settled issue," said Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

The president acknowledged Wednesday that the release of the long-form certificate won't satisfy a "segment of people for which, no matter what we put out, this issue will not be put to rest."

"But I'm speaking to the vast majority of the American people, as well as to the press," he said. "We've got better stuff to do."

Later Wednesday, Obama told a New York fundraising event that "part of what happened this morning was me trying to remind the press and trying to remind both parties that what we do in politics is not a reality show. ... It's serious."

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El Clasico match results, Real Madrid 0-2 Barcelona

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Sublime Lionel Messi sinks 10-man Madrid in battle of the Bernabeu

Barcelona established a two goal advantage in the first leg of the Champions League semifinal after Lionel Messi showed the world his magical capabilities.
The drama ensued in the second half when Real Madrid was forced to play the final half an hour with 10 men after Pepe was sent off for a studs high challenge on Dani Alves.

Madrid’s mission worsened when it found itself a goal down in the 77th minute when Messi expertly guided home Ibrahim Afellay’s cross to give Barcelona a 1-0 victory at the Bernabeu.

The Argentine star then produced a sensation moment of pure football when he waltz past four Madrid players before sending the ball beyond Iker Casillas to send the travelling support into raptures.

The opening exchanges took the same route as the previous El Clasico’s with neither side being able to settle early on with referee, Wolfgang Stark, heavily involved. Both sides looked to influence him as they attempted to gain a psychological hold on the German official.   

Barcelona began to enjoy possession in its own half, as the match developed, and came close to taking the lead when David Villa darted in-field.
The Spaniard looked to strike the ball across Iker Casillas, but Villa’s effort flashed past the far post.

Marcelo ventured forward as the Brazilian was determined to chase down his own knock, winning a deserved corner as a result. Madrid hastily took the kick only for Angel di Maria to waste the promising crossing position to the frustration of his teammates.

Casillas made the games first stop when he got down low to save from Barcelona’s Xavi. Messi had threaded a beautiful pass through to the Spanish international who took the shot on first time, firing across Madrid’s goal.
The Argentine repeated his contribution soon afterwards, this time finding Villa behind Real Madrid’s defense but the striker’s touch deserted him as los Blancos saw out the danger with ease.

Victor Valdes was called into action for the first time in the 35th minute when Pepe rose highest to meet Xabi Alonso’s free kick; but the header lacked any purchase and the save was an easy one.

The officials became central to the tie as tempers began to rise with the match becoming increasingly tense with Wolfgang Stark looking to exert control on proceedings.

Barcelona showed what it is capable of with a magical one-touch move which ended with Villa’s flick having too much pace allowing Alvaro Arbeloa to beat Messi to the ball.

The half came to life in the final minutes when Cristiano Ronaldo crashed a long-range effort which had Valdes in trouble. His save landed at the feet of Mesut Oezil, who was spared embarrassment when the offside flag was raised after his subsequent shot was blocked.

As the players headed down the tunnel there was a ruckus between members of both teams, as an argument broke out, earning Barcelona’s second choice goalkeeper Jose Pinto a red card.

The whistle had brought the most drama, adding fuel to the fire for when the two sides re-emerged for the second-half.

The Blaugrana began the brighter of the two with Messi finding space between the midfield and defence. He shifted the ball onto Pedro who found the Argentine with a delicate cross but Pepe recovered to nick the ball before Casillas was tested.  

Barcelona took a quick free-kick as it looked to get Messi away and the striker took it beyond three Madrid players before Sergio Ramos body checked the Argentine.

The challenge earned Ramos a yellow card, which will see the defender miss the return leg. Javier Mascherano levelled the caution count, soon after, when he went in recklessly on Pepe.

Drama unfolded when Pepe was sent off for a stud’s high challenge on Dani Alves, leaving the Madrid bench in wonderment of the decision.  

Jose Mourinho had contested the referee’s judgment and was sent to the stands after he sarcastically praised the fourth official after Pepe’s sending off.
Barcelona looked to take the imitative with the numerical advantage and Villa produced a fine save from Casillas as the Blaugrana began their onslaught on Madrid’s goal.

Soon after, the Spanish stopper could do nothing to prevent Barcelona from taking the lead. Lionel Messi stole a march on Ramos to expertly steer home his 10th Champions League goal of the season to give Barcelona an invaluable away goal.

What followed was a spectacle. Messi picked the ball up 30 yards from goal before turning toward goal; he then took the ball past several Madrid defenders with ease and majestically tucked the finish in the bottom corner to condemn Madrid to their first home loss in the Champions League.

Guardiola’s side trenched off at the final whistle with a feeling of jubilation as they will welcome the Cope del Rey champions to the Camp Nou next Tuesday in the culmination of this El Clasico Champions League tie.

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Watch Match El Clasico Real Madrid vs Barcelona on Champions League

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After the final fight in Copa del Rey, Real Madrid and Barcelona back in Champions League semi-final.

Last week, Real Madrid beat Barcelona 1-0 in Copa del Rey final in Valencia. Single goal by Cristiano Ronaldo.

Madrid and Barca will again meet in Champions League semi-final first leg. Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on Thursday (04/28/2011).

The fourth meeting of the five El Clasico of the season. In three meetings, Barcelona win with a score of 5-0, Madrid won the Copa del Rey and drew 0-0.

Madrid and Barcelona already know the strengths and shortcomings of each opponent. Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola has already set up the best plan to win games.

Last weekend, La Liga, Real Madrid beat Valencia 6-2 and Barcelona beat Osasuna 2-0.

Madrid and Barcelona are both save power. A number of mainstay players rested and players who rarely play a lot given the opportunity.

The best players are kept in order to perform optimally at Bernabeu. Madrid and Barcelona is possible to do that.

Given the fact that Madrid and Barcelona already know each other, very likely the match will be decided by small details. Who can take advantage of opportunities as small as possible would be the one who laughed with satisfaction.


Prediction Squad:
Real Madrid: 1-Iker Casillas, 17-Alvaro Arbeloa, 4-Sergio Ramos, 18-Raul Albiol, 12-Marcelo; 10-Lassana Diarra, 3-Pepe, 14-Xabi Alonso, 22-Angel Di Maria, 9-Cristiano Ronaldo, 23-Mesut Ozil

Barcelona: 1-Victor Valdes; 2-Daniel Alves, 14-Javier Mascherano, 3-Gerard Pique, 5-Carles Puyol, 8-Andres Iniesta, 16-Sergio Busquets, 6-Xavi, 17-Pedro, 10-Lionel Messi 7-David Villa.

Prediction Results:
Real Madrid 1-1 Barcelona



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