Americas Best Value Inn Introduces iPhone App
Nigella Lawson is seen without her wedding ring close to Mayfair bolthole where she has been living apart from husband Charles Saatchi
Dramatic moment couple spark full-scale rescue after getting stuck in quicksand up to their waists just yards from the shore
Tom Odell’s father calls NME offices to complain about zero-star review
3-D printer firms Stratasys and MakerBot to merge in $403 mn deal
Stratasys will initially issue 4.76 mn of its shares in exchange for MakerBot
Shelikes.com £3.68 MWD that costs the same as an hour’s minimum wage
Sony chief says time needed to study proposal
TOKYO (AP) — Sony Corp. needs more time to study a key proposal from a U.S. hedge fund to spin off a part of its entertainment unit as a way to propel its fledgling revival, the chief executive told shareholders Thursday.
Thursday Runaround – More Pony Comics, Less Hong Kong Comics
FOR PONIES AND BRONIES
IDW is to publish a new My Little Pony comic tying in with the upcoming movie, My Little Pony Equestria Girls.
Let’s see if it can outsell X-Men again…
COMICSPOTTING
Irvine Welsh talks about a graphic novelisation of Filth, and thoughts about writing comics for the Big Two.
I can’t spill much as yet, but it’s being given the graphic-novel treatment, and we’re aiming to have it out around the same time as the movie. This medium’s interesting, and it offers something that the film or the novel can’t offer. It’s a halfway house between the two. Graphic novels are like storyboards for movies, which is why so many are successfully transferred to screen. We’ve got three artists tendering to do the book [Filth]. One of the guy’s very detailed, evocative, weird and scary. I prefer this, as this is pure angst with a touch of obscurity that works for Filth and its main character, Bruce Robertson. Details will be out soon!
…
Doctor Strange, because I’ve always been a fan and he’s the last of the great Marvels to me who hasn’t been given the big-screen treatment, so there isn’t that preconception apart from comic fans. Doctor Strange fans were always stranger, for want of a better word, and this unique breed in comic fandom always appealed more to me. He’s got infinite possibilities and his personal life is weirder and darker than usual and there’s a lot I can do with that. There’s a lot … I’d love to do with that!
LINGUA FRANCA
ComiXology have announced signing up a rather large amount of French comic book publishers to their digital distribution app, including Aelement Comics, Akileos, Ankama, Éditions Ça et Là, Éditions Delcourt, Glénat Éditions, I Can Fly, Indeez Urban Éditions, Los Brignolès Éditions, Panini Comics, Sandawe, Soleil Productions, Wanga Comics and WEBellipses , 40% of the market and with 400 graphic novels online straight away. Though only a fraction of them will be made available in English-speaking countries due to licensing issues.
But in English ComiXology news, Becky Cloonan’s Demeter has debuted on the service as part of the Submit platform for encouraging the distribution of digital works from small press creators. Cloonan’s debut is one of the higher profile creators the service has attracted.
GOT COMICS?
Can a film make people love comics again? This is one Kickstarter which intends to show that it can.
Far from being exclusively about superheroes or just for kids, there are thousands upon thousands of comics out there for people of all ages and backgrounds. And not only that – we are now living in a new Golden Age: with an incredible variety of gorgeous images and rich stories in the comics world. But unfortunately, these works of art are most often tirelessly produced by unrecognized creators who hardly sell enough work to support themselves, if at all. We can’t let our Picassos and Van Goughs fade into obscurity!
APOCALYPSE NOW-ISH
London’s V&A museum offers a “walk-in graphic novel”
Drifting around the exhibition, between snippets of gnomic wall-text, intricate illustrations and elaborate room-sized props, visitors begin to piece together a post-apocalyptic world, as dreamed up by novelist Hari Kunzru. A master of crafting speculative scenarios that play on our current anxieties – classified, by those who insist on genres, as translit – Kunzru’s vision is set several generations after the Magnetization, when all record of culture has been lost and the natural world is reclaiming the ruins of the old city
HONG KONG RIGHT OR WRONG?
Is the Hong Kong comics industry in trouble? Or could it save the artform?
Hong Kong Comics and Animation Federation director Alan Wan Siu-lun said the number of locally produced weekly comics had fallen from a peak of 50 in the mid-1990s to 20 today.
He said publications had had to drastically downsize to survive. Digital technologies had yet to revive the industry as no appropriate business model was available.
“The mode of production has changed from mass production to highly stylised individual creations. Comics were entertainment in the past, but today it’s more about the appreciation of creative works,” Wan said.
The small market had forced many comics artists to diversify into advertising, design, illustrations and even teaching.
A HEAD FOR TELEVISION
eHarmony’s down screen is a little Saga-ish…
If you have something you’d like to see run in Runaround, get in touch…
Thursday Runaround – More Pony Comics, Less Hong Kong Comics
Baby ‘Epic Hair’ contest winner’s mother outraged after ‘heartless’ Facebook users accuse her toddler of being a fraud and insist her wild mane is a WIG
How Digg Raced to Make the Google Reader Replacement You’ll Want

With Google Reader about to meet its maker, Digg decided to make the ultimate replacement. That was two months ago—and Wired has the inside track of exactly how the project has come together since then.
Read more...
Rhoose school crash: Five children and four adults including lollipop lady taken to hospital with serious injuries after car smashed into them and overturned outside primary school
PRA tells Barclays, Lloyds and RBS to fix £25bn black hole
AP Exclusive: Facebook broke Indonesia terror case
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Sefa Riano didn't try to hide his plans or his beliefs. A Facebook page that police traced to him is plastered with photos of bearded men in camouflage uniforms holding rifles and banners hailing "The Spirit of Jihad."
Palestinians step up campaign for Gaza “Arab Idol” star
James Gandolfini dead: Actor was on a boys trip with son Michael when he died
Reclusive widow who lives rent-free in £4m Surrey mansion locked in legal battle with stepsons over claims she needs more from £7m estate to pay house staff
Bernadette Lee: Dental nurse, 25, froze to death in the snow without shoes or coat outside sister’s house when she called around after night out and found her away from home
James Gandolfini dead: Stars from Susan Sarandon to Mia Farrow share their grief
Dixons sees no let up in UK tablets boom
Joss Whedon tosses off simple take on Shakespeare in “Much Ado”
TECNO Launches Android Smartphone, TECNO Phantom a
Mobile has again launched its new Android Smartphone, TECNO Phantom A into the Nigeria market. The new high-end android smartphone, which was...
Mortgage lending hits five year high as recovery in housing market continues
How Vine Climbed to the Top of the Social Media Ladder
A Designer’s Moving Tattoo Tribute to His Dad
Twitter Can’t Control Rapid Growth of Its Vine
Mutant Silkworms Spin Fluorescent Silk in 3 Colors
Take Me to the River: 12 Essentials for Your Next Rafting Trip
Inside Digg’s Race to Build the New Google Reader
Stooshe unveil their new summer carnival inspired video for single My Man Music
Italy watchdog presses Google for privacy data, weighs sanctions
French watchdog tells Google to change privacy policy
By Natalie Huet PARIS (Reuters) - France's data protection watchdog ordered Google on Thursday to change its privacy policy or face fines, leading a Europe-wide push to get the Internet giant to clarify its intentions and methods for collecting user data. France's regulator, the CNIL, said Google's privacy policy violated French laws and gave the U.S. company three months to make changes or risk a fine of up to 150,000 euros ($201,100) and a second of 300,000 euros if it still failed to act. ...
Dow Jones drops as Fed says QE may end later this year
James Gandolfini died while he was on a ‘boys trip’ with son Michael reveals friend Gilles Marini
James Gandolfini death: Stars from Susan Sarandon to Mia Farrow share their grief
Enchanting 18th century crystal grotto is unveiled after one-year restoration project
James Gandolfini dead: The Sopranos actor dies in Italy following a suspected heart attack
James Gandolfini dead: Sopranos family pay tribute to ‘one of the greatest actors’
Gadgets: Going on vacation? Here’s what to take with you
Cultivate Your Creativity With These 4 Fair Use Libraries



Looking for creative content that is also free can be taxing. And when overused, Creative Commons becomes a bore of stock photos and MIDI jingles. Especially when it comes to fair use music, sometimes you just want something more refined and less 8-bit.
In comes Moby, who announced Monday the relaunch of mobygratis.com, a fair use site stuffed to the brim with over 150 tracks from Moby's own discography. Geared toward independent filmmakers, the entire collection is available to license free for non-commercial use, through a simple application processOriginally launched in 2007, the updated site includes music from Moby's last two albums Wait For Me and Destroyed, as well as remixes from both. Read more...
More about Content, Open Source, Features, Fair Use, and MediaHacking threat and tougher data laws promise insurance boom
By Chris Vellacott LONDON (Reuters) - For European insurers frustrated that "cyber crime" policies have so far failed to find a ready market among skeptical companies, hope may be at hand. Not only has a huge data loss by Sony Corp dramatically illustrated the risks of hacking raids on corporate data, but the European Union is working on regulatory requirements which threaten heftier fines on unprepared companies. ...
Paula Abdul makes a fashion hit as she celebrates her birthday and receives many happy returns from Simon Cowell
Cramer’s Top Stock Picks: ICON RH FDX TSLA
Ukraine’s finance ministry denies “drunk” claims against minister
Barack Obama calls George Osborne ‘Jeffrey’
John McAfee, Miley Cyrus Twerking, James Gandolfini, …
Danielle O’Hara strips down to her bikini on a luxury boat trip with her husband and sons in Dubai
Minnie Driver wears ugly feather print leggings on a quick trip to the shop
Joss Whedon Talks MAN OF STEEL, X-MEN: DOFP, Aaron Taylor-Johnson As Quicksilver And More
Intel joins A4WP, a newcomer to wireless power standards
Jeremy Forrest’s father collapses as the jury in his son’s abduction trial start considering their verdict
Is Facebook about to add video to its Instagram app?
Irina Shayk shows off her toned tummy in black cropped top for romantic stroll with Cristiano Ronaldo… before cosying up for online snap
Tess Daly shows off her toned and tanned legs in short monochrome outfit for girls’ night out
Four short links: 20 June 2013
Isla Fisher struggles to maintain her modesty in a grey mini dress as she takes part in Now You See Me promotion
Michelle Heaton and Kimberley Garner show off their slim figures in patterned outfits at foodie launch
Sopranos star James Gandolfini dies in Italy
Sopranos star James Gandolfini dies in Italy
Sopranos star James Gandolfini dies in Italy
Bolshoi Ballet acid victim Sergei Filin is now almost completely blind after 18 operations fail to save his sight
Pedestrian mobile phone injuries DOUBLE in five years
Group apologizes to gay community, shuts down
After 37 years, Exodus International, an organization whose mission was to "help" gay Christians become straight, is shutting down. But not before issuing an apology.
"We're not negating the ways God used Exodus to positively affect thousands of people, but a new generation of Christians is looking for change - and they want to be heard," said Tony Moore, a board member of Exodus.
The announcement comes less than a day after Exodus issued a wide-ranging apology to the gay community for "years of undue judgment by the organization and the Christian Church as a whole," a statement from the group says.
Ashley Tisdale shows off her toned figure in tiny shorts and a vest top as she enjoys a hike with her boyfriend
Video: Russian underground passengers keep cool as their train thunders on without doors
EasyJet passengers told they need passport valid for at least three months
France threatens Google with privacy fines
PARIS (AP) — France is giving Google three months to be more upfront about the data it collects from users — or be fined.
Online news readers are more likely to click on stories about the weather and celebrities than what our politicians are up to
See future inventions
Pirate Bay founder sentenced to 2 years in Sweden hacking case
By Veronica Ek STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - A co-founder of file-sharing website Pirate Bay was sentenced to two years in jail on Thursday for hacking into computers at a company that manages data for Swedish authorities and making illegal online money transfers, a court said. Gottfrid Svartholm Warg was extradited to Sweden last year from Cambodia to begin a one-year jail sentence after being convicted in 2009 of internet piracy. He was then charged by authorities as part of the separate hacking investigation. ...
Leona Lewis finally sells her Hollywood Hills mansion for $2 million after slashing the price by $300,000
BBC’s The Voice pays £15,000 bill for Sir Tom Jones to stay in posh hotel
End to Fed stimulus, China slowdown rattles swathe of world investments
Amanda Knox’s secret meeting with ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito just hours after Italian judges ordered their re-trial over the death of Meredith Kercher
Length of Applause Not Tied To Quality of Presentation
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Why Congress Must Investigate NSA’s Unconstitutional Spying

In the past couple of weeks, the NSA has, unsurprisingly, responded with a series of secret briefings to Congress that have left the public in the dark and vulnerable to misstatements and word games. Congress has many options at its disposal, but for true accountability any response must start with a special investigative committee. A coalition of over 100 civil liberties groups agrees. Such a committee is the right way the American people can make informed decisions about the level of transparency and the reform needed.
Read more...
FTSE LIVE: Footsie plunges 2% as US Fed announces QE will soon end
A leaked Samsung user manual seems to suggest that there’s a Galaxy S4 variant on the horizon which
A leaked Samsung user manual seems to suggest that there's a Galaxy S4 variant on the horizon which will pack the new Snapdragon 800 chip. Speedy.
Read more...
The modern day Diana: Margaret LeJeune captured American huntresses at home surrounded by the trophies of their kill
BBC spends £28million on gagging orders: 500 staff silenced using licence fee money
Households overcharged by £196 each on bills – and wait two months to get their money back
Patriots player mum as police search for clues in man’s death
Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez is used to throngs of media clamoring to ask him questions, but the NFL star has never had to deal with them camping outside his home.
After reports that the player had been questioned in connection with a homicide not far from his Massachusetts house, that's what he's been faced with for the past three days.
A line of reporters waited on the road in front of his house Wednesday, along with neighbors eager for a word from the player.
Nearby, police sifted through the woods for clues that could shed some light on what happened to Odin Lloyd, 27, who was found dead less than a mile from Hernandez's expansive home in North Attleborough.
Hernandez has yet to say anything publicly.
David Cameron: ‘We WILL jail reckless bankers’
Premature baby born three months early and weighing under 2lb is back at home before his due date
The Teenage Liberation Handbook

This book is radical. It tries to persuade teenagers to drop out of high school — in order to “get a real life and education” as its subtitles says. This is a dangerous thing to give to your child, because there is a significant correlation between amount of formal education and almost any outcome you care about, including longevity, divorce and poverty rates. Yet informal homeschoolers and unschoolers are outside of that measurement, and by most accounts are doing super. As a college dropout myself, I am sympathetic to alternatives to school.
The purpose of this book is to encourage the teen to make their education their own responsibility. They can remain at school, or as a homeschool take only some classes, or find apprenticeships, volunteer, or even skip directly to college. In short they are designing their own self-education, where ever it may happen. Along the way they develop a better idea of themselves and many more life skills then they would in formal school.
Today as the quality of the average public education declines these ideas are not as extreme as when the book was first written in 1991, but they still aren’t as accepted and common as they should be either.
This is a dense, packed book, overflowing with ideas, tips, anecdotes, cautions, and multiple views — all speaking to the teen and not to parents. It does not lay out a 1, 2, 3 plan. It is messy, challenging. The book itself is probably a pretty good filter for whether the idea of self-education is a match for a young person.
Our son petitioned us to be unschooled, and it turned out that one year when he was 12 was sufficient. It was one of the best years in our lives. Yet in his liberation from school, he discovered what learning “on his own” really meant. It’s challenging. He then choose to go to high school, but with a new attitude that he was in charge of how much and how well he learned. That new found responsibility for his own education made that one year of unschooling totally worthwhile.
There is a whole slew of homeschooling textbooks, advice, and well-crafted tutorials. All directed to parents. This is not one of those. This is a scribbled permission slip giving a teenage permission to consider alternatives for their own education.
-- KK
The Teenage Liberation Handbook
Grace Llewellyn
1998, 435 pages
$20
Available from Amazon
Sample Excerpts:
This book is a wild card, a shot in the dark, a hopeful prayer.
This book wants you to quit school and do what you love. Yes, I know, that’s the weirdest thing you ever heard. Hoping to make this idea feel possible to you, I tell about teenagers who are already living happy lives without school, and I offer lots of ideas and strategies to help you get a real life and convince your adults to cooperate.
“Excuse me?” you interrupt, “Quit school? Right. And throw away my future and pump gas all my life and get Addicted to Drugs and be totally lost in today’s world. Right.”
If you said that, please feel free to march straight to the nearest schoolperson and receive a bushel of gold stars, extra credit points, and proud smiles. You’ve learned exactly what they taught you. After you get tired of sticking stars to your locker, do please come back and read further.
*
Suggest a trial run. you could start unschooling in the middle of August, so they have a couple weeks to see how you manage. Also, that would allow you to recover from the previous school year. You could agree that if they’re not satisfied with your way of educating yourself, that you go to school. A drawback to this sort of timing is that you may feel cheated out of your normal summer vacation, and thus not as exhilarated as you would if you quit in, say, October. Also, the whole idea of being watched and evaluated runs contrary to the idea of pursuing interests because you want to. Still, you could probably psyche yourself into it and make it work.
*
If you are completely confused as to how to start structuring your life, here’s one way: Do “academics” for two hours each day–not necessarily lots of subjects, or the same ones every day. You are not going to dry up in you don’t do 45 minutes every day of “social studies.” Do some kind of “work” or project for four hours. In your leftover time, read, see friends, talk with mom and pop, make tabouli. Take Saturdays and Sundays off. Sound arbitrary? It is. I made it up, although it is based on a loose sort of “average” of the lives of a hundred unschoolers, mostly college-bound. Once you try this schedule for month, you will know how you want to change it.
*
This book has said a lot of nasty things about school. Now it’s going to say something nice. Schools have darkrooms, weight rooms, computers, microscopes, balance beams, libraries. They have choirs, bands, track teams, maybe even a Spanish class you want to take. Many enterprising homeschoolers have found ways to use the school resources they want without having to endure everything else.
This chapter tells about a few of those ways schools can cooperate with homeschoolers, and gives examples of particular homeschoolers who have taken advantage of school resources. If the schools in your area have never tried anything like this, you can pass this information along to them, and assist them in setting up a program that helps both you and them. Yes, them.
Spurs, Heat meet in game 7
Game 7 of the NBA Finals will be all about heart, Miami Heat superstar LeBron James said.
The four-time MVP is seeking his second NBA crown when his Heat hosts the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night.
Both teams are well-prepared, he said, and they know each other well. They know what will work on offense, what to do on defense. What gives a team an edge will be each player's mental makeup.
"I think it's about heart and determination at this point," he said Wednesday.
James sparked the Heat to a comeback win in Game 6, hitting a key 3-pointer in the final 20 seconds of regulation. He had a triple-double - 32 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds - as the Heat won 103-100 in an overtime game many commentators have called one of the best NBA playoff games ever.
In the last game, the Heat took off after James took off his signature headband. But when the final game of the season starts, James will be wearing it.
"He has been a part of this journey, the ups and downs of my career so far, so we'll see what happens." he said.
James became not only a different looking man down the stretch, he became a different player.
"He was about doing whatever it took," Heat guard Dwyane Wade said. "And I'm sure we get in that moment again, he's going to do whatever it takes again.
The Spurs may have been deflated by giving away a 10-point fourth-quarter lead but rebounded emotionally, thanks to an unusual early morning team dinner after the game, which ended after 11 p.m.
Star center Tim Duncan said instead of each player going back to his hotel room and ordering room service and beating himself up, the team went out.
It helped to talk things out.
"It's always good to be around teammates and kind of get some stuff out in the open. We did exactly that," he said.
Early in the season, the Spurs sent Duncan and three other players back to San Antonio for rest instead of to a contest in Miami that ended a six-game road trip. The Spurs were fined $250,000.
There were no fatigued Spurs on Wednesday, he said, after a season of more than 100 games over nine months.
"We're not tired in any way," said the 37-year-old Duncan, who played 44 minutes on Tuesday. "There's no being tired at this point. We've got one more game to win, and that's all that matters."
For James, if the Heat don't win, it's a season down the drain. After all, he said he left the Cleveland Cavaliers three years ago and joined Wade with the Heat for one reason - to win championships.
Winning his first crown last year was hard, he said. But this year has been harder.
He told reporters Wednesday he would be antsy and nervous before Game 7, but that's how it should be.
"The moment is going to be grand. ... I'm happy to be a part of it."
French village divided by bitter legal row over whether yurt-dwelling families are allowed to stay
Pay Attention To This One – First Trailer For Big Bad Wolves
Undoubtedly one of my most anticipated releases for the rest of this year is Big Bad Wolves, the second film by Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado. It’s a revenge thriller, and reputedly a tense, twisty and very smart one. It also seems to have something to say about Israel, from an Israeli point of view, and that’s pretty rare for films released in English speaking countries.
After the film screened at the Tribeca festival this year, the buzz about a US-remake was considerable. Consider this your advice to get in on the ground floor.
Keshales and Papushado’s first feature, Rabies, was one of the more interesting slasher movies I’ve ever seen, disrupting the form and inserting some wry, satirical gags. It’s most definitely worth catching up with on DVD if you can.
Thanks to Twitch for the embed.
Pay Attention To This One – First Trailer For Big Bad Wolves
Osborne fires the starting gun for a Lloyds share sale… but RBS could be split into two before shares return to private hands
Former Springwatch star Bill Oddie says that all Rolf Harris did was ‘cuddle his secretary’
The age of the olderpreneur: Could the over 65s teach youngsters a thing or two about start-ups?
John McAfee, Miley Cyrus Twerking, James Gandolfini, …
Miley Cyrus: ‘I’m not singing about drugs in new song’
Scientists use 3D printer to create microbatteries smaller than a single GRAIN of sand, paving the way for high-powered flying robot insects and mini medical implants
Rescue operation involves 32 emergency staff after obese driver crashes into back of a bus
Adobe’s Creative Cloud Has Already Been Pirated

Adobe's shift to cloud-based software provision for its new Creative Cloud design suite was partly motivated by anti-piracy concerns. Which, of course, means... it's already been pirated.
Read more...
AP buys stake in live video service Bambuser
Full Trailer For The Second Smurfs Film
I know grown adults who found the first Smurf film entertaining. At times, they laughed so much they almost dropped their bongs.
As family films go, the first picture struck me as mediocre. Or rather, didn’t strike me. Just sort of bumped up against me a little. But I’ve seen far, far worse. There’s certainly a lot of competence in the craftsmanship, and one can never have enough Neil Patrick Harris.
It almost seems perverse to take the Smurfs to Paris when they’re Belgian. So near and yet so far.
Full Trailer For The Second Smurfs Film


