Leaked Google Nexus 7 images and video show newer, sleeker iPad mini competitor

Apple wasn't the first small-sized tablet on the market but it's iPad mini has been far and away the most successful to date, so it's no surprise Google wants to get back into the game with a new, improved Nexus 7. Rumors of just such a sequel device have been circulating for a while now, but our sibling site has now gotten their hands on the first pictures and video of what just might be the next Nexus 7. Phil Nickinson from Android Central:

The specs slapped onto this little lost tablet include the expected 7-inch LCD display and, new this time around, a pair of cameras. There's a 1.2-megapixel shooter from LITEONMOBILE on the front, and 5-megapixel camera by Chicony on the back. The rear camera appears to be situated in the same corner as the 3.5mm headphone jack. The listed motherboard points to Qualcomm's APQ8064 with a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor.

I still have the original Nexus 7 and haven't used it in months. It just wasn't very good. The aspect ratio was awkward for portrait use and it took way too long to get pervasive landscape support. It also suffered from a bunch of weird battery issues. However, since then the iPad mini has proven there's huge volume and huge money to be made in the small tablet market, and Google's proven nothing if not that they're a persistent, intelligent, and adaptive competitor.

Sadly, the aspect ratio doesn't look to have been improved here, but everything else looks much, much better. Combine it with the latest version of Android, and a super-low price, and it could be hugely attractive to the non-Apple market.

And let's face it, the tablet market is still desperate for great, non-Apple products. I'll be getting one, of course, and here's hoping Google nails it. Check out the video and additional images via the link below, and then come back and tell me - will this be a seriously competitive small sized tablet?

Source: Android Central

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/KIsUQvQLoFA/story01.htm

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Female in Motion: Family Reunion

I arrived home this afternoon from a family reunion in Burlington, Iowa. Nestled on a hill overlooking the mighty Mississippi River, this picturesque village was full of historic homes and shady, green parks. We had a blast getting to know each other again after three years apart.

At the picnic held in Dankwardt Park, I presented my cousin, Becca Ballew McDermott, with custody of our family's tangerine talisman, Orange Fuzzy Ballew. He will have fun on her Iowa farm with Becca, her husband and four adorable kids.

We took a historic home tour, golfed, swam, played card games, watched fireworks, ate a bunch and just generally partied for two days straight. It doesn't really matter what we did...we reconnected. And that is what families should.

You can't pick your family, but I sure was blessed with the greatest bunch of folks to love.

***

Female in Motion Exercise Update: I did three disco aerobic workouts and my family dragged me all over Iowa this week. Ha! Actually, I feel pretty great!

***

Notable Quote:

Psalm 128:1-6 (KJV)
¹ Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways.
² For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.
³ Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.
⁴ Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the LORD.
⁵ The LORD shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life.
⁶ Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon Israel.

Source: http://fim-carol.blogspot.com/2013/07/family-reunion.html

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This Plywood Chair Is Super-Stylish--and Affordable

This stylish chair may look super-classy?but don't be fooled: it's actually made from humble plywood.

It comes flat-pack style, its panels made from CNC-cut birch plywood all held together by hex screws. Named Jari?which literally means a place for a person or a thing?the design is apparently inspired by the growing number of single dwellings in South Korea.

Shown off at the Design & Art Fair 2013 in Seoul, there's currently no word on how much it will cost exactly?but expect it to be affordable. [MetaFaux via Design Boom]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/this-plywood-chair-is-super-stylish-and-affordable-699343399

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Vatican bank director, deputy resign amid scandal

ROME (AP) ? The director of the embattled Vatican bank and his deputy resigned Monday following the latest developments in a broadening finance scandal that has already landed one Vatican monsignor in prison and added urgency to Pope Francis' reform efforts.

The Vatican said in a statement that Paolo Cipriani and his deputy, Massimo Tulli, stepped down "in the best interest of the institute and the Holy See."

Cipriani, along with the bank's then-president, was placed under investigation by Rome prosecutors in 2010 for alleged violations of Italy's anti-money-laundering norms after financial police seized 23 million euro ($30 million) from a Vatican account at a Rome bank. Neither has been charged and the money was eventually ordered released.

But the bank, known as the Institute for Religious Works, or IOR, has remained under the glare of prosecutors and now Francis amid fresh concerns it has been used as an offshore tax haven.

Last week, a Vatican accountant was arrested as part of Rome prosecutors' broadening investigation into the IOR. Monsignor Nunzio Scarano is accused of corruption and slander in connection with a plot to smuggle 20 million euro ($26 million) into Italy from Switzerland without reporting it to customs officials.

Scarano, dubbed "Don 500" by the Italian media because of his purported favorite euro banknote, acknowledged under questioning Monday that his behavior was wrong but that he was only trying to help out friends, attorney Silverio Sica told The Associated Press.

According to wiretapped phone conversations, Scarano was in touch regularly with both Cipriani and Tulli to get the required bank approval to move large amounts of cash into and out of his IOR accounts. Scarano had two such accounts: a personal one and one called "Fondo Anziani" to receive charitable donations for projects to help the elderly, prosecutors say.

In addition to his Rome arrest, Scarano is also under investigation in the southern city of Salerno for alleged money-laundering stemming from a 560,000 euro cash withdrawal he made from his IOR charity account in 2009. Sica, the attorney, has said Scarano arranged complicated transactions with dozens of other people and eventually used the money to pay off a mortgage.

The group of five cardinals overseeing the IOR accepted the resignations of Cipriani and Tulli and tapped the IOR's current president, German financier and aristocrat Ernst von Freyberg, to serve as interim director, a Vatican statement said.

Von Freyberg, who was named IOR president in February following the clamorous ouster last year of Italian banker Ettore Gotti Tedeschi for incompetence, thanked Cipriani and Tulli for their years of work and said much progress has been made in recent years to bring greater transparency to the Vatican's finances.

"While we are grateful for what has been achieved, it is clear today that we need new leadership to increase the pace of this transformation process," von Freyberg said in a statement.

Italian banker Rolando Marranci was named as acting deputy and another banking expert, Antonio Montaresi, has been brought into a new position as chief risk officer to help ensure the IOR complies with anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism norms. Both belong to the Promontory Group, an expert in the field of anti-money laundering which has been retained by the IOR to help it comply with international norms.

The IOR's board has begun the process of finding a permanent director and deputy director, the statement said.

The Vatican bank was founded in 1942 by Pope Pius XII to manage assets destined for religious or charitable works. Located in a tower just inside the gates of Vatican City, it isn't open to the public ? only to Vatican employees, religious orders and diplomats accredited to the Holy See.

Last week, Francis announced a commission of inquiry into the bank's activities and legal status to ensure it is in "harmony" with the Catholic Church's mission. It's part of his overall reform effort of the Vatican bureaucracy, mandated by the cardinals who elected him pope in March.

The reason for concern about the IOR is well-founded: The bank has long been the source of some of the greatest scandals of the Holy See, famously implicated in a scandal over the collapse of the Banco Ambrosiano in the 1980s, in one of Italy's largest fraud cases.

Roberto Calvi, the head of Banco Ambrosiano, was found hanging from Blackfriars Bridge in London in 1982 in circumstances that still remain mysterious.

Banco Ambrosiano collapsed following the disappearance of $1.3 billion in loans the bank had made to several dummy companies in Latin America. The Vatican had provided letters of credit for the loans.

While denying any wrongdoing, the Vatican bank agreed to pay $250 million to Ambrosiano's creditors.

The late Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, an American prelate who headed the Vatican bank at the time, was charged as an accessory to fraudulent bankruptcy in the scandal, but Italy's Constitutional Court eventually backed the Vatican in ruling that under Vatican-Italian treaties Marcinkus had immunity from Italian prosecution. Marcinkus long asserted his innocence and died in 2006.

___

Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/vatican-bank-director-deputy-resign-amid-scandal-182224080.html

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Trapped in Transit: Orwellian Moscow airport hotel

SHEREMETYEVO AIRPORT (AP) ? "An interesting route, Mr. Phillips," says the airport transit desk employee. "This activity makes for suspicion."

It was the start of an Orwellian adventure in which I deliberately got myself sequestered in the hopes of finding Edward Snowden at Moscow's main airport.

The experience leaves me feeling that if the NSA leaker is indeed in the transit zone of the airport, as President Vladimir Putin claims, he may already have a taste of what it's like to be in prison.

Snowden is possibly holed up in the wing of an airport hotel reserved for travelers in transit who don't have visas to enter Russia. The Novotel's main building, located outside the airport, has a plush lobby with a fountain, a trendy bar and luxury shops. One wing, however, lies within the airport's transit zone ? a kind of international limbo that is not officially Russian territory.

And that's where Snowden, whose U.S. passport has been revoked, may be hiding.

___

EDITOR'S NOTE: Eastern Europe News Director Ian Phillips flew from his home base of Prague in the Czech Republic to Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport with the goal of getting to the bottom of the mystery of fugitive NSA leaker Edward Snowden. What followed was a surreal 21 hours.

___

The woman at the transit desk raises an eyebrow and stares at my flight itinerary, which includes a 21-hour layover in Moscow before a connection to Ukraine. "Why would ANYONE stay here in transit for so long? There are so many earlier connections you could have taken. This is strange behavior."

After a nearly two-hour wait inside the terminal, a bus picks me up ? only me ? from the transit area. We drive slowly across the tarmac, through a barrier, past electronic gates covered in barbed wire and security cameras.

The main part of the Novotel is out of bounds. My allotted wing feels like a lockup: You are obliged to stay in your room, except for brief walks along the corridor. Three cameras track your movements along the hallway and beam the images back to a multiscreen monitor. It's comforting to see a sign instructing me that, in case of an emergency, the locks on heavily fortified doors leading to the elevators will open.

When I try to leave my room, the guard outside springs to his feet. I ask him why room service isn't responding and if there's any other way to get food. He growls: "Extension 70!" I rile him by asking about the Wi-Fi, which isn't working: "Extension 75!" he snarls.

"Don't worry, Mr. Phillips," the transit desk employee had said. "We have all your details and information. We will come and get you from your room at 6 p.m. on Friday, one hour before your connecting flight."

Now it's midnight, and I'm getting edgy. I feel trapped inside my airless room, whose double windows are tightly sealed. And the room is extortionate: It costs $300 a night, with a surcharge of 50 percent slapped on because I will be staying past noon.

("Can't I just wait in the lobby after midday?" I asked the receptionist at check-in. "Of course not," she retorted. "You have no visa. You will stay until you are picked up.")

I look out the window. If Snowden is here and has the same view, he can see the approach to the departures terminal at the airport. A large billboard shows a red 4x4 vehicle driving along an ocean road. A parking lot below is filled with vehicles. A man in green overalls is watering a patch of parched grass. Vehicles whizz in and out of the airport.

A maid has just brought a tea bag. She puts a tick against the room number on the three-page document on her trolley. On it, there are no guest names, only numbers ? and departure dates. A quick look suggests there are perhaps a few dozen people staying here. A couple of rooms on my floor have tell-tale signs of occupancy ? food trays lying outside from the night before.

But no sign of Snowden.

The guard allows me to stretch my legs in the corridor. The signs on the wall rub things in. Under a pretty picture of the Moscow skyline and Red Square, a message reads: "Should you wish to see the full range of facilities offered by our hotel during your next stay, we strongly recommend you to get a visa before flying to Moscow."

A fleeting glimpse of a possible change of scene: a set of guidelines posted on the wall say I can go out for a smoke!

Rule No. 6: "It is possible to go and smoke one time per hour for 5 minutes in the beginning of each hour escorted by security service."

I don't smoke, but this would be a way to escape this floor. But when I ask him to take me down, the security guard scoffs. "No!" he says flatly.

I call the front desk. "You need a visa to go outside and smoke, Mr. Phillips" the receptionist says.

If he's here, Snowden has access to a few international TV stations. He also has a fair amount of options with room service ? the only source of food in this wing. But after almost a week, he might be getting bored. And he'd need a credit card or a lot of Russian cash. A selection:

Buffalo mozzarella and pesto dressing starter? 720 rubles (about $20).

Ribeye steak: 1,500 rubles (about $50).

Bottle of Brunello di Montalcino red wine: 5,280 rubles ($165).

A miniature bottle of Hennessy XO cognac: 2,420 rubles ($80).

I've called all the 37 rooms on my floor in hopes of reaching Snowden. No reply except for when I get my security guard.

The floor above? A similarly futile attempt.

I only reach a handful of tired and irritated Russians who growl "Da? Da? Da?" ? "Yes? Yes? Yes?"

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/trapped-transit-orwellian-moscow-airport-hotel-152338275.html

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Arison to step down as Carnival chief | News | Breaking Travel News

Carnival Corporation has announced its plan to split the roles of chairman and chief executive officer.?

Present incumbent Micky Arison will continue to serve as chairman of the company, while Arnold Donald, a highly experienced and respected business leader, who has served on the company?s board for the past 12 years, will assume the chief executive role from July 3rd.?

Arison became chief executive in 1979.?

At that time the company was privately held and operated three cruise ships under one brand, generating $44 million in revenues and carrying approximately 160,000 passengers a year.?

By 1987, Carnival Cruise Lines had become the world?s largest cruise operator and Arison took the company public.

Working in partnership with current vice chairman and chief operating officer Howard Frank, Arison led the company through an aggressive expansion that included the acquisition of several iconic cruise brands, including Holland America Line, Costa Cruises, Cunard and Seabourn.?

In 2003, a merger between Carnival Corporation and P&O Princess Cruises plc ? comprised of Princess Cruises, P&O Cruises (UK), P&O Cruises (Australia), and German cruise brand AIDA ? was completed, creating the first global cruise operator and one of the largest leisure travel companies in the world.?

In addition, the company undertook an ambitious schedule of new ship introductions. Under Arison?s leadership, Carnival Corporation & plc has grown to more than 100 ships, carrying ten million passengers a year and generating more than $15 billion in annual revenues.

In his role as chairman, Arison will continue to provide board level oversight for the company and will remain the company?s largest shareholder.

Donald will lead the executive team, initially focusing on achieving the company?s long-term strategic goals while working directly with the operating brand executives.?

Frank will continue to serve in his current role as vice chairman and chief operating officer of the company, supporting Donald in working with the corporate level executive team.?

The move has received unanimous approval from the company?s nominating and governance committee as well as the full board of directors.?

?I have been discussing this with the board for some time now and feel the timing is right to align our company with corporate governance best practices and turn over the reins after 34 years as chief executive,? said Arison.?

?Arnold is an exceptional professional with extensive experience in organizational leadership who will bring a fresh perspective to the company.

?I have come to value and rely on his judgment and insight during the 12 years he has served on the company?s board and I am very confident in his ability to move the organization forward,? Arison added.

?As chairman, I will still be working closely with Arnold to ensure a great future for all our stakeholders.?

Source: http://www.breakingtravelnews.com/news/article/arison-to-step-down-as-carnival-chief/

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Blue Jays win 11th straight, beat Orioles 13-5

TORONTO (AP) ? These are the Toronto Blue Jays Edwin Encarnacion expected after a busy offseason.

Encarnacion homered and drove in four runs, Josh Johnson earned his first win of the season and the Blue Jays matched a team record by winning their 11th straight game Sunday, finishing a three-game sweep of Baltimore with a 13-5 win.

The Blue Jays have gone 28-15 since May 2, when they were a season-worst 10-21. They've won 15 of their past 18, outscoring their opponents 102-52 in that span.

"I've been waiting for this since the season started," Encarnacion said. "I believe in this team so I knew things had to change, things had to become good for us. That's the way right now and we enjoy it, enjoy the moment. I'm not surprised by this. I know this team is good and I know we can do it."

Toronto has swept three consecutive series for the first time since 1998, the last time they won 11 straight. The Blue Jays also won 11 consecutive games in 1987.

"Everybody is doing their job, everybody is pitching in," Johnson said. "It's been impressive."

Playing before a sellout crowd of 45,214, Toronto became the first team since Detroit in 2011 to win 11 straight.

"We're feeling pretty good about ourselves," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "We shut down a really good team over there."

The Blue Jays, who begin a three-game series at Tampa Bay on Monday, have not lost since a 10-6 defeat at the Chicago White Sox on June 10.

"A lot of guys have been in a good rhythm at the same time, which is kind of what we didn't have to start the season," catcher J.P. Arencibia said.

Ryan Flaherty hit two homers but Baltimore lost for the fifth time in eight games and allowed a season high in runs.

"We ran into a good team and came up short," Flaherty said.

Johnson (1-2) was winless in his first seven starts with Toronto, receiving just 13 total runs of support and losing twice. That changed Sunday, as the Blue Jays helped the right-hander with an early offensive barrage, scoring nine times in the first three innings.

Johnson allowed four runs and seven hits in six-plus innings, walked one and struck out five. He's 1-1 with a 2.84 ERA in four starts since missing 31 games with a right triceps injury, and has struck out 25 batters in his past 25 1-3 innings.

"It's not an easy lineup to face regardless of the score," Gibbons said. "That's another good outing for him. That's one win. Getting on the board so you've got something to show for it always makes you feel good."

Aaron Loup, Juan Perez and Dustin McGowan each worked one inning.

Flaherty hit a two-run shot off Johnson in the seventh and a solo homer off McGowan in the ninth for his first career multihomer game. He has five home runs this season.

With first base open, the Blue Jays intentionally walked Orioles slugger Chris Davis to load the bases for Matt Wieters in the first, but Johnson got Wieters to foul out.

"Every time you turn on the highlights he's doing some damage somewhere," Gibbons said of Davis. "We've seen plenty of that. That's key, getting out of that first inning without any runs."

Arencibia was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom half to drive in the game's first run.

The Blue Jays used small ball and the long ball to score three more in the second. Emilio Bonifacio led off with a bunt single over the head of Baltimore starter Freddy Garcia, stole second and went to third on a sacrifice bunt before scoring on Melky Cabrera's sacrifice fly. Jose Bautista walked and Encarnacion followed with a first-pitch homer to left.

Toronto blew it open with a five-run, bat-around third. Maicer Izturis and Bonifacio chased Garcia with back-to-back RBI doubles, bringing left-hander T.J. McFarland out of the bullpen. One out later, Cabrera singled home a run, Bautista walked and Encarnacion hit a two-run double.

Baltimore broke through against Johnson in the fifth, when Manny Machado led off with his ML-leading 34th double and scored on a double by Nick Markakis. Markakis went to third on Adam Jones' grounder and scored when Davis reached on Bonifacio's fielding error. Davis was credited with an RBI.

Flaherty's two-run homer made it 9-4 but Toronto answered with four in the bottom half. Colby Rasmus led off with a homer against McFarland, his 14th, and Bautista hit a bases-loaded double off Pedro Strop.

Garcia (3-5) had won his previous two outings in Toronto but lost for the third time in four starts. He allowed a season-worst seven runs and seven hits in 2 1-3 innings, his shortest start of the year.

"I made some good pitches and they just hit them," Garcia said. "Right now everything is going good for them. It's part of the game. You can't do anything about it."

Machado thought he'd fouled Johnson's strike three pitch into the dirt when he struck out in the first. After plate ump Doug Eddings checked the ball and upheld the call, Orioles manager Buck Showalter came out to see the ball for himself.

NOTES: Toronto GM Alex Anthopoulos told MLB Network Radio that SS Jose Reyes (left ankle) will play one more rehab game at Triple-A Buffalo on Monday, then will likely join Double-A New Hampshire when Buffalo goes on the road. Anthopoulos said Reyes might not rejoin the Blue Jays until Thursday in Boston. ... Arencibia had three hits and scored twice. ... Blue Jays cleanup hitter Adam Lind has base hits in each of his past seven first inning at-bats, including two home runs. ... Toronto RHP Kyle Drabek (elbow surgery) allowed two runs and five hits in 2 1-3 innings in his first rehab start at Class-A Dunedin on Saturday. Drabek struck out two, walked none and allowed a home run.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blue-jays-win-11th-straight-beat-orioles-13-215927230.html

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