← Previous Story Women CL: Gyor and Buducnost in the semifinal! Next Story → Men’s EHF CL (Round 10): “Matches of the Year” in Veszprem and Kielce! Serbian star and one of the best players on the Planet, Andrea Lekic scored 6 goals in Gyori’s win in Denmark, which qualified Hungarian champion for the Women’s EHF Champions League:– I didn’t look to scoreboard. I am not sure that I know the final result, but I know that we played fantastic match and win. I am to happy. We continue our winning series since the beginning of New Year. This is my first semifinal. It has to be glorified – says Lekic on her official website. Andrea LekicEHF CLGyorihandballWomen’s handball
Womens EHF CL Round 2 Fantastic Budućnost – Podravka winner of Balkan
women’s EHF CLZRK Buducnost Podgorica Current Women’s EHF CL champion, Budućnost Podgorica showed that new squad has enough quality to fight for the TOP of European handball. Team coached by Dragan Adzić was fantastic in Denmark against Viborg HK 26:20.COMPLETE RESULTS – ROUND 2:GROUP AHYPO – RANDERS 32:25BUXTEHUDER – OLTCHIM VALCEA 15:34GROUP BJOLIDON CLUJ – GYORI 25:30PODRAVKA – KRIM 25:22GROUP CIK SAVEHOF – DINAMO 28:34FTC – LARVIK 28:24GROUP DZVEZDA – THURINGER 31:24VIBORG – BUDUĆNOST 20:26 ← Previous Story VELUX EHF CL: Strong Kielce for a new Chambery’s disaster – No winner in Leon Next Story → Bundesliga (Round 9): Rhein-Neckar Lowen beat Burgdorf, 16:0 now
Bundesliga Round 21 RheinNeckar Lowen with confident win in Wetzlar
← Previous Story SEHA: Macedonians in good form – Tatran wins after six matches! Next Story → Didier Dinart becomes technical director of the national team GoppingenlowenlubbeckeMagdeburgPresovristovskirnicwetzlar It seems that the slight crisis that shook Rhein-Neckar Lowen that was seen in the matches against Tatran Presov and TuS N-Lubbecke is over, if judging by yesterday’s game against Wetzlar. The Mannheim team scraped to a confident away win at one of the surprises this season in the Bundesliga, by winning 29:23, with a dominant 15:9 second half. SC Magdeburg only managed to get a point at home against Lubbecke with 29:29 score, while Gummersbach won at home and for the time being escaped from the dangerous zone. They won with 27:26 over Goppingen, with Ristovski saving the last shot by Momir Rnic.
Michael Apelgren is new Elverum coach
Norwegian team Elverum believes in institution of “player-coach”. After Christian Berge, who was released after a deal with Norwegian Handball Federation, where he became a head-coach of the National team, Elverum found an replacement. THat is Swedish guy Michael Apelgren, who is coming from Spanish Puerto Sagunto, where he was the third scorer of ASOBAL in the last season.Apelgren has played in Hamarby and Savehof before he moved to Spain…PHOTO: http://www.ehh.no/ Elverum handballMichael Apelgrennorge handball ← Previous Story Women’s Junior “All Star Team” 2014 Next Story → AUSTRIA BECOMING A REAL HANDBALL FORCE – Martin Hausleitner: We take advantage of chances after EURO 2010
Beach Handball WCh 2016 Favorites progress to Main Round
← Previous Story Croatia beat Sweden in first friendly test Next Story → Beach Handball WCh 2016: Croatia, Brazil and Qatar book semi-finals Beach handball Budapest will be this weekend real enterteining capital as famous “Red bull race” will be held above the Danube river and beautiful Margitsziget. End down, on the sand of Budapest’s island, world’s best beach handball players finnished preliminary phase of World championship.Three teams out of six pass to the Main round from each prelininary group. Those teams that are still in competition for the medals are Brasil, Spain, Norway, Hungary, Italy, Spain and Chinese Taipei in female competition while in male same options still have Croatia, Brasil, Spain, Qatar, Ukraine and Hungary. On each of the above mentioned list of teams, first to mentioned pass to the main round with 4 points, 2 more then next two, while last two teams from each list didn’t bring any point from preliminary round.In previous female matches, Brasil and Spain showed superiority by winning all periods of all 5 matches played. In male competition, Brasilians alreday went three time to “shootut”, but what to say about Croatians that all matches finnished in “shootout” – all of them successfully.Spectatores, players and organisers enjoy fantastic organisation of Hungarian hosts, but all together started watch more frequently to the sky, not just because of “Red bull race’s” planes that are practising for Sunday’s event, more because weather forecast for next two days is not good and it looks it will not be the ally of beachhandballers. However, all matches can be followed on www.beachhandball2016.comPHOTO: Beach Handball Croatia
Jakov Gojun Croatia have bigger potential than Denmark and France
← Previous Story Denmark to host Golden League with three Olympic medal winners Next Story → SG Flensburg to play two matches in one day!? One of the best defensive players in world of handball, Croatian Jakov Gojun from Fuchse Berlin, talked for Balkan-Handball.com about dissapointment after Olympic quarter-final defeat against Poland, but also a huge potential which Croatia have in his opinion:The thing which hurt me most is that we beat Denmark and France, and after it we didn’t win a medal. That was one of the toughest defeats in my career. It was tough to leave Rio when you knew how much you gave for that, worked whole summer, without family. It was horrible. I don’t feel good even now when I am talking about it – said Gojun who also praised Poland:When you beat someone 15 goals in front of 15.000 their fans in Krakow, then of course, it is tough to not underestimate, but we didn’t. We knew how experienced is that group of players, that they won EHF Champions League few months ago, who is Talant. I know Talant very well, we worked together in Madrid. He doesn’t want to lose in any single practice on training. We began bad, couldn’t make foul on Bielecki who find the shooting form in right moment with some unbeliavable goals at the end. It’s pity. We had a big chance to win another Olympic medal.What about future…We have a big raiting and people expect from us to fight for the medals. We aren’t serious team if we don’t quality for the semi-final. We are aware of that, but we have a lot of youngstars who have to find themselves in the national team. We have a huge potential, bigger than France and Denmark. The World Championship 2017 is ahead of us, and I have one dream – to make revenge to France, as they beat us in Zagreb 2009 at the final – concluded Fuchse Berlin defender, Jakov Gojun. Jakov Gojun
RK Vardar VS FC Barcelona Lassa for IHF Super Globe 2017 Final
Just like in Cologne few months ago, RK Vardar Skopje and FC Barcelona Lassa will meet at the semi-final of the big event aiming to win the trophy. This time is the final match of the IHF Super Globe 2017 on the table. Two teams easily past their quarter-final rivals at Duhail Sports Hall in Doha.August 25FC Barcelona Lassa – Esperanza 42:24RK Vardar Skopje – Naft-O-Gasharan (Iran) 30:22Fuchse Berlin – Pinheiros 33:31Al Sadd – Sidney 33:25August 2616.00: RK Vardar Skopje – FC Barcelona Lassa18.00: Al Sadd – Fuchse BerlinAugust 27 – Rest dayAugust 2812.00: 7th14.00: 5th16.00: Third place match18.00: FinalPHOTO: IHF ← Previous Story HUGE INTERESTS for Masters Handball World Cup 2018 – Brazilians and Germans first guests! Next Story → LIVE: FC Barcelona Lassa – RK Vardar Skopje
Nigerian troops swarm after 40 killed in student massacre
NIGERIAN SOLDIERS MOVED house to house today in an urgent bid to hunt down attackers responsible for the massacre of 40 people who were shot or had their throats slit in a student housing area.The raid in the early hours of yesterday morning near a polytechnic university shook the town of Mubi, located in Nigeria’s volatile northeast, where Islamist extremist group Boko Haram has carried out scores of previous attacks.Last week in Mubi, Nigeria’s military conducted a high-profile raid targeting the group, killing a senior Boko Haram figure and arresting 156 suspected members.Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan called the gruesome off-campus attack “sad and shocking” but its motives remained unclear, with some officials suggesting the massacre may have been linked to a recent student election.Jonathan has ordered Nigeria’s security agencies to investigate, his spokesman Reuben Abati told journalists.Police have given an official death toll of 25, saying at least 22 of the victims were students. A school official said today that the death toll was at least 40, but he could not immediately say how many were students.“Based on accounts from locals, at least 40 people were killed in the attack,” the official from the polytechnic school said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak publicly.“Twenty-five were the ones taken to the morgue. At least 15 of the victims whose families are in Mubi were taken away by relatives.”Door-to-doorAbubakar Ahmed, head of the Red Cross in Adamawa state, where Mubi is located, said troops were going door-to-door looking for suspects today.Police spokesman Mohammed Ibrahim said security forces had blanketed Mubi, a commercial hub and university town located near the border with Cameroon.“There’s a heavy deployment of soldiers, police and (secret police) personnel in Mubi following the killings,” he said. “They are combing all parts of the town in the hope of tracking down the killers.”According to Ibrahim, the attackers knew their victims and called them out by name in a student housing area off-campus of Federal Polytechnic Mubi, an ethnically mixed school with several thousand students.Victims were shot or had their throats slit, he said.Residents said it seemed the victims were both Muslim and Christian, but police had not commented as is often the case in Nigeria, where ethnic and religious divisions regularly lead to unrest.CurfewThe town had already been under a 3pm to 6pm curfew in the wake of last week’s raid, and it remained in place today.The suggestion that the killings were linked to the student election raised questions over how and why the dispute would have turned so violent.There were suggestions of ethnic tensions between the mainly Muslim Hausas and predominately Christian Igbos involved in the vote, and a spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency said some of the victims were candidates.At the same time, Boko Haram has continually widened its targets and its attacks have become increasingly sophisticated.A rights activist and expert on religious violence in northern Nigeria, Shehu Sani, said investigators should first concentrate on the role potentially played by the Islamist insurgents.“There is no student rivalry in the history of Nigeria that has ever led to this kind of massacre,” said Sani.Nigerian officials have been seeking to show success in the fight against Boko Haram with a number of raids and arrests. There had been a lull in major attacks in recent weeks.The Islamist extremists have been blamed for more than 1,400 deaths since 2010 as part of their insurgency in northern and central Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and largest oil producer roughly divided between a mainly Muslim north and predominately Christian south.Maxwell Dukku, a spokesman for Adamawa’s deputy state governor, said the state’s political leaders “really don’t know why this has happened.”Boko Haram has claimed to be seeking an Islamic state in northern Nigeria, but its demands have repeatedly shifted and it is believed to include a number of factions with varying aims.Imitators and criminal gangs are also believed to have carried out violence under the guise of the group.- (c) AFP 2012
Snapshot Sean OBrien is lending a hand to Carlows senior footballers
WELL, AT LEAST we know that Sean O’Brien was closer to Tullow than Toulon tonight.The Leinster and Ireland openside was in Carlow IT assisting county boss Anthony Rainbow (pictured on the right) as Carlow senior footballers took on Athlone IT.Unfortunately for O’Brien, who will miss most of the upcoming Six Nations with a dislocated shoulder, his native county fell 1 – 15 to 13 points in the O’Byrne Cup Group B clash.Now, there are no clearer images than this one sent our way by Carlow People journalist, Brian O’Donoghue, but we’d recognise that tank-esque silhouette anywhere.Sure, the south of France can promise sunshine, stunning views of the Mediterranean and untold riches, but can they offer Seanie the best seat in the house for the glamour of the O’Byrne Cup?Pfft! I don’t think so.Laois, UCD, Kildare and Athlone IT all triumph in O’Byrne Cup clashesSimon Hick column: Dealing with O’Brien loss is Schmidt’s biggest challenge
Sharon Ní Bheoláin was not impressed by some dancers on the news
LAST NIGHT’S SIX One News featured a report about a new contemporary dance festival kicking off later this month in Dublin.One all-male show featured in the report, and clearly Sharon Ní Bheoláin was not impressed by their moves, because when the camera came back to her she was caught giving some pretty serious side-eye. Source: DailyEdge.ie via RTE PlayerOh Sharon, we couldn’t love you any more.Local newsreader really wants to go home, says very bad word>Our very own Aengus Mac Grianna made it into the 2013 news blooper compilation> Source: Micheal GlennonPoor Sharon knew she’d been caught, and spent the final minute of the broadcast desperately trying to suppress her giggles.You can see the full thing on the RTE Player, the fun starts at around 44:10, but for now, let’s enjoy that moment again.
Now Thats What I Call Music gets its own TV show
NOW THAT’S WHAT I Call Music albums were the musical saviours of our youth.No one had the money to buy every individual album from the artists reponsible for your favourite songs. Fortunately, the Now compilations meant you could have all the hits in one place.Now they are getting some of the recognition they deserve via an ITV one hour special to be aired this Summer.According to ITV’s commissioning editor for Comedy Entertainment, The Story of Now will ‘take viewers back through the soundtrack of their lives and help them relive many special moments’. Like Reeling in the Years without the news!We’ll definitely be watching. There’s nothing we like more than reliving special moments.In fact, let’s do some of that right now.Here are some of the songs which were included in Now 39, released in the halcyon days of late 90s music.The Spice Girls – StopNever gets old.YouTube/emimusicBillie Myers – Kiss the RainHad you forgotten this one? We’d forgotten this one.YouTube/BillieMyersVEVOCatatonia – Mulder and ScullyWhat a tune!YouTube/ratpoison12317 reasons why Now! That’s What I Call Music was awesome>Mr Wendal, Ebeneezer Goode and Haddaway… remember this gang?>
Ikea withdraws Wiener sausages as they await horsemeat DNA tests
DAYS AFTER WITHDRAWING their meatballs after traces of horse DNA was found, Ikea has withdrawn their Wiener sausages from a number of stores, including Ireland and the UK.A spokesperson for Ikea would not confirm to TheJournal.ie this afternoon if horsemeat was found in their Wiener sausages as they are currently awaiting test results.The Swedish furniture giant’s spokesperson added they were taking the sausages off the shelves as “a precautionary measure”.In a follow-up statement, the Ikea group said the sale of Wiener sausages in France, Spain, Portugal, the UK and Ireland will be impacted by the decision.The company said a “large number of tests” had been performed on meatballs on the initiative of different authorities and its Swedish supplier.“Together with the Swedish supplier in question, we have decided to withdraw from sales the wiener sausages, which contain minced meat from pork and beef, from that supplier.“This is an extra-precautionary measure until we have results for the tests we are performing on all our products containing meat.“The trust of our customers is of the utmost importance to us. We want to offer the most accurate information and this is why we are taking the extra-precautionary measure for meatballs and wiener sausages.”-Additional reporting by Sinéad O’CarrollRead: Ikea pulls meatballs from European countries after horsemeat tests >
Kidney fighting for his coaching life but insists it is business as
NO MATTER HOW often Irish players step forward to plead ‘mea culpa’, the questions over Declan Kidney’s future remain.Two defeats have followed a thundering start, and shuddering finish, against Wales and the only result that looks likely to buy Kidney some time would be a flaying of France at Lansdowne Road.The Irish coach fielded six direct questions on his future in the job at today’s press conference at Carton House.Kidney stuck to a line about focusing solely on the next game, one that he first told RTE after the 12-8 loss to Scotland.If his focus is truly blinkered in dedication, he must be the only rugby-loving Irish person not to ponder who will be coaching Ireland later this year.Kidney lamented the fact that Ireland only took one scoring opportunity out of the ‘eight or nine’ created against the Scots, a result he called the most disappointing in his coaching tenure.Only concernAsked if the two defeats had done irreparable damage to his hopes for a new contract, Kidney responded, “I haven’t been thinking about it really. My only concern is to help this team do as well as they can do.“That’s my whole reason for doing so. We have another match in 10 days time; that’s all I’m concentrating on.”Kidney, not for the first time in his tenure, answered a question about injuries by stating that he did not wish to focus on them. He then talked about injuries.The Corkman pointed out, “Usually you would work off a 10 or 15% injury rate. We’re up around 45% at the moment. It’s an opportunity for other lads to come in.”Simon Zebo is one of a swathe of injured Irish players. (©INPHO/Dan Sheridan)Asked if he wanted to stay on, Kidney said, “I’m just looking upon it as the next match. That’s the way that I’m going to keep doing it. That’s the way I’ve done it from the start.Obviously there are huge highs and lows with this job. Last Sunday was a big low. Especially the frustration where you create so much and knowing how hard [the players] worked to get into those positions.”Kidney is aware that there is a sense of frustration felt by Irish rugby supporters but added that he had not sought out any newspapers since the weekend loss.Pressed about his assertions of being purely focused on the upcoming match against France, Kidney was not for shifting.He said, “I haven’t been talking about it, I’m just thinking about the next time. I’m thinking about the next game.”Kidney 100% standing by his decision to appoint Heaslip as captain
Parents patrolling streets help deter Stockholm rioters
PARENTS AND VOLUNTEERS have been patrolling the streets of Stockholm’s immigrant-heavy suburbs to help quell riots that have raged for almost a week, serving as a successful deterrent to troublemakers and winning praise from police.“They have helped a lot in reducing the unrest,” Stockholm police spokeswoman Karin Solberg told Swedish news agency TT.Sweden has since the 1980s had a network of volunteers called “Nightwalkers”, usually made up of parents who walk the streets of their own suburbs in groups on weekend nights, talking to youngsters and simply making their presence known.With their distinctive neon yellow windbreakers, their presence is aimed at deterring neighbourhood kids from getting into trouble.They have no special authority to intervene if trouble arises, are armed only with flashlights and wear no uniform other than their colourful jackets.In the six nights of riots that have left cars and buildings torched in Stockholm’s immigrant-dominated suburbs, the volunteers’ mission has been to protect schools, libraries and youth centres.“We have changed our strategy. In the beginning, we would walk around in the neighbourhood. Now we stay put,” explained Aleks Sakala, a 44-year-old IT consultant from Kista who was on Nightwalker duty on Friday night.Kista is a mixed suburb, known as Stockholm’s Silicon Valley for its high-tech industry, where telecoms giant Ericsson has its headquarters. But it is also home to a large low-income immigrant population.Triggered by deathIt also borders Husby, where the riots broke out on 19 May, triggered by the fatal police shooting of a 69-year-old resident after the man wielded a machete in public.Local activists said the shooting sparked anger among youths who claim to have suffered from police brutality and racism.Sakala spent the night between Friday and Saturday outdoors in the courtyard of a Kista nursery school, keeping an eye out for troublemakers under the moonlight.The nursery school is “an ideal target”, he said.“There are bushes around where you can hide, places where you can’t be seen from any dwelling, and wood in the structure that will burn easily,” he said.About 100 Nightwalkers were out in Kista, easily visible in the dark with their neon jackets.Meanwhile no police officers were to be seen, despite an announcement of police reinforcements brought in from other parts of the country. Police have from the beginning tried to avoid confrontation and clashes with the rioters.Shortly after midnight, a police patrol car pulled into the Kista nursery school parking lot, leaving again shortly afterwards.David, a 46-year-old Nightwalker, said residents needed to take responsibility for their neighbourhoods.“Police are not here to guard buildings. They don’t have the means, and it’s not their role,” he said.“I’d rather live in a society where citizens protect themselves, rather than in a society that needs police for everything. That is democracy and freedom,” added Sakala.The Nightwalkers are not always successful. On Thursday night, rioters torched a nursery school in Kista where Sakala’s son is enrolled. The damage was extensive.A group of four young women patrolling Kista on Friday night told Sakala that “everything’s calm.” He reminded them that “just before the nursery fire everything was perfectly calm too.”© AFP, 2013Schools torched in fifth night of Sweden riots over ‘police brutality’
The Evening Fix now with blogs about tweets about Vines about Instagrams
(YouTube: Stacey Stevenson)THINGS WE SHARED:So there’s this iron bead that they found in Egypt in 1911, which had baffled people for decades because it appeared to date from 3,300 BC – a full millennium before iron smelting was discovered. Researchers now think they know where the iron rod came from…Things we shared? Well, to mark tonight’s Social Media Awards, we shared this blog post about a tweet of a Vine of an Instagram of a Tumblr of a Facebook status update about a Tweet. GO HOME INTERNET, YOU’RE DRUNK, etc.Finally, tonight: did you know that Whose Line Is It Anyway?, the best improvisational comedy game of all time, is being remade in the US? And that the show has attained such cult status that most of its old episodes are on YouTube? And that this one has a pre-Comedy Central era Stephen Colbert playing a TV news anchor? Enjoy: (YouTube: WhoseLineGames) Ah, Taoiseach, you’re a married man! Enda Kenny meets designer Leonie Cornelius, who is sitting in her garden entitled ‘A Love Letter To The West’, on the first day of the Bloom festival in the Phoenix Park, Dublin. (Sam Boal/Photocall Ireland)HERE ARE THE things we learned, loved and shared today as we round off the day in three easy steps.THINGS WE LEARNED:#ABORTION: Health minister James Reilly has been sent a 1,642-page report from the Oireachtas health committee summarising its hearings on the draft abortion bill earlier this month. The feedback, which doesn’t make any formal recommendation, will now be used to frame the final draft of the bill. Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil has decided its TDs and Senators will have a free vote on the abortion bill, after failing to hammer out a unified position.#EXCOMMUNICATED: A senior Vatican official has said Catholic TDs should resign their public position rather than be forced to vote in favour of legalising abortion. Jacques Suaudeau told pro-abortion TDs: “If you are faithful to your conviction, then you have to get out.” The Iona Institute’s David Quinn, however, has said TDs will not face excommunication for supporting the legislation – but that they should not fear losing their party whip.#ELECTORAMA: The proposals for the revised boundaries of Ireland’s beefed-up city and county councils have been published. The proposals will see Ireland’s population of councillors nearly halved, as town councils are scrapped and county councils split into municipal areas as a result. Find out how your council is changing here.#UNEMPLOYMENT: Ireland’s unemployment rate fell to 13.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2013 – largely through an increase in part-time unemployment and a reduction in the overall size of the labour force. There are now 292,000 people out of work in Ireland.#JOBBRIDGE: The government says the three childcare firms who were profiled in Tuesday night’s RTE documentary on abusive conditions in childcare facilities will be given a nationwide ban from taking on JobBridge interns. The Department of Social Protection’s moves follow complaints from Sinn Féin that some childcare firms were seeking “no experience needed” interns, even after the national outrage from Tuesday’s broadcast.#UNLAWFUL: Independent TD Mick Wallace says he was the victim of an unlawful arrest in 2000, for which legal action is still ongoing. In a heated exchange at a press conference earlier, Wallace said he was not permitted to talk about the issue while proceedings were still ongoing, but that he was definitely arrested wrongfully.Arise, Dr Winfrey. An emotional Oprah sheds a tear after she receives an honorary doctorate from Harvard University during commencement ceremonies in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Elise Amendola/AP)THINGS WE LOVED:Sir Patrick Stewart is very sweet. The veteran actor became the unlikely suspect of global attention yesterday when he tweeted that he was having his very first slice of pizza. He’s now explained to New York magazine that it was his first slice of pizza, as opposed to his first pizza… but that he was having some because he and his fiancée were hungover.Here’s a lovely write-up about a tattoo studio in WW1-era Britain – and how some people, including children, went to get the military insignia of their husband or father tattooed on to remember them while they were at war.So here’s Gordon Ramsay doing a live televised cook-a-long when guess who shows up as a guest… but a Gordon Ramsay lookalike. (Scroll to 2m15:)
Sony Chief hints that PlayStation Phone is a very real product
The PlayStation Phone has been one of the most consistently rumored devices in tech, but it seems pretty likely that we’ll actually finally see this gadgetological Sasquatch in 2011. Not only have we seen the prototype, but it looks very likely that the device will be revealed at February’s Mobile World Congress.Add some more kindle to the PlayStation Phone rumor fire. Sony’s Kaz Hirai is now hinting that a PlayStation Phone is in the cards.“We don’t want gamers to be asking, what’s the difference between that [a PS phone] and a PSP… we have to come up with a message that users will understand,” he told The New York Times. “It would have to be a product that keeps the PlayStation’s strengths intact.”As for the future of the PSP, Hirai also hints that earlier reports that the PSP2 would support a multitouch back panel are correct.“Depending on the game, there are ones where you can play perfectly well with a touch panel,” he said, although he still thinks the “immersive” games that are Sony’s focus play better with casual buttons.Unless Sony’s just funning with us, it really looks like they’ve got a hot new device in prototype to wow us with in a couple months time. Color us excited.Read more at New York Times
Ziff Davis acquires Geekcom
It’s official: Geek.com has been acquired by Ziff Davis, the company behind PCmag.com, Extremetech.com, and a number of other technology sites. Geek.com will operate a standalone site within the Ziff Davis family, with the same commitment to excellence in technology reporting the site has had since it was founded in 1996. Geek.com’s entire editorial team is making the move to Ziff Davis.Read more at Ziff Davis.Editor’s Note I have to say I’m really excited to make this announcement. I’ll be staying on as Geek.com’s editor, as will Matthew, Brian, Doug, John, and the rest of the Geek staff. We are looking forward to working with a group of people that has proven time and again to be one of the most capable teams in technology reporting.Thanks for everyone’s support along that way. We’re looking forward to a successful, and geeky, 2011 with Ziff.
Starbucks iPhone and Blackberry mobile payment system goes national
Starbucks have been busy working on more than just a Trenta super enlarged drink cup. The coffee company has finished testing its new mobile payment system (which was first introduced back in September 2009) and is now confident it is ready to go national. In total Starbucks is looking at launching the program to around 6,800 stores and 1,000 outlets dotted around the U.S.Currently the app is only available on iPhone and Blackberry devices, but an Android version shouldn’t be too far away. It works by displaying a bar code that can be scanned at the register when you are ready to purchase your items, you will also be able to find nearby stores and manage your account through the app.AdChoices广告It seems that the service is already proven popular during its test phase, as one in five Starbucks transactions are handled through the mobile/Starbucks card system.Because you normally see so many phones at Starbucks the new payment system kind of makes sense, especially as research conducted by Starbucks revealed that from its millions of customers 75% of them either use an iPhone or Blackberry.Read more at The Seattle Times
Google Doodle honors John James Audubons 226th birthday
A visit to Google’s homepage today will greet you with a new Google Doodle. Today’s doodle celebrates the 226th birthday of bird enthusiast John James Audubon. The doodle isn’t as clear as some of the others in the past, and almost takes a Magic Eye approach to see all the individual letters represented by birds of prey, songbirds, and an owl that spell out the word “Google.”Born in 1785 in what is now Haiti, at age 18 Audubon was sent to a family-owned estate near Philadelphia to avoid being sent into Napoleon’s army. There, he conducted his first bird experiment. This experiment, which entailed tying strings to the legs of birds, led Audubon to determine if the birds returned to the same nesting places each year.Audubon spent time on the Mississippi River drawing various bird portraits until he had a collection good enough to take over to England. In 1826, his collection, called “The American Woodsman,” was an overnight success. The book’s popularity led to a collaboration with Scottish ornithologist William MacGillvray. The two worked on the Ornithological Biographies, a book that detailed the life histories of each of the birds in the work .He took an an exhibition of his work to Britain where it received rave reviews and helped him raise the money to publish Birds of America, a massive collection that cataloged and detailed almost 500 species.Audubon died at the age of 65 in New York City. It wasn’t until 1905 that the Audubon Society was created by George Bird Grinnell, who was tutored by Audubon’s widow, and named the association in honor of the great bird enthusiast.If a Google Doodle isn’t enough to honor the man, Audubon was quoted by Charles Darwin in On the Origin of Species, which is quite the honor.
Yes Angry Birds Space really is coming to Windows Phone
Despite a bevvy of new phones — both mid-range and high-end — and a much more full-featured OS in tow, Windows Phone continues to struggle in the mobile marketplace. Part of the blame has been placed on a lack of quality, high-profile apps — and Rovio has shed some light on what the problem is.According to them, “it’s a big undertaking to support [Windows Phone]” and getting the latest installment of their smash-hit franchise — Angry Birds Space — on Microsoft’s mobile OS requires a “complete rewrite.”Blogger Henry Blodget had earlier stated that Rovio was giving Windows Phone the cold shoulder, but that turned out not to be the case. And really, it would’ve been a huge surprise to hear that Rovio wasn’t going to bring Angry Birds Space to Windows Phone.Rovio’s first release currently sits at the number one position in the Marketplace. There’s been a tremendous amount of hype surrounding the new release, and there’s no way that Microsoft — who are fighting tooth and nail to make Windows Phone a success — would stand idly by if Rovio had actually said they weren’t interested in porting.It’s highly likely that Microsoft would have offered some sort of incentive (like a giant pile of cash) to get Rovio interested. Hey, if they’re offering up thousand-dollar laptops to people just for proving their phones beat a Windows Phone in a speed test, why would they not dangle a golden carrot in front of Rovio to keep their platform from looking like a black sheep?More at Reuters