PAPE"R"MAIL: Who is the sexiest Member of Parliament? SexyMP.co.uk has went about answering the question that literally nobody is asking: who is the sexiest MP? The simple website presents visitors with two pictures of random MPs and they need to pick the one they find sexier. At the bottom of the page is the leader board so visitors can review where their member of parliament ranks. The website, apart from being "the first ever parliamentary beauty contest", is also a quirky way of getting the British public to know their MPs. More attention has been drawn to the website this week as it was revealed by The Telegraph that it was it is the most popular banned website in Parliament with staff trying to access the website 484,683 times.
Sadly for them, most of the attempts were blocked by internet filters. (At the time of writing, the Prime Minister David Cameron was ranked #209 and, the ex-leader of the opposition, Ed Miliband was ranked #231.) PAPE"R"MAIL: Greece Voted No: What Now... Last night, many Greeks celebrated as the referendum on whether Greece should accept the offer from the International Monetary Fund, the European Union, and the European Central Bank produced a "no" vote. Out of 62.5% turnout, 61.31% voted όχι (no) because it would have launched the country into even worse austerity.
The referendum created large class division with many OAPs, young people, and lower classes leaning toward “no” and many middle-aged and middle-class people voting "yes". In the week building up to the snap referendum, Alexis Tsipras (the Greek Prime Minister) and his party campaigned for the “no” vote. They claimed voting that way would help their negotiating power with the rest of Europe because they have a mandate from the people. The new negotiations started earlier today however without Greece's finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, who resigned this morning despite getting the result he campaigned for.
Greece has already experienced 5 years of hopeless austerity. Three absurd gadgets from day one of CES 2015. Facebook aims Slingshot at Snapchat. This week Facebook has launched a new app in the US called 'Slingshot' to directly compete with, the picture messaging app, Snapchat. So should the makers of Snapchat be worried? Snapchat, if you didn't already know, is a free picture and video messaging and sharing app for iOS and Android mostly used by teenagers. Users are able to send pictures and videos they take to their friends, or people who they don't know if they so wish, for a maximum of 10 seconds before the snap is gone to never to be seen again (unless it is replayed - which can be done once every 24 hours). Pictures and 15 second videos sent can have an overlay of filters, text and colourful drawings. The more you snapchat, the higher your snapchat score gets.
Facebook had an app similar to Snapchat called 'Poke' which was retired earlier this year because it lacked engagement from users. So will Slingshot be able to crush Snapchat - or even steal some of the 30+ million active Snapchat users? Saturday 19th October 2013: In the News this Week. It's the week of Saturday 19th October 2013 and... Windows 8.1 Started Rolling Out Windows 8.1, the latest version of Windows following the controversial and confusing Windows 8, started rolling out to customers worldwide earlier this week. The update is being called my many 'what the original Windows 8 should have been' because it includes lots of tweaks and improvements rather than new features. New features don't go completely absent though, Bing is now built in and the search results are extremely impressive as they scan the web and everything on your PC, there a verity of new Bing apps including Bing 'Food and Drink' and Bing 'Health and Fitness' and a handful of new Microsoft apps to such as a calculator and alarm.
All the Microsoft Apps have been redesigned and made faster also. The update allows you to personalise your computer more with more options on your background, different colours and the ability to re-size apps so you can have them really big or really small. Saturday 12th October 2013: In the News this Week. It's the week of Saturday 12th October 2013 and... Apple 'Spaceship' Campus Model Earlier this week a scale model of the new futuristic Apple campus was shown off. The images show a black and white doughnut shaped building surrounded by trees and 2 blocks of car parking space just off a road to the side of the building. It has not been decided yet if the building will be constructed yet however a vote in the near future will give us that answer.
Bearded Muslim pupil allowed to return to School A 14-year old Muslim boy is allowed to return to school on Monday after spending a month in isolation and being excluded from school after refusing to shave of his beard. The facial hair did not comply with the school rules at the Accrington secondary however the boy argued it was part of his religion to keep it. Another boy at the school still has an unresolved case and is needing to stay at home until it is sorted out. American Army Iron Man Suits. Saturday 28th September 2013: In the News this Week.
It's the week of Saturday 28th September 2013 and... Humans are to blame for Climate Change The summary of a UN report on climate change was published earlier this week and stated that they are 95% sure that humans are to blame for global warming however Scientist are now extremely worried that people no longer care. Scientists believe that the people who have the power to change the future are the government and they are well informed about this subject; despite this, unless they bring in a policy sea levels will continue raising and the green house effect will only get worse. National Geographic did a feature in this months issue of their magazine about raising seal levels. They showed a world without ice and where the seas had raised by so much that counties had been submerged in water. By 2100 there are 4 possible scenarios of how much sea levels will have raised by. The target market for this device is not clear, is it businesses or normal consumers.
New Bing. From early this year we knew that Bing would be getting a redesign however the changes which are going to take place are way bigger than ever imagined! To the right is what the Bing logo was rumored to change to and below is what it actually changed to. I'm pleased they did change their idea because the new Bing logo looks surprisingly good. Microsoft thought deeply about the changes to Bing and all the changes they've done to the design fit in perfectly with the rest of Microsoft's services. The new Bing can give you inline information like what Google does. So you just need to type key words such as David Cameron's Birthday and it will immediately give you the date you need without needing to open any links. It also has Facebook built-in. These new updates have not taken effect yet however you can expect them over the coming months.
In the Windows 8.1 update coming to Windows 8 users in September, you will notice two new Bing apps on your Start screen. Microsoft announces IllumiRoom for XBOX... costs too much for release. Earlier this year the Microsoft Research team showed off a cool accessory for the XBOX which turned your living room into a huge screen using a powerful projector. Although it looked cool it wasn't very a practical idea because consumers would need their TV on a wall (not in the corner of their room), a coffee table (situated the right distance away from the TV) and the projector would struggle to show colours correctly if there was light in the room. Head of product planning for the XBOX One, Albert Penello said earlier today "I wouldn't expect you’ll see that," as he explained why the IllumiRoom would cost too much to market.
This is understandable since the technology looked pretty advance and projectors are expensive anyway without making them powerful and programming them to scan rooms. The IllumiRoom also used a Kinnect which also boosts the price up. Saturday 31st July 2013: In the News this Week. It's the week of Saturday 31st August 2013 and... Gojee Redesign Gojee used to be a Java written website where users could input what ingredients they had in their kitchen and then Gojee would recommend a recipe they could make.
The service was slow because there was so much Javascript and the recipes were sometimes questionable because they required a lot more ingredients than you inputted. The layout was stylish though and if you were craving a food (for me that is usually chocolate) the website would come up with some scrumptious recipes for you. However Gojee has had a major redesign. The website is still stylish and beautifully made however it is now also a lot quicker and easier to use. You can favourite dishes so their recipe will be stored somewhere safe in your account and you can now filter the recipes by what meal you are wanting (e.g breakfast, lunch, supper).
Anyway, the Nintendo Wii U's price will reduce from $349.99 to $299.99. Who to blame: Ask.fm or its users? Recently there has been lots of speculation about ask.fm and if it is safe for children and teenagers to use. The service allows its users to anomalously ask other users questions about anything however people have abused this privilege and the site has became a centre for cyberbullying.
Recently Hannah Smith, 14, has been a victim of cyber bullying on ask.fm and since she hanged herself a few weeks ago major sponsors have pulled out of ask.fm including Specsavers, Vodafone, Laura Ashley and ironically Save the Children. There have now also been calls from consumers and users demanding that the website is shut down - however would that reduce the amount of cyber bullying?
At the end of the day ask.fm is only a window for bullies to use and if the window was closed the bullies would find another window to intimidate people. This is a contrevertial subjct and Ask.fm says cyber bullying is against their terms of use so anyone who does verablly abuse anyone on the site is breaking the rules. Saturday 17th July 2013: In the News this Week. It's the week of Saturday 17th August 2013 and...
Next iPhone rumoured September 10th announcement 'All things D' reports that Apple's next mobile device will be announced on September 10th. Like every year, there have been hundreds of rumours about the new device but like every year only a small fraction of them are likely to be true. Rumours suggest the next iPhone will have eye tracking technology, a fingerprint scanner and better camera capabilities to put it on par with similar high end mobile devices.This is the first iPhone with a completely new operating system. iOS 7 look completely different to iOS 6 or anything before that. iOS 7 takes the best things from iOS 6, Android and Windows Phone and puts them together in a beautifully designed package.
Breaking Bad returns Walt and Jesse returned to viewers screens earlier this week as the show builds up to it's finale. Are printed publications perishing? I've been running a small newspaper for the last 4 and a half years now and I've talked to multiple journalists about the future of newspapers and magazines. Some are clearly more optimistic than others. I've talked to journalists who think that most publications will only exist online in another decade however I've talked to other journalists who think that magazines and newspapers will be thriving in 10 years time. I actually prefer reading news in a newspaper despite my huge online presence. When I'm reading news online it means that I only read the stuff I want to read. For example if I am not interested in a story on a news website I won't open it however in a newspaper you get no choice in content.
You read what is there which is good because it broadens your horizons and informs you about things you wouldn't know about otherwize. Below is a chart showing how newspaper circulation has decreased gradually since the year 2000. Magazines however, I think will thrive. Is there Life on Mars? Saturday 6th July 2013: In the News this Week. It's the week of Saturday 6th July 2013 and... Minecraft 1.6 Earlier this month version 1.6 of Minecraft was released. It includes various bug fixes and some much anticipated new items. Horses, donkeys, mules, foals, skeleton horses and undead horses have been added to the game which you can tame and ride, put armour on to and tie up next to your house.You can feed them on hay bales which you need grow or various other vegetables. The horses come in a variety of shades between black and white and there are apparently 35 different breeds altogether.
Top Gear Season 20 Last Sunday at 8PM season 20 of Top Gear started and it was great. Waterloo Road Season 8 Finale. There is something about Waterloo Road, I can't tell whether it is the romance, drama, creativity or characters which makes it a gripping and entertaining show which you will tune in every week to watch. Waterloo Road is completely unique and there is nothing even remotely similar the show on television. It is a one hour weekly drama set in a modern secondary school in Scotland where the show follows the story of approximately 15 teachers and pupils. Some of them are smart, others selfish, others grumpy however all of them make the show what it is. Since Waterloo Road started in 2006 not a single member of the cast has stayed the same. Most of them even moved onto bigger and better things. Jenna Louise Coleman who starred in season 4 of the show now plays as the Doctor's companion in Doctor Who, Robson Green went onto his own fishing show and the show currently stars dancer, George Sampson.
Saturday 15th June 2013: In the News this Week. It's the week of Saturday 15th June 2013 and... Liverpool Yellow Duckmarine 'Wet it Be' The iconic and old Yellow Duckmarine amphibious vehicles take dozens of tourists in Liverpool around the historic city every day and they used to finish each tour with an amazing plunge into the famous Albert Dock however a few months ago they had to stop making the voyage into the water after one of their vehicles started to slowly sink. The press over exaggerated this making it sound like people got wet as the big yellow duck went to the bottom in seconds however it actually took closer to 45 minutes for it to fully sink - by which time everyone on board had been rescued.
Only a few weeks ago, the ducks were allowed to take back to the water however earlier today a tragedy happened. One of the vehicles sunk in a matter of minutes and made approximately 27 people need to be treated in hospital (mostly for shock though). Wyvern TV #12 The 12th Episode of the DSMS Wyvern TV. Saturday 8th June 2013: In the News this Week. Saturday 1st June 2013: In the News this Week. Saturday 25th May 2013: In the News this Week. Saturday 4th May 2013: In the News this Week. Saturday 27th April: In the News this Week. Broadchurch 'Closure' Twitter #Music. Facebook Home. Windows 8.1 (Blue) First Preview. April Fools Day 2013. Saturday 30th March: In the News this Week. Google Reader Shutting Down. Bowie is Back! Saturday 9th March: In the News this Week. Offline: Why I'm doing this.
Saturday 9th February: In the News this Week. Wyvern TV #9. Saturday 2nd February: In the News this Week. Saturday 5th January: In the News this Week. Saturday 29th December: In the News this Week. Saturday 22nd December: In the News this Week. Saturday 15th December: In the News this Week. Saturday 8th December: In the News this Week. Wyvern Episode 7. Saturday 1st December: In the News this Week. Saturday 24th November: In the News this Week. Nicki Minaj - Super Bass By Sophia Grace Brownlee. iOS 5. Leaping antelope brings down cyclist in South Africa.