London Olympic Stadium is almost ready for the 2012 London Olympics

The London Olympic stadium is close to being completed and we have some timelapse videos of this and the other London Olympic stadias as they are being constructed.

London Olympic Stadium

This video shows the main Olympic Stadium which will be used for all the track events and post Olympics will become the home to one of the London football clubs.

London Olympic Velodrome Stadium

The Olympic velodrome stadium is a great piece of design that will be home to the indoor cycling events which were dominated by the British team in the last Olympics in Beijing.

London Olympic Aquatics Center

The Olympic Aquatics center hosts the swimming and diving events, bringing to mind the shape of a sting ray it was designed by the Pritzker Prize winning architect Zaha Hadid.

Fabrice Muamba speaks about his ‘death’ in his first interview since collapsing in a televised football match.

Fabrice Muamba was speaking in an interview with the sun newspaper when he said that he “asked God to protect me, and he didn’t let me down.”

Fabrice Muamba is a soccer star for the English Premier League team Bolton Wanderers and collapsed during an FA cup game with Tottenham Hotspur on 17th March 2012. The match was being shown live on TV and was eventually abandoned.

Fabrice Muamba said that he ‘died’ for 78 minutes during the ordeal and insists he did not feel unwell before his heart stopped beating in the 41st minute of the game.

It took doctors 15 goes to get his heart started again and Fabrice Muamba believes that it was a God given miracle that he not only survived, but survived without any brain damage or other serious effects.

Fabrice Muamba told how he had asked for protection from God before the game, he said “Someone up there was watching over me. On the morning of the game I preyed with my father and asked God to protect me and he didn’t let me down. I am walking proof of the power of prayer.”

Fabrice Muamba Unites Football

Fabrice Muamba tribute picture

The event that day had a profound effect of the football community as supporters from rival teams all over the country, indeed the world, came together to show their support for the footballer and his family.

Tributes were paid, t-shirts were worn by players, his name rang around the grounds of every football stadium in the country and scarves of every football club were placed at Boltons football ground.

Fabrice Muamba himself is overwhelmed by the support he has received and has set a goal for himself to make an appearance at a football match before the end of the season.

Photos: Crystian Cruz & Ronnie Macdonald

Instagram Bought by Facebook for $1 billion… Another Tech Bubble?

Instagram has announced that it has been bought by Facebook in a deal worth an incredible $1 billion. Incredible because Instagram is only 2 years old, it makes no recorded profit, it has 13 employees and it was up until this month, just an iPhone app (now it is also on Android).

Instagram allows people to take pictures on their smartphone, edit and stylize them using different filters, then share with friends on other social networking sites such as twitter and facebook.

Instagram Camera Filters

Instagram is another company born out of the technology mecca that is California and Stanford University. It was founded by Kevin Systrom and Mike Kriegar in 2010 out of a love of the old ‘instant’ Polaroid snapshots.

In March 2010 Systrom acquired $500,000 of seed investment and this was followed in February 2011 by another $7 million funding round valuing Instagram at around $25 million. Another funding round occurred this month just before the Facebook announcement.

Instagram managed to raise around $50 million giving it an approx. valuation of $500 million. The Facebook acquisition doubles that valuation, not bad for a weeks investment and perhaps another pointer towards a tech bubble?

In the past few weeks Instagram has launched on the Android platform instantly giving it access to millions of new users and markets.

Facebook obviously swooped in a strategic decision to purchase the company before someone else did. What they are getting for their money is a great app, a very strong userbase that loves the product, enourmous growth potential as other phone platforms are integrated and probably the most important thing for facebook, access to the skillset of the team behind the app.

Normally when Facebook get the chequebook out it is to take the talent over to their own site and shutdown their project. This time it will have to be different. 30 million people is alot of people to upset.

Lets just hope that all of those 13 employees were offered stock as part of their renumeration.

Instagram popular images

Instagram Statistics

Photos: Instagram

Pinterest grabs the headlines following phenomenal growth.

Pinterest was recently named as one of the top 50 websites to watch by Time magazine and since then has shown that it has the potential to become a big player, adding more users than many more established sites.

So whats all the Pinterest buzz about?

Pinterest is all about sharing photos, basically an online collection of pinboards.

So it’s a great to look at, driven as it is by photos, and it’s clean design compliments it’s reason for being. It follows all the best site design like Google and Facebook and keeps things simple.

It is also causing alot of buzz because of the type of person that is using the site. The overwhelming majority of users on the site are female even though the site was the brain child of a man.

Pinterest History

Ben Silbermann. Why not pin it?

Based in Silicon Valley, Pinterest has some serious backers funding it and was launched in 2010 by founders Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra and Evan Sharp.

Paul Sciarra recently stated that he was stepping down from day to day involvement in Pinterest. You can read that here: Paul Sciarra steps down from Pinterest.

The site got some major publicity in the summer of 2011 when Time magazine named it as one of its top 50 websites and it grew from about half a million users to approx. 5 million in 6 months. According to website scoring service Comscore, it hit almost 18 million users in Feb 2012.

Name Your Favorite Social Site

Photo: Wikipedia

Real Madrid Resort Island is being planned for the Al-Marjan Island in Ras Al-Khaimah (RAK) for 2015.

Al-Marjan Island is a group of man-made islands in the Northern Emirate of Ras Al-Khaimah (RAK), park of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and about 45 mins drive from it’s more famous neighbor, Dubai.

Real Madrid and the RAK authorities are planning to take over one of the islands and turn it into a Real Madrid resort island, hoping it will become a mecca for Real Madrid and fooball fans alike.

Covering about 50 hectares, the Real Madrid Resort Island aims to attract 1 million visitors a year once it is completed at the start of 2015. The final cost is expected to be around $1 billion.

Real Madrid Island Resort Video

Real Madrid Resort Island Business

No one has ever accused Real Madrids President, Florentino Perez, of lacking ambition and so it is with the Real Madrid Resort Island project. He hopes that it will bring the sporting culture of Real Madrid closer to the now vital Arab and Asian markets.

There is sound business sense behind the Real Madrid Resort Island decision, RAK is located in the sweet spot between the old economic world of Europe, and the new economic powerhouses of Asia. Giving the resort access to a vast number of Real Madrid fans within a short(ish) flight, an estimated 300 million fans with over half located in Asia.

The likelihood too is that a fair chunk of the cost for the project will be picked up by the RAK authorities. They rightly see the PR value of having such a high profile brand lead the way in their drive to become a high profile tourist destination. RAK aims to have 20% of it’s GDP generated by tourist related activities within 10 years.

If the plans come off, sports fans will see an amazing resort come to life. A marina, amusement park, luxury hotels and sporting facilities such as an incredible soccer stadium opening up to the sea will await them.

His Highness Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Qassimi of RAK said

“This is an exciting project developed with a world leading brand. We are proud for being chosen by Real Madrid. We appreciate their vision and we have a million reasons to be optimistic. I wish to congratulate Florentino Perez for his vision and for where he’s taken this club. This is going to transform the United Arab Emirates. We are ready to embrace progress and the millions of visitors who will come to Real Madrid Resort Island.”

Lamborghini Aventador J Premieres at Geneva Motor Show

At the 2012 Geneva Motor Show, Lamborghini presented it’s most uncompromising super car in it’s history.

The Lamborghini Aventador J offers the driver a full on experience of power and dynamics. At the same time, the 700 hp two-seater is a first class technology showcase, combining innovative solutions and brand new materials.

The Lamborghini Aventador J is a radically open auto with the exterior melding with the interior. The designers and engineers in Sant’Agata Bolognese have not only dispensed entirely with the roof, but also with the front windshield.

This requires that driver must have the right equipment for driving at  speeds higher than 300 Km/h. This kind of driving at the limit is a highly exclusive experience – the Lamborghini Aventador J is fully functional for road use…. if you have deep pockets or even get hold of one.

Maserati GranTurismo Sport

Maserati choose the Geneva International Motor Show to unveil its new GranTurismo Sport.

Bolstered by the success of a model that brought the entire concept of the Grand Tourer up to date, the new GranTurismo Sport gets a restyling and a host of new technical features.

The new GranTurismo Sport in the Maserati MY13 product range replaces the GranTurismo S. In the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand it will be marketed beginning with the MY 2013 range.

The powerful 4.7-litre V8 engine can now deliver a maximum power of 460 HP without penalising fuel consumption and emissions. These parameters enable the GranTurismo Sport to reach an impressive top speed of 300 km/h, accelerating from 0 to 100 km/h in just 4.7 seconds.

Chelsea FC news is coming through that manager Andre Villas-Boas has been sacked.

After less than a year in charge at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea FC‘s manager Andre Villas-Boas has been sacked after a run of poor results.

A statement on the Chelsea FC website said,

Andre Villas-Boas has parted company with Chelsea Football Club today.

The board would like to record our gratitude for his work and express our disappointment that the relationship has ended so early.

Unfortunately the results and performances of the team have not been good enough and were showing no signs of improving at a key time in the season.

The club is still competing in the latter stages of the Uefa Champions League and the FA Cup, as well as challenging for a top-four spot in the Premier League, and we aim to remain as competitive as possible on all fronts.

With that in mind we felt our only option was to make a change at this time.

With immediate effect Roberto Di Matteo has been appointed first team coach on an interim basis until the end of the season.

Villas-Boas was recruited in June 2011 by Chelsea FC to bring a more attractive playing style to Standford Bridge but owner Roman Abramovich is not known for his patience.

A run of one win in seven games was not good enough for Abramovich and he has obviously decided to act. Rumor has it that there was also tension between the senior Chelsea players and Villas-Boas.

Player power has always been strong at Chelsea among the senior players and appears to have been the downfall of several managers during the Abramovich era.

One thing is for sure though, whoever becomes the next Chelsea FC manager will be a brave man.

Photo: sekimura

Whitney Houston Dies Aged 48 according to initial reports from the news wires.

Whitney Houston was the most successful soul singer of all time during the 1980′s and came from a musical family, including cousin Dione Warwick and Godmother Aretha Franklin.

She also became a successful actress with her well received film ‘The Bodyguard’ starring Kevin Costner. The soundtrack epitomized her power ballad style that she became best known for, showcasing her incredible voice.

There were some at the time who said that her main character in ‘The Bodyguard’, self obsessed and prima dona, was too close for comfort to the real Whitney Houston.

Her subsequent marriage to Bobby Brown ended in divorce, rumor of violence and drug abuse. Her voice obviously suffered as she tried to make a return to singing with a concert that fans complained was not the Whitney they remembered. Recently there were rumors that Whitney Houston had lost all the money from her multi-million record sales.

If the news reports turn out to be true then I think most people, including ourselves, would like to remember Whitney Houston as the very beautiful lady with the incredible voice and great songs. Leave your comments below.

Whitney Houston Videos

Photo: tm_10001

Super Bowl 2012 in Indianapolis getting ready for kick off.

Super Bowl 2012, or Super Bowl XLVI to give it its proper title, is almost here and will see the New England Patriots take on the New York Giants.

Super Bowl 2012 will be a repeat of the 2008 Super Bowl when the New York Giants upset the odds to beat the New England Patriots 17 – 14. The Patriots had won all of their previous 18 games that season and were in great shape.

The driving force of the Patriots that season was their legendary quarterback Tom Brady, winner of 3 Super Bowl rings and looking to lead his team to the perfect season for only the 2nd time in the history of the NFL.

It wasn’t to be though, Brady was under constant harassment and was dogged by an ankle injury. It gave his opposite number, Eli Manning, the opportunity to shine with a game winning touchdown pass late on.

Both quarterbacks are among those still playing for the same teams and perhaps it is an injury free Tom Brady (age 34) who now has prove himself.

Eli Manning (age 31) for his part has so far had an outstanding season throwing for 4,933 yards and 29 touchdowns. Leadership and resilience have also marked him out and the same could be said for an injury hit Giants squad.

So perhaps the New York Giants are once again the underdogs, but underdogs can often have a nasty bite. Who do you think will win super bowl 2012?

Super Bowl 2012

Photo: Christine Anne Dunne

iBooks 2 launched by Apple in order to ‘reinvent’ the textbook.

Ahh yes the bane of every young students life, a bag full of text books each 500 pages thick and weighing more than they do.

I almost killed myself when I was 12 as the bag of books I was carrying swung from one side of my body, where it had been nicely balanced, over to the other side… where it was not.

The sudden shift in weight caused the bike I was riding to veer across the road in front of oncoming traffic. It all happened so fast I had no choice but to hang on and pray.

Thankfully, all I bruised was my ego and I got away with a few honks from shaken motorists. I had to pick up a cycling proficiency award later that day too, life’s funny that way sometimes isn’t it?

Anyway, I digress. Back to Apple.

iBooks 2

I can certainly see where Apple are coming from with the launch of iBooks 2. They want todo away with such cumbersome things as a good old fashioned textbook and bring education into the 21st century.

With iBooks 2 they see a world where textbooks are interactive and fun (presumably with every student using an iPad). They demonstrated how iBooks 2 utilized the portrait position of an iPad to show a text led book and landscape mode to enter into a far more interactive experience.

iBooks Author

Apple also launched a free app to make it easier for anyone to create an interactive textbook. It is called iBooks Author and it is described as being to ebooks creation as garageband is to music creation.

You can download iBooks Author for free at the app store here and it includes templates already made by Apple that you can use as a starting point.

The big educational publishers such as McGraw Hill and Pearson Education are already publishing their books for the iBook 2 app and more publishers are producing content as I write this.

Apple promised that iBooks 2 will offer books for every subject, grade level and student.

How schools will react to Apple’s plan for educational domination is not known.

A classroom full of kids playing with very expensive hardware worth many hundreds of copies of a textbook may be some teachers idea of hell.

Thats if they could raise the funds in the first place, add to that the cost of the ebooks themselves and you have a very large investment.

If parents are going to pay for such devices then their kid might suddenly become the most popular kid in the school, perhaps not for the right reasons.

Photo: Apple

Wikipedia blackout in protest over SOPA & PIPA legislation proposals in the US.

Wikipedia is one of a number of high profile internet companies which has put up a holding page for 24 hours explaining a blackout and why people cannot access the site.

Reddit, the user generated news site and the blog Boing Boing have also pledged their support for the blackout.

SOPA is the Stop Online Piracy Act and PIPA is the Protect Intellectual Property Act. Both are currently being debated in Congress.

Wikipedia and others say the acts are so broad and badly constructed that they will have an impact way beyond the issue of piracy.

The legislation allows the sort of interference by Government agencies and courts that the Chinese government currently employs to block websites it deems inappropriate.

The idea behind the legislation is that it will allow content owners and the Justice Department the ability to order search engines to block results associated with piracy to therefore cut off their customer and money supply. To force advertisers, ISP’s and payment processors from doing business with those sites.

Supporters say that it is designed to stop the flow of money to to these ‘rogue sites’.

In reality it would mean that any website would have to monitor everything that anyone posted on their site to ensure that don’t get hit by SOPA or PIPA.

You can imagine how difficult this could be for many sites such as twitter, facebook, EBay, reddit or even a small business that has a small community or forum.

That is even before you get into the question of whether something is infringing copyright, intellectually property or not.

Wikipedia made a statement on their website,

“For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia”

Google maintain that SOPA and PIPA won’t even hit their intended target, the pirates. They state that piracy sites will just change their addresses and carry on as normal.

The protest is one of the first times that the internet and technology companies have effectively come together to form a lobbying group with enough power to take on the traditional lobbying groups of the media industry.

Google are running a petition against SOPA and PIPA where you can find out more. https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/

The official SOPA and PIPA sites.

X Factor Vs American Idol the ultimate battle of the music talent show.

Now that we have finally seen the X factor USA in action and we have our first winner, Melanie Amaro, we are interested in what you think about the talent shows and tell us your views about the X Factor Vs American Idol debate.

Its major rival is the long running show American Idol and old hunting ground of the X Factor judge and driving force Simon Cowell.

So we have a couple of straw polls below, just vote on which show you thought was the best and who was your favourite judge.

We have our own opinions and would love to hear yours, so get opinionated below right now.

X Factor Vs American Idol Straw Poll

X Factor Vs American Idol: Judges the Judges

We thought both shows had their plus points and there was enough of a difference between the two shows to keep both healthy in the ratings.

Simon Cowell is always fun to watch, usually he tells the truth as he sees it but the X Factors USP of mentoring individual acts means that he is completely blinkered when it comes to his own acts.

Nothing wrong with that of course, one of the traits of successful people is that they intently focus on what they want to see in order to lead others in that direction. As a neutral viewer though it can be frustrating.

American Idol on the other hand has moved into the middle ground, a touchy feeley place that Simon Cowell would find uncomfortable.

Both The X Factor and American Idol have their fair share of winners and losers amongst the contestants. Some of it is painful to watch, some of it is inspiring to watch and some of it… well you just can’t take your eyes of it no matter how hard you try.

Tell us what you think about the X Factor Vs American Idol debate in the comments below.

Cruise ship accident as the Costa Concordia grounds near the island of Giglio, Italy.

There are 3 people who are confirmed dead and at least 50 people from the 4000 passengers aboard still missing. Most passengers had managed to escape the cruise ship accident via life boats or by swimming or the nearby shore.

Initial reports suggest the Costa Concordia hit a sandbar on a Friday evening and quickly listed to the side. It is now half submerged in the water.

The Costa Concordia is a $675 million cruise ship that had recently sailed from Rome on a Mediterranean cruise planning to eventually to dock at Marseilles. It never made it.

Passengers had sat down for dinner on Friday when there was a loud bang and everything went dark. The ship started to list and take in water, eventually settling at about 20 degrees.

Passengers were evacuated to nearby island Giglio where the population is a small 700. Suddenly looking after 4000 cold and frightened evacuees can’t have been easy for the tiny island.

There is no indication at the moment why the Costa Concordia ran aground. The coastguard speculated that it had just run too close to a reef but there was no official explanation.

The company who owns the Costa Concordia expressed gratitude to the coastguard, emergency services and everyone who helped evacuate after the cruise ship accident, but declined to speculate on what may have caused the Costa Concordia accident.
 

Photo: Accidental Hedonist

Watch a 30 storey building get built in 15 days flat. Yes, China is the new Dubai.

The Chinese sustainable building company, Broad Group, managed to put building companies in the West to shame as they completed a 30 story hotel in 15 days.

Using prefabricated building techniques is part of their secret, the building was built over Christmas and finished before New Years Eve 2012.

Blue Ivy Carter is born to proud parents Jay-Z & Beyonce on Saturday 7th 2012.

When Beyonce announced that she was pregnant (see Beyonce pregnant) the world was caught by surprise.

Over the weekend reports were coming in that Beyonce had given birth on Saturday night at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan.

Jay-Z was at her side as she gave birth, allegedly by caesarian section after checking into the private hospital on Friday.

They have named the baby Blue Ivy Carter seemingly because Blue has connotations for Jay-Z with his Blueprint franchising and Ivy because it represents the number 4 (IV in Roman numerals) which has connotations for Beyonce.

Beyonce was born on the 4th September, her mother was born on 4th January, Jay-Z was born on 4th December and they were married on 4th April. She also named her latest album 4.

Carter is because Jay-Z’s real name in Shawn Carter.

Jay-Z and Beyonce are officially music royalty after shifting more than 75 million albums between them and collaborating on the ultra-successful “Crazy in Love”.

Although no official statement has been issued yet, the twittersphere has been abuzz including from those close to the family and Beyonce herself.

Blue Ivy Carter Tweets

Gwyneth Paltrow wrote “Welcome to the world Blue! We love you already.”

Solange Knowles wrote “The most beautiful girl in the world.”

Rihanna wrote “Welcome to the world princess Carter! Love Aunty Rih”

And the last word to Beyonce ” Welcome to the world Ivy Blue” & “Officially Blue Ivy Carter for those asking. A whole world awaits you :)”

Congratulations to Jay-z and Beyonce for safely delivering Blue Ivy Carter into the world, we look forward to her album.

p.s. Don’t forget to tell us what you think of the name Blue Ivy Carter. Obviously celebrities live in a different world to the rest of us and are not held back by unusual names but what do you think?

Blue Ivy Carter Statement from Beyonce & Jay-Z

Hello Hello Baby Blue!

We are happy to announce the arrival of our beautiful daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, born on Saturday, January 7, 2012.

Her birth was emotional and extremely peaceful, we are in heaven.

She was delivered naturally at a healthy 7 lbs and it was the best experience of both of our lives.

We are thankful to everyone for all your prayers, well wishes, love and support.

- Beyoncé & JAY Z

Photo: alejandrolavinjr

Bungee jumping failure as rope snaps sending tourist plunging into the river.

Erin Langworthy, an Australian tourist, was lucky to be alive after the bungee rope she was tied to snapped sending her plunging into the Zambezi River below.

Erin Langworthy was bungee jumping in Zambia close to Victoria Falls, the worlds largest waterfall.

Officials are undertaking an investigation but maintain that bungee jumping at the location has been safely in operation for 10 years and is undertaken by more than 50,000 people each year.

Erin Langworthy might have a few words to say about that after having to spend a week in hospital recovering from her ordeal. See her story below.

Bungee Jumping Failure Video

Video: Channel 9 News & AP
Picture: cordelia_persen

Playstation 4 & Xbox 720 release date rumored for 2012.

If the rumors are true (and there is no way to verify, Sony and Microsoft are keeping tight lipped about any dates) then having both the Playstation 4 and the Xbox 720 release date at the same time could be very interesting.

Even if we have to take these rumors with a pince of salt, the mere fact that the Playstation 4 and the Xbox 720 are being talked about suggests that things are really happening behind the scenes. This in turn suggests that the hardware development may already be done.

Playstation 4

One rumor that makes sense is that the Playstation 4 will have an upgrade to its move controller.

The move controller is a great device but Sony were basically playing catch up with the Wii controllers.

Microsoft on the other hand took it a whole stage further and produced the ground breaking kinect system.

It is rumored that the Playstation 4 will have similar whole body movement control available at launch.

I would also suggest that Sony were annoyed that Microsoft got the jump on them and launched early in the marketplace with the Xbox 360.

This allowed it to gain market traction by stealing Sony customers. The Playstation 3 didn’t come along until later.

I would make an educated guess that they won’t let this happen again and will be keen to steal a march on their competitors.

Xbox 720

With the Xbox 720, expect major graphical and sound upgrades as well as a move into Playstation multi-media territory, for example with built in direct video recording.

Some of the biggest changes are coming in the next few years to the TV sector with Apple, Google and Sony all trying to get a piece of the pie. Don’t expect Microsoft to be any different with the Xbox 720.

Also expect some changes to Kinect, more than likely this will be integrated directly into the console.

One console already confirmed for the E3 trade show in 2012 is the new Nintendo Wii U which we featured last year.

What do you think about all the rumors? Do you believe the hype or not? What features do you think they will have? Let us know in the comments below.

Upcoming movies 2012, coming soon to a theatre near you. We take a look at the new movie releases for 2012.

First up we have Rock of Ages starring Tom Cruise, Russell Brand, Catherine Zeta-Jones & Alec Baldwin. It tells the story of small town girl Sherrie & city boy Drew as they pursue their dreams of fame and fortune. It’s based on the successful musical & features some classic rock hits so we know it will at least have a good soundtrack. It is coming in June 2012, check out the trailer below.

Upcoming Movies 2012: Rock of Ages Trailer

Next we take a look at what will be one of the biggest releases of the year, The Dark Knight Rises. Due in July 2012 Christopher Nolan returns to complete his Batman trilogy with Christian Bale once again reprising the role of Batman the caped crusader.

Upcoming Movies 2012: The Dark Knight Rises Trailer

They don’t come any bigger than the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in December 2012.

From the Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson expectations are surely sky high for the first of 2 films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is set 60 years before the Lord of the Rings and features Bilbo Baggins as the hero played by Martin Freeman.

Ian McKellen returns as Gandalf the Grey as does Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, Ian Holm as the older Bilbo Baggins, Elijah Wood as Frodo, Christopher Lee as Saruman, Orlando Bloom as Legolas, Andy Serkis as Gollum and Hugo Weaving as Elrond.

The second film will be called The Hobbit: There and Back Again, scheduled for release in December 2013.

Upcoming Movies 2012: The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey Trailer

2012 Happy New Year ! The world has welcomed in the new year, watch the fireworks below.

2012 New Year Celebrations in Las Vagas

2012 New Year Celebrations in London

Happy New Year from everyone at DT News

Year in review 2011 (part 1): We saw incredible change sweep across the political landscape, Osama Bin Laden killed & Amy Winehouse pass away. What else happened in 2011, a momentous year?

Year in Review 2011: January

In sport we saw the transfer of Fernando Torres to Chelsea FC from Liverpool FC as Kenny Dalglish took over.

In tennis Novak Djokovic brushed aside all-comers in the Australian Open.

Apple announced it had passed 10 billion downloads from its app store and that Apple had made profits of $6 billion as Steve Jobs announced he would take medical leave.

In entertainment Ricky Gervais kicked up a storm at the Golden Globes (they have still invited him back for 2012 though!). Colin Firth & Natalie Portman started to win all the film awards available for ‘The Kings Speech’ & ‘Black Swan’. Meanwhile Oprah was launching her own TV channel.

Actor Pete Postlethwaite passed away as did singer Gerry Rafferty.

Arnold Schwarzenegger bowed out of politics and a tragic shooting occurred in Arizona that left 6 people dead and Gabrielle Giffords with brain damage.

Year in Review 2011: February

In Egypt the President, Hosni Mubarak, started to realise that he was in trouble and that the protesters were not going away. Mubarak finally left on Feb. 11th after defiantly stating he was going nowhere. We presume the army changed his mind.

The Arab uprisings also gathered pace in other countries, Bahrain & Libya in particular.

In sport the Green Bay Packers triumphed over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV. The F1 driver Robert Kubica had to have 7 hours of surgery after a horrific crash in Italy. The Olympic schedule was also published for the 2012 games in London. We are not far away now.

In music Adele stunned everyone with her performance at the Brits and went on to become the artist of 2011. Radiohead released a new album and the Glastonbury headliners were announced including Beyonce and Coldplay.

A new Enid Blyton book was uncovered and tragedy struck in New Zealand as a 6.3 earthquake hit Christchurch at the busiest time of day.

Year in Review 2011: March

Steve Jobs made his last major product launch as he unveiled the iPad 2, Adele conquered the charts, Richard Branson started to recruit astronauts, Microsoft launch IE9 while Nintendo go all 3D on us, over 1 billion people watch a cricket match and Sabastian Vettel shows the form that will let him dominate the F1 season.

Hollywood legend Elizabeth Taylor passed away as did the not quite so well known Knut the polar bear.

The big story of the month however was the devastating 8.9 earthquake and subsequent Tsunami that struck Japan triggering a nuclear incident and destroying countless lives.

Also destroying lives was the Libyan leader Col. Gaddafi as he plunged his country into what was effectively a civil war. The UN enforced a no fly zone and entered into action against Col. Gaddafi forces.

Read more in Year in Review 2011 (Part 2) here.

Year in review 2011 (part 2): More incredible stories from the second quarter of 2011 emerge.

Year in Review 2011: April

April was all about a Royal Wedding between Prince William and commoner Kate Middleton. She apparently had posters of Prince William on her wall when she was younger, we don’t know if that is true or not but it goes nicely with the dream Princess story. Although some may say she was upstaged by her sister, Pippa Middleton, who had a facebook page dedicated to her derrière.

Sony faced one of the biggest problems in its history when the playstation network was hacked and millions of users details stolen.

Barcelona and Real Madrid seemed to be playing each other every week at this point in the year with Mourninho turning up the heat.

We lost the controversial Indian spiritual leader Sai Baba in this month and also on the controversial front, did we finally see proof of Aliens at Roswell crash? I’ll leave you to decide.

We also took a look at some cool iPhone apps and at a show jumping cow…. yes we did.

Year in Review 2011: May

This month Microsoft took the plunge and bought Skype for $8.5 billion and Google launched the Chromebook, while over on Twitter Lady Gaga made history by reaching 10 million followers.

Both Barcelona and Sebastian Vettel carried on winning everything while Sepp Blatter started to feel the heat over some dubious goings on over at FIFA.

We looked at whether cell phones were dangerous and we were promised that the world would end on the 21st May. That didn’t happen, unless I am now living in a parallel universe (well you never know), my guess is we might see a few more of those predictions in 2012.

We saw Ratko Mladic finally arrested in Serbia after years in hiding and the then IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn arrested over sexual assault, charges that were later dropped.

Charlie Sheen went a bit, shall we say ‘off kilter’, and was replaced on ‘two and a half men‘ by Ashton Kutcher.

Golfing legend Seve Ballesteros passed away and President Obama announced that Osama Bin Laden was killed when US forces stormed his hiding place right under the noses of the Pakistan police.

Barcelona took the Spanish La Liga trophy and the Champions League while Manchester United sealed the English Premiership title. Chelsea sack their manager (again) and Azerbaijan won the Eurovision Song Contest.

It was a very busy month of May.

Year in Review 2011: June

While Apple unveiled their iCloud service, Nintendo announced the Wii U in Los Angeles. MySpace was off loaded by News Corp for a fraction of what they paid for it.

Rafael Nadal was winning the French Tennis Open and Li Na made history as the first Chinese winner of a Grand Slam. Later in the month Wimbledon got underway and Germany prepared for the Womens World Cup. Chelsea also got their new manager, Andre Villas-Boas.

There were all sorts of goings on at the X Factor USA as Cheryl Cole was effectively sacked as a judge and replaced by Nicole Scherzinger. Beyonce closed Glastonbury in style but not before U2 and Coldplay had rocked the stage.

The Lunar eclipse seemed to foretell the up and down lunacy of the markets as Greece came close to defaulting on its debts while child vaccination got a massive boost in the arm by GAVI and the Gay Marriage Rights Bill was passed in New York.

There was Weinergate and JK Rowling teased us with the pottermore website. A Picasso painting fetched $20 million, Marilyn Monroe’s white dress sold for $4.6 million and a rare Billy the Kid portrait reached $2.3 million.

Read more in Year in Review 2011 (Part 3) here.

Year in Review 2011 (part 3): The third quarter of 2011 saw some surprises, more scandal and the continuing success of social networks.

Year in Review 2011: July

Petra Kvitova upset the Wimbledon odds to beat Maria Sharapova who is still trying to get back to her best after injury. Djokovic again signalled his dominance with a victory in the mens Wimbledon final.

The phone hacking scandal exploded in the UK and is still being investigated today. The incident caused the closure of the News of the World, one of the oldest & most successful newspapers.

Facebook teamed up with Skype to offer video chat while Google once again entered the social networking market with Google+.

The world got a new country as South Sudan split form the north in a peaceful separation and David & Victoria Beckham celebrated the birth of their baby girl, Harper Beckham.

Dallas returned to our TV screens and the Spotify streaming music service launched in the US while Harry Potter cast a spell over the box office.

Japan won the Womens World Cup final in Germany after beating the USA on penalties and there was another Royal wedding as Zara Phillips married the Rugby player Mike Tindall. On the other side of that particular coin we saw Jennifer Lopez calling time on her marriage to Marc Anthony.

The USA came close to defaulting on its own debt when politicians decided to play brinkmanship with the economy. Doing slightly better were both Apple and Google who both posted record profits. The US also suffered a oppressive heatwave and saw the last flight of the space shuttle Atlantis.

Norway hit the headlines for the worst reasons when a huge explosion rocked the capital, Oslo and a gunman went on the rampage.

The world lost one of the greatest singers of the last twenty years. Amy Winehouse joined other famous singers who died prematurely, the so called 27 club.

Year in Review 2011: August

The financial markets never seemed to be out of the headlines and this month saw S&P push the US down its credit score scale thanks to its enormous deficit.

Prime Minister David Cameron threatened to take social media sites offline in a somewhat knee jerk reaction to rioting in London. This came from a man who had only a few months earlier been praising social media sites for their influence in the Arab uprisings. That’s politics for you.

The Arab uprising continued with Syria becoming a focal point as the international community called for Assad to leave office. Protesters in Syria are still facing the same challenges at the end of 2011. Meanwhile the pressure was mounting on Col. Gaddafi as the rebel army advanced on the capital Tripoli.

The Kings of Leon sparked rumors about their future by cancelling their tour and taking a break.

Steve Jobs officially announced that he would be stepping down as CEO of Apple as his health deteriorated and Beyonce announced that she was pregnant in a not so subtle dress.

Year in Review 2011: September

As Italian politics leaped from one crisis to another the little town of Filettino decided that it would go its own way and declare independence from Italy.

We saw the 10 year anniversary of the tragic 9/11 events as the redevelopment of the twin towers site nears completion.

There was growing rumor and gossip surrounding the imminent release of a new iPhone, many people were betting on it being an iPhone 5.

The financial markets once again hit the headlines as a UBS trader managed to lose $2 billion on the markets.

REM announced that they were to split after 31 years together and Google became a teenager.

A couple of stories emerged that we never thought that we would see, the speed of light had apparently been broken and women in Saudi Arabia were given the right to vote.

Read more in Year in Review 2011 (Part 4) here.

Year in Review 2011 (part 4): Trials and tribulations a plenty in the world of showbiz, politics and business.

Year in Review 2011: October

September saw the start of the trial of Dr Conrad Murray, charged with the death of Michael Jackson who died in 2009. In another court in another country, Amanda Knox was finally freed after having her conviction for the the murder of Meredith Kercher quashed in an appeal.

There was joy and sadness for Apple fans this month as the new iPhone 4S made an appearance with a new virtual assistant named Siri & features such as imessage. We also learned of the passing of Steve Jobs and people around the world reacted in the same way they would if a pop star had just passed away. Perhaps that is a fitting tribute to someone who did have a profound effect on the world. You can check out the Steve Jobs biography here.

It was also the end for Col. Gaddafi as his life finally caught up with him in his home town of Sirte, Libya.

Another month and another financial crisis, this time the whole of the Eurozone was in danger as the debt crisis in some of its member countries threatened to take down the whole structure. Bets are now on for how long it will last for in 2012.

Year in Review 2011: November

In November the world reached a milestone, the human population of the planet reached the 7 billion mark for the first time in history. Many countries decided that they would have the 7 billionth baby and subsequently nominated one of their own, I wonder who it really was?

We featured alot of video game stories this month as the entertainment industry geared up for Christmas. We looked at the top 5 games launched for Christmas and witnessed Angry Birds hit 500 million downloads.

This inspired us to look at the possibility of making oodles of cash with iPhone app development ourselves, we asked if anyone could do it.

Talking soccer, David Beckham also deserves a mention for finally achieving his dream of lifting the MLS Cup. In the last MLS game of his current contract, he did it. Where he will be in 2012 I am not sure even he knows, the smart money is that he will stay in LA for his families stability.

Year in Review 2011: December

So we come to the final month of 2011 where we saw sad death of Socrates, the Brazilian soccer player & doctor. We also saw the passing of that not so loved leader of the North Koreans, Kim Jong-il.

Surprisingly Time magazine didn’t name Kim Jong-il as person of the year 2011 but gave it to ‘The Protester’.

Spotify revealed that they had created an app marketplace for developers and the online Star Wars world came to life as SWTOR with a budget almost as big as one of the films.

Other entertainment news was that the X Factor USA winner turned out to be someone who was not even selected for the finals, Melanie Amaro. Russell Brand, Katy Perry filed for divorce and YouTube announced the most viewed videos of 2011.

Somewhere in between all of that there was Christmas of course.

So there we have it, we have come to the end of our Year in Review 2011 and all that is left for me todo is wish you all a ‘Happy New Year’ from all the team here at DT News. We hope you will join us next year for more interesting news.

Katy Perry Russell Brand file for divorce after 14 months of marriage.

The couple met in 2008 and famously re-tell the story about their meeting at an award ceremony where Russell Brand was presenting and Katy Perry was in the audience.

Katy Perry & Russell Brand were married in October 2010 on a reserve in India. Divorce papers were filed at the Los Angeles Court citing irreconcilable differences.

Speculation about the state of Katy Perry & Russell Brands marriage has been discussed in the gossip columns of the online and offline press for months.

Katy Perry spent Christmas in Hawaii with friends while Russell Brand was in Cornwall, England. Neither were wearing their wedding bands.

Russell Brand issued a statement saying,

“Sadly Katy and I are ending our marriage. I’ll always adore her and I know we’ll remain friends.”

Perhaps Katy Perry’s latest single “The One That Got Away”, has more meaning that we initially may have thought. A sad way to start a new year.

Photo: Jose Goulao

Merry Christmas to all of our loyal readers… especially you… yes you.

I wondered what I should write to mark this special occasion. In the end I thought that it is best to let the late, great John Lennon speak, walking the tightrope of reflection and hope.

YouTube most viewed videos 2011 list has been announced & it may surprise you that someone we had never heard of last year tops the list.

So here is the run down of the most viewed videos of 2011, although we think it is a bit premature of YouTube seeing as though we haven’t reached the end of the year yet but there you go.

Don’t forget that you can see the DT News channel on youtube where we post the occasional press conference and other titbits.

1) Yes, Rebecca Blacks ‘Friday’ video surpassed 100 million views and got there in a surprising short amount of time as its notoriety was propelled by ‘haters’ trashing the song and performance. I think Rebecca Black has had the last laugh though.

2) Next up is a video of a talking dog from Canada (well kinda) with almost 80 million views.

3) With almost 62 million views here are The Lonely Island crew with a tribute to Jack Sparrow featuring the legend that is Michael Bolton.

4) At no. 4 are the talking twin babies, my personal favourite. You’ll see what I mean and they will be hard to resist. Meet the talk show hosts of the future.

5) Nyam Cat is up next with 55 million views. Quite why is baffling to me but there you go, make up your own mind…if you still have it after listening to this.

6) Karmin are at no. 6 with a cover of ‘Look At Me Now‘ by Chris Brown ft. Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes. Strangely addictive after a bit of Christmas sherry.

7) Here are The Lonely Guys again with a dittie called ‘The Creep‘ feat. Nicki Minaj & John Waters. You will have togo to YouTube to watch this one.

8) 10 year old Maria Aragon is up next with a cover of ‘Born This Way‘ by Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga herself prompted this video to go stratospheric when she tweeted “Can’t stop crying watching this. This is why I make music. She is the future.”

9) The no. 9 spot is taken by a viral ad from Volkswagon entitled ‘the force‘ for obvious reasons. Designed for the Superbowl it actually got picked up prior to the event by bloggers and went viral very quickly around the world.

10) Last on the list with almost 40 million views is this short video showing a cat hugging a kitten…. yes almost 40 million views… I know.

X Factor USA results are in and Melanie Amaro has triumphed after beating Josh Krajcik & Chris Rene in the final.

The first ever winner of the X Factor USA, Melanie Amaro, hails from Sunrise in Florida and has a formidable voice.

Her winners story is all the more remarkable because she was initially rejected by her mentor, Simon Cowell, at the judges houses stage of the competition & didn’t make it to the live shows.

However, Simon Cowell later had a change of heart & made a special journey to Amaros home in Florida. He admitted that he had made a mistake & asked her to take part in the live shows. The X factor USA voters obviously responded to her and her voice.

It is these little things that can make a big difference in how contestants are perceived & perhaps this initial rejection from Simon gave Amaro the back story she needed to really make an impact.

You need much more than just a good voice to win these competitions and whatever you may think about these talent shows, with over 100,000 people auditioning no one could ever say that it is easy.

Melanie Amaro walks away from the X Factor USA with a $5 million recording contract & an appearance in a TV ad. Possibly the biggest prize in TV today.

Josh Krajcik was runner up on the night & although he didn’t win he can be pretty sure of securing a contract of his own.

With a very distinctive and soulful voice he would translate to radioplay very easily & Simon Cowell is too savvy to let that slip away.

X Factor USA result & Melanie Amaro Video

X Factor USA – Who was your favorite?

SWTOR release date is near & gamers everywhere are getting excited. If you don’t know what ‘Star Wars The Old Republic’ is then read on.

Star Wars The Old Republic or SWTOR as we shall now refer to it (because we are lazy typers) is an online gaming title that is set to replace World of Warcraft (WoW) as the premium online multi-player game.

These types of games are called massively multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPG) and are hugely popular with games fans because of their seemingly endless landscapes, possibilities and interaction with other players.

The SWTOR release date is the 20th December although millions of pre-orders were taken allowing access a week early.

Reputed to have had a development cost of around $130 million it is a serious attempt to capture some of the lucrative MMORPG market by its publisher Electronic Arts.

The storyline uses the familiar Star Wars world but is set 3,500 years before the events of the Star Wars films.

You get to decide whether you play the dark side or the light side of the force through your initial character choice and then though your moral decisions during the game.

SWTOR system requirements

SWTOR Leveling Guide (SWTOR Savior)- The Unfair Advantage?

Already other products are springing up around the SWTOR release date.

SWTOR leveling guides such as SWTOR savior allow players to quickly learn the tricks of the trade and level up their character much faster than normal.

SWTOR savior promises to take you to level 50 in 4 days and includes maps and waypoints for the game as well as a members forum.

SWTOR leveling guides can give players a serious edge over opponents as each level jump means a more powerful character and weapons.

Click here to see the SWTOR leveling guide if you want to level up fast.

Kim Jong-il, the North Korean Leader has died aged 69.

The official North Korean news agency called KCNA announced the news that Kim Jong-il had died from ‘over work’ today.

Later they elaborated that he had died of severe myocardial infarction and a heart attack at 08:30 local time on Saturday 17th December while on his official train.

Kim Jong-ils death leaves his son, Kim Jong-un, in charge of the isolated state after he was named by Kim Jong-il as his successor last year. Not much is known about him but it is thought that he is in his 20′s and may struggle to unite the military behind him.

North Korea and South Korea are still technically at war and tensions are now running very high as the unexpected news filtered through the Asian region and beyond.

North Korea has in the past been known to use provocation to divert attention away from news events that it doesn’t want covered and South Korea has been put on high alert.

Kim Jong-un inherits a communist country which is isolated from the rest of the world and suffering severe food shortages. Its only real ally is the other communist country China.

Deliberately cut off from the outside world the leadership maintains a vice like grip over the population who have very little contact, knowledge or experience of the world outside their own borders.

Every aspect of the country is state controlled and their pursuit of nuclear armament has put them at the top of the worlds problem list.

Meanwhile the population suffers from daily food shortages, power cuts and a severely lacking infrastructure.

Although many countries around the world are worried about the sudden change in leadership leading to instability in North Korea, perhaps this is a watershed moment where the new leadership decides to start engaging with the outside world again.

We can always hope.

Photo: yeowatzup

Time magazine Person of the Year 2011 has been announced & rather than a single person, they have chosen the many, ‘the protester’.

Time magazine awards the person of the year award to those who have made the biggest impact during the year. Under that banner it is easy to see why they chose ‘the protester’ in all its forms.

The sheer number of protests in 2011 with profound consequences for those involved was enormous.

Most of the focus was on the Arab uprisings but the recent peaceful protests, against Putin in Russia and the Occupy Wall Street movement, have highlighted that the year is not over yet… and neither are the protesters nor their want for change.

Time magazine said the award recognised the protesters for redefining people power around the world.

Richard Stengel, editor of time magazine said that

“They dissented, they demanded, they did not despair, even when the answers came back in a cloud of teargas or a hail of bullets”.

Time Magazine Explain Why They Choose ‘The Protester’ as Person of the Year 2011

But in truth, no government, no dictator, no person and no idea can ever stand up to a mass of united people who demand change.

History tells us this repeatedly and although it may take many many years, ultimately true people power is impossible to resist.

Photo: Al Jazeera English