Japan's Pioneer to cut 10,000 jobs globally

Japanese electronics company Pioneer Corp. will cut 10,000 jobs globally to cope with sinking sales of car audio equipment and flat-screen TVs. It will also withdraw from its money-losing plasma display business.

The massive job cuts, announced Thursday, are the latest from Japanese corporate giants, which are slashing their payrolls worldwide, reducing production and forecasting annual losses amid a global economic slump. Sony Corp. is shedding 8,000 workers while Nissan Motor Co. and NEC Corp. are each cutting 20,000.

Hit by the collapse in demand for car audio equipment and plasma TVs, Pioneer said its net loss in the current fiscal year to March will swell to 130 billion yen ($1.4 billion) from its previous estimate of a 78 billion yen net loss. It would be the fifth straight annual net loss for Pioneer.

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The Mom Song

I feel sorry for her children!

Thanks to Joyce!

Heart-shaped island spotted by Google Earth

The 130,000 square yard islet of Galesnjak came to prominence after its unusual shape was highlighted on Google Earth.

Even the owner of the uninhabited island - now known as Lovers' Island - didn't realise how perfectly heart-shaped the island off the Croatian coast was until he was swamped with requests from couples to stay there.

It seems many lovers from around the world consider it the ideal spot for a romantic Valentine's Day break.

Vlado Juresko said: "It has been incredible. We think it is the most perfect heart-shaped island in the world. Nobody lives there so if lovers really do want to spend time alone it's the perfect desert island.

"We always thought it looked a bit like a heart but since it's been on Google Earth everyone else has seen it too and the whole world seems to want to stay here."

The island is located in Zadarski Kanal between Zadar and the Island of Pasman.

Croatia is ranked as the 18th most popular tourism destination in the world, proving especially busy during the summer months.

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"Viva la Vida" wins Grammy for song of the year

The Coldplay tune "Viva la Vida" won the Grammy for song of the year on Sunday.

The prize goes to the songwriters, in this case the members of Coldplay.

The other nominated songs were "American Boy," performed and co-written by Estelle and Kanye West; "Chasing Pavements," performed and co-written by Adele; "I'm Yours," performed and written by Jason Mraz; and "Love Song," performed and written by Sara Bareilles.

The 51st annual Grammy Awards, the music industry's top honors, were handed out at the Staples Center in Downtown Los Angeles.

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Nissan to slash 20,000 jobs, sees annual loss

Nissan is slashing 20,000 jobs, or 8.5 percent of its global work force, to cope with what Japan's third-largest automaker expects will be its first annual loss in nine years.

"The global auto industry is in turmoil, and Nissan is no exception," Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn told reporters Monday in Tokyo.

Nissan Motor Co. now expects a 265 billion yen ($2.9 billion) net loss for the fiscal year through March — joining a raft of other Japanese corporate giants, including Toyota, Toshiba and Sony, in slashing jobs and projecting annual losses.

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French fighter planes grounded by computer virus

French fighter planes were unable to take off after military computers were infected by a computer virus, an intelligence magazine claims.

The aircraft were unable to download their flight plans after databases were infected by a Microsoft virus they had already been warned about several months beforehand.

Microsoft had warned that the "Conficker" virus, transmitted through Windows, was attacking computer systems in October last year, but according to reports the French military ignored the warning and failed to install the necessary security measures.

The French newspaper Ouest France said the virus had hit the internal computer network at the French Navy.

Jérome Erulin, French navy spokesman told the paper: "It affected exchanges of information but no information was lost. It was a security problem we had already simulated. We cut the communication links that could have transmitted the virus and 99 per cent of the network is safe."

However, the French navy admitted that during the time it took to eradicate the virus, it had to return to more traditional forms of communication: telephone, fax and post.

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YouTube clip of boy 'high' after dentist visit gets 4 million hits in a week

A seven-year-old has become a YouTube star after nearly four million people watched a clip of the boy coming home from the dentist.

David, who is strapped in to the back seat of a car, appears to be intoxicated after having a tooth taken out at the dentist.

He says: “Is this real life?”

After his dad asks if he feels alright the boy responds: “I can’t see anything.”

He then asks if he has stitches and says “I feel funny. Why’s this happening to me?”

The clip was only uploaded by David’s father on January 30 and since then more than 3,900,000 viewers have watched it.

His dad wrote: “This is my 7 year old son who had an extra tooth removed last summer, 2008. I had the camera because he was so nervous before I wanted him to see before and after.

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Papa John's boss urges customers not to eat entire pizzas

John Schnatter, founder of Papa John's Pizza, risked the wrath of shareholders by warning diners that it was unhealthy to eat more than two slices.

The 47-year-old delivered the advice, even though customers cannot buy less than a whole pizza at any of the company's 118 takeaways in the UK or 2,500 US outlets.

During an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Schnatter said: "Pizzas are healthy for you if you don't eat too much of it. You can't eat five or six slices.

"But if you eat one or two slices it's very nutritious. A slice or two is good for you."

The smallest Papa John's pizza, which costs £6.99, has six slices, the medium, at £8.99, has eight slices and the large, at £9.99, has 10 slices.

The comments came after the show's business presenter, Adam Shaw, asked whether Mr Schnatter was concerned about the government's anti-obesity campaign impacting on sales.

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Nine-year-old whiz kid writes iPhone app

While most children his age sketch on paper with crayons, 9-year-old Lim Ding Wen from Singapore, has a very different canvas--his iPhone.

Lim, who is in fourth grade, writes applications for Apple's popular iPhone. His latest, a painting program called Doodle Kids, has been downloaded over 4,000 times from Apple's iTunes store in two weeks, the New Paper reported on Thursday.

The program lets iPhone users draw with their fingers by touching the iPhone's touch screen and then clear the screen by shaking the phone.

"I wrote the program for my younger sisters, who like to draw," Lim said. His sisters are aged 3 and 5.

Lim, who is fluent in six programming languages, started using the computer at the age of 2. He has since completed about 20 programming projects.

His father, Lim Thye Chean, a chief technology officer at a local technology firm, also writes iPhone applications.

"Every evening we check the statistics e-mailed to us (by iTunes) to see who has more downloads," the older Lim said.

The boy, who enjoys reading books on programming, is in the process of writing another iPhone application--a science fiction game called "Invader Wars."

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Sharp to cut 1,500 jobs, forecasts annual loss

Japanese electronics maker Sharp Corp. said Friday it will cut 1,500 contract workers in Japan by the end of March, and is headed for a billion dollar annual loss, its first in nearly 60 years.

Sharp said costs to restructure its flat-panel display business, together with losses in its stock holdings and regulatory fines would lead to a net loss of 100 billion yen ($1.1 billion) in the current fiscal year through March.

The company, which previously forecast a 60 billion yen net profit, hasn't had a net loss since 1950.

Sharp said it will cut jobs by not extending the contracts of some of its temporary workers, and the cuts will not affect the company's full-time global work force, which currently numbers about 55,900.

It plans to slash expenses by 200 billion yen over the next two years, including cutting the salaries of executives and managers. The company will also reorganize its LCD factories and reassign some workers.

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Japan's Panasonic to cut 15,000 jobs, shut plants

Panasonic Corp. said Wednesday it will slash as many as 15,000 jobs and shut 27 plants worldwide, joining a slew of major Japanese companies announcing deep cuts as the global slowdown batters the world's second-largest economy.

The world's largest maker of plasma display TVs also announced a net loss for the October-December quarter and lowered its forecast for the fiscal year through March to a net loss of 380 billion yen ($4.2 billion), its first annual loss in six years.

Panasonic blamed the dismal results on the global slowdown set off by the U.S. financial crisis, the rapid surge of the yen and sudden price drops. Sales slid in a wide range of products, including flat-panel TVs, DVD recorders, microwaves, lamps and semiconductors, it said.

The Osaka-based manufacturer plans to cut the jobs — half of which will come in Japan — by the end of March 2010. They amount to about 5 percent of its 300,000-strong global work force.

Panasonic also will shutter 14 overseas plants and 13 plants in Japan by the end of March to adjust production and cut costs, company spokesman Akira Kadota said. The company said it has 230 production sites around the world but declined to give a regional breakdown.

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GirlonBus.com Are you that girl?

He met her on the bus. They do not know each other. Now he needs your help to find her! Read more @ girlonbus.com

Obama Daughters Doll

Dolls "Sweet Sasha" (R) and "Marvelous Malia." sit on a shelf at Lamont's gift shop in the Ritz-Carlton hotel on January 22, 2009 in Chicago, Illinois. The dolls are from the Ty Girlz collection made by Ty Inc, the makers of Beanie Babies. The store quickly sold out of its first shipment of the dolls.

The World's Biggest Cheesecake

On Sunday, January 25th, KRAFT Philadelphia Presented The Biggest Cheesecake Of The World. Chef Miguel Angel Quezada along with 55 cooks spent 60 hours making the world’s biggest cheesecake cake used nearly a ton of cream cheese, the same amount of yogurt, 350 kilograms (772 pounds) of pastry, 250 kilograms (551 pounds) of sugar and 150 kilograms (331 pounds) of butter. The Guinness World Record biggest cheesecake is 2.5 meters in diameter, 55 centimeters high and weighs 2 tons.

Google: 'Human error' brings internet chaos for millions

A simple typing error brought Google's search engine to a grinding halt, preventing millions of people from finding web pages on the internet.

The search engine incorrectly labelled all other websites as potentially harmful and stopped internet users from directly clicking through to their search results.

The problem arose at around 2.30pm GMT on 31 Jan 2009 and was only fixed after 40 minutes – by which time millions of users had been affected.

The company later announced that the fault had been caused by "human error" when an internal list of harmful sites was updated. A single forward slash (/) was put on the list in place of a full web address, effectively blacklisting every website because all web addresses contain the character.

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Excessive chatting on Facebook can lead to depression

Girls can be prone to anxiety and depression by talking too much to their friends through texting, email and social networking sites such as Facebook.

Repeated conversations among adolescent girls, known as co-rumination, can be unhelpful, particularly if it is about romantic disappointments.

Frequently discussing the same problem can intensify into an unhealthy activity for those who use Facebook and other electronic means to obsess about it, according to the researchers.

Psychology professor Dr Joanne Davila and her colleague Lisa Starr, at Stony Brook University in New York, interviewed 83 girls aged around 13 - the age when risk of depression starts to increase.

They were contacted again a year later to follow them up.

On both occasions they were tested for depressive symptoms and asked about romantic experiences considered normal for early teens, such as being asked out on a date and having been kissed.

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Driving while suffering from flu raises risk of accidents

Using a driving simulator, researchers found that people who drove with heavy colds or the flu took 10 per cent longer to react than healthy drivers.

This caused them to travel up to two extra metres at 60 mph before they started to break.

The drivers "under the influenza" were also less aware of hazards on the road if they were feeling ill, the study found.

Road safety experts warned that the effects could be compounded by cold remedies, which can cause drowsiness, and by drinking alcohol.

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NEC to cut 20,000 jobs worldwide

Japanese electronics giant NEC Corp. says it plans to slash at least 20,000 jobs worldwide in an effort to cut 80 billion yen ($895 million) in costs over the next two years.

The Tokyo-based company says its net loss widened to 130 billion yen ($1.46 billion) for the October-December quarter from a 5.2 billion yen loss in the same period a year earlier.

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The World's Biggest Boobs

SHEYLA Hershey’s massive 38KKK breasts have been declared the world’s biggest boob job.

The 28-year-old American housewife and model has undergone nine ops to get her amazing figure. And even though medics have warned that her breasts are in danger of exploding, she does not seem to care.

Sheyla, from Houston, Texas, said: “To me, big is beautiful. I don’t think I have anything to worry about.” Now Sheyla is in the record books for having the largest breast implants ever.

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German software giant SAP to cut 3,000 jobs

The world leader in professional software, Germany's SAP, said Wednesday it will cut more than 3,000 jobs this year to save up to 350 million euros (460 million dollars) as demand slumps.

The company, following the lead of many others as the global downturn bites deeper, said the job cuts will allow it to "adjust to difficult market conditions."

SAP employs 51,000, according to its website.

It added that it would not be making forecasts for this year because of "the limited visibility" in the business.

The company said its 2008 net profit fell 2.0 percent to 1.88 billion dollars as sales rose 14 percent to 8.46 billion euros.

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Starbucks to slash 6,700 jobs, close 300 stores

Starbucks said Wednesday it was slashing 6,700 jobs and closing 300 stores in a further belt-tightenting by the coffee house giant to cope with a rapidly weakening global economy.

The coffee-shop chain, which already announced a massive restructuring in July as wary consumers cut back on lattes and other specialty coffee drinks, reported revenue in the first quarter of its business year fell 6.0 percent from a year ago.

Net profit in the quarter ended December 28 plunged 69 percent to 64.3 million dollars, from 208.1 million in same period in 2007.

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Panasonic to close Malacca plant, 500 to lose jobs

Panasonic Corp said today it will cut 560 jobs in Asia due to the closure of two plants in the region, while declining to confirm a report saying the Japanese electronics giant will likely suffer its first net loss in six years.

The world's largest maker of plasma television will shut down a factory in Malaysia and another plant in the Philippines to "cope with a rapid change in the global electronics market," said spokesman Akira Kadota.

The closures come as Panasonic is in the middle of a US$9 billion (RM31.5 billion) takeover of smaller Japanese rival Sanyo Electric Co to become one of the world's biggest electronics companies.

Around 500 workers at the Malaysian electronics parts plant in Malacca will be out of work, while some 60 employees at the Philippines battery factory will also lose their jobs, Kadota said.

Panasonic also runs two electronics parts plants in Selangor. The spokesman said the company will merge them into one by September. He could not give the number of workers at the Selangor plants, but added the move will not result in job losses.

Kadota declined to confirm a report that Panasonic will likely suffer its first net loss in six years due to plummeting global demand for electronics goods and a strong yen.

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Ubuntu Pocket Guide and Reference

Ubuntu Pocket Guide and Reference is now available entirely free of charge! Written by award-winning author Keir Thomas, Ubuntu Pocket Guide and Reference is a totally unique and concise guide for everyday Ubuntu use.

* Focuses on core competencies and background knowledge needed to be an expert Ubuntu user;
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* 100% new and original! Written from the ground-up to cover Ubuntu 8.04 and 8.10.

[Grab the PDF]

Alcohol improves men's sexual performance

Australian researchers have made the surprise discovery that alcohol improves, rather than damages, men's performance in the bedroom.

They hope the finding, which flies in the face of conventional belief, will reassure men who worry about the affects of drinking on their sex lives.

Until now, it has been widely believed alcohol consumption could cause erectile dysfunction, commonly called "brewer's droop''.

But a study of 1580 Australian men has shown the reverse may be true, with drinkers reporting as many as 30 per cent fewer problems than teetotallers.

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What cops do at night?

Solitaire!

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The Hangman Cheat

It weighs the number of occurrences of each letter in all of the words it knows
matching your criteria. It guesses whichever letter occurs in the highest percentage of words.

[Play]

Booth Babes of PC Fair III 2008: Winner

Say hello to Eva, winner of LYN's Choice : Booth Babes of PC Fair (III) 2008. A total of 3529 votes received throughout the voting period. Eva received a total of 2299 votes, while 1st Runner up Sammi received 1755 votes.

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I'm Still Rich T-Shirt

Priced at an entirely reasonable $2695 ($630 extra if you want it in black) the shirt almost manages to be funny.

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Intel to shut facilities in Malaysia, Philippines, US

Intel Corp., the world's biggest computer chip maker, announced plans on Wednesday to close facilities in Malaysia, the Philippines and the United States.

The Santa Clara, California-based company said the moves were expected to affect between 5,000 and 6,000 employees worldwide.

"However, not all employees will leave Intel," the company said in a statement. "Some may be offered positions at other facilities."

Intel said it will close two assembly test facilities in Penang, Malaysia, and one in Cavite, Philippines, in addition to wafer production facilities in Santa Clara and Hillsboro, Oregon.

The closures, Intel said, will take place between now and the end of 2009.

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Wealthy men give women more orgasms

Scientists have found that the pleasure women get from making love is directly linked to the size of their partner’s bank balance.

They found that the wealthier a man is, the more frequently his partner has orgasms.

“Women’s orgasm frequency increases with the income of their partner,” said Dr Thomas Pollet, the Newcastle University psychologist behind the research.

He believes the phenomenon is an “evolutionary adaptation” that is hard-wired into women, driving them to select men on the basis of their perceived quality.

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Boy, 8, becomes youngest IT professional

At the age of 8, Marko has become the world’s youngest certified computer system administrator and was deemed the Mozart of Computers by the press after passing exams for IT professionals with the computer giant Microsoft.

In theory, he could now get a job maintaining complex office computer networks, even though he has not yet completed the third grade in his native town Skopje, in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

“The Microsoft officials gave me computer games and DVDs with cartoons when I passed the exams because I am a child. That was nice, but I’m not really interested in those things,” young Marko told The Times.

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NY Times readers choose Penang as No 2 must-visit destination for 2009

Readers of The New York Times have chosen Penang, Malaysia as the second best destination among “44 Places To Go in 2009”.

In top spot in the recommendations found on the paper’s website (http://www.nytimes.com) was Beirut, Lebanon.

The only other South-East Asian destination in the ranking is Phuket, Thailand which is in 15th place.

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Dad impersonating son in exam arrested

A 54-year-old Japanese father was arrested after he tried to help his son pass an exam by impersonating the young man and taking the test for him, police said Thursday.

The father, who was not named, put on glasses and straightened his hair to look more like the picture on his son's identity card, said Masaaki Nakamori, a police official in the Nara prefecture in western Japan.

But as he took the test while trying to make sure the examiners didn't get a good look at him, one official noticed that the man looked much older than the picture on the card, Nakamori said.

The father then apologized and confessed. Police said the man runs a company that distributes medicine and had passed an exam in August to earn a license to handle drugs

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Downadup worm has infected nearly 9 million machines

The Downadup worm, also known as Conficker or Kido, is racing across the Internet and has infected nearly 9 million PCs since November. Microsoft has issued a patch to block the worm, but many PC users haven't installed it and portable USB drives are helping the worm spread. The Downadup worm also blocks security sites and changes access rights.

Specifically, the worm uses USB thumb drives to infect other computers. It does this by copying itself in a random folder created inside the recycler directory. The Recycle Bin uses the recycler directory to store deleted files and create an autorun.inf file in the root folder. When the Autorun feature is enabled, the worm executes automatically.

Downadup skirts antivirus protection by working with rarely used APIs to circumvent virtualization technologies. The worm also disables Windows updates and certain network traffic, optimizing Vista features to ease distribution. What's more, this worm removes all access rights of the user, except execute and directory usage, to protect its files.

According to BitDefender, the Win32.Worm.Downadup.B malware comes with a domain-name-generation algorithm similar to the one found in botnets like Rustock. It composes 250 domains every day and checks some of them for updates or other files to download and install.

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