Author: Cho KwanLi

Twitter said Tuesday it would take down pictures and videos of deceased users at requests of family members or authorized people. “In order to respect the wishes of loved ones, Twitter will remove imagery of deceased individuals in certain circumstances,” the microblog wrote. Twitter said it would consider the removal requests that are taken “from when critical injury occurs to the moments before or after death.” According to CNET, the new policy was added a week after Zelda Williams, Robin Williams’s daughter, announced she was closing her Twitter account after horror edited photos of her father were sent to her. “Mining our…

The National Football League does not always pay the artists to perform at Super Bowl’s halftime show, but this year it has asked the candidate performers if they would be willing to pay to play, the Wall Street Journal quoted people familiar with the matter. The people said the NFL has narrowed down to three candidates to perform during halftime, including Rihanna, Katy Perry and Coldplay. When the NFL notified the artists about the nomination, it also asked at least some of the performers if they would be willing to contribute part of their post-Super Bowl tour income or other type of…

A brand new $85-million scanning system will be put into place to make checking driver’s licenses, passports and boarding passes in one step, thus shorten travelers’ waiting time. According to the Los Angeles Times, the new technology called credential authentication technology (CAT) will allow agents to just scan people’s IDs and their personal and flight information will pop up on the screen. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said it will start testing the machine this fall. As of now, travelers go up to checkpoints to hand over their IDs and boarding passes to a TSA agent, and he or she will…

Comcast apologized again for its service call and unreasonable charges after customer records phone conversation. Tim Davis, the unhappy customer who had recorded his initial call with Comcast, uploaded a 14-minute video explaining his situation and showing parts of his conversation with a Comcast service call staff. Davis also posted on a forum Reddit with a headline of “Comcast charges me $182 for stuff that didn’t happen; Comcast agent, technician and supervisor all lie, then call it ‘negotiating.’” Davis moved house and installed the comcast equipment himself. After the installation, he had some connectivity problems which he said he called the company and…

Google has partnered with five Asian telecom firms to invest $300 million to build a trans-Pacific cable network between the United States and Japan. According to Reuters, the project named “FASTER” will have a capacity of 60 terabits per second and connect several west coast major cities, including Los Angeles, Portland, San Francisco, Oregon and Seattle, to Chikura and Shima in Japan. The cable will extend to cover more places in the future. NEC Corp, the system supplier for the project, said in a statement that the construction would begin immediately and would be done in the first half of 2016. Australia Network…

South Korea phone camera makers are trying to get their hands on the more demanding vehicle cameras market to compensate the slow growth of the smartphones market. “We expect the vehicle camera market to experience explosive growth,” Lee Hyo-cheol, a principal research engineer at Korean car parts maker Hyundai, said, Reuters reported. High-end cars carry as many as eight cameras to help parking or trigger emergency brakes. Camera number on this type of car can also add up to 12 if cameras are used to replace side-view mirrors, according to Mcnex Co Ltd., a smartphone camera producer for Samsung and Korea’s largest…

T-Mobile announced a lowered-price family July 28 with 10 gigabytes of 4G LTE data for a family plan of four for $100. John Legere, CEO of T-Mobile, said in a blog post that the carrier would offer 10GB of LTE data for a family of four, each line would have 2.5GB, starting July 30. According to CNET, T-Mobile customers can sign up for the deal through September, and it will last until the end of 2015. T-Mobile said the promotion is available for both new and current users. “We know that this is one of the busiest shopping seasons in the year, and…

Amazon has made preorders of some Disney movies unavailable on its website, possibly due to a contract dispute. According to CNET, preorders of physical copies of “Muppets Most Wanted,” “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Million Dollar Arm” and “Maleficent” are currently unavailable with the online retailer. However, digital copies preorders are still available. “It’s rare in physical retail to have contract disputes become so public. Most retailers just aren’t willing to hurt themselves by cutting off sales,” Sucharita Mulpuru, a Forrester Research analyst, said, Wall Street Journal reported. “Amazon has demonstrated that they’re not going to be one to blink in…

McDonald’s, which was forced to stop providing certain items on its menu due to a food safety scandal, will reinstate its full menu in some Chinese cities this week. According to Reuters, Beijing and Guangzhou’s McDonald’s will restore full menus this week while Shanghai’s menus will go back to normal later this month. “We will go back to the origin of the food, where the food comes from, so it will take a longer time and is not as easy as people may think. We are doing a very stringent inspection to make sure the food meets the government’s requirement and…

Internet.org, Facebook’s partnership with six telecom companies, launches an Android and web app that provides free data access to limited use of Facebook, Messenger, Wikipedia and Google Search. Users will also have access to useful health, employment and local information services, a Facebook statement said. According to the statement, only 30 percent of the world’s total population has access to the Internet. The company said by providing free data access, it hopes to bring more people, who are not too familiar with the web, online and find the Internet valuable. The app will first be used in Zambia and then…

U.S. job growth in July was slower than expected, and the unemployment rate unexpectedly increased to 6.2 percent. According to Reuters, 209,000 jobs were added to the market last month, followed by 298,000 in June. Even though July growth was slower than expected, it was still the sixth-straight month of more than 200,000 jobs being created after 1997. Unemployment rate increased from 6.1 percent in June to 6.2 percent last month, which indicates more people are entering the job market. This shows the public’s confidence in the workforce. Read also: Unemployment Rate Decreases to 6.1 Percent The report suggested…

Paramount Pictures Australia, a Sydney-based film studio, apologized for a ”Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” publicity poster that features ninja turtles flying down from a burning building and a release date of Sept. 11. Paramount Pictures tweeted the poster Tuesday, July 29, and got the wrong kind of public attention. The poster implicitly depicted the U.S.’s 2001 terrorist attack with a building explosion background and a sensitive release date. The movie is also set in New York City. The company deleted the tweet after the controversial poster caught the public’s attention, but that did not stop the poster’s criticisms. Paramount eventually…

A New Mexico man killed and planned to eat his girlfriend’s dog, claiming there was nothing to eat at the house. According to CNN, Salvador Martinez, the suspect, stabbed 9-month-old dog Onyx and skinned her. Martinez buried some parts of the dog in the backyard and stored others parts in the freezer. “He had her marinating in Italian dressing in the fridge,” Mandy Malone, dog owner and Martinez’s girlfriend, said. “What could possibly go through someone’s mind to do something that sick?” Martinez was released Wednesday, July 30, from a Torrance County court and was charged for extreme cruelty to…

A plane crashed Wednesday, July 30, into a parking lot of a San Diego shopping mall near an airport, killing one woman and injuring another. According to USA Today, the single-engine Mooney M-20L crashed around 5:30 p.m. near Montgomery Field. Police Lt. Steve Behrendt said the aircraft flew on top of a Target store and knocked down a light pole before landing in a parking lot for Costco and Target. Los Angeles Times reported that Lee Swanson, San Diego Fire-Rescue Department spokesman, said the only passenger, 80, suffered from serious burns and died at the scene. The pilot, 52, was…

A startup old-T-Shirt-preserving company sets a higher goal and targets $2 million revenue in 2014. Project Repat, founded in 2012, turns T-shirts into quilts. The startup found a way to make a profit and expects a revenue growth this year from $1 million in 2013. According to Boston Business Journal, Project Repat Founder Nathan Rothstein said the quilts are a “modern form of scrap-booking.” He said the company has many types of customers, including sorority or fraternity members, mothers of graduating students and people who have participated in any kind of memorable events. “We’ve found this product really applies to almost…

Four teenagers were charged Tuesday, July 29, for beating a University of Southern California graduate student to death. According to the Los Angeles Times, the four suspects were identified as 19-year-old Jonathan DelCarmen, 18-year-old Andrew Garcia, 17-year-old Alberto Ochoa and 16-year-old Alejandra Guerrero. Since the victim Xinran Ji was killed during an attempted robbery, the prosecutors could choose to seek death penalty for DelCarmen and Garcia, but not for Ochoa and Guerrero as they are minors. LAPD said the killing appeared to not be related to racial discrimination. Three of the four teens were also charged for another robbery that happened…

After a harsh winter, the United States economy grew 4 percent in its second quarter, April to June, the Commerce Department said Wednesday, July 30. Read also: Unemployment Rate Decreases to 6.1 Percent According to the Associated Press, the growth mainly came from strong consumer and business spending. In its first estimate, the government expected strong figures in personal consumption spending, exports and private inventory investment. The New York Times reported that the growth exceeded economists’ estimation and strengthened their thoughts that the first-quarter GDP’s 2.1 percent drop was due to harsh winter weather. “The really ugly GDP report for…

Amgen Inc. said it would cut up to 2,900 jobs and close two plants, one in Washington state and one in Colorado, to manage its expense and focus on new drug development. According to the Los Angeles Times, the layoff number would account for about 15 percent of its 20,000 employees worldwide. The biotech company, which sells drugs for osteoporosis and anemia, said it would use the savings, an estimate of $700 million per year, to fund a new-drugs launch and to restructure layers of management. Amgen Chief Robert A. Bradway said the company would keep its headquarters in Thousand…

The Pirate Bay, a torrent file-sharing platform, launched a new version of its website to allow easier access for mobile devices. The Pirate Bay, now called The Mobile Bay with its new design, has easy-to-tap buttons to navigate the site and view recent torrent files or the top 100. Torrent Freak, a blog that covers torrenting, piracy and file-sharing, debuted the news. Now users have the option to go to the old or new layout of the website, but The Pirate Bay said there was no reason to use the old one. “The normal version of the site renders like…

A 9-year-old Georgia girl has died Tuesday, July 29, from serious injuries sustained when she got hit by a small plane on a Florida beach, law enforcement officials said. Read also: Florida Plane Crash Kills Georgia Man and Injures Daughter The Irizzary family was celebrating the ninth wedding anniversary of Ommy and his wife Rebecca at Caspersen Beach in Venice, Florida. According to the Associated Press, their daughter, Oceana Irizzary, died early morning from injuries suffered two days before, when she and her father were walking along the sand and came into contact with a crashing aircraft that had lost power.…

China said Tuesday, July 29, that its former Security Chief Zhou YongKang is under investigation for “grave violations of discipline,” making him the highest political leader to be investigated in more than two decades, the Chinese news Xinhua reported. According to the New York Times, Zhou, 71, retired from the Politburo Standing Committee in 2012, and he is now facing an investigation by the party’s watchdog agency. No details of charges against Zhou were released. However, it is believed the investigation would be centered around Zhou’s suspected corruption. According to a New York Times investigation, Zhou’s son, a sister-in-law and…

Amazon launched 3D printing service Monday, July 28, that allows buyers to customize and create their own jewelry, bobble head toys and other products from third-party sellers. “The introduction of our 3D Printed Products store suggests the beginnings of a shift in online retail—that manufacturing can be more nimble to provide an immersive customer experience. Sellers, in alignment with designers and manufacturers, can offer more dynamic inventory for customers to personalize and truly make their own,” Director for Amazon Marketplace Sales Petra Schindler-Carter said. Read also: ‘Normal’ Earphones Are 3D-Printed for Custom Fit The giant online retailer has…

The mother of a 4-year-old boy said they were banned from a doughnut shop after her son asked a customer if she was having a baby. “I asked her if she was pregnant,” the son, Justin Otero, said, Yahoo News reported. According to Yahoo News, Rebecca Denham and Justin were kicked out of the Doughnut Inn in Monroe, Connecticut, the next time they went in the shop after the visit when Justin asked the question. It turned out that the customer was not pregnant. The Huffington Post reported that Denham said the lady was not mad at Otero and said she got the…

A small plane crash-landed on a Florida beach Sunday, July 27, killing a Georgia man and injuring his 9-year-old daughter. CNN reported that Ommy Irizarry, 36, and his daughter Oceana, 9, were hit by the crashed aircraft late afternoon. Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Wendy Rose said the Venice airport got a distress call from the pilot. “They were contacted by a pilot whose small plane was in distress. He knew he couldn’t make it back to the airport and was going to try to land on the beach. And he did land at the edge of the water on the…

NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers player Matt Barnes posted pictures Tuesday, July 22, of a suspect for his aunt’s murder and asked fans for help in locating him. The picture captioned, “This dude stabbed my auntie in the neck last week & left her for dead on the sidewalk, she ended up dying on the way to the hospital in the ambulance. If you hv any info on his where abouts contact the #SacPD # SacramentoWeNeedYourHelp #RIPTang” Some people shifted the focus of the post and accused Barnes of not helping the Williams family financially under this situation. The player got…

A Washington Post reporter, along with three other Americans, was detained Tuesday evening, July 22, in Iran, U.S. officials and the newspaper said Thursday. The Washington Post reported that the Iran Correspondent Jason Rezaian, his wife Yeganeh Salehi, who works as an Iran correspondent for a United Arab Emirates newspaper, and two freelance photojournalists were held in the country. It is not yet known who detained them or for what reason. “We are deeply troubled by this news and are concerned for the welfare of Jason, Yeganeh and two others said to have been detained with them,” the Washington Post’s Foreign…

About one third of the interviewed Americans support  impeachment of the president while a majority said no, according to a CNN/ORC poll released Friday, July 25. Thirty three percent of Americans said yes to impeaching President Obama, but a large group of 65 percent supported keeping the president in office. CNN reported that there is a clear partisan divide within the support-impeachment votes, with 57 percent of Republicans, 35 percent of Independents and 13 percent of Democrats. Keating Holland, CNN polling director, said the oppose-impeachment number appeared to be similar with past presidents. Bill Clinton received 67 percent of support…

The black box of the Air Algerie Flight 5017, which disappeared from radar 50 minutes after it took off at Burkina Faso, was found at the plane’s wreckage site. According to the Los Angeles Times, French President Francois Hollande said the crashed plane was found in the Gossi region of Mali, near its border with Burkina Faso. He said one of the two black boxes was found and there were no survivors. Read also: Air Algerie Flight Carrying 116 People Crashes in Mali “I share the pain of families living through this terrible ordeal,” Hollande said, NBC reported. French…

An Air Algerie flight flying from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso to Algiers has reportedly crashed in Mali Thursday, July 24, an Algerian aviation official said. “I can confirm that it has crashed,” the unnamed official told Reuters, but he did not provide details about why the plane went down. According to CNN, Air Algerie’s Flight 5017 lost radar contact over Northern Mali around 1:55 a.m. local time (9:55 a.m. EDT), 50 minutes after it took off. The plane was carrying 110 passengers, two pilots and four crew members. The plane, an MD-83, belongs to Swiftair, a private Spanish company, and was…

A federal judge ruled that Colorado’s same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional on Wednesday, July 23, but his ruling is pending until the U.S. Supreme Court weighs in. According to USA Today, Judge Raymond Moore ruled the cases for six same-sex couples who sued the state for banning same-sex marriage. “As previously discussed, on the state of the record currently before the court, it is plaintiffs who have shown a likelihood of success on the merits; it is plaintiffs who suffer irreparable harm if Colorado’s unconstitutional same-sex marriage ban is not enjoined; and it is plaintiffs to whom the balance of harm…

People in China’s Sichuan province found the world’s largest aquatic insect, which has large, scary pincers. According to CNN, the Insect Museum of West China said several villagers turned in these “weird insects that resemble giant dragonflies with long teeth.” The terrifying bugs were examined by the museum, and it found that they there were unusually large specimen of the dobsonfly. The largest among those found in China measured 21 centimeters with wings opened, which beat the old largest record of a South American helicopter damselfly that measured 19.1 centimeters. The museum said it was big enough to cover a…

Owen Mundy, a Florida State University professor who studies the relationship between data and public, developed a cat-locating site that can find where a cat in a picture posted on the Internet is located. The site, called “I Know Where Your Cat Lives,” works as a directional map with pictures of cats pinned on it to show where the cat was located for each particular picture. In other words, it does not necessarily show where the cat lives, but rather where it was at the time the photo was taken. The app is not designed for people to solely find…

Sunrise, a startup calendar app, raised $6 million from Balderton Capital and other investors to build a perfect calendar. “We want to connect all your data, simplify communication and improve core calendar features,” co-founder and CEO Pierre Valade told TechCrunch. The calendar app only works as an individual calendar, to which other people do not have access. However, there are times users need to cooperate as a team. The company will use the money to improve core features like this. The startup app’s goal is not that small, but it also plans to develop new features in the future to…

Have you ever been frustrated about when you are trying to rush home, but your flight is delayed or canceled? If your answer is “yes,” Rule 240 will be helpful to you. According to the Los Angeles Times, the rule, which was widely applied before 1978, required airlines to put passengers on a competitor’s next flight if it would get them to their destination sooner whenever its own flight was delayed or canceled. The companies were also required to upgrade passengers from economy class to first class if those were the only seats available. Many Airlines have taken Rule 240…

FreeWavz, a new company, is adding another device into the market that measures users’ fitness levels. FreeWavz founder Eric Hensen, who is also an ear, nose and throat doctor, said the wireless earphones are fitted with “medical-grade pulse oximeters and accelerometers” that collect data to help users stay healthy. The device is able to monitor basic features, like heart rate, calories burned and distance traveled, as well as oxygen saturation. The company is still crowdfunding to launch the product. It is at about $135,500 now with a goal of $300,000.  It seems, though, they may have a difficult time meeting their…

President Obama signed an executive order Monday, July 21, to ban workplace discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees of federal contractors and the federal government. “America’s federal contracts should not subsidize discrimination against the American people. I’m going to do what I can with the authority I have to act,” Obama said in a speech before signing the order. According to the Huffington Post, the executive order makes two things illegal: firing or harassing LGBT employees because of their sexual orientation or gender identity and discriminating against transgender workers of the federal government. The first part of the…

The human World Cup may be over, but the world cup for robots just began. The RoboCup, an international competition in which autonomous robots play soccer, kicked off Monday, July 21, in Brazil. According to the RoboCup, the tournament lasts for six days and features teams of remote-free robots from over 40 countries, all competing for a soccer championship. The robotic game follows the same rules as the World Cup, such as scoring, fouls and side kicks. A human judge, assisted by a robot judge, observes the games. The game will be played in “Poeta Ronaldo Cunha Lima,” the new…

A new Transportation Security Administration (TSA) security fee went into effect Monday, July 21, which will raise airfare. According to USA Today, the old fee was $2.50 for a non-stop flight and $5 for a connecting flight. There was also a $5 cap on any one-way ticket, so consumers paid $10 at the most for any round-trip flight. The new fee is $5.60 for each leg and has no cap on how much fliers need to pay based on layovers. For domestic flights, TSA defined a one-way flight as having a layover of no more than four hours. Fox News explained that…

The New Jersey committee that is investigating the closure of George Washington Bridge questioned Gov. Chris Christie’s top aide Thursday, July 17. According to the Wall Street Journal, Regina Egea, who is the governor’s incoming chief of staff, told the investigators that she deleted the bridge-related texts to the governor. Egea, who used to oversee the relation between the administration and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said she would infrequently text Christie when he needed to be aware of certain things, and Christie would answer “at times.” Investigators asked for the bridge-related messages, but Egea said…

A transgender woman killed Wednesday, July 16, was confirmed to be NBA player Reggie Bullock’s sister. The Clippers’ shooting guard posted a few tweets to grieve his sibling. All I can say is my brother showed me how to live your “OWN LIFE” love you soo much man. Gone but not forgotten #RIPKEVIN — Reggie Bullock (@ReggieBullock35) July 16, 2014 Atleast I sent the last LOVE YOU to my brother — Reggie Bullock (@ReggieBullock35) July 16, 2014 The player is receiving a lot of support from friends and is recovering from the loss of family. I got all the txts and…

The Republicans-controlled House passed a spending bill Wednesday, July 16, to amend its gun-control and marijuana possession laws. According to The Washington Post, the gun amendment was proposed by Republican Rep. Thomas Massie. The Supreme Court set the rules in 2008 that required people to register their handguns every three years, attend a safety course, and get fingerprinted and photographed. Massie amended the bill to remove all the procedures that the District’s gun-owning citizens have had to go through. “It is time for Congress to step in and stop the D.C. government’s harassment and punishment of law-abiding citizens who simply…

On Thursday, Florida Gov. Rick Scott has agreed to meet with scientists to discuss the state’s climate change problem, after receiving a letter Tuesday, July 15. According to The Hill, Scott said he agreed to meet them but hopes to “focus on solutions we can implement to protect our land, water and families.” The Tampa Bay Times reported that Scott, who does not believe in man-made climate change, said he has “not been convinced that there’s any man-made climate change” when running for office in 2010. Since then, he was not active in the climate debate and always responded, “I’m…

Even though the World Cup ended days ago, the World Cup fever has not ended quite yet. The championship-winning German star Mesut Ozil announced Wednesday, July 17, that he will help pay for 23 children’s surgeries in Brazil. Ozil paid for the surgeries of 11 children in Brazil prior to the game, but he said he will raise the number up to 23, which equals the number of players who won the team the World Cup title. He wrote on Facebook, “Since the victory of the #WorldCup is not only due to eleven players but to our whole team, I…

A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 carrying 295 passengers crashed in eastern Ukraine Thursday, July 17. According to ABC News, Ukrainian authorities told U.S. officials that everyone on the plane was “believed dead” and called the action “an act of terrorism.” CNN reported that the flight, with 280 passengers and 15 crew members on board, went down near Torez, a town in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine near the Russian border, at about 33,000 feet. It was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lampur. Malaysia Airlines has lost contact of MH17 from Amsterdam. The last known position was over Ukrainian airspace.…

The online rental marketplace for housing, Airbnb, announced its rebranding initiative on Wednesday, July 16. Airbnb introduced a new layout of its website and, more importantly, a new logo. According to Airbnb, the new logo means four things: a weirdly happy person, a place pin, love and the letter A for Airbnb. The company hopes to bring the sense of belonging to Airbnb users with the new design. It calls the new logo, “Bélo.” Airbnb also offers an online-tool that allows people to create their own “Bélo.” It provides users this interaction because it wants to remind people that everyone…

The Fox sitcom “Futurama,” first aired in 1999, was reproduced in 3D and published Tuesday, July 15, by an artist. The creative artist Alexey Zakharov introduced a test video of the show’s skyline intro in 3D and another of a 360-degree view of the “Futurama” Planet Express ship. The artist is giving fans a new look of the show. The original “Futurama” intro: Zakharov’s skill is definitely incredible that every detail in the videos is amazing. He used programs like 3Dsmax, Nuke, After Effects and Photoshop to create them. Even though the show is not on TV anymore, Zakharov has…

Microsoft announced Thursday that it will cut up to 18,000 jobs in the following year to restructure the management layer. CEO Satya Nadella sent an email to all employees notifying them about the job cuts. He wrote, “The first step to building the right organization for our ambitions is to realign our workforce.” Within the 18,000 cuts, 12,500 will be professional and factory workers. He also said this change will help the company to “become more agile and move faster.” Executive Vice President Stephen Elop, former CEO of Nokia, also sent an email to Microsoft employees on Thursday. He wrote…

Google announced Tuesday, July 15, that they will develop and produce contact lenses that could potentially measure wearers’ blood sugar levels. The Huffington Post reported that Google, partnered with Swiss drugmaker Novartis, would create “smart” contact lenses that would measure one’s glucose levels using tears. More than that, the lenses would also send the records to the user’s phone. The product would benefit diabetics, who poke their fingers many times a day to check their sugar level. “We’re now testing a smart contact lens that’s built to measure glucose levels in tears using a tiny wireless chip and miniaturized glucose…

A recent Washington Post-ABC News poll suggested most Americans were not too happy with how Obama is handling the border issue of illegal immigrants flooding into the southern states. The survey asked respondents’ opinion on how President Obama, Congressional Republicans and the federal government is handling the border issue with Mexico. Fifty-eight percent of the interviewees, including 54 percent of Hispanics, disapprove of how the President is dealing with the problem. Read also: Obama Skipping Border Visit and Sarah Palin Calls For President Impeachment The last survey question asks people if they support the White House spending $3.7 million on solving the…

A recent study suggested that close friends can be expected to share the same amount of genes as fourth cousins. The Washington Post reported that the study, which was published Monday, July 14, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, proposed that two friends would share genes as if they had the same great-great-great-grandparents. “Looking across the whole genome, we find that, on average, we are genetically similar to our friends,” said James Fowler, lead researcher and professor of medical genetics at the University of California at San Diego. “We have more DNA in common with the people…

Walt Disney Animation Studio released an official trailer of “Big Hero 6,” inspired by Marvel Comics’s same-name superheroes team on Tuesday, July 15. Fans were excited that Disney finally released the film’s official trailer, which follows a teaser trailer released in May. The new superhero movie is the first film featuring Marvel characters that was made after the studio took over the company in 2009. It will be in theaters on November 7. The comic-inspired film features a teen robotics genius named Hiro Hamada and his bubbly, self-made robot Baymax in a fictional city called San Fransokyo. They discover a criminal…

A man tried to kill a spider with fire but accidentally burned his West Seattle home on Tuesday night, July 15. The man used a lighter and a can of spray paint to kill the eight-legged bug in his laundry room at about 8:30 p.m. The Telegraph reported that the sparks caught the material behind the cladding and set off a fire within the walls. According to Komo News, firefighters tried to put out the fire from a distance because they learned that there might be ammunition in the house. They were eventually able to stop the blaze, but the…

Yahoo!Screen has taken one more step to dominate the online video business by providing free live concert videos starting Tuesday, July 15. Yahoo, partnered with Live Nation, kicked off the new feature with the Dave Matthews Band playing Tuesday night at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena in Florida. The platform will bring viewers one live concert a night for an entire year. Other scheduled concerts include The Fray, The Neighborhood and Common. “Live moments are the most memorable, whether it’s your favorite band’s performance of a lifetime, that amazing last-second goal that crowns the world champion or an unforgettable acceptance…

A proposal of splitting California into six states has gotten enough signatures to be put on the November 2016 ballot, according to the “Six Californias” campaign’s announcement on Monday, July 14. #SixCalifornias will be submitting signatures in Sacramento tomorrow for placement on the November 2016 ballot. Stay tuned for coverage! — Six Californias (@SixCalifornias) July 14, 2014 According to USA Today, Roger Salazar, a spokesman for the group, said the plan has gained over the 808,000 required signatures to place the measure on the ballot. USA Today reported in February when the plan was first proposed, the initiative, called “Six…

World Cup-winning Germany landed home in Berlin Tuesday, July 15, and received a hero-like welcome by hundreds of thousands of soccer fans with the World Cup trophy in hand. Read also: Germany Is the New World Cup Champion According to the Guardian, the team arrived at Tegel airport and took an open-top bus, with years they have won the trophy written on it, to the Brandenburg Gate for a huge celebration party. The players were accompanied by almost half a million of fans on the way. The BBC reported that many German fans took the day off just to join the nation’s…

A 15-year-old girl played dead and survived from a Wednesday, July 9, shooting in the Houston area. According to New York Daily News, Cassidy Stay, the only survivor in the Spring, Texas, home shooting, appeared in the public Saturday, July 12, the day after she was released from the hospital. Stay, joined by her grandfather Roger Lyon, was at a ceremony honoring the six victims of her family, including her parents, 39-year-old Stephen Stay and 34-year-old Katie Stay, and four siblings aging 4 to 13. “’Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to…

Ukraine accused Russia for shooting down a Ukrainian military plane Monday, July 14, along its eastern border with Russia. According to the National Post, Rebels in eastern Ukraine admitted right after the attack that they hunted down the Antonov-26. However, Ukrainian Defence Minister Valeriy Heletey said Russia might had been involved. Heletey said the plane was hit at an altitude of 6,500 meters and the separatists fighting government troops’ weapons could not reach that high. Ukraine also accused Russia that it violated the country’s airspace by allowing weapons and fighters to cross to help rebels and troops. Defense Ministry spokesman…

The New York based startup Rocketrip encourages employees to save companies’ money on business trips by paying them to do so. Rocketrip uses an reward system that for every $2 you save, you get paid $1. Here an example from the company: “There isn’t a company on the planet that doesn’t have a travel and expense problem,” Ruch told the VentureBeat. “We introduce that incentive to align [employees’] interests with the company policy.” The TechCrunch explained how Rocketrip works in 4 simple ways: You enter the trip location and necessities, like flights, hotel and a car, on Rocketrip. Rocketrip calculates the…

SoulCycle, a New York based fitness startup, helps to build not only your body but also your mind! Co-founders Elizabeth Cutler and Julie Rice built the company wanting to make workouts enjoyable. SoulCycle offers “inspirational coaching with high-energy music” to customers that make their cycling engaging and strengthening them both mentally and physically. The workout part of SoulCycle helps build your body while the instructors find your soul with you. The company has many instructors you can choose from. They all include a picture of themselves and a short introduction that help you get to know them before picking your…

Four years after losing to Spain in the semi-finals and finishing third overall in the 2010 World Cup, Germany became the 2014 World Cup champions on Sunday, July 13. Germany has won four World Cup titles overall, and this is their first since 1990. Germany and Argentina were battling for the right to hoist the FIFA World Cup Trophy at 3 p.m., and Germany was pleased to bring the honor home with a 1-0 win that went into extra time. Despite only one goal being made during the entire 120-minute match, there were many chances to score for both teams. Twenty…

Evidence of HIV returned to a Mississippi baby girl, who was thought to be cured after an aggressive drug treatment right after birth, federal health officials announced Thursday, July 10. USA Today reported that the baby was back on anti-HIV medications and responded well to them. AIDS patients usually have to treat for the rest of their lives, so Hannah Gay, an HIV expert at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson who treated the child, said she would be on medication “for a long time.” According to the New York Times, the child was reported to be cured…

Just several months before iPhone 6’s expected date to be here, a video strongly suggested the new Apple phone would have a 4.7-inch sapphire glass screen. Read also: The iPhone 6 Screen significantly larger than the 4 & 5 series The video increased fans’ expectation for Apple’s smartphone. It, published by Marques Brownlee, showed the possible iPhone 6 front panel. The panel came from Sonny Dickson, who seemed to have good connections with Apple’s Chinese production company Foxconn and has a reputation with iPhone leaks. It is showed in the video that the new iPhone glass display might have a scratch…

Matt Bendik, “Glee” star Becca Tobin’s boyfriend, was found dead in a Philadelphia hotel room Thursday, July 10, just a few days before the first anniversary of the death of Cory Monteith on July 13. He was 35. According to New York Daily News, Bendik’s body was found around 1 p.m. by a staff member at the Hotel Monaco. No drugs or paraphernalia were found in his hotel room. Bendik’s body was taken to the Medical Examiner for an autopsy. The couple was in Philadelphia for a business trip and was spotted in a club on Wednesday night. It was…

After body parts were found on Long Island Tuesday and Wednesday, another severed arm was found in a homeowner’s yard. NBC reported that the third incident took place near the residential area of Stewart Avenue and Cornell Street in Hempstead, just about a half-mile away from Webb Avenue in the same town, where the arm found on Wednesday, July 9. The body part was taken to the Nassau County medical examiner’s office for examination. The first body parts were found by two people walking to a ferry on Fire Island. According to CBS New York, police said investigators looked for…

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued online retailer Amazon Thursday, July 10, over children’s in-app purchases on Kindle Fire and other devices. According to USA Today, the FTC filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court, charging that Amazon intentionally let children make unauthorized purchases within apps that added up to millions of dollars on mobile devices without parental consent. The in-app purchases, usually items that are offered within mobile games that enhance a game or help users to advance levels, ranged from 99 cents to $99 per consumer. Jessica Rich, director of the FTC’s consumer protection bureau, said parents kept…

Internet security startup Malwarebytes announced Thursday it raised $30 million to expand its software business. According to The New York Times, Highland Capital Partners led the round of the investment while valuation was not disclosed. It became the first outside capital that Malwarebytes has raised. Malwarebytes Chief Executive Marcin Kleczynski said he wanted to use the extra money to hire more salespeople and engineers. Highland Capital Partners actually contacted the software company in February 2013 and expressed interest in investing, but Kleczynski refused the check because the company was able to sustain itself. Malwarebytes is still profitable now, and Kleczynski raised…

Emergency phone and Internet monitoring laws will be in place next week in the United Kingdom to collect users’ records for calls, texts and website visits. According to The Telegraph, UK Prime Minister David Cameron said the laws were paramount to defending national security against the terrorist threat from Iraq and Syria. “It is the first duty of government to protect our national security and to act quickly when that security is compromised,” Cameron said. The laws were passed in response to a European Court of Justice ruling, which took away regulations that allowed communication companies to keep data records…

The Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger, also a soccer jinx, is being blamed by Brazilians for the country’s biggest World Cup loss on Tuesday, July 8. Brazil is looking for anyone to blame for the 7-1 loss in the semi-final game against Germany, and Jagger was spotted in the crowd. Jagger is not only famous for his music, but also his soccer curse that any team he supports will lose a game. World Cup curse Mick Jagger attends #BRAvsGER match … Brazil lose in embarrassing fashion: https://t.co/Lv7tLzZSuk pic.twitter.com/PiogHv1gj1 — Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) July 9, 2014 According to USA Today Sports,…

Republicans announced Tuesday, July 8, that its 2016 convention will be held in Cleveland to ensure the party’s presidential nominee will garner attention in the swing state, where no one party or candidate owns the majority support. The Wall Street Journal reported that the Republican National Committee (RNC) said Cleveland and Dallas were the final two candidates for their host city. Reince Priebus, RNC chairman, said the convention will take place at the Cleveland Cavaliers’ home, the Quicken Loans Arena in the downtown area. Priebus also said it will start on either June 28 or July 18 of 2016, depending…

Sarah Palin, former governor of Alaska and 2008 Republican party vice presidential candidate, accused Obama of border crisis and called for the president’s impeachment, a formal process when an official is accused of unlawful activity. Palin’s accusation toward Obama was published Tuesday on Breitbart, a conservative website. Palin emphasized Obama’s ignoring-attitude about the border issue, where many illegal immigrants are crossing the border and flooding into Texas every day. “Enough is enough of the years of abuse from this president. His unsecured border crisis is the last straw that makes the battered wife say, ‘no mas,’” Palin wrote. Read also: Obama…

The European “right to be forgotten” is leading Google to censor the Internet. Robert Peston, a BBC economics editor, recently received a notice from Google that informed him that his 2007 blog post about Merrill Lynch and its former CEO Stan O’Neal will no longer appear in “certain searches.” Read also: Google Grants ‘Right to be Forgotten’ in Europe The Business Insider said the EU law is causing exactly what the public worried that it might: it censors the Internet and allows rich and powerful people, or criminals, to hide their negative histories from the public. O’Neal was leading the…

TubeMogul, a video advertising program, set a price range of its share Monday, July 7, at $11 to $13 per share. Media Post reported that TubeMogul submitted a change again of its S-1 filing, a form for companies that want to go public, with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. According to TechCrunch, TubeMogul said it would offer up to $75 million when it first decided to go public in March. With the price range announced, the video ad company could sell up to $93.4 million of its stock. TubeMogul has 6,250,000 common shares available, but the number is…

When everyone was surprised at Brazil’s 7-1 loss to Germany in the semifinal World Cup game on Tuesday, July 8, Australian soccer player Tim Cahill was one of them as well. Cahill tweeted a picture of himself covering his mouth with his hand to express how shocked he was about the match. Wow wow wow this is crazy. Whens #BRA going to turn up. I know predict a few red cards now @FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/jXoSE5Ttla — Tim Cahill (@Tim_Cahill) July 8, 2014 Minutes after Cahill tweeted, fans got crazy copying him. Below are some tweets from #timcahilling. @Tim_Cahill #Timcahilling pic.twitter.com/YgYLW27DtR —…

A startup business OpenDoor raised $9.95 million from Khosla Ventures and other investors to launch an online home-buying website. According to TechCrunch, OpenDoor will launch in three markets outside of California and only offer owner-occupied homes. Eric Wu, OpenDoor co-founder, did not say in which markets OpenDoor will operate, but he said it will focus on markets that do not have much liquidity or demand. The company picked this specific type of market because he said the lack of liquidity pulls people to debt and jobs that may not benefit people anymore. Wu said the Bay Area is a unique…

A 21-year-old man has been jailed after killing an elderly with a single punch outside a Newcastle pub in January. According to BBC, Sean Sillet, 21, was jailed for five years and three months after beating up Kenneth Brough, 65, outside of Newcastle’s Bigg Market pub in a dispute about a pint. Mirror reported that James Goss, judge at Newcastle Crown Court, said Brough was a “kind, placid” man. He added, “By reason of your drunken aggression and confrontational behaviour culminating in an assault, the life of Mr Brough has been needlessly lost.” Brough was in a coma for about…

Democratic senators are trying to get focus away from the Affordable Care Act, while Republicans are attempting to tie it back to the Democrats. According to the Huffington Post, the two parties are competing for senator seats that will determine who controls the chamber in the last two years of Obama’s presidency. Kay Hagan, North Carolina Democratic senator, condemned Republican Thom Tillis, North Carolina senator nominee, for forcefully applying ideas that are too conservative, such as limiting access to abortions, stricter voter registration laws, as well as cutting corporate taxes and school budgets. Tillis has his own way to fight…

American heroes? Spiderman? Batman? No, not anymore. America has a new nation hero after a World Cup game last Tuesday. Even though the U.S. lost 1 to 2 against Belgium in the Tuesday round-of-16 match, Tim Howard, the 35-year-old American goalie, became every American’s hero after his impressive 16 saves, which set a world cup record. The New York Times described Howard using every single part of his body to save the Belgian goals, including his hands, feet, legs and chest. It also joked that Howard using his beard to save goals rumors would be spread soon as his legend…

Brazilian soccer star Neymar is officially out of World Cup Friday due to a back injury in a quarterfinal match against Colombia, confirmed by the Brazilian team doctor. Fox Sports reported that Brazilian Team Doctor Rodrigo Lasmar said after the game that Neymar’s third vertebrae had been broken. Twenty-two-year-old Neymar was kneed in the back by the Colombian player Juan Camilo Zuniga in the second half of the game which Brazil won 2 to 1. He was in tears because of the pain while being carried off the field on a stretcher. “It’s not serious in the sense that it…

General Motors’ safety crisis worsened Monday after recalling 8.2 million vehicles for “unintended ignition key rotation,” which added more to its already long list of recalled cars. According to Fox News, GM’s recalls number this year surpassed 28 million. The latest recalls involved seven vehicles, including some old models the Chevrolet Malibu from 1997 to 2005 and the Pontiac Grand Prix from 2004 to 2008, and a newer model, the Cadillac CTS from 2003 to 2014. Read also: GM Initiates Recall in China GM is asking consumers to remove everything from their key rings until the recalled cars…

The U.S. employers hired many more people in June by opening 288,000 job positions, which dropped the unemployment rate to 6.1 percent, according to the Labor Department report released Thursday, July 3. According to the Boston Globe, June’s unemployment rate decreased from 6.3 percent last month to 6.1 percent, which is the lowest number after the bankruptcy of the Wall Street firm Lehman Brothers in fall 2008. It was the fifth-straight monthly employment growth above 200,000, which is the best record after the late 1990s tech boom. Nearly 2.5 million jobs were added to the market over the past 12 months,…

A U.S. ship loaded with toxic chemicals departed from an Italian port Wednesday, July 2, for an operation to remove and destroy about 1,300 tons of Syrian arms. According to the New York Times, the specially equipped U.S. vessel, the Cape Ray, left the southern Italian port of Gioia Tauro after a 12-hour transfer operation. The ship took the last of Syria’s known supplies of chemical substances from a Dutch ship, the Ark Futura, nine days ago. The Huffington Post reported the Cape Ray is sailing to the open sea to destroy the weapons, including mustard gas and the raw…

Google announced Thursday in its annual conference that it partnered with Razer to create a game console. “By partnering with Google on this initiative, living rooms around the world will be places for people to connect to their entertainment interests and to each other seamlessly,” Min-Liang Tan, Razer’s CEO, told the International Business Times. Building a game console seems like a reasonable next step for Google to compete with its biggest operating system, Apple. According to the International Business Times, Razer is a San Francisco-based company with about 500 employees that sells gaming computers and accessories. CNN reported the OUYA…

ArtBinder, an app and platform that allows people to view art galleries remotely, raised $3.17 million in Series A funding to expand its business. According to the Wall Street Journal, the round is led by Index Ventures, a firm that focuses on investing in information technology and life sciences companies. The venture is joined by other individual investors, including Adam Freed, former Etsy CEO, and Maria Baibakova, art collector. The investment will be used to expand the ArtBinder Viewer iPad app that will let users view artworks and galleries around the world. Neil Rimer, one of the founders of Index…

Google started removing results in its European websites Thursday under the “right to be forgotten,” a rule established by the European Union’s top court that grants individuals the right to request removal of search results of their own names. Google has begun sending emails Thursday to notify people that their requested results were taken down. European Union wanted Google to state when a result is removed upon request, but Google refused to and only added a notification at the bottom that says, “Some results may be removed under data protection law in Europe.” EU said not stating the result was…

New York company Modern Meadow announced it has raised $10 million for bio-printed leather production. The startup company can grow meat and produce leather in the lab without killing large numbers of animals, and it is planning to use the raised money on research and product development as well as expanding its New York City research headquarters. “Our goal is to develop new cultured leather materials with advantages in design, performance, sustainability and animal welfare,” Andras Forgacs, CEO and founder of Modern Meadow, said. “In the longer term, we are also developing meat products that are healthier, safer and don’t…

The Supreme Court issued a unanimous rebuke to President Barack Obama on June 26 regarding his recess appointments of the Senate. According to the New York Times, the rebuke said Obama violated the Constitution in 2012 by making appointments to the National Labor Relations Board during a break when the board only met every three days and was not conducting business. Justice Stephen G. Breyer said in a majority opinion that those breaks were too short to make the appointments stay in place. Breyer said recess appointments are usually accepted during breaks of 10 or more days. The Washington Post reported…

On Tuesday, July 1, a federal judge overturned the conviction of a cannibal, who planned to kidnap, kill and cook women. Former police officer Gilberto Valle walked out of Manhattan federal court with his mother, free to go home after Judge Paul Gardephe overturned his conviction. The Chicago Tribune reported that Gardephe said there was not enough evidence to show Valle’s real intention of kidnapping, killing and eating women. He added the chat room records of Valle are not sufficient evidence, and the conversations never put anyone in danger. According to NBC, Valle was happy to be freed after being locked…

A Chinese businessman treated homeless people to lunch at a Central Park restaurant on June 26, but the meal ended up angering them. Chen Guangbiao, a Chinese tycoon, treated more than 200 homeless people from the New York City Rescue Mission to the Loeb Boathouse Restaurant with sesame-seed-encrusted tuna, beef filet and berries with cream fraiche, according to Time. Chen was not only paying for the lunch, but he also sang “We Are the World” and performed a few magic tricks. Chen also promised he would give each person $300 cash if they came, stating in the lunch ads that he…

Youtube is bringing a few changes to its website soon, including a feature that allows users to donate money directly to their favorite channels. The Guardian reported that other crowdfunding websites, especially Patreon, should take note of that. Read also: Patreon Puts Money into Internet Artists’ Pockets According to NBC News, people who earn money from Youtube usually do so in two ways: advertising and fan funding. Advertising happens on the Youtube website itself, but fan funding is usually done outside of Youtube, through websites like PayPal. By adding a crowdfunding feature to the site, Youtube will be…

Hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers will be marching Tuesday, July 1, to Central district, Hong Kong’s business center, to fight for the right to have a high degree of autonomy. The hot summer would not stop their passion for full democracy. The pro-democracy group Occupy Central with Love and Peace (OCLP) organized this marching event to be on the 17th anniversary of Hong Kong returning under Chinese rule from British. They are demanding Hong Kong’s right to elect its own chief executive, the highest power of authority. According to CNN, the protest is inspired by the recent release of Beijing’s…

A Bengal tiger snatched a fisherman off his boat and killed him while his children were watching on June 26 in India. According to the Fox News, Sushil Manjhi was crab fishing with his son and daughter in a stream in the Sunderbans National Park. The tiger jumped on their boat and got Manjhi’s neck. Jyotish, Munjhi’s son, told Fox News on the telephone that the tiger “quickly flung my father on his back and gave a giant leap before disappearing into the forest.” He also said he and his sister tried to use sticks and a knife to beat the tiger.…