Deadspin The Ballad Of The Fake Dodgers Bear Mascot | io9 Is the Ant-Man casting down to just two names? | Jezebel Britney Got a Digital Slimdown to Look Skinny in 'Work Bitch' Video | Lifehacker How to Break the Living Paycheck-to-Paycheck Cycle
Source: http://j-smith.kinja.com/deadspin-the-ballad-of-the-fake-dodgers-bear-mascot-i-1445564175/@gmanaugh
Angry Birds Go! (they're emphasis, not ours) is the next big entry in the Angry Birds franchise, first teased back in June by the Finnish bird-flinging game company. The game takes the "universe" of Angry Birds and applies it to downhill cart racing; it'll even accept new karts in the form of ...
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/EMBSny4EByg/WASHINGTON (AP) — World finance officials ending their meetings in Washington are worried by the possibility of an unprecedented U.S. debt default while the shaky global economy already is besieged by other threats.
"A while ago there was an excess of exuberance and now perhaps an excess of pessimism," Alexandre Tombini, the head Brazil's central bank, told the International Monetary Fund's policy-setting panel Saturday.
Tombini blamed the current pessimism on the market turmoil that has hit many emerging economies.
Investment flows that poured into those nations during the period of ultra-low U.S. interest rates began to reverse after the Federal Reserve said in June that it could begin withdrawing its economic support later this year. That signal has pushed U.S. rates higher.
Following the discussions by the IMF's policy group, the steering committee for the World Bank was meeting later Saturday, bringing to a close the three days of talks.
On Friday, finance ministers and central bank chiefs from the Group of 20 major economies urged the U.S. to take urgent action to resolve the political impasse that has partially shut down the government and delayed passage of a bill to raise the debt ceiling.
If Congress does not increase the borrowing limit by Thursday, the U.S. could default on its debt payments and cause serious turmoil in world markets and economies.
With the U.S., Europe and Japan all just emerging from long slumps, finance officials have been predicting a modest recovery in the global economy in the coming year, driven in large part by a strengthening U.S. economy.
But the current budget stalemate, coupled with anticipation that the Federal Reserve will soon start scaling back its massive stimulus program for the economy, have officials worried that the fragile global recovery could be derailed.
In prepared remarks to finance officials released late Friday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said the United States understood the role it played as "the anchor of the international financial system." He said the administration was continuing to push Congress to reopen the government and increase the borrowing limit.
"Prior to the government shutdown, all signs pointed to the strengthening recovery of the U.S. economy," Lew said. "If Congress acts quickly, this will continue to be the case."
Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, whose country currently holds the rotating chair of the G-20, told a news conference Friday that the budget stalemate between Congress and the Obama administration was discussed at the meeting.
But "no emergency or extraordinary plans" were made during the meeting in case of a U.S. default, he said.
"We trust the U.S. authorities will find a way out of this complex situation."
A number of the leaders attending the meeting said they saw the risk of default as remote.
In one telling comment, Siluanov offered a glimpse of what a tremendous impact a U.S. debt default would have on Russia's economy and many others like it around the world. Most central banks hold a significant portion of their foreign currency reserves in U.S. Treasury securities — considered the safest investment in the world.
Siluanov said about 45 percent of Russian's foreign exchange reserves are invested in U.S. Treasuries. Nevertheless, he said Russia was not considering reducing the size of its Treasury holdings because they are long-term investments while the debt crisis was a short-term issue.
America will run out of borrowing authority for new debt on Thursday.
Lew has warned there is expected to be only $30 billion in cash on hand at that time and the U.S. will soon fall short of money to meet all of its obligations, including interest payments on the $16.7 trillion federal debt. That would trigger the first U.S. debt default.
____
Associated Press reporters Harry Dunphy and Matthew Pennington contributed to this report.
2 hours ago
Angela Weiss / Getty Images file
Former 'Dancing with the Stars' pros Edyta Sliwinska and Alec Mazo are expecting a baby.
Talk about a baby who's likely to have some graceful genes. Former "Dancing With the Stars" pro Edyta Sliwinska, 32, who is married to former "DWTS" pro Alec Mazo, 35, is expecting the couple's first child, she confirmed on Twitter last week.
Sharing a photo of herself with a slight baby bump, Sliwinska tweeted, "There it is, my little secret. Less than 2lbs little :)."
Sliwinska told People magazine that the baby, due in January, is a boy. "We’ve been together for 13 years; married for six," she said. "We were both so ready for it, and we’ve been planning on this for the past couple of years."
When congratulated on Twitter by former "DWTS" celeb dancer Natalie Coughlin, who danced with Mazo on his last season, Sliwinska replied, "Thank you! Can't wait to be a mommy." And Mazo thanked fans by tweeting, "Thanks to everyone for the warm wishes regarding the new family addition!"
Both dancers were on "Dancing With the Stars" when it debuted in 2005. Sliwinska danced for 10 seasons and Mazo for five. Mazo and celebrity partner Kelly Monaco were the show's first-season winners.
Microsoft on Friday shipped a toolkit to block Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) from automatically installing on Windows 7 PCs, a signal that the new browser will release in the next few weeks.
The IE11 Blocker Toolkit is aimed at businesses that want to keep employees on an older edition of IE. Its tools include a script that can be run locally, as well as an administrative template IT administrators can use to block IE11 through Group Policy settings.
[ Get your websites up to speed with HTML5 today using the techniques in InfoWorld's HTML5 Deep Dive PDF how-to report. | For a quick, smart take on the news you'll be talking about, check out InfoWorld TechBrief -- subscribe today. ]
The toolkit blocks automatic upgrading of older editions of Internet Explorer to IE11 on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 through the operating systems' built-in Automatic Update service. Companies that rely on Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) or System Center 2012 do not need the toolkit since they can manage the deployment of IE11 using those tools.
Individuals can also use the toolkit to keep IE11 off their Windows machines without disabling Automatic Updates for all other Microsoft software.
Microsoft has issued similar toolkits for IE7, IE8, IE9 and IE10 before those browsers' public releases. Earlier this year, for example, Microsoft offered a blocking toolkit for IE10 about three weeks prior to the browser's public release.
If Microsoft sticks to the same timetable -- likely, since the idea of the early availability of the toolkit is to give companies time to deploy it -- IE11 will launch near the end of this month or in early November. Microsoft has declined to disclose a ship date for IE11 on Windows 7, saying previously only that it would be this fall.
IE11 on Windows 8.1 will debut sooner: The browser, part of the update to Windows 8, is to land on the Windows Store Thursday, Oct. 17. Current users of Windows 8 and Windows RT can download and install the free Windows 8.1 update -- including IE11 -- that day. Windows 8.1 retail upgrades and systems featuring Windows 8.1 are to launch Oct. 18.
Blocking toolkits, while long crafted by Microsoft, have become more important since early 2012, when the Redmond, Wash. developer began silently upgrading IE to the newest version suitable for a user's version of Windows. Most Windows XP customers, for example, have been upgraded to IE8, while Windows Vista maxed out at IE9 and Windows 7 PCs have, in lieu of a block of one kind or another, been moved to IE10.
Shortly after Microsoft ships the final version of IE11, it will begin pushing the browser to all Windows 7 machines via Automatic Updates. The result will resemble 2013's rapid rise in IE10 adoption. From February through September, IE10's share of all copies of Internet Explorer soared from next to nothing to nearly 34 percent under the forced upgrade from IE9.
NEW YORK (AP) — Aereo, a service that delivers broadcast television stations over the Internet, will come to Android devices on Oct. 22.
The service started on iPhones and other Apple devices along with the Roku streaming box before expanding to personal computers. The company says that the Android offering took longer because of the many versions of Android available. Device makers are able to customize the version made by Google. Aereo says its Android app will run on phones and tablets with Android 4.2 or higher. It will be in a beta test mode at first.
Aereo is currently available in New York, Boston, Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Miami, Houston and Dallas. Service starts at $8 a month.
Aereo has won key court rulings against broadcasters who claim its service infringes copyrights.
For many of the Internet’s most hard-core users, Black Friday poses a particular dilemma, as the season’s most coveted toys and gadgets can be obtained at deep discounts -- but only if would-be shoppers are willing to venture outside and jostle with the masses.
This holiday season Reddit, the site that proudly calls itself “the front page of the Internet,” is offering a solution. Redditgifts, a gift-exchange program that spun off from a subreddit four years ago, will hold its first-ever livestream event, the Redditgifts Shopping Network, on Nov. 29, otherwise known as Black Friday.
STORY: 'Breaking Bad' Series Finale: Fans React on Reddit
The 12-hour livecast, which will stream on Reddit’s YouTube channel as well as other online outlets, will feature demos of products (available at redditgifts.com) as well as comedy segments and on-air AMAs, reddit’s popular ask-anything sessions with celebrities and other notable personalities. Reddit plans to begin announcing its talent participants -- which will include musicians, actors and “maybe even former heads of state,” the company tells The Hollywood Reporter -- and product lineups in the coming weeks, and says that it is working with nonprofit organizations to include public service announcements in its broadcast.
“We decided to give people a way to experience the holiday chaos without having to venture outside,” the company tells THR. “We hope it will become an annual Thanksgiving tradition, like the Macy’s Parade and the Detroit Lions losing.”
