Thursday, March 28

Month: June 2014

Across the U.S., People Learning to Live in Better Harmony With Bees
Lifestyle

Across the U.S., People Learning to Live in Better Harmony With Bees

It's bee season, and many people are taking a kinder approach to the way they interact with nature's yellow and black pollinator. This week, the NYPD responded to a four-pound bee swarm found in the Upper West Side. The responders captured the swarm, estimated to be composed of up to 20,000 bees, in a box and transported them safely to a more rural location.The move was a positive one for the hive, since it involved both the new queen and most of her loyal drones. Earlier this month in Delaware, several hundred honey bee hives were in danger when a truck carrying them was overturned while on the freeway. The hives were en route from Florida to Maine when the truck crashed into a guardrail, resulting in the loss of at least 10 million bees. The accident shut down the roads for almost 13 ...
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West Wed; Kim and Family Wow With Millions’ Worth of Jewelry
Lifestyle

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West Wed; Kim and Family Wow With Millions’ Worth of Jewelry

"Kim Kardashian and her family were decked out in 'millions of dollars' worth' of jewelry this weekend by Lorraine Schwartz, a friend of the family and the bling expert who provided Kim's eye-popping 15-carat engagement and the diamond-encircled wedding bands she and husband Kanye West slipped on each other's fingers on Saturday," E! Online reports. Unsurprisingly, sources report that the newly weds' wedding bands were similarly lavish. "West received a handmade gold band, while Kardashian now wears a handmade diamond band, which complemented her own diamond studs and her massive Lorraine Schwartz diamond engagement ring," People magazine reveals. Schwartz also designed West's gold wedding band. The famous couple exchanged rings during an outdoor ceremony at Forte di Belvedere in Floren...
Atlanta’s High Museum of Art Launches New Art Exhibit for Concept Cars
Local

Atlanta’s High Museum of Art Launches New Art Exhibit for Concept Cars

The High Museum of Art, located in the heart of Atlanta, Georgia, is pleasing quite a few car enthusiasts with a new exhibit celebrating 17 concept cars and their designers. It's not the first exhibit of its kind, but it's certainly one of the best received. The exhibit features all sorts of prototype goodies for gearheads, including the Firebird I XP-21, the 1970 Lancia Stratos HF Zero, and other vehicles that didn't quite make the leap from concept to street car production. The exhibit, running until September 7, 2014, represents the only chance many car enthusiasts will have to see works from the maddest minds from BMW, Bugatti, and other producers from the 1930's onward. 'But Cars Aren't Art!' As with any other exhibit that doesn't feature 200-year-old paintings from the great arti...
How Clothing Donation is Saving the Planet and Helping Those in Need
Local

How Clothing Donation is Saving the Planet and Helping Those in Need

As most Americans know, the green movement is big right now, and recycling everything from clothing to natural resources is one of the easiest ways to save our planet. However, not only does the environment benefit from these efforts, but so do people who are in need. Although recycling may seem like a fairly new idea, it's not. Humans have been reusing metals since the beginning of the Bronze Age 3,000 years ago, but it is plastics and other mass-produced materials that we have yet to get the hang of recycling. Yet while metal recycling can often turn a profit (and this profit, not the issue of sustainability, is what motivates these initiatives), clothing and fabric often wind up in landfills instead. Synthetic materials such as polyester, nylon, and rayon, along with natural fiber...
As Mobile Web Use Grows, Responsive Web Design Becomes a Necessity
Business

As Mobile Web Use Grows, Responsive Web Design Becomes a Necessity

More and more Internet users are making the shift from the desktop to their smartphones or tablets, new research is showing. Global financial services firm Morgan Stanley calls 2014 "the year that mobile internet usage will match desktop use," a May 6 Bdaily.com article reported. As mobile web usage continues to grow, so will the need for responsive web design, according to the Huffington Post. Rather than creating two separate websites, one for desktop users and one for mobile platforms, responsive web design allows a website to detect the type of device used and adapt to it, optimizing its display. In June 2012, Google -- which accounts for 67% of search engine market share worldwide -- announced that it prefers responsive web design over other mobile web design configurations, acc...
Twitter Spreading Quickly Through Asia and Latin America, According to New Report
Business, World

Twitter Spreading Quickly Through Asia and Latin America, According to New Report

Although Wall Street might be worried about a slowdown in Twitter's domestic growth, the website that has brought "tweets" to millions of people is still spreading like wildfire through Asia and Latin America, according to a new report by eMarketer research firm.Over the past year, Twitter's growth in both Europe and the United States has started to slow down, and stock prices took a tumble to new lows. Twitter's shares closed last week at $30.50, less than $4 above their original public offering. Although investors might be worried about the plateau that growth seems to have reached here, the social network can still make huge gains in developing markets. Twitter's user base is projected to grow an incredible 25% this year worldwide, and is expected to jump another 19% in 2015 based on re...
A Parking Lot That Could Power Your Business — and the Country
Lifestyle

A Parking Lot That Could Power Your Business — and the Country

What if a parking lot could power your entire business? That's the premise behind a new idea proposed by Idaho couple Julie and Scott Brusaw. Scott Brusaw, who is an electrical engineer, is focused, along with his wife, on creating streets lined with solar panels that will span the entire United States. "All of the current asphalt and concrete currently soaking up the sun can be covered with our technology to turn that sunlight into clean, renewable electricity," Brusaw explains. The idea is promising enough that the U.S. Federal Highway Administration has granted it funding, and the couple, who own a company called Solar Roadways, are currently seeking $1 million on Indiegogo so that they can commercially manufacturer the product for the first time. The hexagonal solar panels, which...
Model Sues Google and Yahoo for Search Results Linked to Her Name
Business

Model Sues Google and Yahoo for Search Results Linked to Her Name

Is Google to blame if its search results give you a bad name? An Argentine model, Maria Belen Rodriguez, is currently suing both Yahoo and search engine giant Google over search results that link her name to pornographic online sites and escort services.The adult websites are using older images of Rodriguez without her permission. Although she was awarded a reduced sum of $6,200 in an earlier legal action suit back in 2006, the TV personality is seeking further damages owing to ongoing emotional distress, and so that her name can be unlinked to the websites once and for all. In an interview with CNN, Rodriguez is critical of those who would dismiss her claim because of free speech rights. "They have ruined my life and now say that what I'm asking for is censorship? It suits them, but...
Why Women are Underrepresented in the Financial Planning Industry
Business

Why Women are Underrepresented in the Financial Planning Industry

If you have ever considered hiring a financial adviser, you probably expected that your adviser would be a man. You wouldn't be wrong in your assumption -- because the financial services industry severely lacks in female financial advisers and planners, a recent study has shown. While females represent 51% of the U.S. population and are more likely to graduate college than men, only 23% of all certified financial planners (CFP) are female. According to the Motley Fool, women are generally turned away from becoming financial advisers because of barriers to entry into the profession they face. The gender disparity in the financial services profession comes as a surprise, especially when one study by two University of California professors proved that women tend to be better investor...
Smartphones Now Being Used as Remote Controls
Business

Smartphones Now Being Used as Remote Controls

Smartphones have been getting more intelligent for years now, so it was only a matter of time before mobile developers added TV remote capabilities to their products. Universal Electronics, a top technological provider for wireless remote control of consumer electronics and digital media, announced last month that Samsung would be incorporating their WatchOn technology into the company's latest smartphones, which would allow users to control their TVs with the device's built-in infrared sensor. Meanwhile, Apple has made their Apple TV all the more usable by allowing people to control it with their iOS devices, like the iPhone or iPad. The product comes with a nice, little remote, but users often have several troubles with it. Firstly, it's easy to lose. Secondly, it doesn't have a QW...