NYC's gay pride march celebrates Supreme Court win

NEW YORK (AP) ? Only days after the Supreme Court used her lawsuit to grant same-sex couples federal marriage benefits, Edith Windsor helped lead New York City's Gay Pride march on Sunday.

Signs along the route read, "Thank you, Edie" ? celebrating Windsor for her successful challenge of a provision of the Defense of Marriage Act that defined marriage as between a man and a woman.

"If somebody had told me 50 years ago that I would be the marshal of New York City's gay pride parade in 2013, at the age of 84, I wouldn't have believed it."

Mayor Michael Bloomberg joined hundreds of bikers whose motorcycles roared to life at noon to kick off the celebration, a colorful cavalcade of activists and others who marched down Fifth Avenue 44 years after the city's first pride march.

Longtime LGBT activist Cathy Renna said Windsor's suit and the Supreme Court's favorable ruling in a challenge to Proposition 8, the California gay marriage ban, made this year's celebration special.

"It is an especially thrilling year to march this year," she said. "I have seen more real progress in the past three years than the nearly two decades of activism before it."

But, she added, "we must remain vigilant; hate crimes, discrimination and family rejection loom in our lives still."

A spate of recent hate crimes in New York provide a stark reminder of work left to be done. In one case last month, police said a gunman used homophobic slurs before firing a fatal shot into a man's face on a Manhattan street alive with a weekend midnight crowd. The city's police commissioner called it an anti-gay hate crime.

A. Carlos Cardinas, a native of Colombia who lives in Queens, is a transvestite who dressed up in festive attire for the day: a green sequined top with a salmon-colored flower ringing the waist.

"We are so happy to live free in America," said Cardinas, a hairdresser who is engaged to be married to his boyfriend.

Carl Siciliano, who heads the Ali Forney drop-in center for homeless gay youth in Harlem, said he's happy about the court decision. But he said the humanitarian fight is not over.

"Now that our adults have won this wonderful victory, it is time for us to begin to build a safety net for the more than 200,000 homeless LGBT youth who are stranded on America's streets without shelter," said Siciliano.

Windsor said she long enjoyed the parade with her late wife, Thea Spyer, whom she married in Canada as Spyer was dying in 2007.

In 2009, she suffered a heart attack a month after Spyer's death. While recovering, Windsor faced a hefty bill for inheritance taxes ? more than $363,000, because Spyer was, legally, just a friend.

On Sunday, Windsor was one of three grand marshals, joining musician and activist Harry Belafonte and Earl Fowlkes, head of the Center for Black Equity.

"I have marched in the parade for the last several years carrying a huge rainbow flag," she said. "Last year, I was so elated that I danced my way down the whole street, for the entire route of the parade."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nycs-gay-pride-march-celebrates-supreme-court-win-152806276.html

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New Microsoft Visual Studio Features Show Importance Of Windows Azure, Developing For Connected Devices

Microsoft showed the new Visual Studio 2013 at the Build conference today. The new independent development environment (IDE) features include performance tools for power consumption, asynchronous calls for debugging and an overall focus on the connected app.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/uCvR-9LbHOM/

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Mormons to use technology in missionary work

PROVO, Utah (AP) ? Mormon missionaries will soon spend less time knocking on doors and more time chatting online with potential converts.

Leaders with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints say it's critical to adapt to a changing world in which many people prefer to connect over social media.

The strategy shift announced Sunday in a worldwide broadcast from Provo, Utah, will start in a limited number of locations this year and should be in place worldwide next year.

Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles says missionaries will be using Facebook, blogs, email, text messages and the church's website, Mormon.org, in their ministry.

There are more Mormon missionaries than ever due to a lowering of the minimum age eight months ago.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mormons-technology-missionary-151916141.html

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Garmin Monterra a 4-inch handheld Android GPS

Garmin today announced the Monterra, a handheld GPS device with a 4-inch display running Android. It's got a proper WIfi connection, and full access to Google Play. 

The device itself is rugged and waterproof, Garmin says. It's loaded with sensors you'd expect in such a device, including a three-axis compass, accelerometer and gyroscope, barometric altimeter and built-in UV sensor. It's running a dual-band GPS and GLONASS as well. It's got an 8-megapixel camera as well that records video in 1080p. Bluetooth 3.0 is on board, as is NFC (useful for ... NFCing in the wilderness) and is ANT+ capable for those fitness trackers.

One of Garmin's standout features on the Montera, however, is 3D MapMerge, which combines multiple kinds of maps, like TOPO, basemap or BirdsEye imagery.

read more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/QA73WeOuzjA/story01.htm

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McDonalds has served its last halal McChicken sandwich in US

McDonalds has served halal food, which is in accordance with Muslim dietary laws, at two Michigan restaurants for 12 years. But it's stopping the service after a lawsuit alleging the food was not halal. One problem: Not everyone agrees what halal is.

By Mark Guarino,?Staff writer / June 25, 2013

A sign in English and Arabic at a McDonald's restaurant in Dearborn, Mich., on Thursday announces the restaurant no longer sells halal products. It was one of the only two McDonald's restaurants in the nation serving food prepared according to Islamic law.

Detroit Free Press/AP

Enlarge

McDonald?s, the largest fast food chain to offer menu alternatives designated for observant Muslims, is removing the items from its menu, suggesting that preparing food exclusively to suit individual religious tastes is problematic for restaurants involved in mass production food services.

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The fast food giant had limited the items to just two stores in east Dearborn, Mich., which has a large Arab American population. The stores offered Halal chicken McNuggets and Halal McChicken sandwiches for 12 years. Halal foods are prepared in accordance with Muslim dietary laws.

In April, the company reached a $700,000 settlement in response to a 2011 lawsuit that alleged the restaurants were advertising items as halal that were not, in fact, prepared according to custom. According to The Detroit News, the company did not admit wrongdoing.

Kassem Dakhlallah, the attorney who filed the lawsuit, called the McDonald?s decision, which it announced on Monday, to stop selling halal food ?disappointing.? He told The Detroit News that the chain should have tried ?to ensure that all products sold were halal as advertised,? adding that, without that guarantee, ?ceasing to offer halal products was probably the best decision.?

Part of the difficulty for restaurants selling halal items is that Muslim groups differ regarding what constitutes correct preparation. Some groups focus exclusively on how the animals are treated and raised, while others are more concerned with how they are slaughtered. Even regarding methods of slaughter, there is debate: Some say killing the animals by hand is the only way to observe halal, while others say certain forms of mass slaughter are acceptable.

?It?s a very fragmented market when it comes to the authentication of halal,? says Shahed Amanullah, founder of Zabihah.com, a Washington-based website that tracks and reviews restaurants across the world that offer halal food. ?Sometimes it?s hard for even me to get answers.?

The debate has created roadblocks for the market to grow. Many agree the potential is certainly present: Mr. Amanullah says that when he started his website in 1998, he identified only 200 restaurants across the US that would qualify as serving halal items; today there are more than 7,000.

The Association of American Halal Certifiers, an advocacy group in Bolingbrook, Ill., estimates that, with the approximately 7 million Muslims living in the US, the annual market potential is between $30 billion and $40 billion.

For fast food chains that source its meats and ingredients from a variety of suppliers through systems that are often incredibly complex, being able to prove certain items adhere to halal custom is tricky.

?The nature of food production, the cross-contamination issues, the separating of equipment and utensils is a concept aiming for consistency and speed, not accommodating a halal customer menu,? says Mary Chapman, director of product innovation at Technomic, Inc., a Chicago-based food and food service research and consulting group. ?Looking at the big picture and where they?re going to please the most customers, if [fast food chains] don?t have to jump through hoops or take extra steps, they won?t.?

While Amanullah says that the next step for the market to grow in the US is to establish set universal guidelines for halal, he also says the market would benefit from emphasizing elements of preparation that would appeal to non-Muslim consumers invested in the health benefits of meat that is locally produced from stock raised on free range farms.

One example of a company doing just that is Elevation Burger, a 35-unit US chain operating in 10 states that promotes its products as grass-fed and free-range. In February, the company opened a single location in Dubai, which is its sixth location in the Middle East. The others are in Kuwait, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia. Amanullah says the company?s emphasis on grass-fed beef, among other ingredients, made it naturally appealing to Muslim consumers, which aided in its expansion efforts overseas.

Another chain, Outback Steakhouse, also is friendly to customers seeking halal food because it happens to outsource its lamb products from halal-certified suppliers in New Zealand, earning it a certification of halal accreditation from The Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/ATQpPjZFoAE/McDonalds-has-served-its-last-halal-McChicken-sandwich-in-US

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Exclusive: Men's Wearhouse founder clashed with CEO, mulls comeback

By Nadia Damouni and Siddharth Cavale

(Reuters) - Tensions started rising at Men's Wearhouse Inc over the past six months, as founder and executive chairman George Zimmer increasingly butted heads with his handpicked CEO over the clothing retailer's strategy.

CEO Doug Ewert wanted to sell the company's K&G Fashion Superstore business, while Zimmer wanted to keep it, two sources familiar with the situation said. Zimmer also objected to rising compensation for top executives, including Ewert, while the board thought it was appropriate, the sources said.

Zimmer, who is known to U.S. TV audiences for his advertising catch phrase "you're gonna like the way you look - I guarantee it," was seen by company directors to be undermining Ewert's authority, the sources said.

Last week, the Men's Wearhouse board abruptly fired Zimmer from the chairman's job, even as its share price had climbed about 50 percent in the past two-and-a-half years. The board, populated by some directors Zimmer has known for decades, told him of the decision the day they announced the firing, the sources said.

Zimmer, who was shocked by the decision, quit the board on Monday, and is now mulling his options, they added.

While Zimmer is still unclear what those options might be, an attempt to stage a comeback at the company is possible. He is talking to his advisers, including legal counsel Cooley LLP, but a decision is not imminent, the sources said.

Industry bankers and lawyers said these options could involve teaming up with private equity firms to launch a buyout bid or trying to wage a proxy battle with the help of shareholder activists or institutional investors.

"Typically a founder will not leave the company that easily as he thinks it is his baby," said Larry Cagney, a partner at law firm Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, which is not involved in the situation.

Spokesmen for both Men's Wearhouse and Zimmer, who founded the clothing chain in 1973, declined to comment. Ewert was unavailable for comment.

CUSTOMERS UPSET

Men's Wearhouse, based in Fremont, California, operates more than 1,100 stores under the Men's Wearhouse, Moores and K&G brands. The stores sell suits, tuxedos and other articles of clothing.

The story behind Zimmer's surprising exit, which has not been previously reported, adds a new twist to an unfolding corporate drama that has riveted investors, employees and the broader public. The company's Facebook page, for example, was filled with customers urging his return.

"You have lost my business. I guarantee it," wrote Ed Elias, of Lauderhill, Fla.

"Every time I read a post from Men's Wearhouse, I read it in George Zimmer's voice," wrote David Coy, of San Antonio, Texas, in reference to the founder's raspy baritone.

Founders of other companies who have faced similar situations have had mixed success in taking back the reins of their firms. Last year, for example, Best Buy Co Inc's former chairman Richard Schulze tried to buy the electronics retailer with the help of private equity firms. He failed in that bid, but managed to find his way back on the board 10 months later. He now serves as Best Buy's chairman emeritus.

Schulze, however, had owned about 20 percent in Best Buy.

The Zimmer family's combined equity stake of about 4.7 percent - Zimmer holds about 3.5 percent - is not large enough on its own to pressure the company to allow him to return.

He also has no provision in his employment contract that compensates him following the ousting. A licensing agreement will award him $250,000 for each of the next four years if Men's Wearhouse continues to use his image in advertising.

BOARDROOM DRAMA

Zimmer's spectacular downfall was all the more unexpected because he had picked Ewert, who had worked at the company for nearly two decades, as his successor two years ago. The two shared offices next to each other, but the relationship started to unravel in recent months, the sources said.

One of the issues that led to Zimmer's ouster was his growing concern about rising compensation for the top executives, which he opposed.

Ewert was awarded a base salary of $1.25 million for the current year, more than double last year's figure, and a potential annual bonus of up to $1.25 million and other incentives.

Under Ewert, the company's revenue grew to $2.48 billion last year, up from $2.01 billion the year before. In its most recent quarter, it posted better-than-expected results, with sales rising 5.1 percent to $616.5 million.

Another sticking point between Zimmer and the board was the sale of K&G, a clothing retailer that Men's Wearhouse bought in 1999. K&G has been underperforming and Ewert hired investment bank Jefferies to sell it, while Zimmer was not convinced, the sources said.

Soon these tensions came to a head, and the board unanimously decided to oust Zimmer, taking both investors and the founder by surprise, the sources said.

Over the years Zimmer has built a loyal following among some of the company's 17,500 employees.

"Zimmer makes us feel like family," said a Men's Wearhouse store manager who has met the founder several times but requested anonymity for fear of losing his job.

The store manager said Zimmer often visited the store and talked to customers. "He is an awesome guy, and for a company like this to come and fire him, is ridiculous."

Men's Wearhouse has not given any reason for Zimmer's dismissal. In May, it had nominated the founder for re-election to the board, but the June 19 annual shareholder meeting was rescheduled after his ouster.

Among Men's Wearhouse directors is Deepak Chopra, the new age guru. Over the years, Chopra has taught Zimmer not to be upset about the vagaries of life, one of the sources said.

Chopra could not be reached for comment on Monday.

Last week, Chopra told Reuters in a statement that he was "very excited about the future of the company" and that he would "totally support our CEO Doug Ewert and the management team of the Men's Wearhouse."

(Additional reporting by Phil Wahba; Editing by Jilian Mincer and Paritosh Bansal, Gary Hill, Martin Howell)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-mens-wearhouses-ousted-founder-mulls-possible-comeback-000135712.html

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This Is What Happens When Galaxies Collide

This amazing image shows how messy space can be, as two galaxies collide and deform each other? creating new stars as gas and dust are pushed and pulled in all directions.

Captured by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, the picture shows the star-forming spiral galaxy NGC 2936 and its elliptical companion NGC 2937?known collectively as Arp 142. NASA explains what's going on:

Gas and dust drawn from the heart of NGC 2936 becomes compressed during the encounter, which in turn triggers star formation. These bluish knots are visible along the distorted arms that are closest to the companion elliptical. The reddish dust, once within the galaxy, has been thrown out of the galaxy's plane and into dark veins that are silhouetted against the bright starlight from what is left of the nucleus and disk.

The interaction causes the orbits of the stars in the elliptical galaxy to be radically altered?so it's a relief that our humble little galaxy isn't undergoing a similar collision. [NASA]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/this-is-what-happens-when-galaxies-collide-554399797

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Snowden leaves Hong Kong for Moscow, with Cuba among possible destinations

By James Pomfret and Lidia Kelly

HONG KONG/MOSCOW (Reuters) - An aircraft believed to be carrying Edward Snowden landed in Moscow on Sunday after Hong Kong let the former U.S. security contractor leave the territory, despite Washington's efforts to extradite him to face espionage charges.

The anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks said Snowden was heading for a "democratic nation" which it did not name, although a source at the Russian airline Aeroflot said he would fly on within 24 hours to Cuba and then planned to go to Venezuela.

Moscow airport officials said the flight from Hong Kong had landed but could not immediately confirm Snowden was on board. However, a source at Aeroflot said he had booked a seat on the service.

Snowden, who worked for the National Security Agency, had been hiding in Hong Kong since leaking details about U.S. surveillance activities to news media.

A spokesman for the government of Hong Kong, a former British colony which returned to China in 1997, said it had let Snowden depart because a U.S. request to have him arrested did not comply with the law.

The United States wanted him to be extradited to face trial and is likely to be furious about his departure. In Washington, a Justice Department official said it would seek cooperation with countries Snowden may try to go to.

"It's a shocker," said Simon Young, a law professor with Hong Kong University. "I thought he was going to stay and fight it out. The U.S. government will be irate."

A source at Aeroflot said Snowden would fly from Moscow to Cuba on Monday and then planned to go on to Venezuela. The South China Morning Post earlier said his final destination might be Ecuador or Iceland.

The WikiLeaks anti-secrecy website said it helped Snowden find "political asylum in a democratic country".

It added in an update on Twitter that he was accompanied by diplomats and legal advisers and was travelling via a safe route for the purposes of seeking asylum.

"The WikiLeaks legal team and I are interested in preserving Mr Snowden's rights and protecting him as a person," former Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon, legal director of WikiLeaks and lawyer for the group's founder Julian Assange, said in a statement.

"What is being done to Mr Snowden and to Mr Julian Assange - for making or facilitating disclosures in the public interest - is an assault against the people."

Assange has taken sanctuary in the Ecuadorean embassy in London and said last week he would not leave even if Sweden stopped pursuing sexual assault claims against him because he feared arrest on the orders of the United States.

U.S. authorities have charged Snowden with theft of U.S. government property, unauthorized communication of national defense information and wilful communication of classified communications intelligence to an unauthorized person, with the latter two charges falling under the U.S. Espionage Act.

The United States had asked Hong Kong, a special administrative region (SAR) of China, to send Snowden home.

"The U.S. government earlier on made a request to the HKSAR government for the issue of a provisional warrant of arrest against Mr Snowden," the Hong Kong government said in a statement.

"Since the documents provided by the U.S. government did not fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law, the HKSAR government has requested the U.S. government to provide additional information ... As the HKSAR government has yet to have sufficient information to process the request for provisional warrant of arrest, there is no legal basis to restrict Mr Snowden from leaving Hong Kong."

It did not say what further information it needed.

The White House had no comment.

CHINA SAYS U.S. "BIGGEST VILLAIN"

Although Hong Kong retains an independent legal system, and its own extradition laws, Beijing has control over its foreign affairs. Some observers see Beijing's hand in Snowden's sudden departure.

Iceland refused on Friday to say whether it would grant asylum to Snowden, a former employee of contractor Booz Allen Hamilton who worked at an NSA facility in Hawaii.

Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said earlier this month that Russia would consider granting Snowden asylum if he were to ask for it and pro-Kremlin lawmakers supported the idea, but there has been no indication he has done so.

The South China Morning Post earlier quoted Snowden offering new details about the United States' spy activities, including accusations of U.S. hacking of Chinese mobile telephone companies and targeting China's Tsinghua University.

Documents previously leaked by Snowden revealed that the NSA has access to vast amounts of internet data such as emails, chat rooms and video from large companies, including Facebook and Google, under a government program known as Prism.

China's Xinhua news agency, referring to Snowden's accusations about the hacking of Chinese targets, said they were "clearly troubling signs".

It added: "They demonstrate that the United States, which has long been trying to play innocent as a victim of cyber attacks, has turned out to be the biggest villain in our age."

Venezuela, Cuba and Ecuador are all members of the ALBA bloc, an alliance of leftist governments in Latin America who pride themselves on their "anti-imperialist" credentials.

(Additional reporting by Fayen Wong in Shanghai, Nishant Kumar in Hong Kong and Andrew Cawthorne in Caracas; Alexei Anishchuk and Steve Gutterman in Moscow, and Tabassum Zakaria in Washington; Writing by Nick Macfie; Editing by Anna Willard and David Stamp)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/former-nsa-contractor-snowden-leaves-hong-kong-moscow-080843121.html

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NFL, National PTA Join Forces on Youth Health and Fitness

Commissioner Goodell, PTA Leadership Launch Partnership at Annual PTA Convention

The NFL and the National PTA today announced a partnership on youth health and fitness, launching nationwide this fall.? The ?Back to Sports? initiative will help PTA leaders across the country educate their communities on youth wellness?from concussion education to NFL PLAY 60 tips on nutrition and staying active. Local PTAs will plan ?Back to Sports Nights,? engaging parents and community leaders on ways to help their kids stay safer and healthier as they head back to the sports field this fall.

The announcement was made by NFL Commissioner ROGER GOODELL and outgoing National PTA President BETSY LANDERS at the annual National PTA Convention in Cincinnati, OH.

?Back to Sports Nights? will combine information on NFL PLAY 60 and safety resources for young athletes and their families, presented by local community and school leaders?doctors, physical education teachers, nurses, and others. They will engage parents and students in how to create a culture of sports safety and wellness.

?We are very pleased to join the PTA on youth health and fitness,? said Commissioner Goodell.? ?These are vitally important issues to our organizations, and we are proud to be working together to help educate communities on safety and fitness as our children head back to the playing fields this fall.?

?We are so pleased and excited to work with the NFL on such an important partnership,? said Landers. ?Together, with the NFL, we want to make sports fun and safe for our children.?

The ?Back to Sports? initiative marks the first time the National PTA has partnered with a sports organization, and Commissioner Goodell?s appearance at the PTA Convention is the first time a sports commissioner has addressed PTA constituents at the event.

At the convention, Commissioner Goodell joined DR. ELIZABETH PIEROTH and former player LAVAR ARRINGTON in a panel discussion on Health and Safety for a New Generation.? Dr. Pieroth practices at Northshore University HealthSystem and is a head injury consultant for the Chicago Bears, Chicago Blackhawks and Chicago Fire. Arrington played linebacker for the Washington Redskins and New York Giants. Both Arrington and Pieroth are members of the USA Football Heads Up Football Advisory Committee. Arrington is also a Heads Up Football Ambassador, working with a youth league in Maryland to reinforce the Heads Up message.

The panel discussed the important role parents play in making decisions about their children?s recreational activities, the rewards of sports participation, and Arrington?s reflections on the lessons he learned from football, lessons he is now passing on as part of Heads Up Football.

The NFL and PTA share a commitment to youth health and wellness. In 2011, the PTA passed a resolution on Head Injury Reporting, encouraging the PTA and its constituents to educate members and school personnel on head injuries in collaboration with state and local education agencies. Incoming PTA President OTHA THORNTON is a member of the Heads Up Football Advisory Committee, demonstrating his commitment to the important issue of youth safety.

The NFL makes the health and safety of its players a priority. This commitment extends to football players at all ages and also benefits other sports.? At the youth level, the NFL?s support for USA Football, including its Heads Up Football initiative, helps parents, coaches, clinicians and athletes understand the signs and symptoms of possible head injuries. The NFL has successfully advocated for the passage of youth concussion laws in 48 states. Through funding for medical studies, collaboration with the military, and the work of the NFL?s medical committees, the NFL is committed to advancing science that will have an impact far beyond football. The NFL launched PLAY 60 in 2007, aimed at reversing the trend of youth obesity and getting kids active for 60 minutes a day, regardless of the activity. Since the program was created, the NFL has committed more than $250 million to youth health and fitness through programming, grants, and media time for public service announcements.

About National PTA
National PTA? comprises millions of families, students, teachers, administrators, and business and community leaders devoted to the educational success of children and the promotion of family engagement in schools. PTA is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit association that prides itself on being a powerful voice for all children, a relevant resource for families and communities, and a strong advocate for public education. Membership in PTA is open to anyone who wants to be involved and make a difference for the education, health, and welfare of children and youth.

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Source: http://nflcommunications.com/2013/06/21/nfl-national-pta-join-forces-on-youth-health-and-fitness/

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Apps of the week: #nwplyng, Felix for App.net, Trakato and more!

Another week, and another selection of the apps which have been gracing our iOS devices. This week we're trying something new, and we're breaking apart our picks. Today we have apps, absolutely no games. Then, following along tomorrow, we'll be posting a selection of the games we've been playing in the last seven days. So, here's the app picks!

#nwplyng - Joseph Keller

A lot of social networks let you share the music that you're currently listening to, as do music services like Spotify, Rdio, and Pandora. But #nwplyng is the first app that I've come across that acts like Foursquare for music. Much in the same way that you check-in to locations on Foursquare, creating a kind of miniature travellog, #nwplyng does the same thing for the music you listen to. While you can simply type in the name of your current song into #nwplyng's search field to find it and share it, it's much more interesting to let it listen. A song comes on that you don't know, but your like it and want to share it with your friends, so you tap the blue button in the top right corner of the app, then tap the microphone button that takes its place to activate #nwplyng's listening feature. When it identifies the song, you can then share the song on Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare. You can also share your location separately, as well as a picture.

There's also a bit of a gaming element to #nwplyng. You can earn 'records' for different milestones, much like Foursquare's badges. As you share songs with #nwplyng, you'll earn these records by for such achievements as sharing your first song, or sharing on World Music Day. You will also increase in rank, with new users starting at 'Rookie'. A unique take on social music that adds a fun gaming component, #nwplyng is a great way to show your friends the music you love.

• Free - Download Now

Felix for App.net - Ally Kazmucha

I'm starting to get into the habit of using App.net on a pretty regular basis again. Or at least remembering to check it on a daily basis. I've found a lot of the conversation over there is more technology oriented and I enjoy that.

Obviously an ADN client that works well and looks good is on top of my list. I've yet to find anything I like more than Felix. It has a clean interface, unobtrusive notification sounds, and really fast push. The layout also just makes sense. I've tried using others such as Netbot but found myself confusing it with Tweetbot on my iPhone. Felix is the next best thing and after using it steadily for a while, I actually prefer it over the others.

If you are on ADN, definitely check out Felix as it truly is one of the better ADN clients available for iPhone.

• $0.99 - Download Now

Traktato - Chris Parsons

I've been watching Doctor Who a lot lately but with the new series all said and done with for now until the Christmas special, I've been going back and watching all of the original classic series of which there is plenty. In order to help keep track of the episodes I've watched though, I've turned to Traktato. It taps into Trakt.tv and from there, you can 'check off' which episodes and seasons you've viewed. It's a free, basic app that kind of only serves one purpose and that's why I like it. It's not filled with stuff I don't need like suggested viewing, what others are watching, just a list of what I've watched and what i haven't.

• Free - Download Now

Guidebook - Peter Cohen

I go to a lot of trade shows and other events, and I hate to be saddled with the paper associated with them - show guides, maps, schedules and so on. It's a lot of unnecessary clutter that ends up in the recycling bin the second the event is over. Guidebook is a great solution for that problem. The app enables the coordinators of those events to provide all their content online, so people can download those materials straight to their phones or tablets. Features include a to-do list tied to the schedule, so you can better plan your time, connections to social media and the ability to upload photos, rating functions so you can let show management know what you think of events and sessions, and more. Guidebook will even let you know if the schedule gets updated, so you can avoid missing anything. Guidebooks are also available for schools, community centers, museums, and more.

• Free - Download now

ISO500 for 500px - Richard Devine

I'm no photographer, for sure, but I do enjoy browsing the excellent range of content on 500px. For that, I've been using ISO500 on the iPhone. It offers all the same browsing features as the official app -- editors choice, upcoming, popular, fresh -- as well as view the photographers profiles and favorite snaps you like. If you have a 500px account yourself, by upgrading to the premium version of the app you can also add photos to your account. You can also share to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and even Instagram so long as the Instagram app is also installed on your iPhone. 500px offers some truly outstanding photography, and ISO500 is a simply gorgeous way to view it.

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Giant Black Hole's Dust Oddity Surprises Scientists

The most detailed observations to date of the material surrounding a gigantic black hole have surprised scientists, who say what they see conflicts with common theories about these powerful objects.

Astronomers used the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope Interferometer in Chile to observe the dust around the supermassive black hole at the center of the NGC 3783 galaxy, which lies tens of millions of light-years awayin the constellation Centaurus. The black hole, like many at the centers of galaxies, is gorging on a feast of mass that's fallen toward it from the surrounding area. As the dust falls in, it releases powerful radiation that can be spotted from across the universe.

When observing NGC 3783's center, the researchers expected to find almost all of the dust in the shape of a doughnut orbiting the black hole, but instead found significant amounts of material above and below the doughnut, or torus, shape. [Images: How Magnetic Fields Shape Black Holes]

The dust inside the doughnut is hot, reaching temperatures of 1,300 to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit (700 to 1,000 degrees Celsius), but the dust that's been blown away has cooled down, the astronomers reported. A paper detailing the findings was published today (June 20) in the Astrophysical Journal by lead author Sebastian H?nig of the University of California, Santa Barbara and Christian-Albrechts-Universit?t zu Kiel in Germany, and his colleagues.

These observations suggest that the intense radiation produced when black holes feed on surrounding material also pushes some of this material outward. The discovery could lead to a "paradigm shift" in the understanding of how active supermassive black holes like this operate, scientists with the European Southern Observatory wrote in a statement.

"This is the first time we?ve been able to combine detailed mid-infrared observations of the cool, room-temperature dust around an AGN with similarly detailed observations of the very hot dust," H?nig said in a statement.

Astronomers hope to use this new knowledge to piece together a fuller picture of how black holes evolve within galaxies.

A new instrument being developed for the Very Large Telescope Interferometer called Matisse should help scientists gather even more detailed observations of supermassive black holes. The Very Large Telescope Interferometer combines light from four separate telescopes to create extremely detailed amalgam observations.

"I am now really looking forward to Matisse, which will allow us to combine all four VLT Unit Telescopes at once and observe simultaneously in the near- and mid-infrared ? giving us much more detailed data," H?nig said.

Follow Clara Moskowitz on?Twitter?and?Google+. Follow us?@Spacedotcom,?Facebook?and?Google+. Original article on?SPACE.com.

Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/giant-black-holes-dust-oddity-surprises-scientists-154751578.html

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Vine for Android adds Facebook sharing, searches for hashtags and users

Twitter isn't about to let Video on Instagram go completely unanswered -- it just posted an update to Vine for Android that could offer a few reasons to stay with the earlier service. Short-form movie makers on Android now have more of the features we've seen on iOS, including Facebook sharing as well as searches for hashtags and users. The release also smooths out the rough experience that has characterized the Android experience since launch, boosting both capture speeds and the final video quality. The app may still fall short of the newer Instagram release in a few areas, but those who prefer Vine's approach can grab its refresh at Google Play.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/21/vine-for-android-adds-facebook-sharing/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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