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Tuesday, April 23, 2013

7 Surprising Things That Make You Live Longer

Want to add years to your lifespan and squeeze more into your life? You’re not alone. Researchers are constantly on the hunt for ways we can increase our longevity, and they have come up with some pretty surprising findings. To help pave the way for a longer life, check out these seven unexpected things that increase your lifespan.

1. Smiling in photographs

Next time someone asks you to smile for the camera, it may be wise to heed their advice if you want to live a longer life. A study by researchers at Wayne State University studied photos of former professional baseball players and found that the bigger their smile, the longer they lived. In fact, those players with the biggest smiles amassed an average of seven more years than those with none. It is believed that this is because big smiles in photographs reflect true happiness, which is beneficial for both your physical and mental well-being.

2. Having "positive" initials

While you may not give much thought to your initials, a surprising study by researchers at the University of California has revealed that having initials that spell out positive words (such as ACE, WOW or VIP) could add years on to your life. The study found that men with positive initials lived 4.48 years longer while men with initials that spelled out negative words died 2.8 years younger. Having negative initials most significantly seemed to impact on deaths with psychological components such as suicides and accidents, although there was a noticed increase in longevity in almost all disease categories for those with positive initials.

3. Getting married

If you’re lucky enough to have found the guy or girl of your dreams, research suggests that taking the next step and getting married could add years on to your lifespan. Being in love has many reported health benefits. In fact, researchers at the University of Rochester reported that a good marriage can be as beneficial for your heart as quitting smoking, maintaining a healthy weight and reducing high blood pressure. Multiple research studies and statistics have backed this up, showing that those who are married live longer than singletons, generally due to the fact that they have a higher income and experience less social isolation.

4. Being slightly overweight

While poor diets and obesity are bad news for your health, research has suggested that slightly overweight people actually live longer than those of normal weight, and significantly longer than those who are obese or excessively thin. However, David Feeny, who led one of the surprising research studies, has warned that this does not mean that normal weight people should attempt to gain weight to increase their lifespan. Experts explain that although being bigger may add a few years on to your lifespan – perhaps due to it helping to safeguard against the weight loss and frailty that often incurs in old age – that does not mean that it will increase your quality of life.

5. Having religious beliefs

Multiple research studies have shown that believing in God – regardless of which faith you adhere to – could help to boost your health and increase your lifespan. A study involving liver transplant patients showed that those who had “strong religious connections” were up to three times more likely to survive, even if they did not attend church. Research results published in the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences also showed that people who attended regular religious services were 46 percent less likely to die during the six-year study. Experts believe that this may be due to increased social ties, less risky behavior and also the increased ability to cope with stress.

6. Being a social butterfly

Healthy living can sometimes seem like hard work and it seems to be rare that the things we love are good for us. However, if you want a fun way to boost your health, take note: research suggests that making regular plans with your friends can help you to live longer by reducing feelings of depression, stress and risky behavior, and encouraging you to look after your health. In fact, a study by Brigham Young University found that having a good social network boosts your survival chances by 50 percent, while having few friends affects you longevity as much as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

7. Laughter

Whether you’re having a giggle with friends or watching a funny movie, laughter is guaranteed to boost your mood and leave you feeling great. However, the benefits of laughter go way beyond that. Studies have found a multitude of ways in which laughter boosts your health, including lowering blood pressure levels, reducing bad cholesterol, enhancing the immune system and helping blood vessels to function better. A seven year study in Norway also found that those who laughed most often in everyday life were 35 per cent less likely to die during the study period.
 

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

6 reasons beer is good for you


6 reasons beer is good for you
Beer lovers, rejoice! Not only does beer taste great, and make you feel “buzzed” on life, beer is also good for you!

As pints are poured in bars and restaurants across the country, know that drinking beer has real health benefits.


1. Decrease incidence of heart disease
There are more than 20 well-done, large international studies that all demonstrate the heart benefits of moderate alcohol consumption. One study, conducted by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) noted a 20-40% decrease in coronary artery disease in moderate alcohol drinkers. (1)

Now, that doesn’t mean drinking more is better.

Drinking beer responsibly is drinking healthy. Moderate consumption of beer (alcohol) results in an increase in HDL (good Cholesterol) and a decrease in LDL (bad cholesterol), along with an improvement in both HDL and LDL particle size. (3).

So, don’t worry about the medical terms; just know that a slightly “buzzed” heart is a happy heart!

2. Hops of vitamins
A Dutch study showed a 30% increase in Vitamin B6 in beer drinkers, which makes sense because hops are loaded with the vitamin. This is important because Vitamin B6 helps to battle heart disease.

Alcohol is also an antioxidant which may contribute in part to the decrease in heart disease.

So if you’re looking for a boost in Vitamin B6, or just want a healthy dose of antioxidants, grab a cold one (or two) and cheers to your health!

3. Decrease in Kidney Stones
The Journal of Epidemiology revealed a 40% decrease in kidney stones among beer drinkers. This is most likely secondary to the hydration from the beer since we don’t note a similar finding with other alcohol consumption.

So if you want to avoid the extreme pain associated with kidney stones, grab a couple brews and drink to stone-free days ahead…

4. Benefits for women
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition says beer helps prevent a decrease in bone density.

Beer is also high in flavonoids – from the hops- which acts as a natural hormone replacement.

The National Osteoporosis Risk Assessment followed over 200,000 females and found that drinking alcohol decreased the incidence of osteoporosis (7).

All of this leads to a decrease in hip fractures in elderly females, which is important because hip fractures after the age of 65 are associated with a significant increase in mortality.

So, women, if you’re concerned about your bone health, don’t just focus on calcium; add some beer to your diet for another way to protect your bone density.

5. Beer Makes Your Head Clear
That’s right; drinking the right amount of beer is good for your mental health.

The New England Journal of Medicine reported a preservation of mental acuity, especially in elderly women, who drink alcohol moderately.

There are numerous studies that show that moderate alcohol consumption not only decreases the incidence of Alzheimer’s but also improves memory, concentration and reasoning. (6) 

6. Stroke Reduction
Multiple studies consistently show up to a 50% reduction in the risk of strokes in moderate alcohol drinkers. Most notable was a study in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) (4).

The American Stroke Association has stated that 2 alcoholic drinks per day can decrease your incidence of stroke (5).

So, the next time you crack open a cold one, know that you’re doing more than just having a good time…you’re drinking to your health! Cheers!!!

*The health benefits of drinking beer and alcohol in general are based on moderate consumption, which means two beers per day for an average size man and one beer a day for average size women. Many of the benefits described above are lost when alcohol is consumed excessively, and drinking alcohol excessively can have a serious negative effect on your health.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Porn sites reject 'growing risk' of malware claim


Pornography websites identified as potentially putting their visitors at risk of downloading malicious software have hit back at the claims.
Last week, the BBC reported on figures that suggested two popular sites posed high levels of risk.
The research, conducted by security expert Conrad Longmore, referenced data compiled by Google.
One of the sites named, Pornhub, said the numbers quoted "grossly exaggerate" the threat.
Another, xHamster, admitted it did suffer problems "in the past", but that rigorous systems were now in place.
"We had an issue with malware in the past and we totally stopped working with that advertising agency because of that problem," a spokesman said in an email.
"Now our reliable partners are checking new advertisers very strictly, so it's almost impossible to put a new site with malware on xHamster.
"The problem is that even reliable advertisers sometimes can be hacked. For example, in the past we had such issues with one of the top five porn paysites in the world.
"Their ad system was hacked and used for malware."
'Clearly a problem'
Mr Longmore - who published the study on his blog - called the response a "non-denial denial".
"The data is open to interpretation, but there was clearly a problem just one week ago, there may not be a problem today," he said.
"There might be a problem tomorrow, of course."

The research was based on statistics from Google's diagnostic service which crawls web pages for harmful content and posts a 90-day review of what it finds.
For xHamster, Google's figures indicated that "suspicious" content was found on the site as recently as 6 April.
The most recent instance of "suspicious" content found on Pornhub was on 28 January, according to the figures.
But Manwin, the company that owns Pornhub, told the BBC the risk was "minute".
"On average, the website serves over 15.5 billion ads every month," a spokeswoman said.
"Isolated incidents of malware are immediately caught, and minute when considering the mammoth amount of traffic our site receives.
"Pornhub prides itself on providing the optimal user experience, in an environment safe from the threat of infection from third-party malvertisements."
She added that according to Pornhub's own figures, only 0.003% of advertising displayed on its site in a three-month period was potentially harmful.
Neon sign outside a New York strip club

bbc

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Reebok drops Rick Ross over 'pro-rape' lyrics in song

Rick Ross
Reebok has ended its relationship with Rick Ross following criticism of lyrics by the rapper which one women's group says are pro-rape.
The 37-year-old apologised in a tweet last week after UltraViolet protested outside one of the company's shops in New York.
In a statement, Reebok said: "Reebok holds our partners to a high standard and we expect them to live up to the values of our brand.
We are very disappointed he has yet to display an understanding of the seriousness of this issue or an appropriate level of remorse
Reebok statement
"Rick Ross has failed to do so."
In Rocko's song U.O.E.N.O., Ross raps about giving a woman the drug MDMA, known as Molly while on a night out.
"Put Molly all up in her champagne, she ain't even know it, I took her home and I enjoyed that, she ain't even know it," he rapped.
The song was released in January but he said in a tweet that his lyrics had been misinterpreted and that he didn't condone rape.
Rapper Rocko, who will release his second album this year, has said that he is removing Ross' rap from his song.
'Morally wrong'
Ross has appeared in adverts for Reebok Classic trainers.
The company says it does not believe that the Grammy-nominated rapper "condones sexual assault", but that it is not happy with how he has handled the situation.
"We are very disappointed he has yet to display an understanding of the seriousness of this issue or an appropriate level of remorse," the statement added.
"At this time, it is in everyone's best interest for Reebok to end its partnership with Mr. Ross."
Demonstration outside Reebok shopDemonstrators outside a Reebok shop in Manhattan, New York
UltraViolet said in a statement: "We are thrilled to hear that Reebok is joining the fight against rape culture and dropping Rick Ross.
"This sends a strong message that rapping about drugging and raping an unconscious woman is not only morally wrong, but has real consequences."
Four of Rick Ross' five albums have gone gold, including last year's God Forgives, I Don't, which earned a Grammy nomination for best rap album.
His hits include The Boss and Aston Martin Music and he has collaborated with acts like Kanye West, Drake, John Legend and Nicki Minaj.
bbc.co.uk

Tax returns show Obama earnings declined in 2012


US President Barack Obama made $608,611 (£395,947) in 2012, down more than 20% from the year before, according to his tax documents.
The decline in his pay comes as sales of Mr Obama's books slow. His presidential salary is $400,000.
He and wife Michelle paid an effective tax rate of 18.4% and donated $150,034 to 33 different charities.
Mr Obama's tax rate will rise next year under a recent agreement with Congressional Republicans.
"Under the president's own tax proposals, including limitations on the value of tax preferences for high-income households, he would pay more in taxes while ensuring we cut taxes for the middle class and those trying to get in it," said White House press secretary Jay Carney in a statement accompanying the release of the president's and vice-president's tax returns.
The president also paid $29,450 of state income tax in Illinois, the White House said.
About two-thirds of the Obamas' charitable contributions were given to the Fisher House Foundation, an organisation that provides assistance to military servicemen, veterans and their families.
The president's earnings have declined significantly from 2009. That year, his first in office, he earned $5.5m, mostly from sales of his books Dreams from My Father and The Audacity of Hope.
Vice-President Joe Biden and his wife Jill reported $385,072 of income and paid $87,851 of federal tax.

bbc.co.uk

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Forbes’ 2013 Richest Names in Hip-Hop List Revealed





While the names of MTV’s “Hottest MCs in the Game Right Now” continue to argue over ranking, a new list has been unveiled with different names entirely.
Forbes has revealed it’s data for 2013’s wealthiest artists in hip-hop. Topping the money chart is Sean “Diddy” Combs who continues his baller-status reign.
The value summary takes into account non-music ventures, so it was Diddy’s entrepreneurial spirit playing brand ambassador for Diageo’s Cîroc vodka that helped earn him his net worth of $580 million.
Following Diddy were Jay-Z with $475 million and Dr. Dre at $350 million.
Here’s how the top five rounded out:
1. Sean “Diddy” Combs — estimated net worth: $580 million
2. Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter — $475 million
3. Andre “Dr. Dre” Young — $350 million
4. Bryan “Birdman” Williams — $150 million
5. Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson — $125 million
Fans of reading about music artists’ extreme bank accounts will recall that the list reads exactly same order as last year’s list Though, all of the net worths received a bump in the last 365 days.
Last year’s list read:
1. Sean “Diddy” Combs — estimated net worth: $550 million
2. Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter — $460 million
3. Andre “Dr. Dre” Young — $260 million
4. Bryan “Birdman” Williams — $125 million
5. Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson — $110 million
According to the business publication’s website, the values are arrived at by: “looking at past earnings, valuing current holdings, leafing through financial documents and talking to analysts, attorneys, managers, other industry players and even some of the moguls themselves to find the nitty-gritty details.”
forbes

Janet Jackson Converts To Islam & Retires From Music

 
Related Stories
 
Superstar Janet Jackson has reportedly quit the entertainment industry to become a Muslim.

As fans all around the world collectively clutch their pearls, reports are surfacing that you may never see Janet Jackson’s abs, bóobs or Poetic Justice braids again.

Apparently, after secretly marrying her hot billionaire husband, Wissam Al Mana last year in a very private ceremony, Ms. Jackson made the decision to walk away from the grueling entertainment industry and they want to live a private life away from the paparazzi.

Al Mana, a Qatar native, is involved in his family’s controlled Middle-East-based Al Mana Retail Group. A source told Showbiz 411, “She’s gone. She married a billionaire. They’ve got houses in three countries. She’s spending time in the Middle East. She’s become a Muslim.”

If you think about it, it makes perfect sense that the True You author Janet, who’s had her life in the hands of critics and gossip columnists since she was a kid, would opt for a quiet opulent life. And we can’t even be mad about it…a young billionaire and your life becoming one big vacation away from the foolishness that sometimes overtakes the entertainment industry? Slightly jealous now that we think about it.
 





...with hubby
But it doesn’t look like Janet is planning to go completely into hiding…at least not yet. From the looks of it, she’ll remain dedicated to her causes, such as fundraising for AIDS research with amFAR.

She recently tweeted about an auction for fans to spend time with her at the Cannes Film Festival in May to raise money for the foundation.”
 
 
Source: entertainmentgh.com
 

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

The future of music, according to Spotify's Daniel Ek


Spotify's Daniel Ek
(Credit: Greg Sandoval)
AUSTIN, Texas--Daniel Ek was waving his arms in the air, as if molding invisible clay. He swiped his right hand karate-chop style, made a big loop, and then grabbed an imaginary dial with his left and twisted his fist.
Ek, you see, was talking about the future. In this not-so-far-off future, maybe a decade from now, we're all connected, everywhere, all the time -- perhaps via Google Glass, perhaps via sensors built into our clothes, or through other wearable computing devices. Our touch-screen life will require no touching whatsoever, as we control what we're listening to or seeing through hand motions or simply by talking. And we'll experience it all in 3D.
In this vision, too, exists a musical soundtrack, tailored for you, fitting for the moment, and piped in not just through typical speakers or headphones but perhaps through musical lightbulbs -- or at least through "more intelligent systems" such as the kind Ek is considering for the house he is remodeling in his hometown, Stockholm, Sweden. New musical genres will also emerge as the technology pushes creativity. After all, you'll be able to reach out and take control of the sound waves.
"Actually, I don't want the string section," said Ek, grabbing the invisible song with his left hand. "I'll just kill that."
Ek's role in this all this? He wants Spotify, the company he co-founded and leads, to provide the soundtrack. It's tall talk, for sure. Yet it's hard to dismiss Ek's optimism. He's already defied the odds, leading Spotify further than any digital music company with the exception of Pandora. More importantly, with 24 million active users, 6 million of whom pay to subscribe, and a speedy growth rate, Spotify has become the big music label's second largest digital revenue source behind Apple. The on-demand, streaming model is the fastest-growing part of the beaten-down music industry -- creating an entirely new revenue stream to boot -- and, for now, Ek is leading the charge.
(Credit: Josh Lowensohn)
"He's one of the few guys that picked up on the vision and ran with it," said David Kusuk, a digital music consultant who co-wrote the 2005 book "The Future of Music," predicting the shift to the access anywhere model, or what he calls, "music as water." "I give Ek credit for having the guts to try it and really to stick his neck out there."
I met with Ek, who is 30, at last month's SXSW festival in Austin, where Spotify rented a small house on the east side of town and painted it Spotify green. A parade of musicians -- rapperAngel Haze and singer-songwriter Tom Odell among them -- played in the back yard. Ek held meetings at a picnic table and soaked in the scene. He wore the same beige Gibson T-shirt two days running, jokingly blamed the music labels negotiations for his baldness, and apologized for his dark sunglasses even though we sat in the shade. (Very sensitive, very blue eyes.)
Angel Haze performing at the Spotify House
(Credit: Spotify)
Ek knows, of course, that he has a long way to go, and that it's still way too early to claim victory. He comes across as modest, yet he's hardly lacking for confidence. He remains undeterred by the graveyard of digital music startups, and by suggestions that Google or Appleor Amazon, all gunning for his business, could crush him.
Put simply, he said, "I'm more tenacious than most."
A Commodore, a guitar, and a vision
Fortunately, Ek was also naive when it came to thinking the major music labels would eagerly embrace his plan to make a legal version of Napster.
The quick bio of the tech music biz wunderkind goes like this: When Ek was 5, his parents, both musicians, gave him a Commodore Vic 20 computer and a guitar. He took to both. At 14, in the middle of 1990s Internet mania, Ek taught himself HTML and started a side business making commercial Web sites. He ran it from his school's computer lab, hired other teens with an aptitude for math or design, and soon was netting $15,000 a month. He packed his bedroom with servers.
At 16, he applied for a job at Google, but was turned down because the company required a degree. Eventually, he enrolled at Sweden's Royal Institute of Technology, but, discovering he didn't like math, he dropped out after just two months. He landed a contract gig for an ad network called Tradedoubler to build an analytics tool.
Martin Lorentzon, Spotify co-founder and chairman
(Credit: Spotify)
That stint paid off: Tradedoubler paid him $1 million for the rights to what he had built, and he made another $1 million selling the patents. It also introduced Ek to his future Spotify co-founder, Martin Lorentzon -- who, now 44, serves as Spotify's chairman and Ek's key sounding board. (The two take Steve Jobs-like walks daily when the always-traveling Ek is at headquarters in Stockholm.)
Ek was 23, rich, and unhappy. He'd flirted with the fast life -- he picked up a Ferrari and a swank apartment in Stockholm -- but he was unfulfilled. Ek dumped the car, retreated to a cabin, meditated, and played guitar, even toying with the idea of playing music full time. The result: a determination to combine his passion for music and tech.
Ek teamed up with Lorentzon, who was Tradedoubler's chairman and far wealthier than Ek due to the company's 2005 IPO. They holed up in Ek's apartment, and built the product. It was modeled after iTunes, inspired by Napster, and packed with pirated music that they used as a demonstration to get licensing deals with the labels. That alone took two years -- and that was just for European licenses so they could launch in Scandinavia, France, the U.K., and Spain.
Sweden, where piracy was rampant, became the testing ground for the labels to allow free, ad-supported, on-demand music that Spotify would offer to lure paying subscribers. More than one third of the Swedish population now use Spotify. It would take almost another three years before Spotify inked deals to launch in the U.S.
The Spotify House at SXSW
(Credit: James Martin)
Just a year and half since the U.S launch, the labels are no longer worried that Spotify will eat into iTunes sales. Instead, label execs privately complain that Spotify isn't growing fast enough, although it's on track to pay rights holders $500 million this year alone -- the same amount the company paid out in total since launching in 2008. The labels want Spotify to advertise more. The company last month launched its first-ever TV campaign and, just this morning, it rolled out an ad across the top of YouTube, which has become the go-to site for young people to listen to music. Music execs also want the company to strike partnerships with wireless carriers and Internet service providers to bundle the service, a strategy that fueled growth in Europe. The aim: to expand the "funnel," which refers to the number of free users that Spotify has a chance to convert into paying customers.
"It's so funny," said Ek. "When we started off, it was the other way around. 'We don't want a big funnel because it might risk cannibalizing other sales.' And now all they're talking about is how we can grow faster. At least our goals are 100-percent aligned."
Well, not quite. Tension still exists. Ek complains, for instance, that music rights are still bound by national boundaries. Sometimes Ek will post a track on Facebook that people in other parts of the world can't even listen to.
"That is one of our biggest limiters to growth, the restriction that you can't share any piece of content anywhere," he said, talking about the all organizations that make buying music rights so complex. "You need collecting societies in every market and publishing deals in every market." The result: Spotify now has rights deals with more than 50,000 entities.
And so Ek and his team are constantly trying to change an outdated system, to push the old guard to bend. In their arsenal: a growing mountain of data. That has been Spotify's leverage along the way, and to hear Ek talk about it, data holds the key to working toward that soundtrack-for-every-moment that he envisions.
When Spotify was first negotiating with Warner Music Group for U.S. licenses, for instance, Warner wanted to restrict the amount of free music that people could access to three months, according to people involved with the negotiations. Spotify came back with data, culled from Scandinavia, that showed a lot of freeloaders become subscribers after four or five months. This was news to Warner, and it worked; they eventually settled on limitless, free access.
Spotify is now nearing a new deal with the labels to let it offer more free music on its mobile app. Why? Its data shows that many people are discovering Spotify on their phones, ignoring the desktop client entirely.
Mining the music
That's all basic stuff, of course. But Ek said Spotify is collecting and analyzing more data related to music habits than any other company on the planet. Spotify is itself a platform, with companies like Blue NoteBillboard and Pitchfork creating apps that help people discover what they might want to hear, and sending rich streams of data to Spotify along the way. And while listeners can stream privately, Spotify is social by default; to date, its users have created and shared some 1.5 billion playlists, all of which generate even more types of data to parse and, Ek hopes, to lock in customers as more competitors enter the streaming fray.
"Our big problem is how do we make sense of what you want to listen to?" said Ek. "How do we make sense of 20 million songs? How do we make sense of what you want to hear when you wake up in the morning, when you go out on a Friday night? These are distinct moments in your life, and what we're trying to do is make sense of all that, to make sense of that ocean of data."
Data man: Spotify economist Will Page
(Credit: Spotify)
That's where Will Page comes in. Page, a London-based economist with long ties to the music industry, joined Spotify last fall. He spends his days deep in Spotify data, exploring all sorts of questions: What leads to hits on Spotify? Can activity on Spotify predict a mainstream hit? How much life do which playlists add to what songs? What exactly leads to virality? Why do older people listen to all 40 tracks of a particular compilation, where younger people listen to half that? And so on.
"When you think about it, we don't just have unique data on every single stream on the service," said Page, who stressed the data is based on unique identifiers and don't reveal the person. "We also know where that stream was from -- whether it was driven by Spotify or Facebook -- and on top of that, you've got age, gender and location, and behavioral traits around playlists you've created or consumed. That's far more unique than somewhere like YouTube."
The trick is to merge what the data shows with the technology, something that is gradually happening. At last year's Bonnaroo festival in Tennessee, for example, attendees received a wristband with an RFID tag built in. Each time you visited a stage, you could check-in with a simple swipe at a hub. Then, when you fired up your Spotify account, it had new playlists based on the bands you saw at the festival. The whole effort was largely a marketing push, but it gives a glimpse of the tailored musical experience in action, and its something the folks at Spotify are now working on bringing to festivals the world over.
"That was a giant step in terms of connecting Spotify to live music," said Page. "This can happen at other events, where you wake up and Spotify knows where you were last night."
The shift to mobile also opens up all sorts of possibilities, particularly because Spotify can know your phone's every step. One example: Ek said Spotify is working on software that would let you seamlessly switch what's playing through your phone's headphones to your home sound system the moment you walk through the front door. The idea is that your smartphone will recognize the home Wi-Fi signal, at which point it will ask you if you want to tap a button to change to the home mode.
"Suddenly, your entire house is full of music," said Ek.

Set-top boxes and smart autos are one thing; touchless screens and wearable computing another. Yet when you look at these steps -- on the hardware front, and Spotify's front -- it's easy to see them merging in ways that might even surprise Ek.Making this future possible, too, is what Ek calls the "platformization" of everything. This phenomenon lets Spotify easily build its service into devices. Spotify now comes baked into some Samsung Smart TVsRoku,Tivo, as well as in new Fords and Volvos. And Ek said the company is working on several more such initiatives to roll out this year.
Already, that happened when his contractor was going through refurbishing options for his home in Stockholm. Think picking carpet and paint colors is hard? Try deciding which room needs programmable sensors built into which walls so that the lights and music around the home could be triggered by movement. Think of the applications: Walk into the living room, the music and lights turn on; leave for, say, more than 10 minutes, and they turn off.
Here's the example presented to Ek. He could put motion sensors in the baby's room, which would detect when the baby is asleep, at which point, the system would automatically dim the lights and start playing Barry White -- the technician's example, not Ek's -- for you and your wife in the other room. Then, when the baby wakes, the sensors cut the music and turn up the lights.
Ek isn't going for that option, possibly because he's both single and without a baby. He doesn't yet know how he might build music into his house. But he holds this out as an example of where things are going.
"I'm not even suggesting that it's a great idea," Ek said. "We're only in the beginning of figuring out all these kinds of moments." Moments that, with the music labels and many publishers still in control of most of the world's music, will rely as much on negotiations and corporate politics as algorithms and data.
cnet.com

Film Producer Discribe Ghanaian Movies As Stupid Movies



Many are those who have complained bitterly about the current trend of Ghanaian movies and the fact that majority of the film producers, especially the Kumasi based ones, for not producing quality movies.

Though the Kumasi movies as they call them are still selling hot on the market because its consumers seem not to bother about the quality of stories they tell, Ghana’s Top Twi Film producer and CEO. Of Paul Gee Productions, Mr. Paul Adjei who happens to be the first Twi oriented film producer to submit his movie for international film festivals and also won an award in ZAAFA (UK), has revealed to the media in a press conference that majority of Ghanaian film producers are denting the image of Ghana’s movie industry.

The press conference which happens to be the first major press conference in the Kumawood movie industry (thus the Twi movie industry in Ghana) was organized in Kumasi. Paul Gee wanted to pre – screen his movie titled ‘ Okomfo Anokye’ and to also use the opportunity to unfurl some problems in Ghana’s film industry.

After the screening, he told the media that he personally has problems with the kind of movies majority of Ghanaian film producers are shooting. ‘Majority of Ghanaian film producers are shooting stupid movies and that prevents people from recognizing the good ones coming from kumasi’ Paul Gee said.

He added that the quality of movies Ghanaian film makers are shooting is destroying the image of Ghana, thereby making it difficult for the good ones to be reorganized internationally.

‘Don’t forget the more we shoot trash movies, the more we get the bad names but the more we shoot good movies and few bad ones , the world will recognize our industry and notice that, good stories are being told in Ghanaian movies ‘ he added .

Continuing, he stated that the only way this problem can be solved is to have a strong censorship board where the government can come in and if possible, ban bad movies from entering the market for patronage.
 
 
 
Source: Mustapha A Inusah/Flex Newspaper
 

Ghanaian gets world attention in ‘Spartacus’

Cynthiaaddairobinson

There is no doubt that all eyes are currently on popular actress of Ghanaian linage, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, for her good performance in award winning show, Spartacus.

She played the role of Naevia in season two, Spartacus: Vengeance. She joined the show after replacing Lesley-Ann Brandt who decided to exit the role. Cynthia has also been confirmed to reprise her role as Naevia in season three.

“I was really excited to be a part of something that is really edgy and innovative in the world of television. The time period that Spartacus takes place in has some really great storylines and high-stakes drama, so that was something I was really excited to sink my teeth into,” she was quoted by the National Urban Media online magazine to have said about her excitement for joining Spartacus.

Movie enthusiasts around the world, especially Ghana, are happy with her performance in the series. She is currently one of the most-talked-about world stars in Ghana.

Born in London to a Ghanaian mother and an American father, Addai-Robinson moved with her mother to the United States and was raised in a suburb of Washington D.C.

She was recently seen on the big screen in the Sony film “Columbiana.” Her recent television credits include recurring roles in FX’s “Dirt” and ABC’s “Flash Forward.” She has also appeared on such series as “CSI: NY,” “CSI: Miami,” and “Numbers.” She is also in Vampire Diaries.

Addai-Robinson fell in love with acting at a very young age performing in all her school plays and local productions. She furthered her love of the arts when she went on to pursue a degree in Theater at the prestigious Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. She performed in several New York Theater productions before moving to Los Angeles.

 News-One

1 billion songs legally downloaded in the UK, Adele tops chart


Legal digital music downloads have just hit 1 billion in the UK, according to the Official Charts Company.
Tottenham's own lovesick warbler Adele leads the pack in digital downloads, holding the number 1 spot with 1.41 million downloads of the hit song Someone Like You, although her album 21 is the fourth-biggest selling album of all time in the UK.
At 188.6 million tracks, digital sales in 2012 were the highest ever and they're still on the rise. Since music was first available for legal download nine years ago, 16 tracks, including Adele's hit, have cracked the 1 million milestone. 99.6 per cent of singles purchased in the UK are now digital downloads. 
"As fans increasingly download music on the move, tablets, smart phones and connected cars will drive another phase in digital music's expansion," said Geoff Taylor, chief executive of the BPI, the UK music industry body. 
Here's the top 10 most downloaded songs in the UK, with some nice dropshadow on the art to make it look like it's still a real thing you can hold.
The huge boom in digital music downloads is partly responsible for high street music shops such as HMV being plunged into jeopardy, with over 60 stores closed, although recent restructuring prevented it from disappearing from shopping centres altogether.
"The explosion in download sales over the past nine years means we are genuinely now living in the digital music age," said Martin Talbot, managing director of the Official Charts Company..
cnet.com

Django Unchained blood scenes 'muted for China release'


Christoph Waltz as Schultz and Jamie Foxx as Django in the film Django Unchained
Bloody scenes from Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained are to be toned down for its cinema release in China, according to the film's distributors.
Sony Pictures told China's Southern Metropolis Daily the director had agreed to the "slight adjustments".
Zhang Miao said changes included "tuning the blood to a darker colour" and "lowering the height of the splatter of blood".
However he added it would not affect the overall quality of the film.
Zhang said the director viewed the changes as "progress rather than a compromise".
"What we call bloodshed and violence is just a means of serving the purpose of the film," he said. "Quentin knew how to adjust that, and it's necessary that he is the one to do it."
Despite the adjustments, Tarantino's Oscar-winning slavery epic will keep its full running time of 165 minutes.
It is the first of the director's films to be cleared for release in China where sexually explicit scenes, violence and other topics deemed inappropriate are often deleted by state censors.
Other Hollywood films including Skyfall, Cloud Atlas and the remake of Red Dawn, have all recently made changes to appease regulators.
China became the world's second-biggest movie market in March, with box office revenues surging in 2012 to $2.7bn (£1.8bn).
bbc.co.uk