Author: Josh Wolford

Facebook Home, Facebook’s Android homescreen takeover, has been available for just over a week. In that time, we’ve seen the app take on a barrage of negative reviews.

But people are still downloading it and trying it out. As of today, Facebook Home on Google Play has surpassed 500,000 installs.

We don’t know the exact number of installs, as Google Play only gives us an unspecific snapshot of the numbers. Right now, it says that the number of installs is somewhere between 500,000 and 1 million. The Next Web noticed that Twitter users noticed the jump from “100,000 to 500,000″ to “500,000 to 1 million” some time on Sunday.

500,000 may seem like a small number of installs, considering that Facebook has over a billion monthly active users and that something like the Facebook app has between 100 million and 500 million installs. But in a week’s time, to be working its way to a million installs, is pretty good for Facebook Home considering it’s only available on a handful of Android devices.

Still, the news isn’t nearly all positive for Facebook. Facebook Home is still suffering from poor user reviews. Last week, we told you that after just 3 days on the market, Facebook Home had sunk to an average rating of 2.4 out of 5 in the Google Play Store. At that time, 47% of all reviews awarded the app 1 star.

Now, at Facebook Home surpassed 500,000 installs, the negativity is growing. The average rating has fallen to 2.2 and 1-star reviews now account for nearly 52% of all reviews.

For Earth Day 2013, Google is celebrating with an interactive doodle that lets you experience much of what nature has to offer – in animated form, of course. Google’s Earth Day doodle lets you change the seasons, weather, moon, and more.

“Today we are celebrating Earth Day with an interactive doodle that captures a slice of nature’s subtle wonders. We hope you enjoy discovering animals, controlling the weather, and observing the seasons. Use the sightseeing checklist below to make sure you do not miss anything!” says Doodler Leon Hong.

Indeed, Google has provided a Doodle checklist. So, click around and have fun.

Earth Day, as we know it, is celebrated on April 22nd. Back in 1969, the first Earth Day was proposed at a UNESCO conference in San Francisco to be celebrated on March 21st. A month or so later, U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson held an additional Earth Day on April 22nd, as an environmental teach-in. In 1990, the April celebration went international, and it is currently celebrated in nearly 200 countries worldwide.

Last year, Google’s Earth Day doodle was also animated, though not quite interactive. The doodle was a time lapse photo of flowers blooming and eventually forming the Google logo.

Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov has issued a statement on the Boston Marathon bombings, and the death of suspect #1, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, and his brother Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is considered suspect #2 and is still on the loose. As you know, there is a massive manhut underway for Dzhokhar, one that has the entire city of Boston on lockdown.

In the statement, he calls the events “tragic” and says that he wishes “all the victims a speedy recovery” and that he “shares in Americans’ grief.”

But he also places the blame on the two suspects’ American upbringing and denies any link between the attacks and Chechnya.

“Any attempts to link Chechnya and the Tsarnaevs, if indeed they are guilty, are futile. They grew up in the USA, their viewpoints and beliefs were formed there. You must look for the roots of [their] evil in America,” he said.

Oddly enough, he posted his statement on Instagram, where he is a popular figure with over 117,000 followers.

Here’s his full statement, translated:

The events that took place in Boston are tragic. People have been killed as a result of a terrorist act. Earlier we expressed our condolences to the residents of the city and to the American people. Today, according to media reports, during an arrest attempt a certain Tsarnaev was killed. It would have made sense to arrest him and carry out an investigation, clarify all the circumstances and his degree of guilt. Evidently, the security services needed a result at any price in order to calm the populace.

Any attempts to link Chechnya and the Tsarnaevs, if indeed they are guilty, are futile. They grew up in the USA, their viewpoints and beliefs were formed there. You must look for the roots of evil in America. Terrorism must be fought everywhere. We know this better than anyone. We wish all the victims a [speedy] recovery and share in Americans’ grief. #terroristact #Boston #consequence

Quartz notes that there is some debate as to whether the line “You must look for the roots of evil in America” really means “You must look for the roots of [their] evil in America,” and if perhaps the statement was made intentionally ambiguous.

Kadyrov is a former Chechen rebel who replaced his father, Akhmad Kadyrov as President back in 2007. At the time he was 30 years old, the minimum age requirement for the Presidency.

For more on the situation in Boston, check here

A 26-year-old juror in a Salem, Oregon, armed robbery case has been sentenced to serve two days in jail after he was caught texting in court.

Benjamin Kohler was charged with contempt after authorities say he was using his mobile device to text after being given explicit instructions to stay off it.

The judge in the trial, Dennis Graves, instructed the entire jury that cell phone use during court was prohibited. He apparently issued the instructions multiple times.

But Kohler either didn’t hear or didn’t care. During the testimony of a Salem police officer, a video recording was played in the courtroom. That’s when the district attorney noticed a dim light emanating from Kohler’s area.

The proceeding were stopped and the courtroom was emptied. Apparently, Kohler had no explanation for his texting.

“The duty to serve as a juror must be taken very seriously. Every juror has the responsibility to devote his entire attention to the witnesses and evidence being presented. In this case, Mr. Kohler failed to meet his obligations and failed to honor the direction of this court. My hope is that he will use his time in jail to reflect upon his behavior,” said the judge.

Hopefully. If you can’t put your phone down for a few minutes, let’s say, while you’re eating – you may get soup on your device. But if you can’t put your phone down for a few minutes during a trial – you may miss something that could be the difference between someone’s freedom and incarceration. Put the phone down, dude. Nothing you’re texting about is that important, I assure you.

The too-technologically-connected juror has been an ever-increasing problem over the past few years. Just this week, we told you that a juror in the U.K. faces contempt charges after he made Facebook postings about wanting to “fuck up a pedophile.” In the past, we’ve even seen death row convictions overturned due to social media-using jurors.

[Madison County Sheriff’s Office via Wired]

YouTube, who has turned its attention to content creators and channels over the past year, is looking to reward them by giving them more real estate on users’ homepages.

Starting next week, logged-in users will see a new look to the homepage. It’ll put more videos from individual channel above the fold, replacing the one-video-per-line current format with one that puts multiple videos on each line.

Currently, here’s what the YouTube homepage looks like for logged-in users. The channels they subscribe to get one video per line in the recent activity stream:

And next week, users will see more videos, side-by-side, on each row on the homepage:

YouTube has also changed how updates from channels are displayed on the homepage. If a user has been watching a bunch of videos from a series, they may see an update telling them to watch the next episode in the series.

Also:

Also, to help someone find the next best thing to watch, we’re looking for patterns in how viewers use YouTube. We know that a lot of fans come back to watch every single video from their favorite channels, regardless of whether those videos were uploaded yesterday or last year. For those most loyal fans, we want to make sure that their favorite channels are always up top so they never miss a beat. And for those fans that watch mainly from their subscriptions, we’ll move their other recommendations further down so they can always see their favorite channels first.

These improvements will rollout next week, and YouTube says that there are more coming “to make the homepage smarter.”

An Anaheim high school teacher is set to be arraigned on 60 felony counts stemming from charges that he used Facebook to obtain sexually explicit photos from over 100 underage boys over the past 3 years.

30-year-old Zachary Joshua Reader, a former high school teacher and baseball coach at schools in both Anaheim and Irvine, California, is accused of encouraging sex acts and possessing nude photographs of boys aged 13-17.

According to police, Reeder used Facebook to commit his crimes. Between June of 2010 and January of 2013, he allegedly created a fake Facebook account posing as a female student. Through this account, Reeder befriended many underage boys, most of which he knew through his teaching jobs.

He reportedly got at least 106 victims to send him sexually explicit photos and videos.

Here’s the full list of counts that Reeder faces:

22 felony counts of using a minor for sex acts, 15 felony counts of distributing pornography to a minor, 13 felony counts of contacting a child with the intent to commit a lewd act, six felony counts of lewd acts upon a child, two felony counts of lewd acts upon a child under 14, one felony count of possession and control of child pornography, and one felony count of distribution of child pornography.

These counts carry a total maximum sentence of 44 years in prison.

This definitely isn’t the first time that we’ve seen Facebook used in elaborate fake profile sex scams. Last year, a Pennsylvania man was charged with 68 felony counts after he went to painstaking lengths to manipulate underage girls through a series of fake Facebook accounts.

Today, Netflix debuted all 13 episodes of their new original series, Hemlock Grove. Based on Brian McGreevy’s book of the same name, the horror series deals with the brutal murder of a teenage girl and eventually, werewolves. The series is produced by Eli Roth of Cabin Fever and Hostel fame.

And the early reviews are in, and they aren’t looking good for Netflix’s third major original series. Here are some blips from some of them:

The L.A. Times: “Let me be clear: As a for-profit visual arts experience, ‘Hemlock Grove’ is terrible in ways that mock the meaning of the word ‘terrible,’ with clunky acting, tra-la-la transitions and at least one monster that walks like a bad Frankenstein and appears to be wearing the very same wig/hat we used.”

The Telegraph: “So is Hemlock Grove another triumph for the TV and film streaming site? The short answer is no. Quite the reverse in fact. Hoping to be a cross between Twin Peaks and True Blood, with a hint of E4′s soapy thriller Revenge thrown in for good measure, this sexed-up 13-part series, I’m afraid, is Netflix’s first dud. Where it tries so desperately to be eerie and esoteric, it winds up as derivative as anything the basic TV channels churn out on a regular basis: hammy, hackneyed and disjointed.”

Variety: “If the underlying formula is as old as ‘Dark Shadows,’ there’s still a need for more narrative momentum than the 13-episode series initially delivers. So while one can understand why Netflix would augment its original slate with this mix of talent, ‘Hemlock Grove’ remains a mere niche confection, one likely to play best among those genre fans who can’t see the forest for the trees.”

HitFix: “But it’s also a mess: a horror series with a weirdly slow build (you don’t even see the lead werewolf character transform until the end of the second episode), a mix of campy performances and competent ones, and just enough intriguing ideas to make me wish the entire thing was a lot better than it is.”

There is a glimmer or hope, as Entertainment Weekly gave it a B+, saying, “When all the blood is mopped up, Hemlock, like so many horror flicks before it, is about the ­monster inside all of us and the human bonds that prevent us from becoming our beastliest selves.”

Of course, reviews aren’t everything – just one person’s opinion. But it definitely appears that Hemlock Grove isn’t going to benefit from the widespread, nearly-universal acclaim handed out to Netflix’s last original series – the superb political thriller House of Cards.

Amazon Studios has just unveiled 14 new pilots for your viewing pleasure, and your feedback will determine which pilots are developed into something more.

Over on the Amazon Original Pilots page, you can find the pilots for 8 different comedy shows. Most of them have been announced and viewers have simply been waiting for the pilots to drop – this includes Zombieland, based on the film of the same name and Betas, a show about a Silicon Valley startup.

The full list of the comedy pilots is Alpha House, Betas, Browsers, Dark Minions, Onion News Empire, Supanatural, Those Who Can’t, and Zombieland.

Amazon has also launched the pilots for 6 children’s shows: Annebots, Creative Galaxy, Positively Ozitively, Sara Solves It, Teeny Tiny Dogs, and Tumbleaf.

All of the pilots are free to watch for people in the U.S. and the U.K. German LOVEFILM customers will get the pilots in a few weeks.

Amazon is also inviting viewers to rate and review the pilots, in an attempt to determine which ones should receive a full-series run. On the pilots page, Amazon links viewers to a survey where they can answer questions about any and all of the 14 pilots – “Overall, how would you rate the show” and “Based on what you’ve seen, would you watch future episodes” type questions.

Not all of these pilots will receive additional episodes – but the exact number that will is still undecided. Amazon Studios director Roy Price told The Verge:

“We don’t have any particular number of shows in mind…We would like to see a few shows come out of the process. Seven would be a lot, but zero wouldn’t be enough. So somewhere between there.”

So, go watch, and go vote. Let’s see if Amazon can draw up some good series out of this experiment.

As you probably know, on Thursday the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, better known as CISPA. The bill, which aims to help the government react to cybersecurity threats by making it easier to share information between itself and private companies, saw bipartisan support. Opponents of CISPA have argued that the bill is a a massive invasion of privacy, and will be used to justify wholesale spying on the American public by making companies who give up private user info immune from suits or prosecution.

Although CISPA as a whole saw bipartisan support, one last-minute amendement that looked to curtail a worrisome practice by employers was shot down on party lines.

Colorado Democrat Ed Perlmutter attempted to tack on a provision to CISPA that would make it illegal for employers to require prospective employees to hand over their social media passwords as a condition of acquiring or keeping a job.

The proposal was voted down 224-189, with Republicans in the majority.

“People have an expectation of privacy when using social media like Facebook and Twitter. They have an expectation that their right to free speech and religion will be respected when they use social media outlets. No American should have to provide their confidential personal passwords as a condition of employment. Both users of social media and those who correspond share the expectation of privacy in their personal communications. Employers essentially can act as imposters and assume the identity of an employee and continually access, monitor and even manipulate an employee’s personal social activities and opinions. That’s simply a step too far,” said Perlmutter.

This isn’t the first time that Perlmutter has introduced this sort of legislation. Last year, the same employee password protection language was rejected in the House.

Last year, the practice of employers demanding the Facebook passwords of prospective employees became a hot topic. Both state legislatures and the U.S. Congress introduced measures to counteract the rising trend. One particular bill, the Password Protection Act of 2012, was introduced in both the House and the Senate, but went nowhere.

On the flip side, some states have had success in passing bans on the practice. First, the state of Maryland enacted a law banning password snooping. And this year, laws in both California and Illinois went into effect.

“It’s not déjà vu — this is the same amendment I introduced twice last year, so people have had plenty of time to study and discuss it. It has bipartisan support. It wouldn’t kill the underlying cyber-security bill; it wouldn’t send it back to committee. It merely safeguards an individuals’ personal privacy as they use their own personal social media accounts,” said Perlmutter.

It’s important to note that Perlmutter did in fact vote yes on CISPA.

But despite those claims, the provision was crushed. If the past year is any indication, password protection legislation must be tackled at the state level, as it’s the only place that its been able to see any sort of success.

Wikimedia sites, which include Wikipedia, Wikionary, Wikibooks, Wikimedia Commons, Wikiquote, and nearly a dozen more, now see over 500 million unique visitors a month.

The previous high was set in May of 2012, when Wikimedia Foundation sites saw 492 million uniques. In March, the family of sites saw an astounding 517 million unique vistors. The data comes courtesy of the latest comScore Media Matrix.

“In the Wikimedia movement, we have a vision statement that inspires many contributions to our endeavor: Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. That’s our commitment,” says Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director Sue Gardner.

“The idea of enabling every single human being to freely share in the sum of all knowledge is still as audacious as ever – but it’s also starting to look like an achievable goal, if we come together to make it happen.”

The increase in uniques has also had an impact on how long readers stay and how much content they consume. Gardner says that people are staying longer and reading more.

“Over the past 12 months, Wikipedia monthly page requests increased from 17.1 billion to 21.3 billion, with the mobile share increasing to roughly 15 percent of the total, or more than 3 billion monthly views. We’re also gratified to see growth in significant target areas: in India, traffic as a percentage of our worldwide total increased from 4.0 percent to 4.8 percent; in Brazil it increased from 3.6 percent to 5.9 percent.”

Speaking of Sue Gardner – she’s not long for the position of Wikimedia director. A couple of weeks ago, she announced that she would be stepping down from the job – not right away, as she expects to take 6 months or so to find a replacement.

We recently told you about a particularly odd lawsuit in which an eBay seller was suing a buyer for feedback left on their page. The seller, Med Express, was suing the buyer, Amy Nicholls, over her complaint on the eBay feedback page that her product had arrived with an extra $1.44 postage due.

Med Express offered to correct the mistake, reimbursing Nicholls for the undue charges. But Nicholls had already posted the “negative” feedback on eBay. Med Express claimed that that feedback (which knocked their favorability rating down to 99.3%) caused them irreparable harm. They sued for an injunction to get the feedback removed and for damages from the resulting loss of business.

Nicholls, with the help of Public Citizen’s Paul Levy, lawyered up and fought back – saying that her feedback was accurate and that expressing it is not a tort, and especially no reason to seek damages. To Levy, the lawsuit was the epitome of a frivolous mess. The case saw widespread coverage across tech sites. You can read our longer breakdown of the initial lawsuit here.

Now, we have a couple of new wrinkles in the case. Med Express President Richard Radey took to Public Citizen’s site to issue an “apology” for the lawsuit in the comments.

“I hope all of you will accept this as an open letter of apology from Med Express,” he said.

He went on to explain that the lawsuit was never meant to be targeted at Nicholls, and that he had instructed his lawyer to seek $1 in damages.

“Her feedback was also never an issue. We fully support her right and all of our customers right to leave any feedback they desire – true or otherwise!” he said.

Apparently, the issue involved eBay’s “Detailed Seller Ratings.” He said the low rating caused Med Express to love their coveted “Top Rated Seller Plus” standings. He then linked this to a possible loss of tens of thousands of dollars in the future.

Also, he claims to have not read the suit:

The only way DSR’s are removed is by court order, and I was told that such court orders were not uncommon. I do deeply regret the wording of the lawsuit. I had not read it and only learned of the wording on the blogs. I too would have been outraged and for that I also sincerely apologize. It is the addendum attached ordering Ebay to remove the DSR’s that was our only goal.

The only person to blame here is me. You have spoken and I have listened. A terrible wrong needs to be righted. I am instructing our attorneys to drop the lawsuit. I want to assure everyone that you may feel free to leave any feedback on our company without fear of reprisal. I have learned my lesson.

Public Citizen’s Levy has now published a response, basically saying “I don’t believe you.”

“When I criticize somebody on this blog, I generally send a courtesy notice with an invitation to respond omnt he blog. When the target of criticism owns up to a mistake, it is also my practice to be gracious. Ordinarily, then, a profuse apology like Radey’s would be cause for admiration. Problem is, I don’t believe a word of what he says…” Levy writes.

Expect that he does believe Radey is sorry about the criticism Med Express has received through all the media coverage of the suit. But the rest, he says, is a smoke screen.

In fact, he claims that the lawsuit against Nicholls is simply one of many, and it’s not even the most ridiculous. He points to a long list of past and pending claims against eBay and eBay buyers.

“From my review of many of the cases, Med Express typically files a complaint based on extremely vague assertions of falsity, against defendants who may be too far from Medina too respond effectively, seeks a temporary restraining order without giving any notice, and hopes to get relief before the defendant knows what hit him, her or it,” says Levy.

Levy also claims that Radey’s assertion that it’s the lawyer’s fault, and that he hadn’t seen the lawsuits before they were filed is nonsense. Levy says that Radey signed a verification for the suit and signed an affidavit complaining about the negative feedback.

“Even if I were inclined to believe Radey’s assertion that all he really wanted was an injunction taking down the criticism, I would not be assuaged; in some ways, such injunctions, and the procedures for getting them, are even more of an affront to the public interest,” says Levy.

“[T]he public at large is injured by these fixes, because consumers have an interest in learning what the criticism was, and what the response. Not all rating systems are perfect; maybe there are reasons to doubt the accuracy of the “DSRs.” But they are one data point that eBay consumers can use to decide where to buy goods online. We should not forgive Radey and Med Express even if it were true that distorting his own DSR’s was the only objective of this frivolous litigation.”

Nicholls’ lawyers have filed a counterclaim, one that seeks sanctions and punitive damages from Radey and his attorneys. This will move forward, according to Levy.

How would you like to draw a nice bath and fill it up with some nice blue crystal?

Lucky for you, you can. Introducing Bathing Bad, the Breaking Bad-themed bath salts. No, not those kinds of bath salts – the ones you use in the tub. I know it’s confusing. Anyway, here’s what makers Firebox has to say about their bath salts:

Whether you’re an underappreciated science teacher or a kid from the wrong side of the tracks, sometimes the only way to relax is to take a bath. Crafted from all-natural ingredients under strictly controlled conditions, the Bathing Bad Bath Salts are vastly superior to the bath salts you might cop on the corner. Contrary to a certain particularly gruesome scene, this is one time when baths and Breaking Bad DO mix.

Here’s another shot of the salts, complete with generic dude in a biohazard suit holding them up:

You can purchase these awesome bath salts for a mere $23 on Firebox – but only in the U.K.

[Firebox via Laughing Squid]

No, the question is not why do you cry. The answer to that question is probably buried far beneath a bottle of bourbon, a whole pint of ice cream, or your lack of compassion for others. No, this is simply the science behind the mechanism of crying.

It’s explained by our favorite science animators, AsapSCIENCE. Go ahead, discover the mystery…

Canadian Space Agency Astronaut Chris Hadfield is awesome, space is awesome, and everything he does in space is awesome. Proving once again that even the most mundane tasks are transformed into something incredible when performed in zero gravity, here’s Hadfield wringing out a soaking-wet washcloth aboard the ISS.

Not only is the wringing-out part cool, but so is the whole getting-it-wet-in-the-first-place part.

If this isn’t reason enough to find space programs, I don’t know what is.

Every year, Time Magazine puts out their TIME 100 list of the world’s most influential people. The list is always populated with a wide range of figures from a wide range of fields – politicians, religious icons, actors, musicians, and yes, tech figures.

And this year’s list seems to be full of techies – more so than past year’s lists.

In no particular order, here are some of the tech names that grace this year’s TIME 100:

• Elon Musk, founder of both Tesla and SpaceX, who Richard Branson calls”a man who can see many things at once”
• Oh-Hyun Kwon, CEO of Samsung
• Kevin Systrom, Instagram co-founder
• Ren Zhengfei, founder and CEO of Chinese telecom giant Huawei
• Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s Chief Content Officer, who Jeffrey Tambor says is “helping create the future of entertainment”
• Markus Persson and Jens Bergensten, Minecraft developers
• Sam Yagan, OkCupid co-founder and CEO of Match.com
• David Einhorn, President of Greenlight Capital
• Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO
• Jony Ive, Apple design leader
• Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller, co-founders of Coursera
• Marissa Mayer, Yahoo CEO, who Google’s Eric Schmidt calls “pathbreaker and a trailblazer and an inspiration to women everywhere
• Perry Chan, CEO of Kickstarter
• Kai-Fu Lee, tech incubator

If you want to check out this year’s and previous TIME 100 lists, they’ve got every list all the way back to 2004 available on the Time 100 hub.

If you’re like me, RogerEbert.com was a frequent stop on your internet browsing schedule. Every Friday morning (or Thursday night, occasionally), I would visit Ebert’s site to find out what he had to say about all the newly released films of the week. I, like many others, was greatly influenced by not only Ebert’s film reviews, but by his blogging and various other essay on politics, religion, and life in general.

Well, apparently Ebert and his wife Chaz worked to make sure that “was” remains “is.” They tapped a digital strategist to help ensure that the site, visited by millions, would remain a top destination for those hungry for film critique and discussion. And that new site is now live.

“Roger wanted to bridge film criticism and the community of fans like never before,” Chaz Ebert said. “The new site enlists many more critics, reviewing many more movies, displayed side-by-side with the most comprehensive collection of Roger’s Pulitzer Prize-winning content online.”

You may have noticed that the site has gone through a transformation since Ebert’s death earlier this month. And quite frankly, it’s a huge improvement. The old rogerebert.com was one of the best online resources for film lovers, but it wasn’t very easy on the eyes. The new site is cleaner and more visually impressive.

The new content will be powered by a network of contributors – nearly 20 listed on the site. They’ll provide the week’s reviews.

“The site focuses on three things: criticism, commentary and community,” said site designer Josh Golden. “Everything is aggregated in one place. It’s both library and playground for serious film buffs, but it’s easy to navigate for people who are just looking for a good movie.”

And of course, all of Ebert’s reviews and Great Movies essays are accessible on the site.

The plan is to keep people coming to the site for their reviews, even though Ebert has passed on. By the looks of things, they’ve got things going in the right direction.

Budweiser is looking to celebrate its iconic logo with a new can design this Spring. The Anheuser-Busch brand will unveil a new bowtie-shaped can on May 6th.

The can, will be a few drop short of the full 12-ounce can you’re used to – clocking in at 11.3 ounces. With the fewer ounces of beer comes fewer calories per can – 8.5 fewer to be exact.

“This can is certainly a conversation starter: eye-catching, easy-to-grip, trendy and – according to our research – very appealing to young adults,” Budweiser innovation head Pat McGauley said. “It’s a beer can like no other.”

“This can is incomparable, like nothing you’ve ever seen before,” said Pat McGauley, vice president of innovation for Anheuser-Busch. “The world’s most iconic beer brand deserves the world’s most unique and innovative can. I think we have it here.”

The cans will come in 8-packs.

Of course, the bowtie can resembles the long-time Budweiser logo, and that was the goal.

“Though there is no written documentation on the origins of the Budweiser bowtie, it is a brand icon found the world over. According to company lore, the bowtie was introduced when too many people were using the “Bud” bar call too frequently, so the double triangles were added to emphasize the full Budweiser name,” says Budweiser.

Google, along with a handful of other high-profile companies, has announced that they will join New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is participating in the “Carbon Challenge,” an initiative to “cut greenhouse gases, improve air quality, and fight climate change.”

Google has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from its NYC offices by at least 30%, and up to 40% over the next 10 years.

As a whole, the “Carbon Challenge” hopes to cut emissions in municipal buildings by 30% by 2017.

“When it comes to greening Google’s office buildings, we apply the same focus that we use for any of our products: put the user first,” said Ben Fried, Chief Information Officer for Google. “Creating facilities with leading environmental performance improves the health and productivity of our employees around the world. It also helps us reduce waste, save energy and water, and improve indoor air quality. Through our participation in the NYC Mayor’s Carbon Challenge, we hope to inspire companies of all shapes and sizes to take innovative approaches to reduce their own environmental footprint.”

Bloomberg announced that the citywide emissions are down 16%, which is over half of their stated goal.

“The Carbon Challenge is an essential partnership between the City and our businesses, universities and organizations who share our commitment to a greener, greater New York,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “I want to applaud the commitment of the 10 companies making the Carbon Challenge pledge, as well as the universities and hospitals that have already taken steps to become more efficient. Their leadership on this issue is not only going to move our city toward a more sustainable future; we also hope it will inspire others to follow suit.”

The other companies joining Google in signing on to this initiative are American International Group, BlackRock, Bloomberg LP, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JetBlue Airways, JPMorgan Chase, and PVH. The initiative already has 17 universities and 11 major hospitals on board.

As you’ve probably heard by now, gun control legislation that would ban certain types of military-style assault rifles, limit magazine sizes, and enact more far-reaching background checks for buyers failed in the Senate on Wednesday. We already knew what was going to happen with most of the proposals, but the latter one concerning expanded background checks was up in the air until yesterday.

Although polls show a substantial (90% according to some) support for this measure among Americans, the Senate was unable to pass it through.

President Obama called it a “pretty shameful day for Washington.” You know all of that. Ok.

Well, it appears that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is basking in his victory with Facebook memes.

Here’s what was posted to the official Mitch McConnell Facebook page in the aftermath of the vote. It shows Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) asking for some “gun control,” being denied by McConnell, and in the end hanging his head in defeat.

“We love the memes you send us! Keep them coming!” reads the post. So it looks like a supporter created the 5-panel graphic and Team McConnell decided to share it with their 32,000+ followers.

“Shame on you! You have sold out on the children of Newtown,” says one commenter.

“Shame on every senator who voted against background checks–supported by 90% of Americans. Do you represent us or the NRA?” says another.

The post is generating a lot of buzz with over 3,000 shares and over 5.600 comments. Team McConnell has a history of using the Facebook page to generate support with memes (just take a look at their past activity), but it seems they may have stepped in it here by posting such a flippant gloat over an issue which many Americans would consider of grave importance.

Want to see something absolutely nuts? Ok, follow me.

“Alexander Polli does the never before done – a tactical flight through a narrow cave on a rugged mountainside. The flight starts with a jump from a hovering helicopter, Alexander reaches speeds of 250 km/h (155 mph) while following a precise trajectory leading to the cave opening, he then fully commits and flies directly through the narrow opening of the ‘Batman Cave!’”

Or, in other words: Good lord no no no no no…HOLY Faaaa…

Check it out below for 2 minutes of sweaty palms.

[EpicTVadventure]