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Late-night host Conan O’Brien will appear in his first interview since leaving his post as host of NBC’s The Tonight Show with 60 Minutes this Sunday [May 2], CBS said on Tuesday. O’Brien chats with CBS correspondent Steve Kroft one day after the expiration of a contractual clause barring the comic from speaking with the media.

As you’ll recall, O’Brien departed The Tonight Show after a timeslot dispute. Earlier this month, Conan announced that he will be hosting a late-night program for TBS beginning in November.

I hope you are sitting down for this… “2 Girls One Cup” is, according to the definition on Wikipedia, “the unofficial nickname of the trailer for Hungry Bitches, a scat-fetish pornographic film… The trailer features two women conducting themselves in fetishistic intimate relations, including defecating into a cup, taking turns ostensibly consuming the excrement, and regurgitating it into each other’s mouths“.

Part of what has facilitated 2 Girls 1 Cup’s spread are the reactions it causes. Thousands of videos exist on YouTube of users showing the original video (off-camera) to their friends and taping their reactions, although some videos seem to be staged.

The visualization project with the same name [paulshen.name] attempts to analyze these reactions, in terms of both audio and video. A collection of 20 of the most-viewed YouTube reaction videos were downloaded and then edited to start at the exact same time. Each of these videos were then processed to collect data about optical flow (e.g. amount of motion between consecutive frames) and volume (e.g. fast Fourier transformation of the audio instance).

The author expected that by analyzing the reaction videos quantitatively, meaningful patterns would emerge that could, in an indirect way, describe 2 Girls 1 Cup trailer. But it appears that once the mayhem begins, the reaction videos turn into chaos, maintaining the shock through the duration of the video.

You can watch a compilation of all the viewers’ reactions (and *only* the reactions) below.

French toast enjoys a wide and varied history,  and food history enthusiasts will find that the combination of beaten egg, day-old bread and good seasonings pop up in the traditional cooking of peoples across the globe, from Germany to Brazil, and is first referenced in Apicius – a collection of Roman recipes first recorded in the late 4th century.  And why not? It’s a perfect use for day-old bread, where its very staleness equates to an improved result.

For us, sourdough French Toast is a compromise foods in many ways.  We don’t often consume sweeteners, natural or otherwise; after all, sweeteners were rarely used among populations thriving on their native, traditional diets outside of celebratory ritual¹, but, from time to time, we indulge – and this recipe is no exception.  It’s wickedly indulgent – combining the richness of eggs and cream with the sweetness of maple syrup; moreover it’s a good source of manganese² – a nutrient that plays a critical role in many biological functions but is particularly important in bone formation, healing and collagen formation.  Maple syrup, particularly the darker and cloudier syrups, offer some antioxidant activity³. That said, it is still a concentrated sweetener, natural as it may be, and should be used with a wise and thrifty hand.

Sourdough French Toast: The Recipe(…)
Click here to read the rest of Sourdough French Toast with Maple and Cinnamon (389 words)

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Within the next few weeks, Tesla Motors Inc. will announce which plant it has chosen to produce its electric vehicles, according to a report from Automotive News.

CEO Elon Musk revealed that Tesla will hire 50 to 60 people a month. Tesla will also be concentrating on vehicle engineering and production specialists. Tesla is believed to already have picked companies or is contemplating on choosing which of the two finalists to supply 80% of the parts for the upcoming $49,900 Model S sedan that will be launched in 2012. Tesla’s first mass production plant is expected to be on the West Coast where it will assemble both the Model S and the next-generation Roadster sports car. A factory will be converted for this purpose. However, Musk didn’t say if this plant had been used previously by the automotive industry. He only said that the terms have yet to be finalized and that the deal is “almost fully negotiated.” No signing has taken place yet.

[via autonews – sub. required]

Source: Car news, Car reviews, Spy shots

Today the New York Times had an opportunity to sit down with Andy Rubin, VP of Engineering at Google and one of the founders of the Android platform, to discuss “everything Android.”  The topics of discussion ranged from the battle between Google and Apple to Chrome OS and Flash support for Android, and back to the Google/Apple war.

The author of the article tagged Android as “Google’s primary weapon” in the the war between two of the nation’s largest technology-focused organizations.  And whether you agree or not, from the tone of the conversation it would seem that Rubin believes the real weapon is openness.  When a question about whether consumers actually care about open or closed platforms arose, Rubin said “When they can’t have something, people do care. Look at the way politics work. I just don’t want to live in North Korea,” presumably referring to the closed nature of Apple’s product line.

As the conversation progressed, the topic of support for Flash – an important topic for Android enthusiasts – came up and Rubin promised that Froyo (Android version 2.2) would fully support Flash, stating that being open “means not being militant about the things consumer are actually enjoying.”  Once again, Rubin was probably hinting at Apple’s unwillingness to work with Adobe to bring Flash to the iPhone or iPad, despite the public outcry for the standard.

Rubin also touched briefly on the subject of Android versus Chrome OS, and mentioned that the two operating systems each represent different purposes.  When asked if Chrome and Android tablets would co-exist, Rubin said, “I don’t know if there will be Chrome and Android tablets, but if a consumer walks into [a] store and two of those tablets are my company’s choices, I’m all good.”

As the interview came to a close, the NYT reporter joked with Rubin about the recent “lost/stolen iPhone” debacle, stating that the PR rep who had joined Rubin wanted him to “confess that he had left a prototype Android phone at a local bar.”  To that Rubin replied, “I’d be happy if that happened and someone wrote about it, with openness comes less secrets.”

If it wasn’t clear before now, openness is the key to success in the eyes of Andy Rubin, though I can’t help but remember a certain someone saying (when referring to the lack of native multitouch on US Android devices) “I personally don’t like two-handed operations.” What about us Andy? What about us?

Via Bits

While attending the ongoing Beijing Auto Show, consumers are being presented with seemingly countless options of electric and hybrid gas-electric vehicles. Outside of the show, however, consumers are opting for gas-powered SUVs and shunning hybrids and electric vehicles at dealers.

According to Gasgoo, several Toyota and Honda dealers in Beijing are complaining of shortages of small SUVs, while hybrid vehicles are having to be sold at a loss to clear them from dealer lots.

Beijing Honda dealers explain that customers in Chaoyang, a district of Beijing, must wait two months to receive the Honda CR-V they ordered, which has fueled dealer price mark-ups. By contrast, the Civic hybrid won’t even sell at sticker its sticker price of $39,550.

Toyota is facing similar woes, with one Beijing Toyota dealer telling Gasgoo that it only has two RAV4 SUVs in stock, and urgently needs more supply to meet demand. The dealer explained that the recent recalls by Toyota haven’t resulted in any complaints from customers, nor a slow down in purchasing. The RAV4 was recalled in China for its global faulty gas pedal problem.

Executives from both Japense automakers commented at the Beijing Auto Show that they are not overly concerned about the potential for the Chinese government to remove tax cuts on new car sales in the near future as their larger models are selling well enough in the Chinese market.

A deputy president of the Honda factory located in Wuhan, China, said that the plant is running overtime in order to produce 1,013 CR-V SUVs each day.

References
1. ‘Toyota, Honda SUVs sell better…’ view

Source: Leftlane

THQ has finally unveiled the final list of rosters that will see action in upcoming mixed martial arts sequel, UFC Undisputed 2010. From the heavyweight division down to lightweight, check out the massive list of fighters after

Pricing has been announced for the Alfa Romeo Giulietta range, which will debut in the UK in July at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and will go on sale the same month.

The carmaker has confirmed that prices will start from £16,995. The base model is the 1.4 TB in Turismo trim. The following features come as standard: air-con, alloy wheels, electric front and rear windows, stop-start, LED lights and Alfa’s DNA system. Admittedly, this model is priced higher than the entry-level five-door VW Golf 1.4, which is priced from £15,435. However, the Alfa has more power and equipment. On the other hand, the Giulietta is cheaper than the entry-level five-door Ford Focus 1.6 Style (with a £17,945 price tag). Interestingly, the Alfa has more equipment and power than that model as well. Five engines will be offered: petrol engines include the 120bhp 1.4 TB (£16,995); the 170bhp 1.4 TB Multiair (£19,495); and the range-topping 235bhp 1750 TBi Cloverleaf version (£24,495). The diesel range consists of a 105bhp 1.6 JDTM-2 (£17,895); and 170bhp 2.0 JDTM-2 (£21,195). Three trim levels are available on the Giulietta — Turismo, Lusso and Veloce. Alfa will take center stage at Goodwood this year as part of its centenary celebrations. Photo gallery after the jump!

Source: Car news, Car reviews, Spy shots

The choices for chrono watches are endless. TRIWA knows this, and puts forth their version with the brand’s own signature style. The Carbon Chrono features a case made from PC plastic and the strap from PC rubber. The links contrasting are in matte and shiny black. The chronograph details are a reflective silver which match the numbering around the bezel, while the TRIWA logo proudly adorns the face at 12 o’clock. The second hand adds some contrast in yellow and the movement inside is all quality with a Seiko VD52 mechanism. For a brand so strongly associated with colour the darker palette really allows the sleek silhouette, simple detailing and stylish constitution to come to the fore. Available now via www.glassboutique.co.uk.

WorldTour is one of those free little apps that turns out to be way more interesting than it should be. The idea behind WorldTour is to give those of us trapped in cubicles or offices a glimpse of the rest of the great big world we only wish we could go visit. WorldTour sets the background of your Android phone to a real-time image from any of several webcams around the world. Say, for example, you love penguins. You simply tell WorldTour to set your background to the Moody Garden penguins in Texas, and it will periodically take an image from a live webcam in the zoo and set it as your phone background. Then, any time you pick up your phone, you can see what those crazy penguins are up to.

One of the best features, though, has to be the ability to set the background to a random webcam. This is just what I did, and throwing data usage to the wind, I told it to update every 10 minutes. I then found myself strangely compelled to check my phone throughout the day to see what things looked like around the world. I saw the Pyramids, The Vatican, the surface of the sun (don’t ask me how they got a webcam there), a beach in Australia, and even a random laundromat in China. In the interests of full disclosure, though, I have to say that my wife was not nearly as interested, and informed me of such about the fifth time I interrupted Glee to show her my phone. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Despite how great I think WorldTour is, it does have a few issues. While it has a setting to force the random webcams to only show places where it’s daytime, I regularly get pictures of dimly lit monuments and beaches. I also find that I’ve seen the same webcams several times, while there are others available that have never shown up in my random rotation. And finally, this app desperately needs some way to pick which webcams show up in a random rotation. As it stands now, it’s all or nothing. I’m really not overly interested in an updated image of the sun, as it doesn’t seem to have any seasons, weather, or visitors.

Pros:

• It’s definitely addictive
• Gives you that fun “I have to check my email again” feeling
• Provides interesting little snapshots of what’s going on around the world.
• Can add a user-defined webcam

Cons:

• Could use up a good amount of data for those on limited data plans
• Still has some bugs
• Your wife or significant other may yell at you

Final Verdict:
WorldTour is a fun, free, little ride around the world. Unless you’re worried about data usage, give it a try.

Note: This review was submitted by Adam Littell as part of our app review contest.

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A few years ago, while searching for a suitable product to help his severely autistic son Callum adequately express himself, speaks4me creator Steven Lodge came up with the idea for a computer-based interactive communication tool based on a successful and popular autistic learning system, but the technology to support the idea was not readily available. That’s now changed…
Continue Reading Speaks4Me turns images into speech

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Comprehensive immigration reform and “pathway to citizenship” are Washington-speak for legalizing the roughly 12 million illegal immigrants currently living in the United States. And at a time of high unemployment and mounting federal debt, one important component is the legislation’s impact on the federal budget.

According to studies from both the left and the right, an estimated 40 percent to 60 percent of illegal immigrants don’t have high school diplomas, compared to about 15 percent of American adults. Illegal immigrants typically work in low-wage careers, such as housework, food service, gardening and construction, earning roughly $15,000 to $30,000 a year.

In some cases, those wages would qualify them for social welfare programs like food stamps, Medicaid and refundable tax credits — programs that you don’t need to pay federal income tax to qualify for.

CLICK HERE FOR TAX CALCULATOR ON IMMIGRATION

The latest immigration bill hasn’t been scored yet by the Congressional Budget Office, but many of the components are similar to those in the failed 2007 immigration bill, which would have cost an estimated $30 billion over five years, including $20 billion for enforcement measures. The CBO also said the 2007 bill would have added $15 billion to the federal deficit.

FoxNews.com’s latest taxpayer calculator estimates how much someone in your income range would have paid on average under the 2007 bill.

People earning under $15,000 would have paid an estimated $1.27 over five years. The same average for those making $30,000 to $50,000k would be $48. The bill would have cost Americans bringing home $100,000 to $200,000 an average of $365 over five years, or $73 a year.

Staffers and sources on Capitol Hill say that, like the 2007 bill, the latest legislation would require citizenship applicants to learn English and pay a fine, but it also may contain a “touch back” provision – in which people would go to their home countries to register but would be allowed to “wait in line” while working in the U.S. with visas.

The conservative Heritage Foundation says comprehensive immigration reform will cost U.S. taxpayers much more — about $90 billion a year, once low-skilled immigrants are fully legalized. The organization says these immigrants will receive an average of $3 to $4 in benefits for every $1 paid in taxes.

“If you are adding millions and millions of very poorly educated people into the welfare system, into Social Security and Medicare, you are going to have a huge expansion of government costs,” says Robert Rector, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation.

Tokyo employs multiple strategies to green the city and emerge as a sustainability leader. …

… "Those include toughened environmental building standards, cash incentives for residents to install solar panels and a plan for greening the city, including planting half a million trees and converting a 217-acre landfill in Tokyo Bay into a wooded sea forest park. " …

Via University of Arizona: Tokyo Eco-Friendly Goal

The movie Nature by Numbers created by Etérea [etereaestudios.com] is a beautifully illustrated animation focusing on remarkable geometrical and mathematical properties, which range from the Fibonacci numbers over the Golden Angle and Ratio, to the Delaunay triangulation (more detailed information about all these can be found here).

See also:
– The Visualization of Randomness
– Data Signals on a Spiral
– Ulam Prime Spiral
– Visualizing Prime Numbers
– Symmetrical Mathematical Structures
– Number Spiral

by Julian Ku

Adding to our already energetic discussion about the ICC and Kampala is the WSJ Editorial Board’s contribution today.  I share many of the editorial’s skeptical views of the ICC and I think even Kevin would not find any “lies” in this article.  Here is the crux of their critique, which I mostly share:

From the Balkans to East Timor to the Mideast, these pages have welcomed international action to stop atrocities. In select cases, such as the U.N. war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, we’ve backed ad hoc courts with a narrow mandate, limited life and proven commitment to fairness. The ICC meets none of those standards.

Moral grand-standing via indictments also isn’t the same as doing something about crimes against humanity. The indictment of Sudan’s butcher of Darfur, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, made him harder to dislodge, and absent serious intervention, it has probably prolonged the suffering there.

Only two quibbles: 1) Why is the Yugoslavia tribunal more likely to be fair than the ICC? 2) I also don’t quite agree with the lead: “Step by tentative step, the Obama Administration is getting closer to embracing the International Criminal Court. The White House won’t join the Hague-based body soon, but that’s its logical endpoint.” I don’t see this happening anytime in this president’s term (either his first or second). And I’m not sure that non-cooperation is a viable or desirable strategy.  I think the Administration’s approach is about right, assuming they end up close to the CFR Report’s recommendations.

Bulletproof vests are built for safety, not for comfort, but breakthrough research from the University of South Carolina suggests soldiers and law enforcement officers of the future might be more casually dressed. The scientists have taken an everyday T-shirt and reinforced it with the boron carbide – an extremely hard ceramic used in bullet proof vests and tanks – to produce a UV protective, lightweight and flexible body armor solution.
..
Continue Reading Turning ordinary T-shirts into super-tough body armor

Tags: Armor,
Law Enforcement,
Military

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The diminishing Arctic sea ice cover has largely been blamed on climate change and human global warming. New research from Norway suggests this may not be the case.

The past 30 years have seen the ice cover surrounding the North Pole diminish significantly, specifically within the last decade. Many experts, including the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), believed that this was a direct result of man-made global warming and climate change.

Researchers from the Norwegian Component of the Ecosystem Studies of Sub-Arctic Seas (NESSAS) believe that they have discovered the real reason why there has been such a dramatic decrease in the sea ice cover around the North Pole. (more…)