Technology Slice Blog

Oprah Mac and Cheese Binge - Oprah Winfrey says her worst career moment was the box-office failure of her movie "Beloved." It sent her into what she calls a "macaroni-and-cheese-eating tailspin." Winfrey starred as a former slave in the 1998 film based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. The movie had the misfortune to open the same weekend as the slasher film, "Bride of Chucky." "Beloved" was a flop. Winfrey tells Piers Morgan in an interview for his new CNN talk show that it was the only time she was ever depressed. Winfrey says she told her chef to make some mac-and-cheese to help her cope. Oprah Mac and Cheese Binge

Top Marriage-Killing Money Issues - Money can be an issue with family, friends, and even marriages. Money affects so many parts of our life it is unavoidable. So instead of avoiding it, your best bet is to manage your money well. A big percentage of divorces are due to money issues. Ironically, most people also end up without much money because of divorce. There are ways to avoid all this trouble. Keeping separate accounts if both partners are working will usually get you in trouble. You should have been taught to share toys at a very young age and money within a marriage is much the same. Learning to share your money, ie. having joint accounts, will allow you and your partner to be more flexible. Bills and expenses will come out of the same account leaving less arguments about who pays for what. The only time this may not work is when there is a big discrepancy between the two partners wages. The wife might be making $100,000 a year while the husband is only making $30,000. And...

Rumer Willis Badgley Mischka Ad - Rumer Willis, the eldest daughter of Demi Moore and Bruce Willis, is turning her years growing up in front of the camera into career experience: Fashion house Badgley Mischka is choosing her as its newest spokesmodel. Parent company Iconix Brand Group said Thursday that the 22-year-old will star in the spring ad campaigns for the high-end Badgley Mischka collection, the contemporary Mark & James label, footwear, handbags and swimwear. Willis is known for an edgy style. Designers Mark Badgley and James Mischka describe her as "glamorous, youthful and fun." Previous models for the celebrity-heavy brand include Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Sharon Stone and Eva Longoria. Rumer Willis Badgley Mischka Ad

Banded Penguins Skew Climate Data - Tagging penguins with flipper bands harms their chances of survival and breeding, a finding which raises doubts over studies that use these birds as telltales for climate change, biologists said on Wednesday. The metal bands, looped tightly around the top of the flipper where it meets the body, have long been used as a low-cost visual aid by researchers to identify individual penguins when they waddle ashore. Foot tags are not used because of the penguin's anatomical shape. But, says the new study, the seemingly harmless bands affect the penguin's swimming performance, causing it to waste more energy in foraging for food, sometimes with life-threatening consequences. Banded Penguins Skew Climate Data Publishing in the journal Nature, French and Norwegian scientists reported that they took 100 king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus), selected at random on Possession Island on the Crozet archipelago, a sub-Antarctic group in the sout...

6,000-Year-Old Winery Found in Armenian Cave - The world's oldest winery has been discovered in a cave in a mountainous area of Armenia. A 6000-year-old stone vat in which to press the grapes, jars for fermentation and drinking bowls were found by archaeologists from the University of California, Los Angeles. The winery, at least 1000 years older than any similar find, was discovered in the same cave where researchers in June announced the discovery of the world's oldest leather shoe. 6,000-Year-Old Winery Found in Armenian Cave The primitive winery, near the village of Areni in the Caucasus, is surrounded by ancient graves, leading experts to speculate that red wine was produced for ritualistic funeral ceremonies and as an offering to the dead. Archaeologists believe that the Copper Age inhabitants of the area crushed wine grapes with their feet in a metre-wide clay basin. The grape juice was channelled into a 60-centimetre-deep stone vat, where it fermented, before...

Best Low Impact Exercise - Exercise is beneficial to your health no matter what age you are. But after a certain age, there are aches and pains in the joints. Low impact exercises are best for those that are getting on in years, or those that want to minimize stress on their joints. Jogging for example is very harsh on the joints. Especially if you are overweight. It stress the knees and ankles with every stride. It is even worse if you are running on concrete as it doesn't absorb any of the pressure. The best low impact exercises are ones where the body does not have to support it's own weight while exercising. Rowing is a good one. It works out the upper body and has minimal impact on the joints. Using a exercise bike or a cross trainer machine has little to no impact on the joints. Best Low Impact Exercise

Most Wanted Celebrity Body Parts, Celebrity Looks - Some of our favorite celebs have the most wanted body parts, according to two plastic surgeons from Beverly Hills, home to Hollywood and it’s stars. Their 14th annual “Famed Hottest Looks” survey lists the top 3 celebrities in each coveted category. BODY Girls Gisele Bundchen Jennifer Aniston Penelope Cruz Guys Mark Wahlberg Channing Tatum Tyson Beckford _ NOSE Girls Natalie Portman Emma Stone Nicole Kidman Guys Jude Law Josh Duhamel Benn Affleck _ HAIR Girls Taylor Swift Jennifer Aniston Kim Kardashian Guys Jon Hamm George Clooney Chris Pine Most Wanted Celebrity Body Parts, Celebrity Looks

Griffey Baseball Card Arrest - The famous Ken Griffey Jr.(notes) rookie card from the 1989 Upper Deck set has become so iconic that it's now helping police solve crime sprees. No, really. Police in New York say they were recently able to tie together a couple of burglaries because the alleged pair of suspects had one of the familiar cards — which has been said to be worth anywhere from $10 to $1,000, depending on condition — in its possession after an earlier heist. Griffey Baseball Card Arrest

Tia Mowry Pregnant - Tia Mowry has more to celebrate than the return of her TV show "The Game" — she's also pregnant. BET Networks publicist Tricia Newell has confirmed that the actress is expecting. Mowry is married to actor Cory Hardrict. It will be the first child for the couple, who were married in 2008. Mowry stars in the show "The Game." The show's fourth season premiered on BET on Tuesday night; the first three seasons originally aired on the CW from 2006 to 2009. The 32-year-old Mowry and her identical twin sister, Tamera, starred in the 1990s hit show "Sister, Sister." Tia Mowry Pregnant

Favre Sister Arrested - The younger sister of legendary quarterback Brett Favre was among five people arrested in Diamondhead, Miss., after police discovered a meth lab, WLOX-TV reported Wednesday. According to the report, officers responded to the condo complex after witnessing a drug purchase nearby. Specific charges against the three men and two women have not been announced yet. The suspects were reportedly taken to a hospital for decontamination before being taken to jail. Hazmat teams entered the condo unit to dispose of the chemicals. According to TMZ, Brandi Favre has prior arrests for shoplifting and unlawful use of a weapon. Favre Sister Arrested Diamondhead is located in southern Mississippi, near Kiln, where the future Hall-of-Fame quarterback grew up. Favre, 41, experienced a tumultuous year both on and off the field. He was plagued by injuries throughout the season as the Vikings stumbled to a 6-10 mark, and he vowed that he will not play again next year. M...

Sarah Palin Blood Libel - SARAH Palin has stepped into a fresh firestorm of controversy after accusing her critics of "blood libel" in her first public remarks on Saturday's mass shooting in Tucson. The former vice-presidential candidate used a video statement to hit back at those who charged her with moral culpability for the attempted assassination of Gabrielle Giffords, the Democratic Congresswoman whose district she had picked out on a map of electoral targets emblazoned with rifle sights. The seven-minute video, posted on Facebook, showed Mrs Palin in an Oval Office-style setting, speaking to the camera with the reflection of teleprompters on her spectacles. In it, she criticised journalists and pundits who, she said, "manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn". Sarah Palin Blood Libel "That is reprehensible," she added. Mrs Palin's attempt at a presidential-style addre...

Carrie Fisher Jenny Craig - Carrie Fisher is hoping to blast some fat off her body and has signed up with Jenny Craig to get it done. "I'm fat," the 54-year-old told People magazine. "All the clothes in my closet belong to another chick. They have to make a new alphabet for my bra size." In the 1970s, when Fisher stared as Princess Leia in "Star Wars," she weighed 105 pounds. Today, the 5'1" actress says she is 180. The pounds just crept up she says, a combination of bad habits and emotional eating. "I look on the Internet and they say, 'Whatever happened to Carrie Fisher? She used to be so hot and now she looks like Elton John,'" she told People. "I was really hurt." Fisher has long struggled with drug and alcohol abuse as well as mental illness. In best-selling books and a hit Broadway show, "Wishful Drinking," she chronicled her efforts to overcome those obstacles as well as tumultuous relation...

Bieber returning to CSI in February - Justin Bieber is returning as a guest star to hit US TV show CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, where he made his acting debut last autumn. CBS have announced that the teenage superstar will reprise his role as a troubled teen whose brother was killed at the end of his previous episode. Now shooting, the episode is titled Targets Of Obsession, and is scheduled for broadcast across the pond on February 17. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, which focuses on a forensic team in a Las Vegas crime lab and can be seen on Five in the UK, stars Laurence Fishburne, Marg Helgenberger and George Eads. Bieber returning to CSI in February

Ghostbusters 3 no go without Bill Murray - Director Ivan Reitman is waiting on Bill Murray's approval to begin work on the new Ghostbusters sequel, because he has to win over the Hollywood actor before they can even think about filming. The filmmaker is ready to step behind the camera once more to shoot the third installment of the spooky story, 21 years after directing the last film in the franchise in 1989. All four of the original 1984 Ghostbusters - Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson - have signed on to reprise their characters in the forthcoming project - but Reitman has urged fans not to believe everything they hear, because a lot of the other casting details are pure speculation. Ghostbusters 3 no go without Bill Murray He tells ComingSoon.net, "There is almost nothing that is accurate online about that film. There is nothing ... I mean, all these stories ... there has been a ton of stuff about casting, about who's in... None of it is true (...

Octomom Mortgage - "Octomom" Nadya Suleman and her 14 children could avoid being evicted from their suburban home if the mortgage holder cuts a deal with a top maker of pornographic videos. Amer Haddadin, the man who holds the loan, has repeatedly warned Suleman to pay the $450,000 that's due or get out. But he says he's now considering an offer from Vivid Entertainment co-founder Steve Hirsch to pay the bill. Suleman has repeatedly declined Hirsch's offers of up to $1 million to appear in porn videos. Haddadin says half a million dollars is nothing to Hirsch, whose company is one of the biggest pornography companies based in California's San Fernando Valley. Ted Williams, the formerly homeless man who became a viral sensation for his “golden voice,” has decided to check into rehab after taping television segments with Dr. Phil during which family members allege that, despite his claims of sobriety, he has been drinking daily. "I am open to any ...

Short Breaks from Sitting Smaller Waist - We all know that too little exercise can pack on the pounds and contribute to heart disease and other ills, but a new study published in the European Heart Journal on Jan. 12 shows that we can even cause ourselves harm simply by sitting for too long without moving. And what office worker doesn't spend much of the day in that position? The study was the first to look at the heart health consequences of prolonged sitting among a large and diverse group. Researchers collated data from 4,757 participants who were all part of the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2003 and 2006. The subjects wore accelerometers which measure the intensity of their physical activity 14.6 hours a day for seven days. Investigators then measured waist circumference, blood pressure, cholesterol levels and C-reactive protein concentrations to determine heart health. In a subset of the group, they also measured markers of diabetes: levels...

Michelle Williams on Ledger: There's a Hole in our Lives - Michelle Williams has continued to open up about the death of baby daddy Heath Ledger, saying the hole he left in her life is "impossible" to fill. "Obviously for me and Matilda, there's a hole in our life," Williams tells Marie Claire US, for which she is the February covergirl. "Of course the natural inclination is to want to fill it and make it disappear. But what I've come to recently is that it is impossible. "Nothing will fit in that hole because what we want back we can't get, which is this one person. Michelle Williams on Ledger: There's a Hole in our Lives "I'm not going to rush anything and scamper around like a mad person and make myself crazy. I'm trying to be respectful of the absence. I'm not trying to fill it up. It is what it is." Williams tells the magazine she took a year off work after Ledger's death from an accidental dr...

Obesity Costs $300 Billion - According to a new study released today by the Society of Actuaries (SOA), the total economic cost of overweight (BMI between 25.0 – 29.9) and obesity (BMI of more than 30) in the U.S. and Canada reaches $300(1) billion per year, with 90 percent of the total – $270 billion – attributed to the U.S. While much research has been conducted on obesity, the SOA study looked at the economic costs of overweight and obesity caused by increased need for medical care, and loss of economic productivity resulting from excess mortality and disability. "We found substantial evidence that overweight and obesity are becoming world-wide epidemics, and are having negative impacts on health and mortality," said actuary Don Behan, FSA, FCA, MAAA and independent consulting actuary. "As actuaries, we are working with the insurance industry to help incentivize consumers through their health plan design to focus on health and wellness, which will hopefully help cu...

2010 Ties Warmest Year on Record - Last year was tied for the warmest globally since records began, a U.S. agency said, capping a decade of record high temperatures and raising concerns about more storms and floods related to climate change. Combined global land and ocean temperatures in 2010 were 1.12 Fahrenheit (0.62 Celsius) above the 20th century average, tying the record set in 2005, the National Climatic Data Center, an office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in a release. 2010 Ties Warmest Year on Record

3 Charged in Mauritius Honeymoon Murder - Three hotel employees were charged in Mauritius on Wednesday in connection with the murder of an Irish woman honeymooning on the Indian Ocean island, its commissioner of police told Irish radio. Michaela Harte, the 27-year-old daughter of Gaelic football manager Mickey Harte, was found strangled at the Legends Hotel in the village of Grande Gaube on Monday. "They have been provisionally charged with murder. Two have been charged (with murder), the other one ... has been charged with conspiracy," Dhun Rampersad told state broadcaster RTE. 3 Charged in Mauritius Honeymoon Murder Mauritius police said two of the three men charged have confessed to the murder, according to RTE. The men have been remanded in police custody for a week and will return to court next Wednesday, when they are expected either to be formally charged or released. One of the defendants asserted in court that he had been beaten while being questioned by...

Edward Furlong Jailed | 'Green Hornet' Star - Edward Furlong was arrested on Tuesday morning after allegedly violating a court order to stay at least 100 yards away from his estranged wife. The Green Hornet actor – who is the subject of a three-year restraining order forbidding him from going near Rachael Bella at her home, place of work and vehicle - was taken into police custody after turning up to court for a progress report where it was found that, according to the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office, Edward breached the order last month by coming within 50 yards of Rachael. Edward Furlong Jailed | 'Green Hornet' Star The 33-year-old star – who has a four-year-old son, Ethan, with Rachael – was then sent to jail, before being released after posting his $75,000 bail. A probation violation hearing has now been set for Valentine's Day. The restraining order came after Rachael - who filed for divorce from Edward in July 2009 after three years of marria...

Edward furlong jailed - Edward Furlong was arrested yesterday morning (11.01.11) after allegedly violating a court order to stay at least 100 yards away from his estranged wife. The ‘Green Hornet’ actor – who is the subject of a three-year restraining order forbidding him from going near Rachael Bella at her home, place of work and vehicle - was taken into police custody after turning up to court for a progress report where it was found that, according to the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office, Edward breached the order last month by coming within 50 yards of Rachael. Edward furlong jailed The 33-year-old star – who has a four-year-old son, Ethan, with Rachael – was then sent to jail, before being released after posting his $75,000 bail. A probation violation hearing has now been set for Valentine's Day (14.02.11). The restraining order came after Rachael - who filed for divorce from Edward in July 2009 after three years of marriage - told the court in a previous hea...

MySpace to Cut Staff in Half - Myspace announced on Tuesday it was cutting some 500 jobs, nearly half its staff, in a move seen as potentially setting the stage for a sale of the social network owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. "Today's tough but necessary changes were taken in order to provide the company with a clear path for sustained growth and profitability," Myspace chief executive Mike Jones said in a statement. "The new organizational structure will enable us to move more nimbly, develop products more quickly, and attain more flexibility on the financial side," Jones said. MySpace to Cut Staff in Half He said the restructuring would "result in a 47 percent staff reduction across all divisions globally and impact about 500 employees." News Corp. bought Myspace for 580 million dollars in 2005 but it has been overtaken in recent years by Facebook, which has grown to more than 500 million members while Myspace's numbers have d...

Apple iPhone 5 Release in February - After months of rumors and speculations, the Verizone iPhone has been surfaced. The much awaited Verizon iPhone 4 was launched on Tuesday, Jan 11. This new smartphone from the largest wireless carrier in United States will be available by Feb 2011. Verizon became the second the carrier for iPhones in United States after AT&T launched the iconic smartphone in 2007. The most remarkable difference of Verizone iPhone from that of AT&T is that it's a CDMA version. Unlike the rumors, the new iPhones from Verizone would not support the 4G LTE network. The reason why Verizone selected CDMA is that it does not want to make changes on iPhone which will be essential to carry on LTE network. Also the Verizon iPhone won't allow customers to use voice and data at the same time. Apple iPhone 5 Release in February

Orange Gator could be Dye Job - An orange alligator photographed in South Florida is raising questions about its strange pigment. 74-year-old Sylvia Mythen spotted the gator sunning beside a neighborhood canal in Venice near her home earlier this week and she was so shocked, she took a picture. Mythen contacted her local news stations and a biologist but says she really took the picture because she wanted to show her grandkids in Indiana. Originally, the biologist thought the alligator could be part albino, but after analyzing the images, experts with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission say the animal's coloring is not genetic. They suspect the gator's coloring came from something in the environment. Some even believe that the orange coloring is a prank, especially since the color is similar to the tone found on the Florida University mascot. Orange Gator could be Dye Job

Mila Kunis 'I was Blind in One Eye' - Sexy starlet Mila Kunis is no stranger to catching a few appreciative glances, but the Black Swan actress has a secret about her own smoldering stare. "I was blind in one eye for many years, and nobody knew," the Ukraine native, 27, told February's Cosmopolitan about her struggle with chronic iritis, an inflammation of the iris. Fortunately, the star's health issues have a happy ending. "I'm not blind anymore. I had surgery a couple of months ago. They cut it open and dropped a new lens in there." Her eyes weren't the only facial feature Kunis opened up about to the mag -- who named her this year's Fun Fearless Female. Mila Kunis 'I was Blind in One Eye'

'Green Hornet' Star Edward Furlong Jailed - Troubled former teen star Edward Furlong was thrown in jail Tuesday for allegedly violating a restraining order against his estranged wife, just hours after attending the Hollywood premiere of his new film, “The Green Hornet.” Furlong was arrested during a progress hearing Tuesday morning over the 100-yard, three-year restraining order taken out by Rachael Kneeland, People reported. The “Terminator 2” star was found to have violated the order last month by coming within 50 yards of Kneeland and was booked on $75,000 bail, the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office told news outlets. 'Green Hornet' Star Edward Furlong Jailed The arrest is the latest sad chapter for Furlong since Kneeland filed for divorce in July 2009 after three years of marriage. The pair have a 4-year-old son, Ethan. Soon after their split, Kneeland accused Furlong in court papers of rampant cocaine and other drug use and of making threats against...

World Food Prices Hit New High - The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has raised the alarm on the potential danger of a “food price shock”, specially for the poor people in developing countries. The FAO has announced that its food price index… a basket tracking the wholesale cost of staple commodities like rice, wheat, corn, vegetable oils, dairy products, sugar and meats — jumped to 214.7 points, above the peak of 213.5 set in June 2008. Abdolreza Abbassian, senior economist at the FAO in Rome told the Financial Times that the prices of agricultural commodities are likely to rise further. “It will be foolish to assume that this is the peak,” he said. Even before the warning, many countries including China are already struggling with rising food prices. It has become such a political challenge so that in the case of China, taming inflation has become a top priority, even if it means having to move up the value of the yuan against the dollar faster than usual. World F...

Heidi the Cross Eyed Opossum - A cross-eyed opossum in Germany called Heidi who is not yet even on public display has become an Internet hit, winning more than 65,000 admirers on social networking website Facebook. Heidi is thought to be two and a half years old, and was abandoned outside an animal shelter in North Carolina in the United States, together with her sister Naira, and has been in Leipzig zoo in eastern Germany since May. The sisters, plus a third male opossum called Teddy, arrived via a zoo in Denmark, and will make their public debut on July 1, the German zoo says on a special Internet page set up for Heidi's fans. Heidi the Cross Eyed Opossum The zoo believes the marsupial's eye problem may be to do with her diet before she was abandoned, or because she is overweight, leading to fat deposits behind her eyes. Otherwise she is completely normal and not in pain. "Apart from aesthetically, this situation is not a problem," the zoo says. "As ...

Fittest U.S. Cities 2010 - For those familiar with the region, Salt Lake City's selection as the Fittest City in America might not be much of a surprise. But even we were stunned when our Fattest City turned out to be 2,539 miles away from Salt Lake City, in Miami. Yes, Miami. Home of South Beach, with its images of tight bodies and scantily attired denizens. Yet despite a wide availability of local running and biking trails, Miamians are 35% less likely than the national average to actually use them. This is just one of the many gaps between the Fittest and Fattest Cities in America. As we've done for more than a decade, MF collected and analyzed reams of data on the 50 most populated areas in the nation in an effort to determine just which cities take fitness the most seriously. 1. Salt Lake City, UT 2. Colorado Springs, CO 3. Minneapolis, MN 4. Denver, CO 5. Albuquerque, NM 6. Portland, OR 7. Honolulu, HI 8. Seattle, WA 9. Omaha, NE 10. Virginia Beach, VA Fit...

Suri Cruise goes Shoe Shopping - Showing off her passion for fashion, 4-year-old Suri Cruise tried on a few pairs of high heels while out shopping with her mom Katie Holmes and friends at Holt Renfrew in Vancouver, Canada yesterday (January 9). The pretty preschooler teetered around the shop in some sparkly peep-toes before setting her sights on a pair of black kitten heels. In a recent interview the Mad Money star admitted she often takes her daughter's style advice, saying, “[Suri will] really tell me [what she thinks]. Like today I’m wearing brown suede pants, and she said, ‘I don’t like your pants.’ But then she’ll say, ‘You’ve got to wear these shoes.’ Or ‘That’s so pretty, Mom.'" Katie and Suri are spending some time in Vancouver while dad Tom Cruise films Mission Impossible IV. Suri Cruise goes Shoe Shopping