Technology Slice Blog

Best U.S. Housing Markets 2011 - Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said a recovery in the U.S. housing market may not be solid until home prices rise by at least 10 percent. “Stabilization is important not only to the housing market, but to the economic recovery as a whole,” Greenspan said today in a speech at the Brookings Institution in Washington. “Home prices will have to rise unequivocally and perhaps by 10 percent or more before signs of a full-fledged housing recovery become unambiguous.” Home values in the U.S. fell during the fourth quarter as mounting foreclosures sidelined buyers who think prices may decline further. The median price of a single-family home dropped from a year earlier in 71 of 152 metropolitan areas tracked by the National Association of Realtors, the group said yesterday. The number of homes in foreclosure in December rose to a record 2.2 million, according to Lender Processing Services Inc., based in Jacksonville, Florida. Including for...

David Beckham Stranded Driver - The driver phoned BBC Radio 5 Live to recall the story to Richard Bacon. Paul Long explained he was on the school run when he got stuck on a busy roundabout. ''Cars were buzzing past and I had two kids in the back but no-one stopped, no-one came to help," he said. "After 10 minutes I saw a car had pulled over into a lay-by in the distance. Its hazard lights came on. "A figure got out, wearing a hoodie. This sort of slipped down and as he got nearer it became apparent to me it was David Beckham. "I said, 'You're David Beckham' and then he nodded. "He asked if we were OK and I said, 'Could you give us a push over to the side?' which he duly did. Someone else came to help as well.'' David Beckham Stranded Driver

Brooke Mueller to get $700,000 - Brooke Mueller will get $700,000 once her divorce from Charlie Sheen is wrapped up but her settlement is way more than it appears at first glance. I did the math and for being married 3 years to Charlie Sheen, Mueller basically gets $11,000 for every day she was married to the Two and Half Men star! The couple were married on May 30, 2008 and if the divorce is final by May 30, 2011, Brooke Mueller and Charlie Sheen were married for 3 years total. Brooke will get $700,000, a 2009 Mercedes sports car and her $1 million share of the couple’s home in the divorce agreement. On top of the settlement, Mueller gets Mueller will also receive $55,000 a month in child support! If Charlie Sheen pays child support for Bob and Max, who will turn two this year, for another 16 years until they are of legal age, that works out to a whopping $10,560,000 in child support for Brooke Mueller. Brooke Mueller to get $700,000

Bud Shootout 2011 - After 25 wreck-free laps, Daytona International Speedway saw its first crash of the year during the Bud Shootout. On lap 29, Regan Smith bumped Carl Edwards who then got into Dale Earnhardt Jr., sending cars flying and taking out what appeared to be another five or six cars. Joey Lagano, Juan Pablo Montoya and others were powerless to avoid the carnages, with multiple cars taking heavy damage from the crash. For all intents and purposes, this was the big one of the Bud Shootout. The second half started with Kyle Busch taking the lead, surging to the front with the bump draft. Earnhardt Jr. lost his draft just before the crash and appeared to be working back into it when he and Edwards collided. At over 200 miles per hour, there was little either driver, or those caught behind them in the wreck, could do to avoid it, with no escape to be found. The Bud Shootout is under caution now, with Ryan Newman in the front. Jeff Burton, currently in third, has still led th...

Grenade Mexican Nightclub - Armed men have opened fire and hurled a grenade into a crowded nightclub in the Mexican city of Guadalajara, killing six people and wounding at least 37. The grenade was thrown at the porch of the bar in Mexico's second most populous city, police said on Saturday. Three women and three men were killed in the attack and more than 20 people were wounded. The assailants fled in several cars. This is the second grenade attack on a Guadalajara bar in less than a month: On January 16 an argument between gunmen and musicians ended in a blast that killed two people. The latest attack took place just hours after a shootout between soldiers and presumed cartel gunmen left eight people, including an innocent driver, dead in the northeastern city of Monterrey. Monterrey is at the intersection of several highways - often used as drug smuggling routes - heading north into the US. Two rival drug organisations, the Gulf cartel and their former allies, the Z...

Lambert Drunk Tweeting - At the Grammy Social Media Rock Stars Summit, the pop singer admitted that "drunk tweeting is not good," and that when he has looked over some of his tweets from the past, he could see how they were offensive. "You have to be careful," Lambert said, who has over 860,000 Twitter followers. "Newspapers will quote your tweets." The former "American Idol" runner-up also said that while he loves when fans take pictures and record video footage at his concerts, he feels like they're cheating themselves. "It's (also) adding pressure on the performer ... since the stuff is up and everywhere," he said. Lambert, 29, was joined by rapper Chamillionaire at the pre-Grammy event. Chamillionaire won a Grammy in 2007 for his No. 1 song, "Ridin'." Lambert is nominated this year for best male pop vocal performance for "Whataya Want from Me." Lambert Drunk Tweeting

Borders to File Chapter 11 - Borders Group Inc. is in the final stages of preparing a bankruptcy filing, clinching a long fall for a company with humble beginnings that helped change the way Americans buy books but failed to keep pace with the digital transformation rocking every corner of the media landscape. The troubled Ann Arbor, Mich., bookseller could file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy-protection as soon as Monday or Tuesday, paving the way for hundreds of store closings and thousands of job losses, said people familiar with the matter. Borders has abandoned efforts to refinance its debts, and is preparing bankruptcy papers and seeking financing agreements that would keep it operating during the Chapter 11 restructuring process, the people said. Its shares tumbled 33% to 25 cents apiece in 4 p.m. New York Stock Exchange trading after The Wall Street Journal reported its plans. Borders to File Chapter 11