SDCC 2013 - Hasbro Toy Shop Discount Code Revealed ...
Tfromers is here at SDCC covering the show LIVE! Get ready for the Transformers Products Hasbro Brand Team Panel that will covering the new products for the coming year including Generations, Beast Hunters, 30th Anniversary Thrilling 30, Platinum Editions and much more. Keep check the report that will be updating in real time as the event happens starting in just a few moments.
Blatter: Brazil may have been wrong choice as host
Associated Press Sports
updated 3:02 p.m. ET July 17, 2013
GOING, Austria (AP) - FIFA President Sepp Blatter said Brazil might have been the wrong choice as host of the 2014 World Cup if the tournament is affected by more social protests similar to those as at the Confederations Cup.
Hundreds of thousands of Brazilians took to the streets during the warm-up tournament in June, demanding better public services and expressing their anger about the cost to stage the World Cup.
"If this happens again, we have to question whether we made the wrong decision awarding the hosting rights," Blatter told German press agency DPA on Wednesday.
FIFA spoke with the Brazilian government after the Confederations Cup, and Blatter said he'll discuss the issue again with Brazil President Dilma Rousseff in September.
"We didn't do a political debriefing, but we did emphasize the fact of this social unrest being there for the entire duration of the Confederations Cup," he said. "The government is now aware that next year the World Cup shouldn't be disturbed.
"To me, these protests were like alarm bells for the government, the senate, the parliament. They should work on it so that this is not going to happen again. Though protests, if peaceful, are part of democracy and therefore have to be accepted ... we are convinced the government, and especially the president, will find the words and the actions to prevent a repeat. They have a year to do so."
Blatter was speaking at the start of a two-day conference on sports, media and economy set up by German great Franz Beckenbauer in Austria. FIFA later verified the comments were accurate.
The Confederations Cup, which was won by Brazil, angered citizens who are upset with the billions of dollars spent on the tournaments while they endure underfunded schools and hospitals.
Protesters aired a variety of grievances, including the high cost of hosting the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The protests were originally organized by university students before spreading across the country, including tournament host cities Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Fortaleza and Belo Horizonte.
"It's not we who have to learn lessons from the protests in Brazil - politics in Brazil have to do that," said Blatter, adding that "FIFA cannot be held responsible" for social problems in the country.
Without FIFA's executive committee having to vote, Brazil won the right to host the tournament in October 2007. That was six months after the only other candidate, Colombia, withdrew its bid.
"The decision for Brazil was the best decision we could make. It was the correct decision, we stick to this decision," Blatter said.
Blatter said the success of next year's tournament will be instrumental in his decision whether to stand for president for a fifth time in 2015, adding that not all of the governing body's tasks have been fulfilled.
"First we have to complete the reforms, which are three-quarters done. I'll then have to deliver the World Cup ... the way the world looks now, I'll say yes or no (to standing again) at the next congress in Sao Paulo in 2014," he said. "FIFA should be taken over by someone who can take over a FIFA which is not just financially healthy, which it is now, but which also has credibility."
? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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PST: The United States men's national team enters the Gold Cup quarterfinals on a record eight-game winning streak, and it looks like they are only getting better.
JERUSALEM (AP) ? Israel's premier talked with a series of European leaders Wednesday, outlining his strong objections to a European funding ban on Israeli institutions operating in occupied territories, officials said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the measure with the President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso as well as the leaders of France, Greece, Malta and Austria, the officials said.
They said Netanyahu told the leaders, "There are more urgent and pressing issues in the Middle East that should be dealt with first," like the conflict in Syria and Iran's nuclear program.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the content of the conversations with reporters.
Israeli media reported that Netanyahu urged the leaders to delay the ban's enforcement.
The EU decision, announced on Tuesday, marked a new international show of displeasure with Israeli settlements built on lands captured in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians claim some of those territories ? the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem ? for their hoped-for state. The announcement sparked a round of condemnations from Israeli leaders, including Netanyahu, who said Israel would not accept "external edicts" about its borders.
The officials also said Netanyahu spoke to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry about the EU decision, saying it harms Kerry's efforts to restart negotiations. Israel's chief peace negotiator, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, met Wednesday with the European Union envoy for Mideast peace, Andreas Reinicke, and told him that postponing the ban's enforcement would help relaunch peace talks, which stalled nearly five years ago.
The EU said the ban applies to "grants, prizes and financial instruments and that the new funding guidelines go into effect in 2014. The EU issues dozens of grants, totaling millions of euros, to Israeli universities, companies and researchers every year.
Also Wednesday, Israel's state comptroller criticized Israel's lack of law enforcement in the West Bank, saying the lawlessness has allowed for illegal construction in the West Bank by both Israelis and Palestinians. In the report, the military was quoted as saying its inspectors at times encounter "strong resistance" from Jewish settlers when trying to enforce laws against illegal construction.
Some 500,000 Israelis live in Jewish settlements scattered through the West Bank and around east Jerusalem. In addition, the West Bank is dotted with smaller settlements and outposts not formally sanctioned by the government. The Palestinians and the international community view all of Israel's West Bank settlements as illegal.
The comptroller, Joseph Shapira, pointed to "significant shortcomings, some of them serious" in the coordination between the police and the military, tasked with enforcing law in the territory. Israel retains overall control of the West Bank, while a Western-backed Palestinian government has self-rule in areas where more than 90 percent of the Palestinians live.
The report noted other fields in which the law is often violated, such as water theft and environmental standards.
Microsoft Wants to Turn Your Home Into a Laboratory
Microsoft has plans for your home: with its new Lab of Things, it wants to suck up data from around your home so you can probe, analyze and experiment to your heart's content.
SPIED: McLaren MP4-12C up for a minor nip and tuck - Paul Tan
It has only been on sale for the past two years, but we?ve become familiar with the McLaren MP4-12C for twice as long now, since its initial unveiling in 2009. It was just last year that it was given a thorough under-the-skin update to improve its performance, handling and character.
Next in line in the McLaren MP4-12C?s evolutionary path is a subtle nip and tuck to its headlights and front fascia, as seen in this set of spy photographs. The open-top Spider variant is pictured here, but expect the facelift to cover the coupe as well.
Look no further than the McLaren P1 to imagine how the refreshed car will look, especially concerning the headlamps where P1-like bright LED DRLs can be seen peeking through the coveralls. An integrated front splitter can be seen too, perhaps taken from the anniversary-special McLaren 50 12C.
Other than a minor visual makeover, you can expect McLaren to inject more power and drivability into the new car, using the various technological advances found through the long development programme of the P1 hypercar. As usual, you?ll find out more when we do.
Ledbetter twins at home in Rangers family - The Spokesman-Review
Twenty-six years elapsed before a major league baseball team drafted a player from Cedarville (Ohio)?University.
That player, Spokane Indians starting pitcher David Ledbetter, held his place in school lore for two days, until another Yellow Jackets player was selected in the draft by the same team, the Texas?Rangers.
Ledbetter gladly shared the spotlight with his Cedarville teammate, fellow pitcher Ryan Ledbetter, who happens to be his identical?twin.
?You couldn?t have scripted that any better in a storybook,? said David, who was tabbed in the third round of last month?s?draft.
?It was really fun to??
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David Ledbetter is off to a great start with the?Indians. (Full-size photo)
Twenty-six years elapsed before a major league baseball team drafted a player from Cedarville (Ohio)?University.
That player, Spokane Indians starting pitcher David Ledbetter, held his place in school lore for two days, until another Yellow Jackets player was selected in the draft by the same team, the Texas?Rangers.
Ledbetter gladly shared the spotlight with his Cedarville teammate, fellow pitcher Ryan Ledbetter, who happens to be his identical?twin.
?You couldn?t have scripted that any better in a storybook,? said David, who was tabbed in the third round of last month?s?draft.
?It was really fun to be drafted by the same team,? said Ryan, a 19th-round selection. ?That alone was?enough.?
The one downside to the story: Ryan was assigned to the Rangers? Arizona Rookie League team rather than to Spokane of the short-season Class A Northwest?League.
?We knew coming into it that we could be split up,? Ryan said. ? ?But if there was ever a time to split, it would be now. We can get our bearings and not just rely on each?other.?
?We always say that the one thing that takes away from being a twin is you don?t have a strong knack or ability to develop such deep relationships with others, because you always have each other,? David?said.
The twins already had experience being apart because David married Cedarville pharmacology student Elizabeth Douglass on Dec.?28.
?I met her in the first couple of days (at Heritage Christian in Indianapolis) and we started dating a month later,? David?said.
Elizabeth?s best friend, Maddie Anderson, is engaged to Ryan. They, too, are planning a Dec. 28?wedding.
The twins, who are both right-handers in the 6-foot, 190-pound range, were born Feb. 13, 1992, in Fishers, Ind., to Ron and Sherrie Ledbetter. They attended Hamilton Southeastern High School in Fishers before transferring to Heritage Christian as?juniors.
Both enrolled at Cedarville, although Ryan?s freshman baseball season was cut short by Tommy John surgery. Cedarville, which became an NCAA Division II school last year, hadn?t produced a drafted player since the nearby Cincinnati Reds selected Steve Hester in 1987. Texas scout Roger Coryell visited Cedarville early during the Ledbetters? junior season and liked what he?saw.
?We attended a predraft workout and loved the atmosphere,? David said. ?It just felt like family. We were huge Rangers fans after?that.?
David led all Division II pitchers last season with an average of 13.65 strikeouts per nine innings. He went 6-5 with a 3.15 earned-run average, just behind Ryan?s team-leading ERA of?3.05.
Ryan, a reliever in the Arizona Rookie League, said he needs more seasoning on the mound because, unlike David, he played part time in the infield in?college.
After Wednesday?s win over Salem-Keizer, David is 2-0 with an ERA of 1.23 in 22 innings. He has struck out 20 and walked three. He is scheduled to pitch Tuesday during the second game of a three-game home series against?Tri-City.
?I feel like I?m doing well now, but I?m just trying to be the best I can every day,? David said. ?There are days where you?re going to stink. It?s how you handle those days that make you into a good pitcher or a bad?pitcher.?
Through six games in Arizona, Ryan has an ERA of 2.89 in 9 1/3 innings, allowing just two hits. He has 10 strikeouts and five?walks.
?It?s been 118 (degrees) in some games,? Ryan said. ?It?s brutal and it hurts your eyes, but you stay loose?easy.?
The twins hold out hope that they end up with the same team somewhere down the?road.
?I don?t know what Texas has planned, but I know that whatever they choose to do I?ll back 100 percent,? David?said.
Stores using our phones to track our movement, behavior while we shop - clever... or creepy?
While online retailers like Amazon can collect and analyze an incredible amount of behavioral data via accounts, cookies, page-views and other web technologies, real world stores aren't so lucky. If you run in, pay cash, and run out, they're pretty much "blind". That is, until American fashion retailer, Nordstrom, decided to use our phones and their Wi-Fi signals to try and get in on the customer analytics game. Stephanie Clifford and Quentin Hardy writing for the New York Time:
Nordstrom?s experiment is part of a movement by retailers to gather data about in-store shoppers? behavior and moods, using video surveillance and signals from their cellphones and apps to learn information as varied as their sex, how many minutes they spend in the candy aisle and how long they look at merchandise before buying it.
And they're by no means alone. Wi-Fi and video are new tools, but customer insight analytics has been going on for years. As long as they have a single unique identifier - a loyalty card number, email address, phone number - they can perform an incredible amount of analytics on our buying patterns. (That's why they're always asking for your contact info or trying to get you to sign up for their card.)
Actually monitoring our movements via video and Wi-Fi signal draws a more detailed, more accurate, more visual map of how we walk through stores and what gets our attention, but market basket analysis has been used to figure out the cheapest coupons that'll appeal to us and when, the best way to group products and offer sales, and what to stock up on and what to dump from the shelves. (And this information is sold back to vendors, creating a lucrative side business for retailers and analytics firms both.)
Theoretically, customers benefit through more timely and appropriate coupons, better store organization, and products that are more in line with what they want to buy. (Also, TV show lawyers could get their clients off because, hey, their phones were across town at the time...)
But, using Wi-Fi to actually track us moving through stores sets off all sorts of privacy alarm bells. When Nordstrom posted a notice about it, they received complaints and they ended the practice.
So here's the question: Do you care if a store uses your phone to track you while you shop? Do you use store cards, and/or give stores your email address or phone number now? Is live surveillance creepier than periodic check-pointing?
