Android users can now run Firefox OS apps (all six of them)

• By Ryan Whitwam on June 15, 2014 at 11:01 am
• 
• Mozilla’s Firefox OS is based on Gecko — the same core rendering engine that its desktop and mobile Firefox web browsers use. This unified framework goes to the essence of what Firefox and Mozilla are about. Mozilla sees the future of apps and browsing as two sides of the same coin. To push its vision for “Open Web Apps,” Mozilla has rolled out v29 of Firefox for Android, which enables you to download and install Firefox OS marketplace apps on your Android device with no additional configuration.
  When developers create apps for Android or iOS, they need to build them using Java or objective C, respectively. This has traditionally allowed for a more robust set of APIs and vastly improved performance compared to web-only technologies, but things are slowly changing. Firefox OS apps are built using HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript. The upshot of this is that they can run on any platform with the proper rendering engine, in this case Gecko.
  Mozilla isn’t the first company to push web apps on mobile devices as an alternative to native ones. That distinction goes to Palm, which used a similar approach to the app ecosystem on webOS. That didn’t go so well, but the capabilities of browsers have advanced considerably in the last four or five years. Mozilla’s WebAPI documentation provides methods for accessing hardware (camera, battery stats, sensors, etc.) as well as a variety of data management and communication features. The gap between native apps and web apps is more technologically narrow than it once was.
  With the new support for Android, all you need to do is install the updated Firefox browser from Google Play — attempting to grab anything from the FF marketplace with Chrome results in an error. The apps will go through the standard Android installation dialog (packaged as an APK), and even show up in the app drawer. They open like normal apps, but all the rendering is done through Firefox’s Gecko engine. As for usability and performance, web-based apps like this have definitely come a long way over the years. They work, but the design language is much less refined.
  Mozilla hopes that its Open Web App initiative will spur more development of apps based on web technologies. Developers could potentially save themselves a lot of headaches by building apps once with web languages instead of doing the same thing multiple ways for different mobile operating systems. However, cross-platform compatibility is currently limited to Android. Apple doesn’t allow third-party browser engines on iOS (even Chrome for iOS uses the stock WebKit engine), so there’s no way to render Open Web Apps.
• Expanding web apps to Android isn’t Mozilla’s only mobile play. Firefox OS itself is still under development and there are new entry-level smartphones running the software set for release in India (and a few other markets) for as little as $25. Even the super-cheap Moto E can’t compete with that. With Microsoft still faltering, Mozilla’s open approach and entry into big developing markets could potentially earn it a comfortable (but distant) third place slot in the mobile device ecosystem.

Cristiano Ronaldo tells Portuguese what they want to know: he is ready

Pelé calls him ‘the best player in the world’ but can he fulfill one remaining goal and win a trophy with Portugal at the World Cup?

• The Guardian, Sunday 15 June 2014 22.44 BST

Cristiano Ronaldo has declared himself 100% fit and ready to face Germany in Portugal's opening game. Photograph: Francisco Leong/AFP/Getty Images

Ever since leaving for the World Cup there has only been one question hanging over Portugal. A big question. Cristiano Ronaldo, though he kept a roomful of journalists waiting for more than an hour for his scheduled press conference, was eventually able to answer it himself. “I would like to be 110% fit but I am 100% fit and that should be enough to help the national team,” the Portugal captain said. “I am here to help, I believe I can make a difference, but one player is not a team. I cannot carry the national side on my own.”

If that might be termed a secondary question about Portugal, it has been hanging over them for a few years now. Ronaldo having outshone his perennial rival Lionel Messi over the course of last season, Portugal begin the World Cup against Germany with the world’s best player in their midst, a situation that last pertained when Eusébio helped them to third place in England in 1966.

“Having the best player in the world in our squad does not make it mandatory for us to win the World Cup,” said Portugal’s coach, Paulo Bento. “I have said this before to the people of Portugal. There have been times when we have had the world’s best player and not even qualified for the World Cup.”

International football is an arena where Ronaldo consistently outscores Messi. Whereas the latter seems to save his most scintillating performances for Barcelona and to date has struggled to be anything like as effective for Argentina, Ronaldo is unquestionably Portugal’s main man. Captain, record goalscorer, most recognisable performer and currently biggest injury concern, he dominates Portuguese football to a degree that is almost unhealthy.

Actually, there is no need to be so circumspect. Portugal’s reliance on a player Carlo Ancelotti described as “extraordinarily consistent” after finishing as Champions League top scorer for a second successive season is definitely unhealthy. Next to “the best player on the planet” (Diego Maradona, 2012), Portugal’s other forward options look positively weedy.

Hélder Postiga, Nani and Hugo Almeida have their virtues but they are not going to kick sand in anyone’s face, with the possible exception in Almeida’s case of lacklustre Ireland in last week’s final friendly. Most people are slightly surprised to find they are still around, such is the forcefield effect that Ronaldo’s presence on the pitch exerts.

Nowhere was this better demonstrated than in Portugal’s play-off success over Sweden, the other international side fuelled almost exclusively by the gifts of a single player. All too predictably, and far from inaccurately, the showdown was billed as a contest to decide which extravagant individual talent would have to sit out the World Cup.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic did his bit, scoring twice in the decisive game, but it was not enough because Ronaldo weighed in with a memorable three. Almost by himself Ronaldo took Portugal to Brazil, although it sometimes feels that Ronaldo takes himself to the major tournaments and Portugal merely turn up as part of his entourage.

At the end of his first season at Manchester United the winger played in the 2004 European Championship final against Greece, an up-and-coming talent just beginning to impress old hands such as Luís Figo, Rui Costa, Deco and Ricardo Carvalho. He has since moved from the wing to centre stage in every sense, accepting responsibility to lead the attack and create goals and more often than not proving successful. “Portugal depend a lot on Ronaldo,” Figo said, a little unnecessarily. “He is the No1.”

Within Portugal there is no doubt about that. Even on the world stage he has a significant backer in Pelé, who rates him more highly than Messi on the grounds that Ronaldo is a more direct attacking handful for defenders to deal with. “Messi comes from behind like I used to do,” Pelé said. “Ronaldo is more important because he is the player who scores goals from the front.” For Argentina at least Messi has been known to blend into the background, and recognising that as a failing Alejandro Sabella has attempted to build his side around the Barcelona forward’s talents.

Portugal have been playing a support act to Ronaldo for years and the Real Madrid player, at 29, as long as he can stay fit, is at the right age to make his strongest impact yet on a World Cup. Certainly Sir Alex Ferguson, who brought him to England in 2003, believes he is at the peak of his powers. “In the six years we had him at Manchester United you saw his game grow all the time,” Ferguson said. “Now you see the complete player.”

The only doubt surrounding Ronaldo’s contribution to this World Cup is over his fitness. He has tendonosis in his left knee as well as a separate muscular problem in his left thigh, and while they are not the sort of injuries that would rule him out of a tournament they may render him less explosive and therefore less effective. A team that has grown so dependent on a single star player could struggle in a difficult group if he is below his best.

The nation breathed a sigh of relief when Ronaldo played for an hour against Ireland and performed with such conviction that the injury question was set aside, yet while he now seems certain to start against Germany, there are no guarantees he will complete that game or be completely untroubled in the ones that follow.

Perhaps rashly, Ronaldo once said he would be fully content with his career only when he had won a trophy with Portugal. He is not exactly running out of time, it is just that Portugal’s development is not keeping pace with his own. Leaving aside the fitful and frequently distracted Nani, whose shortcomings are familiar to Manchester United supporters, the next most stellar presence in the Portuguese side is probably João Moutinho, a midfielder who joined Monaco from Porto for around £20m at the start oflast season and has been a regular international since the 2006 World Cup.

Moutinho was one of the most eye-catching players in Portugal’s run to the semi-finals of the European Championships two years ago but his first season in France has not gone well. L’Equipe voted him among their five biggest disappointments of the season after a promising start at Monaco tailed off into anonymity, and even when playing well Moutinho has never been a prolific goalscorer for club or country. William Carvalho, an Angolan-born defensive midfielder, is rapidly making a name for himself and should feature in Brazil whether Paulo Bento opts for the usual 4-3-3 or a more defensive 4-4-2, but with Ricardo Quaresma not even making the squad Portugal would be short of width and attacking inspiration should their regular source of ideas find himself compromised.

As an unapologetic show-off with a repertoire of tricks and a reputation for conning referees, Ronaldo has always divided opinion and did little to enhance his popularity rating among neutrals with his ridiculously over the top celebration after scoring from the penalty spot when Real Madrid won their 10th European Cup last month. The only thing funnier than Ronaldo taking the chance to show off his finely-honed torso after scoring a practically meaningless goal was Rio Ferdinand’s attempts to defend him.

Apparently it is reasonable to act like that if you have a supermodel girlfriend. Ferdinand was on firmer ground explaining what drives his former team-mate. “He is an exhibitionist,” the former England defender said. “His ego is gargantuan.” In Salvador on Sunday, Ronaldo bridled a little when asked if he needed a World Cup to complete his career. “I don’t think I have to show anyone anything,” he said. “Look at my statistics, my resume. I don’t have to demonstrate anything to anyone. All I want to do is continue my career.”

Declan Galbraith - Tears in Heaven

New Graceland Hotel Approved

The proposed Guest House at Graceland would be built on the west side of Elvis Presley Boulevard if Elvis Presley Enterprises gains approval.

The Memphis-Shelby County Land Use Control Board approved a proposal from Elvis Presley Enterprises to build a 450-room hotel on the same side of Elvis Presley Boulevard as the historic Graceland mansion, one of the city's top tourism sites.

The project faced no opposition at the Thursday, June 12, LUCB meeting, and City Council member Harold Collins said the hotel would provide much-needed economic investment in the community while complementing major upgrades to Elvis Presley Boulevard, the primary artery in Whitehaven.'I want to rise and say this particular project will generate up to $70 million in the inner city', Collins said. 'Very seldom does the inner city get an opportunity where a private developer will invest that kind of money in the community'.

The 450-room hotel, which will include meeting spaces and a restaurant and bar, would be the biggest hotel in Memphis outside the Downtown area, including the Hilton in East Memphis and Hotel Memphis on Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Parkway Village. The hotel plan will still need approval from the council, but that appears to be a lock.

Collins said the hotel project comes as welcome news to most Whitehaven residents and stakeholders, who, for years, have yearned for investments on Elvis Presley Boulevard.

Collins – who was instrumental in securing the $43 million in local, state and federal funding for streetscape improvements on Elvis Presley Boulevard between Brooks Road and Shelby Drive – said the hotel would allow for more tourists to stay in Whitehaven and support businesses in the area.The approval of the hotel plans happened after New York-based Authentic Brands Group LLC in November completed its purchase of a majority of Elvis Presley Enterprises from CORE Media Group, which had acquired a majority stake in Elvis Presley Enterprises from CKX Inc.

CKX had proposed a massive, $250 million investment in Graceland and the surrounding area, including hotels, a new visitor center and extensive exhibit upgrades. The company began aggressively acquiring properties around the mansion before the 'Great Recession' tightened its grip on the global economy and many of the plans were put on hold.

The new hotel appears to be part of a broader effort by Authentic Brands to invest in Graceland. Authentic Brands officials have spoken in broad terms about Graceland upgrades but have revealed few details.

The first sign of new life in the development plan occurred in March, when Elvis Presley Enterprises filed a $670,000 permit application with the city-county Office of Construction Code Enforcement to build a new 'studio building' also on land north of the mansion.

The permit is for property at 3674 Elvis Presley Blvd., which had been a car lot in the past and was bought by EPE in 2006 in anticipation of the CKX expansion.

This site plan shows the proposed Guest House at Graceland's intersection paving that would celebrate Elvis Presley Boulevard. The property would keep many trees for its resort setting. -

See more at: http://graceland.elvis.com.au/new-graceland-hotel-approved.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+elvis_presley+%28Elvis+News+from+Elvis+Australia%29#sthash.GDIyvp2I.dpuf

Angelina Jolie speaks out on sexual assault

RONAN FARROW DAILY 06/13/14

Angelina Jolie speaks out on sexual assault

Actress Angelina Jolie is in London but not for a movie premiere, but to speak out against sexual violence in places of conflict.  The actress speaks with Ronan Farrow about this important cause.

Jolie believes that men need to speak up

RONAN FARROW DAILY 06/13/14

Jolie believes that men need to speak up

Angelina Jolie, along with Secretary of State John Kerry, are at a high-level summit on sexual violence as a tool of war. Jolie joins Ronan Farrow to discuss the summit and what people can do to help.