Bocoran Foto HTC One M9 Plus Terkuak, Apakah Tampil Dengan Tombol Fisik?

Jika bocoran sebelumnya menyajikan dua foto yang diduga warna hitam dari HTC One M9 Plus (yang diharapkan diperkenalkan di MWC 2015 bersama One M9). Nah, bocoran foto kini kembali terkuak, bukan cuma dua tapi empat foto, yang berasal dari sumber yang sama di Tiongkok, kali ini nampak menunjukkan warna silver/gold.

Jika foto tersebut memang One M9 Plus, tampak bahwa HTC telah melengkapinya dengan tombol home fisik, jika rumor sebelumnya benar, tombol fisik tersebut mencakup pemindai sidik jari. Selain itu, bagian depan M9 Plus tidak terlihat terlalu berbeda dari One M9, speaker BoomSound, dan tampak terdapat kamera yang cukup besar. Namun, dikatakan bahwa M9 Plus akan mengusung layar Quad HD bukannya panel 1080p seperti yang ditawarkan One M9.

Tidak jelas apakah One M9 Plus adalah perangkat yang sama dengan HTC A55 yang bocor sebelumnya. Menurut @upleaks, HTC A55 diluncurkan sebagai HTC One E9 di Tiongkok (meskipun kabar lain mengatakan bahwa mungkin akan dirilis sebagai smartphone Desire). Mudah-mudahan saja, HTC akan segera mengumumkan smartphone tersebut.

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Pelanggaran Paten Microsoft di Android , Kyocera Digugat

Sebuah gugatan terkait lisensi paten Android milik Microsoft kembali muncul, kali ini ditujukan kepada Kyocera. Perusahaan yang berkantor pusat di Kyoto, Jepang tersebut digugat oleh Microsoft di pengadilan distrik Seattle, Amerika Serikat.

Menurut Microsoft, Kyocera telah melanggar 7 paten milik Microsoft yang terkait dengan Android, dan meminta ganti rugi serta pelarangan atas produk Kyocera yang melanggar. Secara spesifik, Microsoft menilai ada 3 produk Kyocera yang melanggar yaitu Kyocera Duraforce, Hydro dan Brigadier.

Ketujuh paten Microsoft yang dituduhkan telah dilanggar Kyocera adalah paten yang berhubungan dengan penghemat daya, akselerometer, lokasi, penjejak gerak, dan teknologi lain. Ketujuh paten tersebut belum pernah digunakan Microsoft dalam gugatan-gugatan Microsoft di pengadilan Amerika Serikat selama ini.

Microsoft menyatakan bahwa pihaknya telah menjadi salah satu inovator dengan terus mengadakan riset dan pengembangan walaupun membutuhkan biaya yang besar. Sementara itu Kyocera (dan beberapa perusahaan lain) dinilai menempuh jalan lain dengan hanya menunggu para inovator untuk kemudian memasukkannya ke dalam produk mereka tanpa ijin dan membayar lisensi. Pihak Microsoft menyatakan menghormati Kyocera namun percaya pihak Kyocera perlu membayar lisensi atas paten Microsoft yang dipakai mereka dan berharap masalah tersebut dapat diselesaikan dengan baik.

Microsoft sebelum ini telah melakukan kerjasama lisensi Android dengan beberapa perusahaan seperti Samsung, HTC, dan LG. Menurut Microsoft, kerjasama lisensi Microsoft mencakup 80% dari total smartphone Android yang terjual di Amerika Serikat. Saat ini sendiri Microsoft masih berperkara dengan Motorola terkait gugatan paten.

Diperkirakan, Microsoft mampu memperoleh pendapatan sebesar 2 miliar dolar setahun dari hasil lisensi paten-patennya kepada para pembuat handset Android. Angka pendapatan tersebut dipercaya lebih tinggi daripada angka pendapatan yang diperoleh dari lisensi OS Windows Phone.

via Geekwire

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Ed Sheeran covered 'Dirrty' because it's 2002 again

Ring the alarm, Ed Sheeran's throwin' elbows.

We've all been waiting for Sheeran to embrace his "grown up" phase, and here it is. The singer covered Christina Aguilera's 2002 hit "Dirrty" for BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge and turned it into a soulful, acoustic guitar piece that was oddly pleasing to the ears.

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Christina Aguilera does a spot-on impression of Britney Spears singing

Wait, is it the '90s again?

Christina Aguilera and Jimmy Fallon took turns doing musical impressions of famous singers on Monday's Tonight Show. Christina tried her hand at Cher and Shakira, during which she sounded mostly like herself, but her Britney Spears impression? Spot on.

Guess X-Tina spent a lot of 1998 listening to "Baby One More Time" — much like the rest of the world.

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Pebble Time Smashes Through $6.5M On Kickstarter In Half A Day

Early this morning, we noted that the Pebble Time — Pebble’s new color e-ink 

Early this morning, we noted that the Pebble Time — Pebble’s new color e-ink smartwatch — had smashed through its $500,000 goal in an absolutely preposterous seventeen minutes.

We don’t generally do play-by-play updates on Kickstarter campaigns, but this one is a bit too crazy not to note. The Pebble train just won’t stop.

Nine hours after the launch of the campaign, Kickstarter is still vacuuming up cash at an absurd rate. It now sits at $6.5 million, earning it a spot in the Top 5 most funded projects to ever hit the site.

The only projects that have pulled in more? The Ouya console ($8.5M), The Oatmeal’s Exploding Kittens card game ($8.7M), the original Pebble ($10.2M), and the Coolest cooler ($13.2M). All of those had a month-plus to earn their totals; the Pebble Time has joined their ranks in half a day.

Pebble’s repeated success on the platform has started something of a debate, with some arguing that they’re too successful to turn to a crowdfunding site. “It’d be like watching Bill Gates, Mark Cuban and Warren Buffett panhandling on the streets of Seattle”, writes Daniel Cooper on Engadget.

But is that really Kickstarter’s problem to solve? Where does one draw the line? What makes a company too successful for Kickstarter? Public perception? Should having a successful Kickstarter and going on to find retail success prevent you from returning to the well? Or should we let people vote with their wallets and stop romanticizing Kickstarter as something that it’s not?

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Dhawan hundred sets up another big-day win

India showed just why no one was writing them off even after they had spent two-and-a-half months in Australia without a win. They might not be the strongest team in the field, but on big days in limited-overs cricket they stay calmer than most. In a match to potentially decide who finishes top of their group, India sat back and saw South Africa work themselves up into a frenzy, get too funky and wilt under the weight of their own mistakes. This was India's first win over South Africa in a World Cup match.

If at all, India like going old school on big days. Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli began slowly, made sure India had a solid platform before they began to accelerate. Dhawan went on to score his first century in three months spent in Australia - his personal best and also the highest score against South Africa in a World Cup match. Kohli fell for 46, but Ajinkya Rahane scored 79 off 60 to help Dhawan along. India kept the defence simple too: bowl as few bad balls as possible, and once again under pressure South Africa imploded.

The execution of both the plans from India was spot on, but that had a lot to do with how simple the plans and preparation were. South Africa called in Gary Kirsten and Michael Hussey for consultation, they picked an extra bowler in Wayne Parnell, they used spinners in unconventional parts of the innings, but the anxiety showed the most in the fielding. Hashim Amla dropped Dhawan on 53, but anxiety was never more apparent in their trigger-happiness with unnecessary throws at the stumps and fumbles on the ground. It's hard to remember when South Africa last fielded so badly. 
It started much better, though. AB de Villiers sent Rohit Sharma back for a duck with a direct hit from extra cover. India deserve all the credit for not panicking when Dale Steyn was bowling well along with Vernon Philander. It took them 14 overs to reach four an over for the first time, but South Africa looked the more anxious team. Philander had walked off with a hamstring injury, Morne Morkel had begun ordinarily, and Parnell - who would register the worst figures for a South African in a World Cup match - was going to be targeted.

Dhawan and Kohli attacked South Africa with proper attacking shots, and not scoops and reverses. They added 127 in 24.2 overs with Kohli taking the back seat to Dhawan's positive approach. It could have gone better for South Africa. Dhawan had looked in good touch in reaching 53 off 73, Kohli had just about got over a slow start, but South Africa were offered an opportunity to halt the assault. Dhawan cut Parnell to the right of Amla at point, a regulation catch by modern standards, Amla got both hands to it, but dropped it.

Before the match Kohli had spoken about sustained momentum and not relying just on the final 10 overs. Dhawan and he then walked the talk, taking 53 off the next seven overs. Parnell was their main target but even the return of Steyn didn't slow India down. Nor did the fall of Kohli - against the run of play and to a long hop from Tahir - slow them down. Rahane and Dhawan flowed smoothly, building up to a crescendo towards the Powerplay, which brought them 44 runs with no loss of wicket. Rahane and Dhawan added 125 in 16.3 overs.

In the final few overs, though, despite some more ordinary fielding, South Africa managed to pull India back a little. Only 80 came off the last 10, but India had a testing total on the board. South Africa don't have much batting after No. 6 but their top six are as good as any. There is a reason, though, why they have now failed to chase 270 eight times out of nine since they beat India in Nagpur in 2011. There is credit in how they have conceded 270 only nine times, but under pressure their batting invariably falters.

Once again India made sure they didn't make mistakes. South Africa's arrived shortly. There was hardly a bad ball bowled in the first three overs, and Quinton de Kock went manufacturing something in the fourth, driving Mohammed Shami straight to mid-off with the ball nowhere near driving length. Amla was handcuffed by the lack of easy boundaries before he top-edged a hook. The much-maligned bowling was doing the job for India once the batsmen had put runs on the board. 
At 40 for 2, Faf du Plessis and de Villiers came together. They added 68 for the third wicket, but they had to earn every run. India hustled in the field and bustled with the ball. There was no freebie on offer. With the asking rate rising, every set of two-three dot balls imparted pressure. De Villiers' response to four straight dots in the 23rd over was to risk an improbable second, but India's fielding today gave away nothing. Mohit Sharma swooped in from deep cover, and threw right by the stumps. The asking rate was now close to 7.5, and South Africa now needed a miracle.

Miracles rarely happen in such high-profile clashes once you have put yourself under so much pressure. Wickets kept falling as South Africa looked to manufacture runs, and India's reputation of good players of big matches in limited-overs cricket enhanced even further. They were now all but sure to face in quarter-final the fourth-placed team from the other group.

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Andrea Petkovic throws racquet at line judge in fit of rage after losing point that was out

Petkovic lost her cool in the defeat to Zarina Diyas at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship

 

German tennis player Andrea Petkovic lost her cool in a match against Zarina Diyas at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship as she crashed to a straight-sets defeat in the second round on Tuesday. But while it’s not uncommon to see a tennis player let the red mist get the better of them (you can’t be serious?!) Petkovic did the unthinkable when she hurled her racquet at a line judge.

After Diyas hit a ball long of the baseline, Petkvoci can be seen to make her way to the other side of the court in preparation for the next point, only to turn and stare at the umpire in bemusement when he awards the point to Diyas.

Incredulous that the decision has not gone her way, Petkovic – who was born in Yugoslavia but moved to Germany when she was six months old – immediately makes her frustrations clear as she vents her anger at the decision towards anyone that will listen to her, including the crowd.

  

Andrea Petkovic in action against Zarina Diyas In what can be heard from the video., Petkovic shouts: “Oh my goodness, there is a mark. I cannot believe this, it’s the worst call ever.”

Gesturing at the gap between where the ball landed and the baseline, she adds: “This much, here’s the mark, it’s f*****g out. How can you do this? This is amazing.”

After appearing to compose herself to play the next point, Petkovic, who is currently ranked 10th in the world, returns the ball straight into the net to hand the game to her opponent.

  

Petkovic vents her anger at the official What she does next is simply stunning. As she makes her way back towards her chair, she hurls her racquet in the direction of the line judge. Luckily, she misses the line judge as the racquet crashes into the adverting hoardings behind, as heard by the loud thud in the video. She then has to go and fetch her racquet, and return with her tail between her legs for the next game under the unimpressed stare of the line judge.

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Jose Mourinho: Four moments changed the game against Burnley

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Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho blamed four key moments for his side's failure to beat Burnley.

The Blues had Nemanja Matic sent off as they were held to a late 1-1 draw at home to Burnley. 
Referring to notes in his post-match BBC interview, Mourinho said: "There are four moments of the game where you can write the story. Minutes 30, 33, 43 and 69. Don't ask me more questions. 
"I can't go through the incidents. I am punished when I refer to them." 
The key incidents: 

30th minute - Ashley Barnes on Ivanovic

Burnley keeper Tom Heaton launches the ball forward and Barnes appears to catch Branislav Ivanovic with a knee to the back of his legs as the two challenge for a header. The Blues defender reacts furiously to the challenge but the referee does not award a free-kick. 

Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic (left) was unhappy with Ashley Barnes' challenge

Match of the Day pundit Alan Shearer, former England captain
"I think Martin Atkinson's had a terrible game. Ashley Barnes goes up for the header with Ivanovic, he leads with his foot, and he's very fortunate. He kicks out, with studs into the back of Ivanovic's hamstring, and that should be a yellow card."

33rd minute - Handball penalty appeal

Ivanovic is at the centre of the action again. Juan Cuadrado pulls the back back for the Serbia defender and he strikes a first-time shot from the edge of the area which hits the raised arm of Michael Kightly, who is turning his back on the ball. Ivanovic claims handball but referee Martin Atkinson is unmoved. 

Burnley's Michael Kightly (left) escaped giving away a spot-kick after Ivanovic's shot hit his arm

Match of the Day pundit Alan Shearer
"This is a blatant handball by Michael Kightly. Martin Atkinson is about 10 yards away and Ivanovic is seven or eight yards away. Kightly turns his back and sticks his arm out. That has to be a penalty. It's not as if he's gone to block it with his arms down. His arm's right out there. It has to be handball."

43rd minute - Costa penalty denied

Burnley defender Jason Shackell is dispossessed by Diego Costa and, in trying to make up for his mistake, the Clarets player appears to push the Chelsea striker. Costa falls to the ground but Atkinson again decides against awarding a spot-kick to the home side. Costa punches the ground in anger. 

Chelsea striker Diego Costa showed his frustration when he was not awarded a penalty in the draw with Burnley

Match of the Day pundit Alan Shearer
"Jason Shackell loses the ball and tries to make up for his error, but he catches Diego Costa and shoves him. He gets his legs caught up with Costa's. You can tell by Costa's reaction, by the way he slams the turf with his fists, what he thinks about it. It should be a penalty."

69th minute - Matic red card

The midfielder is dismissed for a reactive push on Barnes after a late tackle from the Burnley forward. Mourinho said: "What happened to Matic was in minute 69 and minute 69 had a big relationship with minute 30 because normally that player, if I can call him a player, should have been in the shower in minute 31. 
"There wouldn't have been a minute 69 if the person in charge had dealt with minute 30 properly." 

Chelsea midfielder Nemanja Matic clashes with grounded Burnley forward Barnes

Match of the Day pundit Alan Shearer
"This is an horrific tackle by Ashley Barnes, it really is. It's dangerous, it's naughty, it's a terrible tackle. I understand that reaction from Nemanja Matic. It's not right, but I understand it, because Ashley Barnes could easily have broken his leg there. It's a terrible tackle, and Matic, for that, is going to miss the League Cup final next week. Barnes doesn't even get a yellow card."

Former Chelsea winger Pat Nevin was critical of both Matic's reaction and the original challenge from Barnes. 
He said: "You cannot react like that - and Chelsea players have done in the past. I think the tackle by Ashley Barnes deserves a substantial ban though. It was a vile challenge on Nemanja Matic. 
"Potentially a leg-breaker." 

Former England winger Chris Waddle speaking on BBC Radio 5 live:
"It's the worst challenge in football whenever anybody goes over the top. Even Gary Lineker or somebody like that would have reacted because it was a shocking challenge. I'm not saying Ashley Barnes deliberately did it but it was a leg-breaker.
"It's not in the rule book but basically we should analyse Nemanja Matic's response as a quick reaction. He's got to two when counting to 10, and any other player in the world would have done what he did."

Mourinho and 'the campaign'

In January Mourinho was fined £25,000 by the Football Association for comments claiming there is a "campaign" to influence referees' decisions against his Chelsea side. 
Costa was then handed a three-game ban for stamping on Liverpool defender Emre Can, with Mourinho again blaming TV pundits for being part of 'a campaign.' 
After the draw with Burnley, Mourinho said: "A couple of weeks ago when I was here in the press conference after the Liverpool game in the Capital One Cup, the television subtitles had gone on and on about Diego's 'crimes'. 
"Well compare Diego's 'crimes' with what happened against Burnley. 
"Have I seen a run of decisions like this? I don't remember. I'm happy that I'm not stupid and I understood everything a couple of months ago. I'm not in the mood to laugh." 

The Burnley reaction

Barnes (left) has scored five times in the Premier Leage this season

Burnley manager Sean Dyche defended his players and refused to be drawn by Mourinho's comments. 
"I've only seen it as it happened. It looked like a coming together at an odd angle. Then Matic reacts in the way he did," Dyche said. 
"I will look back at it again, but I haven't seen it since. But there's more to talk about than that because it was an excellent performance. 
"Barnes was involved in something earlier in what sense? Playing football? A charge in the back? Is there anything else? The grass was too short? 
"I have total respect for Jose Mourinho, his players and Chelsea. Fantastic manager, fantastic club."

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South Korea Top Country Rankings, U.S. Rated Average

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The United States places 17th in the developed world for education, according to a global report by education firm Pearson.

Finland and South Korea, not surprisingly, top the list of 40 developed countries with the best education systems. Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore follow. The rankings are calculated based on various measures, including international test scores, graduation rates between 2006 and 2010, and the prevalence of higher education seekers. (See the list of top 20 countries in the slideshow below)

Pearson's chief education adviser Sir Michael Barber tells BBC that the high ranking countries tend to offer teachers higher status in society and have a "culture" of education.

The study notes that while funding is an important factor in strong education systems, cultures supportive of learning is even more critical -- as evidenced by the highly ranked Asian countries, where education is highly valued and parents have grand expectation. While Finland and South Korea differ greatly in methods of teaching and learning, they hold the top spots because of a shared social belief in the importance of education and its "underlying moral purpose."

The study aims to help policymakers and school leaders identify key factors that lead to successful educational outcomes. The research draws on literacy data as well as figures in government spending on education, school entrance age, teacher salaries and degree of school choice. Researchers also measured socioeconomic outcomes like national unemployment rates, GDP, life expectancy and prison population.

The report also notes the importance of high-quality teachers and improving strong educator recruitment. The rankings show, however, that there is no clear correlation between higher pay and better performance. The bottom line findings:

1. There are no magic bullets: The small number of correlations found in the study shows the poverty of simplistic solutions. Throwing money at education by itself rarely produces results, and individual changes to education systems, however sensible, rarely do much on their own. Education requires long-term, coherent and focussed system-wide attention to achieve improvement.
2. Respect teachers: Good teachers are essential to high-quality education. Finding and retaining them is not necessarily a question of high pay. Instead, teachers need to be treated as the valuable professionals they are, not as technicians in a huge, educational machine.
3. Culture can be changed: The cultural assumptions and values surrounding an education system do more to support or undermine it than the system can do on its own. Using the positive elements of this culture and, where necessary, seeking to change the negative ones, are important to promoting successful outcomes.
4. Parents are neither impediments to nor saviours of education: Parents want their children to have a good education; pressure from them for change should not be seen as a sign of hostility but as an indication of something possibly amiss in provision. On the other hand, parental input and choice do not constitute a panacea. Education systems should strive to keep parents informed and work with them.
5. Educate for the future, not just the present: Many of today's job titles, and the skills needed to fill them, simply did not exist 20 years ago. Education systems need to consider what skills today's students will need in future and teach accordingly.

To be sure, South Korea's top spot doesn't come without a price. Stories of families divided in the name of education are all too common, to the extent that the phenomenon has bequeathes those families with a title of their own -- kirogi kajok, or goose families, because they must migrate to reunite.

But America's average ranking doesn't come as a surprise. A report recently published by Harvard University's Program on Education Policy and Governance found that students in Latvia, Chile and Brazil are making gains in academics three times faster than American students, while those in Portugal, Hong Kong, Germany, Poland, Liechtenstein, Slovenia, Colombia and Lithuania are improving at twice the rate. Researchers estimate that gains made by students in those 11 countries equate to about two years of learning.

What gains U.S. students posted in recent years are "hardly remarkable by world standards," according to the report. Although the U.S. is not one of the nine countries that lost academic ground for the 14-year period between 1995 and 2009, more countries were improving at a rate significantly faster than that of the U.S. Researchers looked at data for 49 countries.

The study's findings echo years of rankings that show foreign students outpacing their American peers academically. Students in Shanghai who recently took international exams for the first timeoutscored every other school system in the world. In the same test, American students ranked 25th in math, 17th in science and 14th in reading.

A 2009 study found that U.S. students ranked 25th among 34 countries in math and science, behind nations like China, Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong and Finland. Figures like these have groups like StudentsFirst, headed by former D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, concerned and calling for reforms to "our education system [that] can't compete with the rest of the world."

Just 6 percent of U.S. students performed at the advanced level on an international exam administered in 56 countries in 2006. That proportion is lower than those achieved by students in 30 other countries. American students' low performance and slow progress in math could also threaten the country's economic growth, experts have said.

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