CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-05-17 15:24:38 (20 comments, 15 reshares, 108 +1s)

"The reason why elderly female pensioners aren't using the internet isn't because they have a dread of new technology. It all comes down to the insurance man's actuary table – women generally outlive their spouses. For many widowed women, their golden years are spent in the lonely preoccupation of trying to stretch their pennies into pounds. It is hard to expect a senior citizen to be on Facebook if they can't afford to heat their home or eat a proper diet because of the limits of their state pension."

Harry Leslie Smith, from the class of 1923, writes eloquently for Comment is Free about the benefits of being online for older people - and the barriers to greater participation.

http://gu.com/p/3gv4a

2013-05-17 11:32:23 (20 comments, 15 reshares, 63 +1s)

Greek addicts turn to deadly shisha drug as economic crisis deepens

Growing popularity of 'cocaine of the poor' in Athens has overwhelmed public health authorities already under strain

http://gu.com/p/3fqk7

#Greece #Athens #austerity #EU  

2013-05-17 10:06:44 (16 comments, 34 reshares, 250 +1s)

Nipped fingers and handfuls of guano will be the order of the day for wildlife rangers on the Farne Islands as they embark on an epic census on Friday to discover whether puffin numbers have plummeted after a year of extreme weather.

On +environmentguardian read more about the conservationists counting breeding birds after 'puffin wreck' winter http://gu.com/p/3fqfg + watch a video of a puffin laying an egg: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2013/may/17/puffin-lays-an-egg-video

2013-05-17 07:55:30 (18 comments, 6 reshares, 49 +1s)

Guardian front page Friday 17 May: MP on Google tax avoidance scheme: 'I think that you do evil' http://gu.com/p/3fqyq?CMP=SOCNETTXT8763I

2013-05-16 16:48:59 (31 comments, 13 reshares, 46 +1s)

LulzSec 'hacktivists' handed long jail sentences for hacking

British hackers who masterminded cyber-attacks on global institutions including CIA, Sony, FBI and Nintendo jailed for up to 32 months

http://gu.com/p/3fqfh

Photograph: Metropolitan Police/PA

2013-05-16 12:34:52 (3 comments, 14 reshares, 85 +1s)

A rather rude ring-tailed lemur looks out of his window at the zoo in Rostock, Germany. Depending on the weather, the animals in the zoo will move to their outdoor enclosures shortly.

Taken from picture desk: live, our team's pick of the day's most noteworthy images.

http://gu.com/p/3fq2f

Photograph: Bernd Wustneck/AFP/Getty Images

2013-05-16 10:02:24 (26 comments, 19 reshares, 120 +1s)

Nasa's hunt for other planets that could harbour life faces a setback: its Kepler space telescope is broken and, since it is in orbit around the Sun, may prove impossible to fix.

The failure of stabilising systems on the spacecraft could mean an end to the $600m mission's search, although Kepler has already outlived official expectations and the space agency is not yet ready to call it quits. The telescope has discovered scores of planets but only two so far that show strong signs of being habitable.

http://gu.com/p/3fqv9/tw

Photograph: Nasa/Rex features

#nasa  

2013-05-16 07:56:49 (3 comments, 5 reshares, 70 +1s)

Guardian front page Thursday 16 May 2013: Fresh questions for Amazon over pittance it pays in tax http://gu.com/p/3fppj?CMP=SOCNETTXT8763I

2013-05-15 12:46:16 (39 comments, 28 reshares, 105 +1s)

More than seven million adults in the UK have never used the internet, official figures suggest. The data revealed around 1 million more people have ventured on to the web since this time last year.

But the latest statistics show 14% of those over the age of 16 have never accessed material online.

http://gu.com/p/3fpb8

Photograph: Alamy

2013-05-15 09:00:52 (11 comments, 35 reshares, 153 +1s)

Celebrating a great inventor of toys

The British inventor of some of the world's most iconic mechanical toys is being celebrated today with a #GoogleDoodle . 

Frank Hornby was born 150 years ago in Liverpool, and began by cutting out pieces of metal to construct bridges and buildings - this led to Meccano, Dinky Toys and Hornby Model Railways. 

You can see the #Doodle  on google.co.uk and read more about Hornby in this article from +The Guardian: http://goo.gl/hBKq5 

2013-05-15 07:57:37 (11 comments, 12 reshares, 40 +1s)

BlackBerry is making its Messenger (BBM) real-time messaging service available on Apple's iPhone and iPad and Google's Android platforms from summer, abandoning the platform exclusivity that had for years been a crucial tool in attracting and retaining users.

2013-05-15 08:33:56 (3 comments, 7 reshares, 41 +1s)

Guardian front page, Wednesday 15 May: Social services failed me, says abuse ring girl 

Top stories: Oxford child sex abuse ring: social services failed me, says victim http://gu.com/p/3fp2n/tw 

A&E care requires overhaul amid rising pressure of patient numbers – report http://gu.com/p/3fp3k/tw

British male identity crisis 'spurring machismo and heartlessness' http://gu.com/p/3fpv2/tw

2013-05-14 17:03:23 (72 comments, 70 reshares, 160 +1s)

A construction company has essentially destroyed one of Belize's largest Mayan pyramids with diggers and bulldozers to extract crushed rock for a road-building project, authorities have announced.

The head of the Belize Institute of Archaeology, Jaime Awe, said on Tuesday that the destruction at the Nohmul complex in northern Belize was detected late last week. The ceremonial centre dates back at least 2,300 years and is the most important site in northern Belize, near the border with Mexico.

http://gu.com/p/3fzky

Photograph: Jaime Awe/AP

2013-05-14 13:06:10 (17 comments, 18 reshares, 90 +1s)

"Having watched this fantastically unthinking and heavy-handed adaptation, the opening gala of this year's Cannes festival, I feel the only way to make it less subtle would be to let Michael Bay direct it. As it is, the task has fallen to Baz Luhrmann, the director of Moulin Rouge! and Australia, a man who can't see a nuance without calling security for it to be thrown off his set."

Peter Bradshaw reviews The Great Gatsby for Guardian Film - and he's not too impressed.

http://gu.com/p/3fzfg

#TheGreatGatsby #film #BazLuhrmann  

2013-05-14 10:36:44 (26 comments, 9 reshares, 43 +1s)

Public support for the European project has fallen and distrust between countries is growing, according to a new survey released overnight that shows the damage caused by the region's debt crisis over the last few years.

The respected Washington-based Pew Research Centre warned that support for the EU has slid over the last 12 months, from 60% in 2012 to just 45% this year.

http://gu.com/p/3fzb3

Photograph: Vadim Ghirda/AP

#eu   #europe #eurozone  

2013-05-14 07:55:47 (23 comments, 7 reshares, 20 +1s)

The Obama administration has opened up a new front in its battle against media freedom by seizing phone records from the offices of the Associated Press news agency in what appeared to be an effort to track down the source who disclosed an alleged Yemen terrorist plot story.

2013-05-14 07:50:37 (26 comments, 25 reshares, 77 +1s)

Angelina Jolie has revealed she has had a preventive double mastectomy to reduce her risk of developing breast cancer, and has gone public with the news to raise awareness.

2013-05-14 07:50:04 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 15 +1s)

Guardian front page, Tuesday 14 May: Cameron olive branch on EU as Ukip soars

http://gu.com/p/3fz8p?CMP=SOCNETTXT8763I

2013-05-13 16:49:19 (12 comments, 22 reshares, 82 +1s)

'It's real, global warming, it's real.' - Newtok resident

Guardian US' multimedia report on America's first climate refugees: Newtok, Alaska is losing ground to the sea at a dangerous rate and for its residents, exile is inevitable.

http://gu.com/p/3fhjk

2013-05-13 11:29:50 (36 comments, 91 reshares, 201 +1s)

Arsenic in your beer? 10 gross ingredients you didn't know were in your food

Since the horsemeat scandal, more of us than ever before are holding a microscope up to what we eat. But no matter how many labels you read, you could still be consuming things you'd rather put on your "do not eat" list. From human hair in our bread to fish bladder in our beer, there are a lot of additives and food processing techniques that employ ingredients and chemicals few would classify as "appetising". It's a reminder, frankly, that non-processed foods are your best bet.

http://gu.com/p/3fnj3

Photograph: Alamy

2013-05-13 09:40:24 (9 comments, 15 reshares, 73 +1s)

A World Health Organisation (WHO) official has said it seems likely that a new coronavirus that has killed at least 18 people in the Middle East and Europe can be passed between humans, but only after prolonged contact.

A virus from the same family triggered the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) that swept the world after emerging in Asia and killed 775 people in 2003.

http://gu.com/p/3fngj

Photograph: Health Protection Agency/AFP/Getty Images

2013-05-13 07:47:30 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 35 +1s)

Today's Guardian front page : EU referendum: cabinet crisis for David Cameron as ministers break ranks

http://gu.com/p/3fnf3/tw

The long goodbye day: Fergie time draws to a happy close

http://gu.com/p/3fnfd/tw

#alexferguson #football #EU #ukpolitics  

2013-05-14 18:55:57 (6 comments, 28 reshares, 64 +1s)

20 ways to keep your internet identity safe from hackers

Do you use the same password for all websites? Do you overshare on Facebook? If so, you're a target for cybercriminals – whose computer scams are costing Britain £27bn a year. We asked experts for their top tips to beat the fraudsters:

http://gu.com/p/3fkkn/tw

#internet #onlineidentity #fraud #hacking

2013-05-12 15:02:32 (1 comments, 5 reshares, 50 +1s)

Why we're watching: Zoom Rockman

Zoom Rockman is a 12-year-old prodigy who writes, illustrates and biannually publishes his own internationally acclaimed comic, The Zoom! It's a snappy, satirical critique of urban life – the new issue tackles the horsemeat scandal – with characters like Skanky Pigeon and celebrity cameos such as Boris Johnson. It's genuinely hilarious.

He's been described as "the future of comics", is on Vogue's Hot List of 2013 and was invited to 10 Downing Street.

http://gu.com/p/3fkpy/tw

Photograph: Richard Saker for the Observer

#comics #entrepreneur #illustration

2013-05-13 17:34:43 (21 comments, 21 reshares, 60 +1s)

How to spot a murderer's brain: http://gu.com/p/3fy86/tw

Do your genes, rather than upbringing, determine whether you will become a criminal? Adrian Raine believed so – and breaking that taboo put him on collision course with the world of science

Photograph: Public domain

2013-05-11 15:06:06 (11 comments, 34 reshares, 94 +1s)

Conscious computing: how to take control of your life online

Twitter, Facebook, Google… we know the internet is driving us to distraction. But could sitting at your computer actually calm you down? We investigate the slow web movement

http://gu.com/p/3fkkz

Photograph: Aaron Tilley for the Guardian

2013-05-11 09:01:30 (6 comments, 16 reshares, 75 +1s)

Star Trek Into Darkness: how it was made, by the people who made it

JJ Abrams got 'the band back together' for his big budget sequel. We meet the key players to talk period hair, blue drinks and 'sexy Klingons'
http://gu.com/p/3fkp2

2013-05-11 00:04:40 (22 comments, 38 reshares, 169 +1s)

Relax! It's Friday...

It's a hard life being a panda. This one is having a little nap in a tree at the Panda Valley Park in Dujiangyan, southwest China.
http://gu.com/p/3fm9h
Photograph: HAP/Quirky China News/Rex

2013-05-10 10:56:52 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 20 +1s)

The Guardian Film Show is out: Star Trek Into Darkness, Mud, Village at the End of the World and A Hijacking - watch the video review

2013-05-10 14:57:16 (12 comments, 5 reshares, 63 +1s)

Guardian front page Friday 10 May

Ariel Castro: Ohio prosecutors may seek death penalty for kidnap suspect http://gu.com/p/3fm7k

100 of UK's richest people concealing billions in offshore tax havens http://gu.com/p/3fm6m/tw 

2013-05-09 17:05:54 (13 comments, 23 reshares, 55 +1s)

Huggies Brazil has launched a new app that tweets you to tell you when your baby has wet its nappy. Think that's bad? G2 shortcuts rounds up some of the worst apps ever

http://gu.com/p/3fym6

2013-05-09 15:06:22 (8 comments, 9 reshares, 85 +1s)

Swirling patterns created by ploughs in the rolling hills of farmland in the northwest US

See more in our Satellite Eye gallery:

http://gu.com/p/3fk8g/tw

2013-05-09 10:14:02 (21 comments, 3 reshares, 35 +1s)

Firing a gun in which any part has been made in a 3D printer could result in the death of the user, a specialist has warned, because the plastics in the gun would not stand ballistic pressures and stresses – and so might disintegrate.

2013-05-11 15:45:11 (11 comments, 10 reshares, 71 +1s)

Guardian front page, Thursday 9 May: Offenders face supervision by private firms: http://gu.com/p/3fyad

And Barney Ronay says farewell to Sir Alex Ferguson, 'like a kind of managerial Elvis.' http://gu.com/p/3fy9g

2013-05-11 15:45:44 (19 comments, 25 reshares, 170 +1s)

Take a look a film animation pioneer Ray Harryhausen's career in pictures http://gu.com/p/3fk86

How Ray Harryhausen's animation has the edge on CGI | Brendon Connelly writes on Comment is Free http://gu.com/p/3fy2b

Ray Harryhausen obituary http://gu.com/p/3fk9k

Photo: Jason and the Argonauts, 1963, directed by Don Chaffey, in which Ray Harryhausen's skeleton models battle Jason Credit: Everett Collection/Rex Features 

2013-05-08 16:37:09 (3 comments, 6 reshares, 45 +1s)

Guardian front page Wednesday 8 May 2013: Ohio abductions: end of decade of torment for victims and families http://gu.com/p/3fkbh?CMP=SOCNETTXT8763I

Alex Ferguson retires as manager of Manchester United – live! http://gu.com/p/3fkex?CMP=SOCNETTXT8763I 12.12pm update: This is brilliant. Paddy Crerand was interviewed on Irish radio station Newstalk this morning and was in complete denial that Ferguson was about to retire. Here's the audio. You have to listen to it. "I think it's a load of rubbish," he said. Thanks to Paddy Murphy for sending it in.

2013-05-07 17:21:44 (45 comments, 17 reshares, 57 +1s)

Bill Gates predicts iPad and Android users will switch to PC tablets

Users 'frustrated' by limitations of devices, says Microsoft co-founder, implying many will look to move to Surface products
http://gu.com/p/3fjtf/

Photograph: Zuma/Rex Features

2013-05-07 16:17:53 (14 comments, 17 reshares, 122 +1s)

India acts to save Asiatic lion by moving it – but hard work has only just begun, writes our new India blogger, Kavitha Rao

http://gu.com/p/3fjta/tw

Photo: Corbis

2013-05-07 10:55:14 (48 comments, 23 reshares, 176 +1s)

If the prospect of spending a thousand days up to 140 million miles away from the Earth was not enough of a deterrent, killer radiation levels and enforced radio silence would surely deter most volunteers from travelling to Mars. Nasa, however, has revealed that near-record numbers are applying for its astronaut training programme, as renewed enthusiasm for space travel is fueled by growing hopes of a manned Mars mission.

2013-05-07 08:44:21 (29 comments, 25 reshares, 144 +1s)

Three women who went missing separately about a decade ago in Cleveland, Ohio, have been found alive in a house a few miles away from where they disappeared.

A neighbour said he let one of the women out of the house just south of downtown after he heard her screaming on Monday. In a recorded emergency call, the freed woman told the dispatcher: "I'm Amanda Berry. I've been on the news for the last 10 years."

http://gu.com/p/3fjth?CMP=SOCNETTXT8763I

Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

2013-05-06 15:39:53 (27 comments, 3 reshares, 30 +1s)

Should Guantánamo Bay be closed? Our Q&A tool is LIVE and experts are taking your questions: http://ow.ly/kKyCa

2013-05-06 08:02:35 (8 comments, 12 reshares, 56 +1s)

Nate Silver made a name for himself with his uncannily accurate predictions of baseball scores and US election results. But some things – from earthquakes to terrorism – even he can't predict:

http://gu.com/p/3ftc9/tw?CMP=SOCNETTXT8763I

Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian

#statistics #politics #predictions #elections

2013-05-05 16:03:01 (19 comments, 46 reshares, 98 +1s)

Experience: I was swallowed by a hippo

'There was no transition at all, no sense of approaching danger. It was as if I had suddenly gone blind and deaf'

http://gu.com/p/3f83t/tw?CMP=SOCNETTXT8763I

Photograph: Peter Hoffman for the Guardian

2013-05-07 15:25:12 (55 comments, 32 reshares, 158 +1s)

Are you a Google Glass half full or half empty kind of person?

2007 was the year of the iPhone and 2010 was the year of the iPad. It's beginning to look as though 2013 will be the year of Glass:

http://gu.com/p/3fhkp/tw?CMP=NECNETTXT766

Photograph: Carlo Allegri/Reuters

2013-05-04 16:03:22 (23 comments, 12 reshares, 70 +1s)

The drugs do work: my life on brain enhancers

Could an unlicensed mind pill restore the energy lost to multiple sclerosis? For a novelist who feared her working life was over, it was worth the risk…

http://gu.com/p/3ffkm/tw?CMP=SOCNETTXT8763I

Illustration: Noma Bar

#drugs #brain

2013-05-04 09:01:53 (13 comments, 23 reshares, 81 +1s)

Security alert: notes from the frontline of the war in cyberspace

The battle for control of cyberspace is turning nasty, with young hackers, pirates and activists facing long prison sentences. We report from the frontline:

http://gu.com/p/3ffnv/tw?CMP=NECNETTXT766

Photograph: Mark Mahaney for the Guardian - Andrew Auernheimer: 'Powerful people want to throw you in jail when you humiliate them. And I'm going to do it again and again, even from a prison cell.'

#hacking #cyberspace

2013-05-03 19:03:09 (27 comments, 31 reshares, 71 +1s)

20,000 tonnes of meat products tainted with fox, mink and rat meat have been seized in China.

One suspect in the over-900 person strong gang earned more than £1m over the past four years by purchasing fox, mink and rat meat, treating it with gelatin, carmine and nitrate, and selling it as mutton at farmers' markets in Jiangsu province and Shanghai.

For the full story: http://gu.com/p/3ft6t/tw?CMP=SOCNETTXT8763I

Photograph: Vincent Yu/AP

2013-05-03 17:04:10 (20 comments, 19 reshares, 71 +1s)

White House warned on imminent Arctic ice death spiral.

Senior US government officials are to be briefed at the White House this week on the danger of an ice-free Arctic in the summer within two years.

More on the story: http://gu.com/p/3fgbf/tw?CMP=SOCNETTXT8763I

Photograph: John Mcconnico/AP

2013-05-03 14:03:38 (5 comments, 5 reshares, 29 +1s)

Robobee!

A tiny robotic 'insect', the size of a penny, demonstrates its controlled flight abilities. Developed by engineers at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, RoboBee weighs around 80mg and has a wingspan of 3cm. Scientists anticipate the devices will open up a wide range of discoveries and practical innovations, such as pollination, search and rescue, military surveillance and traffic monitoring.

Watch it in action: http://gu.com/p/3ft6x/tw?CMP=SOCNETTXT8763I

Source: YouTube / Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

#robots #technology

2013-05-03 11:40:42 (1 comments, 3 reshares, 22 +1s)

BBC's climate of fear let bullies thrive, report into sexual harassment finds.

Dinah Rose QC, the author of the review, said there was a "strong undercurrent" of fear at the corporation, in which 35 members of staff were involved in 37 cases of alleged sexual harassment at the BBC over the past six years, and where others verbally abused junior staff or made sexist remarks to young female workers.

http://gu.com/p/3ft33/tw?CMP=SOCNETTXT8763I

Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA