Windows 8 launch around the world

 

Windows 8 officially went on sale at one minute past midnight on Friday morning at an event in central London. Several hundred people queued around the block at the Currys/PC World store on Tottenham Court Road to be the first official owners of the new operating system software, which is spearheading Microsoft's assault on the new touch screen and mobile computer world.
Eager fans waited to get their hands on heavily discounted Windows 8 hardware from HP, as well as offers of free £150 Beats headphones for the first 300 customers.


Video: watch the Windows 8 crowd in London
The new product was officially launched yesterday at an event in New York. Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer described the Windows 8 experience as "magical... All of your photos will just appear, all of your documents will be available on SkyDrive. It will all be there. Everything and everybody you care about."
He described the product as "perfect for touch... a re-imagined software experience that shatters perceptions of what a PC really is".

Fearne Cotton bump watch continues, looks simply swell! *guffaw*

Fearne Cotton took her baby bump and amazing fashion sense shopping yesterday which means there are two excuses here, really…

We LOVE pretty much everything this woman owns. Copyright: [wenn]

First to check out her ever growing baby bump which will never fail to fascinate us.
Secondly, to have a mandatory gawp and analysis of her fabulous wardrobe.
Fearne's fashion never ceases to impress Team omg!, day after day without fail.

We are particularly loving Fearne's new autumn coats which she has been flashing a fair few of this week.
Yesterday Fearne opted for this wine coloured ensemble which looks very cosy indeed, we also are lusting over those gorge ankle boots.
However, we doubt we could pull of the whole winter coat AND sunglasses look quite as well — we think you almost definitely have to be a celeb to pull of sunglasses past August.
Another fashion tick for Fearne's fashion earlier in the week. Copyright: [wenn]
We are still dying to see her wardrobe one day, it must be huge: we don't think we've ever seen the Radio One DJ step out in the same things twice.
Maybe we could make an arrangement whereby anything she has worn she send over to omg! HQ?
After all, as a celeb she can hardly wear the same clobber twice, so it's only fair.

Pippa Middleton looks gorge, plans our Halloween party

Pippa Middleton is no stranger to parties, so it's no surprise she's decided to pen a whole book telling us lot how to do it as well as she does.

Kate's sis has written a book! Copyright: [wenn]

Yep, the lady with the famous bum has kept herself busy writing up all her party tips so that we can throw the perfect bash.
Both Ma and Pa Midlleton both run a party planning business and her sister did throw THE Royal Wedding so we get the feeling Pippa might just have a good trick or two up her sleeve.

Pip looked great at the launch but we couldn't help but wish she had worn something slightly more partyish.
We're not saying all out Katie Price book launch style, but seeing as it's a party book a few sequins surely wouldn't have gone amiss?
Not exactly a party dress, but we'll let her off. Copyright:[wenn]
Instead Pippa opted for this demure roll neck creation which is lovely but not exactly party wear, still she is the future Queen's sister so Bodycon would hardly have been an option.
Plus, the book comes just in time for us to plan our Halloween party, which Pip's book is totes planning.
She says: "I frequently celebrate Halloween over a supper with friends,"
"It's a wonderful excuse to let your imagination run riot with gory-looking food and special effects."
We think that's posh talk for green ketchup and stink bombs.

X Factor’s Nicole Scherzinger vs. Rebecca Ferguson: LAMPSHADE FASH OFF!

Both Rebecca Ferguson and Nicole Scherzinger have stepped out in the same frock just days in between each other.

*ding ding* FASH OFF! Copyright: [rex/wenn]

In real life it's a super cringe moment, in celeb land it means battle, fashion battle.
Nicole wore her red lampshade-esque dress to the X Factor live finals while Rebecca wore hers for an appearance on yesterday's Loose Women.
Being an X Factor alum herself, perhaps Rebecca was watching on Saturday and thought: 'She look SCHERMAYZING, I'm a get me some of that!'

Because Bec is literally wearing the exact same outfit, nude platform shoes and all.
The only difference we can spot between the X Factor judge and the singer is a gold necklace.
However, we reckon this is testament to how important make-up and hair is to an outfit as for us, Nicole cinches it with her fab up 'do and red lip.
For us, Nicole edges it. Copyright: [rex]
While we do love a smoky eye, we reckon Rebecca's might have managed to oversmoke and cover up her already pretty eyes.
Nicole meanwhile, stuck to a more natural look finishing things off with a striking red lip to match the red of the lace.
Dare we say, but for us Nicole really does have The X Factor.

Skyfall Premiere: Bond Girl Naomie Harris steals show in daring dress, Berenice Marlohe blends into red carpet

It may be all about James Bond, but tonight it was the female characters that stole the show at the world premiere of the latest movie 'Skyfall'.

Bond girls: Noemi Harris and Berenice Marlohe wowed tonight. Copyright [Getty]
And it was one girl's night in particular - as Bond Girl Naomie Harris dazzled in a daring sheer dress and sparkling bodice.
The British actress caused the biggest stir on the red carpet at the Albert Hall in Kensington as she posed in the breathtaking Marios Schwab gown.
Fellow Bond Girl Berenice Marlohe looked sensational in a red strapless number, but made the classic fashion error of blending in to the carpet of the same colour.
Yet the 33-year-old French actress still oozed sex appeal in the dramatic gown - with her brunette hair swept up on top of her head.
Noemi Harris stole the show in a daring dress with sequined bodice. Copyright [Getty]
The English actress wore a Marios Schwab gown to the World Premiere. Copyright [Getty]
Both girls joined James Bond himself - Daniel Craig - on the glittering red carpet that was hosted by comedian David Walliams.
The British actor looked his usual suave (and hunky!) self in a black tie suit and bow-tie, complete with white handkerchief.
Daniel Craig looked his usual dapper self. Copyright [Getty]
And he was joined by Spanish actor Javier Bardem, who also pulled out all the stops with his best suit.
Dapper: Daniel Craig and Javier Bardem looked suave. Copyright [PA]
Legendary actress Dame Judi Dench looked elegant in a pale blue gown and matching long jacket as she took her place on the red carpet alongside the rest of the cast.

Dame Judi Dench looked a picture of elegance. Copyright [PA]

Experts change the colour of gold

British scientists have managed to upstage King Midas by changing the colour of gold.

While the mythical king turned everything he touched to gold, the researchers transformed the precious metal by altering the way it absorbs or reflects light.


So gold no longer has to be golden - it can be red or green, or a multitude of other hues.
The technique involves embossing tiny raised or indented patterns onto the metal's surface.
It can also be applied to other metals, such as silver and aluminium, and opens the way to colouring metal without coatings or chemically treatments.


Applications may include anything from manufacturing jewellery to making banknotes and documents harder to forge, say the scientists.


Professor Nikolay Zheludev, who leads the University of Southampton team, said: "This is the first time the visible colour of metal has been changed in this way.
"The colours of the objects we see all around us are determined by the way light interacts with those objects. For instance, an object that reflects red light but absorbs other wavelengths will appear red to the human eye.


"This is the fundamental principle we have exploited in this project. By embossing metals with patterns only around 100 nanometres across, we've found that we can control which wavelengths of light the metal absorbs and which it reflects."
Details of the research have been published in the journals Optics Express and the Journal of Optics.

Apple launches iPad Mini with 7.9-inch screen

Reuters/REUTERS - Apple senior vice president of worldwide marketing Philip Schiller introduces the new iPad mini during an Apple event in San Jose, California October 23, 2012. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith (UNITED …more STATES - Tags: SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS) less

Apple today unveiled a smaller version of its hit iPad tablet - a 7.9-inch device 7.2mm thick and half the weight of previous iPads.

The machine will start at $330, £269 in the UK.

It has a 10-hour battery life and runs the same apps as older iPads.

It is available to pre-order from Friday and will ship from November 2 in the United States. Other territories will wait longer for the device.

The company also unveiled a new, faster 'iPad 4', with a faster processor and longer battery life. It will be the first iPad to run on EE's 4G network in the UK.

                            
Apple's tablet already dominates the touchscreen tablet market, with 100 million devices sold.
The device was shown off by Apple CEO Tim Cook in an event in San Jose, California and streamed around the world by video.

The device is the first 'new' product line unveiled by new Chief Executive Tim Cook, who took over from co-founder Steve Jobs just before his death.

Jobs himself was reportedly against the idea of a seven-inch tablet.

The company also unveiled a new 13-inch version of its Macbook computers, armed with a Retina screen, similar to the one in iPad 2. The new laptop is 0.75in thick.

SAN JOSE, CA - OCTOBER 23: Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide product marketing Phil Schiller announces the …

Apple has sold 100 million iPads, and claims that 91% of web traffic from tablet devices comes from its tablet computers.

The device is seen by analysts as a response to the demand for Android devices such as Amazon's Kindle and Google's Nexus 7.

The sales of such devicess at lower end of the tablet market and proved demand for a pocket-sized slate exists.

"Apple sensed early that they had a real winner with the iPad and that has proven to be correct," said Lars Albright, co-founder of mobile advertising startup SessionM and a former Apple ad executive.

Live: Apple's Big Little iPad Event has been trailed with brightly coloured invitations

"They have a large market share, and to protect that market share they have got to be innovative," he said.

Wall Street analysts have said for months that Apple was planning a less expensive version of the iPad to take on cheaper competing devices.

Q Awards 2012: the winners

Blur, Emeli Sandé, Muse, Plan B and Brandon Flowers were among the winners at this year's Q Awards, which took place this afternoon (22 October) at London's Grosvenor Hotel.
But despite not winning an award, it was Kylie Minogue who stole the show in a daring gingham dress.

Rex, Getty

Al Murray hosted the show but Kylie Minogue stole it

The prestigious annual bash was hosted by Al Murray in his Pub Landlord guise and featured guest presenters including Radio One's Nick Grimshaw, Olympics Opening Ceremony Director Danny Boyle and shock rock legend Alice Cooper.
Blur bagged Best Live Act for their blistering shows this summer, and were apparently still having a great time in each other's company. Emeli Sandé picked up the Best Solo Artist gong ahead of Noel Gallagher and Adele, while Muse took home Best Act In The World Today, fighting off competition from The Stone Roses, Lady Gaga and Coldplay.
Keane, recent subjects of an MSN Music Something Session, took home the award for Best Video.
Plan B, celebrating his birthday on the day of the awards, won Best Track for his controversial single ill Manors, the reformed Pulp got the Q Inspiration Award, Smiths legend Johnny Marr was honoured as Q HERO and Olympic Opening Ceremony sonic architects Underworld were awarded Q Innovation in Sound.

Commenting on this year’s awards, Q’s Editor Andrew Harrison said: "It’s been the most incredible year for British music. Our bands and our anthems transformed the Olympics. A string of great albums announced fantastic new talent on the scene. And amazing comeback shows from Blur and the Stone Roses showed the enduring appeal of our best-loved musicians. Q is proud to raise a glass to salute the artists that make Britain the world capital of rock and roll."

Getty

Internet trolls target Adele

Pop icon and national treasure Adele gave birth to a baby son on Friday. Adele is, without doubt, one of the most talented young women currently living and working in Britain: she wrote a platinum album when she was still in her teens, her second album won six Grammys, and she was the only logical choice for the new Bond theme, Skyfall. What's more, she achieved all these things against the odds - when Adele was very young, her father walked out on her mother who had to work two jobs in order to support her. If we can take pride in any individual citizen, we should be proud of Adele.

If we’re going to react to her happy news, surely we should be congratulating and celebrating? Yet the singer has been targeted by Twitter bullies, who made dark, threatening comments about her new baby.

"... the singer has been targeted by Twitter bullies, who made dark, threatening comments about her new baby."

One of the less offensive tweets read: "Adele’s so fat that no-one ever even knew she was pregnant."

Bullying celebrities on Twitter is nothing new. This summer’s Olympic celebrations were marred when an infamous Tweeter targeted swimmer Tom Daley with hate messages. If you look at the replies column of any actor, musician or well known personality, the statements of support and admiration will be interspersed with negative, unkind words.

Twitter is a great equaliser. The rich and famous are no longer remote - you can say anything to anyone in 140 characters as long as they have an account. And more often than not, these interactions are a source of joy. Artists love hearing positive reactions to their work, and fans love having conversations with their idols. But Twitter also takes down the barriers that protect artists from the hate and envy of others. It’s often observed that Twitter bullies would never have the guts to take their hate offline and go out of their way to offend a celebrity in person. So why on earth do they do it on the internet?

"Words can hurt people."

It’s easy to forget that Twitter is personal. When you choose to attack a celebrity, they might seem so rich, successful and powerful that they’re immune to vulnerable feelings. But words can hurt people - it doesn’t matter how many albums they have sold or awards they have won. It’s very unusual to hate people for the sake of it - but hate is a very straightforward way of expressing envy or jealousy. I hope that none of the Twitter bullies genuinely wish any harm on Adele or her baby, but I’m certain that many of them envy her talent, success and lifestyle.

If you’re about to tweet abuse at someone, ask yourself why they make you feel negative. Once you’ve worked out what it is that you resent about their life, you can figure out what’s missing from your own, and start thinking about how to make that happen. If all else fails, think about whether you would walk up to that person and make that comment face to face. If the answer is no, you’re in no position to hit ‘send’.

Do you agree with this? Join the debate on Twitter using the hashtag #socialvoices or leave a comment below.

Daisy Buchanan writes about anything from feminism to reality telly for Sabotage Times, Vagenda and Huffington Post. She tweets a lot - if you like pictures of rude signs and silly puns, she's @notrollergirl.

Lily Allen is over her feud with Cheryl Cole, that only took five years

Lily Allen has admitted that she no longer has bad feelings toward Cheryl Cole.

Lily no longer holds a grudge over Cheryl, which is nice. [Copyright Wenn]

Glad you got there in the end Lily.
The two singers famously waged a war of words against each other in 2007 with Lily describing Cheryl's band, Girls Aloud, as a bad influence on their younger fans.
Cheryl Cole on the other hand branded Lily 'a chick with a d***', so Lily may have had a point there.
Talking to The Sun, Lily Allen has now admitted that since becoming a Mother, she no longer holds the same views.
She told the paper: "I might have said a certain pop group were a bad influence on girls but now I think it's probably more my responsibility to deal with my daughter rather than a band."
Lily has grown up a lot since 2007. [Copyright Wenn]
"When I first started out in my career, I made quite a lot of controversial statements. I don't regret anything I've ever said because it's all part of growing up and I believed it at the time."
However, it seems that Cheryl's fans still haven't forgiven Lily for her remarks about the 'Call my Name' singer.
"I said something about Cheryl Cole years ago and her fans are still giving me a hard time on Twitter. But as you get older, you gain more knowledge."

 

"So when I get abuse from Cheryl Cole fans now, I don't take it to heart, because they're 12, so it doesn't matter, and in a way I find it quite sweet that these kids feel that passionately about someone."
Lily Allen retired from music in 2010 to have a family.
The temptation of the recording studio did however prove too much this year after she recorded duet 'True Love' with Pink on her latest album 'The Truth about Love'.

Did Zayn Malik cheat on Rebecca Ferguson? We hope not

In 2010 X Factor finalists Rebecca Ferguson and Zayn Malik shocked us all when it emerged that they were dating.

Rebecca has claimed that all the men in her life have cheated on her. [Copyright Wenn]

The whirlwind romance between the two singers came to an end after three months with both parties amicably parting ways.
However, in an interview with The Mirror, Rebecca- perhaps inadvertently- has blamed the end of her relationship with the One Direction singer on his infidelity.
Talking about past relationships, Rebecca stated she was done with men as in her experience all they do is cheat.
She said: "I am a bit done with men, for now anyway. I am yet to find one faithful. I don't know why boys are like that. I think I am too nice with them and let them get away with murder."
Rebecca doesn't have a lot of good things to say about Zayn. [Copyright Wenn]
So although she didn't openly label Zayn Malik as a cheat, she didn't exactly specify if he wasn't either.
When asked about Zayn, Rebecca Ferguson seems to think very little of their time spent together.
She said: "I was 24 then and I'd had two kids and other relationships so remember I'd had a lot of life experience before that. He's a footnote in my life maybe."
A footnote? Ouch.

 

Rebecca Ferguson went on to say that although she has been thorough a lot of heartbreak in her life, the experiences helped her write her platinum selling album 'Heaven'.
She said: "It is heartbreaking to feel that I have been let down like that. But you know what? I have written a bloody good album on the back of it. I have been in love loads. I'm terrible for it. I fall in love at the drop of a hat."

Christina Aguilera has reportedly been offered $3 million to be the face of a plus size dating site.

Christina Aguilera has reportedly been offered $3 million to be the face of a plus size dating site.

Christina has been aprroached to be the face of a plus size dating site. [Copyright Wenn]

The 'Dirty' singer has recently embraced a curvier figure, attracting the attention of dating site TheBigandTheBeautiful.com.
The site's owner Whitney Thompson, who was the first plus size model to win America's Next Top Model has personally written to Christina to see if she would consider being a spokesperson for the site.

 

Well of all the famous faces out there at the moment, we imagine that Christina Aguilera would be the most willing to front the site.
The singer recently admitted that she loves her new post pregnancy body.
She said: "I've always been one to make it very clear, love me or hate me, take it or leave it, this is who I am. I embrace my body, and I embrace everything about myself."
"The experience of being pregnant and having a child and seeing what a woman's body can do is amazing."
Christina is more than comfortable with her new figure. [Copyright Twitter]
Not shy to flaunt her curvy figure, Christina even poses nude on the front cover of her latest album 'Lotus'.
The website itself describes itself as being "specifically designed for women with curves" and celebrates "big and beautiful" women.
So basically, Christina Aguilera would be perfect for the role.
If she accepts the offer, Christina will be obliged to do a TV commercial, a radio commercial, two photo shoots, four public appearances and record a jingle for the site.
Not too shabby for $3 million.

Scam of the week: the 'card courier' rip-off

A new card scam in which people are tricked into handing over their bank card details and pin numbers has seen customers duped out of £1.5 million since the beginning of 2011.
The scam works by the victim being telephoned by the fraudster to renew their debit or credit card owing to a fraud on the account. The owner is told to key in their pin number on the phone and a courier is sent out to collect the card. The card is then sent direct to the criminal who also has the pin number.
The majority of victims are older adults and the scammers often give an alternative number for people to call back on to ensure the call is genuine. But instead of hanging up many people are tricked into thinking the call is from their bank and stay on the line.
In total, £1.5 million has been lost to this type of crime and £750,000 of this was taken in the first four months of the year - the same as the whole of 2011.
The UK Payments Council has urged people never to hand over their card to anyone who has come to the door, never to enter their pin number over the telephone and to always speak to their bank securely by making sure there is a dial tone when calling and only ever using the bank’s advertised number.
"Many of us feel confident that we can spot fraudsters but this type of crime can be sophisticated and could happen to anyone," warns DCR Paul Barnard, head of the bank sponsored dedicated cheque and plastic crime unit (DCPCU).
"While we have seen an increase in this type of fraud, we know collectively we can stamp it out. If you have friends or relatives who you feel may be vulnerable to this, please help them to be more aware of the potential risks and what to look out for," he adds