The Man Accused Of Killing His Girlfriend And Posting Photos Of It On 4Chan Has Been Arrested

The Man Accused Of Killing His Girlfriend And Posting Photos Of It On 4Chan Has Been Arrested

The man who's accused of killing his girlfriend and posting pictures of her body online was arrested in Portland, Oregon late Wednesday night, according to NBC News. His name is David Michael Kalac from Washington State. As NBC reports, Kalac is thought to have strangled his girlfriend late Monday or Tuesday night. Portland police spotted his car around midnight on Wednesday. Kalac has been charged with second-degree murder involving domestic violence. The twist to this murder case is the discovery of photos posted online from a person claiming to be the killer on the website 4Chan, according to NBC News. There was also a message that read "Turns out it's way harder to strangle someone to death than it looks in the movies." 4Chan is, of course, the website where the big nude celebrity photo leaks landed in a series of scandals towards the end of the summer.   Join the conversation about this story »

---

Apple Products Are Under Attack By A Vicious New Malware Called 'WireLurker'

A new family of malware has been discovered, and it's targeting Apple products. It's called "WireLurker." The malware was discovered by cyber security software maker Palo Alto Networks. WireLurker zeroes in on OS X desktop software and Apple's iOS mobile operating system. What does it do? WireLurker installs malicious third-party apps on iPhones and iPads. Luckily the malware seems to be targeting users in China right now, reports the New York Times. But that doesn't mean it doesn't have the potential to be a larger threat. In fact, as the New York Times notes, Palo Alto Networks says the malware is "the biggest in scale we have ever seen." It's called WireLurker because of the malware's ability to sense when you plug an iPhone or iPad into your computer running OS X, according to the New York Times. Once that happens, it starts installing malicious apps on your device. Ryan Olson, director of threat intelligence at Palo Alto networks told the New York Times "Even though this is the first time this is happening, it demonstrates to a lot of attackers that this is a method that can be used to crack through the hard shell that Apple has built around its iOS devices.” Reuters tried to reach out to Apple, but they haven't commented yet on the threat. Join the conversation about this story »

---

YouTube Multimillionaire PewDiePie Says He's Happier Now That He's Disabled Comments On His Channel

Felix "PewDiePie" Kjellberg is one of YouTube's biggest stars, with more than 31 million subscribers and hundreds of millions of video views.  Although he makes a ton of money from making videos for his fans — in 2013 he made around $4 million from ad revenue — he said in a video today that turning off comments on his videos has made him very happy.  "Before I turned off my comments, I think things were going downhill, I would say," Kjellberg said in the video. "So making that change, I feel like we've been going back up. It's been making me really happy, and it's been making me really enjoy what I do. Which is really important to me." Kjellberg turned off comments on his YouTube channel back in September, citing spam and trolling as the reason. At the time, he said, "It's been bothering me for so long now, I've been trying to find solutions to it. I was hoping that it would get better, I was hoping YouTube would try and figure a way out, but it doesn't seem like it. I'm just sick of it, so I'm going to turn off the comments forever, they're not coming back." The comments section on YouTube (and elsewhere) has long been a point of contention for content providers, as well as viewers and readers. YouTube tried to implement a fix for trolling comments by forcing people to connect their real names and integrating their Google+ accounts. Google later removed YouTube username restrictions. Some publications have even opted to turn off their comments sections altogether. Others have changed policies on how comments are handled. In fact, the author of this post is no stranger to trolling comments on YouTube. As Kotaku points out, Kjellberg did not shut off communication with his fans completely. They can still chat with him or about him elsewhere.  Hopefully by Kjellberg not just turning off his comments, but also speaking out about how happy he is to have done so, YouTube can take a look at how it handles the comments section of its site and figure out a way to get rid of the trolls once and for all.  Check out Kjellberg speaking about his happiness in the video below:   SEE ALSO: Here's How To Play More Than 900 Classic Arcade Games Without Spending A Single Quarter Join the conversation about this story »

---

Box CEO Aaron Levie Says Wall Street 'Is Still Trying To Figure Out' His Business

Box has been on a crazy roller-coaster ride over the past 12 months. Until last year, everyone seemed to love Box, calling it the next big thing in enterprise tech. Its founder and CEO Aaron Levie was called a genius. But once Box filed for an IPO in March, things started to go downhill. Despite its huge sales growth, Box’s massive loss and spending costs turned off a lot of investors. Its filing also coincided with a market correction period when public cloud company stocks plummeted.  Box ended up delaying its IPO again and again. It raised more eyebrows when it opted to raise additional capital from the private market in July. With all this going on, the press and analysts slammed Box pretty hard, with some even saying that the cloud storage and collaboration company is “not ready for prime time.” Levie has largely stayed mum on these criticisms, until Wednesday, when he spoke to The Information about it. He says Wall Street is “still trying to figure out how to value high-growth tech companies,” especially with the way they make investments. Here’s what he had to say: “We’ve made investments in the research and development and software development side of our business and all the key customers that we need to win in this market…I think there were some misunderstandings over how those investments were going to play out relative to revenue. We now don’t have to make the same new investments because we’ve actually reached scale in how we’ve expanded the core engineering capabilities of the company.” The article doesn’t follow up on those comments, so it’s not entirely clear what he means by the “misunderstandings.” But based on his comments, we could make a couple guesses on his thinking: Traditional accounting is flawed for SaaS business: In traditional accounting, you don’t recognize the revenue until the actual service is delivered. But SaaS business is a subscription model. In other words, even if you win a three-year subscription contract worth $1 million, you can only record a third of that sale, or $333,333, as  the first year’s revenue. The rest would recur over the next two years, but you don't recognize it in the books until the service actually delivers. However, you still have to account for the full sales and marketing cost that went into getting that $1 million contract in the first year.  So even if it looks like you’re spending a lot relative to revenue, part of the sales and marketing cost is going toward growing that revenue (plus, you have a guaranteed amount in recurring revenue). SaaS investors like to use a metric called “Magic Number” instead, to account for this discrepancy, and Box’s annual magic number looks pretty solid compared to the median number. You can cut down on sales and marketing once you reach scale: Zuora CEO Tien Tzuo nailed it in this post, but Box would still have a 20% recurring revenue margin, even if it stopped all sales and marketing today. The sales wouldn’t grow anymore, but just based on its recurring subscription contracts, Box would still be a profitable company. Box is roughly spending $2 to acquire $1 of growth, according to Tzuo, but that $1 would recur for the next 5 to 10 years, which makes Box a great business. Levie probably thinks Box has grown enough that he could now cut down on its sales and marketing costs. In fact, in The Information article, he does say those investments “were the highest relative to the revenue scale” when he filed the S1 in July. And with less spend on sales and marketing, Box's bottom line would obviously improve immediately. Join the conversation about this story »

---

Lyft Sues Former Exec Who Allegedly Took Company Secrets To Uber

Lyft is accusing a former executive of sharing company secrets with rival Uber, reports The Wall Street Journal's Douglas MacMillan. Lyft has filed a lawsuit against its former chief operating officer, Travis VanderZanden, whom it alleges downloaded a number of confidential documents to his personal Dropbox in August. Those documents included financial data and information on future products, according to The Journal. VanderZanden joined Uber in October. Lyft learned that VanderZanden allegedly took the proprietary information with him because his personal Dropbox account was linked to his company laptop. VanderZanden's former employer is also accusing him of poaching Lyft employees, which it claims is a violation of his confidentiality agreement. A Lyft spokesperson gave Business Insider the following statement: We are disappointed to have to take this step, but this unusual situation has left us no choice but to take the necessary legal action to protect our confidential information. We are incredibly proud of the dedicated and people-powered culture that we’ve fostered to support drivers, passengers and the entire Lyft community and we will not tolerate this type of behavior. We've reached out to Uber and will update this post when we hear back. Here's Lyft's complaint against VanderZanden:  Lyft Complaint Against VanderZanden SEE ALSO: UBER DRIVERS SPEAK OUT: We're Making A Lot Less Money Than Uber Is Telling People Join the conversation about this story »

---

12 Facts You Never Knew About Apple CEO Tim Cook (AAPL)

Tim Cook is one of Silicon Valley's most guarded figures. But a person doesn't remain a mystery for very long after taking the helm of one of the most closely watched companies in the world. Just last week Cook made news by announcing he's "proud to be gay." Cook's rise to prominence has garnered the attention of tech's most prominent journalists, including Fortune's Adam Lashinsky, who published "Inside Apple" in 2012. Lashinsky's reporting represents one of the first serious examinations of Apple's new CEO. We've rounded up the insights that shed light on Cook as a person and demonstrate how he'll lead Apple into the future.  Cook is a graduate of Auburn University where he studied industrial engineering. He was born in Robertsdale, Alabama. Cook was not always considered the heir apparent to Steve Jobs’ empire by outsiders. “Many believed he’d never be CEO,” writes Lashinsky. Before joining Apple, Cook worked at former rival IBM for 12 years. See the rest of the story at Business Insider

---

Elon Musk: 'People Don't Understand How Hard It Is To Manufacture Something' (TSLA)

After Tesla reported earnings on Wednesday, beating Wall Street expectations with a modest $0.02 profit, CEO Elon Musk took questions from analysts. In the wake of a debate about whether Tesla will be able to meet 2014 sales targets, Musk was clearly irritated. Tesla reported on Wednesday that it will sell a total of 33,000 Model S sedans, its only vehicle, versus an earlier expectation of 35,000. Analysts and media outlets have begun to address a possible decline in demand for the Model S. Musk tried to further clarify a point that he made on Tesla's second quarter earnings call, when he insisted that Tesla doesn't have a demand problem.  "It's not a question of demand," he said. "Demand is not our issue, production is our issue. We have more demand than we can address and levers we can pull to increase demand, and we’re not doing it." Musk's point was that if Tesla engaged in conventional advertising strategies — the company currently does almost no advertising — it could increase demand, but its more pressing issue now is being able to simply built its cars, and build them well. "People don’t understand how hard it is to manufacturing something," Musk said. "Making one of something is easy. Making a lot of something is quite easy." Musk is also ticked off that the battery industry doesn't hold itself to a high standard of truthfulness (Tesla is preparing to construct a massive $5-billion battery factory in Nevada). "The battery industry has to have more B.S. in it than any industry I’ve ever seen," he said. "We're not worried about blindsided on a technology." Musk is usually very forthcoming about Tesla's business on earnings calls, and Wednesday's call was no exception, but throughout he seemed annoyed and at times confrontational that the market and the media have fixated on speculation that Tesla is running out of customers. Again and again, he insisted that Tesla could stoke demand if it wanted to — but isn't. His testiness clearly stemmed from the same group of analysts he told this to last quarter revisiting the issue again. From his perspective, the bottom line is that Tesla has people lining up to buy its existing cars and expects to have people lining up to buy its new cars and is far more worried about being able to build the vehicles and properly support them than it is about seeing demand drop off. He also anticipated production growth rates of 50% from 2014 to 2015 and admitted that Tesla could "do better" on being less perfectionistic with future cars.    SEE ALSO: Tesla Earns Surprise Profit, But Will Miss Expectations For 2014 Model S Sales Join the conversation about this story »

---

Here's The Crazy Physics You Need To Know To Understand 'Interstellar'

Christopher Nolan's latest mind-trip "Interstellar" will be premiering in theaters across the country on Friday, Nov. 7. No doubt, the film is the strangest cinematic experience you will have had since Nolan's "Inception." But unlike "Inception," the visually-gripping film "Interstellar" is based on real, scientific concepts like neutron stars, spinning black holes, and time dilation. And if you're not at least semi-familiar with these terms, you might end up feeling a little lost during the movie. In the movie, a crew of space explorers embark on an extra-galactic journey through a wormhole. What awaits them on the other side is another solar system with a spinning black hole for a sun. They must race against space and time to complete their mission. All this space travel can get a little confusing, but it relies on some basic physics principles. And if you understand these principles, then you'll spend less time guessing and more time enjoying. Here's a brief guide to the five physics concepts you need to know in order to understand "Interstellar." Artificial Gravity A big problem we, as humans, face with long-term space travel is the affects of zero gravity in space. We were born on Earth and therefore our bodies are adapted to thrive under certain gravitational conditions, but when we're in space for long period of time, our muscles degrade. This is an issue for the travelers in "Interstellar," too. To combat this, scientists have conceived different designs of installing artificial gravity on spaceships. One way is to rotate the spacecraft, like in the film. The rotation creates a force, called centrifugal force, that pushes objects to the outer walls of the spacecraft. This push acts similar to how gravity would, but just in an opposite direction. You experience this same form of artificial gravity when you're driving around a tight curve and feel like you're being pushed outward, away from the central point of the curve. For a spinning spacecraft, your wall becomes the floor on which walk. Spinning Black Holes Astronomers have observed, albeit indirectly, spinning black hole in our universe. No one really knows what lies at the center of a black hole, but scientists have at least a name for it: singularity. What you need to know about spinning black holes is that they warp the space around them differently than stationary black holes. This warping process is called frame dragging, and it affects the way a black hole will look and distort the space and, more importantly, the spacetime around it. The spinning black hole you see in the film is surprisingly scientifically accurate. Wormholes Wormholes — like the one the "Interstellar" crew use — are one of the only physical phenomenon in the film that don't have any observational evidence to support their existence. They are purely theoretical but an incredibly handy plot device for any science fiction story looking to traverse cosmic distances. This is because wormholes are essentially shortcuts through space. Any object with mass will create a divot in space, meaning space can be stretched, distorted, or even folded. A wormhole is a fold in the fabric of space (and time) that connects two, otherwise extremely distant, regions in space, which enables space explorers to travel long distances over a short period of time. The official term for a wormhole is an Einstein-Rosen bridge because they were first theorized by Albert Einstein and his colleague Nathan Rosen in 1935. Gravitational Time Dilation Gravitational time dilation is a real phenomenon that has been observed on Earth. It occurs because time is relative, meaning time runs at different rates for different reference frames. When you're in a strong gravitational environment time runs slower for you relative to people in a weak gravitational environment. If you are near a black hole, like the one in the film, your gravitational reference frame, and therefore your perception of time, is different than someone standing on Earth. This is because the gravitational pull from the black hole is stronger the closer you are to it. For you, a minute near a black hole will still last 60 seconds, but if you could look at a clock on Earth, a minute will appear to last less than 60 seconds. This means you will age more slowly than the people on Earth. And the stronger the gravitational field you're in, the more extreme the time dilation. This plays an important role in the film when the explorers encounter a black hole at the center of another solar system. Five-Dimensional Reality Albert Einstein spent the last 30 years of his life working out what physicists call a unified theory — which would combine the mathematical concept of gravity with the other three fundamental forces of nature: the strong force, weak force, and electromagnetic force. He failed to find one, as have countless physicists since Einstein. Gravity refuses to cooperate, and some physicists think that one way to solve this outstanding mystery is to treat our universe as if it actually functioned in five dimensions, instead of the four-dimensional universe Einstein developed in his theory of relativity, which couples three-dimensional space with one-dimensional time, a.k.a. spacetime. Nolan toys with this idea that our universe has five dimensions in the film and gravity's important role in it all. Movie Time That wasn't too bad, right? Now it's time to test what you've learned and go see the movie. Let us know in the comments below if this post was helpful. Here's the official movie trailer from Paramount. SEE ALSO: 'Interstellar' Animators Made A Physics Breakthrough While Creating A Black Hole For The Movie SEE ALSO: What Is The Most Powerful Thing In The Universe? Join the conversation about this story »

---

Here's How To Get An Invitation To Google Invite-Only 'Inbox' App — But You Only Have One Hour

Google is trying to re-invent email with "Inbox," which introduces some interesting new features like Bundles, Highlights, Reminders, Assists, and Snooze. "Inbox" has been invite-only, which has led to people hounding those with access for an invite on Twitter, or even auctioning off their own invitations on eBay. The good news is if you want an invite, you can get one today, but only for one hour. Google announced via Twitter today that it will be handing out invites to anyone interested, but only between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. ET. Want an invite TODAY? #InboxHappyHour 3-4pm PT. Send us an email at inbox@google.com between 3 and 4pm PT and you'll get your invite by 5pm — Inbox by Gmail (@inboxbygmail) November 5, 2014 All you need to do is send an email to inbox@google.com within the time window, and you'll get an invite in the hour following. In the meantime, if you want to see our walkthrough of "Inbox," click here. SEE ALSO: REVEALED: Rare, Older Photos Of Steve Jobs From After He Was Tossed From Apple Join the conversation about this story »

---

San Francisco Has Slower Internet Than Any Other Major City In The US

You would think that San Francisco, with its close proximity to tech-centric Silicon Valley, would have some of the fastest internet in the world.  According to a new report from the Open Technology Institute, that just isn't the case. Researchers at the institute analyzed internet speeds in 24 cities in North America, Asia, and Europe. Surprisingly, San Francisco ranked near the bottom in terms of download speed, beating only Mexico City, Berlin, Dublin, and London.  It seems that San Francisco was a bit of an anomaly in OTI's analysis. As Curbed points out, the fastest internet costs less in San Francisco than in other US cities. A download speed of 200 megabits per second (mbps) can be purchased for $30 per month, while that same speed costs about $300 a month in New York and Los Angeles.  OTI writes in the connectivity report: "During our regression analysis, every city except San Francisco, CA suggested that as a customer pays more, she receives a higher speed. But in San Francisco, CA, we found the relationship between speed and price is negative, due to some very cheap, fast plans that break from the city’s pricing trend." Here are the cities with the fastest Internet speeds, compared to average monthly prices. San Franciscans may have some of the slowest Internet connections, but users pay around the same as people living with the fastest connections in Seoul, Hong Kong, and Tokyo.  SEE ALSO: I Took An Online Coding Class, And Now I Have A Huge Appreciation For What Programmers Do All Day Join the conversation about this story »

---

Taylor Swift: The Last Time An Album Sold As Well As Mine Just Did, This Is What I Looked Like

Taylor Swift is celebrating her record-shattering album sales with a goofy photo of herself from 2002 when she was 12 years old. June 2002 was the last time a record (Eminem's "The Eminem Show") sold as many copies in one week as Swift's "1989" just did. The former country singer's first pop album 1.287 million copies in its first week on sale. It's now the biggest-selling album released in 2014. Here's the photo of 12-year-old Swift: The last time an album sold as many copies as 1989 did first week, it was 2002, I was 12, and going through my 'braids phase'. #nofilternecessary A photo posted by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift) on Nov 11, 2014 at 1:59pm PST She looks quite different now: SEE ALSO: Taylor Swift Crushes Expected Album Sales, Breaks Records Join the conversation about this story »

---

I Tried The $2 Billion Contraption That Facebook Is Betting Its Future On — It's Indescribable (FB)

"That was mindblowing." Robin Wauters stumbled out of a small room at Dublin's Web Summit. He had just experienced Oculus' latest virtual-reality prototype, Crescent Bay. Wauters, a former TechCrunch reporter, had tried on Oculus years ago. This version, he said, yielded a crisper image and a more convincing virtual world.  A long-time Oculus employee, Joe Chen, told Wauters his reaction was common. He joked that there needed to be a second "decompression" room, where people could sit and reel after they wear the device.  Oculus Crescent Bay isn't available for purchase yet. It's made of 3D printed parts that are currently impossible to mass produce, which means building one is extremely expensive. When asked how expensive, Chen declined to say. Robert Scoble, a tech influencer who's known for his gadget reviews, was sitting beside me when Wauters emerged. In true Scoble fashion, a pair of new $300 headphones were wrapped around his neck. I tried them on — they felt like subwoofers strapped to my ears. Each beat gently shook my head. "Do you think Oculus is the future of computing, like Mark Zuckerberg does?" I asked him. It could be, Scoble thought. He believed it could become a big gaming platform that could also change the way movies are shot and directed. Right now, movies are made for watching, not participating, Scoble explained. Oculus turns every onlooker into a fully immersed character. Scoble also thought Oculus could be a strong platform for education and tutorials. Imagine needing to fix your car, putting on Oculus, and visiting a virtual mechanic who shows you how to repair a virtual model. It'd be like diving into a YouTube video and feeling so absorbed in the experience you could reach out, touch it, and interact with it. But could Oculus, a clunky headset that Velcros to your head like a bike helmet, really be better than big-screen TVs and surround-sound movies? Or were Scoble and Wauters geeking out? Scoble was once so obsessed with Google Glass, he wore it in the shower.  I needed to try it. I signed up on a long wait list to get a 15-minute demo of Crescent Bay. Soon, Chen waved me in. He led me behind a wall marked by Oculus' logo. Inside, there was a dimly lighted room with a large tripod and a mounted TV. A squishy 4-foot-by-4-foot mat laid in the room's center. Chen ushered me onto it and told me not to step outside its boundaries. "We don't want you accidentally walking into the wall during the demo," he said. He was serious. As he strapped the device to my head, I felt nervous. One Web Summit-goer said he had felt vertigo during the demo because he almost walked off a virtual cliff. This person said he had to flap his arms backward to regain balance. Chen assured me I'd be fine. He tightened one more strap, and my eyes were cloaked in total darkness. Well, almost. When I looked down at my nose, I could see a small glow of the outside world I'd left behind. My nose is small, and Oculus is built for "all types of noggins," Chen said. Soon, rows of small, silver globes filled my line of vision. I spun around and found the circles surrounded me on all sides, up and down, left and right. The word "Oculus" appeared in front of me. The simulation was about to begin. Suddenly, I was standing in an empty submarine. It looked pretty real, like a movie with such strong visual effects you almost forget a computer made them.  Instead of a squishy mat, I was now standing on metal. To my left there were levers and buttons. A chain dangled in front of me. I stretched out my hand to grab it, but no arm appeared in my line of vision. I was a floating, armless thing that could sense the Oculus-created world, but not interact with it. Chen began narrating the scene for me, letting me know what to expect. I was wearing headphones but his voice overpowered the sound effects and acted like a voice of God. Soon, the room changed and Oculus brought me face to face with a small Tyrannosaurus rex. Through my headphones, I could hear the dinosaur growling. It seemed ready to pounce. After my encounter with a dinosaur, Oculus introduced me to cuter, cartoon animals (fox, bear, rabbit) which surrounded a campfire. Square-shaped smoke emerging from the flames. A tall tree stood against my back.  Another scene put me on a moon-like planet where I encountered an alien. The alien spoke gibberish to me and waved. His eyes followed me as a moved left, right, then squatted down. Chen said this world took a five-person team one or two months to create. Oculus whisked me off to another room, and I found myself staring in a mirror. Instead of my face, there was a floating white mask that mimicked every nod and turn of my actual head. Behind me a table was set for tea. Again, I wanted to reach out to grab a glass, but no hand appeared. (Chen says the Oculus team was working on a solution to the armlessness.) Oculus felt most real when I was transported to a high platform in the middle of a city. To my left and right were handrails, but of course I was unable to grab them. I inched forward and peered over the virtual ledge. If I went to far, it seemed I'd plummet to my death. My legs became shaky and my heart rate quickened. "What happens if I fall?" I asked Chen. He joked that world would open up and swallow me. I didn't have the guts to move forward and find out. I zipped to another world where a large T-rex was waiting. Chen told me it was the other T-rex's mom. The beast ran toward me and then trampled me. While beneath it I looked up and saw its tail whiz by. The final scene was created by animation company Unreal, and I felt like I was in a Michael Bay film. I was in the middle of a slow-motion street riot, where bullets shot past my face. Bazookas exploded into a nearby wall and debris came flying from the right. A car to my left blew up and twirled in the air above me. I could see a passenger still inside, and I watched the car land and explode in the distance. I could no longer hear Chen's narration. The explosions were too loud. When the final scene ended, Chen helped me take off Crescent Bay. I tried to make sense of what I'd just experienced. I came out and found Scoble still testing out the headphones. "I have no words," I told him.  I'm not sure if Oculus will be the next big computing platform, like Mark Zuckerberg believes it will be. All I know is I experienced something that felt very cool, and it's not an experience that words or pictures can replicate.  Chen joined Oculus two years ago as one of its first employees. He was recruited by its founder, Palmer Luckey, who was then 19. Then, Oculus was barely functioning. Chen says the product was held together with duct tape and paper.  "Oculus isn't an emerging computing platform yet," Chen said. "It's too early. We're not even in the baking period. We're still in the phase of gathering all the ingredients so we can bake something."  NOW WATCH: The Walking Dead' Creator Answers Our Burning Questions About The Future Join the conversation about this story »

---

The Full Story Of Elon Musk Is Much More Awesome Than You Realize

The founder of Tesla and SpaceX had an early start in tech and business.  Produced by Matt Johnston Follow BI Video: On Facebook Join the conversation about this story »

---

Check Out The Earliest Work Of Apple's Design God, Jony Ive (AAPL)

Jony Ive wasn't always Jony Ive, Apple design God. At one point, he was just a young British designer trying to get by.  However, Ive was a precocious design talent, and from a young age, he was racking up awards for his design work.  Leander Kahney's, JONY IVE, The Genius Behind Apple's Greatest Products, which is now out in paperback sheds new light on some of Ive's earliest works. We got permission from the book's publisher to run photos of some of that work.  While Apple products today have a certain look and feel to them, Ive's early work doesn't really have a signature to it.  This was intentional.  Kahney highlighted this quote from Paul Kunkel in a book about Apple design: "Unlike most of his generation, Ive did not see design as an occasion to exert his ego or carry out some pres ordained style or theory. Rather, he approached each project in an almost chameleon-like way, adapting himself to the product (rather than the other way around) ... for this reason, Ive's early works have no 'signature style.'" That said, the works turned heads. They were so good that Apple's design leader Bob Brunner spent years recruiting Ive. Eventually he landed Ive, and the rest is history.  Here's a look at the early work, and the evolution of Ive's style. This is a sketch of concept for an electric pen that could write in different widths and patterns. Ive made this as an intern. It is the TX2 pen, and its big feature is a ball and clip at the top designed for people to fiddle around with. Ive realized people like to fiddle with their pens, so he encouraged it in the design. Ive won an award in the 80s for this futuristic design of the landline phone, which he called the "Orator." He won money from the British government to travel abroad as a result of this design. See the rest of the story at Business Insider

---

The 'Internet of Things' Will Be The World's Most Massive Device Market And Save Companies Billions Of Dollars

The Internet of Things (IoT) is beginning to grow significantly, as consumers, businesses, and governments recognize the benefit of connecting inert devices to the internet. In an all-new report from BI Intelligence, we examine what is currently driving growth in the Internet of Things and how various sectors of the economy will embrace IoT innovations.  Access The Full Report And All The Data By Signing Up For a Free Trial >> Here are a few of the key findings from the BI Intelligence report: The Internet of Things will be the largest device market in the world. We estimate that by 2019 it will be more than double the size of the smartphone, PC, tablet, connected car, and the wearable market combined.  The IoT will result in $1.7 trillion in value added to the global economy in 2019. This includes hardware, software, installation costs, management services, and economic value added from realized IoT efficiencies. Device shipments will reach 6.7 billion in 2019 for a five-year CAGR of 61%. Revenue from hardware sales will be only $50 billion or 8% of the total revenue from IoT-specific efforts, as software makers and infrastructure companies will earn the lion's share. The enterprise sector will lead the IoT, accounting for 46% of device shipments this year, but that share will decline as the government and home sectors gain momentum. By 2019, government will be the leading sector for IoT device shipments. The main benefit of growth in the IoT will be increased efficiency and lower costs. The IoT promises increased efficiency within the home, city, and workplace by giving control to the user. However, many are hesitant to use devices as security problems are still an issue. The IoT lacks a common set of standards and technologies that would allow for compatibility and ease-of-use. There are currently few standards (or regulations) for what is needed to run an IoT device. Consortia that group together global industrial, tech, and electronics companies are involved in an effort to standardize the IoT and solve the most pressing security concerns.  In full, the report: Defines what devices we include in the IoT and how the devices will be controlled Forecasts the potential size of the IoT by 2019 in terms of revenue, number of devices, and value-added to the economy  Examines why factors including the drop in sensor prices, increases in internet penetration, and current sales of smartphones and tablets are teh drivers of rapid IoT growth Looks at how the home, government, and enterprise sectors use the IoT differently, and lists possible future uses Identifies the major consortia of IoT companies and examines what they are doing to help drive IoT growth Compares our device estimates to those of other research firms  For full access to all BI Intelligence reports, briefs, and downloadable charts on the Internet of Things and mobile computing markets, sign up for a free trial.  Join the conversation about this story »

---

One Of The Funniest Guys On Twitter Lists His Favorite Twitter Peeps

If you're in the tech world and you don't follow Box CEO Aaron Levie on Twitter, do yourself a favor and start. His tweets are a steady stream of sharp-witted humor on the drama of the day. Cases in point. Levie's comment on the mid-term election results: The thing that both winning and losing a senate seat have in common: you won't pass or change many laws. — Aaron Levie (@levie) November 5, 2014  Levie's comment on Taylor Swift pulling her music from Spotify: This is how it starts. One day Taylor Swift pulls her music from Spotify. The next, we're using AOL and having to hail taxis again. — Aaron Levie (@levie) November 3, 2014  On his excitement the day Apple Pay went live: You could basically sell me anything right now if you took Apple Pay, including on-premise software. — Aaron Levie (@levie) October 21, 2014 So, when The Information's Steve Nellis did a Q&A with Levie, Nellis couldn't help but ask him who he considers the "must-follow" folks on Twitter. Here's Levie's list. 1. @stratechery "Ben Thompson from Stratechery—he’s pretty phenomenal with a lot of his analyses." Here's an example: The Diminished iPadhttp://t.co/x3U8TapVR8Few care about Apple's event because iPad isn't indispensable. Apple deserves blame. — stratechery (@stratechery) October 15, 2014 2. @ConanOBrien "I follow Conan O’Brien and am a big fan of his tweets." Here's an example: Let’s just agree any group of 3 or more handsome British men should be referred to as a “cumberbatch.” — Conan O'Brien (@ConanOBrien) November 2, 2014 3. @realDonaldTrump "Donald Trump produces some interesting experiences on Twitter." Here's an example: Congratulations to @CharlieCrist who has now lost a statewide election in Florida as a Republican, Independent & Democrat. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 5, 2014 As to anyone on Levie's "#unfollow" list? "Well, I haven’t followed #alexfromtarget," he quips. SEE ALSO: Microsoft Just Announced Another Killer Partnership For Its Cloud Office Apps SEE ALSO: Here's What Some iPhone 6 Plus Owners Are Saying About The Phone's Unwieldy Size Join the conversation about this story »

---

CHART OF THE DAY: One-Third Of Alibaba’s Booming Business Is Coming From Mobile (BABA)

Alibaba announced its first quarterly earnings report since the company went public on the New York Stock Exchange in September. The company announced better-than-expected revenue, topping $2.74 billion in the third quarter of 2013 — a 53.7% jump from the same period a year ago — but perhaps what’s most promising is the growth of Alibaba’s mobile business.  Based on company data charted for us by BI Intelligence, 35.8% of Alibaba’s gross merchandise volume of $90.53 billion — or $32.4 billion — in the quarter. That’s an increase of 14.7% from the same year-ago period, and up 32.8% from the last quarter. That’s coming from 307 million annual active buyers across all of Alibaba’s platforms; comparatively, eBay only reported 152 million annual active buyers last quarter. SEE ALSO: 16 Beautiful Variations Of Jawbone's New High-End Wristband SEE ALSO: The Steve Jobs Guide To Manipulating People And Getting What You Want Join the conversation about this story »

---

REVEALED: Rare, Older Photos Of Steve Jobs From After He Was Tossed From Apple

In 1985, documentary photographer Doug Menuez approached Apple founder Steve Jobs with a big request. He had heard that Jobs had been forced out of Apple and was starting his own personal computing company, NeXT, and Menuez wanted to document the efforts of Jobs and his team. Jobs agreed, allowing Menuez the rare opportunity to photograph his team throughout the next three years, which would (30 years later) evolve into the backbone of Menuez's book "Fearless Genius: The Digital Revolution in Silicon Valley." This week, Menuez is publishing excerpts and photos from "Fearless Genius" on photo sharing app Storehouse, which marks the first time many of Menuez's photos of Steve Jobs have been available to see online. Menuez has agreed to allow Business Insider to publish a selection of his photos accompanied by his descriptions of the circumstances surrounding each moment, which you can see below. Steve Jobs Explaining Ten Year Technology Development Cycles: Sonoma, California, 1986.  Every few months, Steve and the fledgling company’s employees would travel to a retreat in the country with their families to grapple with myriad technical issues. There he would regularly hold talks to explain  his vision for the company and to encourage his brilliant cofounders and employees to participate fully in its realization. Steve planned to ride the next wave by putting the power of a refrigerator-size mainframe computer into a one foot cube at a price affordable to universities, thus “transforming education.” When I asked him what he meant by this, he said he wanted “some kid at Stanford to be able to cure cancer in his dorm room.” Because he absolutely believed this was possible, his whole team did. Behind this noble goal, Steve was also on a quest for redemption and revenge after being forced out at Apple in a humiliating boardroom coup after alienating key  board members and his handpicked CEO, John Sculley. Most industry pundits believed NeXT would be a huge and rapid success, as did Steve. Instead, it was the start of a decade of difficult, often bitter struggle. The Day Ross Perot Gave Steve Jobs $20 Million: Fremont, California, 1986.  Steve was a consummate showman who understood the power of a compelling setting. This was never more apparent than at this incongruously formal lunch he hosted for Ross Perot and the NeXT board of directors in the middle of the abandoned warehouse he planned to turn into the NeXT factory. He told Perot that they were  building the most advanced robotic assembly line in the world and that “no human hands” would be assembling hardware. He predicted that NeXT would be the last billion dollar a year company in Silicon Valley and that they would ship ten thousand computers a month. Perot, who was then championing a movement to reform education in the United States, was blown away by the presentation and invested $20 million, becoming a key board member and giving NeXT a crucial lifeline.  Steve Jobs Returning from a Visit to the New Factory: Fremont, California, 1987.  Although Steve could be extremely rude, critical, and occasionally even vindictive, he also was incredibly joyful,   with an infectious grin and energy that was irresistible. In the early days at NeXT he would often come bounding in, hungry to get to work. Still, there were not too many unrestrained moments of hilarity such as this one, when Steve was riding back from a visit to the newly chosen factory site with the company employees in an old, rented yellow school bus. Note: All photos used with express permission from Doug Menuez and Storehouse. To see more of Menuez's excerpts from his time with Steve Jobs and NeXT, click here. Join the conversation about this story »

---

Take A Tour Of Elon Musk's $17 Million Bel Air Mansion

Elon Musk, billionaire founder of SpaceX, Tesla, and PayPal, leads a pretty amazing life.  In January 2013, he spent $17 million on a 20,248-square-foot mansion in Los Angeles' Bel Air neighborhood. He and his five sons had lived in the house for three years, which Musk rented before he felt financially secure enough to buy.  The home, which has seven bedrooms, a giant screening room, a pool, and a tennis court, is what you would expect from a man worth $8.6 billion. In November of 2013, Musk paid $6.75 million for a ranch home located across the street from the mansion. No word on whether he plans to demolish the small house to combine the two homes into an even bigger estate. Musk's house is situated on a hilltop 1.66-acre plot in Los Angeles' ritzy Bel Air enclave. It overlooks the exclusive Bel Air Country Club. The house is enormous, with 20,248 square feet of space divided into different wings. See the rest of the story at Business Insider

---

Google's Massive Android Platform Is Driving Billions Of Dollars In E-Commerce, Apps, And Advertising

Android is underappreciated as a commercial platform — as a revenue driver for the e-commerce, advertising, and software industries.  Consider:  Android is crushing it as a driver of ad revenue. In this year's second quarter, Android's share of mobile ad traffic passed the share controlled by Apple's iPhone and iPad devices. Android at 39% still lags iOS in ad revenue share, but it is gaining share twice as fast. Android is exploding as an e-commerce driver. Android's share of mobile commerce orders is up 26% year-over-year. Android devices now account for just over one-fifth of all mobile e-commerce orders in the US.  It's also the fastest-growing major app ecosystem. Global revenue on Google Play more than doubled year-over-year in the first quarter of 2014. That's faster growth than iOS, according to App Annie. Some analysts believe Google Play will overtake the Apple App Store in revenue within five years.  In a new BI Intelligence report, we show how Android has translated its massive audience — an estimated 1.2 billion active users globally by the end of this year — into a solid platform for mobile-based businesses.  Access The Full Report And Data By Signing Up For A Trial Today >> Consider:  Mobile business models that neglect or ignore Android risk severely limiting their market potential. Android is roughly twice the size of iOS in terms of its user base and is comparable in size to the world’s two other major platforms: Facebook and Windows. The fragmentation problem is extremely overblown, from all perspectives: screen size, operating system version, and device proliferation. Globally, 80% of Android devices are running the two latest available versions of the platform. In the U.S, it's over 90%. Android Lollipop will roll out beginning this month. Android's Achilles Heel remains the feature-creep and bloatware perpetrated on the platform by partner carriers and manufacturers. But Google is exerting more and more control over Android and pushing partners to adopt its preferred version of Android, which has a full suite of Google apps, including  Search and Google Play.  Google has made progress in "recapturing" Android. In the second quarter of 2014, 65% of global smartphone shipments were running Google's preferred version of Android, rather than variants. That was a 3-percentage-point improvement over the previous quarter.   Too many analysts remain attached to an outdated idea of Google's mobile operating system as fragmented, malware-ridden, and low-end. They believe Android users don’t spend money on mobile and lack lifetime value. This is no longer true. The report is full of charts and data that can be easily downloaded and put to use.  In full, the report:  Explains how Android has essentially solved the fragmentation problem  Delivers all the key stats in a dozen charts for Android-based e-commerce, advertising, and app sales Shows how Android is growing much faster across most key mobile business categories than rival platforms Lists all the milestones Android has achieved in 2014, including surpassing iOS in web traffic share Delves into why Android still has significant vulnerabilities, and how Google is addressing them For full access to the report on Android As A Mobile Business Platform and all our downloadable charts and data on mobile computing strategy and trends sign up for a trial subscription today.     Join the conversation about this story »

---

Ahead Of Earnings, Everyone Is Focused On How Many Cars Tesla Is Selling (TSLA)

Tesla reports third-quarter earnings after the bell on Wednesday. We'll cover the results and also summarize CEO Elon Musk's comments on the call the company holds with Wall Street analysts after the numbers are released. There's significant pressure on Tesla this quarter and as the year closes out. The stock has been white-hot in 2014 and is up over 1,000% since the company's 2010 IPO. But shares have been trading substantially lower over the past month and half and are down on Wednesday ahead of the close, at $231. In October, Musk threw a great party in Los Angeles to roll out the all-wheel-drive version of the Model S sedan. But questions have arisen about Tesla's sales pace, at least in the U.S., where there have been rumblings that demand is weakening.  The Wall Street Journal reported as much several weeks ago, and Musk — naturally, on Twitter — quickly disputed the allegations that Tesla sales are slowing. So the picture heading into the fourth quarter is confusing.  Morgan Stanley lead auto analyst Adam Jonas has provided some of the best overall financial and industry insight into Tesla and even he's somewhat stumped, as he admitted in a note published on Wednesday. "While TSLA is our top [carmaker] pick in our US coverage universe (we also recommend Fiat Chrysler)," he wrote, "we believe the stock is one of the least understood stories in global autos." By the end of the day, we could have additional perspective on Tesla's future, although on the earnings front, the automaker is expected to have an unimpressive quarter, compared to the same period in 2013. The bottom line is that Tesla is supposed to be a rapid-growth company that excites investors in the same way that an Apple or Facebook does. Its story for about a year has been a stock-market story, and in that context, earnings matter. (Obviously, Tesla has to sell cars to generate profits, but unlike some low-volume, high-profit carmakers, such as Ferrari, Tesla is aiming to build 500,000 cars a year by 2020.) That's changing, as analysts start to look at how the rubber meets the road. Tesla has said that it expects to sell 35,000 Model S sedans worldwide in 2014, with half of those in the U.S. If demand for the $100,000 electric car is fading, then attention will shift to the launch of the next car, the Model X SUV, in 2015 — and then to the mass-market Model 3, in 2017. And Tesla will have to explain how it intends to satisfy investors while customers wait for those cars to be delivered. SEE ALSO: Here's What Could Really Be Going On With Tesla Sales Join the conversation about this story »

---

CNN Anchors Propped Up Their iPads With Surface Pro 3 Tablets During Election-Night Coverage

Not even a deal with Microsoft could get CNN's anchors to use the Surface Pro 3.  During election coverage on Tuesday night, some viewers spotted iPads hiding behind propped-up Surface Pro 3s, GeekWire reports.  Even the good people at CNN who have Microsoft surface tablets in their face hide iPad ... - http://t.co/Sz6CpzLrEg pic.twitter.com/7Bam8uyI2G — Melbourneer (@_Melbourneer_) November 5, 2014 CNN commentators using Microsoft @surface tablets as iPad stand. Facepalm. pic.twitter.com/BPxWTf2zhI — Adam (@adamUCF) November 5, 2014 Oops. Someone familiar with CNN's operations told Mashable, however, that anchors aren't actually forced to use any type of equipment and the Surface tablets weren't part of a product-placement deal. Instead, the Surface tablets were there to give anchors a view of the channel's ongoing coverage. A spokesperson for CNN confirmed to Business Insider that the tablets are not, in fact, part of a product placement deal. "Surface tablets were provided at each seat to give guests, contributors, and CNN talent real-time election results through 'My Magic Wall' — an application optimized for Internet Explorer," the spokesperson told Business Insider. "While panelists rotated throughout the night, the tablets remained in place. Talent brought with them to the studio their own personal devices for email and social media." Of course this isn't the first time that Microsoft has had a problem getting people to properly use its Surface Pro, or even call it by the proper name. The company has a five-year, $400 million deal with the NFL. Coaching staff must use its tablets on the field, if they use any tablets at all. Microsoft had to coach announcers to call the tablets by their proper name after they continued to call the Surface Pro 3s "iPads." Looks like CNN anchors might be the ones in need of coaching now.  (Via Gizmodo) SEE ALSO: Here's Why The Time Is Always Set To 9:41 In Apple Ads Join the conversation about this story »

---

Carrier Billing Hasn't Gone Away — Here Is How It's Helping Companies Make Money On Mobile

The biggest question app developers are facing today is how to get paid for their apps and content. In particular they face two challenges:  how to make purchasing on mobile easy enough so that people will buy their app and in-app content, and how to enable people to make payments in markets where many do not have credit cards.  One answer is carrier billing.  Carrier billing allows people to buy digital content by adding the cost of a purchase directly to their mobile bill. It's similar to buying on-demand television by adding it to your cable bill. The idea is not new and, in fact, carrier billing was the first method available to consumers for buying things like ring tones and wallpapers before the advent of smartphones. But now a new report from BI Intelligence finds that carrier billing is being updated for the mobile app age. While the concept of adding charges to one's mobile bill hasn't changed, carrier billing technology has made some giant leaps and now offers a smooth, low-friction way for consumers to pay for digital content like apps and tokens within apps. That's why it has developers, app stores and mobile carriers so excited.  But that said, it faces some major hurdles, in particular the high prices currently charged by mobile operators for providing carrier billing services has kept many app developers away. In the report, BI Intelligence explains how carrier billing works, who is using it, and whether or not it has the potential to catch on for physical goods, beyond the world of digital content. Access the Full Report By Signing Up For A Free Trial Today >> Here are some of the key elements from the report:  Though it's often associated with emerging markets, carrier billing companies actually make most of their money in developed markets like North America and Europe.  But that could change. In emerging markets like India, where mobile penetration is high, but hundreds of millions of people lack credit cards or bank accounts, carrier billing has especially big potential as a way to get more people paying for apps, music, and in-app purchases on mobile devices. In terms of numbers, we estimate carrier billing powers $3 billion in mobile transactions, or 12% of the global market for mobile digital content.  Mobile operators charge fees between 25% and 40% of the total cost of purchased goods. But as carriers struggle to maintain revenue, and realize they are missing out on a big opportunity in digital goods, they are beginning to compromise on their rates in hopes that they will see a higher volume of carrier billing sales. The holy grail for carrier billing is to reduce rates enough so that people adopt it as a method for purchasing physical goods via e-commerce sites and apps. If this happens, as it has in South Korea, the carrier billing opportunity would be truly massive, as it would begin to compete head to head with credit cards as a payment method. In full, the report: Explains the complex set of relationships between wireless carriers, app stores, platform vendors, and app developers, upon which carrier billing depends.  Includes interviews with executives from four leading carrier billing companies on challenges they are encountering in their market and the health of the industry as a whole. Assesses just how big the carrier billing opportunity is, where it has the most potential for growth, and the hurdles it will have to overcome in order to expand to be a commonly used method of payment among consumers. Analyzes how and why carriers are beginning to lower their once-prohibitive fees for powering carrier billing transactions. Join the conversation about this story »

---

The 25 Most Powerful People In The World, According To Forbes

Forbes has just declared Russian President Vladimir Putin to be the most powerful person on Earth. "As the undisputed, unpredictable, and unaccountable head of an energy-rich, nuclear-tipped state, no one would ever call him weak," writes Forbes Senior Editor Caroline Howard. For the second year in row, Putin edges out US President Barack Obama for the top spot. With the exception of Pope Francis, the top six people are all in politics. The business world cracks the top 10 in the form of Google cofounders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who are tied at No. 9. At only 30 years old, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is the youngest person on the list, while the 90-year-old king of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, is the oldest. Newcomers include Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Alibaba CEO Jack Ma.  Here are the world's 25 most powerful people:   1. Vladimir Putin, President of Russia 2. Barack Obama, President of the US 3. Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China 4. Pope Francis, Head of the Roman Catholic Church  5. Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany 6. Janet Yellen, Chair of the Board of Governors of the United States Federal Reserve System 7. Bill Gates, Co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation 8. Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank 9. Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Cofounders of Google 10. David Cameron, Prime minister of the United Kingdom 11. Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, King of Saudi Arabia 12. Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway 13. Li Keqiang, Premier of China 14. Carlos Slim Helu, Honorary chairman of América Móvil 15. Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India 16. Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon 17. Francois Hollande, President of France 18. Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase  19. Ali Hoseini-Khamenei, Grand Ayatollah of Iran 20. Rex Tillerson, CEO of Exxon Mobil 21. Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of General Electric 22. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook  23. Michael Bloomberg, CEO of Bloomberg 24. Charles Koch and David Koch, CEO and EVP of Koch Industries 25. Timothy Cook, CEO of Apple For the full list, head to Forbes.   SEE ALSO: The 25 Best-Performing CEOs In The World, According To The Harvard Business Review Join the conversation about this story »

---

Facebook Is Seeing More And More App Developers Go Android-First (FB)

Facebook is seeing a trend in Europe of app developers going "Android-first." That's significant because for years, Apple's iOS operating system for iPhone and iPad has been the preferred first stop for any company launching an app. If an app succeeds on iOS, then only later will a company think about making a version for Android. Often months or years later, and sometimes never. That's why Android apps tend to look and feel a bit second-rate compared to the same apps on iPhone — they often are just that. The iOS/Android split is weird because globally 80% of users are on the Android system, yet iOS and its roughly 10% of users are the top priority for developers. So it would be dramatic for companies to reverse that trend. Yet that is what Facebook is seeing among some companies in Europe, according to Facebook's Europe, Middle East, and Africa platform director, Julien Codorniou. Developers are beginning to sense that because more people are Android users than Apple users, they're losing money by working on the smaller iOS platform first, he told Business Insider UK. Historically, Apple has been the preferred platform. Apple's higher-income users are often more lucrative targets for app advertisers and in-app payments and shopping. It's also simpler for developers to use, Apple has only one version of iOS running at any one time (the newest one) and the vast majority of Apple users keep their devices updated to the newest version. Android, by contrast, is "fragmented" into several different versions across hundreds of different phones — and all those versions are a headache for developers who must make a separate app tailored for each one. But Codorniou told us Facebook has a team of evangelists encouraging Android developers to use Facebook as a way to build and promote their apps: "As of today, I have four guys from my team in Paris talking to Android developers about the greatness of Parse, Facebook login, app links, app events. It’s a very important bet for us." Wait, Android developers? Android-first, really? "People look at the numbers," he says. "They want downloads, installs. They know that the monetization is catching up on Android. Of course iOS is the better platform when it comes to monetization, but it’s easier to update your app on Android. There are many people on an Android phone. ... The world you described [in which Apple is dominant] was true a year ago, but I see that things are changing." "The vision we have with Parse and with the platform in general is to accelerate the time to market. It should not take you six months to develop from iOS to Android." "There is a pattern coming from Eastern Europe. The Russian developers develop on Android first because of a big audience, and it maybe being easier to develop. They liked the fact that they could submit a new version of the app every day. [With Apple, you have to get each new version of the app approved before it hits the App Store. There is no version-approval system for Android.] This is a trend that I see and I think it is going to accelerate." Do you work at an app developer that switched to go Android first? Contact Business Insider UK at jedwards@businessinsider.com to tell us your story. Join the conversation about this story »

---

Philippine sin city was magnet for Briton charged in Hong Kong

Angeles City (Philippines) (AFP) - A wealthy British banker charged over grisly twin murders in Hong Kong was a regular in a shabby red-light district of the Philippines where he liked to flash his cash and was treated like a king. The women in skimpy outfits working the short stretch of go-go and hostess bars of Angeles City remember Rurik Jutting fondly. At the cramped Del Rio bar, workers said he would swig bottles of a local low-calorie beer while handing out cash, buying everyone rounds of drinks and keeping an eye on one of the dancers, who would become his girlfriend. Women would rush to the door when they saw Jutting arrive and lead him to his favourite spot, a mouldy fake-leather couch that they covered with a pink blanket so he would not get rashes on his legs, said 26-year-old hostess Joy Reyes. "He's a big spender. Everyone would welcome him whenever he's here. It also doesn't hurt that he is handsome," she said. Jutting would pull out a folded wad of cash from his right pocket, and would peel off notes from the bundle to give away, according to bartender Linda Laida, 43. "It shows that he's a banker. He knows how to count his money fast and knew exactly how much he was giving out," Laida said.   - Relationship break-up  -   The women at the Del Rio said Jutting would spend up to 20,000 pesos ($450) a night at the bar -- the equivalent of an annual income for many people in the Philippines. Jutting had been a regular there since January, and soon began dating one of the hostesses who would later appear in photos with him on his Facebook page, according to her colleagues. But the two apparently broke up in August after he was seen with a different woman on his arm, they said. That was the last time they saw him there. The ex-girlfriend, who now works at another Angeles bar, did not return messages from AFP seeking comment. A co-worker said on Wednesday that she had not reported to work for four days. Jutting was charged with murder this week in Hong Kong, where he worked as a securities trader for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, after police found two dead Indonesian women in his luxury apartment.   - Escape from poverty -   Angeles City, a couple of hours' drive north of the capital Manila, emerged as a red-light district decades ago when the United States had a major air base nearby. The bars and love hotels remained after the base closed in 1991, continuing to lure women from the poorest Filipino families. One of the workers at the Del Rio, Len Alumarde, said she lost her job as a computer saleswoman when Super Typhoon Haiyan hit her hometown last year in the eastern Philippines. She moved to Angeles two months ago after being unable to find a job at home. "I want to find a foreigner to help me support my family, or even just for friendship," the 24-year-old told AFP. Alumarde said she earned up to 3,000 pesos ($67) a night in tips from Koreans and Australians at the bar. A drink for the women at the bar costs 250 pesos and they receive 100 pesos of that. Managers of other bars said it was up to women to negotiate with their clients if they wanted to take them outside of the bar, with a night of sex costing around 1,000 pesos ($22).   - 'Paradise' -   At nightfall, the Angeles bars light up and huge speakers blare out pop music while women try to entice customers into the bars. In the lobby of a hotel where a hostess worker said Jutting once stayed, one clock displays Sydney time, another London time, while a third clock is set to Manila time and labelled "Paradise". "This is an entertainment place," said 48-year-old Carol Bomedian, who has been running one bar for over a decade. "We have what they're looking for."  As Jutting waits in detention for his next Hong Kong court appearance, on Monday, those who remember him in Angeles ponder what went wrong. The women at Del Rio say he was never a mean drunk and always entertaining when he took them out for dinner and a night of karaoke. "He is not a sex maniac and he was always neatly dressed," 22-year-old dancer Jovelyn de los Santos told AFP. "He wasn't like other men who have only sex on their minds."   Join the conversation about this story »

---

10 Things You Need To Know Before European Markets Open

Good morning! Here's what you need to know before London, Paris, and Frankfurt open this morning.  Dealogic Is Being Bought For $700 Million (€559 Million). Carlyle Group LP said it would partner with other investors to buy US-based financial data provider Dealogic.  Wind Hit Siemens’ Profits. German engineering group Siemens missed expectations for third quarter core profit, hurt by charges for faulty wind turbines that pushed its wind power division to a loss. India’s Infosys Is Hiring 2,100 People In The US. The IT services provider said it plans to hire over 2,100 people in the United States as the company works toward scaling up its global presence and boost key work areas like client relationship management and consulting. Hong Kong’s Remaining Protesters Clashed With Police. Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters clashed with police in the densely populated district of Mong Kok early Thursday as tensions escalated at one of three remaining demonstration sites for the first time in more than two weeks. News Corp Revenues Are Up 4%. News Corp, publisher of the Wall Street Journal, the Sun, and the Times, reported a 4% rise in quarterly revenue, helped by higher sales at its book publishing and online real estate services businesses. The ECB Meeting Is Coming. The big economic calendar event today is the European Central Bank’s rates decision, and Mario Draghi’s press conference. Here’s everything you need to know. Asian Markets Are Mixed. The Nikkei closed down 0.86%, a slight correction for Japanese stocks after several rallies. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is currently up 0.01%. German Factory Orders Were Awful Again. The eurozone’s biggest economy recorded a measly 0.8% boost to factory orders for September. Analysts had expected a 2.3% rise, which would have partly counteracted August’s 5.7% collapse. Luxembourg’s Alleged Secret Tax Deals With Massive Firms Have Been Leaked. Hundreds of the world's biggest companies reportedly brokered secret deals with Luxembourg to avoid paying billions of dollars in tax according to a trove of leaked documents published by an investigative journalism group. Italian Bank Monte Dei Paschi Will Raise €2.5 Billion. The world's oldest bank has approved the capital increase to fill to its capital deficit, revealed in the ECB's recent stress tests, and to pay back the 1.1 euros it still owes to the Italian state. Join the conversation about this story »

---

Bianchi crash forces F1 teams to confront change

Paris (AFP) - In the month that Jules Bianchi has battled for his life after crashing into a recovery truck at the Japanese Grand Prix, his Marussia team has gone into administration and Formula One has agonised over race safety. The 25-year-old Frenchman has lain in a hospital at Yokkaichi near Suzuka in a "critical but stable" condition unaware of the mounting controversy since his October 5 crash. In a rare public comment, Bianchi's father Philippe said his son was in a "desperate" state. And having suffered a traumatic brain injury when his car smashed into the truck at an estimated 200 kilometres (125 miles) an hour, Bianchi could stay in this condition for months. Marussia may not exist when any change comes. The team has gone into administration as it struggles to find finance to keep racing. The Bianchi family meanwhile maintains hopes that their "fighter" son will improve.  There have been unconfirmed reports that Bianchi could be moved to the same hospital in Lausanne, Switzerland where Formula One ace Michael Schumacher was treated after his ski accident. Another former world champion Emerson Fittipaldi is part of a high-level International Automobile Federation (FIA) panel that will recommend new safety measures before a December 3 meeting of the governing body.  Philippe Bianchi has talked of a "traffic accident" rather than a racing crash. Bianchi's car slid off the track made treacherous by a rainstorm as the mobile crane was lifting Adrian Sutil's Sauber off the track. A few seconds earlier Bianchi could have hit track marshals who had been stood there. The final FIA report on the accident is likely to spread the blame. Formula One observers have highlighted three possible reasons that contributed to the Bianchi crash. He may have been going too fast for the wet track, his intermediate tyres were due for a change in the rain and focus has also been put on whether the marshals should have halted the race after Sutil left the track on the previous lap. Yellow warning flags were up, but the racing was still intense. Nobody has blamed Bianchi for his speed. According to the FIA, the Frenchman had slowed down but it has not given details of how fast he was travelling at. "Some cars slowed down more than others. Jules did slow down, it's a matter of degree," race director Charlie Whiting said after the crash. The FIA tested a "virtual safety car" at the US Grand Prix last weekend. In the event of a crash, drivers will have to keep to a speed about 35 percent slower than a normal dry lap time. They will have displays in their cars and face penalties if they breach the limit. A new version will be tried at the Brazilian Grand Prix this weekend. Many drivers and experts say there were exceptional circumstances at Suzuka on October 5 and exceptional answers are needed. Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso has called for tests on closed cockpits for drivers. They have been rejected in the past because teams said they made cars look too ugly. The Williams team has also backed the call. Williams driver Felipe Massa, who survived life-threatening head injuries when struck by a spring from another car at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, said the cockpits should be tested. "Definitely, for my accident, it would have been perfect," said Massa. "For Jules -- I don't know." While the Formula One waits for news of Bianchi, the racing circus is heading for major changes. Join the conversation about this story »

---

ECB set to keep gunpowder dry as economic gloom deepens

Frankfurt (AFP) - The European Central Bank is likely to hold fire on any new policy measures Thursday even as the clouds continue to darken over the euro area economy, analysts said. Despite growing pressure for more action to ward off the spectre of deflation in the single currency area, ECB President Mario Draghi will likely argue that a raft of previous radical measures still need time to unfold, the analysts argued.  "We do not expect the ECB to announce new measures. The ECB will likely focus on the measures taken so far," said Natixis economist Johannes Gareis. This month's regular monetary policy meeting "will be a non-event," agreed UniCredit economist Marco Valli. "All the available signals suggest the ECB will maintain the status quo." On Tuesday, the EU slashed its 2014 growth forecast for the 18-country eurozone to just 0.8 percent from the previous 1.2 percent, with 2015 chopped to 1.1 percent from 1.7 percent.  The ECB does not have much room to cut interest rates much further, anyway, as they are already at 0.05 percent, an all-time low.  So, the ECB has embarked upon a series of liquidity programmes to inject cash into the economy to try and kick-start stymied credit, seen as the main hurdle to a sustained recovery. In addition to targeted long-term refinancing operations or TLTROs -- which make cheap liquidity available to banks on condition they lend it on to companies -- the ECB has launched a programme to buy covered bonds.  Furthermore, the ECB is launching purchases of asset-backed securities (ABS), or bundles of individual loans such as mortgages, car loans and credit-card debt sold on to investors, to allow banks to share the risk of default and free up funds to offer more lending. Draghi has said the combined effect of these measures will ECB could boost the size of the bank's balance sheet by one trillion euros ($1.25 trillion).  Nevertheless, the effects of the measures have yet to fully unfold, because analysts believe some banks may have preferred to hold off until after the results of the ECB's most stringent-ever audit of lenders were published.  The results of the audit were published last week, giving a large majority of banks a clean bill of health.  Media reports of serious disagreements on the ECB's policy-setting governing council and criticism of Draghi's leadership style were exaggerated, analysts said. "What's so new or unusual about lively debates within a central bank?" asked Berenberg Bank economist Holger Schmieding. Join the conversation about this story »

---

The 10 Most Important Things In The World Right Now

Good morning! Here's what you need to know for Thursday.  1. Leaked documents show that Luxembourg allegedly helped more than 300 of the world's largest corporations save millions in tax.  2. New malware called WireLurker is targeting iPhones and iPads on an unprecedented scale, a security firm told The New York Times, with Chinese users being most affected right now.  3. The UN leader in charge of fighting Ebola told the BBC that the organisation does not yet have the resources to beat the disease.  4. After Republicans regained control of the US Senate in midterm elections, President Obama said he would seek explicit authorisation from Congress to back the military campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.  5. The European Central Bank announces its latest monetary policy decision today at 12:45 p.m. GMT. 6. New remains found at the eastern Ukraine crash site of downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 are being transferred to the Netherlands for further examination.  7. The Central Bank of Russia announced on Wednesday that it would be less aggressive in its efforts to prop up the rouble, which has been sliding at a faster pace in the last few weeks.  8. Tensions are escalating between Israeli police and Palestinians at the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, with Jordan urging the UN to step in to end Israeli "violations".  9. In Tesla's second quarter earnings call on Wednesday, CEO Elon Musk was adamant that production — not demand — is the company's biggest issue.  10. Phil Rudd, the drummer for legendary rock band AC/DC, is being accused in New Zealand of trying to get two men killed.  And finally ... Are you pockets feeling a bit lighter this week? Maybe that's because Starbucks just increased its prices by about 10 pence across the entire UK.  Join the conversation about this story »

---

Huge Miss For German Factory Orders

Up just 0.8% in September. Analysts expected a 2.3% boost. Orders are now down 1% on September last year. Last month's absolutely dreadful 5.7% drop (now revised to 4.2%) brought Germany's economy under scrutiny for all the wrong reasons. Economists had expected some recovery from that dip, but it hasn't materialised. Domestic orders took the biggest hit, down 2.8% (following a 2% hit the previous month).  Last month also saw a plunge in exports recorded for August and a slump in industrial production generally. These numbers don't do much to turn around that nasty-looking trend.  Join the conversation about this story »

---

Chinese officials 'went on illegal ivory buying sprees'

Beijing (AFP) - Chinese diplomatic and military staff went on buying sprees for illegal ivory while on official visits to Tanzania, sending prices soaring, an environmental activist group said Thursday. Tens of thousands of elephants are estimated to be slaughtered in Africa each year to feed rising Asian demand for ivory products, mostly from China, the continent's biggest trading partner. When Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Tanzania in 2013, members of his government and business delegation bought so much ivory that local prices doubled to $700 per kilogram, the UK-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) said in a report, citing ivory traders in the Dar es Salaam. The EIA quoted an ivory vendor named Suleiman as saying that when the delegation came to Tanzania business went up. They alleged that the buyers took advantage of a lack of security checks for diplomatic visitors to smuggle their purchases back to China on Xi's plane. Similar sales were made on a previous trip by China's former President Hu Jintao, the report said, and Chinese embassy staff were also described as "major buyers." A Chinese navy visit to Tanzania last year by vessels returning from anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden "prompted a surge in business for Dar es Salaam-based ivory traders", it said.  A Chinese national named Yu Bo was arrested during the naval visit as he attempted to enter Dar es Salaam port in a lorry containing 81 elephant tusks -- hidden under wooden carvings -- which he planned to deliver to two mid-ranking Chinese naval officers, the EIA said. Yu was convicted by a local court in March and sentenced to 20 years in jail, it added. Tanzania is a key ally of China in East Africa, and its President Jakaya Kikwete reportedly signed deals worth $1.7 billion on a visit to Beijing last month. Tanzania had about 142,000 elephants when Kikwete took office in 2005, the EIA said, adding that by 2015 the population is likely to have plummeted to about 55,000 as a result of poaching. Almost all ivory sales were banned in 1989 by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), to which both China and Tanzania are signatories. China often says that it pays "great attention", to the protection of endangered wildlife, and in recent years has carried out several high-profile arrests of smugglers caught in its territory, along with a televised incineration of seized ivory. The environmental group WWF estimated that around 25,000 African elephants were hunted for ivory in 2011, predicting the toll to rise. There could be as few as 470,000 left, it says.   Join the conversation about this story »

---

AC/DC's Drummer Is Being Accused Of Trying To Get Two Men Killed

Phil Rudd, the drummer for legendary rock band AC/DC, is being charged in New Zealand with attempting to procure murder, according to the Associated Press. They say he made a short court appearance Thursday before being released on bail. He's also been charged with threatening to kill and possession of methamphetamine and marijuana. He's scheduled to make his next court appearance on November 27th. The publication "Stuff" in New Zealand reports that he allegedly tried to have two men killed, and that the judge suppressed the names of the men and the supposed hitman. AC/DC was inducted into the Rock 'N Roll Hall Of Fame in 2003. Join the conversation about this story »

---

The Man Accused Of Killing His Girlfriend And Posting Photos Of It On 4chan Has Been Arrested

The man who's accused of killing his girlfriend and posting pictures of her body online has been arrested in Portland, Oregon according to NBC News. His name is David Michael Kalac from Washington State. As NBC reports, Kalac is thought to have strangled his girlfriend late Monday or Tuesday night. Portland police spotted his car around midnight on Wednesday. Kalac has been charged with second-degree murder involving domestic violence. The twist to this murder case is the discovery of photos posted online from a person claiming to be the killer on the website 4Chan, according to NBC News. There was also a message that read "Turns out it's way harder to strangle someone to death than it looks in the movies." 4Chan is, of course, the website where the big nude celebrity photo leaks landed in a series of scandals towards the end of the summer.   Join the conversation about this story »

---

Inter hoping for reprieve against Saint-Etienne in Europa League

Paris (AFP) - To say Inter Milan coach Walter Mazzarri is living on borrowed time as his side take on Saint-Etienne in the Europa League on Thursday is little short of an understatement. The 0-0 draw between the sides in Italy last time out may have left Inter comfortably top of Group F with seven points, but the calls for Mazzarri's head gathered force again at the weekend after a 2-0 away league defeat at struggling Parma. Even club president Erick Thohir appears to have lost patience with the former Napoli coach. Having thrown his weight behind the coach for much of a dismal start to the season, Thohir gave the strongest signal yet that Mazzarri's job was hanging in the balance amid speculation that Roberto Mancini is ready to take over. Thohir said: "We have to analyse the situation of the coach in as fair a way as possible. "We'll see over the next two games, but changing our coach in the middle of the season is never a good solution. We want to give him another opportunity." Italy's last Champions League winners, in 2010, Inter have not conceded a goal in this year's Europa League campaign, but will come up against another tight defence, as Saint-Etienne have managed three goalless draws in their fist three group matches to trail Inter by four points. There are no such worries for Fiorentina coach Vincenzo Montella, though, as his side entertain PAOK of Greece in Group K, expecting to extend their 100 percent start to the group and ensure qualification for the knockout stages. Fiorentina won 1-0 in Greece last time out but were dealt a major blow when Italy under-21 striker Federico Bernardeschi broke his ankle in training and is expected to be out of action until well into 2015. - Tense relations - In Group C, Tottenham Hotspur, whose 5-1 victory over Asteras Tripolis in London two weeks ago was celebrated for Erik Lamela's extraordinary 'rabona' goal, which has gone viral on the Internet, may not find the trip to Greece such a comfortable outing. Asteras have yet to lose a home match in three seasons in European club competition, winning four and drawing three. Ominously for Mauricio Pochettino's Tottenham, those four victories, all by two-goal margins, have come in their last four fixtures. Spurs are unbeaten in their last three away European games, but have never won in Greece against local opposition in three attempts. The tense relations between Sparta Prague and Slovakia's Slovan Bratislava resume in the Czech capital when they play their return match in Group I after crowd trouble marred the first game. Sparta won that game 3-0 but were fined heavily for the behaviour of a dozen of their fans who climbed a barrier to attack home supporters, who spilled on to the pitch, leading to a delay of some 40 minutes. Astra Giurgiu will look to maintain the unbeaten home record of Romanian clubs against Scottish opposition when they take on Celtic in Group D. Beaten 2-1 in Glasgow, Astra have lost their last four European games, with their 5-1 opening defeat at Dinamo Zagreb their worst European result to date. But Celtic are without a European away win in three games since beating KR Reykjavík 1-0 in their opening away trip of the season in the qualifiers for the Champions League. French side Lille, held 0-0 at home by Everton in Group H, travel to the north-west of England, which has not been a happy hunting ground for them in the past. They have not scored in four of their five games in England and the last time they played on Merseyside, they lost 3-0 to Livepool in the 2009/10 Europa League. They are currently without a win in six European fixtures, drawing four and losing two, since starting the campaign with a 2-0 success at Grasshopper Zurich in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League. Join the conversation about this story »

---

Global firms' tax avoidance schemes revealed in leaked documents

Washington (AFP) - Hundreds of the world's biggest companies have brokered secret deals with Luxembourg to avoid paying billions of dollars in taxes according to a trove of leaked documents published by an investigative journalism group. The US-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) said a six-month investigation had found household firms such as Pepsi, IKEA and Deutsche Bank were among companies which had taken advantage of legal tax avoidance schemes with Luxembourg. The ICIJ said it had reviewed around 28,000 pages of leaked documents which detailed complex financial structures that enabled companies to dramatically slash their tax liabilities. The organization said hundreds of billions of dollars had been funneled through Luxembourg as part of the agreements, wiping billions of dollars in taxes from the companies' bottom lines. Global accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers had helped the companies in question secure at least 548 tax rulings in Luxembourg between 2002 and 2010 according to an ICIJ analysis of the documents. The documents uncovered details of Advance Tax Agreements -- deals which set out how companies will be taxed.  "It’s like taking your tax plan to the government and getting it blessed ahead of time," the ICIJ  quoted Connecticut School of Law tax expert Richard Pomp as saying. "And most are blessed. Luxembourg has a very user-friendly tax department." The ICIJ said its investigation had involved a team of more than 80 journalists from 26 countries working for outlets including The Guardian, Le Monde and Germany's Suddeutsche Zeitung. - 'Magical fairyland' - The Guardian said in its report of the investigation that the arrangements forged between the companies and the tiny EU member state were "perfectly legal." But it said the agreements were enabling tax avoidance on "an industrial scale." Other companies that benefited from the schemes included Burberry, Procter & Gamble, Heinz, JP Morgan and FedEx. The ICIJ said some companies had been able to achieve effective tax rates of less than one percent on profits channeled through Luxembourg. It said many cases involved Luxembourg subsidiaries of the companies in question, even if they maintained only a marginal business presence in the country. It said 1,600 companies were registered at one address alone. The Guardian quoted US Treasury tax expert Stephen Shay as saying Luxembourg was akin to a "magical fairyland." "Clearly the database is evidencing a pervasive enabling by Luxembourg of multinationals’ avoidance of taxes [around the world]," said Shay, a Harvard Law School professor who gave expert testimony during a US Senate investigation last year into Apple's tax avoidance structures. The revelations come against a backdrop of mounting scrutiny by authorities worldwide of tax arrangements involving major firms. Last month, the EU snagged Internet titan Amazon in a widening probe into sweetheart tax deals for major multinationals, saying they were unfair to competitors and taxpayers. The move follows similar probes announced in September into US tech icon Apple in Ireland, coffee-shop chain Starbucks in the Netherlands, and the financial arm of Italian automaker Fiat, also in Luxembourg like Amazon. European Union anti-trust regulators will examine if Amazon's tax arrangements with Luxembourg amount to illegal state aid, giving the company an unfair advantage. Join the conversation about this story »

---

AC/DC drummer arrested in N.Z. on murder plot: reports

Wellington (AFP) - AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd was charged with attempting to "procure" a murder Thursday after New Zealand police raided his home, reports said. Police raided Rudd's waterfront home at Tauranga in the North Island and charged him with a raft of offences, Fairfax New Zealand reported. It did not reveal details of the alleged murder plot. A police spokeswoman confirmed a 60-year-old man was arrested in Tauranga and charged with attempting to procure a murder, threats to kill and possessing methamphetamine and cannabis. She said the man was due to appear in Tauranga District Court on Thursday afternoon. The spokeswoman declined to reveal the identity of the arrested man and no one from the court was available to comment. Australian-born Rudd joined the legendary hard rockers in 1975 and left in 1983, only to link up with them again in 1994. The band, one of the highest grossing music acts of all time, has had numerous hits that are still staples on classic rock radio worldwide, including Back in Black, Highway to Hell and Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. In September the band revealed that founding member Malcolm Young had dementia and was being treated in a Sydney care facility. Despite Young's illness, Rudd was quoted earlier this year as saying the band would not fold. Under New Zealand law, attempting "to procure any person to murder any other person" is punishable by up to 10 years in jail. Join the conversation about this story »

---

Apple Products Are Under Attack By A Vicious New Malware Called 'WireLurker'

A new family of malware has been discovered, and it's targeting Apple products. It's called "WireLurker." The malware was discovered by cyber security software maker Palo Alto Networks. WireLurker zeroes in on OS X desktop software and Apple's iOS mobile operating system. What does it do? WireLurker installs malicious third-party apps on iPhones and iPads. Luckily the malware seems to be targeting users in China right now, reports the New York Times. But that doesn't mean it doesn't have the potential to be a larger threat. In fact, as the New York Times notes, Palo Alto Networks says the malware is "the biggest in scale we have ever seen." It's called WireLurker because of the malware's ability to sense when you plug an iPhone or iPad into your computer running OS X, according to the New York Times. Once that happens, it starts installing malicious apps on your device. Ryan Olson, director of threat intelligence at Palo Alto networks told the New York Times "Even though this is the first time this is happening, it demonstrates to a lot of attackers that this is a method that can be used to crack through the hard shell that Apple has built around its iOS devices.” In a statement, Apple said: "We are aware of malicious software available from a download site aimed at users in China, and we’ve blocked the identified apps to prevent them from launching. As always, we recommend that users download and install software from trusted sources.” Join the conversation about this story »

---

Invasive species threaten global biodiversity

Huilo Huilo (Chile) (AFP) - Until a few decades ago, there were no beavers in Patagonia. That changed when 20 pairs of the tree-chewing creature were introduced with the hopes of creating a fur industry. Today, their numbers have exploded and they pose a serious threat to the South American area's biodiversity. Species have always moved. The wind carries seeds; animals swim and fly. But not all are capable of crossing the Atlantic or the Andes. In ways planned or unforeseen, humans have introduced species, and the newcomers quickly become invaders and threaten to destroy the native flora and fauna of their adopted homes. "When we lose biodiversity, we are losing a bank of genetic material" that we need for food or to create medicines, said Fernando Baeriswyl, a project coordinator for the Global Environment Fund specializing in invasive species in Chile. In North America and Europe, beavers live in balance with their natural habitat. But in Patagonia, the native trees don't regenerate fast enough to keep pace with the animals' rampant destructive powers. Plus beavers in Patagonia don't have any natural predators, like bears or wolves. With the trees they fell, beavers build dams up to three meters tall. These structures can change waterways and lead to flooding or drying of traditional river ways. Within a few years of their export to the southern tip of Patagonia, the animals had expanded their range around the region. Their advance has been so swift that today they represent a menace that is proving hard to control. Authorities in Argentina and Chile have authorized the hunting of the animals, but these efforts have not stopped the beaver. Chile and Argentina are now determined to completely eradicate the tree-chewers, said Adrian Schiavini, a beaver specialist from a regional research center.    - Invasive blackberries -   In the Huilo Huilo reserve in southern Chile, dozens of invasive-species experts got together last month for the country's first national meeting focused on invasive species in protected areas, to try to address the lack of knowledge and rules to tackle the problem. Invasive species travel in ships, in clothes and shoes, or even in people's stomachs. When they get to a new environment, they can often proliferate thanks to a lack of natural predators.  As they spread, they can gradually alter entire ecosystems, transforming the natural diets of local species or themselves being eaten by other animals. In the worst cases, they can wipe out entire native species. According to specialists, along with pollution and climate change, invasive species are one of the most damaging challenges for our planet. "Climate change is causing a major vulnerability for certain species to the effects of invasive species," said Victor Carrion, the administrator of the Galapagos National Park in Ecuador.  The University of Chile carried out a study showing that the Andean country has 119 exotic invasive species, 27 of which are threatening biodiversity, including the European wasp, an invasive slime called "rock snot," red deer and wild boar, among others. The same can happen with flowers. If we find a flower we like and take it home to plant in the garden, the results can lead to an ecological disaster. That's what happened with blackberry bushes. "When that arrives, it's a death sentence," Baeriswyl said. The shrub invades the ground under trees and stops other plants from photosynthesizing, as well as slurping up their water. Even rabbits, dogs and goats can cause problems. Many people think they are native to the region, but they would never have reached many places without human intervention.   - Death to the invaders? -   When Europeans first started sailing to South America, they left goats on islands to ensure they had food for future voyages. The animals devoured many plants, causing erosion and altering ecosystems. Centuries later, in the Galapagos Islands, more than 270,000 goats were eliminated on 10 islands, along with cats, pigeons, donkeys and rodents, Carrion said. Animal advocates have criticized these approaches. In the case of beavers, the animals will be caught in traps that ensure a quick death. But the world's most invasive species, of course, is us. People quickly spread across the globe from Africa, altering ecosystems and impacting endemic species as they went. Join the conversation about this story »

---

YouTube Multimillionaire PewDiePie Says He's Happier Now That He's Disabled Comments On His Channel

Felix "PewDiePie" Kjellberg is one of YouTube's biggest stars, with more than 31 million subscribers and hundreds of millions of video views.  Although he makes a ton of money from making videos for his fans — in 2013 he made around $4 million from ad revenue — he said in a video today that turning off comments on his videos has made him very happy.  "Before I turned off my comments, I think things were going downhill, I would say," Kjellberg said in the video. "So making that change, I feel like we've been going back up. It's been making me really happy, and it's been making me really enjoy what I do. Which is really important to me." Kjellberg turned off comments on his YouTube channel back in September, citing spam and trolling as the reason. At the time, he said, "It's been bothering me for so long now, I've been trying to find solutions to it. I was hoping that it would get better, I was hoping YouTube would try and figure a way out, but it doesn't seem like it. I'm just sick of it, so I'm going to turn off the comments forever, they're not coming back." The comments section on YouTube (and elsewhere) has long been a point of contention for content providers, as well as viewers and readers. YouTube tried to implement a fix for trolling comments by forcing people to connect their real names and integrating their Google+ accounts. Google later removed YouTube username restrictions. Some publications have even opted to turn off their comments sections altogether. Others have changed policies on how comments are handled. In fact, the author of this post is no stranger to trolling comments on YouTube. As Kotaku points out, Kjellberg did not shut off communication with his fans completely. They can still chat with him or about him elsewhere.  Hopefully by Kjellberg not just turning off his comments, but also speaking out about how happy he is to have done so, YouTube can take a look at how it handles the comments section of its site and figure out a way to get rid of the trolls once and for all.  Check out Kjellberg speaking about his happiness in the video below:   SEE ALSO: Here's How To Play More Than 900 Classic Arcade Games Without Spending A Single Quarter Join the conversation about this story »

---

Russia's Putin, EU's Barroso burnt on British bonfires

Lewes (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin in nothing but green underwear and European leader Jose Manuel Barroso are among those being paraded and burned during traditional British bonfire celebrations this week. Effigies of the two leaders were unveiled as part of Guy Fawkes Night, a nationwide celebration on November 5 featuring bonfires and fireworks that marks a failed plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605. The Putin effigy -- which had him sitting on a tank in a nod to Moscow's intervention in Ukraine -- was paraded through Lewes in southeast England on Wednesday, home of one of Britain's biggest bonfire celebrations. The Russian leader was naked except for bright green underwear pulled over his shoulders, in the style of fictional comic character Borat. Meanwhile, in Edenbridge in Kent, the local bonfire society unveiled a 10-metre (33-feet) effigy of Barroso, the Portuguese politician who headed the European Commission until last month. The effigy held an EU budget bill in one hand -- referencing a recent £1.7 billion ($2.7 billion, 2.2 billion euros) bill sent by Brussels to London recently, which has sparked a bitter row. Dressed in a blue suit with the stars of the European Union flag and holding a British bulldog, the Barroso figurine will be burned on Saturday in Edenbrige bonfire celebrations. "We do try very hard to pick somebody who's absolutely current in the news," said Jon Mitchell, a member of the local bonfire society. "We only made the decision on Tuesday of last week and we started building Jose on the Thursday," he added. Traditionally it is Guy Fawkes, leader of the "Gunpowder Plot", who gets thrown on the bonfire. But in recent years, celebrities and public figures have become common. Lewes festival, where flaming crosses are paraded in commemoration of Protestants burned at the stake in the 16th century, has been known for provocative choices since an effigy of Osama bin Laden in 2001. Previous targets have included footballers Mario Balotelli and Wayne Rooney, French president Jacques Chirac and Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Two large effigies of defeated Scottish independence leader Alex Salmond were withdrawn from the festival on Wednesday after a photo of one posted online caused a storm of protest. The effigy of the Scottish first minister was dressed in a tartan outfit and holding a sign reading "45%" -- the proportion of Scots who voted to break away from the rest of Britain in a close-run September referendum. Online commentators said the figurine, which included the Loch Ness Monster wearing a traditional Tam o' Shanter hat, was anti-Scottish. Sussex police said that "concerns have been raised" about the effigy and that a complaint would be investigated.   Join the conversation about this story »

---

Box CEO Aaron Levie Says Wall Street 'Is Still Trying To Figure Out' His Business

Box has been on a crazy roller-coaster ride over the past 12 months. Until last year, everyone seemed to love Box, calling it the next big thing in enterprise tech. Its founder and CEO Aaron Levie was called a genius. But once Box filed for an IPO in March, things started to go downhill. Despite its huge sales growth, Box’s massive loss and spending costs turned off a lot of investors. Its filing also coincided with a market correction period when public cloud company stocks plummeted.  Box ended up delaying its IPO again and again. It raised more eyebrows when it opted to raise additional capital from the private market in July. With all this going on, the press and analysts slammed Box pretty hard, with some even saying that the cloud storage and collaboration company is “not ready for prime time.” Levie has largely stayed mum on these criticisms, until Wednesday, when he spoke to The Information about it. He says Wall Street is “still trying to figure out how to value high-growth tech companies,” especially with the way they make investments. Here’s what he had to say: “We’ve made investments in the research and development and software development side of our business and all the key customers that we need to win in this market…I think there were some misunderstandings over how those investments were going to play out relative to revenue. We now don’t have to make the same new investments because we’ve actually reached scale in how we’ve expanded the core engineering capabilities of the company.” The article doesn’t follow up on those comments, so it’s not entirely clear what he means by the “misunderstandings.” But based on his comments, we could make a couple guesses on his thinking: Traditional accounting is flawed for SaaS business: In traditional accounting, you don’t recognize the revenue until the actual service is delivered. But SaaS business is a subscription model. In other words, even if you win a three-year subscription contract worth $1 million, you can only record a third of that sale, or $333,333, as  the first year’s revenue. The rest would recur over the next two years, but you don't recognize it in the books until the service actually delivers. However, you still have to account for the full sales and marketing cost that went into getting that $1 million contract in the first year.  So even if it looks like you’re spending a lot relative to revenue, part of the sales and marketing cost is going toward growing that revenue (plus, you have a guaranteed amount in recurring revenue). SaaS investors like to use a metric called “Magic Number” instead, to account for this discrepancy, and Box’s annual magic number looks pretty solid compared to the median number. You can cut down on sales and marketing once you reach scale: Zuora CEO Tien Tzuo nailed it in this post, but Box would still have a 20% recurring revenue margin, even if it stopped all sales and marketing today. The sales wouldn’t grow anymore, but just based on its recurring subscription contracts, Box would still be a profitable company. Box is roughly spending $2 to acquire $1 of growth, according to Tzuo, but that $1 would recur for the next 5 to 10 years, which makes Box a great business. Levie probably thinks Box has grown enough that he could now cut down on its sales and marketing costs. In fact, in The Information article, he does say those investments “were the highest relative to the revenue scale” when he filed the S1 in July. And with less spend on sales and marketing, Box's bottom line would obviously improve immediately. Join the conversation about this story »

---

Lyft Sues Former Exec Who Allegedly Took Company Secrets To Uber

Lyft is accusing a former executive of sharing company secrets with rival Uber, reports The Wall Street Journal's Douglas MacMillan. Lyft has filed a lawsuit against its former chief operating officer, Travis VanderZanden, whom it alleges downloaded a number of confidential documents to his personal Dropbox in August. Those documents included financial data and information on future products, according to The Journal. VanderZanden joined Uber in October. Lyft learned that VanderZanden allegedly took the proprietary information with him because his personal Dropbox account was linked to his company laptop. VanderZanden's former employer is also accusing him of poaching Lyft employees, which it claims is a violation of his confidentiality agreement. A Lyft spokesperson gave Business Insider the following statement: We are disappointed to have to take this step, but this unusual situation has left us no choice but to take the necessary legal action to protect our confidential information. We are incredibly proud of the dedicated and people-powered culture that we’ve fostered to support drivers, passengers and the entire Lyft community and we will not tolerate this type of behavior. We've reached out to Uber and will update this post when we hear back. Here's Lyft's complaint against VanderZanden:  Lyft Complaint Against VanderZanden SEE ALSO: UBER DRIVERS SPEAK OUT: We're Making A Lot Less Money Than Uber Is Telling People Join the conversation about this story »

---

12 Facts You Never Knew About Apple CEO Tim Cook (AAPL)

Tim Cook is one of Silicon Valley's most guarded figures. But a person doesn't remain a mystery for very long after taking the helm of one of the most closely watched companies in the world. Just last week Cook made news by announcing he's "proud to be gay." Cook's rise to prominence has garnered the attention of tech's most prominent journalists, including Fortune's Adam Lashinsky, who published "Inside Apple" in 2012. Lashinsky's reporting represents one of the first serious examinations of Apple's new CEO. We've rounded up the insights that shed light on Cook as a person and demonstrate how he'll lead Apple into the future.  Cook is a graduate of Auburn University where he studied industrial engineering. He was born in Robertsdale, Alabama. Cook was not always considered the heir apparent to Steve Jobs’ empire by outsiders. “Many believed he’d never be CEO,” writes Lashinsky. Before joining Apple, Cook worked at former rival IBM for 12 years. See the rest of the story at Business Insider

---

Mexicans protest for 43 missing after mayor caught

Mexico City (AFP) - Thousands of protesters marched in Mexico City on Wednesday to demand the safe return of 43 students missing since last month after authorities arrested the main suspects in the disappearance. Demonstrators chanted "they took them alive, we want them alive" and held a large banner with images of the 43 college students, whose disappearance has drawn international outrage and turned into a full-blown crisis for President Enrique Pena Nieto. After a month on the lam, Jose Luis Abarca, the former mayor of the southern city of Iguala, and his wife Maria de Los Angeles Pineda were arrested in a gritty neighborhood of Mexico City on Tuesday. Their capture raised hopes that they could offer solid clues about the students' whereabouts almost six weeks after they were attacked by Iguala police officers linked to the Guerreros Unidos gang. The night of terror left six people dead and the 43 students missing. Prosecutors accuse the mayoral couple of colluding with the gang and ordering the attack over fears the students would disrupt a speech by Pineda, who was head of the local child protection agency. But protesters, who were joined by the parents of the missing, said the arrest was not enough. "The anger over the disappearance of the 43 students has not gone away with Abarca's arrest," said Bardomiano Martinez, deputy director of their teacher-training college in Guerrero state known as a bastion of left-wing radicalism. "This is what we want to show the government with this march. We will mobilize until they are back, alive," he said. The investigation has led authorities to a dozen mass graves containing 38 bodies, raising fears of a tragic end to the mystery. Officials say preliminary DNA analyses have shown that at least 28 of them are not the students, but independent Argentine forensic experts will give the final word. Despite the gruesome discoveries, parents of the missing and some officials harbor slim hopes, with Guerrero's interim governor saying the abductors are possibly moving them around to elude the search.   - 'Hope and faith' -   Thousands of security forces backed by drones and boats have been combing towns, mountains and rivers around Iguala, 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of Mexico City. "The capture of Abarca makes us believe that the biggest piece of the puzzle can shed more light on some of the scenarios that we have been building," Guerrero interim Governor Rogelio Ortega told the Televisa network. Ortega said witnesses have told graduates of the students' teacher-training college that the 43 were taken near the town of Teloloapan, west of Iguala, and then Cuetzala before being split into two or more groups. "These are clues, comments that feed hope and faith," said Ortega, whose predecessor Angel Aguirre resigned last month amid violent protests over his handling of the case. He stressed, however, that there is "uncertainty" over whether they are alive. Alejandro Hope, a security expert and former intelligence officer, said the most likely scenario is that the students were killed. "Why would they hold 43 people for 40 days without asking for a ransom? It makes no sense," he told AFP. Saying the students may be alive is an attempt by Ortega to "manage the conflict" and "wait for the social protests to calm down," Hope said.   - Cold trail -   Recent high-profile abductions have ended tragically. Last year, 13 young people who were snatched from a Mexico City bar were found dead in a mass grave three months later. Last week, the bodies of three American siblings and a Mexican man were found two weeks after they disappeared in the northern state of Tamaulipas. In the case of the 43 students, authorities have detained 59 people, including Guerreros Unidos members and 36 police officers from Iguala and the neighboring town of Cocula. Prosecutors say Iguala's police handed the students to Cocula colleagues, who in turn delivered them to the Guerreros Unidos.  After that the trail went cold. Join the conversation about this story »

---

EXPERT: New Discovery Show About Man Eaten Alive By A Snake Is 'Nonsense'

The Discovery Channel recently announced a new show in which they claim "naturalist and wildlife filmmaker Paul Rosolie enters the belly of an anaconda in a custom-built snake-proof suit." Sounds crazy, right? According to that, a man will put on a suit that will stop him from being crushed by the constricting power of the the largest snake on the planet, one that grows longer than 29 feet. Even more, it's implied that he will be "eaten alive" and somehow be able to breathe, survive, and emerge from the belly of the beast. We didn't buy it, so we checked with Frank Indiviglio, a herpetologist and author who worked with the Bronx Zoo for more than 20 years. He now consults with zoos and writes about snakes and other creatures. "Nonsense; not possible," he told us in an email. He also followed up with us on Twitter: @kevloria Discovery has taken a real nosedive in recent years; more nonsense — Frank Indiviglio (@findiviglio) November 5, 2014 Discovery hasn't explained what they mean when they say Rosolie "enters the belly of an anaconda," so we can't say what that really means, and Indiviglio didn't offer further explanation, but some of the factors that would make that stunt hard to survive would be finding a suit that could survive the pressure and then breathing while inside a snake. Plus, Rosolie says he "would never hurt a living thing," and he'd have to get out of the snake somehow without cutting it open in that case, which is even more improbable. The Discovery Channel has developed quite a reputation for passing off fiction as fact, especially among scientists. This happens frequently with Shark Week shows about monster sharks or mermaids — shows that misled people into thinking fictional creatures are out there. Other fake documentary gems have titles like "Russian Yeti: The Killer Lives." Sounds like nonsense to us too. SEE ALSO: 70% Of People Still Believe Megalodon Exists After Watching Discovery Channel's Fake Documentary Join the conversation about this story »

---

The New John Lewis Christmas Ad Is Here — And It Tells The Cute Tale Of A Boy And His Penguin Friend

The most anticipated UK advertising event of the year is finally upon us: John Lewis is about to release its 2014 Christmas ad. Every year the launch of the department store's TV commercial is a national event. The ad is filmed far further in advance than most typical campaigns, the contents of the spot are shrouded in secrecy and the store holds a huge screening of the commercial for its staff before rolling out the red carpet for a premier at its flagship store in London, as if it was a movie. It usually has a massive budget too: this year £1 million to make (with a further £6 million set aside for media.) The ads, created by agency Adam&Eve/DDB, tend to be emotional rollercoasters and this spot is no different. This commercial tells the tale of a little boy Sam and his stuffed toy (and CGI-animated) penguin friend Monty. They do everything together throughout the year — playing, eating— but as the winter months approach, Sam notices Monty is becoming sad. He wants a penguin companion. So guess what Sam gives Monty on Christmas Day? A new penguin friend! Mabel. It sounds stupid when you describe it — John Lewis's ads always do. But then you see it you'll probably burst in to tears. Everyone always does. The campaign breaks on social media at 8am GMT Thursday (we'll update this article with the video then) and will appear on UK TV Friday, premiering on Channel 4 show Gogglebox (A popular realities show that films a group of people around the country watching TV. Yes, it really is popular in the UK.). But the campaign doesn't end at the TV, as usual, John Lewis is going to great marketing lengths this Christmas. In-store, John Lewis has created "Monty's Den." The department store has partnered with Samsung using a series of "technology firsts" such as "Monty's Magical Toy Machine", which will enable children to take their favorite toys in-store and bring them "to life" using Microsoft "photogrammery" tech that creates a moving 3D image, and "Monty's Goggles" which use Google Cardboard to give kids a 360-degree tour of a virtual Sam and Monty world. Here are Monty's Googles (you insert a phone). All 43 John Lewis stores across the UK will feature penguins in some form in their displays to carry on the campaign's theme. And just like previous years, John Lewis has its merch sorted. Expect Monty and Mabel toys to fly off the shelves. Last year John Lewis ran out of its Bear and Hare cuddly toys (based on the characters of the 2013 ad) by the end of November./a> The TV is reminiscent of John Lewis' 2011 ad which featured what appeared to be a selfish little boy, impatiently counting down the days until Christmas. The big reveal at the end: he wasn't excited about getting presents, he couldn't wait to give a gift to his parents. The nation collectively welled up with joy. Here's the 2011 ad: The John Lewis Christmas campaigns aren't just an advertising phenomenon because they're heartwarming to watch. In recent years the ads have won a bunch of awards, not just for creativity, but effectiveness: the ads are proven to boost John Lewis' sales over the holiday period. SEE ALSO: All Of Britain Has Waited An Entire Year So It Can Burst Into Tears In Front Of This One TV Commercial Join the conversation about this story »

---

Scientists Are About To Experience '7 Hours Of Terror' As A Space Probe Tries To Land On A Comet

Of all space missions in history, the most difficult kind is, without question, landing a space probe on an extraterrestrial surface, like the moon, Mars, and Venus. Even more difficult? Landing on the surface of a tiny, spinning, rocky comet. Humans have never landed on a comet before, but the European Space Agency hopes to on Nov. 12 in what might be the hardest space mission ever attempted. That day, the ESA Rosetta spacecraft will deploy the Philae lander in an attempt to make history. After deployment, the ESA team — along with scientists around the world — will hold their breath for "7 hours of terror" as Philae approaches and lands on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, as Project Scientist for the US Rosetta Project Claudia Alexander explains in a NASA ScienceCasts video How to land on a comet." If the mission is successful, this comet will be only the seventh celestial body on which the human race has ever landed. So far, we've landed on the moon, Mars, Venus, Saturn's moon Titan, and two asteroids. But none of these compare to landing on a comet. The comet will be traveling 40 times faster than a speeding bullet. Spinning on it's axis once every 12 hours. And all the while shooting jets of gas out of it's rocky and uneven surface. Not very welcoming! Nonetheless, Philae will brave this uninviting surface and risk it all as it homes in on its small landing point, called Agilkia, on the head of the comet, shown below. To make things more terrifyingly heart-pounding, no scientist will be steering the lander as it descends. Here's what will happen on Nov. 12: Step 1: The Rosetta Spacecraft will descend to 13.6 miles above the comet. Step 2: At that point, Rosetta will deploy Philae, which will use the navigational system scientists installed on it 10 years ago, to find its way to the spinning, jet-spewing comet surface. Step 3: Philae will slowly descend to the surface. If everything goes according to plan, this decent will take seven, nerve-racking hours. When it reaches the surface, Philae will drill itself three feet to the comet, securing itself for the long haul. If the surface is covered with loose dust, this could be a problem. Watch the entire video, from NASA's ScienceCasts, below: SEE ALSO: This Comet Stinks READ MORE:  Humans Just Got A First Close-Up Look At A Comet And It's Mind-Blowing Join the conversation about this story »

---

Elon Musk: 'People Don't Understand How Hard It Is To Manufacture Something' (TSLA)

After Tesla reported earnings on Wednesday, beating Wall Street expectations with a modest $0.02 profit, CEO Elon Musk took questions from analysts. In the wake of a debate about whether Tesla will be able to meet 2014 sales targets, Musk was clearly irritated. Tesla reported on Wednesday that it will sell a total of 33,000 Model S sedans, its only vehicle, versus an earlier expectation of 35,000. Analysts and media outlets have begun to address a possible decline in demand for the Model S. Musk tried to further clarify a point that he made on Tesla's second quarter earnings call, when he insisted that Tesla doesn't have a demand problem.  "It's not a question of demand," he said. "Demand is not our issue, production is our issue. We have more demand than we can address and levers we can pull to increase demand, and we’re not doing it." Musk's point was that if Tesla engaged in conventional advertising strategies — the company currently does almost no advertising — it could increase demand, but its more pressing issue now is being able to simply built its cars, and build them well. "People don’t understand how hard it is to manufacturing something," Musk said. "Making one of something is easy. Making a lot of something is quite easy." Musk is also ticked off that the battery industry doesn't hold itself to a high standard of truthfulness (Tesla is preparing to construct a massive $5-billion battery factory in Nevada). "The battery industry has to have more B.S. in it than any industry I’ve ever seen," he said. "We're not worried about blindsided on a technology." Musk is usually very forthcoming about Tesla's business on earnings calls, and Wednesday's call was no exception, but throughout he seemed annoyed and at times confrontational that the market and the media have fixated on speculation that Tesla is running out of customers. Again and again, he insisted that Tesla could stoke demand if it wanted to — but isn't. His testiness clearly stemmed from the same group of analysts he told this to last quarter revisiting the issue again. From his perspective, the bottom line is that Tesla has people lining up to buy its existing cars and expects to have people lining up to buy its new cars and is far more worried about being able to build the vehicles and properly support them than it is about seeing demand drop off. He also anticipated production growth rates of 50% from 2014 to 2015 and admitted that Tesla could "do better" on being less perfectionistic with future cars.    SEE ALSO: Tesla Earns Surprise Profit, But Will Miss Expectations For 2014 Model S Sales Join the conversation about this story »

---

Messi equals record, Barcelona lead quartet into last 16

Paris (AFP) - Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Porto all qualified for the Champions League last 16 on Wednesday with Lionel Messi setting another personal milestone. Messi scored both goals -- one with a header for only the fourth time in the competition -- as Barca beat Ajax 2-0 to equal Raul's record of 71 goals in the tournament. "I am happy for Leo because of the work he does for the team. He is the number one, the best," said Barca midfielder Xavi Hernandez. Bayern went through after a 2-0 victory at home to Roma, PSG saw off APOEL 1-0 while Porto beat Athletic Bilbao 2-0 with their goalscorers Colombian Jackson Martinez and Algerian Yacine Brahimi both taking their tallies to four in this season's competition. Champions Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund made sure of their last-16 places on Tuesday. However, Chelsea missed a chance to also reach the knockout stages as they had to come from behind to snatch a 1-1 draw with minnows Maribor in Slovenia. The 2012 winners, though, are in a far better state than English champions Manchester City whose mystifying failure to perform well in the competition continued as they had two men sent off in an embarrassing 2-1 home defeat to Russian outfit CSKA Moscow, who recorded their first ever win in England. Their results rounded off a poor week for English clubs in the Champions League with Liverpool losing and Arsenal drawing 3-3 with Anderlecht, the Gunners having let a 3-0 lead slip in the final half hour on Tuesday. Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk also look certain to reach the last 16 after a 5-0 thrashing of Belarus champions BATE Borisov, Luiz Adriano adding to his five goals in the 7-0 win a fortnight ago with a hat-trick to move further clear in this season's overall scoring charts with nine. Porto's fellow Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon are also in with a chance of reaching the next phase as they revived their campaign with a 4-2 home win over Schalke 04. Sporting's Islam Slimani bookended the scoring, firstly putting through his own net to give the Germans the lead and then ensuring the hosts secured the points right at the end. Barcelona still trail Paris Saint-Germain by a point at the top of Group F but the Spanish side's coach Luis Enrique was more relieved they had ended a run of two successive defeats and also avoided three consecutive away losses in the Champions League which last happened in 2005. "The attitude of the team was marvellous against an opponent that had everything to play for," said Enrique. PSG coach Laurent Blanc was content that his side did what was needed to secure their place in the last 16 -- Edinson Cavani scoring their fastest ever goal in the competition after just 57 seconds -- but is keener still to top the group. "Now let's try to go on and finish first in the group because it gives you an advantage, a small one but an advantage all the same," said Blanc, whose side still have to travel to the Camp Nou to play Barcelona next month. Bayern's victory against an under strength Roma starting line-up -- Gervinho and Francesco Totti started on the bench -- came at a price as impressive Austrian defender David Alaba, who created the first goal for Franck Ribery, suffered what appeared to be a serious knee ligament injury. "We will miss him terribly," said Bayern coach Pep Guardiola. "However, aside from that blow we are delighted to be in the knockout phase (for the seventh successive season) already, which is very important for the club. "It also allows us to focus on the Bundesliga (they are four points clear of VfL Wolfsburg)." City's reverse -- which saw Fernandinho and Yaya Toure sent off in the second-half -- left manager Manuel Pellegrini scratching his head for answers. "It is a crisis of confidence and we must find out why by talking to the players every day and working together," said the Chilean handler. Join the conversation about this story »

---