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Areas around Magelang in Central Java were showered with volcanic ashes until Friday morning believed to come from angry Mount Kelud in East Java. The volcano erupted again on Thursday nights. "This morning at 03.00 there were thin ashes but at 04.30 it was getting thick ," a villager, Sucoro, near the famous Borobudur Buddhist temple said. Sucoro said many villager came out to see the temple was blanketed with thick volcanic ashes. The Vulcanology and Geology Disaster Mitigation Center (PVMBG) already warned of more dangerous threat from Mount Kelud before it erupted at 22.56 local time on Thursday. Meanwhile, on Friday morning, hundreds of refugees such as from Wlingi, regency of Blitar, East Java, returned to their village in the sub-district of Gandusari, which is located within the "red line" as they believed the condition was safe. Head of the Blitar district social affairs office Izul Marom said some of the refugees at Wlingi had returned to Gandusari. "They fled home to Wlingi when the volcano erupted but returned to their village again immediately after the condition looked safe as they had brought nothing when they left," Izul said. Izul said generally the villagers in the red line already knew what they had to do when the danger of eruption came. In Gandusari , a safe place has been provided for refugees that they could flee to that place any time there is danger of eruption, he said. In North Sumatra, in the regency of Tanah Karo, tens of people have been killed either by volcanic heat or poisonous gases over the past five months. The eruption of Mount Sinabung over the past five months has destroyed crops, livestock and farmlands that the government has to find new places for the farmers to live and grow crops. Meanwhile rain triggered flooding and landslides are no less devastating hitting many areas across the country. Flooding after weeks of incessant rain destroyed crops, inundated roads and highways. Houses were put under water as deep as three meters in Jakarta and other areas. Roads are full of pot holes endangering highway travelers and hampering traffic. source : http://www.republika.co.id/berita/en/national-politics/14/02/14/n0yrcv-angry-mount-kelud-sends-volcanic-ashes

Sony will sell its struggling PC business to a Japanese investment firm, the company said Thursday, meaning the slick “Vaio” brand could all but disappear from markets outside Japan. Tokyo-based investment fund Japan Industrial Partners (JIP) will operate the Vaio PC brand under a newly established firm and initially sell PCs in Japan only. The moves come as Sony said it now expects a net loss of ¥110 billion ($1.1 billion) for the year to the end of March, a reversal of its October forecast for net profit of ¥30 billion. Vaio, which Sony introduced in 1996, looks set to vanish from most markets, at least for short term, as the new company will initially concentrate on selling consumer and corporate PCs in Japan. Whether or not Sony will continue to produce products under the Vaio brand remains to be seen, Sony said. Although Sony is selling its PC business, it will continue to produce tablet computers, part of its renewed focus on mobile devices including smartphones. Sony did not put a price on the sale, but a report in Japanese business daily Nikkei pegged it at about ¥40 billion to ¥50 billion. Sony will take a 5 percent stake in the new firm, it said. Sony will stop making and selling PCs after its 2014 Spring lineup launch, but about 250 to 300 Sony staff, including some from a subsidiary that produces TV sets, cameras and computers at factories in Japan, will be hired by the new company, which is to be based at the hub of Sony’s current PC business in Japan’s Nagano Prefecture. The Vaio sale was announced along with Sony’s earnings results for the October-December period, in which it posted an operating loss of ¥12.6 billion for the Mobile Products & Communications unit, which is responsible for PCs, sales of which were down significantly. The results were better than the ¥21.3 billion loss a year earlier. source : http://www.pcworld.com/article/2095180/sony-sheds-vaio-pc-business-turns-tv-unit-into-subsidiary.html

Lenovo said on Thursday that it would pay $2.3 billion for IBM’s low-end server business, successfully concluding a deal that had fizzled a year earlier after the two parties failed to agree on a price. Lenovo said it would settle the transaction with $2 billion in cash and the balance in its own Hong Kong-listed shares. About 7,500 IBM employees in locations including Raleigh, N.C., Shanghai and Shenzhen in China, and Taipei, Taiwan, were expected to be offered employment by Lenovo, the Chinese company said in a statement. “With the right strategy, great execution, continued innovation and a clear commitment to the x86 industry, we are confident that we can grow this business successfully for the long-term, just as we have done with our worldwide PC business,” Yang Yuanqing, Lenovo’s chairman and chief executive, said in a statement, referring to the server industry. Early last year, Lenovo and IBM were in negotiations about the unit, which includes IBM’s x86 server business. At the time, Lenovo valued the unit at about $2.5 billion, while IBM wanted at least $4 billion. IBM restarted talks with interested parties recently. Dell and Fujitsu were among the other bidders. But because Lenovo had already taken a close look at the business last year, it was able to quickly make an offer that IBM was comfortable with. Lenovo bought IBM’s ThinkPad personal computer business in 2005 for $1.75 billion. source : http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/01/23/lenovo-buys-ibm-server-business-for-2-3-billion/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0 after laptop now server business sold to lenovo again

always interesting what Googles do, recently they make another acquisition, Google on Monday announced its biggest purchase since the mid-2012 Motorola deal – the purchase of Nest Labs for $3.2 billion in cash. Nest Labs produces thermostats and smoke detectors that not only are smart but look good as well. Most interestingly, the founder of Nest is famous former Apple employee Tony Fadell, who’s known for his iPod- and iOS-related work – in fact, he started making Nest thermostats only two years ago, after leaving Apple, and now he will be joining Google. Press Release: MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA – JANUARY 13, 2014 — Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) announced today that it has entered into an agreement to buy Nest Labs, Inc. for $3.2 billion in cash. Nest’s mission is to reinvent unloved but important devices in the home such as thermostats and smoke alarms. Since its launch in 2011, the Nest Learning Thermostat has been a consistent best seller–and the recently launched Protect (Smoke + CO Alarm) has had rave reviews. Larry Page, CEO of Google, said: “Nest’s founders, Tony Fadell and Matt Rogers, have built a tremendous team that we are excited to welcome into the Google family. They’re already delivering amazing products you can buy right now–thermostats that save energy and smoke/CO alarms that can help keep your family safe. We are excited to bring great experiences to more homes in more countries and fulfill their dreams!” Tony Fadell, CEO of Nest, said: “We’re thrilled to join Google. With their support, Nest will be even better placed to build simple, thoughtful devices that make life easier at home, and that have a positive impact on the world.” Nest will continue to operate under the leadership of Tony Fadell and with its own distinct brand identity. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of regulatory approvals in the US. It is expected to close in the next few months. thermostats and smoke detector, suspicious source : http://investor.google.com/releases/2014/0113.html

UPDATE.... Watched it few days back; clever making, great story-line for a documentary. It's good to learn how corporate media, high class journalists and governments are throttling the truth in the name of sanity.

Winamp, the storied MP3 player bought by AOL in June 1999 for over $80 million, is set to shut down in exactly one month. According to a post that went live Wednesday at 12:00 pm Eastern Time on the Winamp website: "Winamp.com and associated Web services will no longer be available past December 20, 2013. Additionally, Winamp Media players will no longer be available for download. Please download the latest version before that date. See release notes for latest improvements to this last release. Thanks for supporting the Winamp community for over 15 years." On Wednesday, Ars confirmed the announcement with Geno Yoham, Winamp’s general director since October 2008. He declined immediate comment but said that he would try to arrange a future interview. R.I.P Winamp source : http://www.nsaneforums.com/topic/195168-aol-shuts-down-winamp-for-good/ credit logo DocBob1939

Not sure whats inside, but looks good. https://thepiratebay.sx/torrent/9039415/Mediastan

actually they changed every LOGO. I was surprised to see the yahoo groups page interface and logo while logging as admin in one of our groups.=)

Hello, I was wondering what would be a good service to use for free file hosting. I have some large files I want to put up and share with the GIS community. I want to start giving something back to this website that has given me so much. Any suggestions? Thanks, group5e