Sarkozy and Carla Bruni

The French again have reasons to discuss the private life of their President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Bruni. The rumors about the imminent end of Sarkozy’s marriage to Carla Bruni appeared in France right after their wedding. Many people mocked Sarkozy for wedding a woman who was 17 centimeters taller than him. The husband and wife reportedly cheat on each other and have their own love affairs.

It was also said that both Sarkozy and Bruni already have new partners. For the time being, Bruni, a singer and a former model, rejects the rumors. However, the rumors may eventually turn out to be true taking into consideration the passionate personal life of each of the famous spouses.

The thing is not about the height, of course. French newspapers wrote that Sarkozy and Bruni had very few common interests. Therefore, the media said, their marriage may last as long as Sarkozy remains the President of France.

As for Bruni, there is not much to say about her really. She has been making music during the recent years. Read more

A notable lack of 3-D TVs material …

Samsung and Panasonic will start selling 3-D TVs in U.S. stores this week, inaugurating what manufacturers hope is the era of 3-D viewing in the living room. But because the sets require bulky glasses, and there is for now little to watch in the enhanced format, it will take at least a few years for the technology to become mainstream, if that happens at all.

Samsung Electronics Co. announced Tuesday that it is selling two 3-D sets this week. For $3,000, buyers get a 46-inch set, two pairs of glasses and a 3-D Blu-ray player.
Want to be the first one on your block with a 3-D television? It will cost you about $3,000.

Panasonic Corp. has said it will start selling 3-D sets Wednesday.

The sales debut comes as moviegoers have shown considerable enthusiasm for the latest wave of 3-D titles in the theater. Last weekend, “Alice in Wonderland” grossed an estimated $116.2 million at the box office, beating the first-weekend receipts of “Avatar,” the winter’s 3-D blockbuster.

Although it’s clear that 3-D sets for the home will appeal to technology and home-theater enthusiasts, it remains to be seen whether other consumers will be enticed to spend at least $500 above the price of a comparably sized standard TV and Blu-ray player.

TV makers hope so, because sets with the last big technological improvement — high definition — have come way down in price, below $500.

One challenge will be that the 3-D effect requires viewers to wear relatively bulky battery-operated glasses that need to be recharged occasionally. They are not like the cheap throwaways that have been used in theaters since the 1950s.

When you’re wearing these 3-D TV glasses, room lights and computer screens may look like they’re flickering, making it difficult to combine 3-D viewing with other household activities. Anyone who’s not wearing the glasses when the set is in 3-D mode will see a blurry screen. (The sets can be used in 2-D mode as well, with no glasses required.)

To give buyers something to watch, Samsung is including a 3-D copy of “Monsters vs. Aliens” on Blu-ray disc with its packages, in a deal with the studio, DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. Its CEO, Jeffrey Katzenberg, said it will convert its “Shrek” movies to 3-D for Samsung TV buyers later this year.

We continue to see this amazing level of enthusiasm and excitement for 3-D. The rate of adoption for this into the cinema has been a rocket ship these last couple of months.

Sets with 3-D-capability have been available for a few years from Mitsubishi Corp. But 3-D for the home is now coming together as a complete package with the arrival of more 3-D television models, as well as 3-D video players and 3-D movies.

But there’s still a notable lack of 3-D material to watch.

Eventually, sports and other programming that will benefit from a more immersive experience should be offered in 3-D. ESPN has said it will start a channel that will broadcast live events using the technology, starting with FIFA World Cup soccer in June. The sets could also be used for 3-D video games, when game consoles catch up to the new technology.

Samsung, the world’s largest maker of TVs, has high hopes for 3-D. Tim Baxter, head of the company’s U.S. electronics division, said he expects 3-D systems to be in 3 million to 4 million of the 35 million TV sets sold in the U.S. this year by all manufacturers.

Research firm iSuppli Corp. puts the figure at 4.2 million units globally this year. It expects the numbers to ramp quickly, to 12.9 million next year and 27 million in 2012. For comparison, there were more than 210 million TVs sold worldwide year.

Sony Corp. said Tuesday it will start selling 3-D televisions in June. U.S. prices were not revealed, but the sets will cost $3,200 and up in Japan. The company hopes that 10 percent of the TVs it sells in the next fiscal year will be 3-D units.

Sony also plans to issue software upgrades for its PlayStation 3 game consoles and some of its Blu-ray players so they will be able to play 3-D discs.

Panasonic has not revealed what its sets will cost. It’s taking a slightly different tack than Samsung, by introducing 3-D only on plasma screens, for maximum image quality. And rather than selling 3-D sets broadly, it’s going only through Best Buy Inc.’s Magnolia Home Theater stores.

Samsung’s two new sets will be followed by another 13 3-D-capable models in the next two months. Soon, 3-D packages with plasma sets will be available for about $2,000.

ISuppli analyst Randy Lawson said it’s a fairly simple, inexpensive move for manufacturers to modify their high-end sets to be 3-D-capable. That’s part of the reason iSuppli expects a quick increase in sales of such 3-D TVs. Whether people will use the feature is another matter.

Consumers should be more interested in the ability to connect the TV to the Internet, Lawson said. That feature, which started showing up last year, is more immediately useful, because it gives access to a vast array of online movies and TV shows.

I don’t believe that everyone will be watching 3-D all the time in two to three years. I don’t think it will be a predominant concern among average consumers.

The nuclear waste

Three European countries will within 15 years begin disposing of their nuclear waste deep underground, even though the public is not solidly behind the move, officials said.

In Finland, a deep geological repository where spent nuclear fuel will be disposed of is due to come onstream in 2020, said experts who addressed a forum at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Sweden will follow three years after its Nordic neighbor, and “France plans to start operating a deep geological repository Read more

Harry Potter theme park breach copyright law.

The lawsuit, filed in a London court, claims Rowling’s book “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” copied substantial parts of Jacobs’ 1987 book, “The Adventures of Willy the Wizard — No. 1 Livid Land.” Jacobs’ estate also claims that many other ideas from “Willy the Wizard” were copied into the “Harry Potter” books. Jacobs died in London in 1997.

J.K. Rowling has been named in a lawsuit alleging she stole ideas for her wildly popular and lucrative “Harry Potter” books from another British author. Rowling denied the allegation.

The estate of the late Adrian Jacobs on Wednesday added Rowling as a defendant in a lawsuit it filed in June against Bloomsbury Publishing PLC for alleged copyright infringement, according to a statement released by the estate’s Read more

Google Maps and Olympic peaks

Google sent snowmobiles rigged with cameras into Canadian mountains so folks snug and warm at home will get views of slopes at the Winter Olympic Games kicking off on Friday.

“You can also get the most up-to-date medal counts, event results and schedules by doing a simple Google search,” Google Canada head Jonathan Lister said in a blog post.

“I’ll be following men’s hockey myself, and rooting for Team Canada.”

The team behind Street View images crafted into Google Maps equipped a snowmobile with cameras to capture “slope-level imagery” of runs at Whistler Blackcomb ski resort. Read more

The link between aviation and weather

Nearly half of aviation accidents occur during operations in adverse weather conditions, while 75 per cent of delays in air traffic are weather-related in high-density regions. This highlights the need for accurate and reliable weather forecasts to guarantee that air transportation is both safe and regular. This week 150 of the world’s experts meet in Hong Kong, PR China, to discuss ways to optimise provision of timely and accurate weather information. Read more

Murphy died from pneumonia

Brittany Murphy, the star of “Clueless” and “8 Mile,” died from pneumonia, with prescription drugs and anemia also playing a role, a coroner’s official said Thursday.

The Dec. 20 death of the actress was accidental and likely could have been prevented if Murphy had seen a doctor sooner, Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter said. Read more

Prostitution in Canada’s Vancouver

Canada’s Vancouver changes every day on the threshold of the opening of Winter Olympics on February 12. Thousands of prostitutes from all over Canada rush to the city in a hope to make a lot of money. Local escort agencies welcome new personnel expecting a considerable growth in demand on their services.

The prices on intimate services in Vancouver will grow considerably too. Hard-working females can make tens of thousands of dollars in only two Olympic weeks. Nigh clubs, massage parlors, striptease bars, etc also hire additional personnel for the Winter Olympics.

Female employees who wish to work in the above-mentioned organizations are aware of the fact that they will have to take a very active part in the Games too. Many women come to Vancouver to work “like Olympic champions” for two weeks and then return back home. Read more

Iran unveiled three new satellites

Iran Wednesday successfully test- fired a satellite rocket and unveiled three new satellites and a satellite carrier, Iran’s English-language satellite channel Press TV reported.

The report said the “Kavosh 3″ (Explore 3) rocket carrying an ” experimental capsule” has been successfully test-fired, but did not give more details. Read more

Doctor of Murder

Prosecutors investigating Michael Jackson’s death plan to file a criminal complaint charging the singer’s doctor with involuntary manslaughter rather than seek a grand jury indictment, The Associated Press learned Tuesday, a strategy shift that will give an eager public an earlier look at evidence.

While there is no public timetable for charges to be filed against Dr. Conrad Murray, there are strong indications the move is imminent. Murray and lawyer Edward Chernoff have traveled to Los Angeles from Houston, where Murray practices, and the attorney said his client is prepared to turn himself in. Read more

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