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Newly renovated and redesigned in early 2008, the lobby of the The Marcel Hotel New York City features whimsical mod accents and sleek, but comfortable furnishings. The hotel provides guests with 24-hour front desk and concierge, valet services, complimentary newspapers. A state of the art guest lounge, located on the 10th floor offers complimentary coffee and high-speed internet access.
The Marcel Hotel New York City is located in East Midtown Manhattan on historic Murray Hill. The hotel puts guests close to the empire state building and the flatiron district, one of the most popular neighborhoods in Manhattan. Bellevue hospital center is just a couple blocks away. The hotel's lobby features chic designer furniture and warm wood paneled walls.
Adjacent to the lobby a cappuccino bar becomes a popular setting each morning. Complimentary issues of the financial times are available. The Marcel Hotel New York City's on site restaurant, gramercy 24, boasts an oyster bar, fresh seafood and other American favorites each evening.
Room Facilities
* Safe Deposit Box
* Wake-up Service
* Air Conditioning
* Satellite Television
* Telephone
* Wireless Internet Access (Chargeable)
* Daily Housekeeping
Hotel Facilities
* Concierge Desk
* 24 Hour Front Desk
* Handicapped Rooms/Facilities
* Valet Parking
* 24 Hour Security
Dining & Entertainment
* Bar/Lounge
* Gramercy Restaurant
Meeting Facilities
* Business Centre
* Meeting Rooms
Check-in time 1500hrs
Check-out time 1200hrs
Marcel Hotel New York City
Reviews and Rates
Photo of Marcel Hotel New York City
More Photos
* Hotel photos
* Map this hotel
* Hotel amenities
TripAdvisor Traveler Rating
201 East 24th Street, New York City, New York, United States, 212-696-3800
Check Rates and Availability
* Booking.com
* Splendia.com
* Venere.com
* Hotels.com
* EasyToBook.com/Hotels
* Expedia.com
Traveler Reviews of Marcel Hotel New York City
Historical Traveler Reviews of Marcel Hotel New York City
A Great Last-Minute Choice
from A TripAdvisor Member
Was trapped in NYC by snowstorm in Chicago, and the Marcel was a great, low-cost option for spending the night at a moment's notice. Rooms are tiny, but what can you expect for the price? Have stayed here before and suffered the cold showers that other reviewers have commented on, but that varies by stay. Worth a try, if on a VERY restricted budget.
Nice but small
from A TripAdvisor Member
Attractive design, good location in a real neighbourghood, big bed. But the room was so small - I know that is a feature of staying in NYC, but 4inches between 2 sides of the bed and the walls: I kept banging my foot on it
Try It!
from A TripAdvisor Member
Great hotel at a great price. Also , you HAVE TO try their SPREAD restaurant, some of the best sushi, and otehr dishes ive ever tasted. This is a small boutique type hotel. Yes, you DONT get frequent flyer miles, nor do you get any bonuses for your trip, but you are rewarded witha clean and comfortable room that is tastefully decorated, in a nice NYC area.
Take a cold shower
from A TripAdvisor Member
We began our stay in a room with no hot water, a toilet that obstinately refused to flush and a lack of heat which put a chill on our visit. In slow response to our complaint, we were moved to another room with the promise that the hot water problem was fixed. The new room provided a modicum more heat, NO HOT WATER, yet another broken toilet which we repeatedly fixed ourselves, burned out light bulbs and the refrain, "Yes, the hot water was not working, but it is fixed." Had we known the truth, that it was NOT FIXED throughout the entire hotel, we would have moved to another hotel. No one would take responsibility in refunding our bill, each referring us to the next higher up who, in turn, did the same.
Not bad; A few caveats
from A TripAdvisor Member
I can't say that I called a lot of NYC hotels, but if you have and price is a serious consideration and the Marcel is in your range, then be their guest. A couple of the staff people were very nice, the complimentary cappucino bar is the real thing (not a gas-station powdered mix) if you like coffee but aren't coffee a snob. The rooms are clean and they are compact but not cramped (I had a room with two smallish queen beds which were just fine for my wife and two kids (6yrs & 4yrs).
My beefs? Something as simple as ice is not available to guests. You have to request that it be brought to your room (i.e., room service). Now it doesn't cost anything but there will be a staff member expecting a tip everytime you want a couple of cubes. The little turd who worked the front desk in the evening seemed to take offense when I went down to get a cup of coffee and asked if I could pick up a bucket of ice at the front desk on my way back up. Was that so much to ask? Apparently. When my brother-in-law asked for the same thing, the turd put his foot down and said that it was more convenient for HIM to have it sent to the room. Ditto additional bath towels.
ALthough ice was available down the block ($2 for a four pound bag!!) It was the attitude that chapped my a--. I called ahead the day that I arrived to see if I would have to pack toothpaste and shaving cream. I have stayed at the Four Seasons in Dallas and the Holiday Inn in Olathe, KS and I've always gotten toothpaste and shaving cream for free. Turd II said "No sir, you see this is a BOUTIQUE hotel," as if boutique was code for "don't ask for toothpaste or shaving cream." Okay, I can pack my own toiletries, just hold the ATTITUDE.
The third evening of my stay, I asked for a bucket of ice, 45 minutes later, the guy at the desk said he had no record of my call, Yeah, right. I didn't ask again. I brought 3 families to stay there at once, you would have thought that we'd get treated a little better.
In early October 2002, the rooms were somewhat uncomfortable. The A/C was weak and DID not remove the humidity from the air. Your A/C at home condenses water and dries out the cool air. At the Marcel, my room was barely cool and very damp. You could smell the old moisture (read: mildew) coming out of the a/c unit.
If I would have gone alone, I could have lived with it, but I had a family that I wanted to take care of.
Very good deal, excellent restaurant
from A TripAdvisor Member
I really liked the Marcel, it is not like the big hotels, the staff new me and I felt very comfortable. I also enjoyed their restaurant a lot, try the sushi - it is superb.
A NYC retreat
from A TripAdvisor Member
Just came back from NYC, where we stayed at MArcel hotel. While the design is simple, it is definitely tasteful, the rooms are nicely appointed, and good sized for NY standard. They also havea great restaurant on property. Loved their sushi bar, HAVE TO try their BBQ fluke roll, and also ribs. Never thought i can find a good NY hotel for under $200, but this one was much cheaper than i expected to pay, and met all of our expectations,, we will return. HINT: they have their own website, where the rates are usually cheapest.
Marcel Hotel: Not that bad for a boutique hotel
from A TripAdvisor Member
My husband and I just spent two nights at the Marcel, and we were delightfully surprised with the hotel. The staff was helpful and friendly. The picture on the Web was exactly the way our room looked - modern, minimalist but clean and well kept. It was also surprisingly quiet. We had no complaints and, for the price, would definitely go back again.
Worst hotel of our trip
from A TripAdvisor Member
My wife and I have recently returned from a 3 week trip to the Eastern USA and this hotel was by a stretch the worst hotel we stayed in. Upon checking in I noticed there was a strange smell in the room. I advised the front desk and was told that someone would be up to check. That person never arrived so I decided to open the window and let some air in. The window came off in my hands!! I then investigated the smell further and found that a previous guest had vomited at the side of the bed and that the floor was still wet! We were moved to another room within 10 minutes, however the air conditioning did not work properly in either room(and emits a mildew smell) and the rooms are not glazed well, leading to a barrage of noise.
The hotel does not lend itself to tourists and the staff are not in the least bit helpful. My advice would be to stay elsewhere.
Do Not Stay Here!!!!!!!!!!!
from A TripAdvisor Member
I arrived at the Marcel Hotel July 4, 2002- my wedding anniversary. When I entered my room, there were flies everywhere and the bedspread was filthy! The room looked nothing like the pictures that are displayed on the web, there was no pamplets on the hotel or anything that a good hotel has. I went to the front desk and they switched my room. In a rush, I dropped my belongings in the room and headed to the river for my cruise. The temperature was extreme and when we returned our room temperature was also extreme. I called the front desk and they sent someone up who swore that the AC was working when just sitting there you were sweating. He was also very rude. This was not the anniversary celebration that I was expecting; I could have stayed at my friends house for free with no AC. At 1am, I left the hotel in search of another hotel and ended up at the TIME HOTEL which is GREAT!!! Needless to say, the managers of the Marcel will not return my calls and they were very quick to charge me for the room even though I only spent a half of an hour if that in the room. 130.00 for a half an hour should be luxury accomodations!!! Another bad point is that the room is the size of a box, the Tv is set up in a way that only one person could watch it... If you need cheap, stay at a holiday Inn or a Comfort Inn- you will be much happier!!!!
Friday, September 11, 2009
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(once again I apologise for the photo it's just the Scottish East coast winter light! )
I hope everyone has had a gret time over the holidays we had a quiet time with family and friends but that suits me just fine!
Over on the Seven Hills Crafts blog they have a sketch challenge and dug out Papersmooches chubby chums to play along ..did take a bit of artistic license :) as I failed to count lines so Im one short ...oops and instead of the circle my chubby chum is taking its place.I also added the dog 'fleas ' which are from a clearly besotted set ,but think in hindsight I should have left them off!Aw well you live and learn... I'll know the next time.
Thanks for popping over for a look

subset: commoncrawl


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The Cisco CCIE Wireless certification assesses and validates wireless expertise. Candidates who pass the CCIE Wireless certification exams must demonstrate broad theoretical knowledge of wireless networking and a solid understanding of wireless LAN technologies from Cisco, the market leader in WLAN technology.
There are no formal prerequisites for CCIE certification. Other professional certifications or training courses are not required.
Candidates must first pass a written qualification exam and then the corresponding hands-on lab exam.
Steps to Certification
Step One: CCIE Wireless Written Exam
Candidates must first pass a written qualification exam and then the corresponding hands-on lab exam. You are expected to have an in-depth understanding of the topics in the exam blueprints and strongly encouraged to have three to five years of job experience before attempting certification. You can review the exam preparation materials included on this page for more information.
Step Two: CCIE Wireless Lab Exam
The eight-hour lab exam tests your ability to configure and troubleshoot actual equipment and get the network running in a timed test situation. You must pass the lab within three years of passing the written to achieve certification. Your first lab attempt must be made within 18 months.
Expert-level certifications are valid for two years and must be recertified every two years thereafter.
For more information, access the How to Recertify page.
The new curriculum introduces the latest technologies and solutions such as NGIPS, AMP, APIC-EM, and Information Exchange. Get more details.
The place on the Cisco Learning Network where you can ask questions and share ideas with other members as you prepare for your Certification. Join Now.
Continuing Education Program Overview
Continuing Education Program Portal (Login Required)
Continuing Education Program Catalog


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Forging a new pact betweenpeople and wildlife
Experience an Africanadventure close to home
Journey through a world of wildlife in the heart of Melbourne
Explore a bushland haven for Australian wildlife
Become a member
Unlimited entry to 3 great zoos
Buy tickets
Save time and book online
You are here
Orang-utans are the largest living tree mammals in the world. They live in our neighbourhood, in nearby Malaysia and Indonesia (on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra).
At our Orang-utan Sanctuary, you can visit the orang-utans in their treetop home. Walk the elevated boardwalk and watch them behave as they would in the wild: climbing, swinging, nesting and feeding high off the ground.
Orang-utans rarely come down to the ground. They spend much of their time foraging for fruit in the upper canopy of the rainforest, and build nests out of leaves and branches each night. Our tailor-made exhibit allows you to watch them up close (and up high) as they go about a typical day.
The Orang-utan Sanctuary Visitor Centre features interactive games, sculptures, and multimedia and viewing platforms that connect and educate you with these highly intelligent animals, whose name means 'people of the forest'.
Sadly, Orang-utans are highly endangered – and in danger of becoming extinct – as their rainforest habitat is increasingly lost to logging and palm oil plantations. They are also hunted as pets.
You can join Melbourne Zoo in making a difference. Be inspired by stories of people helping to save and conserve the Orang-utan.
Stay up-to-date with news, events and special offers
Help us fight wildlife extinction by making a donation today
Every purchase you make at our online shop helps us fight extinction


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What to Bring to BlogHer
The countdown is on! Just a few short weeks until BlogHer14 in San Jose! Here is a checklist originally published in 2013, that holds true for 2014…..
So, are you going to BlogHer? Unsure of what you'll need to take?
Being prepared for the BlogHer conference will help minimize some of the other jitters that attending this massive conference brings!
This will be my third BlogHer conference. And while I am no means an expert, over the past 2 years I've developed a strategy on what to bring. In this post, I'll address what to pack for your time during conference sessions, keynotes, parties and exploring the expo floor.
You don't want to be loaded down with unnecessary items because you'll want to have your hands-free to interact with new blogger friends and brand reps.
Here's the breakdown
Look for a nice Cross-body handbag – I've found that this is the best bag to carry since there's no chance of it slipping off your shoulder. (It's the little things that annoy me!) And, carrying a cross-body handbag lessens the chance that you will set it down and walk off without it. (Trust me, it happens – with all the excitement, it's easy to become distracted)
The bag should be lightweight with plenty of compartments. Oh, and it should be cute and large enough to carry all the items listed below.
The stories you have heard are true. The amount of swag you'll receive is crazy. Thankfully, there will be many reusable tote bags given away to carry all that luscious swag. But, you'll still need your hands-free to haul those goody bags back to your hotel room.
6pm has a great selection of cross-body handbags
Tablet or smart phone – My first time at blogger in 2010, I brought my MacBook Pro to the very first session and learned my lesson. My laptop was back in my hotel room (locked in the hotel safe) before lunch. I recommend bringing a laptop if you intend to blog, but leave it in your hotel room during the conference. (Personally, I rarely post while attending BlogHer. But, I still bring my laptop as a security blanket.)
I've found that taking notes on my tablet with a Bluetooth keyboard is the best way to go and a lot less cumbersome than a full-size laptop.
(Don't have a tablet? Walmart has the iPad mini on sale for $249! Or, here's a highly-rated 8″ Acer Tablet for $99 shipped! )
In a pinch, jotting notes using the notepad app on a smart phone and/or having a small paper notebook and pen do just fine. It also helps that BlogHer records the conference sessions and makes them available online after the conference is over.
A Battery Charger for your Smart phone and/or Tablet. – Last year at BlogHer in NYC, I would have been miserable without my external battery pack! I brought it "just in case" and ended up using it every single day of the conference. I was dismayed at how fast my iPhone and iPad battery would run low and how often I found myself outside the hotel (attending meetings and parties) without access to an outlet to recharge my devices.
For a blogger, there are few things worse then being stranded without a connection to the Internet and Social Media. Not to mention, losing access to the BlogHer Conference App and your carefully detailed schedule! And even more maddening when it's because your tablet or smartphone battery died!
Trust me on this. Carry a battery charger for your phone/tablet
Zomm Wireless Mobile Device Leash – This is a new addition for 2013, but after an episode (or two) of leaving my precious iPhone on a counter or a table then walking away, it's worth $40 to keep me from panicking in front of a large group of people. I can just imagine trying to find MY iPhone in it's silver glitter case among the thousands of iPhones at BlogHer! And a blogger without a SmartPhone? Shudder the thought!
You may have seen the Zomm Wireless Leash on Shark Tank. It's about the same size as a silver dollar coin. It connects wirelessly to your mobile phone and lets you know when you are more than 30 ft away from your device. It also works as a speakerphone. I'm attaching it to my handbag with a keyring.
Small paper notebook and pen – in a pinch this is the quickest way to jot down information. Moleskine Volant notebooks are my favorite. They have good quality paper plus they're cute and inexpensive.
Business Cards – Lots of them. It's common blogger etiquette that when sitting in a session/lunch/party to introduce yourself to your table-mates and exchange business cards. You'll also need business cards to exchange with brand reps, and sometimes to enter giveaways.
Business Cards can be simple or you may choose to create a more elaborate expression of your personal style or brand. Reload your wallet with your business cards when you get to your room. Carry at least 20 at any time (more if you'll be away from your hotel room for an extended period of time)
Minted does a fantastic job and has so many unique business card templates to choose from (they did my cards for the last 2 years- shown above).
As of this post (7/7/2014) - get $25 off $50 order at Minted through this link! (also, try the promo code JULY4WED for 15% off – worked for me!)
If you're on a budget, at InkGarden get 50 FREE Business Cards - just pay shipping of about $4.50. Use Code: 50FREE for one-sided and Code: 50FREE2 for two sided cards.
Small and thin wallet/credit card holder – Leave your regular wallet at home. All you really need to carry is about $20-$40 in small bills (for tips, cab fare, and incidentals), a credit card/ debit card, Driver License/ID, hotel room key, and your business cards. I chose a travel wallet made of fabric that I picked up at World Market. It's slim and colorful so that I can easily see it inside my bag).
But, I'm seriously tempted to get this Kate Spade small wallet this year!
Sunglasses – This year's BlogHer Conference in Chicago will have us traveling from the Sheraton Chicago to the McCormick Center and back again. Not to mention the possibility of off-site parties. We'll be outdoors more this year than at previous BlogHer conferences. Be sure to pack your favorite sunglasses.
Foldable Flats – You will be walking and standing a lot at BlogHer. By all means, wear your cute shoes but keep a pair of foldable flats in your bag. (When it comes time to change out of your cute shoes, put them in one of the numerous swag bags you'll be carrying)
There's a vast number of styles in a wide range of price points.
Cute foldable flats at 6pm! Also Macys and Nordstrom have a wide selection!
Lip balm, lipstick or gloss – conference rooms are notoriously air-conditioned. Keeping your lips hydrated will give you more confidence.
Individually wrapped moist wipes – Although most activities will be inside the hotel or expo hall, you'll be running around party to party, session to session, and expo to hotel on the shuttle. Stopping by the restroom and freshening up with moist wipes is always a quick way to make you feel better. (I don't carry the whole box with me, just a few of the individually wrapped towelettes – I got these in my PopSugar Must Have Box!)
If you're "of-a-certain-age", the Poise Cooling Towelettes might be the way to go (In 2012, Poise was handing them out on the Expo Floor!)
Magazine fragrance sample – Just tear out the actual sample part and toss it in your wallet.
Travel brush or comb with a small mirror (or better yet, if your smart phone has a front facing camera, take a quick and discreet selfie to check your appearance!)
Hair ties/barrettes - you never know when you may need to tame your beautiful mane. Especially in the humid mid-west!
Colgate Wisps- After a snack or lunch it's always a good idea to keep your breath and smile the best that it can be. You don't want to be seen with something in your teeth
One Sheet – This is a one page document that explains your blog in one page. Think of it as a paper elevator pitch takeaway. You'll want to include your contact information, audience demographics, and website data. (I use Google Analytics, Alexa, and Stat Counter to collect my site's stats)
I don't hand this one-sheet out to everyone, I only offer my one sheet to Brand Reps when the conversation goes beyond basic discussions and I feel I have made a connection. I print it out on a nice, heavy glossy cardstock. (but that's just me)
This year, I've been playing around with Piktochart and Easel.ly to make an infograph style one-sheet.
So what have I missed? Is there an essential item that's needed at the BlogHer Conference? I love to hear suggestions!
See you in
Chicago San Jose!
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Organized and regulated financial market where securities are bought and sold at prices governed by the forces of demand
and supply. Stock exchanges impose stringent rules, listing requirements, and statutory requirements that are binding on
all listed and trading parties.
The Rwanda Stock Exchange Limited was incorporated on 7th October 2005 with the objective of carrying out stock market operations. The Stock Exchange was demutualized from the start as it was registered as a company limited by shares. The company was officially launched on 31st January 2011.


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War and the Schools
By JOHN W. STUDEBAKER, U. S. Commissioner of Education
Delivered over WMAL on the Washington Star Forum Program, September 2, 1942
Vital Speeches of the Day, Vol. IX, pp. 45-47.
DAILY the realization grows that we are in for a long hard struggle; and that education must be adjusted to the pressing business of total war. That some schools should have moved rather slowly in making the great conversion from the business of peace to that of war is perhaps inevitable. We are not a militaristic Nation. Almost never before in our history have the schools had need to turn their full attention to the science of war. Yet as the crisis deepens, as we more and more gear ourselves for all-out total war, the schools, too, must readjust their organizations and redirect their efforts toward one great end— the certain and speedy winning of this war. What, then, are some of the things the schools and colleges can do to help win this war?
My first suggestion concerns the elementary schools. The fundamentals of childhood education, with their emphasis upon mental security, physical health and growth, and command of the tools of learning, are not altered for the emergency. Millions of present elementary school children will still be in school when victory is won. They must grow up to help in the long slow task of rebuilding the post-war world, of healing its rancors, of binding up its wounds, of creating that spirit of brotherhood which alone enables men to live at peace with their fellows. The special contributions which elementary schools can make to winning this war are therefore expansions of the kinds of tasks which they are already accomplishing: the care and protection of young children in nursery schools and kindergartens; the provision of before and after school programs of recreation for children of working mothers in congested war-service areas; the expansion of school facilities and services to include nutritious school lunches; closer cooperation with parents in safeguarding children's health and morale.
So helping to win this war demands little basic change in the organization and program of elementary education. Can the same thing be said for secondary education? Can the high schools go on doing business as usual, with only minor modifications in curriculum and organization? The answer which has just come out of a four-day Institute on Education and the War sponsored by the Office of Education Wartime Commission is emphatically "No." We are faced with certain brutal facts. Fact number one is that wars are won by fighting men using weapons produced by working men and women. The manpower requirements for winning a long war are simply enormous. That means that in so far as possible boys of 16 and 17 years of age now in our 28,000 high schools must begin to prepare for military occupations. To meet the growing and critical requirements of the armed forces for specialists, the facilities of all high schools must be put to maximum use.
Again, just as the manpower needs of the armed forces are pyramiding, so are the manpower needs of war production, in factories and on farms. Here, in addition to training men not suited for military service, we face a task of replacement training; training of girls and women to replace men gone from farms and factories; training girls and women to replace men gone from stores and offices and from essential community service occupations.
In making the curricular adjustments required of secondary schools these needs are pressing:
First, there must be greatly improved services for occupational information and guidance into critical services and occupations. School counselors must have authentic information not alone as to the capabilities of particular youth; they must also have information concerning the critical needs of the Nation for manpower with certain types of preliminary preparation.
Second, there must be a new emphasis upon programs of physical fitness. Strength, stamina, endurance and functional vigor are demanded above all else in wartime. Every high school boy and girl must be given the opportunity to participate in a program of physical activities appropriate to his or her interests and abilities, and geared to national needs.
Third, since modern war is a battle of technicians and specialists, both in the combat forces and in the army of workers in industry; and since technology is based upon science and mathematics, our high schools must see to it this year that larger numbers of pupils gain a more thorough mastery of those subjects.
Fourth, pre-flight courses in aeronautics should be offered in thousands of the Nation's high schools. Control of the air in modern warfare is an essential prerequisite for successful land or sea operations. We are in the process of developing the greatest air force in the world. To meet the anticipated needs of the armed services for flight-crew officers alone, there is every indication that we must interest all qualified boys in the junior and senior classes of our high schools in becoming candidates for aviation training on a pre-flight basis.
Fifth, the high schools must not neglect their major and continuing responsibilities, that is, training of youth for citizenship in a democracy. In English classes, special emphasis must be placed upon the development of fundamental reading skills; upon clear concise oral and written expression; upon the literature of patriotism and American idealism; of current events and war problems. In social studies classes, there should be more positive teaching of the meaning of democracy; of our history, heroes and traditions. There should be instruction concerning matters of wartime economics. There should be a new emphasis upon the development of geographical concepts; upon an understanding of the working of government in wartime.
The sixth element in the high school program of curricular conversion involves the greatest wrench to existing practices; yet it is exceedingly important. This element is the provision of pre-induction training for the armed forces and preparatory training for civilian occupations and services. At the present time our expanding Army and Navy are in critical need of many more specialists than are being recruited by the draft lottery or by voluntary enlistment. The facilities in our trade and vocational schools, and in our general high schools must be used to the maximum extent in the preliminary preparation of auto mechanics, radio operators and repairmen, machinists, typists, cooks, and a host of other specialists.
A seventh important aspect of the school's responsibility for wartime citizenship training is the development of an understanding and appreciation of our allies in the United Nations. Without in any way diverting us from the all-important business of winning the war, we can lay that foundation in public opinion which will make possible the winning of the peace as well. In this winning of the peace, the United Nations must stand and work together as in the war itself.
I realize that there are serious obstacles to be overcome in converting the high school curriculum to make it more fully serve the war effort. But these obstacles must be overcome.
Especially must the enthusiasm and will-to-serve of youth themselves be organized and channelled in a nation-wide program of participation in present war-service activities and in preparatory training for future war occupations.
When we ask what the colleges and universities can do this year to help win this war, we enter an area in which there are many perplexing problems. Of some generalizations however, we can speak with assurance. First, the colleges and universities can adjust their entrance requirements so as to serve every qualified student who needs the services of the college to prepare him for war work.
Second, colleges and universities can cooperate with the Army, the Navy and with industry in admitting to special short courses students who need training the college can give. At the present time, a number of colleges and universities are providing courses of instruction for Signal Corps technicians, for Army stores managers, for tank repairmen, and other civilian or enlisted personnel of the War and Navy Departments.
Third, the colleges and universities can make available facilities for housing, feeding, and providing health care for Army and Navy contingents sent to them, regardless of whether or not the instruction is to be given by the institution or by the Army and Navy.
Fourth, it will be generally agreed, I believe, that colleges and universities can revitalize their student personnel procedures. College students today face unusually difficult choices. Should they enlist? They have been advised to continue their education until called by their government for service. Should they seek Selective Service deferment in order to complete courses of training for professional and technical occupations in which critical shortages exist? Upon these matters students are in great need of sympathetic counsel based upon authentic information of the manpower needs of the Nation. Plans are under way to supply such information.
Fifth, colleges and universities can adjust their regular courses and curricula more completely to wartime needs. For example, short curricula should be introduced in many fields, such as sub-professional engineering specialities and chemical and bacteriological specialities, for which preparation can be secured in one or two years.
Liberal arts courses should be tuned to current war problems. History courses should contribute directly to understanding the backgrounds of the present war; geography should throw light upon the economic factors in this globalconflict; and so on through the whole gamut of liberal arts departments.
How can this War for Survival be surely won? Only as there comes to each and every one of us a more realistic sense of the terrible urgency of a genuinely all-out war effort. I am confident that, with the backing of patriotic Americans in thousands of communities, the schools and colleges of the Nation will pull their full share of the load up the steep incline to victory.


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Columbia's run of profitable years, which extended back to its founding in 1924, finally ended in 1958, the year of Harry Cohn's death. By then Columbia had sustained its contract system, centralized management, and studio production setup (still at Gower Gulch) longer than most of its competitors, but its recent success had been primarily a function of Cohn's willingness to take risks and embrace change. At the time of Harry Cohn's death, which came two years after the demise of his brother Jack, Columbia's annual revenues exceeded $100 million, putting it on a par with once-indomitable Paramount, Fox, and MGM and well ahead of the other studios. After Cohn's death the penchant for innovation and risk taking actually increased, which was scarcely avoidable given the changes and challenges facing the industry and which steadily dissolved Columbia's on-screen personality, since Columbia's boldest ventures in the 1960s and 1970s involved partnerships with overseas producers and with a new generation of independent auteurs , all of whom required creative control over their pictures. Thus, Columbia was relegated increasingly to the role of a financing and distribution company, and it experienced far wider swings in its economic fortunes than it had under Cohn.
Columbia's Screen Gems operation continued to produce hit TV series in the 1960s, most notably (and profitably) prime-time sitcoms like The Flintstones (1960), Bewitched (1964), I Dream of Jeannie (1965), and The Partridge Family (1970). While these kept the studio machinery running, feature film production declined dramatically. During the 1950s, Columbia released 450 films, with its output steadily falling from about 60 per year in 1950 to less than 40 by decade's end. The decline continued in the 1960s, when Columbia released 252 films and its annual output declined to about 20 per annum—a pace that would continue through the 1970s.
Most of Columbia's releases in the 1960s and 1970s were independent productions or co-productions, many of them packaged and produced overseas without the participation of top studio executives Abe Schneider and Leo Jaffe. Columbia's long-standing relationships with top independent Sam Spiegel (1901–1985) ( On the Waterfront , The Bridge on the River Kwai ) continued into the 1970s, most notably with the monumental 1962 hit, Lawrence of Arabia . Another important relationship involved Ray Stark, who partnered with Columbia on several Barbra Streisand (b. 1942) hits: Funny Girl (1968), The Owl and the Pussycat (1970), The Way We Were (1973), and Funny Lady (1975). In 1965, as the "British invasion" spread from music to film, Columbia opened offices in London that delivered A Man for All Seasons (1966), Georgy Girl (1966), To Sir, with Love (1967), and Oliver! (1968). An independent company owned by producer-director Stanley Kramer (1913–2001) gave Columbia its biggest commercial hit of the era, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), a then-daring treatment of interracial romance—but equally an exercise in nostalgia, considering its co-stars Spencer Tracy (1900–1967) and Katharine Hepburn (1907–2003).
Far more daring—and in many cases far more profitable—was Columbia's output of "youth pictures," art films, and auteur projects. In fact, no other studio championed the director-driven Hollywood New Wave to the degree that Columbia did with pictures like Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Stanley Kubrick, 1964), Mickey One (Arthur Penn, 1965), In Cold Blood (Richard Brooks, 1967), The Swimmer (Frank Perry, 1968), Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (Paul Mazursky, 1969), Easy Rider (Dennis Hopper, 1969), Five Easy Pieces (Bob Rafelson, 1970), Husbands (John Cassavetes, 1970), The Last Picture Show (Peter Bogdanovich, 1971), Images (Robert Altman, 1972), The Last Detail (Hal Ashby, 1974), Shampoo (Ashby, 1975), and Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976). But despite this truly phenomenal output of low-cost, high-quality films, Columbia suffered record losses from 1971 to 1973 due to a run of big-budget flops like McKenna's Gold (1969), Cromwell (1970), Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), and Lost Horizon (1973) as well as a costly relocation. After a half-century on Gower Street, Columbia executed a move between 1970 and 1972 to lavish new facilities in Burbank, north of Hollywood.
Columbia survived this deepening financial crisis with the help of the investment firm Allen and Co., which in 1973 purchased controlling interest in the studio (for a paltry $1.5 million). That put the company under the command of Herbert Allen Jr., the son of Allen and Co.'s co-founder, who installed a new management team of Alan Hirschfield, David Begelman, and Peter Guber. Columbia's finances rebounded, propelled by the 1977 megahit, Close Encounters of the Third Kind directed by Steven Spielberg (b. 1946), but the new team's tenure was cut short by a forgery scandal involving Begelman. The resurgence continued under the new studio head, Frank Price, whose five-year stint (1978–1983) was highlighted by two huge Dustin Hoffman (b. 1937) hits, Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), Columbia's first US-produced multiple Oscar ® winner in twenty-five years, and Tootsie (1982).
The Price regime, while financially successful, marked the end of Columbia Pictures' control of its destiny—or even of its production operations. By then it was releasing only a dozen or so films per year, most of them produced by independents, and many were "packaged" by talent agencies—most notably Mike Ovitz of Creative Artists Agency (CAA), who certainly had more to do with Tootsie , for example, than anyone at Columbia Pictures. Columbia's control of its destiny was further compromised when Price engineered the studio's acquisition by Coca-Cola, which bought the studio in 1982 for roughly $750 million. The new parent company attempted to expand its "filmed entertainment" operations on various fronts, including the buyout of partners HBO and CBS in TriStar Pictures, a new production venture geared to the exploding pay cable and home video markets. The Coca-Cola era brought huge hits like Ghostbusters (1984) and costly flops like Ishtar (1987) as well as considerable turnover in the studio executive ranks after Price's 1983 departure, culminating in the disastrous stint of the British independent producer David Puttnam in 1986 and 1987.
By the late 1980s Columbia Picture's fortunes had again reached a low point; in fact, its share of the motion picture market fell to 4.5 percent in 1988 and, incredibly, to 3 percent in 1989 (versus TriStar's 6 percent share). At that point Coca-Cola decided to sell the studio to Sony, the Japanese electronics manufacturing giant that had purchased CBS Records a year earlier and now was looking for a film "software" company to complement its production of "hardware" (TVs, VCRs, and so on). In a deal brokered by Mike Ovitz, Sony bought Columbia Pictures Industries and all its assets, including TriStar, in late 1989 for $3.4 billion. A year later Sony bought the MGM Studio in Culver City, where it housed the Columbia and TriStar operations. Sony also became embroiled with Time Warner over the hiring of producers Peter Guber and Jon Peters to run Columbia-TriStar, which led to several years of management turmoil and subpar production results.
The Sony-Columbia alliance eventually coalesced under the leadership of studio veteran John Calley, who took over Sony's Motion Picture Group in 1996. In 2002 Columbia was back to the top of the industry, thanks largely to its blockbuster hits of that year, Spider-Man and Men in Black II . Calley handed off the top executive position in 2003 to another veteran studio boss, Amy Pascal, whose portfolio expanded a year later when a Sony-led media consortium acquired MGM (the producer-distributor, not the MGM studio facility, which Sony already owned) for $5 billion. Thus, Sony's Motion Picture Group, which already included Columbia, TriStar, and two indie subdivisions, Sony Pictures Classics and Screen Gems, now owned the largest film and television library in the industry, as well as the lucrative James Bond and Pink Panther franchises.
The acquisition of MGM further diminished the stature and importance of Columbia Pictures within the Sony media empire. In fact, Sony seemed far less interested in sustaining and exploiting Columbia's brand-name value than in promoting its own, and thus the emphasis in recent years has been on Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) rather than on Columbia Pictures. And because all of the Hollywood studios have become little more than brand names and libraries, Columbia Pictures seems to be an increasingly endangered studio.
SEE ALSO Academy Awards ® ; B Movies ; MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) ; Paramount ; RKO Radio Pictures ; Star System ; Stars ; Studio System ; Television ; Twentieth Century Fox (20th Century Fox) ; United Artists ; Universal
Buscombe, Ed. "Notes on Columbia Pictures Corporation, 1926–1941." In Movies and Methods , edited by Bill Nichols, vol. 2, 92–108. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985.
Capra, Frank. Frank Capra: The Name Above the Title, An Autobiography . New York: Macmillan, 1971.
Hirschhorn, Clive. The Columbia Story . London: Hamlyn, 1999.
McBride, Joseph. Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success . New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992.
McClintick, David. Indecent Exposure: A True Story of Hollywood and Wall Street . New York: Morrow, 1982.
Yule, Andrew. Fast Fade: David Puttnam, Columbia Pictures, and the Battle for Hollywood . New York: Delacorte, 1989.
Thomas Schatz


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Sun is the hottest planet in the solar system It has a diameter of 1,391,940 Km It is 1,391.940 Km away from earth. Its mass is equivalent to 99.98 % of the mass of entire Solar system two gases, 75% Hydrogen and 23% Helium gas , with relatively small quantities of other elements.
The Sun has a Surface temperature of 5,880 K but it can be 56,000,000 K at its core. The yellow surface we see is called Photosphere. The Sun rotates once every 25.4 days but because it is not solid like other planets, the pole spin at a different rate, taking as much as 36 days to complete a single revolution.
*First on Moon:- Neil A Armstrong was the first person went to moon on 16-24 Jul 1969 from Apollo 11 at 2:32.
Not even the hottest day at the hottest place on Earth comes close to how hot it gets on Mercury. Mercury is one of the nine planets in our solar system. Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun.
Daytime temperatures on Mercury can soar to 810° Fahrenheit (430° Celsius). That is hot enough to melt some metals! Mercury gets so hot because it is so close to the Sun. Mercury is 36 million miles (58 million kilometers) from the Sun, on average. Its distance from the Sun changes somewhat throughout the year. Earth is about three times farther from the Sun.
It really cools off at night on Mercury. The temperature can drop as low as -290° Fahrenheit (-180° Celsius) after the Sun goes down. So Mercury doesn't just get hotter than anywhere on Earth. It also gets colder! It gets so cold partly because Mercury has almost no atmosphere. An atmosphere is the gases around a planet. On Earth, the gases act like a blanket that holds in heat. Another reason it gets so cold is that Mercury turns slowly. On Mercury, night lasts much longer than it does on Earth, and all the heat leaks away into space.
A day on Mercury is a long time. One Mercury day lasts almost 59 days on Earth. One day is the time it takes for a planet to spin once around its axis. An axis is an imaginary line going through the center of a planet. Mercury turns very slowly on its axis.
A year on Mercury, however, is pretty short. Mercury moves fast around the Sun. It takes Earth 365 days to go around the Sun, so a year on Earth is 365 days long. A year on Mercury is only 88 Earth days. That's the time it takes Mercury to go around the Sun. Since Mercury's year is so short and its day is so long, the planet only has 3 days for every 2 years!
Mercury has a surface made of rocks. Some places on Mercury are smooth. Some places have wrinkly ridges.
There are many big, round holes called craters on the surface of Mercury. Meteors and comets crash into Mercury and make the craters. Meteors are chunks of stone and metal that fall from space. Comets are balls of ice and rock. There is ice at the bottom of some deep craters near Mercury's north and south poles. Scientists think the ice may have come from comets. Mercury has no liquid water.
Scientists think that there must be a lot of iron metal inside Mercury. They think this because Mercury is a giant magnet. Earth is also a giant magnet. Earth is a magnet because it has hot, liquid iron in its core. The liquid iron spins and makes Earth a magnet. Scientists think the same thing happens on Mercury. But Mercury is a weaker magnet than Earth.
Scientists do not know as much about Mercury as they do about most of the other planets. It is hard to study Mercury, because Mercury is hard to see.
Mercury is the second smallest planet, after Pluto. Its diameter (the width of the planet) is 3,032 miles (4,879 kilometers). That is about the distance across the United States. Mercury also orbits close to the Sun. The Sun is so bright that its glare makes Mercury hard to see from Earth. Special telescopes are needed to study Mercury.
Only one spacecraft has visited Mercury. Mariner 10 flew past Mercury in 1974 and 1975. Mariner 10 took lots of pictures. It measured Mercury's temperature. Most of what scientists know about Mercury came from Mariner 10.
Days on Venus seem endless. Venus is the second planet from the Sun. One day on Venus is as long as 243 days on Earth. A year on Venus is only 225 Earth days long. So a day on Venus is longer than a year!
Venus orbits, or goes around, the Sun just as all the planets do. It takes Venus 225 days to go around the Sun. Earth goes around the Sun in 365 days. We call the time it takes Earth to go around the Sun a year.
Venus also spins around on its axis. An axis is an imaginary line going through a planet from top to bottom. Every planet spins on its axis. One day on Earth is the time it takes for Earth to turn completely around on its axis. Earth turns once every 24 hours. Venus turns much more slowly. It takes Venus 243 Earth days just to turn once.
Venus also spins backwards around its axis. It spins in the opposite direction that Earth spins. On Venus, the Sun rises in the west and sets in the east.
Venus is more like Earth in some ways than any other planet. It is almost the same size as Earth. It is a similar distance from the Sun compared to the other planets. It is made mostly of rock and has an atmosphere (gases that surround a planet).
Venus has flat plains and high places, just like Earth. It has huge extinct (dead) volcanoes and big craters. Meteorites crashing into the planet made the big craters. But Venus has no moon.
In other ways, Venus is not at all like Earth. It is not a place you would like to visit. The atmosphere is poisonous. It is made up mainly of a gas called carbon dioxide. The clouds are filled with drops of powerful acid "rain" that would eat through your clothes—and through you. The atmosphere is so thick that its weight would crush you. There is no water on Venus.
It is very hot on Venus. The temperature on the surface is about 864° Fahrenheit (462° Celsius). That's more than four times as hot as boiling water. No plants or animals could live in a place that hot.
The thick atmosphere of Venus keeps the planet hot. The carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of Venus is called a greenhouse gas. It acts like the glass in a greenhouse. Greenhouse glass traps heat from the Sun. The heat keeps a greenhouse warm all year long.
Earth has just enough carbon dioxide in its atmosphere to keep our planet warm enough for life. Venus has too much carbon dioxide. Venus traps too much heat from the Sun. This makes Venus too hot for anything to live there.
People in ancient times knew about Venus. They could see Venus when they looked up at night. Venus is brighter than any object in the sky other than the Sun and the Moon. Sometimes Venus is the first object to appear in the sky as it gets dark. Sometimes Venus is the last object to fade in the morning light. The ancient Romans called Venus the morning star or the evening star. They named Venus for the ancient Roman goddess of love and beauty.
Venus was the first planet to be visited by spacecraft. A United States spacecraft named Mariner 2 flew by Venus in 1962. Many spacecraft have visited Venus since then. These spacecraft carried instruments to take measurements. Some of them carried radar to see through the thick clouds on Venus. Radar "sees" with radio waves. Some U.S. and Russian spacecraft landed on Venus.
The spacecraft that landed on Venus had to plunge through thick clouds filled with sulfuric acid. They had to survive lightning flashes and powerful winds. The weight of the planet's atmosphere crushed the spacecraft, and the heat on Venus baked them. Some spacecraft sent back pictures and measurements before they stopped working.
Pretend you are an alien explorer from outer space looking for life on other planets. Your spaceship flies into a group of stars that looks like a gigantic whirlpool. The whirlpool is the Milky Way Galaxy.
You head for a star with nine planets in one arm of the Milky Way. The third planet from the star is a beautiful blue, white, and green ball. This planet looks like it has life. The name of this planet is Earth.
Earth spins like a top on its axis. Earth's axis is an imaginary line that goes through Earth from the North Pole to the South Pole. Earth's axis is slightly tipped, like a spinning top leaning to one side.
Earth travels around the Sun at about 67,000 miles per hour (about 107,000 kilometers per hour). One year is one trip around the Sun. Earth's path around the Sun is slightly oval-shaped. This oval shape causes Earth's distance from the Sun to change during the year.
The Sun seems to rise in the morning, cross the sky during the day, and set at night. However, the Sun does not actually move around Earth. Earth's turning on its axis makes it look as if the Sun is moving.
Earth makes a complete turn on its axis every 24 hours. As Earth turns, half of the planet faces the Sun, and the other half faces away. It is daytime on the half facing the Sun. It is night on the half facing away from the Sun.
Earth has seasons because of the tilt of its axis. For part of the year, the top half of Earth is tipped toward the Sun. The top half of Earth is called the Northern Hemisphere. During another part of the year, the bottom half of Earth is tipped toward the Sun. The bottom half is called the Southern Hemisphere. It is summer in the half that is tipped toward the Sun. It is winter in the half tipped away. When it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere, it is winter in the Southern Hemisphere. During spring and fall the hemispheres are tipped neither toward nor away from the Sun.
The equator is an imaginary line around Earth's middle. The farther you are from the equator, the greater the difference in temperature between seasons. The equator never tips far from the Sun. Near the equator it is warm enough to go swimming all year long. The average temperature barely changes from month to month. In Alaska, far from the equator, the average temperature in January can be more than 60 degrees colder than it is in July.
Earth has just the right conditions for life. It is not too hot or too cold. Earth has lots of liquid water and an atmosphere (gases) that can support life.
The first kinds of life may have appeared on Earth 3.8 billion (3,800,000,000) years ago. Several times during Earth's history, almost all life went extinct, or disappeared. Each time, some life forms survived. The survivors spread all over the planet. Dinosaurs appeared about 230 million years ago. Dinosaurs went extinct about 65 million years ago. Scientists believe that modern humans appeared about 130,000 years ago.
Earth is made of layers. The top layer is called the crust. It is made of hard rock and soil.
More than 70 percent of Earth's crust is covered with water. Most of the water is salt water in the ocean. Pieces of dry land called continents rise above the ocean. The part of Earth's crust under the ocean is called the seafloor.
Under the crust is a layer of partly melted rock called the mantle. Under the mantle is Earth's core. The core is mostly iron. The outer part of the core is liquid metal. The inside of the core is solid metal. Scientists believe that the liquid metal makes Earth a giant magnet and creates Earth's magnetic field.
Earth's crust is made of gigantic slabs of rock called plates that move over the mantle. Plates crash together to make mountains. They pull apart and let red-hot rock ooze up from inside Earth to make new crust.
Scientists think that Earth and the rest of the solar system formed from a spinning cloud of gas and dust. Gravity pulled most of the gas and dust together to form the Sun. Some leftover gas and dust formed Earth and the other planets. Scientists think that Earth and the Moon formed about 4.6 billion years ago.
Someday people will stand on the surface of another planet. That planet will probably be Mars. Maybe you'll be one of the people to go!
Mars is one of the brightest objects in the night sky. It looks like a reddish star. The ancient Romans named Mars after their god of war because it was the color of blood. The red planet is the next planet out from the Sun after Earth. Of all the planets in the solar system, Mars is the most like Earth.
Mars is a small, rocky planet much like Earth. Pictures of the surface of Mars sent back by spacecraft look like deserts on Earth.
Mars is about half the size of Earth, but its land area is about equal to Earth's land area. That's because Mars has no oceans. Mars does have water, however. Some of the water is frozen in icecaps at the planet's north and south poles. Scientists also think there may be a lot of water frozen underground.
A day on Mars is just a bit longer than a day on Earth. Mars even has seasons! Although Mars is much colder than Earth, on the warmest summer days it gets up to about 60° Fahrenheit (15° Celsius). That would be a very pleasant day on Earth.
Rocks and red, dusty soil cover the Martian surface. You feel light—you can jump higher and throw a ball farther than you can on Earth. Gravity, the force that holds you to the ground, is weaker on Mars than it is on Earth.
There's a pinkish sky overhead, perhaps with a wisp of cloud. At night you see two tiny moons above you. The moons are named Phobos and Deimos. There might be a breeze blowing, but you cannot breathe the air. The air on Mars is very thin. It does not have much oxygen, the gas you need to breathe.
Mars may be a small planet, but many of its natural features are bigger than similar features on Earth. That's because the weaker gravity on Mars doesn't make huge mountains collapse or pull steep canyon walls down. The red planet has enormous volcanoes. The biggest volcano in the solar system, Olympus Mons, is on Mars. It is 16 miles (26 kilometers) high. That's more than twice as high as Mount Everest, the tallest mountain on Earth! The base of Olympus Mons would cover the state of Arizona.
Mars also has enormous canyons. Valles Marineris, a group of connected canyons, would stretch from New York State to California on Earth! Valles Marineris is more than 4 miles (7 kilometers) deep in places. The Grand Canyon is just a ditch compared to that!
There are also enormous channels on Mars that look like dried up riverbeds. Scientists think that Mars once had lakes and rivers. They think that once there were big floods on Mars. The floods carved the channels. Mars is very dry today, however. Scientists are trying to figure out what happened to the water.
Mars has dust storms that sometimes engulf the entire planet. The giant storms can blow for months. The planet's lower gravity allows the dust to float up in the air for a long time. The dust makes the sky pink.
Scientists called astronomers look at Mars through telescopes. The best pictures of Mars come from the Hubble Space Telescope. This telescope orbits in space high above Earth.
Several countries have sent spacecraft to visit Mars. Some of these spacecraft landed on the red planet. In 2004, the United States landed a pair of robot rovers named Spirit and Opportunity on Mars. Rovers have wheels. They can roll around and look at rocks. They send pictures and other information back to Earth. Spirit and Opportunity found strong evidence that Mars once had liquid water.
So far, scientists have not found anything alive on Mars. They think that the surface of Mars is too cold and poisonous for life. They wonder if there is life underground. Perhaps Martian life forms live in cracks in the rocks.
Scientists also wonder if there was life on Mars in the past. Mars was once warm enough to have liquid water in lakes and rivers. Living things need water.
Mars is cold now because its air is so thin. Earth is warm enough for life because its air traps heat from the Sun. Scientists wonder if the air around Mars was once thick enough to trap heat from the Sun.
If people ever live on other planets, Mars will probably be the first one they move to. Some scientists and government officials want to send astronauts to Mars.
Other scientists and officials do not think that sending people to Mars is a good idea yet. They think it is best to keep exploring the red planet with better robot rovers.
Could Jupiter have been a star instead of a planet? Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the biggest planet in our solar system. More than 1,300 planets the size of Earth could fit inside Jupiter. If you could lump together all eight of the other planets in the solar system, the resulting planet would still be smaller than Jupiter! In some ways, Jupiter is more like a star than a planet.
Like the Sun and other stars, Jupiter is a huge ball of hydrogen gas and helium gas. It gives off more heat than it receives from the Sun. Many moons and several thin rings go around Jupiter. Jupiter's moons and rings are like a little solar system.
Our solar system formed from a big cloud of gas and dust. The Sun formed at the center. The Sun sucked in gas and got bigger and bigger and hotter and hotter. Finally, it was big enough and hot enough to become a star and shine. Jupiter formed the same way. But Jupiter never got big and hot enough to become a star like our Sun. There was not enough gas in the solar system to make two stars. Jupiter is more like a star that failed.
You could never land a spacecraft on Jupiter. Jupiter does not have a hard surface. Astronomers (scientists who study space) call Jupiter a gas giant because it's made almost entirely of gas. From space, Jupiter looks striped. The stripes are actually bands of colored clouds that circle the planet.
The clouds near the top of the atmosphere are bathed in deadly radiation. Jupiter's highest clouds are also very cold. The clouds get hotter deeper down. Strong winds blow in opposite directions in each band of clouds. In one band, the winds blow toward the east. In the next band, they blow toward the west.
Big storms rage in the clouds around Jupiter. The biggest storm is called the Great Red Spot. Three planets the size of Earth could fit across the Great Red Spot. This storm may have lasted for hundreds of years.
Deeper into the planet, the gas gets thicker and heavier. It gets so heavy that some of it gets squeezed into a layer of liquid hydrogen. Astronomers think that there might be some rock and metal in the center, or core, of Jupiter.
Jupiter has more moons than any other planet in our solar system. About 400 years ago, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei turned a telescope to the sky and discovered moons going around Jupiter. The four biggest moons are the ones that Galileo discovered. Astronomers call them the Galilean satellites. Their names are Io, Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto.
Io is covered with volcanoes. Many of the volcanoes on Io are active, which means they are erupting or might erupt again someday. Io has more volcanoes than any other planet or moon.
Ganymede is the biggest moon in our solar system. It is even bigger than the planets Mercury and Pluto!
Europa and Callisto are covered with ice. Astronomers think that enormous oceans of water may lie under the ice.
The rings around Jupiter are thin, dark, and hard to see. They are made of rock and tiny bits of dust.
The ancient Romans named the planet after Jupiter, their chief god, because it shines so brightly in the night sky.
In the early 1600s, Galileo became the first person to study Jupiter with a telescope. He helped prove that Jupiter and all the planets go around the Sun. Before then, astronomers thought that the Sun, other stars, and all the planets went around Earth. Today, astronomers use much more powerful telescopes to look at Jupiter and other objects in space.
Several spacecraft have visited Jupiter. The first, in 1972, was Pioneer 10. Cameras on the spacecraft took pictures of Jupiter. Instruments on the spacecraft made measurements of the planet.
In 1994, astronomers watched a comet crash into Jupiter. Jupiter's gravity tore the comet apart as the comet got close. Pieces of the comet smashed into Jupiter's atmosphere. The impacts caused huge explosions. Powerful winds on Jupiter then blew the remains of the comet away.
Saturn is the second largest planet in our solar system, after Jupiter. It is the sixth planet from the Sun. Saturn is surrounded by spectacular rings. Italian astronomer Galileo was the first person to see the rings around Saturn. He thought the rings looked like handles. Galileo was looking at Saturn through one of the first telescopes, in 1610. In the 1650s, a Dutch astronomer named Christiaan Huygens was the first astronomer to see that the "handles" were really huge rings.
Saturn has seven main rings. The rings are made of many smaller ringlets. They are by far the biggest and brightest rings of any planet in our solar system. Jupiter, Neptune, and Uranus also have rings. Saturn's rings go out hundreds of thousands of miles from the center of the planet. You could just fit Saturn and its rings in the space between Earth and our Moon.
Saturn's rings are pretty thin. In places they are only 16 feet (5 meters) thick. The rings are made of dust, pieces of rock, frozen gases, and ice.
Saturn is a huge ball of gas. Like the planets Jupiter, Neptune, and Uranus, Saturn is called a gas giant. None of the gas giants have a solid surface that you could land a spacecraft on.
The gases around Saturn are poisonous to people. You need to breathe oxygen in order to live. Saturn's atmosphere is mostly hydrogen and helium gas. An atmosphere is the layer of gases around a planet.
There are thick clouds in Saturn's atmosphere. The clouds look like colored stripes going around the planet. Strong winds and storms make Saturn's clouds whirl and swirl.
Saturn's atmosphere blends into the center of the planet. The gases get thicker and heavier the farther down you go. Finally, the gas turns to liquid.
Astronomers think that the center, or core, of Saturn is very hot. They think the temperature could be about 27,000° Fahrenheit (15,000° Celsius). There are probably rocks and possibly iron in the core of Saturn.
Saturn acts like a big magnet in space. Other planets, including Earth, also act like big magnets.
Saturn has 47 moons. Some of the moons orbit, or go around, Saturn inside the rings. Others orbit farther out, beyond the rings.
The largest moon is Titan. Titan is larger than the planets Pluto and Mercury. It has an atmosphere made of nitrogen gas. Scientists think that Titan's atmosphere may be like Earth's atmosphere was billions of years ago.
Saturn's other moons are smaller and icy cold. Enceladus is covered with bright ice, and it has geysers. It is the brightest moon in the solar system. Mimas has a huge crater that formed when a meteor hit. The enormous impact must have almost shattered the moon.
Ancient people could see Saturn without a telescope. But they could not see Saturn's rings. They named Saturn after the Roman god of farming.
Astronomers study Saturn through telescopes. They send spacecraft to take pictures and measurements of Saturn and its moons and rings. The first spacecraft to visit Saturn was Pioneer 11 in 1979. Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 visited Saturn in the 1980s. The Cassini spacecraft arrived at Saturn in 2004.
There are no cars on the planet Uranus. Yet Uranus is covered with a kind of smog. Smog on Earth is pollution that comes mostly from cars that burn gasoline. Sunlight changes fumes from the cars to smog.
Smog on Uranus comes from gases called ethane and methane. Small amounts of these gases are part of the atmosphere of Uranus. An atmosphere is the layer of gases around a planet, like air on Earth. Sunlight shining on methane and ethane makes smog. The haze of smog around Uranus makes the planet look like a smooth, bluish-green beach ball.
Uranus was the first planet discovered with a telescope. William Herschel, an astronomer in England, found Uranus in 1781. Astronomers are scientists who study things in space. Astronomers had known about Uranus since 1690, but they did not know Uranus was a planet. At first, they thought it was a star or a comet. Astronomers named the planet Uranus for an ancient Greek god of the heavens.
Uranus is a huge planet. It is the third largest planet in the solar system, after Jupiter and Saturn. The diameter (width) of Uranus is more than four times bigger than the diameter of Earth.
You could not walk around on Uranus. Uranus does not have a solid surface. The planet is made up mostly of gas. It has clouds made of methane ice high in the atmosphere. The clouds get thicker and thicker the farther down you go.
The thick clouds blend into a liquid ocean. Astronomers think the ocean on Uranus is made of water and the chemicals ammonia and methane.
You could not breathe on Uranus. The atmosphere there is made mostly of hydrogen gas and helium gas. There are also small amounts of the gases ethane and methane.
There are thick blue clouds in the atmosphere. Uranus has some of the brightest clouds in the solar system. Strong winds blow the clouds around. The clouds make striped patterns under the smog.
Uranus looks like it is spinning lying down. All planets spin. They spin around an imaginary line called an axis. The line goes from the north pole to the south pole. It goes from the top to the bottom of a planet.
Most planets are tilted a bit. Earth is tilted as it spins around its axis. But Uranus is tilted so much that it is lying on its side. Astronomers think that something big crashed into Uranus after it formed. The crash may have knocked Uranus onto its side.
There are weird seasons on Uranus. At times, the north pole or the south pole faces directly toward the Sun. Each season on Uranus is more than 20 years long!
Astronomers have found 13 rings around Uranus. The rings go around the equator. An equator is an imaginary line around the middle of a planet. The rings are dark and faint. They may be made of ice and dust.
Uranus has many moons. Astronomers believe the planet has at least 27 moons. The 2 biggest and brightest moons are Oberon and Titania.
The next largest moons are Umbriel and Ariel. The surfaces of all 4 of these big moons are covered with holes called craters. Meteorites (rocks from space) probably made the craters. Astronomers think that these 4 moons are made of ice and rock.
Another smaller, icy moon named Miranda looks very strange. It has a jumble of ridges. It has three weird areas shaped like oval racetracks. There is nothing like Miranda anywhere else in the solar system. Miranda is a very mysterious little moon.
Astronomers use telescopes to learn how Uranus moves across the sky. Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It orbits, or goes around, the Sun in an oval-shaped path. Its average distance from the Sun is a bit less than 2 billion miles (3 billion kilometers). Uranus is so far away that it takes 84 years for the planet to go around the Sun once!
Most of what we know about Uranus comes from a trip to the planet by the Voyager 2 spacecraft. Voyager 2 flew past Uranus in 1986. Voyager 2 took many pictures of the planet and its rings and moons.
Astronomers also study pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope. This telescope orbits high above Earth. They use other big telescopes on Earth to study Uranus.
In ancient times, people didn't even know the planet Neptune existed. Astronomers, scientists who study space, didn't discover the big blue planet until the 1840s.
Neptune is usually the eighth planet from the Sun. So far as astronomers know, only the planet Pluto is farther from the Sun. However, Pluto's orbit sometimes brings it closer to the Sun than Neptune is, making Neptune the planet farthest from the Sun. This happens every 248 years.
Astronomers found Neptune by watching the planet Uranus. Uranus wobbles as it orbits the Sun. A British astronomer and a French astronomer used math to figure out that the gravity of another planet was making Uranus wobble. A German astronomer finally saw Neptune through a telescope in 1846. Astronomers named the newly found planet Neptune after the ancient Roman god of the sea.
It took astronomers a long time to learn anything about Neptune because the planet is so far away. Neptune is about 2.8 billion miles (about 4.5 billion kilometers) from the Sun. That's 30 times as far as Earth is from the Sun! It takes Neptune almost 165 years to go around the Sun once.
Looking through telescopes, astronomers can tell that Neptune is a big planet. It is about four times larger than Earth. They call Neptune a giant planet. It is the smallest of four huge planets made mostly of gas. Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus are the other gas giants.
Astronomers learned most of what they know about Neptune from a spacecraft named Voyager 2. Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft that has visited Neptune. It flew past in 1989. It took pictures and made measurements of Neptune.
Astronomers also study pictures of Neptune made by the Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble orbits high above Earth.
You could not breathe on Neptune, and the fierce winds would blow you away. Even without the winds, you could not walk on Neptune because the planet has no solid surface.
A thick layer of clouds surrounds Neptune. The clouds are part of the planet's atmosphere. An atmosphere is made of gases. Neptune's atmosphere is made mostly of hydrogen and helium gases. Some methane gas high in the atmosphere gives Neptune its bluish color. You could not breathe the gases in Neptune's atmosphere. You need to breathe oxygen in order to live. There is no oxygen in Neptune's atmosphere.
Blowing clouds make striped patterns around Neptune. Sometimes there are spots in the clouds. The spots are storms. Neptune has the fastest winds in the solar system. The winds on Neptune can blow at 1,200 miles per hour (2,000 kilometers per hour).
Scientists have made guesses about what the inside of Neptune is like. Scientists think the planet's thick atmosphere blends into an ocean of water. The core (center) of Neptune may be made of ice and rock.
Astronomers have found 13 moons around Neptune. The biggest moon is Triton. Triton is mostly made of ice. There may be some rock in its core. Triton is one of the coldest spots in the solar system. The temperature there can drop to -390° Fahrenheit (–235° Celsius).
Triton once had volcanoes. Its volcanoes did not shoot out melted rock as volcanoes on Earth do. Triton's volcanoes shot out slushy, half-melted ice.
Astronomers also have found four rings around Neptune. The rings are dark and hard to see, even in pictures from Voyager 2. They may be made of dust and rocks.
Astronomers think the Sun and all the planets formed from a disk of gas and tiny particles of rock, metal, and ice. The rocky planets closest to the Sun formed mainly from rock and metal. The planets farthest from the Sun formed mostly from gas and chunks of ice.


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Wednesday's p.m. Hot Clicks feature a gallery of rare Ronaldo photos and Lucy Hale as the P.M. Lovely Lady of the Day.
One-Armed Happy Gilmore
Happy (Belated) Birthday, Ronaldo
Brazilian soccer star Ronaldo is 39 years and one day old today. Celebrate his birthday a day late with these rare photos of the two-time world Player of the Year.
Ronaldo Never Scored a Goal Like This
VIDEO: Keeper discovers that throwing the ball right into an opponent's head is a bad idea http://t.co/AuzCi6CQIp pic.twitter.com/DCELXSfo8r— Deadspin (@Deadspin) September 23, 2015
Animal Planet, Boston Edition
Boston man Michael Bergin's profane encounter with a sunfish should be the model for all future nature shows. Watch as he curses up a storm while trying to wrap his head around what he's seeing.
"It's going viral all over the computer, bro," Bergin told the Boston Globe.
P.M. Lovely Lady of the Day
Lucy Hale, star of Pretty Little Liars is your lovely lady of the day. Fans of the show are currently abuzz with theories about her character. (Click here for the full-size gallery of Lucy.)
Uh, Spellcheck, Please
You could have just gone with "Great One."
NHL legend Wayne Gretzky is at White Hart Lane tonight pic.twitter.com/13aBFECq6R— 101 Great Goals (@101greatgoals) September 23, 2015
A-Rod's Tribute to Yogi Berra
Alex Rodriguez joined numerous other ballplayers in paying his respects to Yankees legend Yogi Berra, who died late Tuesday night.
Yogi the Pitchman
Yogi Berra's All-Star career earned him some endorsement deals. Not for sports drinks or sneakers, but cat food and cigarettes.
Odds & Ends
This Irish rugby player tackled three different guys in eight seconds ... We ranked the best athletes named Pope ... David Ortiz's backup career isn't so family-friendly ... Mario Balotelli and his outlandish mohawk scored a beautiful free kick goal ... Riley Curry is back again, doing what she does best ... Trying to assemble an Ikea crib almost turned Ryan Reynolds into an alcoholic ... Check out this collection of customized 49ers vehicles ... A horse kicked a BMW in China.
UNC's Unique Sideline
How about North Carolina's new sideline paint job for Saturday's game against Delaware?
Switched up the colors for the white out game this week. pic.twitter.com/S7BnlJAz8y— UNC Sports Turf (@Tar_Heels_Turf) September 23, 2015
Happy Fall
It's starting to feel like fall, but not quite November yet.
In Case You Missed These
Here are some of SI.com's Cheerleader of the Week galleries. Mouse over each photo to get a pop-up view and click on the link to go to the gallery.
Click here for previous versions of Hot Clicks, visit our Extra Mustard Page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories. Also check out the SwimDaily Page for the latest updates and Instagram pictures of models who have appeared in our issues.


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Amazon today introduced the 7th generation of Kindle with Kindle Voyage, claimed as the most advanced e-reader ever, and the new $79 Kindle, with a 20% faster processor, twice the storage, with a touch interface. Continue reading Amazon Introduces two All-New Kindles including Kindle Voyage, their most advanced Kindle ever
Tag: Amazon Kindle
Amazon Introduces New Kindle at ₹5,999 for readers In India
Amazon today introduced the all-new Kindle in India, with a 20% faster processor, twice the storage, and a touchscreen interface. The pre-orders for the new Kindle start today. Continue reading Amazon Introduces New Kindle at ₹5,999 for readers In India
Amazon Kindle Customers To Receive Refunds
If you're an Amazon Kindle customer, you may have a check coming your way. Today Amazon sent out an email to everyone who has ever purchased a book via Amazon Kindle informing them that they may have a check coming in for each book purchased between April 2010 and May 2012. Each customer will receive anywhere between $0.30 and $1.32 per eBook. The only books eligible for this refund must've been published by either HarperCollins, Hachette, or Simon & Schuster. However, Amazon has informed customers that the Court ruling isn't final yet, though we should have a final answer by February 8, 2013. If approved, the refund will automatically be applied to the user's Amazon.com account and can be used to purchase more eBooks, but users can opt to receive a check in the mail as well.
The reasoning behind this refund is pretty simple: Hachette, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster have settled an anti-trust lawsuit which will impose restrictions on the publisher's ability to set eBook prices when selling through third-parties like Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook. If you'd like more info on the suit, we've embedded the full email explanation from Amazon below:
Dear Kindle Customer,
We have good news. You are entitled to a credit for some of your past e-book purchases as a result of legal settlements between several major e-book publishers and the Attorneys General of most U.S. states and territories, including yours. You do not need to do anything to receive this credit. We will contact you when the credit is applied to your Amazon.com account if the Court approves the settlements in February 2013.
Hachette, Harper Collins, and Simon & Schuster have settled an antitrust lawsuit about e-book prices. Under the proposed settlements, the publishers will provide funds for a credit that will be applied directly to your Amazon.com account. If the Court approves the settlements, the account credit will appear automatically and can be used to purchase Kindle books or print books. While we will not know the amount of your credit until the Court approves the settlements, the Attorneys General estimate that it will range from $0.30 to $1.32 for every eligible Kindle book that you purchased between April 2010 and May 2012. Alternatively, you may request a check in the amount of your credit by following the instructions included in the formal notice of the settlements, set forth below. You can learn more about the settlements here:
In addition to the account credit, the settlements impose limitations on the publishers' ability to set e-book prices. We think these settlements are a big win for customers and look forward to lowering prices on more Kindle books in the future.
Thank you for being a Kindle customer.
The Amazon Kindle Team
Source: Slash Gear
Image Source: bfishadow
Kindle Fire is Sold Out – Is a New Fire Coming?
According to several news sources, Amazon announced that the Kindle Fire is sold out. This couldn't have happened by accident. Many people are speculating that Amazon will reveal a new model of the Fire at a major press conference scheduled for next Thursday in Santa Monica, California. I've seen several suggestions that Amazon's new Kindle will be bigger — possibly with a 10 inch screen — or that it will have more memory — or that it will have a new processor.
Amazon definitely hit the market at the right time and at the right price when they released the Fire in November of last year. The $199 Android based e-reader and multimedia device captured 22% of the tablet market in 9 months, but will they be able to come back for a repeat performance with a new Fire? I don't think so, unless they hit a price much lower than Google's new Nexus 7, which is selling for around $200. Amazon isn't going to be able to keep selling 7 inch e-readers for $200, if tablets like the Nexus are widely available. Even a Kindle Fire with a 10 inch screen is going to have a difficult time competing unless it hits a very low price
I went to the Amazon Store, to see what was still available, and I saw exactly what's been reported — there are no new Kindle Fires left. You will only see a message which says:
We're sorry. There are currently no New listings for Kindle Fire, Full Color 7″ Multi-touch Display, Wi-Fi.
I continue to use my Kindle Fire at home, and I'm almost sorry to see it go like this. However, the newer tablets are going to continue to get better, faster, and hopefully cheaper. Who can complain about that? Well, I'm guessing that Amazon will be complaining, unless they once again pull off a miracle win with a new Kindle Fire — and it ain't going to be easy.
How to Open ePub Books on Kindle?
Amazon Kindle and the Kindle app is one of the best devices/apps to read books. In addition to reading books, Amazon also allows you to upload your personal books and documents to your Kindle library. This feature is missing in Google Books.
However, Amazon Kindle does not support a popular format known as ePub and this means that majority of your books may be unreadable on the Kindle. However, there are ways to actually convert ePub books to Amazon Kindle formats.
One of the easiest ways to read ePub books on your Kindle is to convert the books to a format which Kindle understands (.azw, .mobi, .PDF) and then upload the books to your Kindle library using the "Send to Kindle" app or through your personal Amazon Kindle email address (Read: How to add or send books to Kindle).
In order to convert ePub files to a Kindle recognized format, you can use an excellent software called Calibre. You can read our earlier guide on converting ePub files to Mobi and other formats to learn how you can do the conversion of your books.
Also Read: How to Open ePub books on your Desktop?
Once you have converted your book to the popular format, you can directly use Calibre to send the books to your Kindle device or app or read instructions on how to upload books to Kindle library.
Once you have uploaded your books to the Kindle library, you can then easily send it to any of your registered Kindle devices and read the books on them.
How to Send Books to Amazon Kindle or Kindle App?
I have used several different book readers including Google Books and iBooks but have found the Amazon Kindle app to be the best software to read books on the go. The Kindle Reader is also one of the best ebook readers you can come across.
However, there may be times when you already have books from other sources which you would want to read on your Kindle app or Amazon Kindle. If you have an Amazon Kindle, you can easily upload books from your computer to your Kindle library by connecting it to your PC.
Also Read: How to Convert ePub Books to Kindle Formats | How to Open and Convert .lit Books
If you are using a Kindle app on Android or iPhone device, you do not have this feature. You can use several other methods though to upload your personal eBooks and documents to Kindle.
One of easiest way to upload your personal documents and books to your Kindle library is to send the books through email to your personal Kindle email address which can be found at this page. To be able to use this service, you will have to register your device for Personal documents and then also add approved email addresses from which you can send documents to your Kindle.
In addition to that, you can also use an app called "Send to Kindle" which will allow you to upload documents directly from your PC or Mac to your Personal Documents in Kindle library, while also allowing you to directly send those books or documents to your registered Kindle device.
While using the "Send to Kindle" app, your documents will be converted to a Kindle specific output which you can then read using the Kindle app or Kindle reader device.
Finally, Kindle Arrives in India – At the Stores and on Amazon.com
Amazon has finally launched India Kindle Store with the largest selection and lowest prices of any e-bookstore in India. The India Kindle Store would feature a vast selection of titles from a range of Indian authors priced in Indian Rupees (INR) catering to a growing number of Kindle users in India who've ordered their devices from Amazon US. That too will change now, since Indian customers can now purchase Kindle at Croma retail stores across India.
"We are excited to be the first retailer in India to offer the latest generation Kindle to our customers. This product will launch exclusively in all Croma stores across India at an introductory price of 6,999 INR."
– Mr. Ajit Joshi, CEO and Managing Director, Croma
With the availability of Kindle on retail shelves and the ability to download ebooks from India authors, Kindle would soon see mainstream adoption even if it continues to battle unfair comparisons from tablet devices at every price point. In my opinion, it makes for an affordable gift for not just voracious readers but also young students and senior family members.
Along with this announcement, Amazon also launched Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) for independent authors and publishers in India. KDP is a fast, free and easy way for authors and publishers to make their books available to Kindle customers in India and around the world.
Amazon Introduces Kindle Fragmentation with Dilbert 2.0
Amazon is celebrating the 20th anniversary of Scott Adams's Dilbert, by bringing the four volumes of the Dilbert 2.0 anthology in digital format for the first time ever, exclusively on Kindle Fire. These comic collections are available in full color and displayed on Kindle Fire with Kindle Panel View, a proprietary technology that offers an immersive comic and graphic novel reading experience.
Dilbert, the touchstone of office humor. was the first syndicated comic strip to go online in 1995 and is the most widely read syndicated comic on the Internet. The four volumes for Kindle Fire are available for $7.99 each.
- Dilbert 2.0: The Early Years, 1989 to 1993
- Dilbert 2.0: The Boom Years, 1994 to 1997
- Dilbert 2.0: The Dot-Com Bubble, 1998 to 2000
- Dilbert 2.0: The Modern Era, 2001 to 2008
The announcement clearly states that these volumes are only available for Kindle Fire devices and Kindle for Android. This is strange since Amazon is favoring one over the other amongst their own devices. I have a third-generation Kindle and I have several friends who use an iPad and buy all their books and subscribe to magazines via Kindle's iOS app. Amazon's disturbing move has kept us, the loyal Kindle Store customers, away. While several experts crib about the fragmentation in the Android ecosystem owing to diverse OEMs, Amazon's step is even more annoying. Although the experience of a comic strip would be different on a colored LCD screen and a grayscale e-ink display, the choice should be left with the customers.
Kindle Touch XSS JailBreak
The recently release Kindle Touch has been freed. Yifan Lu, freelance developer, has dug down and posted details on an exploit used to jailbreak Kindle OS 5.
Although it might look completely innocuous due to the e-ink display, the Kindle Touch is a relatively complex device. At the core of the device is an operating system built around HTML5 and Javascript. Unfortunately, the engineers at Amazon left some gaping holes in the system, allowing for a straight-forward XSS (cross site scripting) attack vector to be used.
By embedding HTML and JS calls into an MP3, Yifan Lu was able to hook into undocumented debug functions in order to execute code at root level. Not only did Amazon leave a function that allowed any process to be spawned as root, they also didn't bother to sanitize inputs when reading the ID3 tag for display. With root access, a simple SSH package was created and pushed, providing unfettered access to the device.
Yifan Fu is encouraging other developers to start writing plugins for the device. Open formats such as ePub or Mobi can be supported as well. While apps and games are a possibility, the e-ink display will really limit the possibilities due to the slower refresh rate, lack of color as well as lack of multitouch.
It's very possible that the Kindle Fire isn't the only device that Amazon is selling at a loss, with attempts to make up revenues by users purchasing content. Amazon should be concerned as it may open the door for users to permanently store content past the expiration date.
Amazon's Kindle Fire Even Hotter with Netflix, Pandora, and Others
The much anticipated Kindle Fire tablet has stirred a lot of buzz lately. The Android tablet debuts next week and, for those of us excited to see it, the deal seems to get sweeter all the time. Today, Amazon announced that Kindle Fire customers will instantly be able to download thousands of popular apps including Netflix, Rhapsody, Pandora, Twitter, Comics by comiXology, Facebook, The Weather Channel and popular games from Zynga, EA, Gameloft, PopCap and Rovio all in one place.
When they engaged developers about the possibility of developing for the Kindle, Dave Limp, Vice President of Amazon Kindle, said the "response has been overwhelming". Limp also stated, "In addition to over 18 million movies, TV shows, songs, books, and magazines from Amazon, we are excited to offer customers thousands of apps and games to choose from on Kindle Fire – from Pandora and Rhapsody to Facebook and Twitter to Netflix, as well as popular games from EA, Zynga and many other top game developers." Several app developers also chimed in with quotes including Bill Holmes, Vice President of Business Development at Netflix. Holmes stated, "We're excited to team up with Amazon to give what we think will be a huge community of Kindle Fire owners the opportunity experience all that Netflix has to offer".
The beauty behind all of this is Amazon's cloud. Amazon provides a single place to purchase and download these apps. You don't have to go to several different vendors to register. Another huge plus is that since all of your purchases are stored on Amazon's cloud storage, when you purchase from the Amazon Appstore, your purchase will be available to all of your Android devices. All of the apps available from Amazon have been tested to work on the Kindle so you can have confidence that you are getting a good product. They also state that Kindle Fire customers can get a free "paid" app every day.
Unless there are some unforeseen hardware hiccups with the Kindle Fire, it is looking more like the best Android tablet offering to date. When combined with the simplicity of Amazon's Appstore, the availability of thousands of Kindle books, and the additional features Amazon Prime offers, it's hard to imagine a better offering in the Android market.
What do you think? Will the Kindle Fire live up to the hype? What features do you think will make or break this tablet? We appreciate your feedback. Thanks for reading Techie Buzz!
Other Amazon articles you may be interested in:
Amazon Opens New Kindle Owners' Lending Library
Amazon Opens Black Friday Store


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'Suicidal' Harvey Weinstein caught storming out of home as police respond
Harvey Weinstein's difficult week continued Wednesday as his daughter called 911 claiming he was "suicidal and depressed," forcing police to rush to the scene, according to a report.
Weinstein was visiting the home of his 22-year-old daughter, Remy, when the two started arguing, TMZ reported. She later clarified to cops that her father did not make any "suicidal statements," the website added.
It's unclear specifically what the father and daughter were arguing about, but Weinstein was said to have shouted, "You're making it worse," before storming out of her house and flagging down a random vehicle to beg for a ride.
When Weinstein was convinced to go back inside, the LAPD and Remy's alarm company showed up at the scene around 10:30 a.m. PST. Officers at the scene said Remy claimed the dispute was simply a family issue.
Weinstein has been the target of many in Hollywood whose careers he helped make after reports from The New York Times and The New Yorker alleged that the 65-year-old executive had been routinely using his position of power to sexually harass, proposition and assault women in showbusiness throughout the years.
It was previously reported that the Hollywood mogul is headed out of the country for rehab, but it's unclear at this time when or where he'll go.


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My wife and I have been on a K-Drama kick (more her than me...) and we recently signed up for Pro. Other than non cross-platform syncing (resume where you left off on another device), the service is great!
These are her recommended shows, if anyone wants a starter: The Master's Sun (I really liked this one), Strong Woman Do Bong Soon (We're still going through this one, but it's awesome), Healer (She talks about this being the best one all the time), Moonlight Drawn by Clouds, My Love from Another Star (I didn't like this one, but she did), Descendants of the Sun Plots: The Master's Sun: Girl can see dead people and the president of a mall (for some reason) allows her to not see them when she touches him so she starts hanging out with him. Strong Woman Do Bong Soon: Girl has super strength. Comic-book style, to some degree. All the women in her family get the power but they can lose it if they use it for dishonorable reasons. My Love From Another Star: Alien guy has been living on earth for several hundred years and is involved with an actress. I don't know the others, but I definitely recommend the first two. 😄
Jonathan Alpay@suriteka · Developer Student
@jadojodo W : Two worlds is really a good one too. Thanks for your recommendation. What I love about Viki is also the live comments.


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Cupcakes Don't Matter.
I was looking through my old composition book the other night, from a year ago. This is when it all began. The dreams that I had scribbled out wishing upon for my upcoming birthday. Things that I wanted to accomplish, not for myself, but for a world that needed love. I wanted to make the world a better place. That was all I wanted for my birthday. If only I could have imagined then, the doors that would soon open. A year later, The World Changers have taken care items to the homeless, volunteered every week with Hands On Charlotte over the summer, collected donations for a family in need, attended annual walks, and most recently, threw our own "do good" day! In the coming months, we plan to complete a food drive, sing Christmas Carols to the homeless as well as taking them additional care packages, collect toys for kids that wouldn't ordinarily get anything during the holidays, attend the St. Jude Give Thanks Walk, help the Salvation Army, take a personal pledge to each get an Angel off the Angel Tree, and do anything else positive that we can come up with! I am also in the process of shooting a documentary with footage from our wonderful fall festival among other things, as well as getting a space to be called, "The Inspiration Room." This will be a special place for anyone that wants to make a positive impact on our world. Here we will gather to hold meetings, individuals will come out to be inspired and work, we will make new friends, and ultimately, learn, create, and collaborate to change our world! The community room will have an open-door policy so everyone is welcome to come out and be inspired to make a difference. If you would like to support us in this latest project, please consider donating whatever you are able on our home page at the bottom. We cannot change the world alone. You are as much of a part of this as we are. Together, as one, please give me the greatest gift for my birthday of all: love. Remember, not for me though. Your support stands for so much more...
11/27/2011 1:06am
nice post. Thanks a lot for posting :)
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