Apple has launched a new-look range of MacBook laptops that do away with a conventional mouse in favour of the multi-touch technology found on the iPhone. The changes include the introduction of a new entry-level MacBook computer with a glass screen and metal casing, that also features a LED backlit display. The mousepad has been replaced by a glass multi-touch trackpad, similar to the touchscreen found on Apple's iPhone, which allows users to sweep their fingers across the pad to switch between programs and zoom in and out of documents and web pages. Prices for the new MacBook will start at $1,299 (£750). Speaking at the launch in San Francisco, Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive, said he thought the new laptops would be "a huge success". Apple also announced that it would be using a super-powerful graphics card from Nvidia in its new machines, in place of one made by Intel. Jobs said the graphics card was "a stunner", and said that it promised five-times faster graphics than previous MacBooks.
The changes include the introduction of a new entry-level MacBook computer with a glass screen and metal casing, that also features a LED backlit display. The mousepad has been replaced by a glass multi-touch trackpad, similar to the touchscreen found on Apple's iPhone, which allows users to sweep their fingers across the pad to switch between programs and zoom in and out of documents and web pages. Prices for the new MacBook will start at $1,299 (£750).
Speaking at the launch in San Francisco, Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive, said he thought the new laptops would be "a huge success".
Apple also announced that it would be using a super-powerful graphics card from Nvidia in its new machines, in place of one made by Intel. Jobs said the graphics card was "a stunner", and said that it promised five-times faster graphics than previous MacBooks.
The world's photojournalists have been doing their best to find original ways to illustrate the global financial crisis. Some of their efforts have been commendable -- others, not. SPIEGEL ONLINE has collected the best of the best, and some of the worst. First things first: It would be difficult to pin the blame on the current financial crisis on the traders on the floor of the world's stock markets. It's not their fault. But seriously. How many more images of contorted, exasperated, horrified and desperate traders can we take? For the last two weeks, as the financial markets have remained frozen and the stock markets -- at least until this week -- plummeted to ever lower depths, newspapers, Web sites and television news have offered up a parade of faces buried in hands, mouths agape in dismay and arms flailing in the air as traders watch stock prices fall off a cliff.
The world's photojournalists have been doing their best to find original ways to illustrate the global financial crisis. Some of their efforts have been commendable -- others, not. SPIEGEL ONLINE has collected the best of the best, and some of the worst.
First things first: It would be difficult to pin the blame on the current financial crisis on the traders on the floor of the world's stock markets. It's not their fault.
But seriously. How many more images of contorted, exasperated, horrified and desperate traders can we take? For the last two weeks, as the financial markets have remained frozen and the stock markets -- at least until this week -- plummeted to ever lower depths, newspapers, Web sites and television news have offered up a parade of faces buried in hands, mouths agape in dismay and arms flailing in the air as traders watch stock prices fall off a cliff.
In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
There are plans to build several hundred new and often magnificent mosques throughout Europe -- particularly in Germany. Architecture has become the field of a fierce ideological battle about the visibility of Europe's 16 million Muslims. Just a few minutes ago, Mubashra Ilyas was still standing on her dusty construction site. Now the 30-year-old architect is striding through a gallery in the back courtyard of a building in Berlin's Mitte district in elegant black boots. As the room slowly fills up, Ilyas continues to stand out: She's the only woman wearing a headscarf.
There are plans to build several hundred new and often magnificent mosques throughout Europe -- particularly in Germany. Architecture has become the field of a fierce ideological battle about the visibility of Europe's 16 million Muslims.
Just a few minutes ago, Mubashra Ilyas was still standing on her dusty construction site. Now the 30-year-old architect is striding through a gallery in the back courtyard of a building in Berlin's Mitte district in elegant black boots. As the room slowly fills up, Ilyas continues to stand out: She's the only woman wearing a headscarf.
The party of deceased Austrian far-right populist politician Jörg Haider has confirmed that he was drunk when he took his last drive. Austrian prosecutors have remained silent on the issue, but Jörg Haider's political party confirmed Wednesday that the far-right populist politician was driving drunk prior to his deadly crash in Klagenfurt last weekend. Click on a picture to launch the image gallery (14 Photos) Stefan Petzner, who replaced Haider this week as the new head of the Alliance for Austria's Future (BZÖ) party said an autopsy had determined that Haider's blood-alcohol level was more than three times the legal limit. "It is true that Governor Jörg Haider was intoxicated at the time of the accident," Petzner said. "I can and must confirm that." Just prior to Petzner's statement, the Austrian weekly News reported on its Web site that the coroner concluded Haider had been drunk behind the wheel. The politician had been "very drunk and incapable of driving."
The party of deceased Austrian far-right populist politician Jörg Haider has confirmed that he was drunk when he took his last drive.
Austrian prosecutors have remained silent on the issue, but Jörg Haider's political party confirmed Wednesday that the far-right populist politician was driving drunk prior to his deadly crash in Klagenfurt last weekend.
Click on a picture to launch the image gallery (14 Photos)
Stefan Petzner, who replaced Haider this week as the new head of the Alliance for Austria's Future (BZÖ) party said an autopsy had determined that Haider's blood-alcohol level was more than three times the legal limit. "It is true that Governor Jörg Haider was intoxicated at the time of the accident," Petzner said. "I can and must confirm that."
Just prior to Petzner's statement, the Austrian weekly News reported on its Web site that the coroner concluded Haider had been drunk behind the wheel. The politician had been "very drunk and incapable of driving."
Jörg Haider's political party confirmed
Wonder if that will shut up the paranoid who think he was assassinated. Probably not... *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Now everyone is curious how the burial will go. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Forensic experts have determined that at the time of the accident, Haider's blood alcohol level was 1.8 pro mille (1.8 milligrams per milliliter of blood, or 0.18 per cent) almost four times the legal limit of 0.5 pro mille.
So it is drive or drink. Nobody is exempt!
Normally, the Frankfurt Book Fair tries to showcase writing from a given country. This year the focus is on Turkey, hence the presence of Orhan Pamuk and Turkish President Abdullah Gül. But the real talk, say German commentators, is about the future of the book itself. AP Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk addressed the Frankfurt Book Fair this year. This year's Frankfurt Book Fair, by accident or design, has set publishing types chattering about the fate of the book as we know it. "When the fair opens for business today, many publishers may stop for a moment to marvel, or to shudder, at the stands displaying the Amazon Kindle and the Sony Reader," according to the Associated Press. The abrupt focus on books in digital form -- which some 60 percent of Frankfurt attendees admit they've never used, at least according to an informal poll by the fair's organizers -- may strike some people as artificial. The bulky and expensive Kindle (an "e-book reader") hasn't, after all, turned the publishing world upside-down. But in September an American company called Plastic Logic announced plans to start selling a lightweight electronic paper -- a sort of flexible plastic display screen that will store books, magazines, newspapers and business documents -- in early 2009. The devices will be manufactured in Dresden, Germany.
Normally, the Frankfurt Book Fair tries to showcase writing from a given country. This year the focus is on Turkey, hence the presence of Orhan Pamuk and Turkish President Abdullah Gül. But the real talk, say German commentators, is about the future of the book itself.
AP
Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk addressed the Frankfurt Book Fair this year. This year's Frankfurt Book Fair, by accident or design, has set publishing types chattering about the fate of the book as we know it. "When the fair opens for business today, many publishers may stop for a moment to marvel, or to shudder, at the stands displaying the Amazon Kindle and the Sony Reader," according to the Associated Press.
The abrupt focus on books in digital form -- which some 60 percent of Frankfurt attendees admit they've never used, at least according to an informal poll by the fair's organizers -- may strike some people as artificial. The bulky and expensive Kindle (an "e-book reader") hasn't, after all, turned the publishing world upside-down. But in September an American company called Plastic Logic announced plans to start selling a lightweight electronic paper -- a sort of flexible plastic display screen that will store books, magazines, newspapers and business documents -- in early 2009. The devices will be manufactured in Dresden, Germany.
In the Alpine town of Sevelen, two brothers have transformed one of Switzerland's nuclear bunkers into a "zero-star hotel." The outside world is visible only through monitors, and a wheel of fortune determines who gets to shower with warm water. The buzz, needless to say, is huge. The future of Swiss tourism. "Less is more" was the motto selected by the twin Riklin brothers when they set up their "zero-star hotel" in an abandoned nuclear bunker. The beds were bought at bargain prices from a condemned hotel in the region; the walls they left unpainted. "Decorating is out of the question," says Patrik Riklin, who devised the project along with his brother Frank. But he insists the hotel's stark Cold War atmosphere is "damned comfortable." The town of Sevelen, located in the Swiss canton of St. Gallen, was at first just looking for a way to lodge musicians invited to play at a planned cultural center. But Sevelen had no room for a new hotel. So the town council decided to look more closely at one of the local "civil defense bunkers." "No one will ever want to sleep there," declared town council leader Roman Zogg, when he and fellow council members emerged from the bunker after a first inspection. The Riklin brothers and their "Studio for Special Projects" nevertheless received a commission. The bunker looked like creative challenge, so the two artists took it on personally, thinking maybe they could forge something new out of the concrete block.
In the Alpine town of Sevelen, two brothers have transformed one of Switzerland's nuclear bunkers into a "zero-star hotel." The outside world is visible only through monitors, and a wheel of fortune determines who gets to shower with warm water. The buzz, needless to say, is huge.
The future of Swiss tourism. "Less is more" was the motto selected by the twin Riklin brothers when they set up their "zero-star hotel" in an abandoned nuclear bunker. The beds were bought at bargain prices from a condemned hotel in the region; the walls they left unpainted. "Decorating is out of the question," says Patrik Riklin, who devised the project along with his brother Frank. But he insists the hotel's stark Cold War atmosphere is "damned comfortable."
The town of Sevelen, located in the Swiss canton of St. Gallen, was at first just looking for a way to lodge musicians invited to play at a planned cultural center. But Sevelen had no room for a new hotel. So the town council decided to look more closely at one of the local "civil defense bunkers."
"No one will ever want to sleep there," declared town council leader Roman Zogg, when he and fellow council members emerged from the bunker after a first inspection. The Riklin brothers and their "Studio for Special Projects" nevertheless received a commission. The bunker looked like creative challenge, so the two artists took it on personally, thinking maybe they could forge something new out of the concrete block.
Merkel announced the formation of an economic adviser group to help the government in dealing with the banks. Without consulting the coalition partner, she even dropped the name of her choice of the head of the group: former Bundesbank boss Tietenmeyer.
But the SPD parliamentary faction declared they flat-out reject Tietenmeyer. Beyond the lack of consultation, they say it's unacceptable that Tietenmeyer sits on the oversight board of Germany's crisis-hit bank, HypoRealEstate... *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
