Taylor Swift 'Sparks Fly' Video: Making of a Superstar (watch!)

Taylor Swiftanswers critics who claim she can’t sing with a new video made up of clips from herSpeak Now Tour. If anything, Swift is a consummate performer and worthy of her accolades and phenomenal popularity.

The video, directed byChristian Lamb, uses footage shot during her summer tour and showcases everything that goes into the show, from set changes, dancers, aerialists to fireworks, and Swift herself.

Her tour is now the top selling of the summer, ahead of Paul McCartney, Katy Perry’s California Dreams Tour, Lil Wayne’s I Am Still Music Tour and even U2′s 360 Tour, according to EW.What’s more it solidifies her as a superstar, able to fill stadiums an arenas, in a single bound.


“We get to have such groovy, cool stuff happening,” she said about the show. “I’ve never had pyro before. I’ve never had aerialists before,” she said.


“It’s got this grand staircase. The stage in itself looks like an old-world theater. I can’t believe we get to play stadiums. I’m so excited about this tour.


“I want to live on that stage. I hope people leave the concert feeling like they know you better.”


Swift’s arena tour will run through November, wrapping up in New York for two sold-out dates.


Check out the video below”

Regular exercise can cut by 40 percent the risk of cancer returning, say experts. Breast cancer patients who work out have more than a 40 percent lower risk of dying while prostate cancer patients 30 percent.

Exercise acts like a -wonder `drug` for survivors of some forms of the disease, according to Macmillan -Cancer Support.

Physical activity should be - `prescribed` by doctors after it was found not only to significantly help recovery but also prevent other long-term illnesses, the express.co.uk reported quoting the British-charity Monday.

Some cancers have high cure rates but others can return years after they were first treated.

Rather than patients being told to `rest up`, doctors should encourage them to get moving as soon as they feel able, researchers believe.

A review of more than 60 studies for Macmillan found that being active did not worsen people`s fatigue but had positive effects on their mood and well-being.

Once treatment has finished, exercise can reduce the impact of side-effects, such as swelling, anxiety, depression, fatigue, impaired mobility and changes to weight.

Women with breast cancer who exercise for two-and-a-half hours a week at moderate intensity have more than a 40 percent lower risk of dying and the disease returning compared with those who do less than one hour of activity a week, researchers said.

Prostate cancer patients have a 30 percent lower risk of dying from the disease and a 57 percent lower rate of disease progression if they exercise for three hours weekly.

Oncologist Jane Maher, chief medical officer of Macmillan, said: `The advice I would have given previously to my patients would have been to take it easy.

`This has now changed significantly because of the recognition that if physical exercise were a drug, it would be hitting the headlines.`

`There really needs to be a cultural change, so that health professionals see physical activity as an integral part of cancer aftercare, not just an optional add-on,` Express quoted her as saying

Dieting tips for those at work

The time constraints of being a working woman or man and the confinement to a workplace for a definitive period everyday may look too formidable for someone who is overweight to even think of going on a diet and exercise plan.

I have had several career people voicing their concerns about managing eating at their workplace while trying to fit in an exercise schedule after a hectic day

at work.

Yes indeed it is difficult but certainly not impossible.

Since people have different office hours in various fields of work, I can only summarise in general and hope these tips will give the reader a base to kick start his or her diet at work.

The two most important factors that will influence your dieting are the time and quality of food you eat at your work place.

Some of the common habits that may affect hunger and therefore lead to over eating are given  below. If you can learn to deal with these then you are on the right path to losing your weight at work.

Eating too early in the day will make you hungry by evening and you may want to eat a heavy snack after reaching home from work. Eating a small breakfast or none at all also leads to hunger in the afternoons, making you want to snack heavily or eat a heavy dinner both of which will add excess kilos. Leaving a gap of more than 6 hours between meals will cause overeating in the succeeding meals.

If your workplace becomes a reason for eating in groups and sharing food, then you may tend to go beyond your quota of calories at meal time.

Workplaces also are temptations for celebrating a bonus or an employee’s personal event thus creating further situations of overeating.

Inadequately planned meals leave you packing up just about anything to take to your workplace to eat.

Eat a good breakfast just before you leave for work. It should have all the ingredients that will satisfy your hunger – high in proteins, good amounts of carbohydrates, fibre and a little fat. I would say any of the high fibre traditional or regional breakfasts will qualify as good to have like the ones mentioned in the articles ‘Best breakfasts from the South’ or ’5 super carbs’.

Next, pack a healthy light lunch. It could be rotis or rice. Try to keep as close to your home food as possible when you pack a lunch. This is psychological as several people eat sandwiches for lunch and come home to have their traditional rice for dinner just because rice was not eaten that day!! So if you want your daily ration of rice better eat it at work and certainly not at dinner.

Pack a fruit, some salad items (prepared or whole like a carrot or cucumber) and some buttermilk or lassi if you feel you need an extra snack between long gaps of meal times. Any fruit that is easy to eat is fine, like apple, guava, pears, banana or orange (peeled, segmented from home). Eat the edible peels and seeds. Gulp down a lot of water after this.

Apple targets Motorola Xoom in patent battle

Motorola could be Apple’s next target for patent infringement lawsuits, according to a document filed with a German court.

Apple’s legal complaint against Samsung, which resulted in the Korean company’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 being hit with a Europe-wide injunction, also mentions a legal complaint against Motorola over its Xoom tablet.

The iPad maker has also made a complaint about JAY-tech, a German manufacturer, according to intellectual property analyst Florian Muller. JAY-tech’s tablet, though smaller than the iPad at 7-inches, looks very similar to Apple’s device.

Mr Muller said the document, which is in German, does not make clear whether Apple has asked for an injunction against the Motorola Xoom. However, he speculates that the Motorola Xoom may have been on the market for too long for Apple to call for a preliminary injunction.

Apple was granted a preliminary injunction against the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 on Tuesday evening. The Samsung tablet, which went on sale in Britain last week, cannot now be sold in any EU country, with the exception of the Netherlands. Apple has a separate lawsuit underway in the Netherlands against the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

In response to the injunction, an Apple spokesman said: "It's no coincidence that Samsung's latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging. This kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to protect Apple's intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.

Samsung responded by saying that it had not been given notice of the request for an injunction. In a statement, the company said: "We will take all necessary measures to ensure Samsung's innovative mobile communications devices are available to customers in Europe and around the world."

Patent battles are not new in the technology sector and disputes about mobile phones have been running globally between pretty much every manufacturer. In addition to Samsung and Motorola, Apple also has outstanding claims against HTC and recently settled a patent dispute with Nokia.

Yesterday, Sony and LG agreed to settle patent infringement claims against each other regarding mobile phones and digital televisions.

Pia Toscano Spreads Wings With New Song, Video (watch!)

Pia Toscanois getting her shot at a music career with a debut single and video, even though fans brutally dismissed her last season from “American Idol.” Can you really argue with the fans?

Judges Randy Jackson, Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez did, and so doesInterscope Records, which rushed in to sign her.

Her new music video based on her debut single “This Time,” was released today (Aug. 10), and Toscano looks delicious.

Among other scenes, the 22-year-old romps on a beach. The video plays down her stunning body; she wears a long-sleeve top.

But her Daisy Dukes show off her long, luscious legs as she sings seductively.

Toscano also plays the diva in the video, hiding behind big sunglasses and driving an expensive, classic Mustang convertible.

The scene may provide an answer why Toscano failed to connect with fans on the show, despite sexy good looks and a credible voice.

She turned off viewers because she comes across as little too self-absorbed and little too entitled, like a gorgeous high school mean girl.

Idol judges may have done her a disservice by putting her on a pedestal early in the competition. She became the contestant everyone loved to hate.

But being dismissed from American Idol is no longer considered a setback, considering the skyrocketing careers of rejects like Jennifer Hudson and Chris Daughtry among others

She’s also stayed around long enough to tour with the 2011 American Idol Live Tour, which began in July and will end in Manila, Philippines in September.

In the ultimate flip-off to “American Idol,” she released her video the same day as Idol winner and tour mate Scotty McCreery, although different genre.

At least she has moxie. “Grounded for so long, now its time for me to fly…” she wrote on Twitter. So said Icarus.

Check out the video below.

Nicole Scherzinger Slinky Wet in New Video (watch!)

Nicole Scherzinger is drenched in a new video for her song “Wet.” She strips down to a nude-colored outfit and writhes behind a wall of water. Shower anyone?

The 33-year-old Pussy Cat Doll continues with a nautical theme pulling what looks like a fishing net around her body.

Scherzinger, who is known for her sexy, athletic dance style, pulls out all the stops with a troupe of back-up dancers.

She bumps, grinds, gyrates and wriggles in a barely there outfit.

The song is the fourth off her new album, Killer Love.

Nicole replaced Cheryl Cole and joined Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell and L.A. Reid as a judge on the American version of Britain’s “X-Factor,” the model for “American Idol.”

Scherzinger performed last night (Aug. 3) at the Hard Rock Cafe in Hollywood to promote the song.

Check out her video below:

Nokia N9 ‘will not launch in UK’

Nokia confirms that its N9 smartphone will not launch in the UK, and says its focus in the US is to be exclusively on Windows Phone rather than Symbian

Nokia’s latest handset, the ‘all-screen’ N9, will not launch in Britain, the company has confirmed.

Reports last month suggested that the flagship device, the only Nokia modiel to use the Meego software platform, would not launch in major markets. It has now been confirmed that the US and the UK will both miss out.

A Nokia statement says: "Although we are delighted with the very positive reception that the Nokia N9 has received, here in the UK there are no plans to offer the Nokia N9 at present."

The N9 had received some positive initial reviews and attracted huge interest, but Nokia will release its first Windows Phone 7 devices later this year. In an interview, the head of the company's US business confirmed that the new operating system would be the company's primary focus. Chris Weber said that if Nokia's Windows devices failed, Symbian's success "didn't matter".

Troubled smartphone giant Nokia has unveiled a range of new handsets prior the any official Windows devices, including the company’s new flagship device, the N9. Featuring an ‘all-screen’ design, the phone replaces a home button with a universal ‘swipe’ gesture that takes users back to the devices main screen from wherever they are in its operating system

Marko Ahtisaari, Nokia's head of Design, said, “The details that make the Nokia N9 unique - the industrial design, the all-screen user experience, and the expressive Qt framework for developers - will evolve in future Nokia products."

The first 'leaks' of Windows Nokia devices appear to use an N9 phone running Windows software.

The N9 also features an 8mp camera, near-field communication technology and up to 64gb of storage as well as Nokia’s standard turn-by-turn navigation software.

Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez Send a Message to Fans

Selena Gomez andJustin Bieberput a quick and decisive end to rumors of a break up with a show of affection during theTeen Choice Awardslast night (Aug. 8). They also got cozy backstage.

The evening didn’t start that way, when the two teen stars arrived at the awards show and walked the red carpet separately. But they were seated together and were appeared to be as close as ever.

They even shared a kiss for all the world to see.

Selena and Justin were also big winners on the night. Selena, 19, won Choice TV Actress and Choice Female Hottie

Selena’s band, The Scene, won surfboard award for Choice Music Group and their songs “Who Says” and “Love You Like A Love Song.”

Justin won Male Hottie, Choice Twit, TV Villain for his role as troubled teen on “CSI,” Male Music Artist

Selena arrived at the show wearing a sexy ivory strapless dress. She posed with band members and lent support to Demi Lovato, clowning with her on the blue carpet.

Justin, wore a leather coat and bow tie posed with model Tyra Banks, but arrived alone.

Over the weekend, the couple were subject to rumors that they had broken up. TheImproper traced the rumors back to London’s Sun newspaper and a viral YouTube video.

The Sun claimed Gomez was furious with Justin because he was hanging around with rappers Chris Brown and Lil’ Wayne.

Both have criminal records, Brown for beating ex-girlfriend Rihanna and Wayne for illegally carrying a handgun.

Justin has collaborated on a song with Brown.

The viral YouTube video claimed that Selena broke up because she caught Justin texting with an ex-girlfriend.

The London tabloids, however, are notorious for making wild assertions in news articles.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt won a lawsuit against London’s News of the World last year for printing a story that they were about to break up.

Whatever they’re differences were, if any, they sent a clear message: their relationship is as strong as ever.

Facebook takes on Blackberry Messenger with new app

Facebook has launched its own dedicated instant messaging mobile app in a bid to take on Blackberry Messenger.

The app, which is called Facebook Messenger, launched yesterday in the US only, and lets members of the social networking site send instant messages on their mobile for free to anyone in their 'friends' list.

In what is a direct bid to rival Blackberry’s hugely popular Messenger service (BBM), the new Facebook app, also allows people to send messages to friends on their mobile contacts list and push out group messages too. The timing is apt, as BBM has just received a huge spate of publicity, having become the communication tool of choice for many London rioters, as well as a useful channel for those trying to warn each other away from areas dominated by violence. RIM, the parent company of the phone, has agreed to work with police on their investigations trying to locate and pin down the London rioters.

BBM is understood to have more than 45 million users around the world. Facebook, with more than 750 million users worldwide, will be hoping to be able to steal away some of it market share in the growing mobile instant messenger market. Google+, the search giant’s new social network, introduced Huddle earlier this year – which allows instant messaging (group and one-to-one) on mobiles and iMessage, Apple’s instant mobile messaging service, is coming out later this year, forming a central part of the new iOS 5’s software.

The free Facebook Messenger app is available on both Android and iOS devices, but there are no dates set for when it will be made available outside of the US.

"More and more of us rely on our phones to send and receive messages. But it isn't always easy to know the best way to reach someone on their phone. Should you send an email or text? Which will they check first? Did they even get your last message?" wrote Facebook engineer Lucy Zhang in a blog post explaining the new service. "We think messaging should be easier than that. You should be able to write a message, click 'Send' and know that you will reach the person right away."

Zhang originally created Beluga, the group messaging service acquired by Facebook earlier this year. The majority of the technology underpinning the new Facebook app has come from Beluga’s code

'Blade Runner' selected for World Championships

Let the games begin…in the debate over Oscar Pistorius selection against able-bodied

Let the debate begin… and they will now, hard and fast, as Oscar Pistorius has been officially selected to compete for South Africa at the IAAF World Championships in Daegu, Korea. Two events 4 x 400m and 400m. It is a precursor to his selection for the Olympic Games.

It will divide opinion, and has created a platform for searing irony. The man born with no bones in his lower legs is going to be cited by many as having an advantage. He’s unique. He’s human. He’s ultra-competitive. He’s put the time in. Let him run…

Pistorius said yesterday: “I am thrilled to have been announced on the South African team today to compete at the IAAF World Championships in Daegu in the 400m and 4×400m relay. I have dreamt for such a long time of competing in a major Championships and this is a very proud moment in my life. It is an honour to be representing my country at such a prestigious event and I hope to do my best at the competition for South Africa. I am training hard in preparation for the event and I am looking forward to the Championships immensely.”

“The IAAF is a world-class governing body for our sport and I am grateful to have the chance to run in their events. It will be a great day for me when I set out on the track in Daegu and I hope to do my country proud. This will be the highest-profile and most prestigious able-bodied event which I have ever competed in and I will face the highest-calibre of athletes from across the planet. If I manage to make it through the heats, I would be thrilled. A good performance for me would be to be consistent through the heats. If I ran anywhere close to my PB, I would be delighted.”

Tiger Woods: Is His Top Golf Career Facing an End-Game?

Tiger Woodsis struggling through another golf tournament, 13 strokes behind leaderAdam Scott at theWGC-Bridgestone Invitational, a tournament Woods has won six times. Meanwhile, another top sponsor has bid him adieu.

Since his image-wrecking sex scandal in 2009, Woods has yet to recover the championship form that made him the world’s No. 1 golfer.

Injuries have also played a role. The Bridgestone is his first tournament after a long layoff to deal with a recurring knee problem.

At 35, as he moves into the twilight of his career, Woods may never regain his old form.

While he’s still powerful off the tee and accurate with irons, his masterful putting, so far, is a thing of the past.

His scores have grown with each round at the Firestone Country Club.

Woods lost the world No. 1 ranking to Lee Westwood last October, and the Bridgestone is his first tournament since his injury sidelined him for 12 weeks.

Next week, he’ll play in his first major, the PGA Championship, in his comeback. Anything short of a major breakthrough, and Woods’ career will be strongly in doubt.

Meanwhile, corporate sponsors continue to reassess their relationship with him.

Luxury watch maker Tag Heuer is the latest sponsor to let its deal with Woods expire,Golf World executive editor Ron Sirak tweeted over the weekend.

Tiger Woods' sponsorship with luxury watchmaker is at an end.

“Tiger’s agent confirms Woods’ Tag Heuer relationship has expired,” Sirak tweeted Friday evening.

Since Tiger’s 2009 Thanksgiving car accident, which ignited his sex scandal and ended in divorce from his wife Elin Nordgren, six sponsors –Gillette, Gatorade, Accenture, AT&Tand Golf Digest–have dropped him.

Elin, meanwhile, has moved on with a new boyfriend.

For the first time since early in his career,Fortune magazine reported that he may actually be hurting for money– given his $100 million divorce and high living expenses.

At the very least, there are signs that he isn’t generating enough to comfortably cover his costs, the article said.

Fortune estimates that Woods’ endorsement income may have fallen as low as $20 million this year. Before the scandal he earned as much as $100 million a year.

In the final irony, Bridgestone leader Scott has teamed up with Woods’ long-time former caddie, Steve Williams, who had a falling out with the golfer over his sex scandal.

Jackie Kennedy Tapes Reveal Deep Secrets About JFK

Jacqueline Kennedy, wife ofPresident John F. Kennedy, taped her deepest secrets about her marriage, her husband’s serial philandering, her own affairs and her theories on JFK’s tragic assassination. Now they’re about to become public.

The tapes contain interviews with leading historian Arthur M Schlesinger Jr that allegedly took place within months of JFK’s assassination on Nov. 22, 1963.

The have been sealed in a vault at The Kennedy Library in Boston until now and will be reportedly aired on ABC this fall, according to London Newspaper, The Sunday Express.

Jackie died from cancer, at 64, in 1994, and ordered the tapes sealed for 50 years after her death.

But daughter, Caroline Kennedy agreed to release them to ABC after the network agreed to drop a controversial mini-series about the Kennedy family.

The story sounds a little far-fetched, since the secret tapes contain far more explosive information than the series, which starred Katie Holmes, and eventually aired on theRealz Channel.

London newspapers are infamous for reporting fabricated stories, although an ABC spokesperson has reportedly confirmed that the network will air the tapes, The Expressreported.

If true, it will shed some light on a number of unanswered questions about an important time in U.S. history.

On the tapes, Jackie will reportedly talk about JFK’s numerous, but “meaningless” flings, including a torrid affair with an 19-year-old intern — very similar to President Clinton’s fling with Monica Lewinsky.

She also apparently believed thatLee Harvey Oswald, who was accused of the assassination, was part of a larger conspiracy engineered by her husband’s vice president, Lyndon Johnson.

Johnson, who became president after JFK’s death, reportedly conspired with Texas businessmen to kill the president because of a rift over the Vietnam War.

“Those businessmen expected that LBJ would give them more favourable treatment in Vietnam War contracts and oil policies,” a source told the newspaper.

While the president’s affairs have been widely reported since his death, Jackie will reportedly reveal her own flings while in the White House.

She reportedly had affairs with actor William Holden and Italian mogul Gianni Agnelli, who owned the giant Fiat auto conglomerate. Both are dead, and took the relationship to the grave.

Jackie married Greek shipping magnate Aristole Onassis, five years after the death of JFK.

Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez Breakup: How Rumors Started

Justin Bieberand Selena Gomez have just experienced their first Internet break up rumor as a couple, after stories swept through gossip sites this weekend. Is it true? And how did the rumors start?

On the first question, it appears for the moment that the rumor may be more fiction than truth.

As to how they got started, well there are two likely sources.

The first source appears to be London’s gossip tabloid The Sun, which has a reputation for stretching the news, if not outright fabrication.

The London tabloids are notorious for making wild assertions in news articles.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt won a lawsuit against London’s News of the World last year for printing a story that they were about to break up.

The Sun claimed that the Selena, 19, was upset about Justin’s new hip-hop music friends, which include Chris Brown, who savagely beat his then-girlfriendRihanna in 2009.

Justin has also reportedly been hanging out with Sean Kingston, rapper Lil Wayne, who served served time in prison for illegally possessing a handgun.

Justin and Sean were pulled over by police in South Beach, after police became suspicious about two young boys pimpin’ in a Rolls Royce convertible, which sells for over $100,000.

Of course, Justin can easily afford one, and nothing came of the incident. But showing off like that is out of character for Justin.

After the incident, Selena reportedly exploded when Kingston showed up with Bieber backstage at one of her Florida shows.

“Selena told him to stop hanging with these bad people. She didn’t want him to crash her gig,” The Sun reported, citing a “source.”

“They had a huge row and said it was good they were having time apart while she was on tour.”

The rumor seems possible because Selena is two years older and way more mature than Justin, and may see his behavior as childish and damaging to her soaring career.

Then, a separate break up story circulated after a YouTube video was posted which claimed Selena caught Justin texting one of his old girlfriends.

But another source close to Bieber told E! News that the split never happened and that Justin and Selena are as close as ever and still very much a couple.

Justin was also seen backstage Saturday night (Aug. 6) at Selena’s show. But Justin has since left for Los Angeles to record songs. Sooo…. a too quick exit, maybe?

Emma Watson, Johnny Simmons; What's Behind the Kiss?

Emma Watson and fellow actorJohnny Simmonstouched off torrent of speculation about a romance after they were spotted kissing and hugging. But there may be less to their relationshikp than meets the eye.

Watson, 21, and Simmons, 24, filmed “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” a relationship movie about love and finding your place in the world.

Emma plays Sam Patrick who introduces high-school freshman Charlie (Logan Lerman) to the worlds of drugs and sex.

Simmons has a minor role in the ensemble movie, playing Brad.

In June, Watson and Simmons were spotted at a park in Pennsylvania, but her spokesperson strongly disputed reports of a romance, calling them a “complete fiction.”

Watson and Simmons were spotted again at a restaurant in California earlier this week and were photographed kissing and hugging.

Britain’s tabloids were quick to fan the flames of a relationship.

“They were all over each other, kissing and hugging. It was very sweet to see. She looked utterly besotted… They’re obviously head-over-heels in love,” a source reportedly told London’s Daily Mail.

‘The moment Johnny turned up Emma was all over him. He stayed overnight at least one night this week. It is clearly a serious relationship,” the source said.

A number of people spent the night, not just Simmons.

Emma has lamented publicly how hard it is to find a boyfriend and feels isolated by a “fame wall.”

So, she may be going out of her way to spark a relationship, and locationships on movie sets are not uncommon.

But a closer examination of the photos suggests that Watson and Simmons are more likely very good friends.

Watson’s lips are pursed and held tightly together, like she’s kissing her cousin.

Actually, it looks like a movie kiss.

His kiss looks about the same. Their lips aren’t even really meeting.

Unless they are really inexperienced or bad kissers, the whole thing looks a little too stiff.

But what do you think? In the meantime, check out some footage of Emma filming a scene from the movie

Manchester City 2 Manchester United 3:

Manchester United recover from 2-0 deficit to beat Manchester City and win Community Shield at Wembley.

Manchester United possess something money cannot buy. Sir Alex Ferguson's side trudged into their Wembley dressing room at half-time looking a spent force, blown away by two fortuitous goals from football's new powerhouse.

The more things change, though, the more United stay the same. The old world's order is not ready to stand aside just yet.

And so, just as the chorus of Blue Moon was tuning up, just as the proclamations of Manchester City's ascension to greatness were being written, United did what United do. They rose to the occasion, found another gear. Two goals in five minutes, through Chris Smalling and, magnificently, Nani, brought them level, and left their fiercest, most visceral rivals shell-shocked. Whatever this season, the most open in years, brings, what role United will play is already clear.

Quite how they will play it, if that equalising goal is anything to go by, may be slightly different. It was the sort of strike Barcelona, the one team Ferguson and his men fear, the one side even they must bow down to, would be proud of.

And it was the sort of goal Ferguson's teams score at their very best. It was a goal of pace and power, of shimmering talent and impudent imagination.