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Tesla News: Innovative Manufacturer Will Further Protect Environment Along With Your Car’s Clear Coat

Those of you who have purchased a Tesla have taken a step in investing in the future of our planet. You are no longer bound by a dependence on oil. Fluctuating gas prices have no impact on the wallets of those of you driving these innovative electric vehicles. Earth conscious Tesla owners in California may now have an opportunity to be even more environmentally friendly.

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As detailed in this Forbes article, Tesla is testing a partnership with Eco Green Auto Clean. Eco Green Auto Clean is an environmentally safe line of auto wash products. Made with coconut oil and other natural plant-based ingredients, it only uses a single cup of water per wash. The product is manufactured in Amsterdam. The CEO of Eco Green, Anton Van Happen, is familiar with the global market having been born in Hong Kong, raised throughout Europe, and educated in California. The company has a distribution warehouse near San Francisco. Anyone can take their car into the Redwood City, CA showroom and have it washed with the Eco Green Auto Clean system.

Source: Wikipedia

You can visit the Eco Green Auto Clean website to discover additional information about this company and their innovative products.

The benefit is not only ecologically and environmentally friendly, but also safe for the car’s finish. Other car washes claim to make every effort to conserve water, primarily by recycling water. Recycling is a great conservation method but can create some potential problems for a car’s finish. Recycled water could contain debris which can occasionally cause scratches to a car’s finish and even create the appearance of swirl like patterns in the paint job. The Eco Green products, one cup of water, and a microfiber cloth pose no risk of scratching the clear coat.

This program is in its infancy in a preliminary pilot stage and currently only available at Tesla’s Fremont Factory (roughly half an hour north of San Jose). If the partnership becomes official and the program expands, a car wash service could be added to all of the Supercharger Stations. Tesla Owners would likely pay through a subscription service costing approximately $90. One big perk is that this will happen during your 30-minute charge time, your Tesla will be returned to you sparkling clean and without a single scratch.

Nintendo to Launch Miitomo, its First Mobile Game

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Nintendo is lastly coming into the smart phone game-playing universe, and the first application will be Miiyotmo, a free-to-play program for mobile platforms, as the company’s representatives declared during a press conference in Japan this week

Miitomo is a communicational software that allows people to exchange and discuss fun individual information and their passions. Gamers will make virtual representations of themselves or Miis, which van be used to interact with others and explore the digital surroundings to find mutual interests.

This game is totally free, but it has a few in-app buys and, even if the program had been said to be launched before the end of this year, the company announced that Miitomo is planned for international launch at the beginning of 2016.

Nintendo declared back this summer that it will begin creating games for mobile devices, but Miitomo represents its first formal launch in mobile game playing after a decade of being against this idea. While competitors Microsoft and Sony have both launched games and partner applications for smart phones, Nintendo has usually restricted its programs to proprietary games consoles and portable playing gadgets.

Miitomo is developed in collaboration with DeNA, the Japan-based software maker that created a variety of free mobile games, such as the famous apps related to the Star Wars franchise. The game is the first of a number of programs resulting from this collaboration through 2017 and will be offere for both Android and iOS smart phones.

The company also presented a new paid system named My Nintendo at this press briefing. The support is designed to link customers across different gadgets, such as PCs, mobile phones and game consoles. In addition, it will allow cloud storage, so gamers can exchange gaming data from their own system to smart phone easily. The option will be released together with Miitomo during next year.

Nintendo hinted at its new activity towards mobile game playing in 2014 when it bought a limited share in DeNA. This move in the direction of smart phone applications comes after the organization revealed its first profitable semester in more than three years.

While strong efficiency in the first months of 2015 got Nintendo back on the right track with a profit of almost $75 million, a good rebounding from the anterior year, although the financial improvements were still minor compared to the specialists’ predictions.

Investors did not seem thrilled by Nintendo’s game introduction and the delayed launch date, putting the share price near to 10 percent lower soon after the official statement. In the light of this recent announcement, we are sure that further details will emerge in the next weeks.

However, due to the problems encountered by Nintendo in the past, it is possible that the other changes will appear down the line until Miitomo is launched during the first quarter of 2016. So, make sure to check the news sites in order to find out the latest information about the new mobile games released by the giant Japanese producer.

Image source: Vox-cdn

1 in 14 US Kids Have Had a Parent Behind Bars, Study Shows

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A recent study has shown that 1 in 14 kids from the United States have had a parent behind bars, and that figure is almost twice as high when it comes to African-American children.

The report was published online on Tuesday, October 27, by Child Trends, a nonprofit research center headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland.

According to the experts, whose primary mission is to provide insight into the well-being of kids and teenagers, the purpose of the study was to investigate “the prevalence of parental incarceration”.

The ultimate aim of the report, entitled “Parents Behind Bars: What Happens to Their Children”, was to determine the consequences of parental incarceration on the kids’ emotional development and comfort.

“We feel it’s important to put this on the radar screen” and allow people to “realize there’s more to it than the adults themselves”, explained David Murphey, co-author of the report and senior research scientist at Child Trends.

Experts reviewed 95,677 interviews, from the National Survey of Children’s Health, conducted between February 2011 and June 2012.

It was discovered that an unusually high number of children in the United States have had live-in parents who were imprisoned.

Such a case was 3 times more likely to be encountered among children from lower-income families, and it’s also more common in rural communities, it has been revealed.

Nowadays, around 2.7 million children have parents in prison, a staggering increase since 10 years ago, when just 60,000 cases were reported.

According to study authors, the number has grown because although the overwhelming majority of incarcerated parents consists of males, there are currently more female prisoners than before, many of them being behind bars after having reacted to instances of domestic violence.

Overall, more than 5 million young people have had to deal with this sort of situation at one point in their lives, and the impact has been devastating.

As study authors have revealed, the incarceration of a parent severely affected the child’s physical and psychological health, resulting in diminished self-esteem, developmental delays, poor academic performance, behavioral problems, juvenile delinquency and other troubling effects.

Such changes are significant even in the 6-to-11 age group, children in this category experiencing shame, depression and multiple difficulties of adjustment in school. Also, as the kids grow, the damage gains prominence, persisting into adulthood and beyond.

Even worse, this incarceration tends to occur at the same time with other traumatic circumstances, like living with a parent who is physically abusive or a drug addict, or going through the parents’ divorce or separation.

For example, more than a third of children with parents who have been in prison are affected by domestic violence, in comparison with one out of 20 of other kids. Also, over half of them have had to deal with their parents’ divorce, compared to one in six of other children.

The negative impact is particularly noticeable among African-American kids, given that one out of 9 of them have had to face a situation where their parent was behind bars.

Moreover, this percentage was even higher among those aged between 12 and 17, almost 14% of them having had to cope with having an incarcerated parent.

Study authors warn that in fact the numbers might be even more alarming, since the research didn’t include parents who didn’t live at home with their offspring.

Therefore, they urge schools, lawmakers and other authorities to become more involved in providing care and assistance to children who have to overcome such circumstances.

In addition, more prisons could implement special visitation programs, to allow children to bond with their incarcerated parents more easily.

Image Source: Pixabay

Get a Touch of Style with the HTC One A9

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The Taiwanese company has just revealed the newest gadget to the One series, the HTC One A9. Combining the best features in HTC’s top style and advancement with the high options offered by the Android operating system, this is an amazing and no-compromise phone, which is unique in its segment. Designed for users who want a better performance, the One A9 is the smart phone that brings together acclaimed style on the exterior, with the latest functions of Marshmallow 6.0, with the Sense software on the interior, to create an unmatched experience even for the most pretentious clients.

HTC is one of the main technological innovators, having provided the original smart phone working on Android, the first Microsoft Windows phone, the first phone with 4G capabilities or the first gadget made entirely of metal. Now, they are taking this culture of tech advancement to its next level, introducing a smart phone that is unique in an industry progressively covered by companies that manage every part of your smart phone. The One A9 stands apart in this corporate pattern by offering a great user experience, amazing efficiency, high-end software functions and the client’s independence to have complete control of the gadget’s options.

A progress of the famous HTC One series design, the One A9 gathers top visual elements around it, by applying rich, stunning shades and an exclusive design, a strategy named “metal morphic”. New shapes, smoother sides and précised ridges on its power button perfectly merge with a super-thin alloy structure, offering the device a natural, light and portable feel. The fashionable dual finish is carefully applied with microscopic details before the lines are enhanced, providing additional details and rich fetuses that are exclusive in the flagship phone segment. Finally, in an amazing combination of glass and metal alloy, a 5″ edge-to-edge screen covered with Gorilla Glass 4 and AMOLED technology is sealed perfectly to the aluminum case, providing you lighter and more stunning colors for a vivid design and gaming experience, even when you are outside.

The best digicam is the one used according to the moment, so the sensor must be able to take amazing photos in any circumstance. The One A9’s back and front cameras, along with powerful and simple image modifying tools, mean that impressive pics and vids are at just a click away. Its primary 13MP back digicam has OIS features, which instantly reduce hand trembling and fixes oscillations to offer a crystal-clear photo every time. Similarly, the top camera provides the best selfies in all lighting conditions, thanks to HTC’s indicator that is to able to capture 250% more light than regular phone cameras.

In this new model of smart phone, no details are too small for it. Providing an optionally available option to shoot the perfect picture without being a professional photographer, you can save images using a RAW feature. This is a device used by photography lovers for a high level of details and post-shooting editing versatility. Or things can be maintained quite simple with the phone’s editor, which instantly improves all colors and enhances lines for surprisingly clear and sharp photos.

Image source: xda-developers

Moto X Pure – the Best Motorola Phone in Recent Years?

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When you use Motorola’s recent Moto X Pure Edition for the first time, you might think that it has some missing specs under the hood. It certainly seems like a reliable partner and the shiny display appears to pinpoint every pixel contained within an image. Applications react easily to feedback, while sounds coming from its front-firing speakers are clear and realistic.

During day time, photos taken with the 21MP back digicam look crisp until they are zoomed in at their maximum level. You can shoot pretty high quality pictures if you adjust the zoom features, which is a major development over the previous Motorola X version. In the evening or in low-light spaces, though, you will still have problems to take a clear and detailed picture.

The 5MP front camera offers good performances in bright light and for selfies or video calls, but recording details from far distances is a challenging task. Maybe the recently presented Nexus 5X might surpass the rather basic camera of the Pure Edition.

Moto X’s customer interface is sharp and fast, just like past smart phones. It is working on near-stock Android Lollipop 5.1, and the company stated that it will offer the new devices with Marshmallow 6.0 installed onto them. Like Moto X 2^nd Gen, the Pure Edition is not overwhelmed with a lot of bloat ware. Furthermore, it offers Motorola’s voice identification system and the gesture detection that opens the camera app with a twist of your hand.

On the rear side of the smart phone, its plastic carcass, with slim lines going diagonally, seems less expensive than the sleek metal design of other Motorola devices. Luckily, the lines do not collect much dust and the materials look modern, but some users might prefer enforced glass or steel cases better. You could purchase them for an additional $25 on the Moto Maker website, but the basic model also looks great without these extra elements.

The steel part in the middle of the phone’s rear case appears to have a slight modification from Motorola X’s previous edition. The 2014 model had a bigger and more indented dimple with the company’s logo embedded on it. This is where users were resting their index finger while using the gadget, making it simpler to keep the phone in place.

The Pure Edition has its digicam linked to the small Motorola circle with a slice of aluminum. With both phones, you can unintentionally cover up the lenses with your hand, because the Motorola logo and the camera have almost identical indentations. In any case, this is a style issue that the manufacturer could have fixed in the Moto X Pure.

One welcome addition are the elements made of light metal on the upper and lower part the display. On the previous generation of Motorola X, you could feel very thin straight lines embedded into the aluminum when you moved you hand over them. Now, these styles have been removed, creating even areas where you can slide your hand over.

Finally, there is a small thing, but it is worth mentioning, since it is something that you find out when you use the phone for a longer time. The Pure Edition does not glide on a smooth table when you push it gently. The second generation had that problem and it was risky to forget it on a metal or glass surface. This probably has to do with the straight metal lines on the rear of the phone.

Image source: Engadget

Snapchat Replays and Lenses Features Coming in the Near Future

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The Snapchat Replays and Lenses options are two new welcomed features, since the platform is known for self-destructing images and messages, but there is now a great method to have fun with those very creative and classic messages once again.

The organization has released “Replays”, and this is its first in-app payment that gives customers three possibilities to relive messages again for only $0.99. They also launched a function known as ‘Lenses,’ to include funny effects to people’s selfies, with ‘Trophies’ representing the awards for top clients.

People can use the Replay on the Snaps that they get, but they can only Replay to any Snap just once. They are a little expensive, but the fun is worth it. Snapchat also provides 10 Replays for just $2.99 while 20 Replays cost $4.99.

But, if users have already spent their daily free Replay on Snap, they cannot buy an extra Replay for those Snaps. For now, buying extra Replays is available in countries where app stores use US dollars. Replay buys are made straight through Google Play and App Store.

The capability to replay old messages has formerly been restricted to only one daily free replay per customer and was presented a couple of years ago. The organization currently creates some money with other methods, such as videos and tag advertisements.

Snapchat’s newest upgrade also contains “Lenses”, so individuals can overlay funny images on their own selfies, changing them into cartoonish characters, for example.

When they are using a digicam to take selfies, they only have to press the button and keep the focus on their face your experience to trigger the Lenses function. People can play with this feature before getting the Snap, so they can just choose one from the bottom row and read the on-screen guidelines.

The sketches are instantly placed to suit corresponding face features, like an individual’s mouth and eyes, for example. The upgrade has been combined to choose customers and is said to be presented to others progressively over the next months.

The technological innovation for Lenses is borrowed from the San Francisco start-up known as Looksery that was purchased by Snapchat. To integrate this feature in Snapchat, individuals have been provided the function can use the Camera option and change it to the selfie cam.

Once activated, users must press and keep the photo of the face until they see all Lenses choices appearing below. The customers can then go through the selection of possible choices and pick one to see the preview of that particular effect.

Image source: Android Police

Police Suspect Ex-Girlfriend Involvement in Dallas Dentist Slaying

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After the brutal murder of Dallas dentist Kendra Hatcher in an Uptown apartment garage, investigators have turned their attention to the ex-girlfriend of Mr. Hatcher thinking that she might be involved in the case.

Texas police first arrested an alleged getaway driver, but then soon started focusing on another possible culprit, namely a 33-year-old woman who was the lover of Kendra Hatcher’s boyfriend for about two years.

Three days after Kendra Hatcher’s murder, police searched the ex-girlfriend’s apartment and they confiscated the woman’s laptop. After interviewing her police have yet to charge the woman.

The 33-year-old woman, a dental hygienist, came into the investigators’ attention early Saturday after the arrest of Crystal Cortes age 23.

Cortes told the police that she and the ex-girlfriend were thinking of ways to rob Hatcher. She allegedly told detectives that the woman offered to pay her $500 to drive a yet unidentified man to Hatcher’s place, Gable Park 17 apartment building, in order to rob her.

Cortes also mentioned they drove in a borrowed jeep. She said she stood in the car and watched as Hatcher got shot by the man. Police state that they found 40-caliber shell-mold casting in Hatcher’s white Toyota Camry which leads them to believe that the shooter may have entered the car.

Police found out from Cortes that before the killing, Hatcher’s cell phone location was tracked by the ex-girlfriend through her iPhone.

What led to the arrest of Cortes was a phone call from the Jeep’s owner who told police that he had loaned the car to the ex-girlfriend. When interviewed by Police the woman said that she had given the car to Cortes.

After being arrested on Saturday for speeding and not having car insurance, the ex-girlfriend was released from Dallas Court Jail. Following this incident the woman’s family refused to talk to the reporters.

As of now Cortes continues to be the only person who is accused of Kendra Hatcher murder. Her bail is set at $500,000 as she is being charged with capital murder, whilst remaining in Dallas County Jail.

Image Source: cdn.inquisitr

Transgender Teen Using Girls’ Bathroom Divides Community

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A transgender student who used the girls’ bathroom has caused her fellow schoolmates to start a protest.

Lila Perry, a student at Hillsboro, Missouri asked permission to use the girls’ school bathrooms and locker rooms, and her school administrators agreed, following guidelines that specify students can use facilities based on the gender they identify with.

However, this has led to a demonstration by the school’s students, who wanted to oppose this decision. Some of the protesters are actually somewhat in favor of Lila, but they believe she should have continued to use a unisex bathroom, instead of opting for the ladies’ category. In total, about 150 high school kids took part in the protest, which lasted for 2 hours on Monday morning.

Meanwhile, as the demonstration unfolded, the 17-year old teen was experiencing fears for her safety, hiding away inside her counselor’s office, with the doors carefully locked.

“I feel like there’s a push to just lump all of us transgender people together and force us out. We’re not boys or girls, we’re just a different group of people. And I don’t like that”, insisted Lila Perry.

According to her, she is not fighting just her own battle against segregation, but she is also making an effort for the transgender community, because she believes many other people like her will have to face the same type of prejudice.

The issue has divided not just students, but also the rest of the community, which comprises of 3,000 people. Last week, a school board meeting discussing Perry had to be moved to another location because there were too many participants.

Even the high school kids’ protest was actually joined by adults, who expressed their disapproval with the transgender student’s decision to bring her personal life out into the open. They argued that until she had her gender reassignment surgery, she was still considered a boy and couldn’t be allowed to share a bathroom with the girls.

For now, Lila Perry has stopped attending her gym class, to avoid having to enter the locker room and causing a greater uproar. On the other hand, the Missouri Gay-Straight Alliance Network will hold its own rally in support of the student this Friday.

There have been other incidents of this kind across the nation, one of the most publicized taking place in Utah, where the first gender-neutral bathroom was recently set up.

Recently, the transgender cause has been receiving greater media coverage and wider acceptance among the public, after Caitlyn Jenner announced in April that she too had been transitioning. Her picture, which soon turned viral, appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine, and she was also awarded the ESPY Arthur Ashe Courage Award in June.

However, incidents displaying people’s reluctance to welcome such people in their own communities prove that transgender people have a long way to go before they fully receive the acceptance they seek.

Image Source: AOL

Study Links Neuroticism To Creativity

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This study could help people know that besides the anxiety and depression that comes with neuroticism creativity is a great benefit.

According to a new study published in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences there might be some good sides to neuroticism besides instability, frustration and moodiness. More precisely people who are neurotic are also more creative.

According to the study overthinking is what links creativity and neuroticism. Neuroticism means that those affected by this condition have the tendency to overthink things and dwell on negative experiences, moods and thoughts. However it seems that as much as these tendencies expose people to anxiety they also contribute to an increased level of creativity.

The research team led by lecturer in neurobiology of personality Dr. Adam Perkins from King’s College London brought evidence to how neuroticism can be beneficial. In spite of depression and anxiety brooding and deep-thinking also result in creative potential, not only in negative emotions.

Perkins explained that he pondered on the fact that if some people are more prone to negative emotions because of self-generated thought this is because of the increased levels of spontaneous activity which occur in the medial prefrontal cortex that is involved in conscious perception of threat. As a consequence such people can switch to panic sooner than other people usually do. In addition they can have intense negative emotions even though there is nothing threatening around them. So Perkins drew the conclusion that it might be the case that neuroticism comes with an active imagination that acts like a threat generator. He further explained:

If neurotic people tend to think more about problems due to having a lot of threat-related self-generated thoughts — which explains their tendency to feel unhappy — it seems likely they will have a better chance to create solutions to those problems, compared to low scorers on neuroticism who look on the bright side of life all the time.”

The researchers said that further research is needed on this subject. Until then Perkins is hopeful that his theory could help people better understand their experiences and feelings and know that besides the anxiety and depression that comes with neuroticism creativity is a great benefit.

Image Source: poker.co.uk

Women Born First Have More Chances To Be Overweight

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According to the research firstborn sisters had 29 percent more chances of being overweight.

According to a research published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health women born first have more chances to be overweight. The study was conducted by researchers from New Zealand who used data from the Swedish Birth Register.

The research team analyzed around 13.500 pairs of sisters. They examined information about the weight of the women when they were born and during their first pregnancies. The researchers collected the data reported at their first prenatal visits when the participants were ten to twelve weeks pregnant.

According to the research firstborn sisters had 29 percent more chances of being overweight and 40 percent chances of being obese compared to their second-born sisters. It seems that at birth the older sisters weighted less. However in adulthood, when they reached their first trimester of pregnancy the firstborns presented a higher body index mass. The second-born sisters had a body index mass of 28.8percent, while the firstborns had a body index mass of 24.4. Even though the difference might not seem big it was statistically important.

The researchers involved in the study say that this is the largest study of this kind which was conducted exclusively on adult female sibling pairs. However these findings support other three studies which were conducted in the past. Those studies included adult males and females and children of both sexes.

The reason why women born first have more chances to be overweight is not clear. Scientists speculate that it has something to do with the placenta. Senior author of the study Dr. Wayne Cutfield from the University of Auckland in New Zealand explained that in later pregnancies the amount of blood supply to the placenta might increase and compared to them the blood vessels during the first pregnancy have a limited blood flow and are narrower.

This reduces nutrient supply, thus reprogramming the regulation of fat and glucose, so that in later life, the individual is at risk of storing more fat and having insulin that works less effectively,”Cutfield added.

The researchers drew attention to the fact that birth order is not the only factor which could increase the risk of obesity. Besides, being born first represents only a small contribution to an enhanced risk of obesity.

Image Source: womansday.com

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