Maxim Bange

For the past eight years, the World Economic Forum has ranked more than 100 countries by measures of gender equality in each. To assess women's status, researchers examine their political empowerment, health and survival, political participation, and economic equality. 

Of the 133 countries that were measured both this and last year, 86% have improved their gender gaps. However, major barriers to women's equality still exist around the world, particularly when it comes to political participation and economic equality. 

For the fifth consecutive year, Iceland comes out on top with the world's smallest gender gap, powered by a uniquely high level of political empowerment. It's near the top in terms of the number of women in its Parliament, the number of women in key political positions, and the number of years it's had a female head of state. Its score got even better this year, as it further closed its gender gap in economic opportunity. 

Notably, the United States does not manage to crack the top 20. It ranks at No. 23, down six spots from its 2011 high at No. 17 and down one spot from last year. The U.S. has made no progress in the rankings since they started in 2006.

The U.S. does relatively well in terms of health, education, and economic opportunity (with the notable exception of pay equality), but is in 60th place when it comes to women's political empowerment, since women hold a small fraction of political clout positions and have no female head of state on record.

Here are the full top 20:

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iFixit tears apart another expensive gadget, so we don't have to.

iFixit

When Apple introduces a new Mac design, it tends to stick around for three or four years before being replaced by a new one. That doesn't mean the computers don't change on the inside, though, as iFixit found out when it tore down the 2013 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro. In addition to making the machine thinner and lighter, Apple has substantially rearranged the internal components.

The new 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro is down to just one fan, like the Airs.

iFixit

Aside from the advertised Haswell CPU and integrated GPU, the PCI Express SSD, and the 802.11ac Wi-Fi card, the most significant change is the move from two smaller fans to a single large one, which should hopefully reduce fan noise when the system is under load. Since Intel has integrated Haswell's CPU, GPU, and chipset onto the same package (the CPU and GPU on one long die and the chipset in a second, smaller die) all three components can be covered with one large heatsink—and the chips take up substantially less space on the system board, to boot.

The 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro scored a one out of ten on iFixit's sometimes arbitrary repairability scale, owing in part to how difficult it is to get inside the case, remove the glued-in battery, and perform virtually any user maintenance. iFixit also tore down the new 15-inch model but didn't find substantial internal differences from the 2012 model apart from the Haswell upgrade and other component tweaks. For most of the same reasons, the larger Pro also scored a one out of ten on the repairability scale.

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Nike is doing a series of Instagram video ads for Cristiano Ronaldo's new CR7 cleats.

They're great. They all involve splicing together footage of Ronaldo doing something spectacular on the pitch with footage of something completely unrelated and identifiably meme-y (babies, cats. etc.).

Here's one with a baby:

One with cats:

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Cities have a lot of advantages over suburbs — including much cooler places to take joy rides.

One driver seemed to realize this on a recent night in Philadelphia, when he decided to rev his convertible down the steps of the city's art museum — the same steps Rocky Balboa triumphantly climbed in the eponymous film.

Philly Chit Chat's Hugh Dillon captured the scene, writing:

"I was driving down the Parkway towards home. I live across from the steps I know what looks normal there, two headlights didn't fit that bill. I got stuck at traffic light w/cars in front of me, so video starts as he's closer to the bottom."

Check it out:

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Pinterest's reach isn't huge compared to plenty of other social platforms, but its impact on e-commerce is outsized, accounting for 23% of global social-mediated e-commerce sales in the second quarter of 2013.

Pinterest's recent valuation at $3.8 billion suggests that a huge amount of potential is seen in the way the social network could bridge pins with purchases.

And even Twitter, which many thought would never drive significant social commerce, is overperforming, with a 22% share.

While Facebook's share of social commerce was higher than both Pinterest's and Twitter's in the second quarter of 2013, at 28%, the lead was slight and way under what its user numbers would suggest. Facebook has about five times as many active monthly users around the world as Pinterest and more than twice as many as Twitter.

At BI Intelligence, Business Insider's paid subscription service, we probed the overall viability of social media as a commerce and retail-driver, and explored which social networks would have a particularly important impact on social commerce. We analyzed over 15 datasets culled from a variety of sources and published our insights in a recent report, "The New Art Of Social Commerce: How Brands And Retailers Are Converting Tweets, Pins, And Likes Into Sales."

Subscribers also gain access to over 100 in-depth reports and hundreds of charts and datasets on mobile, social, and their impact across industries, including retail. 

This data was provided by AddShoppers, which relies on tracking code embedded on thousands of retailers' websites worldwide to determine whether sales revenue can be attributed to a referral from a social media site. 

As recently as last year, Pinterest accounted for just 2% of social commerce, while Facebook dominated with a whopping 55% of social e-commerce sales. Pinterest's rapid emergence as an important social commerce platform is reflective of its visual and product focus, which makes it a natural partner for e-commerce.

In the grand scheme of things, social still represents a small source of direct e-commerce traffic. However, we know that social does play a very important role in multi-touch attribution, as 74% of consumers rely on social networks to guide their purchases, according to Gartner. 

Facebook may be phasing out physical goods it allows users to purchase via its Gifts service because of poor sales performance, but its ad retargeting platform (FBX) now accounts for more than half of all retargeted ad clicks on the Web. So Facebook clicks are clearly working for some e-retailers. 

Twitter, on the other hand, recently hired its first head of commerce to figure out a way to let users shop via Tweets. 

To access BI Intelligence's full report, The New Art Of Social Commerce: How Brands And Retailers Are Converting Tweets, Pins, And Likes Into Sales, sign up for a free trial subscription here. Subscribers also gain access to over 100 in-depth reports on social and mobile, and hundreds of charts and datasets. 

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A Madrid man has been arrested for allegedly selling tickets for a fake airline, defrauding 67 people of up to €50,000 ($69,000).

According to a press release from Spain's National Police, Dario Alberto, 43, was arrested for his alleged role in a scam selling fake airline tickets to Paraguay.

He supposedly advertised low fares through a website and on the radio, and by handing out pamphlets in the street.

Police investigated the "airline," and found it didn't have any kind of license.

In 2009, Alberto was arrested after selling fake tickets to Equatorial Guinea to 21 people.

Police say high demand for flights during the holiday season made Alberto's low fares more appealing, especially for distant destinations like Paraguay.

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In recent years hundreds of thousands of Internet subscribers have been sued for downloading copyrighted material in the United States, but not a single case has gone to trial.

Most of the defendants are sued in bulk, with copyright holders joining hundreds or thousands of alleged copyright-infringing IP-addresses in a single complaint. The rightsholders then ask the court to grant a subpoena to identify the account holders behind the IPs, who are then approached with settlement requests of a few thousand dollars.

After an initial avalanche of mass piracy lawsuits in 2010 and 2011, federal courts in several districts ruled that these cases should be restricted to one defendant each. Last year several ISPs asked for a similar ruling in the District of Columbia, but without success.

Judge Beryl Howell ruled against the Internet providers and granted the adult movie company AF Holdings the right to obtain the personal details of more than 1000 Internet users suspected of downloading their works using BitTorrent.

The adult film studio and its controversial law firm Prenda celebrated the verdict as a huge win, since many other judges had previously rejected joining so many defendants in one lawsuit. Adding to the controversy, Judge Howell told the ISPs who joined the case that they were not doing enough to stop online piracy.

The ISPs were disappointed with the ruling and Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, Time Warner and Cox filed an appeal hoping to reverse it. The case has been lingering for a few months but yesterday the ISPs filed their latest brief.

The providers argue that the request for customer information is not supported by good cause, as previous cases have shown that AF Holdings has no intention of actually serving the defendants. “In 118 multi-Doe actions filed by Plaintiff’s counsel during a two-year period, none has resulted in a defendant being named and served,” they write.

In addition, the ISPs note that the adult studio is only attempting to generate as many settlements as it can, at the lowest cost without knowing whether the defendant is actually the person who downloaded the copyrighted work.

“Plaintiff’s primary purpose in seeking the personal information for hundreds or thousands of Internet subscribers per lawsuit is to extract payments without conducting any investigation into whether the subscriber — rather than another person using the subscriber’s Internet connection — is indeed responsible for accessing Plaintiff’s film without paying for it.”

The ISPs continue by citing several similar cases in which judges ruled that joining so many defendants in one case is not allowed. If the current verdict is upheld, they fear that the District of Columbia will become a “unique venue” for copyright holders to “gain the Doe defendants’ personal information and coerce payment from them”

Finally, the ISPs mention the controversial nature of the law firm Prenda, who were recently punished in court for their mob-like tactics. Among other things they note that Prenda’s principals used The Pirate Bay as a honeypot, relied on fictitious persons as clients, and submitted fake documents in support of their lawsuits.

“In the wake of these revelations, virtually all of Prenda Law’s multi-Doe cases have been dismissed or transformed into investigations into misconduct by AF Holdings’ principals and counsel. Yet, incredibly, Plaintiff derides the ISPs for objecting ‘with an air of moral superiority’ to Plaintiff’s ongoing efforts to extract personal subscriber information from them,” the brief notes.

The ISPs tell the court that this “lack of candor” should be addressed, and they ask the judge to throw out the case, or reduce the number of defendants from 1,058 to just one.

It’s good to see that Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, Time Warner and Cox are attempting to protect their subscribers. Of course it’s in their own interests, but it also helps to minimize the profitability of these classic copyright troll lawsuits.

Source: Comcast, Verizon and Co. Want to Stop Mass Piracy Lawsuits

Russia's third-quarter growth rate fell well below expectations on Friday in a fresh blow to government hopes of avoiding the worst economic performance since the 2008-2009 global crisis.

Deputy Economy Minister Andrei Klepach said Russia's $1.95-trillion (1.41-trillion-euro) economy expanded by 1.2 percent between July and September compared to output in the same period in 2012.

The annual rate -- the slowest among the big emerging markets and about half the pace enjoyed in the United States -- was the same as in the second quarter and slower than the 1.6-percent rise witnessed in the first three months of the year.

"The third quarter was not one of economic revival," Klepach admitted.

"The stagnation continues. There is a pause in growth."

Klepach said a closer look at the figures revealed disappointing signs of an economy that was actually losing momentum rather than gathering pace.

Seasonally-adjusted growth slowed by 0.1 percent in September from August. The figure for that month was 0.1-percent less that the one in July.

Both the government and economists had expected Russia's output to pick up in the second half of the year and reach an annual rate of about 1.8 percent.

But Klepach said that figure will now be reached only if fourth-quarter performance suddenly accelerates to 3.4 percent.

"We could see a small rebound in the fourth quarter," said Klepach.

"We are not yet revising the 1.8-percent forecast. But it does look optimistic."

President Vladimir Putin had initially promised growth of 5.0 percent in 2013 -- a figure that was meant to improve on the 3.4-percent to 4.0-percent yearly performances witnessed between 2010 and 2012.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch had predicted growth of 1.6-1.7 percent in the third quarter -- a slight downgrade from its own earlier estimate.

It attributed Russia's latest disappointment to a poor harvest that was damaged by one of the wettest autumns in years.

"We think that the disappointing rate of improvement can be attributed partly to the poor weather conditions, which have constrained potentially strong agricultural output this year," said Bank Of America Merill Lynch analyst Vladimir Osakovsky.

He noted that a large part of a harvest that was expected to grow by 30 percent on last year "seems now to have been lost."

But most analysts believe Russia's economic problems run much deeper.

Moscow's VTB Capital investment bank highlighted "a sharp deceleration in retail sales, declining employment and contracting investments" as the most immediate challenges facing Putin's government.

The International Monetary Fund has recommended that Russia "protect growth-enhancing investment spending" by overhauling the outdated pension programme and limiting spending on inefficient projects.

It also urged the central bank to stamp down harder on interest rates -- now at the top of 5.0 to 6.0-percent annual target after spending the summer above 7.0 percent -- by keeping any monetary easing policies in check.

Klepach said he did not expect to see any rate cuts before next year.

The bank's board of governors has called Russia's economic problems primarily structural and warned that a sudden cash infusion could result in higher inflation while producing no growth benefits.

Standard and Poor's agreed in late September that "the economy is reaching the limits of its capacity" and needs a quick business climate improvement that could generate lacking investment growth.

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Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Rob Chang warns clients that uranium is "set for a violent move higher" in his latest note.

The metal has been on a steady grind lower for most of this year, much like most of the past three years.

The reason, according to Chang: since the earthquake and nuclear disaster at TEPCO's Fukushima power plant in April 2011, Japanese reactors have been shut down, and inventories of unused uranium have piled up, weighing on the price.

Chang thinks that is all about to change. In his note, he writes:

We continue to stress that the marginal cost of current production for uranium is US$40/lb and that the minimum incentive price for future supply to match future uranium demand is US$70/lb. The reason why the price is as low as it is now is due to excess uranium inventories stemming from material earmarked for Japan’s 50 reactors not being consumed for the last two and a half years. With Japan set to restart some reactors either late this year or early next year (we forecast 10 to restart in 2014 but none this year) this issue will soon resolve itself – especially since there are more reactors under construction, planned, and proposed now (557) than since before Fukushima (541).

In fact, we forecast that the price of uranium will make significant and dramatic moves higher when it does correct upwards. Our rationale stems from our supply and demand forecast, which indicates that there will be a large and unavoidable supply deficit beginning in 2020 as global demand outpaces global supply under the current price environment. Given that it takes 7-10 years for a uranium project to move from greenfield discovery to first production, the fact that 2020 is only six years away means that we will already have a deficit no matter what happens to uranium prices and to mine development plans.

Cantor Fitzgerald forecasts an average 2014 uranium spot price of $43.25 per pound, an average 2014 price of $62.50, and an average 2016 price of $70.

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De verhoging van het eigen risico bij de zorgverzekering heeft maar een beperkte invloed op het gebruik van de zorg. Uit een enquête die het ministerie van VWS heeft laten houden, blijkt dat 2 procent van de verzekerden van achttien jaar en ouder zorg mijdt vanwege de kosten.

De enquête wijst uit dat ruim 20 procent van de mensen wel eens afziet van zorg. Bij een deel daarvan gaat het om 'gewenst afzien van zorg' omdat bijvoorbeeld de klacht niet ernstig was of vanzelf is verdwenen. Vier procent van de verzekerden heeft wel eens ongewenst afgezien van zorg, bijvoorbeeld als mensen bang zijn dat ze iets ergs hebben of opzien tegen de behandeling en daarom niet naar de dokter gaan.

Internationale verkenning

Uit de enquête blijkt ook dat er nogal wat misverstanden bestaan over het eigen risico. Een op de vijf mensen denkt dat de huisarts ook onder het eigen risico valt, terwijl dat niet zo is. Aan de andere kant denkt veertig procent dat een bezoek aan de medisch specialist niet onder het eigen risico valt. Dat is onjuist: die kosten tellen juist wel mee voor het eigen risico.

Het ministerie doet nader onderzoek naar zorgmijden op basis van daadwerkelijke zorggegevens over 2013. Verder wordt er een internationale verkenning gedaan naar het pakket en de financiering daarvan. De resultaten van die onderzoeken volgen in het voorjaar van 2014.

Een bom die vanochtend bij een spoorbrug in Deventer is gevonden veroorzaakte bijna de hele dag overlast. Het treinverkeer tussen Apeldoorn en Deventer was vanaf 10.15 uur gestremd. Pas in de avond werd de bom afgevoerd, en vanaf 20.00 uur rijden er weer treinen.

De vliegtuigbom uit de Tweede Wereldoorlog werd om 08.30 uur gevonden tijdens graafwerkzaamheden bij de IJssel.

Vanochtend werden het trein-, vlieg- en vaarverkeer stilgelegd. De NS dacht aanvankelijk dat het spoor om 13.00 uur weer vrijgegeven zou kunnen worden, maar de Explosieven Opruimingsdienst had veel meer tijd nodig om de bom onschadelijk te maken.

Veel groter

Het explosief bleek veel groter dan de 18 bommen die eerder bij de graafwerkzaamheden bij de rivier werden gevonden. In eerste instantie werd uitgegaan van een 250-ponder, maar de bom bleek twee keer zo groot.

Uit onderzoek van de EOD bleek dat de bom niet op scherp stond. De bom wordt op een andere locatie onschadelijk gemaakt.

De mensenrechtendeskundigen die namens de Verenigde Naties onderzoek doen naar Zwarte Piet zijn geïntimideerd. Dat schrijft de VN.

De VN reageert in een blog op de vele opmerkingen en vragen die de organisatie de afgelopen dagen op sociale media kreeg over het onderzoek naar Zwarte Piet.

De VN benadrukt dat de leden van de onderzoekscommissie onafhankelijke experts zijn, die niet in dienst zijn van de Verenigde Naties en niet betaald worden voor hun werk.

Slavernij

Het is goed om stevig te debatteren, schrijft de VN, maar het gaat te ver als commissieleden persoonlijk aangevallen worden. Zij zijn de afgelopen dagen lastiggevallen, geïntimideerd en aangevallen op hun persoonlijk integriteit.

Onderzoeker Verene Shepherd zei dinsdag dat ze het Sinterklaasfeest een terugkeer naar de slavernij vindt. Dat leidde tot felle discussies op sociale media. Ook de Tweede Kamer mengde zich in het debat.

Rendered from data hosted at NIH.

The discovery of nucleic acid molecules that can catalyze chemical reactions has revolutionized thinking about the origin of life. These catalytic RNAs, called ribozymes, showed that a single molecule could embody two of the major aspects of life: genetic information and chemical activity. They also raised the intriguing possibility that it might be possible to find an RNA molecule that could copy itself. After all, once you have a single self-duplicating molecule, you would quickly end up with a large collection of self-duplicating molecules competing for resources. Evolution would be off and running.

So far, though, efforts to make a self-replicating ribozyme have come up short. Most RNA molecules with this sort of activity have been around 200 bases long and have tended to stall before copying more than a few dozen bases. But now, scientists have produced the first molecule that can copy RNAs longer than itself. The scientists found it by selecting for RNAs that work in conditions that are normally the death of biochemical activity: sub-zero mixtures of ice and water.

Makin’ copies

The path to a potential self-replicating RNA has, so far at least, been a bit convoluted. Starting with a collection of RNA molecules with random sequences, researchers come up with a ribozyme that could link two RNAs together (termed a ligase). Rounds of mutation meant to improve that activity succeeded in doing so, but they also popped out a different class of molecules entirely; they could make copies of a specific group of short sequences. Further experiments with mutation and selection made these catalytic RNAs work more generally and extended the molecules they could copy to longer sequences. But the RNAs themselves were over 200 bases long, and they tended to fall short of copying molecules that were much smaller than that.

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Le Festin Nu (The Naked Feast), a trendy establishment in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, just added insects to the menu. That makes them the first restaurant in the capital city to do so.

Elie Daviron, Le Festin Nu's head chef, imports insects from Thailand at a cost of 500 euros per kilo (about $690 for 2.2 pounds) and sells the grasshopper, beetle and water scorpion dishes, among others, for between $9.50 and $12.50, the French edition of Marie Claire reports. The insects arrive in salted and sealed packages.

Daviron told the AFP his clientele doubled when he started serving insects last week. 

Believe it or not, the restaurant is right on trend. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization encouraged insect eating in a report issued in May, citing fairly well-known facts that insects are a good source of protein, good fats, calcium, iron and zinc. And people already eat bugs all over the world.

French chef Elie Daviron stands in front of his restaurant Le Festin Nu in Paris' 18th arrondissement.

Le Festin Nu is the first restaurant in Paris to put insects on the menu.

Chef Elie Daviron shows off a giant water scorpion imported from Thailand.

Halloween is nearly here, which means that you're running out of time to come up with a creative costume idea. 

Each year, there are certain costumes that seem to pop up everywhere. According to Google Shopping, the minions of "Despicable Me" are this year's most searched costume, with "Breaking Bad" and fox costumes rounding out the top three. 

Here are some of the other costumes you'll be seeing a lot of this Halloween. 

From feuds with Jimmy Kimmel to an outrageous stadium proposal, Kim and Kanye made headlines throughout 2013. Other variations of this costume include leather jogging pants and a plastic baby North West.

Now that 'Breaking Bad' has officially ended, Walter White getups will be everywhere, from Hazmat suits to Heisenberg pork pie hats.

Macklemore's 'Thrift Shop' was huge this year, as are faux fur coats and other vintage-inspired Halloween costumes.

I can’t tell you how many times a week I receive a link to a music video on YouTube. While many of my friends use it to discover music, I have never looked at the site as a way to listen to music. Apparently I’m in the minority. According a report by Billboard, YouTube is preparing to launch an on-demand music service before the end of the year.

The report claims when Google secured the licenses for its All Access music service, it included licenses for a YouTube music service.

It’s rumored there will be both a free and premium service option. The free plan would included unlimited streaming of music videos, no matter the platform, with the paid tier offering “fewer restrictions.”

With the latest rumors also pointing towards the Android YouTube app receiving background audio, it seems the stars are beginning to align for such a music service. Background audio would be crucial for YouTube and it’s mystery music service to catch on.

Only time will tell, but this one is looking and sounding promising. Once we know more, we’ll be sure to share with you here.

The post YouTube readying on-demand music service appeared first on AndroidGuys.

The post YouTube readying on-demand music service appeared first on AIVAnet.

"As people are living longer, the definition of “old” is changing," write the folks at UBS Wealth Management.

Traditionally, when you get old, you retire.

But these days, people are less likely to make the connection between retirement and old age.

UBS recently conducted a survey of 2,319 of its wealth management clients, and they asked them: "Do you consider yourself 'old'?"

"Most investors do not feel “old” until they are in their 80s," found UBS. "Only 31% who are in their 60s and 47% who are in their 70s feel old, while 77% of those in their 80s feel old. This demonstrates a notable shift from prior generations, as investors believe on average that their parents were old at 62, a number that also coincided with when people typically retired."

"But today, retiring from work does not equal old," they added. "And even the onset of health and memory loss issues doesn’t equal old. To most people, it’s when people can no longer live in their own homes or when they can no longer drive. In short, you get old when you lose your individual independence, when you can’t do things for yourself."

While it is fascinating to see how we perceive old age, there are real implications for all of this. And it has to do with retirement.

"Overall, investors seem to underestimate how much of their prior income they think they will need during retirement," writes UBS. "On average, they believe they will need about 60% of their prior income during retirement. This is well below standard industry estimates of 78% of prior income. Underestimating annual income needs becomes even more acute in the context of a retirement that may last as long as 30 years."

It may come off as good news that we're living longer. However, living longer comes with greater living costs.

Plan accordingly.

Read UBS's whole report here.

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Cadets at the United States Air Force Academy now have the option as to whether to say "so help me God," when they take their oaths, according to a new report by Air Force Times. 

The Air Force Academy, the premier academic institution for creating Air Force officers, located just north of Colorado Springs, Colo., requires their students to take an oath.

It reads "We will not lie, steal or cheat nor tolerate among us anyone who does. Furthermore, I resolve to do my duty and live honorably, so help me God."

Now, students have the option of leaving off the last part. 

“Here at the academy, we work to build a culture of dignity and respect, and that respect includes the ability of our cadets, airmen and civilian airmen to freely practice and exercise their religious preference — or not,” academy superintendent Lt. Gen. Michelle Johnson told the Air Force Times. “So, in the spirit of respect, cadets may or may not choose to finish the honor oath with ‘so help me God.’”

Leaders say that requiring that religious affirmation in the oath is unconstitutional. Interestingly, Air Force leaders do not cite the 1st Amendment in their reasoning. They cite the religious test clause of Article VI of the Constitution:

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.

The last time religion in the military made headlines, it was because the Marine Corps, in an official document,  listed "lack of spiritual faith" as a sign of instability.  

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The Justice Department's newly released National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) for 2012 shows single people were victims of violent crime at a significantly higher rate than married people in America.

The NCVS asks roughly 160,000 people whether they were victims of violent crimes including rape, robbery, assault, and domestic violence. That survey arguably provides a fuller picture of violent crime than the FBI's annual crime survey since it includes incidents that were never reported to the cops.

In 2012, the NCVS found, married people had 13.5 violent crime victimizations per 1,000 people compared to a rate of 37.0 for those who are divorced, 40.7 for people who never married, and 83.1 for separated people.

It makes sense that single people would be more vulnerable to violent crime since they tend to be out in public and alone more than married people, Radford University criminal justice professor Dr. Tod Burke told us. Married couples are more likely to canoodle at home or hang out with other couples, while single people tend to go out more (often to try to meet other single people).

Young people — who are also likely to be out and about and single for that matter — also have higher rates of crime victimization, Burke points out. Americans between the age of 18 and 24 have a crime victimization rate of 63.8 per 1,000 people compared to a low rate of 3.1 for people older than 65 (who presumably spend more time in the safety of their own home).

"Violent crimes are a crime of opportunity," Burke said. "When you put yourself out there, you have provided the opportunity."

The NCVS provides just the latest good news for married people. Last month, the Journal of Clinical Oncology reported that married cancer patients lived longer than single ones. And Michigan State University scientists published research last year showing that marriage could protect people from normal declines in happiness during adulthood.

SEE ALSO: Why The South Is More Violent Than The Rest Of America

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Microsoft hasn't told us exactly how many Surface PCs its sold, but not nearly as many as say, the iPad.

Except for near Microsoft's home turf of Seattle, it's hard to spot one in the wild. Not impossible. (We saw one in a Starbucks in Mountain View, Calif., across the street from Google's headquarters). But it's still rare.

So we loved this sarcastic tweet from Daniel Ralston of Brooklyn, NY, @danielralston:

It set off a whole string of funny replies, including this one (our favorite).

SEE ALSO: The 21 Hottest Cloud Startups Right Now

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And the results can be scary

While Samsung might be the biggest manufacturer of Android hardware, the company has spent much of the last few years building a software experience for its devices that’s uniquely its own. Samsung’s user interface now covers up nearly every bit of Android with a custom design or replacement app, and the company has added a slew of unique (if sometimes unnecessary) features to the OS. If it wasn’t already clear, Samsung’s first annual Developers Conference, which kicks off next week in San Francisco, is the latest indication that the company is serious about software as a way to stand out. Instead of developing just for Android, Samsung wants developers building products specifically for its hardware, a move that could benefit...

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Users of the newly redesigned iMovie app are seeing red after upgrading to OS X Mavericks. There's a strange glitch that gives some .mov files a red tint when imported into Apple's movie creator, while other file formats seem to be unaffected. The video files are discolored in both the Clips View and when previewing the edited project. Exporting the movie maintains the incorrect colors.

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Rockstar Games will release the first add-on content, the Beach Bum Pack, for Grand Theft Auto 5 this November, the developer said today, and plans to release the first part GTA Online's Content Creator sometime this fall. In addition, the developer says it continues to work on fixing player progress loss issues before it hands out promised in-game currency.

"We know many of you are anxiously waiting for us to show you the GTA$ Stimulus Package money we announced a couple weeks back," Rockstar said. "We have a few more tweaks and fixes to make in a new title update that will hit sometime next week and then we will distribute the cash."

Rockstar dates the Beach Bum Pack, which adds new beach-themed vehicles and weapons for GTA...

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Sony will hold a PlayStation 4 review event and "launch celebration" Nov. 11-12 in New York City, according to an invitation sent to Polygon.

Details about the event, which will take place just before the PS4's Nov. 15 release date, will follow, according to the invitation that you can see below.

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Activision's mobile installment of the Call of Duty series, Call of Duty: Strike Team, is now available for Android devices on Google Play for $6.99, One of Swords announced.

An iOS version of the game, which was built specifically for mobile devices, launched last month for the same price. The game allows players to switch between a traditional first-person shooter view and a top-down strategic view so they can alternate between directing their squad and controlling individual soldiers. Strike Team features a single-player campaign mode and a survival mode, and players will lead a U.S. Joint Special Operations Team to save the country after it gets involved in a war with an unknown enemy.

The iOS version is available for the iPhone 4S...

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Approaching the big 3-0 can be scary. At that point, there's pretty much no getting around that you are, in fact, an adult.

For many people, hitting that milestone can also serve as a great motivator to get their lives together, particularly their financial lives.

There are books, blogs, and Twitter accounts dedicated solely to helping people cross that line. They typically tell you to get rid of debt, stop shopping so much, start investing in a 401(k), and brace yourself for wrinkles. 

But in my opinion, it takes a lot more than a healthy bank account and nice skin to live a full and happy life, whether you're 29 or 59. You also have to shed the bad habits and illusions that are holding you back. 

So long as my job pays well, it's OK if I hate it.

The job market may not be what it used to be, but by age 30 no one should be toiling away at a job that leaves them stressed out and dissatisfied with life.

We were inspired by a young woman who wrote about turning her back on a lucrative job on Wall Street when years of 14-hour work days made her overweight, burnt out, and miserable. 

"I’m a few months into my new job [as an asset manager for a nonprofit] and it’s made my life richer. I’m making an effort to breathe, smile, eat healthier and have positive thoughts about my future," she wrote.

"I took a pay cut of about 30% to change positions, but I don’t think that I should be applauded for making the choice to accept less pay — I don’t view it as a sacrifice."

If I turn a blind eye, somehow my finances will figure themselves out.

The worst thing I did in my early 20s was ignore financial red flags when I saw them.

I didn't check my bank account for fear of how low the number would be. I left my credit report untouched for five years. And I didn't realize my first job even offered a matching 401(k) until I quit because I stuffed that folder in my desk and never looked at it. 

Look: If you're broke, you might as well know it and own it. It's the only way you'll ever truly be able to do something about it. 

I should get married because it's the 'next step.'

I'm a few years shy of 30 myself and it baffles me how many couples — men AND women alike — tell me they're planning on tying the knot by 30. 

There are few people my age who can actually afford the $27,000 the average American wedding costs these days. 

Why kick off your lifetime union with a massive pile of debt that will only cause stress and inevitable arguments down the line? If you're truly in love, chances are The One will still be around by the time you're both financially fit to face those bills together.