Microsoft launch Windows 10 and the HoloLens-
Microsoft reveals the HoloLens holographic headset that will project the new Windows 10 OS over views of the real world. Windows 10 will also introduce its voice-controlled assistant Cortana to PCs. The OS upgrade will be offered free of charge for devices running Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Phone in its first year of release. The Internet Explorer web browser will be replaced by a new program codenamed Project Spartan.
The HoloLens

Most dangerous sexual position –
Researchers in Brazil report that the woman-on-top position during intercourse is responsible for half of all penile fractures sustained during sex in cases recorded at three hospitals. Positions involving the woman on all fours was involved in 29 per cent of fractures and the safest position in the bedroom is the man-on-top ‘missionary position’. See List of the Day below.

No s**t Sherlock –
Australia’s National Rugby League has apologised after publishing players’ favourite swear words on its website. Shaun Johnson, Kurt Gidley and Sam Thaiday were among those asked to reveal their chosen profanities as part of their player profiles, but they were quickly removed.
Shaun Johnson

Liam Neeson criticised by gun company –
PARA USA the firearms company that provided the guns for Liam Neeson’s movie Taken 3 has said they have “regrets” about working with him after he said that there are “too many… guns out there, especially in America.” The company will cut ties with the Taken franchise and recommended other companies to do the same. Leeson also said the gun problem was not connected to Hollywood’s action movies.
Liam Neeson

Madonna hacking arrest –
An Israeli man who appeared on one of the country’s talent shows has been arrested on suspicion of hacking into singer Madonna’s computers and selling unreleased songs online. Madonna had to release some new songs early in December 2014 after demos from her new album Rebel Heart were discovered online.

Shazam worth $1 billion-
Shazam, the mobile music recognition service, has raised $30m in a funding round that pushes its valuation to $1bn. The $30m investment takes equity raised to $125m over the past eight years, during which its revenue has risen from £2.5m in 2007 to £31m in 2013. But the company has not made a profit in that period and in 2013 it lost £2m.

Video of the Day –

Shazam Top 20
X Factor Winner Marlisa Sings Ed Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud

List of the day –

Causes of penile fracture (Advances in Urology)

Top Twitter Trends –

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• A Palestinian man from the West Bank, Hamza Muhammad Hassan Matrouk, illegally crosses into Israel for the express purpose to stab people attacking over a dozen Israelis on a bus in central Tel Aviv. Security forces capture the assailant as he continued to indiscriminately stab people in the street. (The New York Times)
• 2014–15 Russian military intervention in Ukraine:
  • The President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko accuses Russia of sending 9,000 soldiers to help separatists in easternUkraine. (Reuters)

Arts and culture

• Lutz Bachmann resigns as a leader of PEGIDA, a German anti-Islamist organisation, after controversy was sparked by a headshot photo of himself posing as Adolf Hitler. (Christian Science Monitor)

Business and economy

• eBay announces plans to spin off its PayPal business and fire 2,400 employees during 2015. (CNBC)
• American Express plans to cut more than 4,000 jobs. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• Mexico‘s Volcán de Colima erupts. (ABC News Australia)
• For the second time (previous was August 2000) the Avalon at Edgewater apartments in Edgewater, New Jersey burn down. Among the 400 people evacuated, New York Yankees announcer John Sterling is one of the victims. (CBS)(NJ.com)

Health

• The government-installed pollution gauges that were set up along roadside stations to monitor Hong Kong reach the maximum level of their ranges. (Bloomberg)
• The New England Journal of Medicine publishes research from Portland State University that implies the presence offormaldehyde, a cancer-causing chemical, may occur in limited situations of e-cigarette vapor. (AP)(The New England Journal of Medicine)

International relations

• Russian state-owned gas company Gazprom announces a plan to shift its European natural gas pipeline from Ukraine to Turkey, through a proposed link under the Black Sea to Turkey. (Bloomberg)(The New York Times)

Law and crime

• Italian police seize 5,361 ancient artifacts worth $64 million from a Swiss-Italian trafficking ring. The discoveries come after various raids on warehouses against Italian art dealer Gianfranco Becchina, who owns an art gallery in Switzerland.(AFP via ABC.Net.AU)

Science and technology

• Microsoft announces Windows Holographic as part of the Windows 10 operating system which is expected to be released in late 2015. (Forbes)

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