By Gilbert Falso :: 10:49 AM
Uber, the transportation company that lets customers reserve a private car ride with their mobile device, is celebrating National Cat Day today by delivering kittens to your office.
The company has teamed up with popular cat meme website I Can HazĂÂ Cheezburger to deliver kittens on demand in New York, Seattle, and San Francisco. Users who opt for the kitten delivery will have kittens delivered to their office for 15 minutes, along with an assortment of cupcakes from Ace of Cakes.
An order of kittens and cupcakes is priced at $20, and Uber will donate all of that money to an animal shelter in the respective city. Additional donations are encouraged. The company is working closely with the shelters on the project, and a shelter representative will be accompanying all Uber kitten deliveries.
In New York and San Francisco, Uber has teamed up with the SPCA, and in Seattle, they are working with the local chapter of the Humane Society. Shelter workers will also be providing information about how to adopt a kitten that makes an Uber visit, should you fall in love and not want to let it go.
Kitten deliveries are limited, will only occur between 11:00 AM and 4:00 PM, and only in the three cities listed.
By Cynthia Herbert :: 12:56 AM
PianistĂÂ Christian Zacharias was playingĂÂ Haydn’s Piano Concerto in Sweden’sĂÂ Gothenburg Concert Hall on October 23 when a cell phone rang in the audience. It was the second time that evening that the concert had been interrupted by the ringing, soĂÂ Zacharias and the accompanying orchestra simply stopped playing.
“This thing starts,” recountsĂÂ Zacharias, “and of course, it doesn’t stop!”
The errant ringtone that caused the musicians to stop occurred during a particularly quiet moment in the musical score.
“People should realize that music lives on something completely different,” explains the pianist, frustrated at the actions of concertgoers who don’t silence their electronic devices.
Watch the orchestra stop playing, as well asĂÂ Zacharias’ take on the incident, below:
By Gilbert Falso :: 4:39 PM
The scheduling app Buffer, which allows users to save links and posts and send them out later via social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, has been hacked today.
Hackers gained access to the application and were able to use it to flood Twitter and Facebook with spam advertisements for diet pills and other goods. The spam was posted via individual user accounts that had connected their Twitter and Facebook profiles with Buffer.
Buffer quickly acknowledged the breach on their Twitter account, and an e-mail was sent to all Buffer users around 4:10 PM. In the e-mail, Buffer founder JoelĂÂ Gascoigne apologizes for the issue, and notes that attackers were not able to access password or billing information.
I am incredibly sorry this has happened and affected you and your company. We’re working around the clock right now to get this resolved and we’ll continue to post updates on Facebook and Twitter. – JoelĂÂ Gascoigne
Buffer users who had spam Tweeted out from their accounts, or posted from their Facebook profiles should remove any posts that were not made or scheduled by them.
By Leslie Spellman :: 10:01 PM
The streaming video service portion of Netflix is down for many users in North America tonight. The outage started around 9:30 PM, and while it has not affected all users, a number have taken to Twitter and Facebook to complain about videos and movies not loading, or errors on the Netflix website.
Netflix is aware of the problem, and issued the following statement at 9:40 PM:
We’re aware that some members are experiencing issues streaming movies and TV shows. WeââŹâ˘re working to resolve the problem.
As estimated time of resolution has not yet been provided.
This is the second time in a week that Netflix services have experienced a significant downtime issue.
By Cynthia Herbert :: 2:19 PM
Two people have been shot on the grounds of a U.S. naval base inĂÂ Millington, TN.
Local news confirms reports via social media that a shooting did take place, and the base is currently on a lockdown. At least one alleged shooter is currently in police custody. The victims were struck in the leg and the foot, and have sustained non-critical injuries.
The base is part of the Navy’s Naval Support Activity Mid-South installation, andĂÂ houses departments such as Navy Personnel Command, Navy Recruiting Command, the Navy Manpower Analysis Center, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Finance Center.
There are more than 7,500 military, civilian, and contract employees stationed at the base.