Windows 8 Beta in stores in February

Microsoft formalizes the beta version of Windows 8 for late February 2012, together with the opening of the Store for Windows applications in the Metro style.

It is now more than a rumor. Microsoft has confirmed that the beta version of the operating system Windows 8 will be launched at the end of February 2012. The software giant also indicated that the preliminary version of Windows 8 (Windows Developer Preview)  has been downloaded more than 3 million times since its availability in September.

The beta of Windows 8 will also be synonymous with early beta of Windows Store, the App Store Metro style that sounds like an answer to the Apple App Store for its iOS devices, or even Google’s Chrome Web Store.

Initially, all applications in the Windows Store for Windows 8 Beta will be free. Recording in Windows Store is set at $ 49 for an individual and $ 99 for a business. For paid applications, the revenue sharing will be in proportion: 70% for the developer and 30% for Microsoft. This division, however, differs from what is in effect with Apple (for the Mac App Store and App Store), since from the time an application generates more than $ 25 000, from Microsoft falls to 20%. It is recalled that for the Chrome Web Store, Google receives a commission of only 5% on purchases.

The price range of applications for Windows Store will be located in a wide range from $ 1.49 to $ 999.99. Applications can be tested before any purchase (limited in time or features to be tested) and will be indexed by the search engine Bing. Purchases will be allowed in-apps, and subscriptions external funding applications with advertising. Store windows will cover 231 markets and over 100 languages. Developments support HTML, CSS, JavaScript, C #, C + +, XAML for x86 – x64 and ARM. For more details on the Store Windows, Microsoft opened a new blog. A contest was also launched.

The Seven Deadly Sins of Dating

Steer clear of these seven deadly sins, which can bring even the strongest relationships to a halt.

 

Maintaining relationships can be difficult business, and it only grows more complicated as the time and emotion you invest into a partner increases. As expected, you won't always get along. There will be plenty of arguments over finances, the clashing personalities of friends and family as well as over little things like how he always leaves the quart of milk in the fridge with not even enough for a bowl of Special K. If your relationship is strong enough, it will breeze right past the small stuff, but sometimes even the strongest relationships will find themselves at a point of no return.

What do you do when a particular situation leaves you sleeping next to the enemy, or even worse, transforms the person you've grown to love and trust into a total stranger? What changes in a relationship to make it not even worth salvaging? We all have a breaking point and while some women can forgive something like infidelity time and time again, there are many others who are willing to call it quits after the first ignored text message. Which of the Seven Deadly Sins of Dating do you think ends a relationship…permanently?

1. Infidelity

Whether it's infidelity of the emotional kind or a full-on sexual involvement, infidelity is one of those things that can easily kill a relationship. People cheat for a variety of reasons that don’t always include being attracted or interested in someone else and sometimes, depending on the circumstances, there are relationships that can withstand the occasional wandering eye (or lower organs). Cheating is at times a response to something that is lacking within the relationship, more than it is about greed, convenience or indecision. But cheating is often more work than it’s worth. If you are unhappy in the relationship you're in, just leave. It's easier said than done most times, but it really is just that simple. Madame Noire: Celebrity Breakups We Saw Coming
Too often, there are women who stay in relationships where they are repeatedly cheated on and try to convince themselves that all is forgiven, but will use the incident as ammo every time a disagreement occurs. If you say you're over it, be over it. If you can't get past it, move on to the next.
2. Abuse
It's obvious that when a relationship includes physical violence or deliberate emotional and mental belittlement, it's time to serve those walking papers. Unfortunately, I've witnessed many situations where partners are oblivious to the fact that they bring out the worst in each other and too many times their interactions escalate until irreparable damage occurs. Anyone who takes your temper to a point where it's unrecognizable is probably not your match made in heaven and until you can control your emotions in a healthy way, a relationship is probably one of the last things that you need. When personalities conflict, sometimes there's no one to blame. And any relationship that is harmful isn't worth the tears spent on it.

Steer clear of these seven deadly sins, which can bring even the strongest relationships to a halt.

What people sometimes don't take into account is how dangerous it can be to get involved with someone who is also abusive to themselves. When someone is actively engaged in drug or alcohol abuse, it can be difficult for their partner to see that they're not really in a relationship at all. They're playing the side chick while the main girl is the substance. Someone who doesn't love themselves or has unhealthy personal issues is definitely not equipped to offer someone else what they need in a relationship. Madame Noire: Bursting Your Bubble - Delusional Women
3. Dishonesty
While most of us would be packing after the truth is revealed about something major (e.g.discovering he has a wife or girlfriend(s)), what about all of the little white lies? Sometimes the small fibs can grow to be more of a problem than the big lies. Exaggerating about a pay rate, or not revealing that his best friend was once his bed buddy before you came along when combined can lead to the realization that you don't truly know the man you're falling for. You can't build a stable foundation for anything long-term if it is embedded with little cracks of dishonesty.
4.  Disrespect
An ex once accused me of not taking his feelings into consideration.  He said I would often dismiss problems that bothered him if I didn’t think they were relevant.  Once I laid my ego to rest, I discovered he was right.  Disrespect can take an obvious form such as a man calling you out of your name or blatantly flirting with other women in your presence, but sometimes a failure to take your partner’s concerns seriously even if you think they are foolish, is just as disrespectful.  Just because you may not understand where your partner is coming from, doesn’t mean their opinions shouldn’t be validated.
The thing about disrespect is that often more than not, once someone sees that you’re willing to accept being treated any type of way, the disrespect often gets worse.  You can make clear what’s acceptable behavior in your relationship from the opening gate without scaring a man away.
5.  Lack of support
One of the biggest reasons that people enter relationships is for companionship and support.  So what’s the point of being in one where your partner is condescending, critical and doesn’t defend you or your actions?  Shoot, there are frenemies who’ll at least tell you WHY you may want to re-consider questionable actions instead of just putting you down. I once dated a guy who could never celebrate my accomplishments without A) trying to convince me that opportunities weren’t results of my work or talent, but merely good luck or B), ride my coat tails.  He could never celebrate in my success without finding a way to shine some light on the moves he was making.  It’s enough you have to break other people’s backs in order to avoid getting thrown under the bus in this world, but the home is no place for competition. Being alone and loving yourself beats being with someone who makes it a point to try and top you everyday.
6.  Failure to communicate or listen
Have you ever questioned how great of a listener you are?  Do you appropriately communicate your needs and concerns in a relationship?  Relationships can deteriorate fast without effective communication.  Too many times partners assume that they don’t have to say exactly how they feel because their mate should “just know.” I’m sure you’ve  witnessed at least one couple in your life who doesn’t know how to have a mature conversation.  Everything is either aggression and yelling or passive-aggression.  Some couples even manage to stay in relationships in which they don’t communicate at all. Miss Lauryn Hill said it best, “Miscommunication leads to complication.” Want to destroy your relationship single-handedly? Fail to take their opinions and thoughts into consideration and watch that thing start to sink quicker than the Titanic.
7.  Lack of dependability or confidentiality Don’t mistake dependable with predictable.  The older I become the more I believe that the best relationships are somewhat routine and steady.  Many people get entertained by the extremes of being at one another’s throats all the time followed by being in one’s another’s pants, but what happens when it is time to concentrate on the boring real life stuff like paying bills and making sure the kids have dinner? When you’re building a life with someone it’s important for partners to be assured that one another is doing their fair share of the maintenance without the other having to constantly remind them or clean up after them.  Your partner should be just that, a partner, not a replacement for your mother or father.
It’s also difficult to discover that you and your partner aren’t the only ones in your relationship.  Venting to family and friends about annoyances is understandable, but no one other than you and your partner should have the play-by-play of what’s going down in your bedroom.  Allowing others to repeatedly have a say in what you should do or be doing in your relationship, is like letting them drive your Benz with no
mirrors:  They’re only getting one view of the story and steering a relationship that doesn’t belong to them.
What is something you absolutely cannot move past in a relationship?

Decorated with some thrifted fall decor

Guest post written by Carla Peters

When it comes to fitting all of my stuff into my budget every month, I've started doing something different, thrifting. I was always kind of intimidated by thrifting, but I thought that maybe it would be a good idea to look into it and I've become a little obsessed with it. But the great thing is, I haven't just used it to buy clothes. I've also used it to buy decorations for my apartment.

I figured out pretty quickly that if you aren't paying attention, you can end up spending a lot of money on home decor. So I like to look online some cheap thrifted home decorations. I was online doing that the other day when I ran across some info onwireless internet providers. After I looked through it a little bit, I decided to change over my access to one of the providers on there.

Out of all my thrifted fall decor, I think that these ceramic fake pumpkins that I found would probably be my favorite. I love carving pumpkins, but it's more cost efficient to hold on to stuff that you can use year after year.

Don Lemon: No matter the gender, rape is rape

Editor's note: Don Lemon anchors CNN Newsroom during weekend prime-time and serves as a correspondent across CNN's U.S. programming. He is the author of the memoir "Transparent."

By Don Lemon, CNN

(CNN) - I don’t remember exactly when it started for me.

It was before the first grade. I must have been 5 years old, maybe 4. My mother was divorced and worked during the day. My grandmother was my sitter. She watched over my sisters and me as much as she could, but even her watchful eye wasn’t enough to keep me out of the hands of my abuser.

He was an older teen: the son of one of my mom’s friends. He and two older teen boys, almost in their 20s, preyed on me and some of the younger boys in my neighborhood. The "incidents" - as I referred to in therapy for years - happened up until I was 12 or 13 years old. It was easier for me to call it the "incidents" then because calling it molestation was just too hard, even for me, a survivor of child sex abuse.

So, I imagine it’s difficult for people who haven’t dealt with abuse to confront it, face it, or, for that matter, know what to call it. But if the events at Penn State are to teach us anything, it should be that we can no longer turn away from something so ugly just because we struggle to define it or accept it exists.

So, let’s just call it for what it is: rape.

Rape is what former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky is accused of doing to at least one boy in a university shower. But because the victim is a boy, under Pennsylvania law, Sandusky is charged with deviant sexual behavior. If the victim had been a little girl, in fact, the law would call it rape.

The acts are the same. So what’s the difference? The difference, according to a friend and former FBI agent specializing in child sex crimes, who is also a survivor of child sex abuse, is that laws are just as antiquated as our feelings. Rape, he says, is typically defined as penile penetration of a female. The same behavior with a male victim is typically defined as sodomy or deviant sexual behavior. In prosecuting cases like Penn State, my friend says, just by definition, the laws unwittingly remove the sting from the accused wretched acts.

Men dare to share sex abuse stories

Sandusky would have been 59 at the time of the 2002 alleged shower rape. He’s a big guy, at least 200 lbs and more than 6 feet tall. He’s big and burly enough to have once played defense on the Penn State football team. The boy looked to be 10 years old, according to then-graduate assistant Mike McQueary, who says he witnessed the rape.

Pause for a second, please, and imagine what a 10-year old looks like. Ten-year-old boys are usually prepubescent, weigh around 85 pounds, are only about 5 feet tall and are usually in the fourth or fifth grade. The physical pain as a grown man forced himself on him was no doubt excruciating.

According to the grand jury report, McQueary “saw a naked boy, Victim 2, whose age he estimated to be 10 years old, with his hands up against the wall, being subjected to anal intercourse by a naked Sandusky. The graduate assistant was shocked but noticed that both Victim 2 and Sandusky saw him. The graduate assistant left immediately, distraught.”

Whether McQueary intervened and exactly what he told Penn State Coach Joe Paterno is up for debate. The truth will be revealed as the case unfolds. But by leaving, what he did do was abandon a 10-year old kid in the hands of an accused pedophile. By possibly not being clear in describing what he saw, he increased the likelihood the little boy and others like him would face the same fate again.

Now imagine, if you will, that 10 year old as a girl. Do you think any grown man would leave a 10-year-old girl with a grown, naked man in a shower? What if McQueary had said these words to Paterno: “I saw Jerry Sandusky raping a little girl.” Is there any doubt that getting such a report would have spurred Paterno and officials to take quicker and more aggressive action? Think about it. It is too difficult and disgusting to even conceive.

But as painful as it is for us, as far removed as we are, no matter how much we may want to put it out of our minds, no matter how much we want to turn away, we cannot and should not. Our inability to view and talk about male and female rape in the same way might have permitted a man to continue his alleged depraved behavior for decades. Rape is rape no matter the gender of the perpetrator or the victim. Pedophilia is wrong no matter the gender of the perpetrator or the victim

As a survivor of childhood sex abuse, please listen to me: We must stop turning a deaf ear to this issue. If you don’t open your ears and minds because of my plea, do it for the eight little boys whose manhood was shaped early on by, quite possibly, a monster.

Online Gambling at Your Fingertips

Online gambling has become very popular these days. There are many enticing ways to get someone to join a specific site, but what better way to do so than to get a $500 bonus for registering. Yes, that is exactly what you get when you choose Fiesta Poker. But why may it be more beneficial to play online instead of going to real live casino's? One reason why can be one that not many have considered. The answer could be made with a question, such as ... What else will you likely do besides playing poker if you go to a casino? Of course, the answer is easy. You can play other games, such as backerat, craps and other games that will pull you away from what you intented to do, and that is to play poker. It really makes no difference your level of experience. You can be a beginner, or you can be a pro. One thing is for sure, you don't have any travel expenses to play your game. You do not have a need to tally up funds on your credit card for hotels or rental cars. 

Just one simple click on your favorite gambling website and you are off to the races. People have been gambling online now for decades, or for almost as long as the personal computer existed. But the programs now verses what is available today present no comparison. Just give it a shot and see if Fiesta is for you!!

Taking a Long Awaiting Vacation - Visiting Friends in Odessa Texas

The year has been flying by and before the beginning of 2012, my wife Virginia and I decided to take one more vacation. Of course, I thought of our dear friends Gwen and Charles Lout in Odessa, Texas. I couldn't think of a better way to spend the remaining days of a crazy year. It began with the reminisce of the death of mom back in August of 2010. It was a sad time. But then came the new year and I realized that I must look ahead and try to think about my family, and move forward. The beginning of the year was kind of slow, and I actually decided to spend some time trying to exercise as things were even slow for me at work. I bought a dirt bike and started my exercises on a concrete trail before moving on to the hills. I felt I needed to get in shape before hitting the trails. I purchased an expensive dirt bike and started my daily regiment of biking each day. But then I hit a bump in the road 'literally'. I ended up on my face, as I wondered off of the concrete and my bike took a surprising stop. In the process, I inherited a hairline crack in the right elbow.
This accident left me out of work for about 6 weeks, or so I thought. A long time friend who had recently been promoted to an Executive at IBM decided to give me a light duty job, and so I continued to work. After the 6 weeks were up and I was released from the doctor, I was asked to take a new position as and Account CE at one of our customers named Fidelity Investments. Little did I know how busy my life would become or how much my life would change. Since then, I've been working lots of overtime, maintaining the mainframe IBM computer equipment at the account.
But enough was enough. I love my job, but I also love my wife even more. Now on my 3rd marriage, I now realize that work isn't the only thing in my life. First, my main concern is with my wife and children and family, then my friends.
My wife and I decided to get away from it all and take a mini-vacation.  The first people we thought of were our dear friends Gwen and Charles Lout. So we packed up our bags and headed to Odessa Texas. The job will have to do without me for a week or so. My wife also decided to take a long deserved vacation from her job. Suddenly, things seem to be back to normal again, but we both know that our lives will continue as they were before vacation. But thanks to Gwen and Charles, we had that short but needed respite from our daily routine at home.

Google Page Rank A – Z

If you own a website and are working to gain organic traffic from the search engines, then you’ve no doubt heard about Google Page Rank. But just what is this ‘page rank’, and how does it affect websites? This article will address those questions and try to cut through the confusion.

Google had developed this page-rank system in order to gauge the importance of websites. The higher a site’s page rank, the more important it is in the eyes of Google. It’s part of their ‘algorithm’ they use.

Page rank is mostly about linking up with other webpages. Each page that Google indexes receives a page rank that’s associated with it. Each time a specific page links up to another specific page, some of that pages page rank value transfers to the page it’s linking to. The higher the ranking, the more page rank value gets passed on.

Whenever one page is linking to another, it’s viewed kind of like being a ‘vote’ from the page doing the linking. So for getting your pages ranked high, what you need to do is link to high ranking pages. Page rank is basically a mathematical calculation used to determine the importance of a webpage and its relevance to the subject matter.

One crucial point that is misunderstood a lot is pagerank being passed on from one page to another, page by page. A lot of webmasters just assume that their page rank will be determined according to their home page. The home page does receive as much weight as other pages, but not more, and it’s not the total of your ranking. Any page on your site can rank higher than your home page.

So just how does your page rank affect your search engine ranking? Well, page rank isn’t as powerful as it used to be. In the past, all you needed to do was rank well by linking up with other websites, and then you could actually dominate your listing. But today, with the more complex algorithms, it’s not the same. Back links play a major role in how your website ranks with search engines.

Google has a free toolbar that it offers that displays the page rank of any webpage you are visiting. You can use this tool to check the page rank of any page of any website.

As for me, I recommend not giving too much weight to page rank. Just build your site the best you can, create good content, and the back links will come naturally. Place some of your best articles on your site, and submit them to some of the top directories, and you’ll get some good backlinks. Avoid reciprocal linking campaigns as they have really lost their influence.

What is your PageRank? Check your Page Rank.

Dow soars 350 points on Europe deal

By Hibah Yousuf October 27, 2011: 3:04 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Europe finally has a deal, and investors are pleased ... for now.

U.S. stocks rallied right out of the gate Thursday, with the major indexes jumping more than 3% in the afternoon, after European Union leaders agreed to expand Europe's bailout fund and take major losses on Greek bonds.

With about an hour left in the trading day, the Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) shot up 350 points, or 2.9%. The S&P 500 (SPX) gained 45 points, or 3.7%, and the Nasdaq composite (COMP) surged 95 points, or 3.6%.

The day's rally pushed the S&P 500 into positive territory for the year for the first time since Aug. 4. The broad index is now on track for its best monthly performance since January 1987.

The gains also pushed the Dow above the 12,000 mark for the first time since Aug. 1. The blue-chip index is headed for its best month since August 1982.

Stocks have been rallying on the promise of deal to tackle Europe's debt saga since the start of October. That long-awaited promise was delivered, with a eurozone debt agreement announced early Thursday, following marathon talks aimed at finding solutions for Europe's debt and banking crisis.

"The deal is certainly good news, and a major step that will help avoid a replay of 2008 in the banking system," said Bob Andres, chief investment officer and strategist at Merion Wealth Partners.

Finally, Europe has a deal

The euro rallied 2.2% versus the dollar and world markets jumped on the news, led by the financial sector. Shares of Credit Agricole, BNP Paribas and Societe Generale rose about 20% in Paris. In Germany, Deutsche Bank shares climbed more than 15%.

Financial stocks were also leading the way in U.S. trading. Shares of Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500) spiked more than 17%, after being beaten down amid fears that the bank could suffer big collateral damage due to its exposure to French banks that have big ties to Greece.

Citigroup (C, Fortune 500), Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500), Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) rallied between 8% and 10%.

The market's fear gauge, the VIX (VIX), tumbled 15% Thursday to the lowest levels since early August. The measure has dropped more than 40% since the start of the month.

Though investors are relieved, details about the deal remain dicey, said Andres, and the plan doesn't go far enough to tackle the structural problems that are hindering economic growth in the region.

"We can't forget the Europe is basically in a recession, and that this plan will do absolutely nothing to address economic growth, or any kind of problem that might pop its head up in Italy or other eurozone countries," he said.

U.S. stocks closed higher Wednesday, as investors became increasingly confident that a deal to address the debt crisis was close.

World markets: European stocks closed with stellar gains. Britain's FTSE 100 (UKX) climbed 2.5%, the DAX (DAX) in Germany rallied 5.4%, and France's CAC 40 (CAC40) jumped 5.7%.

Asian markets ended higher. The Shanghai Composite (SHCOMP) edged up 0.3%, the Hang Seng (HSI) in Hong Kong gained 3.3% and Japan's Nikkei (N225) rose 2%.

The Bank of Japan announced early Thursday it is boosting purchases of government bonds to help stimulate the economy, warning of a strong yen and ongoing risks in global financial markets and overseas economies.

Economy: The U.S. government reported that third-quarter gross domestic product -- the broadest measure of a country's economic activity -- increased at an annual rate of 2.5%. The pace of growth was in line with expectations, and was nearly double the 1.3% growth rate in the second quarter.

How has the economy changed your financial values?

The Labor Department said weekly jobless claims eased by 2,000 to 402,000 last week -- also in line with expectations.

Companies: Shares of Exxon Mobil (XOM, Fortune 500) rose after the oil company posted a quarterly profit of $10.3 billion, a 41% increase from a year earlier, thanks to higher oil and gas prices.

Citrix (CTXS) shares jumped, leading the gains on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq. The virtual computing company delivered earnings and a forecast above Wall Street's expectations.

Shares of Akamai Technologies (AKAM) were also sharply higher, after the company posted earnings above estimates and issued a solid outlook. The company also said that its president David Kenny had resigned.

Meanwhile, shares of Avon Products (AVP, Fortune 500) tumbled, after the company said it is being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission for possibly bribing foreign officials.

Currencies and commodities: The dollar fell against the euro, the Japanese yen and the British pound.

Oil for December delivery gained $3.76 to settle at $93.96 a barrel.

Gold futures for December edged up $24.20 $1,747.70 an ounce.

Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell, pushing the yield up to 2.40% from 2.20% late Wednesday.  

First Published: October 27, 2011: 9:40 AM ET