Top 10 Kid Friendly Cities for Vacation With Children

What are the top 10 cities in the world to visit with children? Families often make travel plans depending upon how kid friendly a particular location is for vacation.


SINGAPORE (Reuters Life!) - Many cities can be overwhelming for young travelers, but some are as much fun for the kids as the grown-ups.


Lonely Planet's "Travel With Children" guide lists the top 10 cities around the world that are ideal to visit with children. This list is not endorsed by Reuters:


1. Oaxana, Mexico

This colorful Mexican city is pint-sized, charming and fun to explore on foot. A central plaza provides plenty of run-around space for kids and there's a vibrant market. www.visitmexico.com


2. Istanbul, Turkey

With its mosques, palaces, museums, bazaars, multicolored carpets, food markets, Bosphorus cruises and sweet apple tea, the children will be fascinated and enchanted at every turn. www.tourismturkey.org


3. London, Britain

You could stay in London for a whole year and find interesting things to do with the children every day. In summer don't miss out on playing in the fountains at Somerset House where there's an outdoor ice-skating rink in the winter. www.visitlondon.com


4. Los Angeles, United States

A good destination for teenagers -- choose between the original Disneyland, Universal Studios and Santa Monica. There's heaps to see and do in this sprawling city that encapsulates the American Dream. www.discoverlosangeles.com


5. Vancouver, Canada

Vancouver is frequently named the most liveable city in the world. There's lots of water as well as beaches, a huge urban park (Stanley Park) and numerous hiking and biking trails. In addition, all the attractions of the Rocky Mountains are just over 100 km (62 miles) away. http://vancouver.ca/visitors.htm


6. Lisbon, Portugal

With trams trundling up to a castle, a state-of-the-art aquarium and a fascinating museum that explores Portugal's great seafaring past, this city captivates kids. The fairy-tale town of Sintra, too, is a just a short train ride away. www.lisbon-guide.info


7. Copenhagen, Denmark

Oozes old-world charm, with a compact city center, a lively waterfront and pedestrian-only zones. Thrilling rides at Tivoli Gardens and Bakken, a royal palace and museums designed especially for children will keep you busy. www.visitcopenhagen.com


8. Singapore

Safe, clean and accessible, Singapore is a gentle introduction to the cities of Southeast Asia -- and an excellent jetlag-busting pit stop on the long haul between Europe and Australasia. Also, Sentosa Island with its beaches, butterfly park, dolphin lagoon and underwater world has to be seen to be believed. www.visitsingapore.com


9. Sydney, Australia

If beaches, swimming pools and numerous ferries aren't enough, there's Sydney Aquarium, Taronga Zoo and the Koala Park Sanctuary, which are all huge hits with the young ones. www.sydney.com.au


10. Rome, Italy

With some of Italy's best gelato, the impressive Colosseum and Castel Sant-Angelo, spooky catacombs under Via Appia Antica and the green spaces of Villa Borghese, the challenge in Rome is not to do too much. www.romaturismo.it






» read entire post «

Megan Fox to Face media Blackout on Aug 4

What?? Boycott the world's Sexiest Woman? meganfox01 You got to be kidding me! Yep, that was my initial reaction as well. But relax, its not as bad as it sounds. The "Media Blackout" is just for one day ... but its going to be a looong day, correct?




Alright, so here's the scoop.


The editors of America’s biggest male websites seem to believe that they have given fans an overdose of Megan Fox this summer, so they've decided to boycott news related to her for a day.



meganfox07

Section of the media has vowed to disengage her from the limelight and not cover any news related to her nor publish her pictures on one particular day.




meganfox06


“We”re joining in the media blackout and giving our readers a one-day reprieve from the woman we”ve been drowning in all summer,” the Daily Express quoted James Bassil, AskMen.com editor, as saying.





meganfox03

The Transformers star has made a lot of news in the past year and has been regularly voted as the sexiest women in the world.




meganfox04 Now, websites serving men fantasies are planning to replace Fox with some other hottie as the pin-up girl. The question is, will they ever be replace Megan Fox?





Eric Rogell at TheBachelorGuy.com said: “It’s time to give another young actress a shot at the attention. meganfox05 We”re taking a one-day break from covering Megan’’s latest nail polish color and instead promoting another Next Big Thing.”





The Megan Fox 'media blackout' will take place on 4 August. (ANI) So mark the date and be prepared for the blackout.







» read entire post «

Technology in 2015 - Humor

We expect that by the year 2015 there will be integrated network of systems sharing our personal data such as medical history, geographic details, family details, credit history etc. Imagine having a fully integrated ID card system wherein each individual has a unique ID number (similar to SSN in US or a PAN card, for instance). Any authorized person (or unauthorized for that matter!) can look up your entire kundli (from cradle to grave of not just you but anyone ever associated with you).


You got the picture? Ok, just for giggles, imagine this hypothetical conversation when John Smith phones Pizza Hut to place an order.



Operator: "Thank you for calling Pizza Hut. May I have your..."

Customer: "Yellow!, can I order.."

Operator: "Can I have your GIS ID (Global Individual Social ID) card number first, Sir?"

Customer: "It's he..., hold..........on......001-88986-1356102-049998-45-54610"

Operator: "OK... You're... Mr John Smith and you're calling from 17 MyPlace. Your home number is 322678893, your office 825076666 and your mobile is 105069798888. Is there any info update required, Sir?"

Customer: "Home! How did you get all my phone numbers?

Operator: "We are connected to the system, Sir"

Customer: "May I order your Seafood Pizza..."

Operator: "That's not a good idea Sir"

Customer: "How come?"

Operator: "According to your medical records, you have high blood pressure and even higher cholesterol level Sir"

Customer: "What?... What do you recommend then?"

Operator: "Try our Low Fat Pizza. You'll like it"

Customer: "How do you know for sure?"

Operator: "You borrowed a book entitled "Popular Dishes" from the National Library last week Sir"

Customer: "OK I give up... Give me three family size ones then, how much will that cost?"

Operator: "That should be enough for your family of 5, Sir. The total is $132.76"

Customer: "Can I pay by! Credit card?"

Operator: "I'm afraid you have to pay us cash, Sir. Your credit card is over the limit and you owe your bank $ 17,051.75 since October last year. That's not including the late payment charges on your housing loan, Sir.."

Customer: "I guess I have to run to the neighborhood ATM and withdraw some cash before your guy arrives"

Operator: "You can't Sir. Based on the records, you've reached your daily limit on machine withdrawal today"

Customer: "Never mind just send the pizzas, I'll have the cash ready. How long is it gonna take anyway?"

Operator: "About 45 minutes Sir, but if you can't wait you can always come and collect it on your Nano Car..."

Customer: " What!"

Operator: "According to the details in system ,you own a Nano car,...registration number GZ-05-AB-1107.."

Customer: " ????"

Operator: "Is there anything else Sir?"

Customer: "Nothing... By the way... Aren't you giving me that 3 free bottles of cola as advertised?"

Operator: "We normally would Sir, but based on your records you're also diabetic....... "

Customer: #$$^%&$@$% ^

Operator: "Better watch your language Sir.. Remember on 10th July this year you were convicted of using abusive language on a Nun...?"

Customer: ............( Faints ) !!!!!!




Fact or Fiction? We'll wait until 2015 to answer that!





» read entire post «

Hackers Could Control Your iPhone With SMS Message

According to security researchers, hackers could take over your iPhone. The method they use is extremely simple - a text message containing 1 square character. The hack would come in the form of a burst of SMS messages that contain a single character. Researchers have found a flaw in the way the device handles text messages which could allow hackers complete control of the phone. If your iPhone gets infected, the hackers could do the following:

  • Control dialing the phone
  • Visiting websites
  • Control the phones camera
  • Send texts to other iPhones, allowing control of them too

On Thursday, two researchers (Charlie Miller and Collin Mulliner) plan to reveal an un-patched iPhone bug that could virally infect phones via SMS. The two researchers plan to demonstrate ( during a speech to the Black Hat CyberSecurity Conference) how a series of 512 SMS messages can exploit the bug, with only one of those messages actually appearing on the phone, showing a small square. Miller cautions that someone could easily design the attack to show a different message or without any visible messages. The entire process of infecting an iPhone and then using the device to infect another iPhone on the user's contact list would take only a few minutes, Miller says.

If you receive a text message on your iPhone any time after Thursday (7/30) afternoon containing only a single square character, Miller would suggest you turn the device off. Quickly! Miller said: "This is serious. The only thing you can do to prevent it is turn off your phone. Someone could pretty quickly take over every iPhone in the world with this."

They have informed Apple about the potential bug that could take over all iPhones in the world about a month ago. However, Apple still hasn't released a patch to combat these potential hacks.

The new attacks, can strike a phone without any action on the part of the user and are virtually unpreventable while the phone is powered on, according to Miller and Mulliner's research.

The researchers say they've also found a similar texting bug in Windows Mobile that allows complete remote control of Microsoft based devices. Another SMS bug in Google's Android phones would purportedly allow a hacker to knock a phone off its wireless network for about 10 seconds with a series of text messages. The trick could be repeated again and again to keep the user offline, Miller says. Google has apparently released a patch for its Android based mobile phones.





» read entire post «

Holland Village with No Roadways, Only Waterways

It would sound unbelievable that there is a small village in Holland named Giethoorn in Netherlands where no roads exist. There are just waterways and therefore, the only mode of public transport is by boats. Don't believe, check these pictures.




Giethoorn, a village in the Dutch province of Overijssel, is an international tourist attraction in the Netherlands. There are no roads in the old part of the village. More recently a cycling path has been developed. The only means of mass transportation is by boats in the long nerves of waterways.




The major industry here is tourism. Tourists can use Whisper Boat (an electric powered boat, which hardly makes any noise). Depending upon the size of the boat it can take up to a maximum of 8 adults.






Check here for additional pictures of this beautiful village and their way of life.








» read entire post «

Bing-hoo!

Microsoft and Yahoo announced today that they are joining forces in a quest to compete against Internet giant Google, signing a 10-year agreement that will allow the two companies to share search engine technology and advertisement revenue. Google's initial response was, "you know competition is good for this market".


Microsoft plans to control the technology and results for Yahoo’s power search, while Yahoo continues to organize ad sales and monitor customer service. Yahoo’s audience will triple Bing’s US market share by 28% instantly.


Last year, Microsoft was so desperate to shore up its lagging position in Web-search advertising that it offered more than $45 billion to buy Yahoo, the No. 2 search player. Now, not buying Yahoo is looking like one of the smartest things Microsoft ever did. Instead of spending hordes of cash (and grappling with a messy integration of another company's employees, culture and technology) Microsoft got what it wanted from Yahoo for a modest amount of money and a lot fewer headaches.


Under the terms of the deal, aimed at creating a stronger competitor to Google Inc, Microsoft's new Bing search engine will power queries on Yahoo's sites. In return, Microsoft will pay Yahoo 88 percent of revenue from advertisements generated from these sites. In other words, Yahoo will use Microsoft's Bing search engine and collect 88% of the advertising revenue for the first five years of the 10-year pact.


In theory, that means Microsoft gets more traffic to refine its search technology and build up its ad base, while Yahoo gets revenue from search ads without the expense of managing its own search engine.


The deal appears to end a long saga between the companies, after Yahoo rebuffed Microsoft's $47.5 billion takeover bid last year. Yahoo became open to the idea of syndication with Microsoft after the company’s reorganized search engine Bing gained momentum early on in June this year.


"It's a win-win deal from my perspective," he said, adding that he was surprised by the steep fall in Yahoo's shares.


Yahoo's 88 percent share of search ad revenue is a "big number", said Ballmer, considering the company will have a "zero percent" cost of obtaining that revenue.


For Microsoft, he said the deal means it gets more Internet traffic, enabling it to refine its search technology, which should lead to more interest from ad buyers and hence better prices for its ads.






» read entire post «

Believe it Or Not!

Is this coincidence? You decide ...





Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.

John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.

Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.

John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.

The names Lincoln and Kennedy each contain seven letters.

Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.

Both wives lost their children while living in the White House.

Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.

Both Presidents were shot in the head.

Both were shot in presence of their wives.

The secretary of each President warned them not to go, to the theatre and to Dallas,respectively.

Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy.

Kennedy's secretary was named Lincoln.

Both were assassinated by Southerners.

Both were succeeded by Southerners.

Both successors were named Johnson.

Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln,was born in 1808.

Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy,was born in 1908.

John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839.

Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.

Both assassins were known by their three names.

Both names are comprised of fifteen letters.

Lincoln was shot at the theatre named 'Kennedy.'

Kennedy was shot in a car called 'Lincoln.'

Booth ran from the theatre and was caught in a warehouse.

Oswald ran from a warehouse and was caught in a theatre.

Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials.



And here's the kicker ...


A week before Lincoln was shot, he was in Monroe,Maryland.

A week before Kennedy was shot, he was in Maryland, Monroe.



So what do you think? Coincidence?? Let us know.





» read entire post «

What are other's reading?

A Blast from the Past!

    Followers

    Blog Archive

    Loading...
    
    
     

    Aspire to Inspire before you Expire!

    theFundooGeek! is our perspective about everything that we see around us. It has content for finance, sports, life, technology, software, philosophical thoughts etc.