“Ehh, it’s not for you, Tel Aviv — it’s more of a Shelbyville idea.” We doubt a company called skyTran used Lyle Lanley’s pitch, but it just announced that a futuristic train test loop will be built at the Israel Aerospace Industry (IAI) campus in…
You might have been distracted by Microsoft’s colorful glossy Nokia X2 reveal, but Huawei will grab your attention with its somewhat strangely named Honor 6 flagship. Aside from sporting what is touted to be a processor as fast as Qualcomm’s beasts, this smartphone boasts of a incredibly thin bezels that give more space to the device’s screen. That screen measures … Continue reading
Can’t get enough of the World Cup? If you have a Pebble smartwatch on your wrist, it can help you stay up to date on the latest and greatest news, giving you a glimpse of scores and more. How? Using the World Cup 2014 app for Pebble. The World Cup 2014 app for Pebble provides wearers with up-to-date scores and … Continue reading
Robots are all after our jobs! If you’re not convinced entirely yet, then Japan’s latest technological marvel just might. Japanese scientists have revealed to the public a new kind of eerily human-looking android that will be announcing news, arriving in real-time, in near pitch-perfect and fluent Japanese. That pitch, however, might be a bit too high even for Japanese newscaster … Continue reading
Last we heard, the iPhone 6 is expected to begin production come this July. The device is said to be assembled by Apple’s usual partners, Foxconn and Pegatron, and if Apple keeps to their schedule, the iPhone 6 could be announced later this year, possibly in September. That being said, if the rumors are true, when will the phones be released?
Well Apple typically releases their devices about a week or two after they have been announced, and according to a report from Chinese web portal Tencent, word on the street is that the iPhone 6 is expected to go on sale on a Friday, the 19th of September to be exact. Interestingly enough the report claims that Apple will release 32GB and 64GB models, with no word on whether there will be a 16GB model.
However if you’re getting upset that you’re being forced to pay more for the 32GB model, fret not. According to their report, they claim that the 32GB model will be priced the same as the 16GB iPhone 5s, so essentially you’d be getting more for less. However the report did not specify as to which version we are talking about, the 4.7-inch model or the 5.5-inch model.
Earlier it was rumored that the 5.5-inch model would cost $100 more, but based on these prices, it could be that they are referring to the 4.7-inch model. In any case a September launch does seem likely, but as to which day specifically still remains a mystery, so take it with a grain of salt for now.
32GB & 64GB iPhone 6 Models Will Launch On 19th September [Rumor] , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Now assuming that Google does not change the way they name their Android builds, the next Android build could be a dessert based on the letter “L”. Now prior to this, HTC had posted several names which they think could be possible contenders but now according to the folks at Nixanbal, a Bulgarian tech insider website, it seems that the name “Lollipop” has been confirmed.
Lollipop was one of the names that HTC had speculated and we guess it’s not that big of a stretch. They also go on to claim that Google will finally be dropping version 4.x and will be making a jump over to Android 5.0. Prior to this, Google had used Android 4.x for three different builds of Android: Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0), Jelly Bean (4.1-4.3), and KitKat (4.4).
We can only assume that Google’s decision to make the jump to version 5.0 could mean some pretty significant changes that will be made to the platform. We’ve actually been hearing many things about Android lately. For example we have heard that Google could be making some big UI changes with their Quantum Paper design language.
We’ve also heard that Google plans on introducing Google Fit which is a health initiative similar to that of Apple’s HealthKit. In any case take it with a grain of salt for now, but Google I/O is only hours away, so do check back with us then for the details/
Android 5.0 “Lollipop” Confirmed Ahead Of Google I/O [Rumor] , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
About a week ago, Facebook launched Slingshot. The app is meant to be a competitor to Snapchat where users send each other photos, but the main difference is that with Slingshot, users are required to send a photo back to the sender in order to view the photo that was originally sent to them.
We guess this encourages reciprocity unlike Snapchat where the other party does not have to say or do anything at all. That being said, Slingshot was originally launched as an exclusive in the US, but the good news is that according to the Slingshot blog, they have announced that the app will now be open to international users to download.
According to the developers, “Since we launched last week, we’ve heard from lots of people around the world who are excited to give Slingshot a try. Starting today, we’re expanding our initial launch and making Slingshot available internationally!”
The app will be available on both iOS and Android and will be free to download, so if you’re not in the US and you’re wondering what all the fuss is about, then head on over to either the iTunes App Store or the Google Play Store for the download.
Facebook’s Slingshot App Goes International , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
We recently named our picks for the “easiest” overseas retirement destinations (The 7 Easiest Places to Retire Overseas on a Budget)… places where you can easily drop right into expat life, mostly because these spots (like Lake Chapala in Mexico and Boquete, Panama) already have sizeable expat populations.
In these places, you’ll have lots of English speakers to rely on for help and suggestions… Who are the best doctors, where’s the best place to buy kitchen appliances, get your computer repaired, and so on. They’ve been there, done that… they’ve blazed the trail so you don’t have to.
Those selections were also based on distance from home (no more than a three- or four-hour flight from the U.S.) and the availability of quality and affordable medical care.
But what if you want to go farther afield? You don’t care so much about swimming in a sea of fellow expats? Or you care more about swimming in soft Caribbean waters than you do about having a top-notch hospital on your doorstep?
Here then, are our choices for the “next easiest” overseas retirement destinations — places where you’ll still find considerable comforts and where it’s still fairly easy to transition to expat life. Conveniently enough, some are English-speaking countries and some are even very close to home:
Mexico’s Riviera Maya
The Riviera Maya is the area of Mexico’s Caribbean Coast that stretches from Cancun to Tulum. It probably should have made our “Easiest Retirement Destinations” list because it has all the attributes we crave: it’s just a 95-minute flight from Miami to Cancun (just about every airline flies here and fares are very affordable). You’ll also find all the comforts of home, including excellent medical care and scads of English speakers. But therein lies the problem: this is one of the top tourism destinations in the world and that gives this area a bit of a transient feel. And while it wouldn’t break the bank to live here, it’s also not the most affordable destination on the planet, although a budget of $3,000 a month, including rent, should serve you well if you forego the expensive restaurants and nightlife. You’ll definitely want to run your air conditioner, as it can be quite warm most of the year. And yes, there can be hurricanes. Still, this is one of our favorite spots on the planet… you’d be hard pressed to find more beautiful beaches or more outdoor activities to keep you entertained.
Belize
We won’t name just one spot in tiny Belize. It’s only about the size of Rhode Island, so should you decide to explore this Central American country (tucked beside the Caribbean Sea just south of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula), you can easily check out the entire country in just a few days. Our favorite retirement spots include the inland Cayo district, the Corozal district to the north at the border with Mexico; the island of Ambergris Caye; and Placencia town farther south along the coastal mainland.
Belize has much to offer: it’s just a two-hour flight from Miami and the official language is English. If you love water sports, this is your place. You can fish, dive, and snorkel to your heart’s content along its luscious barrier reef. You’ll enjoy a typical Caribbean lifestyle here…think swaying palms, white sands, and turquoise waters accompanied by a lilting reggae beat.
There are some downsides to living here. There can be hurricanes. Also, Belize isn’t known for its medical care. For anything serious you’ll need to head across the border to Chetumal, Mexico. And because Belize isn’t a manufacturing hub nor does it enjoy a lot of agricultural diversity, you’ll pay more for imported items (which is just about everything).
Still, a couple could retire comfortably in Belize on just $3,000 a month, including rent.
Dominican Republic
If you’re looking for the quintessential Caribbean lifestyle, look to the Spanish-speaking Dominican Republic. There are several international airports that can be reached in slightly more than two hours from Miami.
Beaches are extraordinarily beautiful, and you have your choice of Atlantic or Caribbean Coasts. In general, real estate prices are lower here than on other Caribbean islands. And this second-largest island in the Caribbean also has rolling hills where cattle graze and interior highlands where all sorts of produce can be grown, which will positively impact your food bill.
The country shares the island with Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the hemisphere. There is vast disparity between rich and poor and you’ll need to take some security precautions in some areas. Medical care is generally good, although you’ll find the best hospitals and care in the capital city of Santo Domingo. And yes, being the Caribbean, hurricanes are possible.
Our favorite destinations in the Dominican Republic include Las Terrenas, La Romana, and Punta Cana. A comfortable monthly budget: $3,000, which would include your rent.
Cuenca, Ecuador
To many Ecuadorians and expats alike, Cuenca--at an elevation of about 8,300 feet, but practically on the equator–represents the best in city life in Spanish-speaking Ecuador.
It’s smaller than the capital city of Quito, with fewer of the typical big-city problems, but is still big enough (with a metropolitan population of more than 500,000), to offer urban cultural activities and infrastructure conveniences, including very good medical services.
Founded in 1557, Cuenca was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. It’s chock-full of stunning colonial architecture, narrow cobblestone streets, shops, restaurants, and art galleries. Rental prices average $300 to $800 for a two- or three-bedroom furnished apartment close to the central historic district.
It’s said that as many as 4,000 foreigners (mostly retirees) now live in Cuenca, and the typical expat couple reports they’re living comfortably on a budget of $1,800 a month, which includes rent.
For now, the cost of gasoline in Ecuador is less than $1.50 a gallon, and therefore both public and private transportations costs are low, and most expats choose not to own a car.
One drawback to living here is that Ecuador’s two international airports are located in Quito and in the country’s second-largest city of Guayaquil. Getting to Cuenca requires an additional domestic flight or a several-hour drive.
Cotacachi, Ecuador
At a slightly lower elevation than Cuenca, this tiny Andean village offers (arguably) better weather than Cuenca with more sunny days and less rain. Still, it’s green year round and just about anything grows here, from tomatoes to avocados to limes and strawberries.
To get to Cotacachi you’ll fly to Quito (four hours and 20 minutes from Miami) and then travel two hours by car. There is a good-sized expat community (perhaps 500) in an overall population of about 8,500. It is a small town, however, so be prepared for the challenges that come with that.
Adequate medical care can be found 40 minutes away in the city of Ibarra, but for anything serious you’ll need to travel two hours to Quito.
Because there are few big city temptations, a couple can live comfortably in Cotacachi on about $1,600 a month, including rent.
Penang, Malaysia
If you crave adventure and the opportunity to see the world from a new perspective, and live extremely affordably, you’ll be elated in Southeast Asia. On the other hand, if you’re looking for a comfortable and easy alternative to your North American lifestyle, this may not be the place for you.
Asian languages are difficult to learn. That’s not the case in Malaysia, where English is the unofficial first language. Many foreign retirees are more tempted to live on Penang Island, which can be accessed via its own international airport or from a 50-minute flight from the capital city of Kuala Lumpur.
In Penang, you can rent a stylish three-bedroom, three-bathroom sea-view apartment for $950 a month and eat out five nights a week, on a total budget of less than $1,800 a month. Health care is world-class (it’s a top medical-tourism destination) and extremely affordable. The only drawback is the distance from the States–generally plan on 24 hours or more of travel time.
Málaga, Spain
Spain was hard hit by the global economic crisis of recent years, largely thanks to its oversupply of housing, especially in resort destinations. You may find distress-sale bargains, but be sure to do considerable due diligence.
Málaga, on Spain’s southern Mediterranean coast, is the gateway to the Costa del Sol, long one of Spain’s biggest beach-tourism regions.
A city of more than a million people, Málaga is lovely and lively, with plenty of shops and museums, and food to die for. It’s also a major business and financial center.
While Spanish is still spoken everywhere, you’ll get by in English perfectly well. Apartments or condos in the city center tend to be small by U.S. standards — a two-bedroom apartment is about 969 square feet, and long-term leases in the city center start at about $975 a month for an unfurnished two-bedroom apartment.
A couple should be able to live comfortably here on $3,000 a month all in, although you’ll find lower rents and reduce your overall costs by looking farther from the center and away from the water.
You may also choose to look in the seaside villages farther along the coast where bus and suburban train services to Málaga are convenient and frequent. For affordable fares from New York to Málaga, you’re transit will be through Madrid. Plan on 12 hours of travel time from the U.S.
Related Articles:
10 Reasons to Live in Ecuador
I Thank My Lucky Stars That I Moved To Penang, Malaysia
Living The Dream In Balmy Belize
Earlier on Huff/Post50:
Peggy Scott just returned home from a lovely jaunt through Italy and Greece with her college daughter, Abigail. Abby was finishing up a semester abroad and her Mom joined her over there. Peggy’s Facebook feed was filled with photos of the two of them posing in front of Roman fountains, sitting at seaside tables set with scrumptious food. It was a trip where Abby, having spent the semester abroad and with a newly acquired knowledge of all things European, took the lead on many occasions.
Said Peggy to me after: “Abby led me around the streets of Rome, and the Metro, with a confidence I had not seen before. This was my first international trip with an iPhone; she helped me figure out the best ways to use it (airplane mode so no extra charges, making the most of WiFi when we had it) and easily converting euros … She kept track [of everything].”
We all watch proudly when our kids do this. We visit them in the cities where they go to college or the country where they have been semestering abroad and they show us how they navigate the public transit system, how they know the place with the best tamales and want to take us there, they are on a first-name basis with the boutique owner in Paris who has the best bargains. It’s a great thing, right? They have figured things out on their own and at least for the moment, they become the teacher and we, the student.
I recently slipped into this role switch myself with my 16-year-old daughter. It was when one of the bulbs in our recessed kitchen lighting blew out. That’s right, you may say it: She can’t even change a lightbulb. Truth is, the light bulb isn’t the problem for me; climbing up a ladder is. That ladder might as well be Mt. Everest for me; I’m terrified of heights. I actually ride ski lifts with my eyes shut and rely on my seat mate to tell me when to open them. I hiked down the Grand Canyon in a stare-down with mules coming up, ignoring the mule master (is that even an actual job title?) shouting how I needed to stay to the right. I clung to the mountain wall, whichever side it was on. Scream on, mule master.
And then there was the lightbulb that blew out. I knew my daughter would do it if I asked her. My kids have always been helpful people so there wasn’t even any arm-twisting involved. Sophie scrambled up the ladder like a surefooted billy goat, changed out the bulb, and scrambled on down. But then she delivered the blow: “Mom, do you want me to help you get over your fear of heights? We can practice together. You can do this.”
There it was! Not just her words, but the tone of her voice. It was a “Mom, let me show you how I can order in French” moment. It was “Follow me, Mom. We want this train.” It was “Mom, I am the teacher and you are the student.”
She even used the same inflection that I used when she was little and I was trying to get her to try something new. “Let’s try ice skating together! It looks like fun, doesn’t it?”
It’s hard to stay which I was less ready for: learning to climb a ladder at age 64 or having my daughter become my teacher. Truth is, I’ve already learned so much about life from raising my kids that there have been times I’ve thought they were placed in my arms just to educate me.
As Peggy Scott told me, on her first day in Rome while she simply followed Abby’s lead, she realized she was experiencing a role reversal and “I actually liked it a lot.”
And so, with my daughter’s steady hands bracing the ladder and my eyes wide open, I have just made it to the third rung — a height where I can reach the ceiling and change my own lightbulbs. Yes Sweetie, you may now go away to college. Mom’s ready.
Peggy and Abigail Scott in front of Pegasus.
Earlier on Huff/Post50:
SPECIAL FROM Grandparents.com
Where do you begin to look for someone you haven’t seen in 10, 20, maybe 50 years? Where do you start when all you have is a name and a face in a high school yearbook and no mutual friends?
I sat next to a boy freshman year. It was 1960. He shared his candy with me. He drew comic strips that made me laugh. We were good friends. And then we graduated and 50 years went by. A few months ago, someone told me he had died. I didn’t want to believe it.
So I decided to see for myself. Three days into my search for him, I was still at square one. I couldn’t find an obituary. I couldn’t find a news story. I called our high school and they knew nothing. I Googled, but everything was a dead end. I called every phone number I found that might have a connection to him. All had been disconnected.
Then, bingo, one wasn’t. It was a South Carolina number. It was listed as belonging to a nephew, but a woman answered. It was one of Jack’s sisters. And she said he was alive and well.
I was this close to giving up. I’d been in a maze. But a maze has a way out and I found it. Jack’s had a good life. He’s happy.
It’s simple enough to find someone, anyone, though it can be time consuming and very, very frustrating. But if you don’t give up and you just keep digging, it’s possible to discover what happened to the sweet boy or girl who was your friend a lifetime ago.
Track-Them-Down Tips
Note: I know you’re wondering about my big reunion with Jack. Turns out he is ultra-private and very spiritual. He has few ties with anyone from the past. I have not talked to him, but I did message him that I was glad he has had a good life. And you know what? That was enough for me. Seeing his picture that his sister shared with me, seeing the serenity in his face was worth all the digging and the sleuthing.
Read more from Grandparents.com:
The 7 worst things you can say to a friend on a diet
7 friends you’d be better off without
How to help a sick friend
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
