Officially Doctored Image of Prime Minister Modi at Chennai Floods Causes Scorn In India

The collective sadness at the devastation due towidespread flooding in southern India this week briefly gave way to outrage — and mockery — as the Indian government’s Press Information Bureau (PIB) tweeted an embarrassingly doctored photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi surveying the submerged city of Chennai from the air.

The Photoshopped tweet, superimposing a clearer porthole view on an existing image that Modi himself had tweeted, was quickly deleted from the PIB feed — but not before the screenshot-enabled jokesters of Twitter got a hold of it.

Most users, however, slammed the government agency for what they saw as an unnecessary edit given that Modi did actually conduct the aerial survey.

HBO’s Genius Strategy for Handling Jon Snow’s Resurrection

After months of claiming, “Jon Snow is dead,” HBO has done something rather clever. They’ve slapped the face of a very much alive (though bloody) Jon Snow on a poster and teased his comeback in a trailer for Game of Thrones‘ upcoming sixth season. It’s a savvy move that both satiates and intrigues fans.

Because here’s the thing: Jon Snow is alive. Or at least he’s up and moving—his quality of life is still in question. Actor Kit Harington has been reportedly spotted on set in Belfast. And in the words of George R.R. Martin, author of source material A Song of Ice and Fire “If there’s one thing we know in A Song of Ice and Fire is that death is not necessarily permanent.”

So rather than dragging out the debate—Redditors are still bickering over the topic six months after that adorable traitor Olly shivved Jon Snow—HBO is basically admitting that we will see Harington’s long locks again.

The new trailer shows no new material from season six, instead offering the audience a brief recap of the terrible things our beloved Starks have suffered through while intoning, “The past is already written. The ink is dry.” But just as this statement is uttered we get a shot of Jon bleeding out followed quickly by one of Bran warging. Could they be related? You decide.

While this will surely fuel more debate about Jon Snow’s fate—which can only be good for HBO—it will also put to rest its rather exhausting efforts to trick the audience. Just in the last year, culture fans have been rebelling against the fake-out. They didn’t buy the untimely demise of Glenn on The Walking Dead nor was anyone surprised when Christoph Waltz’s character was revealed to be Bond’s longtime nemesis Blofeld in Spectre. Even writer Damon Lindelof admitted this week that keeping the identity of Benedict Cumberbatch’s character Khan a secret in Star Trek Into Darkness was a bad call. Claims to the contrary felt shallow. Campaigns to fool the audience insulted intelligent viewers.

Perhaps HBO learned from these incidents, but thankfully poor Kit Harington won’t have to field any “But really, is he dead?” questions anymore—just “How is he alive?” questions. It’s a smart decision by a network and show that have already suffered through plenty of backlash. Well done, HBO.

Amazon Wants Holograms In Your Living Room

A diagram showing how the proposed technology could work

Augmented reality usually means wearing a clunky headset, but Amazon says it could bring holograms to your living room without the ugly spectacles.

Amazon says a ceiling-mounted node could be used to track the movement of all people in a room.

A projector would then use this data to create glasses-free holograms that could be controlled using your hands.

It is unclear what uses Amazon has in mind for the technology.

The patent document describes the setup as "a room equipped with computerised projection and imaging systems that enable presentation of images on various objects within the room to facilitate user interaction with the images and/or objects".

The company has tried - and failed - to experiment with movement-tracking in the past.

Amazon's Fire Phone featured six front-facing cameras which tracked the movement of its user.

However, the device did not sell well and it was eventually discontinued.

If Amazon does use the patents, it is likely to be years before holograms at home become a reality.

Microsoft appears to be the main competitor in the field - it's releasing its HoloLens headset next year.

Story of how US soldier saved 200 Jews is finally told

Roddie Edmonds is the first US soldier to receive Israel's Righteous Among the Nations honor, 70 years after he risked his life to save 200 Jews. The native of Knoxville, Tenn., was captured in the Battle of the Bulge in late 1944 and held at German POW camp Staleg IXA, according to Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum.

When the Nazis ordered all Jewish-American POWs to step forward on Jan. 27, 1945, Edmonds—the highest-ranking noncommissioned officer at the camp—ordered 1,000 US soldiers to do so, regardless of their religion, per the AP.

"They cannot all be Jews!" a German commander said, per Yad Vashem. "We are all Jews here," Edmonds replied, adding soldiers didn't need to divulge their religion under the Geneva Conventions.

The commander then put a gun to Edmonds' head. He said, "'I'll give you one more chance. Have the Jewish men step forward or I will shoot you on the spot,'" Edmonds' son, the Rev.

Chris Edmonds, tells NPR. "They said my dad paused, and said, 'If you shoot, you'll have to shoot us all.'" The commander yielded. Chris Edmonds believes his dad's move saved 200 lives.

Edmonds died in 1985 and his untold story nearly died with him. How it surfaced is fascinating: Some time after his father's death, Chris Edmonds read an article about Richard Nixon's purchase of a tony Manhattan townhouse from a man named Lester Tanner—who mentioned that Edmonds saved his life.

The son then embarked on a quest to find Tanner. Edmonds was honored on Wednesday as only the fifth American to receive the Israeli honor, the country's highest for non-Jews who undertook heroic acts in WWII.

He is now being considered for a Congressional Medal of Honor. (Read about another WWII hero.)

Farage's Fury Over Oldham By-Election Result

Nigel Farage (R) with UKIP's Oldham West candidate John Bickley

As candidates were told about the outcome behind closed doors, the UKIP leader tweeted: "As a veteran of over thirty by-elections, I have never seen such a perverse result. Serious questions need to be asked."

Mr Farage later claimed he had evidence from an "impeccable source" that postal voting was "bent".

According to Sky's Political Editor Faisal Islam, UKIP supporters were "angry and annoyed" as the votes were counted.

Labour's Jim McMahon saw off the party's challenge with a majority of more than 10,000 and an increased share of the vote.

John Bickley collected 2,405 fewer votes than UKIP's candidate back in May - although the turnout was considerably higher at the General Election.

He claimed the postal voting system was "not fit for democracy right now", while UKIP's deputy leader Paul Nuttall said postal votes had "distorted the result".

Mr Nuttall said: "We should go back to the old system where you had to give a good reason why you can't get off your backside and go down to a polling booth.

"That would make it fair again. That would make polling day actually mean something."

Mr McMahon, the leader of Oldham Council, dismissed Mr Farage's accusations of irregularity.

""There is nothing wrong with people making a democratic decision not to support UKIP," he said.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the result was a "vote of confidence in our party".

"Jim McMahon will make an excellent MP and a worthy successor to Michael Meacher, and I am looking forward to welcoming him to Labour's team at Westminster," he said.

"Jim ran a great campaign, focusing on bringing jobs to Oldham and giving every child the best opportunities.

"By-elections can be difficult for the party holding the seat, and turnouts are often low. But to increase our share of the vote since the general election is a vote of confidence in our party."

Mr McMahon polled 17,209 votes, with Mr Bickley trailing him in second on 6,487, a majority of 10,722.

Yahoo redesigns its Messenger to let you take back messages

Yahoo launched a next-generation messaging platform Thursday in an ambitious bid to steal a march on a crowded field, as rumors swirled that the Internet pioneer is considering selling its core business.

New Yahoo Messenger apps were released in English for smartphones or tablets powered by Apple or Android software, as were versions of the service tailored for use on the Web or on desktop computers.

The updated instant messaging platform is replacing its predecessor in Yahoo's free email service, which boasts 225 million monthly users.

It is the first complete remake of Yahoo Messenger since it was introduced 17 years ago and comes as smartphone lifestyles have led to a booming trend of firing off digital missives or photos at nearly any opportunity.

Yahoo is up against some well-established rivals such as WhatsApp, Snapchat, iMessenger and Facebook Messenger.

'Yahoo decided it was time to build a ground-up rewrite of the platform that was completely modern and prepares Yahoo to ship really disruptive innovative features,' Yahoo Messenger senior director of product management, Austin Shoemaker, said while giving AFP a look at the platform.

The new messaging service integrates features from Yahoo-owned Flickr, Tumblr, and Xobni.

Yahoo Messenger lets people quickly share large batches of high-resolution images, and taps into the library at blogging platform Tumblr to let people add animated GIFs to conversations as easily as inserting emojis.

The ability to 'unsend' comments or images was also added to Yahoo Messenger. 

Posts that are 'unsent' vanish from conversation threads at the service.

'We are glad to be blending ephemeral messaging and persistent messaging in a novel way,' Shoemaker said.

'It's way better than having no control at all.'

New Yahoo Messenger also lets people 'mute' conversations to be spared from being bothered by notifications when they would rather focus their attention elsewhere.

Yahoo is smoothing the transition from the old to the new version of its messenger service, helping import contact lists and making sure people can connect with one another regardless of which they use.

The old version of Yahoo Messenger will be eventually phased out, according to Shoemaker.

He billed the redesigned service as a 'solid foundation' for creatively weaving messaging into other Yahoo online properties, apps or services.

There were no immediate plans to monetize Yahoo Messenger. But, Shoemaker noted, such services are proven to attract and engage users, which should lead to opportunities for generating revenue.

'The messaging space has grown dramatically, yet people ultimately want a fast and easy way to communicate with each other,' said Yahoo senior vice president of engineering Jeff Bonforte.

'The new Yahoo Messenger was designed first and foremost to meet those needs.

The transformed Yahoo Messenger arrived as reports circulated that members of the board at the Silicon Valley firm are mulling whether it should sell its core business instead of its Alibaba stake.

A hedge fund with a stake in Yahoo urged the Internet giant last month to drop its planned spinoff of its stake in China's Alibaba and instead sell the 'core' search business.

The hedge fund was worried about the plan to transfer the Alibaba stake to the new company and distributing stock in what could amount to a taxable gift of $30 billion to shareholders.

£130k Plane Could Be Perfect For Your Commute

An aviation firm says its new cut-price two-seater plane that can take off vertically could be your answer.

Most planes need runways to take off, ruling them out as an option for people with just a garden.

But Joby Aviation's S2 VTOL aircraft is fitted with 16 propellers that allow it to take off and land vertically.

Once it reaches cruising altitude and speed, they fold away into aerodynamic bullet shapes.

It can then reach 200mph using four cruise-optimised props on the backs of the wings.

It can reach 200mph using cruise-optimised props on the backs of the wings

The propellers are electric, meaning they are not as noisy as a helicopter takeoff, so you won't annoy your neighbours.

While private jets cost millions, Joby Aviation says it thinks it can produce the S2 for just $200,000 (£133,000) each.

Because the aircraft is powered by electricity rather than fuel, the firm says its economical to run.

It also needs five times less energy than traditional flight modes, meaning it is more environmentally friendly.

In an interview with ReadWrite, Joby Aviation founder JoeBen Bevrit said: "If we can build an aircraft which is quiet, safe, and efficient, and you get door-to-door at five times the speed of ground transport, it will radically change life.

"It will have a transformative effect.