I don't have the team where I want it on a footballing level

Gerardo Martino has admitted that he's not 100% happy with the level Barça is playing at. "In terms of the team's league positions then that's fine, but I don't have the team where I want it on a footballing level. There have been games when I felt we were almost there, but there have been other times when we've been further from the mark. We need more consistency in our game to get to our best. If any team loses two games in a row then it's because it hasn't done well. We've spoken about how to improve", he said.

"You can see the group's unity from its defeats"

"You can see the group's unity from its defeats. We've spoken quite a bit since the two losses and the conversations with the group have left me feeling satisfied. I got the feeling that the team played against Cartagena with a lot of self-esteem and humility, understanding the moment we were going through".

The Argentine coach assessed the importance of the Celtic game. "Given the consequences that every game has in Barcelona, it is very important to finish top of the group. We need to win and put on a good display. We need to distance ourselves from playing within our comfort zone. Every game has consequences for us, with more of them negative than positive", he said.

"This game will serve to demonstrate that we can play better"

"We need to be precise in building and spreading play. We need to imagine the game being played in 30 metres of the pitch. We'll need to be precise to avoid Celtic counter-attacks, because otherwise there'll be consequences if we don't press well", he explained.

"This game will serve to underline what happened the other day and to demonstrate that we can play better. A win would give us the most points in the group and leave us feeling calm in knowing we finished top. Everything about this game is important", he said.

Apple wins patent for curved touch-screen design

Will a future iPhone adopt a curved display?

(Credit: Apple)

Apple seems to have its eye on the curved display market, at least as evidenced by a newly awarded patent.

Granted Tuesday by the US Patent and Trademark Office, a patent dubbed simply "Curved touch sensor" outlines a technical process to achieve higher-quality curved displays. Current sensor displays are typically very thin, so thin that their components can sometimes be damaged during the fabrication process. Apple has a way around that.

The patent suggests placing a thin film over a flexible substrate while the substrate is flat. This new pattern is then joined to a flexible substrate. A high level of heat is applied, allowing the substrate to be manipulated into a curved state without warping or other defects.

The resulting sensor display can be thinner than the traditional flat-substrate design and offer a higher degree of sensitivity. The technology would fit most naturally into a smartphone, but Apple also sees its use in touchpads, mice, and other devices.

(Credit: Apple/USPTO)

Here's a technical description of the display manufacturing from Apple's patent:

A method of forming a curved touch surface is disclosed. The method can include depositing and patterning a conductive thin film on a flexible substrate to form at least one touch sensor pattern, while the flexible substrate is in a flat state. According to certain embodiments, the method can include supporting the flexible substrate in the flat state on at least one curved forming substrate having a predetermined curvature; and performing an anneal process, or an anneal-like high-heat process, on the conductive thin film, wherein the anneal process can cause the flexible substrate to conform to the predetermined curvature of the at least one curved forming substrate. According to an embodiment, the curved forming substrate can include a first forming substrate having a first predetermined curvature and a second forming substrate having a second predetermined curvature complementing the first predetermined curvature.

Samsung and LG have both already dipped their toes into the market for phones with curved displays. Samsung's Galaxy Round bows horizontally, while the LG G Flex is curved vertically and includes a self-healing feature that reportedly can fix scratches in mere seconds.

Pakistan, Iran agree to speed up work on gas pipeline project

Foreign Office statement did not say when the pipeline would be completed. PHOTO: FILE

ISLAMABAD: In the strongest signal in months, Pakistan announced on Tuesday it had agreed with Iran to speed up implementation of the much-delayed gas pipeline project designed to link Iran’s giant South Pars gas field with consumers in South Asia.

The United States opposes the $7.5-billion project because it could violate sanctions imposed on Iran over nuclear activities Washington suspects are aimed at developing an atom bomb, although Tehran denies this.

The announcement comes after the Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi traveled to Tehran with a high powered delegation to kick start work on the pipeline. Facing a massive energy crisis, gas for consumers was curbed for two days in Punjab on Tuesday, highlighting just how severe the crisis is and how badly Pakistan needs the gas injection from Iran.

But little progress has been made on the pipeline in Pakistan for lack of funds and warnings it could be in violation of US sanctions, threatening string of aid that Pakistan gets.

Iran, for its part, has spent hundreds of millions of dollars and nearly completed the 900-km (560 mile) pipeline to the Pakistan border.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs release said both sides had agreed to speed up work to finish construction of the pipeline.

“It was also agreed that a meeting will be held shortly between the experts of both sides to review parameters for accelerating work on I-P Gas pipeline,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

It did not say when the pipeline would be completed. Abbasi was accompanied by Secretary Petroleum Abid Saeed and MD of the Pakistan’s Interstate State Gas System Mobin Saulat.

The major enabler for the breakthrough could be the pact between Iran and global powers that would see the US relax some of the restrictions.

Iran agreed with six world powers last month to curb its nuclear programme in return for some easing of sanctions in a landmark pact seen as a first step towards resolving a decade-old dispute over the nation’s nuclear programme.

Under the contract, Iran would export 21.5 million cubic meters of gas per day to Pakistan from next year.

Jolie, Pitt enjoy yacht outing with kids

Hollywood star couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt with their six children went for a yacht outing. SOURCE: HUFFINGTONPOST.COM

SYDNEY: Hollywood star couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were recently clicked together when they took their six children for a yacht outing here.

Pitt and Jolie booked a luxury yacht for a day of family fun with all of their kids -Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, Knox and Vivienne – at Sydney Harbor, reports eonline.com.

They spent the day on water and Pitt is seen taking his family’s pictures when he is not relaxing and looking at the water.

PayPal president David Marcus: Bitcoin is good, NFC is bad

The leader of the payments business looks to the future and says Bitcoin is a good idea -- but not yet actually a currency. Tap-to-pay, meanwhile, is a dud.

PayPal President David Marcus at LeWeb

(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)

PARIS -- Online payments will look completely different in the next decade, and Bitcoin has a better chance at revolutionizing commerce than the NFC tap-to-pay technology, PayPal President David Marcus predicted Tuesday.

"I really like Bitcoin. I own bitcoins," Marcus said at the LeWeb conference here. However, he believes people today don't correctly understand what bitcoins actually are, and he's not yet ready to let people link their bitcoin wallets with their PayPal accounts.

People are confused. They think because it's called cryptocurrency it's a currency. I don't think it is a currency. It's a store of value, a distributed ledger. It's a great place to put assets, especially in places like Argentina with 40 percent inflation, where $1 today is worth 60 cents in a year, and a government's currency does not hold value. It's also a good investment vehicle if you have an appetite for risk. But it won't be a currency until volatility slows down. Whenever the regulatory framework is clearer, and the volatility comes down, then we'll consider it.

Also, bitcoins aren't widely enough accepted by merchants yet, Marcus added.

Marcus is paying close attention to payment changes as part of his effort to re-energize an eBay service that grew sluggish and complacent after the early dot-com years. He's trying to fostering innovation at the company and cater to developers, particularly those at start-ups.

Although he has some concerns about bitcoin, he's unequivocal about near-field communications (NFC), the very short-range radio communication that can let people tap a credit card or mobile phone to a payment terminal.

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"It's technology for the sake of technology or for the sake of pushing the agenda of the companies supporting it, versus solving real people's problems," Marcus said of NFC.

"Instead swiping or using a PIN pad, they're tapping. How is that really better? How is that changing your life? People don't want that," he said. It's not a question of whether people at a payment terminal would prefer to tap or swipe, he said, but a reality that people don't want to go to a payment terminal at all.

Other changes are more likely, he predicted.

"Today a merchant has Internet connectivity at the point-of-sale terminal. All the consumers have phones with wireless networks," he said. "Why do you need to be at a place in a store to make a payment? [NFC is] too little too late."

Other changes will be a gradual transformation of retail to become just part of online sales.

"I think the retail chains will have to reinvent themselves," he said. They'll be showrooms where people can check out products then buy them later online. They'll be logistics centers where people can pick up items quickly that they ordered online. They'll be warehouses from which companies can ship products quickly to online purchasers.

Naturally, PayPal hopes to be part of those transactions, and to help make them easier. People like shopping but not paying, and PayPal can ease the hassles, he said.

"If we're successful, we'll make payments invisible," Marcus said

Adam Sandler tops Forbes’ list of overpaid actors

The returns of Sandler’s last three films till June 1 earned him the inauspicious title. PHOTOS: FILE

LOS ANGELES: American comedian Adam Sandler topped Forbes’ list of Hollywood’s most overpaid actors, commanding a high up-front fee while delivering middling returns, the magazine said on Monday.

Sandler, 47, the star of recent comedies Jack and Jill and That’s My Boy, dethroned Eddie Murphy for the dubious distinction. Forbes estimated that Sandler’s last three films returned an average of $3.40 for every dollar he was paid.

Murphy topped last year’s list, returning an average of $2.30 at the box office for each dollar earned. Katherine Heigl, who starred in the poorly performing films Killers and One for the Money, placed slightly behind Sandler, returning an average of $3.50 per every dollar she earned.

The list, compiled annually by Forbes, counts the last three films an actor as starred in over the past three years. This year’s list was cut off at June 1 and so, it excluded Sandler’s comedyGrown Ups 2, which was released in July and performed well at the box office.

Forbes did not say how much Sandler earned on his last three films. But the magazine said he was one of the few movie stars who could still command more than $15 million per film, on an up-front arrangement. Hollywood studios in recent years have shifted to paying smaller up-front fees and tie actors’ pay with the film’s box office performance.

Reese Witherspoon, the star of recent films Water for Elephants and This Means War, was third on this list, with an average return of $3.90 for every dollar she was paid. Nicholas Cage was fourth, with a $6 average return, and comedian Kevin James was fifth, returning an average of $6.10.

The magazine said it examined actors’ pay, film budgets and expenses to calculate the average return an actor brings per dollar paid.

High Achievers: Gravity and American Hustle make it to 2013’s top movies

TV series Mad Men sets a record by taking a spot on AFI’s top ten list for the sixth year in a row. PHOTOS: FILE

LOS ANGELES: Existential outer-space thriller Gravity, corruption tale American Hustle and independent drama Fruitvale Station are among the 10 best films of the year announced by the American Film Institute (AFI) on Monday, kicking off a key week in Hollywood’s awards season.

The annual AFI list also picked Somali piracy thriller Captain Phillips, slavery drama 12 Years A Slave, comedy-drama Nebraska, futuristic romance Her, Disney-history drama Saving Mr Banks, folk music comedy-drama Inside Llewyn David and Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street as the year’s top films.

American Hustle, Her, and Gravity have been chosen as best picture by three top critics’ groups in the last week, while 12 Years A Slave won the top award at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

Fruitvale Station, the debut feature film from 27-year-old Ryan Coogler that touches on race and the real-life shooting death of a young black man in Oakland, California, has won universal critical acclaim as well as awards at the Sundance and Cannes film festivals.

Notable films which were tabbed as Oscar contenders but left off the AFI list, which honours the year’s best films but does not select an overall winner, were White House historical fiction story The Butler and dysfunctional family drama August: Osage County.

AFI’s top film picks, selected by critics, scholars, TV and film artistes and AFI trustees, come ahead of the Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe nominations on Wednesday and Thursday.

All three sets of picks are likely to suggest films that will be in the running for the Academy Awards’ best picture Oscar in March. Oscar nominations will be announced on January 16.

The AFI also chose its top 10 television shows of the year, which included political thrillerHouse of Cards and prison comedy Orange is the New Black from internet-streaming service Netflix.

Advertising drama Mad Men on cable network AMC extended its appearance on the list to a record sixth year and was joined by AMC drug drama Breaking Bad, which won this year’s Emmy for Best Drama. Showtime’s historical sex-research drama Masters of Sex and HBO’s political comedy Veep and fantasy drama Game of Thrones were also honoured.

New series The Americans, a Cold War spy drama from the cable network FX, also entered the list. Political dramas The Good Wife on CBS and Scandal on ABC were the only network TV shows in the AFI top 10.

The films and TV shows chosen by the AFI jury will be honoured on January 10 next year in Los Angeles.