News from all over the world...

Μρελόκ Λαιμού Μαύρο και Πράσινο John Deere - Θεσσαλονίκης, Topseller.gr

2013-09-29T16:30:00.001+03:00

Μρελόκ Λαιμού Μαύρο και Πράσινο John Deere - Θεσσαλονίκης, Topseller.gr

Μρελόκ Λαιμού Μαύρο και Πράσινο John DeereΜρελόκ Λαιμού Μαύρο και Πράσινο John Deere

Κωδικός Προϊόντος: MCH000123600 + MCJ099912000

ΑΠΟΣΤΟΛΗ ΣΕ ΟΛΗ ΤΗΝ ΕΛΛΑΔΑ

Βρείτε όλα τα προϊόντα μας στο www.doktoris.gr .

Katy Perry’s Boobs Should Have Won All the Grammys

2013-02-11T19:55:00.004+02:00

Every night, she beds next to John Mayer. The world is a cruel and unfair place, Bros.

Kudos on completely ignoring the puritanical dress restrictions, Katy. We all appreciate it.

http://www.brobible.com

The 30 Hottest Lingerie Football Players of All-Time Read more at http://www.rantsports.com/clubhouse/2013/01/26/the-30-hottest-lingerie-football-players-of-all-time/?Glit8SoDo5hl1iCH.99

2013-02-11T19:52:00.000+02:00

Some things in life are just gifts sent from above. I truly believe the Lingerie Football League is one of those things. It gives men the two things they enjoy most in life: gorgeous women and football.

If aliens invaded this planet to get some ideas to improve their civilization, the LFL would definitely be on that to-do list. I mean, look at these gorgeous ladies - how can you not love this?

These ladies all arrived to the LFL in a variety of different ways. Most were models, some wanted to release some aggression, and one is the offspring of a former NFL quarterback. No matter who they are, or where they're from, or what they do, as long as we love them, right?

Alas, here are the 30 hottest LFL players from the past and present, not including Niki Ghazian (pictured above) because she is so hot she deserved the title slide.

Enjoy!

Obama's support for gay marriage splits US

2012-05-10T22:10:00.000+03:00

http://www.bbc.co.uk

Barack Obama has been praised and criticised a day after he became the first sitting US president to publicly support gay marriage.

Social conservatives and religious leaders condemned his remarks.

The Obama campaign meanwhile attacked Republican Mitt Romney, who restated his opposition to same-sex marriage, as out of touch on the issue.

Late on Wednesday, the US House of Representatives voted to reinforce the federal law against gay marriage.

Gay advocates applauded Mr Obama's remarks. Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese said that the president's comments would "inspire thousands more conversations around kitchen tables and in church pews".

'Deeply saddening'

But Cardinal Timothy Dolan, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, labelled Mr Obama's remarks "deeply saddening".

"We cannot be silent in the face of words or actions that would undermine the institution of marriage, the very cornerstone of our society," he said in a statement. "The people of this country, especially our children, deserve better."

On Thursday morning, the Obama campaign sought to capitalise on the president's political gamble by releasing an internet video titled Mitt Romney: Backwards on Equality.

It shows a clip of Mr Romney, the Republican who is expected to challenge Mr Obama for the White House in November, saying on Wednesday that he opposes gay marriage.

The video says that even former Republican President George W Bush supported civil unions, a step short of marriage.

On Wednesday evening, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives moved to reinforce the Clinton-era Defense of Marriage Act (Doma).

By 245-171, lawmakers voted to prevent the justice department from using taxpayer funds to actively oppose the act, which prevents gay marriages from being recognised at the federal level.

'Not Obama's prerogative'

Mr Obama ordered the department to stop actively defending Doma in February 2011.

The vote's sponsor, Kansas Republican Tim Huelskamp, said it was not Mr Obama's "prerogative to decide which laws matter and which do not".

Mr Obama broke from his long-claimed indecision on the issue of gay marriage to express outright support for the right of homosexual couples to marry, in an interview on Wednesday with ABC News.

The US president acknowledged that his interview had been prompted by Vice-President Joe Biden's remarks on Sunday that he was "absolutely comfortable" with gay marriage.

He said he had planned to speak on the issue before the Democratic convention in September, and would have preferred to have "done this in my own way, on my own terms without, I think, there being a lot of notice".

In 2010, Mr Obama said his views on the issue of gay marriage were "evolving", a stance that had frustrated gay rights supporters and donors.

However, Mr Obama's newly declared stance does little to change the legal status for gay people who wish to wed in states where such marriages are outlawed. Thirty-one US states have passed constitutional amendments or legislation against same-sex marriage.

'Bible's against that'
On Tuesday, North Carolina approved a constitutional amendment - 61% in favour and 39% against - effectively banning same-sex marriage or civil unions.

Mr Obama is heading to California on Thursday for a series of fundraisers for his re-election campaign.

One fundraiser, to be held at the home of George Clooney, is expected to raise $15m (£9.3m), partially from a general raffle offering members of the public the chance to meet the Hollywood actor.

A Gallup poll on Tuesday suggested that 50% of Americans were in favour of legalising gay marriage - a slightly lower proportion than last year - while 48% said they would oppose such a move.

Mr Obama's announcement is seen as politically risky in the upcoming election, especially in the South, where one in three swing voters strongly opposes allowing gays and lesbians to wed. Mr Obama narrowly won North Carolina in the 2008 election.

BBC North America editor Mark Mardell says the Obama campaign hopes the announcement will energise younger voters.

But Mr Obama's remarks may not play so well with religious African-American voters, a key Obama voting bloc. Recent polling suggests that support for gay marriage among black church-goers remains lower than many other groups.

Pentecostal Pastor Charles Bargaineer, of the largely black New Fellowship Church of God in Florida, told the Associated Press he was troubled by the president's position.

"I don't think that's appropriate for the president," Mr Bargaineer told Reuters news agency. "The Bible's strictly against that."

When asked whether he would vote again for Mr Obama, Mr Bargaineer said: "I'll have to pray about that."

Reverend Scott Clark, a gay pastor from the San Francisco Theological Seminary, said it had been "deeply moving" to hear Mr Obama "finally acknowledge the full dignity and humanity of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and our families".

http://www.bbc.co.uk

Baby did not fall from ferry into Belfast Lough say police

2012-05-10T21:45:00.000+03:00

A 37-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of wasting police time, after reports of a baby falling from a ferry turned out not to be true.

Police no longer believe that a baby had fallen from a ferry into Belfast Lough.

A massive search and rescue operation was launched on Wednesday evening following reports that a baby was in the water.

The search was stood down by the Coastguard on Thursday afternoon.

A woman was rescued from the lough after she fell overboard from the Stena Line vessel.

She was treated for hypothermia in the Royal Victoria Hospital and has since been discharged.

A police spokesperson said the search had been called off "after enquiries with the 37-year-old woman and her family".

The alarm was raised at 18:10 BST on Wednesday, as the ferry arrived from Cairnryan in Scotland and was preparing to dock at Belfast Harbour.

The woman was recovered from the water 15 minutes later.

http://www.bbc.co.uk

Testosterone supplements may help male weight loss

2012-05-10T21:25:00.000+03:00

Older obese men could shift excess weight by taking testosterone supplements, suggest findings announced at the European Congress on Obesity.

In a study, hormone-deficient men were given testosterone supplements in a similar way to HRT for older women.

Men lost an average of 16kg over five years when testosterone levels were increased back to normal.

But experts warn that supplements may not be the answer due to possible risks of prostate cancer and heart disease.

Prof Richard Sharpe from the University of Edinburgh Centre for Reproductive Health said: "The notion that this is a quick fix for obese older men is, as always, simplistic. It is far more sensible and safer for men to reduce their food intake, reduce their obesity, which will then elevate their own testosterone."

Male menopause?

The findings announced at the conference also suggest that raising testosterone levels could reduce waist circumference and blood pressure.

Dr Farid Saad, lead author of the study said: "We came across this by accident. These men were being given testosterone for a hormone deficiency - they had a range of problems - erectile dysfunction, fatigue and lack of energy.

"When we analysed the data we found that every year, for five years, they had lost weight. It may be that the increased testosterone restored their energy levels and led to a behavioural change of being more physically active."

However, experts remain dubious. While some experts have linked low testosterone levels to a male "menopause", with symptoms including changes in sleeping patterns, poor concentration, feeling worthless and anxiety, others have found to have no such link.

Prof Ashley Grossman, an endocrinologist from the University of Oxford said: "This is interesting, but not absolutely convincing. We cannot say for sure that this is the effect of the drug rather than being involved in such a trial.

"I will remain sceptical until I see a large scale study in a more robust fashion." The gold standard test would be to pitch the testosterone injections against a dummy drug in a controlled trial.

The study looked at 115 obese men aged between 38-83 years with low testosterone levels. They were injected with the hormone every 12 weeks to increase levels. The research, paid for by Bayer Pharma, a manufacturer of testosterone replacement therapy, found no increased risk of prostate cancer, a side-effect found in other studies.

The relationship between obesity and testosterone appears to be a vicious cycle. There are numerous studies showing that obesity, in particular abdominal obesity, is associated with reduced testosterone levels in men and a reduction in muscle.

With ageing, especially beyond 40-50 years, testosterone levels tend to decline slowly, which may predispose to abdominal obesity which will then further lower testosterone levels.

http://www.bbc.co.uk

Sony reports record loss amid disasters and strong yen

2012-05-10T21:10:00.000+03:00

Japanese electronics maker Sony has reported a record annual loss as natural disasters last year and a strong yen hurt its earnings.

The firm reported a net loss of 456.7bn yen ($5.7bn; £3.5bn) for the year to the end of March, compared with a 259.6bn yen loss last year.

The company said falling demand from developed markets also affected its earnings.

However, it forecast a profit of 30bn yen for the current financial year.

But despite the company sounding upbeat, some analysts said the firm was likely to face tough times even in the year ahead.

"There is no respite in sight for them. Demand from Europe has been falling and the yen continues to remain strong," Nitin Soni of Fitch Ratings told the BBC.

"These factors are contributing to the fall in profitability."

Double whammy

Sony's production and sales were severely affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in March last year.

The twin disasters resulted in supply chain disruptions and a shortage in power supply in Japan, forcing Sony to curtail production.

Its fortunes were hurt further by floods in Thailand later in the year, which saw its factories in the country being affected.

A strong Japanese currency, which gained as much as 10% against the US dollar between April 2011 and February 2012, further added to its woes.

A strong yen hurts earnings of firms when they repatriate their foreign earnings back home and also affects sales as it makes their goods more expensive to foreign buyers.

Growing competition

Aside from the impact of the strong currency and natural disasters, analysts say the firm has also lost ground to its competitors in key areas.

Sony's TV division has been making a loss for the past eight years, hurt by the likes of Samsung which has been steadily increasing its global market share.

At the same time, Sony's video games unit has also been facing growing competition not just from other gaming console makers, but also from the rising popularity of smartphones and tablet PCs, and the improving quality of games available on those devices.

"The core issue is that Sony is fast losing its leadership in technology to rivals," said Mr Soni of Fitch Ratings.

"It is not coming out with any new products or devices which can combine all their assets such as music, entertainment and gaming and have a mass appeal."

http://www.bbc.co.uk

Facebook app store launches amid mobile revenue worries

2012-05-10T20:53:00.001+03:00

Facebook has launched its own app store to promote mobile programs that operate using the social network.

The company said the App Center will become the "new, central place to find great apps like Draw Something" and other titles.

Developers will have the ability to charge a fee for apps sold in the store in the near future, Facebook said.

The announcement came as Facebook admitted growth in mobile use could hurt future advertising revenue.

Ahead of its initial public offering, Facebook told potential investors in a statement: "If users increasingly access Facebook mobile products as a substitute for access through personal computers, and if we are unable to successfully implement monetisation strategies for our mobile users, or if we incur excessive expenses in this effort, our financial performance and ability to grow revenue would be negatively affected."

'Start preparing'
The App Center is expected to be rolled out globally in "the coming weeks", said Facebook's Aaron Brady in a post on the network's developer blog.

"All developers should start preparing today to make sure their app is included for the launch," he wrote.

However, Mr Brady said the store was not designed to compete head-on with the likes of Apple's App Store and Google Play.

"The App Center is designed to grow mobile apps that use Facebook - whether they're on iOS, Android or the mobile web," he wrote.

"From the mobile App Center, users can browse apps that are compatible with their device, and if a mobile app requires installation, they will be sent to download the app from the App Store or Google Play."

Only apps which make use of Facebook's log-in system Connect are eligible to be included in the store.

'Attract more ideas'
Saverio Romeo, an industry analyst from Frost & Sullivan, said the store announcement suggested an aggressive push by Facebook to become a bigger player in mobile.

He said Facebook needed to become "more significant, to attract more ideas and get more experience in the mobile space".

"I think the store is an important element - a community of developers is a fundamental element in the growth we have seen with Apple and Android," he told the BBC.

He also said he believed Facebook could position itself as the first major app store to be platform-agnostic - that is, not tied to a single platform such as iOS or Android.

"The type of applications that the Facebook community can develop can have an incredible open horizon.

"Facebook is ubiquitous - it does not have any preferential routes. The question is the monetisation of all this."

http://www.bbc.co.uk

The Best Workout to Blast Belly Fat and Lower Blood Sugar

2012-05-10T20:48:00.001+03:00

There's a new champ in the fitness ring with a one-two punch that would send Sugar Ray Robinson spinning. It's an exercise combo that helps you burn fat and lower blood sugar better than either exercise alone.

The dynamic duo? Aerobics and weight training. Do two of our favorite things: speed walking and a little resistance work. Even if you do the absolute minimum -- 5 days of walking and 2 days of strength training -- for just 20 to 30 minutes a day, you'll get more out of it than if you do just one.

Researchers observed that people with diabetes who did the combo trimmed their waists, lowered their blood sugar, cut back on their meds, and (nifty bonus) lost 4 pounds of pure fat.

The beauty of combining both types of workouts is that it doesn't have to take more time. The mix seems to maximize the benefits of whatever you do. Even though the combo plan was tested on people with diabetes, it will work for anyone, whether you need to exercise to lower your blood sugar or just want to get healthier, have more energy, and reduce your risk of cancer and heart disease. Who wouldn't want that?

If you're already walking 30 minutes a day, don't cut back. Just substitute weight-training on two of those days or -- even better -- tack on 20 minutes of strength work to two speed walks. You'll get an even bigger bang on your exercise bottom line.

http://www.realage.com

The perfect time

2012-04-28T22:41:00.003+03:00

Are preparing for the Olympics

2012-04-28T22:29:00.002+03:00

Just Crazy

2012-04-28T22:27:00.002+03:00

Arab Goalkeeper Wastes Time On Purpose!

2012-04-20T19:08:00.001+03:00

Hairdresser Gone Wrong

2012-04-17T18:51:00.001+03:00

The ‘Fabian’ pit — a 200 ft wide massive Sinkhole opens up in Sweden!

2012-04-17T18:49:00.001+03:00

Enormous Sinkhole, the ‘Fabian’ pit.

In the pictures you see a massive Sinkhole in Sweden, the new Fabian pit, which was expanded a short time ago.

The 200 foot wide open Sinkhole is called the “Fabiangropen” (Fabian pit) and is in the Malmberget area is located at Gällivare, 75km from Kiruna, Sweden.

Danica Patrick Boots Up the Fastest Windows 7 PC in the World at Lenovo'...

2012-04-16T21:36:00.001+03:00

World's Largest Fish!!!

2012-04-16T21:33:00.003+03:00

World's Biggest 10-Finger-Touch Display Screen PC by Lenovo!

2012-04-16T21:32:00.001+03:00

How on earth can Twitter fight fires, save you from earthquakes, or find help during hurricanes?

2012-04-16T21:30:00.004+03:00

From times of national crisis to a fallen tree on your block, Twitcident aims to crowdsource social media information to help you and local authorities get the help everyone needs.

Twitter is no doubt the go-to source when natural disasters strike. It’s weird how social media attracts people to document and announce what they are witnessing, such as people tweeting
about an earthquake or checking into an earthquake-related place on Foursquare while they’re ducked under a table. Finally, a site is making use of that phenomenon by creating Twitcident, a crowdsourcing service that gathers live tweets on natural crisis to find updates and emergency informations in various disaster settings.

Twitcident is built by developers at the Netherlands’ Delft University of Technology to help the public seek information on anything from terrorist attacks, weather-related disasters, wildfires, and industrial emergencies such as chemical explosions and oil spills. For example, people might be tweeting about the path of a hurricane and this information can help rescue teams track its movement. Tweets about road blockage from fires, earthquakes, or fallen trees can also be sorted and sent to authorities.

The service works by utilizing a hashtag-like concept that sorts events and places into categories so when you log onto the Twitcident dashboard, you can select the emergency most closely related to what you’re looking for. Clicking that will lead you to a curated stream of tweets that can be helpful to finding you updates and help to your localized needs.

The developers say Twitcident’s technology helps the site sort logical information to parse out what’s helpful from random rants about current events. Only tweets with helpful updates, such as “Fire is spreading through the intersection of X and Z streets” will be sent to the local rescue department. So far, Twitcident has been in beta for the past 10 months with local Dutch emergency services, with the hopes that a worldwide release could be useful to everyone connected through the Twitterverse. If you’re interested in getting updates on when the public beta testing comes out, put yourself on the e-mail list on the official Twitcident site. Meanwhile, you can check out a demonstration video of how the service works at the bottom of the page.

This isn’t the first time social media has been proven to rescue those in need of help. We’ve seen Twitter help a couple rescue a kidnapped man from a carjacking incident and Facebook finding help for a dancer trapped in a capsized cruise ship. We may make fun of those tweeting, updating statuses, and checking into social media sites during times of national crisis, but these information can oddly be more useful than you think. That said, let’s not play The Boy Who Cried Wolf on these sites since they’re being taken more seriously than ever. And of course, if you need immediate help, do not rely on social media to give you the 411 and just call 911.

http://www.digitaltrends.com

Twitcident Demo

2012-04-16T21:29:00.004+03:00

Changing Habits, Not Just Diets

2012-04-16T21:28:00.004+03:00

With rates of obesity and diabetes at epidemic levels, you’d think it would be enough to simply tell people what they need to do. But the messages about how to eat healthfully — buy local, eat seasonally, shun industrial meat — can be overwhelming and unrealistic for both low-income and time-stressed, middle-class families.

Moreover, much of today’s dietary advice ignores a fundamental truth: Most Americans seek out fast and processed foods, not for the price, but for the convenience and the taste. A recent study in the journal Population Health Management revealed that households earning $60,000 a year ate the most fast food. Households bringing in $80,000 were actually more likely to “have it their way” than those with $30,000.

Until now, mainstream "solutions" to the obesity crisis, and to the broader problem of how to forge a healthier American diet, have focused on making fresh food more affordable and accessible. But as I saw last year while reporting a book on what people eat, and why they eat it, in Huntington, W.Va., many Americans do have access to, and can afford, better food. They just choose not to eat it. Or rather, they choose not to take the time to shop for it, to plan and cook their meals, when they can hit the drive-through or have a pizza delivered or pop a Stouffer’s entrée into the microwave.

Does this mean the battle is lost? On the contrary. A new and growing group of studies point to a third way to persuade Americans to make small but essential changes to their diets and lifestyles. Based on behavior-change theories — a kind of grassroots behavioral economics for public health — these strategies address a range of personal, cultural and environmental factors that affect what people eat. America on the Move, a Denver-based nonprofit, has shown that if overweight and obese people add 2,000 extra steps to their daily routine or cut out 100 calories a day, they can effectively prevent weight gain. In Kentucky, a program called Healthy, Well-Thee and Wise is tracking its multiyear effort to help Appalachian women make realistic changes, such as baking their pork chops instead of frying them, that lead to healthier lifestyles.

Sadly, this approach doesn’t appeal to our culture’s love of quick fixes, the kind of dramatic overhauls that make hits of reality TV shows such as “The Biggest Loser.” But they are simpler and less expensive than plans to pass new regulations or plunk Wal-Marts in the inner cities. Plus, they are about what’s realistic, given the nature of the problem we face. They help Americans to understand not only how to eat well but also how to incorporate a healthy diet into their own lives.

http://www.nytimes.com

HP ZR2740w: My Love For Pivoting Displays

2012-04-16T21:26:00.002+03:00

HP ZR2740w: My Love For Pivoting Displays

I tend to favor different display sizes and configurations depending on the task at hand. If I’m gaming at home, it’s usually on a 23- or 24-inch monitor running at 1920x1080. If I’m working at the office, I want more desktop real estate, so I flank my AMD Eyefinity-enabled HP Envy 14 laptop with two 24-inch displays. HP recently sent a 27-inch ZR2740w monitor to the office, so I replaced one of those 24-inch displays with this 2560x1440 IPS beast.

Spending $700 on a monitor is out of the average consumer’s price range, but the ZR2740w is a bargain in the professional display category. Dell wants $999 for its equivalent, so shaving off $300 while maintaining many of the features graphics pros want in a display is the real draw here. The ZR2740w uses an 8-bit IPS panel with an LED backlight; the end result is a bright display with the potential for excellent color reproduction. Out of the box, the colors produced by the ZR2740w are going to be so-so, but a round of calibration seems to fix this issue. The ZR2740w has only one major snag for me: no HDMI. While there’s DisplayPort and DVI, as well as four USB ports, no HDMI in 2012 is a bit puzzling.

I’m not a graphic artist, so the ZR2740w probably wouldn’t be my first choice if I wanted to buy a 27-inch display. That said, it’s been a real pleasure using this monitor over the last few weeks, especially because the ZR2740w does this:

If every monitor could pivot, I would be a happy man. Sadly, it seems to be confined to more expensive models (usually $300 or more). A portrait-oriented display is fantastic for web browsing, and the ZR2740w in portrait mode compliments the Tom’s Guide CMS (Content Management System) quite nicely.

New Mac OS X Trojan unearthed. Call it SabPub

2012-04-16T21:23:00.003+03:00

Here we go again.

Kaspersky Lab security researcher Costin Raiu has discovered another Mac OS X Trojan. Dubbed Backdoor.OSX.SabPub.a (or just SabPub, for short), the malware uses Java exploits to infect a Mac, connect to a remote Web site, and wait for instructions that include taking screenshots of the user's Mac and executing commands.

"The Java exploits appear to be pretty standard, however, (and) they have been obfuscated using ZelixKlassMaster, a flexible and quite powerful Java obfuscator," Raiu wrote on the Securelist blog. "This was obviously done in order to avoid detection from anti-malware products."

Raiu's discovery comes as Mac users are on high alert over the Flashback Trojan, which reportedly infected over 600,000 Macs worldwide. That exploit, which also uses Java, is capable of nabbing user passwords and other information from their Web browser or some applications. Apple on Friday released a tool designed to remove Flashback from infected machines. Prior to that launch, it was believed that 270,000 Macs were infected with the Trojan, down significantly from its height.

In a follow-up post on Securelist yesterday, Raiu provided a bit more information on SabPub to help differentiate it from Flashback. He reported that there are at least two SabPub variants in the wild today, including one that dates back to February. The malware appears to be delivered through targeted attacks, which should limit its ability to make widespread incursions a la Flashback.

Raiu also reported that the malware appears to be spreading through Word documents that exploit the CVE-2009-0563 vulnerability related to a stack-based buffer overflow in Office on the Mac.

"The most interesting thing here is the history of the second SabPub variant. In our virus collection, it is named '8958.doc.'" Raiu wrote on the blog. "This suggests it was extracted from a Word document or was distributed as a Doc-file."

Apple did not immediately respond to CNET's request for comment.

http://news.cnet.com

Titanic is real...????

2012-04-16T20:48:00.001+03:00

Life after Firefox: Can Mozilla regain its mojo?

2012-04-13T01:33:00.001+03:00

Mozilla Foundation president Mitchell Baker is sitting on a ticking time bomb.

The survival of her company, which pledges to make the web a better place, is at the mercy of one of its main competitors, Google.

If you haven't heard of Mozilla, you almost certainly know - and perhaps use - its most famous product: the Firefox browser.

Since 2002, it has been steadily gaining market share against Internet Explorer (IE), Microsoft's pre-loaded, oft-criticised equivalent.

It now has about half a billion users, a huge number of which are evangelists for the software. Many even help create it - it is one of the largest open-source projects on the net.

Google likes this. So much so, they pay Mozilla millions of pounds every year to secure a piece of prime real-estate on Firefox's default homepage encouraging users to perform a Google search.

This investment is believed to represent about 85% of Mozilla's entire income.

Mozilla loves that, no doubt, but can they trust it?

"If for whatever reason the Google deal wasn't renewed, it would be difficult," admits Ms Baker in an interview with the BBC.

"We have a good amount of retained earnings, and we manage it that way so that we would have a long period to adjust, but that's not the situation you want to be in."

Why would Google pull out or scale back its contribution? Well, unlike in the past, when Firefox was the only real competitor to IE, the browser war is now a three-horse race. For Google, with its highly popular Chrome browser, Mozilla has gone from being a partner, to one of its competitors.
Beyond the browser

In November last year, against a backdrop of uncertainty and worry, Google renewed its deal. The terms were not made public and, until we see Mozilla's next public accounts (due soon, they say), we won't know how much money Mozilla is currently earning.

According to some measures, Chrome overtook Firefox's market share in January. If this trend continues - and there's little to suggest it won't - the value of the Google-Firefox deal will begin to sag.

If Mozilla is to survive, it needs a new major revenue stream.

"We are not currently diversified, revenue wise," Ms Baker admits.

"With Firefox we have a sustainability model so we can pursue our public benefit goals effectively.

"It could be a good sustainability model for many years to come, but it's not good to rely on that. As we pursue these new initiatives, we do and will look for new ways to make them sustainable as well."

These new initiatives mean that Mozilla has been forced to look well beyond the browser.

The internet is a very different place today than it was when the first Firefox - named Phoenix until a trademark wrangle - came onto the scene.

Back then, about 90% of computer owners accessed the web using IE. It was - by Microsoft's own admission several years later - vulnerable to attack.

"We came out of a history of abuse," reflects Ms Baker.

"Firefox succeeded in part because of the abusive behaviour that came through IE - spyware, malware, ads. That's part of our history."

Is there still "abuse" on the internet?

"If you think about the architecture of the web, there's no real place that says 'I'm at the centre'.

"The world is doing more things on the internet today, and the browser is no longer adequate to build that kind of user control.

"The phrase I like to use is user sovereignty. I'm the human being. I should be in control.

"It should not be that I buy a machine and that something else is controlling it - because then I become the object."
'Explosive innovation'

In January Mozilla announced Pancake, billed as an effort to re-think the way we navigate and manage ourselves on the web.

It offers, in Mozilla's words "occasionally crazy ideas", such as doing away with the URL system (or at least, hiding it from view) and, crucially, creating a cloud-based framework that allows us to carry and manage our personal data wherever we go.

"Think of it more as your dashboard," explains Ms Baker.

"We're not looking to become Facebook, or LinkedIn and all these other sites. We're not trying to displace those sites - we're trying to make a place where, for example, it could say: 'Application X wants this kind of data'."

She worries that our shift towards adopting mobile apps is fragmenting the control we have of our lives. The internet was meant to be connected, she says - not siloed.

"We really do want to encourage developers to develop across devices, using the same kind of power and explosive innovation and freedoms that the web has given us over the last 15 years."

Ms Baker knows that if projects like Pancake are likely to succeed, they will need not just developer backing, but the same mass-market adoption that made Firefox such a success.

But for a company that has dined out on a single, highly-monetisable project, such a dramatic change of direction could prove difficult.

"We've always been more than Firefox, but we haven't talked about it that much," Ms Baker says.
Goodwill

Fortunately for Mozilla, it is free to develop a good idea first, and worry about the money later.

"The reason for the other initiatives is not driven by revenue," Ms Baker says. "It is driven because we cannot fulfil the Mozilla mission unless we have a presence in these other spaces.

"Our stakeholders - we don't have shareholders - are not looking for a financial return on investment. The return on their time and energy and goodwill that they're looking for is the product that they like, and an internet that has a layer of user sovereignty in it.

"Things like Pancake are really early. When we have an idea of 'wow this is really exciting', at that point you then say: 'Ok, we know what people love about it now - what are some sustainability ideas that we can try?'"

As for where those money-making models might emerge, Ms Baker is less forthcoming: "I don't have much to say on that one."

The BBC asked Google about how it sees the future of the Mozilla deal.

"Mozilla has been a valuable partner to Google over the years," says Alan Eustace, senior vice-president of search. "We look forward to continuing this great partnership in the years to come."

This bodes well. Indeed, to pull out of a company that exists in order to mobilise "openness, innovation and opportunity on the internet" might be squarely at odds with Google's mantra of "don't be evil". However, if Chrome continues to grow, that partnership may not be as lucrative as it has been to date.

But while users may be flocking in their droves to Chrome, they'd be wise to remember that some of the couldn't-imagine-a-world-without features of the modern browser are largely down to the volunteer minds behind the Mozilla project.

Equally important, argues open web campaigner and co-editor of BoingBoing.net Cory Doctorow, is Mozilla's place as a leading non-profit in the connected web.

"They can remain a kind of Switzerland of technology that really only has one raison d'etre, and that is to make the internet better," he told the BBC.

"When you look at the early days of Mozilla, it was all about acting as an honest broker for users.

"That remains the role that Mozilla has to play because they are an independent third-party that doesn't have a commercial dog in the fight."

http://www.bbc.com/