Tech: Twitter to allow users to create polls

Twitter Inc said it is rolling out a service that would allow users to run polls on their profile, in a bid to improve user engagement on the microblogging service.

The poll will allow users to ask a question with two choices as answers, and will remain open for 24 hours, the company said in a blog post on Wednesday.

Polls were already being tested on Twitter since late September with certain media professionals and Twitter employees, including Chief Operating Officer Adam Bain, sending out polls.

Twitter is working overtime to boost user growth under Jack Dorsey's second stint as CEO.
The service will be rolled out over the next few days, Twitter said.

(Reporting by Anya George Tharakan in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)

FA suspends Platini support

 

Michel Platini's wounded bid for the Fifa presidency suffered a new blow on Friday when the English FA suspended support for the French football legend because of new information on his legal battle.

Suspended Fifa leader Sepp Blatter added to the turmoil surrounding football's governing body when he said a two million dollar payment made to the Uefa president in 2011 was "a gentleman's agreement."

Pressure mounted on Platini, who was suspended by Fifa alongside Blatter, only a day after Uefa's 54 members gave support.

The FA said it had been told of more information "relating to the issues at the centre of this case from Mr Platini’s lawyers" at the Uefa meeting on Thursday.

Because of the information the FA board has "concluded that it must suspend its support for Mr Platini's candidature for the Fifa presidency until the legal process has been concluded and the position is clear," said a statement.

Bayern confident Pep will stay on

Bayern Munich are confident coach Pep Guardiola will stay on at the German champions past the end of his current contract next year despite reported interest from other major European clubs, CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said on Monday.

Guardiola, who won more than a dozen titles in his four years at Barcelona, joined the Bavarians in July 2013, winning dominant back-to-back Bundesliga titles in his first two season in charge.

Undefeated Bayern are already seven points clear at the top of the league after a record-breaking nine-match winning start as they chase an unprecedented fourth consecutive Bundesliga crown and the third under Guardiola.

Video: U.S. military is on its way to getting its Iron Man

After an American commando died kicking in a door during a raid in Afghanistan, the top commander of U.S. Special Operations vowed to prevent similar tragedies.

Two years later, the U.S. military is closer than ever to putting Iron Man on the front lines -- or at least something that closely mirrors the superhero's tech-forward suit of armor.

Unlike Hollywood's, the suit won't give its operator the ability to fly, but the real-life body armor may have one leg up on the fictional version: The military's suit will be made of liquid armor that can solidify on command.

Fitted with the protective gear -- the Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit, or TALOS -- troops would be more lethal and better protected, particularly the vulnerable first soldier to breach a compound.

An amalgam of academics, defense industry types and Pentagon personnel are trying to fine-tune the battery-powered exoskeleton, which would reduce strain on the body, provide superior ballistic protection and in-helmet technologies to boost communications and visibility.

Tech: HTC's new phone looks like an iPhone, but it's way cheaper

HTC has introduced a smartphone with a flat aluminum back, curved edges, antenna break lines near the top and bottom and a camera that bumps out very slightly at the top. It has a speaker grille and a headphone jack on either side of the power port on the bottom.

The new HTC One A9 smartphone is a dead-ringer for the iPhone 6S in virtually every way -- except for its price tag. It costs just $400, compared to the iPhone's $650.
HTC said it was a coincidence that the new One A9 follows the same design guidelines that the iPhone (and to a large degree the Samsung Galaxy S6) hold to.

Bale to miss PSG clash through injury

The Wales international has suffered a recurrence of the calf injury that plagued the early part of his season and will miss the Champions League match with the Ligue 1 champions

Gareth Bale will miss Real Madrid's Champions League clash with Paris Saint-Germain after suffering a calf injury, the Spanish side have confirmed.

Video: Driving the $5 million Batmobile

Well, really, it wasn't that close of a call. But then this wasn't just any Batmobile. This was the original.

It wasn't one of those matte black military-looking machines from the movies. It wasn't driven by a brooding and emotionally conflicted Batman with visible emotional scars.

This was the Batmobile from the 1960s TV show, shiny with neon orange stripes. It was driven by my childhood hero, the comically uptight, painfully polite defender of the good citizens of Gotham as played by Adam West.
I sat in the same seat Adam West sat in. It felt pretty cool, and I was the only journalist who got the opportunity. I drove the same Batmobile I watched him drive in "Batman" reruns over 40 years ago. There were others made for the show that he would have also driven but this was the first.

It's for sale. Asking price: $5 million.
And I almost ran it off the road. You see, the Batmobile, like the aging TV star it is, is in kind of rough shape. It's tough to get replacement parts for what was, in 1955, an experimental concept car built by Ford . Back then, it was called the Lincoln Futura.

Tech: Russian woman's remarkable mission to restore Soviet jet airliner

(CNN)For nearly three decades, an old Soviet airliner lay abandoned on a small airfield deep inside Siberia.

Years of neglect under the harsh Siberian climate had reduced the Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-104A to little more than a decaying wreck.

Until Maria Karmanova came into the picture. 

On hearing about the old Tupolev rusting away at her local aerodrome at Berdsk, near Novosibirsk, she set herself the challenge of restoring it to its former glory.

Tech: Japan's robot hotel opens its (automatic) doors

(CNN)When the reception desk is staffed by a robot dinosaur, the chances of a room upgrade are going to be fairly slim.

That hasn't stopped the first guests checking in to what's billed as the world's first robot hotel.

The five-star Japanese Henn-na Hotel -- a name that translates as Strange Hotel -- this week opened its doors to bemused visitors to Huis Ten Bosch, a theme park in Nagasaki Prefecture. 

Humanoid robots greet Japanese-speaking guests at reception, while English-speaking guests are met, for reasons that aren't exactly clear, by a robotic dinosaur.

Real Madrid have Europe's most expensive squad, Uefa figures confirm

The European football authority's annual Benchmarking Report shows that the Spanish heavyweights spent the most on players and wages during the financial year 2014

 Real Madrid have assembled the most expensive squad in Europe, figures released by Uefa have confirmed.

The 10-times European champions' playing staff was found to have cost the club a staggering €629 million, according to figures from the 2014 financial year due to be published on Wednesday in Uefa's annual Benchmarking Report, to which Goal has been granted advance access.