This week, NASA announced that Elon Musk's SpaceX will receive a $2.6 billion contract to develop the manned iteration of its Dragon capsule, the first version of which is already being used to resupply the International Space Station.

(Boeing received a contract to develop its own manned space craft, the CST-100 capsule, as well, to the tune of $4.2 billion.)

Under the Commercial Crew Program contract, SpaceX will not only assist NASA in transporting astronauts and cargo to the ISS, but will also be free to transport civilians, in effect providing a taxi service to low-Earth orbit for anyone who can afford it. So how will it work?

First, the basics. Elon Musk unveiled the Dragon V2 capsule in May:

The pressurized capsule seats up to seven people, with a total payload volume of 10 cubic meters. The trunk provides an additional 14 cubic meters of unpressurized cargo room:

It also features a clean, simple interface for the pilot, including touch screens, a joystick for navigation, and manual buttons for emergency functions:

The Dragon is launched into Earth's orbit by SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket (pictured below launching the unmanned version of Dragon, which has been used to send cargo up to the International Space Station):

As it gains altitude, the Dragon V2 sheds the Falcon 9 rocket stages that get it to space and positions itself by the International Space Station (ISS).

To dock with the space station, its nose cap opens to expose the docking hatch. Unlike the original Dragon, the new version will not discard the nose cap entirely, but have it swing open:

The docking hatch, as the name implies, allows the Dragon V2 to dock at the ISS — or on any spacecraft, in theory, according to Musk. The original Dragon relies on the Space Station's Canada Arm to wrangle it upon approach, a limitation that the manned capsule will not share.

Once the cargo and passengers are safely aboard, the Dragon decouples from the ISS, potentially engaging up to 12 thrusters to maneuver away, and the nose cap closes.

Prior to re-entry, the Dragon jettisons its trunk, which carries the two solar arrays that power the capsule, along with unpressurized cargo, while it navigates around the ISS. It's not needed when the capsule is ready to return home.

Getting rid of the trunk exposes the Dragon's heat shield, which is what allows the astronaut-carrying capsule to safely re-enter Earth's atmosphere without burning up due to friction with the atmosphere.

The heat shield on the Dragon is an advanced version of the one NASA used for its Stardust robotic space probe. It protects the capsule as it accelerates to speeds up to 17,500 miles per hour.

But unlike Stardust, the Dragon V2 uses 18 powerful thrusters, capable of producing 90 lbs of thrust apiece, to land safely and gently on almost any kind of surface, instead of landing in the ocean.

This gives Dragon V2 the flexibility to land nearly anywhere on Earth.

SEE ALSO: Boeing And SpaceX Win Huge NASA Contract

READ MORE: Elon Musk: SpaceX Wants To Build A City On Mars

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Severe thunderstorms have caused significant damage to Phoenix's international airport.

The storms have also grounded all flights, according to the Phoenix Sky Harbor airport's Twitter account.

Parts of the airport are reportedly flooding, and a portion of the airport's roof appears to have been ripped off in the storm.

Check out some photos and video of the damage:

BREAKING: Considerable damage @PHXSkyHarbor from thunderstorms. Source: some planes returning due to possible damage pic.twitter.com/XEXXPOnaOw

— Adam Longo (@adamlongoCBS5) September 27, 2014

Microburst at #skyharbor#phx airport blew out this window near #barriocafe. #azwx#phxwx#travelpic.twitter.com/mmM7Jthj3K

— Linda Seid Frembes (@tenpixels) September 27, 2014

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A student was shot near a residence hall at Indiana State University in Terre Haute on Saturday, according to a crime alert on the university's website.

Here's the full alert:

A shooting near the Lincoln Quad residence Hall occurred within the past several minutes, a male student claims he was struck by gunfire while walking on campus. The male was conscious and alert. Please stay away from the area while police investigate, anyone with information is asked to call 812 237 5555 or 911.

Police are now searching for two black male suspects.

Guns are prohibited at ISU.

ISU called the shooting an "isolated incident" in a statement and said the shooter is believed to have left the area.

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There's been a lot of speculation in recent years about whether mass shootings are actually on the rise in America or we're just paying more attention because of increased media coverage.

Until now, the data has been piecemeal and it's been difficult to pin down a definitive answer. But a new report from the FBI claims that active shooter incidents have increased from 2000 to 2013.

The FBI found that 486 people were killed in 160 active shooter incidents that occurred between 2000 and 2013, with an upward trend during that time period. The vast majority of these shootings — 70% — occurred in businesses or schools, and 60% of them ended before police got to the scene.

Here's a look at the numbers:

While the number of incidents per year seems a bit random, the FBI maps out an upward trend.

There also appears to be an upward trend with the number of casualties (not including the shooters themselves):

Here's a more detailed look, separated deaths from injuries:

And most active shooting incidents occur not in schools, but in places of business (although the report does note that school shootings account for some of the highest-casualty incidents):

Overall, this report looks pretty comprehensive. While the definition of "mass shooting" varies depending on who you ask, making it difficult to figure out whether or not these threats are actually increasing, the FBI adopted a broad definition in its report. The agency looked at active shooter incidents as defined by individuals who are "actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people" in a populated area with the use of a firearm.

The FBI notes that only 40% of the incidents included in the report would have fallen under the federal definition of "mass killing" in which three or more people were killed.

That's because unlike other studies that only looked at school shootings or mass killings with several fatalities, the FBI's report looks at active shooter incidents without factoring in the death count and it leaves out shootings that were related to gang and drug violence, accidental discharges, and public suicides.

The FBI does note that the study may have missed some active shooter incidents, but the agency is confident that the report includes the vast majority of these incidents.

(via The New York Times)

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Apple just released two new iPhones, announced its first major new product in years, the Apple Watch, and announced Apple Pay, a new mobile payment system. 

The new phones are off to a boffo start, selling by the millions. The Apple Watch isn't coming until early 2015, but people who saw it think it looks good. (Overall, the verdict on the product is mixed.) Apple Pay is coming in October, and it looks promising.

Despite all this new stuff, Apple analyst Gene Munster thinks investors are going to get antsy for the next thing from Apple. He says in a note, "We believe that investors will inevitably start asking soon, 'What's next for Apple?'"

Munster has three ideas for what Apple could be planning next. However, he cautions that whatever is next for Apple isn't likely to come anytime soon.

Apple likes to release a new product, then focus its energy on that product, refining it, getting it right, before moving on to the next thing.  Apple took six years between the iPod and the iPhone. It took three years between the iPhone and the iPad. And, now it's taking five years between the iPad and the Apple Watch. 

So, whatever Apple is planning next won't be here until 2016 at the earliest, Munster says.

And, what is Apple likely to release? Here are Munster's predictions:

1. APPLE TV

Munster believes an Apple TV is the most likely product to be coming next. 

However, he has been calling for an Apple TV since August 2009, when he said Apple would have a television by 2011. In 2011, when Apple didn't release a TV, he called for it in 2012. And in 2012, he pushed back his estimate to 2013. And in 2013 ... he said it would happen in 2014. And, well, here we are in 2014, and now he's predicting it comes in 2016. 

Munster readily acknowledges that he's not exactly trustworthy on the topic of an Apple TV. "Given how many times we have predicted a television and have yet to see one launch, it may be easy to dismiss our insistence of the television," he says.

But he still thinks Apple is interested in the TV industry. Tim Cook has repeatedly expressed interest in the TV market, saying it feels as if it's "stuck in the '70s." Steve Jobs, before he died, reportedly said he "cracked" the TV interface. 

"We also believe that ultimately the television can become a home hub as the connected home evolves," Munster says. "Thus the next step for Apple with regard to the television may likely be the introduction of an updated Apple TV box that includes some gaming and possibly Siri."

He doesn't expect a major Apple TV until 2016 at the earliest, because next year will be all about focusing on the Apple Watch and Apple Pay. 

2. GLASSES

Apple has been loading up on fashion and design experts. Munster thinks Apple might want to do more in the wearable computing market than just the Apple Watch. 

"We wouldn't be surprised if Apple eventually moved into other wearable categories like glasses," Munster says. "We believe as the company refines its watch product, which has moved it squarely into fashion, the company could eventually revolutionize the glasses category with stylish glasses vs. the current market offerings."

It's possible Apple does something like this, but we would be surprised. 

For one, glasses would be redundant with the Apple Watch. We're not sure how it would differentiate. And for two, Apple CEO Tim Cook was dismissive of Google Glass last year. He said people wear glasses if they have to, not because they want to. However, he also said the people who do wear glasses make fashion statements with them. With Apple hiring lots of fashion people, it might want to release fashionable frames. 

But last year, Cook said the wrist made more sense for a wearable. So, who knows.

Munster thinks that if Apple did glasses, it would be two to three years away.

3. A CAR

Building a car is one of those lingering, pie-in-the-sky ideas for Apple.

Before Steve Jobs died, he told people he wanted to make a car. Apple board member Mickey Drexler once said, "Steve's dream before he died was to design an iCar." 

In 2013, Nick Bilton at The New York Times reported: "In a meeting in his office before he died, Steven P. Jobs, Apple’s co-founder and former chief executive, told John Markoff of The New York Times that if he had more energy, he would have liked to take on Detroit with an Apple car."

So, Apple making a car is not as far-fetched as it sounds. For the most part, Apple explores markets/industries that consumers live with but don't love. It tries to shake up those industries with radical new solutions. The car certainly fits. 

There was speculation that Apple could/should buy Tesla. That seems unlikely because it would be a purchase upward of $30 billion. And it would be a big distraction for Apple, which professes to want focus. At the same time, Tesla is a high end, revolutionary company, which fits Apple. It also does a lot with battery technology, which would work with Apple.

Munster's take on an Apple Car: "While we believe at this point it is unlikely that Apple would enter the car market, we believe that beyond consumer electronics, cars may be the only other market viable for Apple to enter over the long-term (10+ years)."

NOW WATCH: How iOS8 Completely Changed The Way You Use Your iPhone

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America's young adults aren't rushing to tie the knot, and findings from a new Pew Research Center report suggest that couples are not getting married because 78% of single women want a partner with a "steady job."

Unfortunately, with considerable changes in the labor market, the number of available employed men is a rapidly shrinking demographic.

Wendy Wang and Kim Parker from the Pew Research Center write:

As the share of never-married adults has climbed, the economic circumstances faced by both men and women have changed considerably.

Labor force participation among men, particularly young men, has fallen significantly over the past several decades. In 1960, 93% of men ages 25 to 34 were in the labor force and by 2012 that share had fallen to 82%.

And among young men who are employed, wages have fallen over the past few decades. For men ages 25 to 34, median hourly wages have declined 20% since 1980 (after adjusting for inflation).

Over the same period, the wage gap between men and women has narrowed. In 2012, among workers ages 25 to 34, women’s hourly earnings were 93% those of men. In 1980, the ratio was less than 70%.

According to the report based on census data, when millennials reach their mid-40s to mid-50s, approximately 25% of them (a record high share) will most likely still be single.

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On Jan. 2, 2008, I sat in the common room of All Saints Hospital watching the local TV news, still in shock and trying to process the devastation of the day before. No amount of anxiety medication they gave me seemed to be enough. The anchor was describing a double murder. On the evening of Jan. 1, the bodies of Sarah and Amina Said, sisters aged 17 and 18, had been found in the back of a taxicab in a hotel parking lot in Irving, Texas. Their father, Yaser Abdel Said, had not been heard from since and was considered a prime suspect.

Some sources were speculating it was an “honor killing,” which Amina had chillingly predicted to me in private. Such crimes, which are tragically common in other parts of the world, typically involve the murders of female family members considered to have disgraced the family name, either by having a relationship the family disapproves of, spurning an arranged marriage, disobeying, or even being a victim of rape. According to the U.N. there are 5,000 such crimes each year around the world — a vast underestimate in the view of many international women’s-rights groups, who believe it could be four times that.

Amina was my girlfriend. And the supposed family honor she'd placed at risk? We'd done it together, simply by falling in love.

I'd barely spoken a word to anyone since my mother had awoken me the morning following the murder. With tears in her eyes she told me something awful had happened. My reaction on hearing the news was to punch the headboard of my bed or a wall. I'm still not sure. I lost it. I'd planned to spend the rest of my life with Amina, and everything I’d hoped for had suddenly come to an end. I was completely numb. I can hardly remember sitting with the ER physician as my mother signed the paperwork to have me admitted to the mental ward, but I know I didn’t fight the idea. What else could we do?

I was 15 when Amina and I first met, at the Excel Academy of Tae Kwon Do in a strip mall in Bedford, Texas. Amina walked in one afternoon in 2004 with her sister, Sarah, and brother, Islam, and I was smitten by her almost immediately.

Amina was beautiful. She had the most amazing green eyes I had ever seen. She was fiercely intelligent and full of spirit, and she always seemed to be smiling.

It wasn’t long before Sarah and Islam both gave up on the class. Their hearts weren't in it. But Amina, who had recently gotten her driver's license and a vehicle, was allowed to continue. She stuck with the class, and we developed a mutual crush.

Before long, we were both taking lessons three or four days a week, and not just because we loved martial arts. We went to different high schools and Amina wasn't allowed to date. A lot of our relationship played out at the tae kwon do studio, in the beginning. We’d steal a few minutes to talk outside before or after class. She’d ask that we position ourselves between the martial arts storefront and an adjacent building so we couldn’t be spotted from the street in case her dad drove by. I’d later find out the gravity of this request.

Our instructor could see sparks were flying between us, and sometimes, with a sort of devilish look in his eye, he'd assign us to spar with each other. It made for a pretty tame matchup. The instructor used to bust Amina's chops for not attacking aggressively enough. And I could never bring myself to be aggressive toward her at all. We both went easy on each other, but that wasn't to say we didn't love every second of it.

While Amina wasn't an aggressive person, she was not shy. She loved to joke around, and she freely spoke her mind. That usually resulted in our instructor issuing a reprimand for “talking out of turn” and demanding multiple sets of pushups, but that still never deterred her from saying whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted to. That was Amina.

One day, as we were taking off our shoes and socks and getting ready for class, she saw me slip my cellphone into my sneaker. "Oh, you have a phone?" she asked. "Give me your number so I can bother you." 

I received her first message a few minutes after we left class, and we ended up texting back and forth all that night — the beginning of our becoming girlfriend and boyfriend.

It was puppy love, in the sense that it was innocent and sweet and went no further than a flurry of passed notes, some furtive hand-holding, and an occasional stolen kiss. But that doesn't do justice to how deep it became.

It was puppy love, in the sense that it was innocent and sweet and went no further than a flurry of passed notes, some furtive hand-holding, and an occasional stolen kiss. But that doesn't do justice to how deep it became.

That first text was the beginning of a four-year relationship. We planned a whole life together, spending hours on the phone fantasizing about marriage and kids.

We promised to learn more about each other’s heritage — she was picking up Spanish and I planned to study Arabic with her.

Amina always seemed to be in a playful mood, teasing and messing with me. Whatever frame of mind I was in, she always found a way to make me smile. She brought out the best in me and made me genuinely want to accomplish things. She inspired me.

Gradually, she began to let on that her home life was troubled, but even then she tended to keep things vague. Her demeanor was so upbeat and positive; no one would ever have imagined what kind of hell she was living through at home. 

Amina’s father, Yaser, was from Egypt, and although he’d married an American woman — Amina’s mother, Patricia — he had some very traditional notions about gender relations. He viewed himself as the family patriarch and demanded total obedience. Yaser’s obsessive need to control his daughters went way beyond the usual overprotectiveness many parents feel toward their children. He forbade them to date and kept tabs on them virtually at all times, often video- or audio-taping them without their knowledge. His plan was to bring them back to Egypt, where they’d be forced into arranged marriages with older men, for a price. I later found out he’d been abusive to the girls — both physically and sexually — since they were little.

Given the circumstances, dating was tricky, and we had to be careful. We knew that if Yaser found out, it would be bad news for us. One time, when Yaser was out of the country, Amina was able to come out with my family and me to a church function. Amina often imagined him spying on her with a pair of binoculars. It may seem paranoid, but the threat was genuine; she knew if she broke the rules, he’d hurt her badly. Once, when Sarah got an after-school job working in a store, he spied on her at work and punished her for smiling too much at the customers.

Despite all that, Amina was always the picture of calm. When she became concerned that her father might look through her cellphone for information about what she was up to, she suggested we use a secret code that sounded like something an intelligence agent would dream up. A text of the number 7 meant that her father was planning to confiscate her phone and that no matter what texts I received after that, I should not reply.

It seemed like overkill at first, but then one night my phone buzzed with the agreed on code: 7. Not long after, another text came in. “Hey what’s up?” it read. “Can u call me?” I ignored the message just like she’d warned me, and in class the next day Amina confirmed that Yaser had taken her phone. He had apparently spent the evening driving around in his cab, texting her contacts at random, trying to prove she was deceiving him.

Eventually, Yaser found a note Amina had written to me and demanded to know who she was communicating with. She lied and told him she’d written it to an imaginary boyfriend.

Shortly after that, we gave up on phones altogether and began passing a notebook back and forth, taking turns pouring our hearts onto the lined pages, or swapping folded notes at class. It seemed like a safer approach, but as we later found out, it wasn't nearly safe enough.

Eventually, Yaser found a note Amina had written to me and demanded to know who she was communicating with. She lied and told him she’d written it to an imaginary boyfriend. She was always determined to protect me from the horrors she was enduring.

Apparently he didn’t buy the story. A few days later, Amina failed to show up for class. She didn’t come to the next session either, or the one after that. Months went by without a word. She’d vanished. With no possibility of getting hold of her, I imagined the worst. Eventually, though, Amina reached out to our tae kwon do instructor with a message for me: Yaser had secretly bought a house in Lewisville, on the other side of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, 60 miles away, and, overnight, he’d moved the whole family. 

There was essentially no way we could see each other after that, but before long, Amina got a secret phone — a “burner” — allowing us to plot an escape. The plan was to make Yaser believe we’d really broken up so that when she ran away, he wouldn’t go looking for me. She had a friend from school help her with this.

We were going to get married. We’d already exchanged rings, little rubber ones that were part of a punk-style bracelet set she’d bought at Hot Topic. I had to leave mine out in the sun to stretch it out. The rings were cheap but the meaning was real. As soon as we graduated, we promised we’d run away to Vegas, get married, and just split — get to somewhere safe and start a new life. She even started a list of what she was going to bring.

Yaser was talking about bringing Sarah (who also had a secret American boyfriend) and Amina back to Egypt and forcing them into marriages.

We knew the plan would take money, so in 2007 I quit high school, quickly got a GED, and found a job working

in a factory fabricating water- and air-pressure hoses for aerospace companies. The job paid good money, $15 an hour, and I saved every penny for the trip and our future.

Toward the end of the year, it became clear we’d have to move more quickly than we’d planned. Yaser was talking about bringing Sarah (who also had a secret American boyfriend) and Amina back to Egypt and forcing them into marriages. He regularly threatened to kill Amina, and she knew he meant it. I didn’t know this until much later, but at one point after they moved to Lewisville, he beat her brutally and demanded to know who she was seeing. Amina was the strongest and bravest person I have ever met, and she refused to tell him my name. She always wanted to keep me safe from him, knowing that if he’d found me, he would have killed me too. But I wouldn’t have cared if she had told him. The only thing that mattered was our being together.

Right after dinner, Christmas day, I received a text from Amina. “We did it,” she wrote. “We left.” It turned out her mother had taken her and Sarah, hopped in the car, and just taken off.

“I’ll come to you,” I told her. “Where are you?”

It was too soon, she said, refusing even to tell me what city they’d gone to. Yaser and various family members were calling her mother nonstop, begging her to return, and Amina wasn’t confident their troubles were really over yet.

She was right. A few days later, they all returned home. It was a trap. Her mom apparently buckled under the pressure and tricked the girls into going back. Shortly after, on New Year’s Day, Yaser allegedly murdered both of his beautiful daughters and fled into the night.

More than six years later, he still hasn’t been caught. While there’s solid evidence that family members helped him hide and he may still even be in Texas, the local law enforcement authorities — who bungled the case from the beginning — seem to have mostly given up the hunt. 

*  *  *

The last time I saw Amina it was summer. She’d told her family she was going to Six Flags with some friends. She didn’t mention that I was one of them.

We spent all day in the park — the most time we’d ever been together. Resolving not to talk about anything scary or difficult, we devoted the day purely to having fun. Losing ourselves in the massive crowds, we held hands nonstop. It was the only time we ever got to do that without worrying about the consequences.

Of course Amina wanted to go on the Titan roller coaster, one of the most hard-core thrill rides at the park. It’s pretty intense. People in line in front of us bailed at the last minute. But Amina didn’t seem worried. She insisted on waiting a few extra minutes so we could ride in the very front car. “It will be fun,” she promised. It was.

As we crested the 245-foot hill and began to speed downward, she threw her arms in the air, and I looked over at her. She was grinning, the biggest, most gorgeous smile I have ever seen. She wasn’t scared at all. 

The Price of Honor, a new documentary about the lives and murders of Amina and Sarah Said, is screening soon in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and New York and at film festivals worldwide. The filmmakers have also launched an effort to bring Yaser Said to justice. Follow the progress at @catchyasernow. 

Story by Joseph Moreno, as told to Aaron Gell.

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Hong Kong (AFP) - Police repeatedly fired tear gas in clashes with protesters fighting for democracy as parts of Hong Kong descended into chaos Sunday with tens of thousands on the streets to demand Beijing grant the city full universal suffrage.

The rare scenes -- in which crowds faced down riot police in the international financial hub -- forced protest leaders to warn supporters to "retreat and save their lives" if rubber bullets were fired.

Protesters screamed "Shame!" at officers, many in gas masks and riot gear, as they tried to shield themselves from the clouds of tear gas which was last used in Hong Kong in 2005.

It marked a dramatic escalation of protests in the city, which rarely sees such violence, after a tense week of largely contained student-led demonstrations exploded into mass angry street protests.

Protesters have defiantly stuck to their demands for full universal suffrage after Beijing last month said it would allow elections for the city's next leader in 2017 but will vet the candidates -- a decision branded a "fake democracy". 

An AFP reporter at the scene early Monday morning estimated ten thousand protesters were dug in for another night as the unrest spilled over into other areas beyond the main site for the first time -- with thousands launching a sit-in across the harbour.

Protest leaders on Sunday called on demonstrators to pull back if police used rubber bullets, with rifles slung over the shoulders of many officers, or if they felt their lives were threatened.

"This is a matter of life or death. If their lives are threatened they should retreat and save their lives," said professor Chan Kin-man, a co-founder of the Occupy Central group which threw its weight behind the protest on Sunday. 

As acrid plumes of smoke wafted across the city, demonstrators expressed outrage at the city's police but remained defiant.  

"We are unarmed, just standing here, there was no warning for the gas," Harry Hung told AFP after a volley was fired.

"This is unbelievable. This is a peaceful protest and the police are the ones using violence," added demonstrator Jade Wong. "The level of police violence here is just like mainland China, it was never like this before."

- New protests spring up -

The tear gas did little to stem the tide of demonstrators occupying more than 800 metres of a vital multi-lane highway usually filled with vehicles.

Fresh protests also sprung up far from the main demonstration, with around 3,000 people blocking a major road across the bay in Mongkok, bringing traffic to a standstill and opening up another significant flashpoint.

A dozen police looked on helplessly as the demonstrators took over the bustling Nathan Road in Kowloon, chanting slogans and wrapping their eyes in clingfilm to protect themselves in the event of pepper spray being deployed, an AFP reporter said.

"We need to strike for freedom and for our democracy. We've come to Mongkok because it's very dangerous now in Central and Admiralty," 20-year-old student Calvin Chan told AFP, referring to the main protest districts.

Also affected was the busy shopping district of Causeway Bay, east of central Hong Kong, where some 1,000 people facing a line of riot police. 

Officers have so far made 78 arrests for offences ranging from forcible entry into government premises, unlawful assembly, disorderly conduct in public place and assaulting public officers.

Protesters were warned to leave central area which was under lockdown, or face "arrest and removal action".

Twenty-six people were being treated for injuries, the hospital authority said.

China, which stations a People's Liberation Army (PLA) garrison in Hong Kong, said it was confident the city's administration could handle the protest. 

Beijing "firmly opposes all illegal activities that could undermine rule of law and jeopardise 'social tranquility' and it offers its strong backing" to the Hong Kong government, said a spokesman for China's Hong Kong and Macau affairs office, Xinhua news agency reported.

In a statement the Hong Kong government said it had "no intention to seek help from the PLA".

- City closes schools -

Students have boycotted classes in the past week, which saw the central government complex stormed, with pro-democracy group Occupy Central on Sunday bringing forward a mass civil disobedience campaign that had been due to start on October 1.

Hong Kong's leader, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, told a press conference his administration was "resolute in opposing the unlawful occupation actions by Occupy Central".

As the demonstrations continued into Monday -- the start of the working week, authorities were forced to shut schools in key areas.

The Hong Kong Education Bureau announced that schools in the Wan Chai as well as Central and Western districts would be closed.

Former colonial power Britain handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997 under a "one country, two systems" deal that guarantees liberties not seen on the mainland, including freedom of speech and the right to protest.

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There was literally nobody on the planet more excited for Apple's first phablet than me. 

As soon as rumors started popping up that Apple was going to make a 5.5-inch iPhone, I knew I was going to buy it. I had been using a Galaxy Note II, which has a 5.5-inch screen, at home as a mini-tablet, and I thought it was great. I prefer iOS, so I was happy Apple was going to jump into the phablet market.

Sure enough, on the day the phone was available for preorder, I woke up and ordered the iPhone 6 Plus.

It arrived Wednesday, and my initial impression — 30 minutes in — was positive. The big screen is flat-out gorgeous. It's thin, and the device looks good. 

But, after ~12 hours with it, I have more mixed emotions. I am now wondering if this phone is too big for me and my day-to-day usage. I am wondering if in a week I'll be at the Apple Store, returning the phone. 

What's the problem? I had no idea how important one-handed usage is with a smartphone until it was basically taken away from me with the iPhone 6 Plus. 

I am 6-foot-1, and I think I have the hands that correspond with that size. I use medium-size grips on my golf clubs, if that helps add perspective. To be precise: It's not as if I have freak baby hands. 

Wednesday, while I was setting up my phone, I was eating dinner — sausage sandwiches with potato chips, because I like to eat healthy. As a result, I did the whole thing one-handed. That wasn't too bad, but I did start to feel like my left hand was getting disjointed trying to bend my thumb around to hit various buttons.

But that was an exception, right? Setting up the phone is a one-time thing. What about normal usage? 

Well, I was sitting on my couch watching TV, and it turns out I use my phone with just one hand a lot! More than I ever realized. And I felt as if I had to pop my thumb out of its joint to move around the phone. 

Here's the best analogy I can think of for describing the new sort of motions needed to navigate this big phone: Have you ever tried to move around on the ground without using your arms? You end up shuffling using your butt.

Likewise, when trying to move your hand around the 6 Plus, you use your palm to move the phone, and slide your fingers from side to side. 

My iPhone 5S was sitting next to me on the couch, and I started picking it up. I had a newfound appreciation for how small and easily used it is. I could zip around the screen, no problem. And it's not that small, really. I could see what I needed to see. The screen on the iPhone 6 Plus is beautiful and big, but it doesn't feel like that much of an improvement, at least, not right now. 

When my wife came home, I showed her the iPhone 6 Plus. She hated it. She treated it as if it were covered in disease, immediately handing it back to me. I took it, tried to shuffle it in my hand to unlock, and I dropped it on the floor. Happily, nothing happened to it. But, I am now hyper aware of how easy it is to drop the thing.

The one-handed thing came up again when I was getting ready to go to sleep. I'm one of those pathetic losers who can't do anything without looking at his phone. So, when I brush my teeth, I like to check Twitter. And I could do that with the 6 Plus, but it was slightly uncomfortable.

Thursday morning, walking to the train, I wanted to whip out my phone to see if I was running late. But there is no whipping out of the iPhone 6 Plus. There is only careful removal, because the risk of dropping it is real.

Other things about the 6 Plus that I find odd:

• Apple moved the power button to the side, but it's too high on the side. I still have to slink my hands into position to hit it.
• In Safari, if I want to open a new page or a new tab, I have to slide my thumb all the way across the phone.
• The reachability mode from Apple is not all that useful. Apple has this new thing where you double tap the home button and the screen slides down. 1) It's hard to get my thumb to the home button. 2) I don't even know how this helps.

To be clear, I am not returning it — at least not yet. I'm going to be giving the phone a week before making up my mind.

The problem for me, and perhaps for anyone who buys the 6 Plus, is more mental than physical. In my head, this is an "iPhone," and so I expect it to behave like an iPhone. But in reality, it's something totally different.

If Apple named this the iPad Nano, I would probably have no complaints. I would just think of it like I think of the iPad Mini. I don't complain about one-handed usage with an iPad Mini because I don't expect it. 

It's a new category of device, and so I will have to use it in new ways. 

The question, which I will be revisiting in a week, is whether I figure out a new way to use the phone. And whether it's worth whatever compromises I have to make in using the phone in a new way. 

The big screen is gorgeous, but after 12 hours with it, I'm not sure it's worth the trade-off of a truly easy-to-use little mobile phone. 

NOW WATCH: Inside The Giant iPhone 6 Plus: Teardown Reveals It Cost $242 For Parts

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Netscape founder and Andreessen Horowitz partner Marc Andreessen has joined the chorus of people warning that startups are taking on too much risk and burning too much cash.

The so-called startup burn rate conversation was sparked by Benchmark's Bill Gurley, who recently told The Wall Street Journal that "Silicon Valley as a whole ... is taking on an excessive amount of risk right now." He believes startups are burning a dangerous amount of cash — an amount that resembles 1999 just before the dotcom bubble burst.

Here was Andreessen's own warning on Twitter: "When the market turns, and it will turn, we will find out who has been swimming without trunks on. Many high burn rate companies will VAPORIZE." 

Over the past few years, it's been relatively easy for startups to raise money from venture capitalists. In some cases, they're raising hundreds of millions of dollars to keep their companies afloat. But behind the scenes, they're plowing through that money either on marketing, overhead, or some other expense, which results in high burn rates. These bloated companies are using their millions to hide serious flaws in their business models.

Union Square Ventures' Fred Wilson agreed with Gurley, stating: "We have multiple portfolio companies burning multiple millions of dollars a month. Thankfully its not our entire portfolio. But it is more than I’d like and more than I’m personally comfortable with."

Wilson's firm has invested in companies such as MongoDB, Twitter, Foursquare, Zynga and Tumblr. Gurley's has invested in Snapchat, Uber, OpenTable and Yelp. Now Andreessen, who's an investor in Pinterest, Foursquare and Fab, also says the tech world should be worried.

High burn rates are dangerous for a few reasons. Andreessen explains:

1. High burn prevents a company from being able to adapt quickly if the market changes.
2. Excessive amounts of capital allow companies to hire like crazy rather than operate efficiently. Hiring is an easy-sounding solution to many problems startups face. But once a startup stops being lean, it can become slow to execute and mismanaged.
3. Raising a lot of money gives the illusion that a startup has made it: salaries can be high, offices can be glamorous, and it can make employees feel a false sense of relief, like all its hard work is done. 
4. When you're a bloated company, raising money to support that size operation can be hard to do. "High cash burn startups almost never survive down rounds. VAPORIZE," Andreessen reiterates.
5. When the market turns, big companies stop buying startups. And if you have a high burn rate, no one will buy you.

 Andreessen's final message to the tech industry:

"Worry."

Here's the complete 18-Tweet tweetstorm, below.

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As the new school semester starts, many young people will find themselves mourning the days of college — endlessly combing their social media networks, with envy, for photos of their undergrad-friends at the campus bar or statuses about tailgating before a big football game.

There's good news! Life goes on. It's time to embark on the next adventure: starting a career.

For those wishing to branch out in a new city, deciding where to settle is tough. To help them make a decision, Livability curated a list of the towns with the most potential for new college grads.

To determine the best cities, Livability analyzed factors such as"the number of 25- to 34-year-olds living in each city, the availability of rental properties, unemployment rates, educational attainment levels, use of public transportation, and the types of jobs these places offer." Bonus points were awarded to cities that provide tons of recreational opportunities, nightlife, and a cool vibe.

Here are the top 10 cities for recent college grads:

10. Mountain View, CA

Even if you're not a Googler, the techie dream town of Mountain View contains endless amenities for its amenities, including shoreline pathways, a network of bike trails, and coworking spaces and coffee shops offering Bitcoin ATMS and free WiFi, according to Livability

9. Naperville, IL

Located 30 miles west of Chicago, Naperville combines small-town charm and big-city amenities, according to Livability. It's a hotbed of jobs in the technology, energy, and distribution sector — with a low unemployment rate of 5.5% among 25- to 34-year-olds.

8. Fargo, ND

While you may know it as the wintry town that gave the dark comedy thriller "Fargo" its title, the real-life city is considered one of the safest places to live in the U.S., according to Livability. Nearly 80% of jobs in Fargo are considered non-service and come with high salaries, spanning health care, technology, manufacturing, and financial services. 

7. Ann Arbor, MI

So much more than just a college town — and one of the best, at that — Ann Arbor boasts above-averages wages to college-educated workers and a solid track record of successful entrepreneurs, according to Livability. Residents can find ample opportunities in automotive research, software development, and research in life sciences.

6. Hoboken, NJ

Before cracking a Jersey joke, bear with us. There are nearly 122,000 job openings in and around the city, Livability reports, and the unemployment rate for 25- to 34-year-olds is 1.6% — a pretty solid indication that qualified applicants can land a job here. 

5. Minneapolis, MN

According to Livability, the average citizen spends less than 30% of their annual income on housing. This frees up funds for entertainment (Minneapolis has one of the best music scenes outside Nashville, NYC, and LA), eating out at one of the city's four James Beard Award-nominated restaurants, and, of course, retirement.

4. Bethesda, MD 

Considered a Washington, D.C. suburb, Bethesda is home to some of the leading research facilities in the country, including the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Advanced Orthopaedics, Lcokheed Martin, and IBM. Plus, 98.7% of its residents are employed, according to Livability.

3. Austin, TX 

While rapid population growth has sucked some of the weirdness out of Austin, the overgrown college town holds on to creative culture through small businesses, South by Southwest, and a ripe culinary scene. According to Livability, major industries include computer technology, research and development, engineering, and the arts.

2. Bellevue, WA

Home to Lake Washington and Mount Rainier, Bellevue also plays host to a slew of earthy-crunchy companies, including REI, Eddie Bauer, and Outdoor Research. Outdoor enthusiasts can find employment opportunities in industries spanning software, internet, environmental management, and engineering, according to Livability.

1. Cambridge, MA

With more than 600 companies and two internationally renowned universities based here, Cambridge is well stocked in jobs, most of which are high-paying compared to the average American salary. The Boston suburb's compact layout, vibrant arts scene, and ample food trucks draws tens of thousands of 25- to 34-year-olds to the area, Livability reports. The top employers are Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, Sanofi-Genzyme BioVentures, and Biogen Idec, which Business Insider named the second best employer in America in 2014.

SEE ALSO: The 20 Best Places To Live In America

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One of the biggest mysteries left unanswered on AMC's hit series "The Walking Dead" surrounds Beth Greene, the series' ever-optimistic, soft-spoken teen who has a knack for singing to keep up survivor morale. Season 4 of the apocalyptic zombie thriller left us with a cliffhanger after the character was abruptly kidnapped by an unknown captor.

While we wait for her return next season, Business Insider recently spoke with the actress who plays Beth, Emily Kinney, about her passion for singing and how her music and acting careers collided on screen. 

"When I first auditioned for Beth, I didn’t realize she was going to be a singer," says Kinney. "I knew that they knew I could sing because some people had come to my shows between seasons."

The actress tells Business Insider it was then-showrunner Glen Mazzara who mentioned the idea of Beth singing on the series.

"I think it was season 2 where they were like 'Oh Beth likes music.' and 'Beth likes to sing,'" says Kinney. "[Mazzara] called me to talk to me about it. He had said, ‘We really need a moment of quiet and calm so I was thinking …  we want to connect back to who they were when they were at the farmhouse. Maybe you and Maggie would sing. That could become part of who Beth is. She’s very creative.'"

The Nebraskan native attended New York University where she pursued both an acting and music career working in theater off Broadway. In the summer 2008, she made her Broadway debut in "Spring Awakening."

When Kinney joined "The Walking Dead" cast in 2011, she had just put out her first EP "Blue Toothbrush" and was playing gigs in New York City. 

As Beth, she covers several songs in seasons three and four. The first song Kinney sang on the series was "The Parting Glass," an old Scottish and Irish folk song, alongside sister Maggie (Lauren Cohen) at the start of season three.

Many of the songs have been selected for particular reasons on the series. Tom Wait's "Hold on" was featured near the end of season three episode 11, "I Ain't a Judas." 

Kinney says she suggested the inclusion of one of the more recent songs, "Be Good," by Waxahatchee.

"I loved that song so much that I kind of did another arrangement of it for my own album 'Expired Love,'" says Kinney. "I started playing it a lot at shows, too. I love that song."

She released her second EP, "Expired Love," in March in which she wrote seven original songs. Her cover of "Be Good" is one of the most popular tracks on iTunes.

Kinney says fans are sometimes taken aback by the adult themes in her music. What most fans don't realize is that the actress, who plays a teen on "The Walking Dead,"is actually 29 years old. 

"In my music I write about my life and sometimes I get a lot of response on Twitter and Instagram where they seem very taken by my lyrics. ‘How could you have experience about this?’ or ‘Is this appropriate for someone who’s a teenager?’ … because I talk a lot about relationships and sex, drinking, and things that I’ve experienced as an adult."

Fans are often surprised to see Kinney in real life.

"Even going to the airport — It depends on how I dress and stuff but if you’re in more casual clothes — people are always like, ‘Oh, who are you with?’" She jokes, "I'm not a little kid."

She's certainly not. 

Before appearances on Showtime's "The Big C" and then "The Walking Dead," she focused on her music career.

"When I first started doing music I wrote the song and then I would find friends to play with me in my band and then I'd book the show and play the show. It was definitely driven by me. Now I have managers who help me with so much of that," she says.

Now, it's about learning to find the right balance between her singing and acting careers which she says "are nice breaks from each other."

"I love being on set and being in the world of 'The Walking Dead' but then it’s kind of nice to go home and sort of write my own lyrics and process what I’m going through," Kinney says. "Songwriting for me is something where I get to process my own feelings and my own thoughts where maybe acting is a little bit more of inhabiting a script that is already written."

"There are times when you’re between jobs as an actor and that’s the reality of being an artist," she adds. "But, I’d be like, ‘Oh, I still want to be creative. I don’t feel fulfilled.’ Writing my own music and performing it is a way to fill that for me when I’m between jobs acting."

Kinney is currently on tour with a recent gig in New York City. Next, she has two shows coming up in October in Los Angeles, California and Ewing, New Jersey. 

She says her work on "The Walking Dead" has definitely helped expand her fan base, and helped bring both groups of fans together even. 

"I’ve made a lot of connections with new fans that way," says Kinney. "It’s fun because there’s 'Walking Dead' fans and then music fans, too, and then I feel like there’s some 'Walking Dead' fans that became music fans, so that’s real exciting for me because maybe it’s an audience I wouldn’t have reached just doing music."

SEE ALSO: Here's why a "Walking Dead" star hated Hollywood before his big break

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Boston (AFP) - After a week packed with celebration and sentiment, iconic Yankees captain Derek Jeter played his last Major League Baseball game on Sunday, a contributor up to the last.

Honored by the Boston prior to the season finale between the bitter American League East rivals, Jeter played as designated hitter in the Yankees' 9-5 victory over the Red Sox.

In his first at-bat he smacked a line drive off Boston starting pitcher Clay Buchholz in the first inning, but it was straight to shortstop Jemile Weeks.

In the third frame, with a runner on third, Jeter chopped a ball toward third and legged out the infield single that scored Japan's Ichiro Suzuki.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi motioned toward Jeter at first to see if he wanted to exit for a pinch runner, and the Yankees captain jogged off the field for the last time.

"It's the end of an era," Girardi had said before the game.

As he departed, Jeter received a thunderous ovation from Boston fans.

Many had thought he might skip the final three games of the season in Boston, after delivering the winning single for a storybookd finish to his emotional last home game at Yankee Stadium on Thursday.

But Jeter said he wanted to play, in deference to Boston fans and the storied rivalry between the teams.

The Red Sox thanked him with a thirty-minute pre-game ceremony that included such Red Sox greats as Carl Yastrzemski, Jim Rice, Fred Lynn, Luis Tiant, Jason Varitek and Tim Wakefield.

A trio of Boston legends from other sports -- Bobby Orr of the NHL's Bruins, Paul Pierce of the NBA's Celtics and Troy Brown of the NFL's Patriots -- also took part in the ceremony, in which the entire current Red Sox team came out of the dugout to shake hands with Jeter.

Jeter finished his 20-year career with 3,465 hits -- sixth on Major League Baseball's all-time list.

A five-time World Series champion and 14-time All-Star, he finishes his career as a .309 lifetime hitter in 2,747 games.

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Guinter Kahn, who died last week at the age of 80, is not a household name. But his invention Rogaine sure is.

For decades, the brand has been synonymous with the restoration of virility and youth, or rather, the hope for said restoration on the part of men past their prime. Kahn was the embattled scientist who deserves most of the credit for fulfilling — however imperfectly— their follicle-related dreams.

It was Kahn who discovered that minoxidil, the active ingredient in Rogaine (and originally intended to treat hypertension), could be effective in restoring lost hair. And how he discovered it is a story onto itself.

The tale of how Kahn discovered minoxidil's effectiveness as a hair loss treatment is arguably one of the great scientific accidents of our time.

The full story is told an article by John Dorschner in the Miami Herald, published in October 1988, entitled "The Minoxidillionaire" (emphasis mine):

The real discovery, [Kahn] explained, had come a decade before, in 1971. At the time, he was the acting head of the dermatology department at the University of Colorado medical school. One day, a first-year resident, Paul Grant, approached him and asked him to look at an odd case he had just seen in the hospital.

Kahn went. The patient was a woman in her mid-40s. She was growing hair all over her face, especially on the temples. She suffered from hypertension so severe that she had had two strokes because of it. Since she didn't respond to ordinary medications, she had been placed in an experimental program. She was being given minoxidil, a potent new drug that Upjohn [a pharmaceutical company] was testing, hoping to get FDA approval.

The drug had dramatically lowered her blood pressure, but there was this strange side effect. It was first noticed by Dr. Charles Chidsey, the university's chief of clinical pharmacology, whom Upjohn had hired to administer the minoxidil experiments. Chidsey had called in the dermatologists as consultants.

Kahn and Grant listened carefully to the woman's story. Before minoxidil, she said, she had never had to shave her legs. Since taking the drug, she had to shave frequently. Before, she had gone to her beautician to have her hair cut every three or four months. Now, she was having to go every three or four weeks.

Kahn was excited. He realized instantly what the implications were. "Right off the bat," says Grant, "he said, 'Boy, this would be great stuff if we could apply it to the top of heads.'"

The story goes on to recount how Kahn and Grant went on to test the hair-raising effects of minoxidil:

From one of Chidsey's [the University of Colorado's chief of clinical pharmacology, hired to test the effects of minoxidil on blood pressure] assistants they obtained some minoxidil powder, without saying that they planned to use it on human subjects. They mixed the powder with several alcohol-based solutions and with a mixture of ethyl alcohol and propylene glycol. To be on the safe side, they decided that the minoxidil should not exceed 1 percent of the solution.

After two months without seeing any results, Kahn was ready to call it quits:

But it was about then that Grant went to Fort Carson in Colorado Springs to put in his two weeks of active duty for the Army Reserves. He had been applying the solution daily, but without paying much attention to it. "I really didn't have that much hope for it. For years, people have been looking for some lotion that could grow hair, and no one had ever found anything." Then one morning in the barracks, Grant took time to closely inspect the skin under the bandage: matted against the skin, squashed by the tape, were unmistakable new hairs — dark, thick hairs.

When he returned to the university, Kahn recalls, Grant approached him in the conference room just before a meeting was to begin.

"I have something to show you," said Grant, with the controlled excitement of a resident talking deferentially to his superior. He pulled back the bandage. There was a one-inch square of thick, dark hair."

"I couldn't believe what I was seeing," Kahn recalls.

He stared.For the first time, the stuff of snake oil patches had been proven; that an ointment could grow hair.

They had made history.

Interestingly, they found that the other resident and the secretary were also growing hair; the only person who wasn't was Kahn himself. In a twist too neat for fiction, he turned out to be allergic to his own discovery, according to his New York Times obituary.

The saga gets longer and stranger. When Kahn and grant informed Upjohn of minoxidil's power to restore hair, in 1971, Upjohn quietly filed a patent for using minoxidil for that purpose — and reported Kahn and Grant to the FDA for conducting unauthorized experiments on humans. Upjohn then proceeded to sit on the patent for years.

Then, in 1979, nearly a decade after Kahn and Grant made their discovery, FDA approved minoxidil as a hypertension medication, and the US Patent Office granted Upjohn the patent to use it as a hair remedy.

After years of legal wrangling, Upjohn made a deal with Kahn, issuing a joint patent entitled "Methods and Solutions for Treating Male Pattern Alopecia." Grant was not deemed important enough to the discovery to be named in the patent, though he did receieve a share in the royalties.

Kahn's struggles didn't end there. Though he had won credit and a share in the profits, he was frequently denied credit for his discovery, a fact that "gnawed at him." Dorschner writes:

What Kahn hopes is that long after he and the money are gone, the history books will recognize what he did.

Ultimately, Kahn got what he wanted: fortune and some small measure of fame. We should all be so fortunate. Kahn and Grant never disclosed their precise agreement with Upjohn. But in 2006, Johnson & Johnson purchased the unit that produces Rogaine and a few other consumer health products (by then a division of Pfizer) for $16.6 billion.

Just don't call it luck.

Kahn bristles at the mere mention of luck:

"You bet we were lucky. We were lucky that we chose the appropriate solution to put the minoxidil in. We were lucky that we chose the correct percentage of minoxidil to put in the solution. Too much and we may have had negative side effects. Too little and we may have had no result. We were lucky that we didn't stop after four weeks. We were lucky that we had Paul Grant's hirsute right arm, where the hair grew dark and abundant.

"Luck is a part of science. No one talks about the 200 experiments I did with various things that did not work. So there was luck that one worked. Why didn't anyone want to give us credit for that?"

SEE ALSO: Ten Important Science Discoveries That Were Complete Accidents

SEE ALSO: An Astronaut Explains How She Washes Her Hair In Space

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Earlier this week, Alaska TV reporter Charlo Greene made headlines when she quit her job on-air to focus on being an advocate for marijuana legalization.

While quitting in public isn't the best idea for people's longterm career prospects, these acts of defiance are certainly entertaining for the rest of us.

We collected the stories of seven people who chose to give their bosses a little something extra when they resigned, using platforms ranging from a local radio broadcast to an op-ed in the New York Times.

Marina Shifrin tells Next Media Animation she's "gone" in interpretive dance video.

Chicago native Marina Shifrin was working in Taiwan as an editor for Next Media Animation, a company famous for its ridiculous cartoon spoofs of American news stories, when she decided she'd had enough of the long nights and the constant pressure to turn out more content.

In a bold move, she decided to film herself in the Next Media Animation newsroom doing an interpretive dance set to Kanye West's "Gone." On the bottom, she placed scrolling text explaining her frustrations with her job and announcing to her bosses that she was quitting.

The video struck a chord with overworked young people everywhere, and it spread like wildfire on the internet. In the year since it was posted, the video has collected 18 million YouTube views.

Flight attendant Steven Slater slides to freedom.

JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater became a folk hero in the summer of 2010 when an unruly passenger sent him into a fury while their plane was on the tarmac of New York's JFK Airport.

After the passenger refused to stay in her seat until the pilot said it was safe to get up, Slater got on the plane's public address system, dropped the F-bomb, and told passengers that after more than 20 years as a flight attendant, he'd had enough.

Slater then escaped the plane via its inflatable emergency slide and rushed home. He later pleaded guilty to criminal mischief and attempted criminal mischief, agreeing to undergo counseling and substance abuse treatment in order to avoid a prison sentence.

Puppeteer Gwen Dean quits her machine engineering job on the biggest stage of all.

At the 2014 Super Bowl, web hosting company GoDaddy decided to shed the raunchiness that had been pervasive in its previous ads at the big game, instead hoping to position itself as a facilitator for small business owners hoping to pursue their dreams.

And so, during a commercial break, former US Coast Guard member Gwen Dean told her boss Ted and 110 million other Americans that she would be quitting her job as a machine engineer to focus on her small business making puppets.

Dean told the Today Show the following day that her boss was supportive of her decision and actually texted her after the ad ran to say, "great commercial!"

It was another weekend of creeping signs that Europe is coming unglued.

First in the UK, the ruling Conservative party saw a second Member of Parliament defect to UKIP, an anti-EU populist party whose popularity seems to be surging.

The defection, by MP Mark Reckless, comes about a month after another MP, Doug Carswell, left to UKIP. The UK is having its next national Parliamentary election next Spring, and the pressure is on the conservatives to fend off the UKIP surge.

Meanwhile in France, history has been made in a way that's ominous for the ruling elites: For the first time, a member of the ultra-right National Front has been elected to the Senate. The National Front now has two seats, as the popularity of its leader Marine Le Pen (daughter of the infamous Jean-Marie Le Pen) continues to surge. France's next election won't take place until 2017, but as of now, the popularity of President Francois Hollande is in the toilet — he has just a 13% approval rating.

Meanwhile in Spain, the head of the Catalan region Artur Mas has signed a decree to hold an independence vote for the region on November 9 despite the objections of the central government in Madrid, which says that such a vote would be illegal. Some kind of clash is coming.

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BI Intelligence's market forecast and FAQ on beacons have been among our most popular research reports this year.

We wanted to give our readers another window into the report's findings, and prepared this short 5-minute video.

Click on the image below to watch and learn what beacons are, how they work, and how quickly they will become a part of the retail landscape.

BI Intelligence is a research and analysis service focused on e-commerce, mobile computing, digital media, and payments. Only subscribers can download the full beacon forecast and FAQ/explainer on beacons. Please sign up for a free trial here.

-- Produced by Hope King. Report by Senior Research Analyst Cooper Smith.

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A new week has begun, and the dollar is rallying again.

The movements aren't huge, but the dollar is up against the Euro, the Canadian dollar, and the Japanese Yen.

Here's a short-term chart, via FinViz, of the dollar pushing higher against the yen.

Again, not too huge, but the dollar strength is one of the biggest stories in the market right now, as it's been on an absolute tear for weeks.

The general explanation for the dollar strength is the rise in short-term interest rates in the US (reflecting an improving economy, and belief that it won't be too long now until the Fed can raise rates)

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The winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry won't be announced for a little while — Wednesday, October 8th, to be precise — but we may already have an idea of who might win, thanks to an annual analysis by Thomson Reuters.

The Intellectual Property & Science unit of Thomson Reuters, which also owns the Reuters news service, bases its forecasts on the number of citations of a scientist's published work. These references serve as a proxy for how influential their work is. (This is also how the overall influence and importance of journals and scientists is assessed, a system that is not without its critics.)

The ratings have accurately predicted 35 Nobel laureates since 2002. These include 9 winners predicted in the year of the forecast, and 16 who won within 2 years. Here are this years predictions for the Nobel Prize for Chemistry:

Functional mesoporous materials

Three of the predicted Laureates work in this area of nanotechnology (read: absurdly small technology, at the scale of atoms and molecules). "Mesoporous" refers to materials with a pore size (similar to the pores in your skin) anywhere between 2 and 50 nanometers — a nanometer being one-billionth of a meter. In particular, mesoporous silica holds promise as a drug delivery system for cancer treatments, among other applications.

The possible winners: Charles Kresge, Chief Technology Officer of Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia; Ryong Ryoo, Director of the Center for Nanomaterials and Chemical Reactions at the Institute for Basic Science in South Korea; and Galen Stucky, Professor in Letters and Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization process

Three scientists from Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) are predicted to win for their work on this process, which affords more precise control over the creation of polymers. or synthetic materials created from linking a large number of similar units. Think Teflon, used not only as a nonstick coating (and descriptor of former President Ronald Reagan), but also in replacement blood vessels. Applications for polymers are virtually limitless, so finding more precise ways of creating them is a big deal.

The possible winners: Graeme Moad, Ezio Rizzardo, and San H. Thang, all from CSIRO, where the RAFT polymerization process was first described in 1998 in a paper by Rizzardo.

Organic light-emitting diode

Two scientists are in the running for inventing organic light-emitting diodes, commonly known as OLEDs*. These are seen — literally — in a range of electronic devices including smartphones, tablets, and TVs. If there were a separate prize for being readily understandable to laypeople, they would win that hands-down.

The possible winners: Ching W. Tang of the University of Rochester in New York and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and Steven Van Slyke, Chief Technology Officer at Kateeva, Inc. in Menlo Park, California.

*Correction: This article originally called organic light-emitting diodes as LEDs, not OLEDs. OLEDs are a newer technology.

SEE ALSO: Meet The Scientists Who Could Win This Year's Physics Nobel Prize

SEE ALSO: The 2013 Nobel Prize In Chemistry Awarded For Bringing The 'Chemical Experiment To Cyberspace'

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