Elizabeth Olsen is engaged #ElizabethOlsen

Elizabeth Olsen is engaged.
The 25-year-old actress and her boyfriend Boyd Holbrook are set to tie the knot after the 32-year-old star popped the question following two years of dating, according to Us Magazine. 
A source said: 'They've been by each other for a while, taking a lot of couple time.' 
The pair first met on the set of 'Very Good Girls' back in 2012 and have been inseparable ever since.
The loved-up duo took their relationship to the next level a few months back when they reportedly moved in together in Brooklyn, New York City.
The source explained: 'They moved into a place in Brooklyn a few months ago.'
Meanwhile, the Olsen family seem to be keen to head for the aisle as Elizabeth's older sister Mary-Kate, 27, also got engaged to her boyfriend Olivier Sarkozy, 44, just two weeks ago. 
The fashionista is yet to confirm reports that the French banker proposed to her, but she has fuelled rumours recently by flaunting a diamond sparkler on her ring finger.
Mary-Kate and Olivier, who have been dating for two years, reside in New York, where they have a $6.25 million townhouse, but their union has caused some controversy due to their 17-year age gap.
Mary-Kate's twin sister Ashley is also dating an older man, with it recently confirmed she is seeing 47-year-old 'Moneyball' director Bennett Miller.

Converse and Maison Martin Margiela launch a sneaker collection #Sneaker

What do the all- American all star brand and originally Belgian avant-garde fashion house have in common you ask? Well, Maison Martin Margiela and Converse launch a sneaker collection that takes Converse from the streets to the runways. The first-time Converse Maison Martin Margiela collaboration features the Chuck Taylor All Star and the Jack Purcell sneakers, each completely hand-painted in Maison Martin Margiela’s iconic white paint. Covering all canvas, eyelets, laces and soles, with time and wear& tear they naturally crack and shed their outer coat of paint to reveal the original colors beneath.

What makes them so cool then? The more you wear them, the more you get to know them and their true colors appear… Just like people I guess. “The Maison has always been obsessed with white; it is used as a layer to give an incognito feeling. A sort of poetry, with the passage of time, the shoe asserts itself,” says Maison Martin Margiela.

Converse Senior First String Designer, Matt Sleep, said Converse is 'thrilled' to partner with Maison Martin Margiela. 'The collection perfectly embodies each brand’s spirit of individuality and self-expression.'

The styles are available in four color ways based on heritage colors from the Converse archives: red, black, navy, and Margiela-exclusive vintage yellow, and are lined in premium off-white leather.

Converse First String is a limited-edition collection that celebrates craftsmanship, authenticity and collaboration at the highest level. The Converse Maison Martin Margiela sneakers will be available for purchase globally in September at Margiela stores, and at select Converse First String retailers for a suggested retail is $200USD/200€.

The $200 Chuck Taylor All Star and Jack Purcell sneakers, now available at select Converse and Margiela stores. Get yours today!

Vietnamese Prawn and Rice Noodle Salad #Cooking

Ingredients

200g rice vermicelli noodles
1 large carrot, cut into thin matchsticks
1 telegraph cucumber, seeds removed, cut into thin matchsticks
1 long red chilli, seeds removed, cut into thin matchsticks
300g peeled cooked prawns (tails intact), deveined
1 cup (75g) bean sprouts
1/4 cup each of mint, coriander and Thai basil leaves (see note)

Nuoc cham dressing

2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1/3 cup (80ml) lime juice
1 long red chilli, seeds removed, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped

Method

For the nuoc cham, stir the sugar, fish sauce and lime juice in a bowl to dissolve the sugar, then stir in chilli and garlic. Set aside.

Prepare the rice noodles according to packet instructions, drain well, then place in a large bowl.

Add the carrot, cucumber, chilli, prawns, bean sprouts and herbs to the bowl of noodles. Add the dressing, toss well to combine, then serve.

Cooking Chocolate Blondies #ChoclateBlondies

Ingredients:

12 tablespoons of unsalted butter 
1 1/3 cups of lightly packed brown sugar 
4 teaspoons of vanilla extract 
teaspoon of salt 
1 teaspoon baking powder 
and more..
12 tablespoons of unsalted butter 
1 1/3 cups of lightly packed brown sugar 
4 teaspoons of vanilla extract 
teaspoon of salt 
1 teaspoon baking powder 
2 large eggs, at room temperature 
1 1/4 cup of flour 
1 cup of chopped semi-sweet chocolate chunks 
1 cup of chopped white chocolate chunks

*Blondies resemble brownies but they are not as sweet. Their flavour is slightly like butterscotch. It is a good alternative to extra sweet snacks for kids during halloween! They are very easy and take little time. Enjoy! Here is how you make them:

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 F Grease a 13 inch x 9 inch baking dish with butter and lightly flour it (so as to prevent the blondies from sticking)

2. Cream the butter and brown sugar together, for approximately 2 minutes, until well blended

3. Stir in the salt, vanilla and baking powder until completely combined

4. Add eggs, blend in lightly, for approximately 30 seconds

5. Add flour until just blended

6. Add the white chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate chunks.

7. Put the contents into the pan and press it down evenly throughout the pan.

8. Bake it for 25 minutes, or until golden brown. To make it extra halloween-like, you can melt white chocolate and add orange food coloring to it and pour it over the blondies when they come out of the oven.

You can create you own designs!

Angelina Jolie is the ultimate villain in brand new Maleficent pictures #Angelina

Jolie plays the sharp-cheeked Maleficent in the dark fantasy film, the villain who places a curse upon Princess Aurora at birth. (Disney via Image.net)

Ballmer Says Microsoft a ‘Two-Trick Pony,’ Working on Third #Microsoft

Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg

Steve Ballmer, the former CEO of Microsoft Corp., at the Microsoft Atrium at the...Read More

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)’s former Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer said he’s sorry he didn’t combine hardware and software development sooner after the company missed out on Apple Inc.’s smartphone success.

“The thing I regret is that we didn’t put the hardware and the software together soon enough,” Ballmer said in a talk at Oxford University’s Said Business School today. Still, “if you really want to bring a vision to market, it is helpful to be able to conceive and deliver the hardware and the software. Our company is in the process of building new muscle.”

While the world’s largest software maker fell behind in mobile, Microsoft has had more success than most and is building up the capabilities to catch up, he said. Ballmer stepped down from the CEO role at Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft last month, replaced by the company’s head of enterprise and cloud services, Satya Nadella, after a five-month search. Ballmer remains on the board.

“You’re pretty genius in our business if you’re a one-trick pony,” Ballmer said. “In our company, I’m very proud of the fact that we’ve done at least two tricks. Tricks are worth billions and billions of dollars.”

Those two tricks were the invention of the modern personal computer, with its Windows operating system and Office software, and bringing microprocessor technology into data centers, he said. For the next, Ballmer agreed to a $7.2 billion deal to buy Nokia Oyj (NOK1V)’s handset unit in September, accelerating Microsoft’s expansion into hardware.

Excessive Price?

In a note today, credit-ratings company Fitch Ratings called the price Microsoft is paying for Nokia’s handset business “excessive.” The firm cited a deterioration in the user base for Windows-based phones and said Microsoft may incur significant future severance costs from the deal, though it also said the acquisition is “a function of strategic necessity.”

Ballmer said it’s also tricky to measure success at new technology companies. He pointed to Facebook Inc.’s $19 billion deal for the messaging platform WhatsApp Inc. as an example of how difficult it can be to value increasingly cheap-to-build startups.

“If your goal was to sell the company, they had the right goal set -- low cost to 450 million, or whatever the heck number of users, and sell for $19 billion,” Ballmer said. “Is it a fad? Well, probably not. I don’t know whether they’ll be successful or not, but you do have to really sit there and say, what’s my goal? Will that asset ever be worth anything?”

The cost of starting up companies for cloud-based services is becoming cheaper, and companies should look beyond user numbers to measure success. WhatsApp will ultimately be deemed successful when they convert their user base into something that generates “enough revenue to pay off.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Amy Thomson in London at athomson6@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kenneth Wong at kwong11@bloomberg.net

Oscar selfie becomes highest retweeted image in history #Oscar

Ellen Degeneres's Oscar selfie —Courtesy Photo

A picture posted by the Oscars host Ellen DeGeneres broke the record for most retweets, also causing Twitters servers to crash temporarily due to the sheer volume of traffic.

The picture, which shows Hollywood stars Jennifer Lawrence, Channing Tatum, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, DeGeneres, Kevin Spacey, Bradley Cooper, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Lupita Nyong'o and her brother, was retweeted 2.7 million times at last count, easily breaking the previous record set by President Barack Obama of 781,000, posted at the time of his re-election.

"Let's try to set the record for most retweets,"

said DeGeneres whilst she gathered the celebrities together for what eventually became the most popular 'selfie' ever on Twitter.

Sauntering confidently into the audience during the ceremony, DeGeneres took out her smartphone and beckoned to the entire front row to pose for it.

A rapid post on Degeneres's Twitter account ensued, which she appropriately captioned "If only Bradley's arms were longer. Best photograph ever."

The picture can also be viewed here.