Sunday 20 January 2013

Summary Stamford Bridge is smiling once again after two first-half goals proved enough to win this London derby against an Arsenal side who came back strongly after the interval.
Juan Mata continued his run of scoring in every game he has started against Arsenal, netting early on, and Frank Lampard was yet again reliable from the penalty spot to double the advantage with quarter-of-an-hour gone of a game played in light snow throughout.
Chelsea continued to play well up to the break but couldn't make the most of our chances. When Arsenal increased the tempo of their play after the break, our grip on the game slackened and Theo Walcott pulled a goal back. The Gunners continued to look the better side but it was more a case of pressure on the Blues defence than clear=cut chances, and Petr Cech was only occasionally called into action as our backline stood firm to secure all three points.
Team news David Luiz was unavailable with a minor injury so Branislav Ivanovic came back into defence. Fernando Torres was centre-forward with Demba Ba on the bench. The midfield was unchanged from the midweek Southampton game.
Arsenal were totally unchanged from their FA Cup replay win over Swansea on the same night.

First halfIf Chelsea's confidence in playing at home had been further knocked by the disappointing draw against Southampton, it didn't show in the opening 45 minutes.

Fernando Torres was sporting a new short haircut and he set the tone by making a bright start to the game, teeing up Lampard for a shot off-target and then skipping past Sagna, only to be fouled. The Arsenal full-back might have been booked had it happened later in the game.

It was Arsenal's centre-forward who had the first chance to score however, Olivier Giroud played through onside by Walcott who had run inside of Ashley Cole. With time to take aim, the Frenchman missed by a yard.
Chelsea rubbed it in almost immediately by going up the other end and taking the lead. Arsene Wenger was left complaining of a foul when Ramires won the ball from Coquelin but play went on, and Azpilicueta lofted a pass into the box which Mata killed with his first touch, then fired high into the net with his next. It was a superb goal from the Spaniard.
Chelsea v Arsenal
His former Real Oviedo team-mate on the other side, Santi Carzola, drew a save from Petr Cech soon after before Chelsea threatened the Arsenal goal once again. This time it was skilful individualism from Hazard, gliding into the area and then testing Szczesny at his near post with a powerful shot.
Chelsea took a 2-0 lead for the second game running after 15 minutes. Mata was involved again, placing a pass to unmarked Ramires who had beaten the offside flag. The Brazilian was sidestepping Szczesny when the Arsenal keeper brought him down. Referee Martin Atkinson pointed to the spot but only produced a yellow card when it appeared a clear goal-scoring opportunity had been denied. Rafael Benitez was not impressed with that decision.
Chelsea v Arsenal
Lampard opted for placement rather than power this time to make it 195 Chelsea goals. His last three goals have been penalties.
Arsenal were looking ragged and were being stretched by Mata and Hazard in particular. A cross beyond Sagna gave Cole the chance to head at goal but stretching, he couldn't hit the target in front of the Arsenal fans.
Chelsea's next chance came on 35 minutes, Hazard and Oscar moving the ball out of our half to Mata. He passed out to Ramires on the right who did well to find a yard beyond Vermaelen but then shot wildly into the Shed End.
Arsenal were making Chelsea defend more in this quarter of an hour before the break, but the Blues continued to carry a threat. Torres should have done better than slice a shot wide on the stroke of half-time after a Mata free-kick had been half-cleared.

Second halfGiven recent games at the Bridge, the Chelsea support had collective fingers-crossed that Arsenal would be given nothing to bite onto at the start of the second period, and had to be thankful when first Mertesacker with a header and then Walcott with a shot from dangerous positions gave Cech relatively easy saves to make.
Giroud then didn't make sufficient contact with a header after Arsenal left-back Gibbs had counter-attacked and crossed.
Torres, quiet since the opening minutes, briefly got the better of Mertesacker but the attack fizzled out and it was not a great shock when Arsenal pulled a goal back on 57 minutes. Possession was lost when the ball was played up towards Torres and Cazorla slipped a pass through the middle to Walcott who was just onside. There was no catching the England international who kept his nerve to beat Cech.
The Gunners were in the ascendency and shot wide with a good chance to level. Most of the game was now being played in the Chelsea half.
But then a hopeful long pass towards Torres was misread totally by Mertesacker and the Chelsea no.9 was suddenly away. But he took a touch too strong as he closed in on the target and the keeper was able to intervene.
Chelsea v Arsenal
Suddenly Torres looked to have the beating of the Arsenal backline for pace but after another charge clear down the wing, he couldn't pick out Hazard who was the only blue shirt in the area at which to aim.
Benitez made his first change on 71 minutes, Bertrand coming on for Oscar. Chelsea had a corner which was cleared. Ramires tested Szczesny with a shot that was scrambled away from goal.

On 79 minutes Ramires robbed Wilshere deep in the Chelsea half and attacked a big space ahead, but couldn't find a way through when he hit the Arsenal defence. One minute later, Demba Ba replaced Torres.
The substitute could have made a near instant impact. Moments after coming on he was racing down the left, played onside by Vermaelen as Bertrand lofted the ball forward. Ba took the ball beyond the keeper who had charged out but from a tight angle and running out of space, couldn't then beat Vermaelen who was back on the line.
Chelsea v Arsenal
There were less than five minutes left on the clock when a Mata mistake deep in the Chelsea half led to Cole fouling Sagna on the edge of the area, at the cost of a booking. Thankfully Vermaelen couldn't hit the target with his free-kick.
Bertrand had a goal-bound volley blocked by Sagna as the game drew to a close but there were still five minutes of stoppage time to negotiate. Chelsea's defensive fortitude came to the fore as Cahill tackled Walcott expertly and then headed a threatening cross away, and then enough pressure was put on Vermaelen that he could only head another cross over.
Chelsea v Arsenal

GOALS AND HIGHLIGHTS ARE HERE ---


 We had survived for a first home win in four attempts and an important one too. We now have an 11-point advantage over Arsenal having played a game more.
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Cech; Azpilicueta, Cahill, Ivanovic, Cole; Ramires, Lampard (c), Oscar (Bertrand 71), Mata, Hazard (Marin 87); Torres (Ba 80).
Unused subs Turnbull, Ferreira, Terry, Ake.
Scorers Mata 5, Lampard 15 pen.
Booked Mata 65, Cole 86.

Arsenal
(4-2-3-1): Szczesny; Sagna, Mertesacker , Vermaelen (c), Gibbs; Diaby (Arshavin 74), Coquelin (Ramsey 57); Walcott, Wilshere, Cazorla; Giroud.
Unused subs: Mannone, Santos, Koscielny, Jenkinson, Frimpong,.
Scorer Walcott 57.
 Referee Martin Atkinson
Crowd
41,784.

report source - chelseafc.com

singNshock alarm clock
Designed for anyone that habitually relies on the snooze button to avoid getting up, the singNshock alarm clock offers a jolt of electricity to start the day.
Currently in the prototype phase, the singNshock alarm clock combines music with a slight jolt of electricity to help get you out of bed in the morning. Developed by 19-year-old automotive design student Sankalp Sinha, the futuristic mock-up of the alarm clock includes a digital touch panel on the front with icons for battery power, speaker volume, brightness level, time, music selection and an on/off switch for the shock feature. Sinha has built the speakers into the rear of the device in addition to a MMC slot for a 32GB SD memory card that stores your favorite music.
singNshock led lightingRegarding the shock feature, the large aluminum coated button at the top of the clock is designed to turn off the alarm each morning as well as deliver a mild electrical shock when active.
According to the project details, the level of the jolt is measured in millivolts and would likely be much milder than a typical shock from a buildup of static electricity. Sinha came up with the idea of using an electric shock to kickstart his brain in the morning after waking up late for class several times in a row.
Along the sides of the clock, Sinha wants to include LED lighting in a variety of colors which can be altered by the user. In addition, the concept designs of the singNshock alarm clock includes six different colors for the exterior body style. According to the comments located on the singNshock alarm clock information page, Sinha is currently looking into using Kickstarter to fund the development of the alarm clock. According to the Huffington Post, Sinha is also reaching out to individual investors as well as researching manufacturers in order to start production of the device. He’s also looking into distributing the alarm clock online as well as within retail stores.
singNshock shock button



MOUNTAIN VIEW, California — Want an easier way to log into your Gmail account? How about a quick tap on your computer with the ring on your finger?
This may be closer than you think. Google’s security team outlines this sort of ring-finger authentication in a new research paper, set to be published late this month in the engineering journal IEEE Security & Privacy Magazine. In it, Google Vice President of Security Eric Grosse and Engineer Mayank Upadhyay outline all sorts of ways they think people could wind up logging into websites in the future — and it’s about time.
2012 may have been the year that the password broke. It seemed like everyone on the internet received spam e-mail or desperate pleas for cash — the so-called “Mugged in London” scam — from the e-mail accounts of people who had been hacked. And Wired’s own Mat Honan showed everyone just how damaging a hack can be.
The guys who hacked Honan last August deleted his Gmail account. They took over his Twitter handle and posted racist messages. And they remote-wiped his iPhone, iPad, and laptop computer, deleting a year’s worth of e-mails and photographs. In short, they erased his digital life.
Passwords are a cheap and easy way to authenticate web surfers, but they’re not secure enough for today’s internet, and they never will be.
‘Passwords and simple bearer tokens such as cookies are no longer sufficient to keep users safe.’
— Eric Grosse and Mayank Upadhyay
Google agrees. “Along with many in the industry, we feel passwords and simple bearer tokens such as cookies are no longer sufficient to keep users safe,” Grosse and Upadhyay write in their paper.
Thus, they’re experimenting with new ways to replace the password, including a tiny Yubico cryptographic card that — when slid into a USB (Universal Serial Bus) reader — can automatically log a web surfer into Google. They’ve had to modify Google’s web browser to work with these cards, but there’s no software download and once the browser support is there, they’re easy to use. You log into the website, plug in the USB stick and then register it with a single mouse click.
They see a future where you authenticate one device — your smartphone or something like a Yubico key — and then use that almost like a car key, to fire up your web mail and online accounts.
In the future, they’d like things to get even easier, perhaps connecting to the computer via wireless technology.


Google Declares War on the Password





“We’d like your smartphone or smartcard-embedded finger ring to authorize a new computer via a tap on the computer, even in situations in which your phone might be without cellular connectivity,” the Googlers write.
The future may not exactly be password-free, but it will at be least free of those complex, hard-to-remember passwords, says Grosse. “We’ll have to have some form of screen unlock, maybe passwords but maybe something else,” he says, “but the primary authenticator will be a token like this or some equivalent piece of hardware.”
That means that if someone steals your card or your smart-ring, you’d better report it stolen pretty quickly.
Grosse and Upadhyay believe that once enough websites support this device-centric login technique, people mostly won’t need strong passwords, except in rare occasions — when they’re making significant changes to their account, for example.
But for Google’s password-liberation plan to really take off, they’re going to need other websites to play ball. “Others have tried similar approaches but achieved little success in the consumer world,” they write. “Although we recognize that our initiative will likewise remain speculative until we’ve proven large scale acceptance, we’re eager to test it with other websites.”
So they’ve developed a (as yet unnamed) protocol for device-based authentication that they say is independent of Google, requires no special software to work — aside from a web browser that supports the login standard — and which prevents web sites from using this technology to track users.






The great thing about Google’s approach is that it circumvents the really common attack that even Google’s existing mobile-phone authentication system can’t prevent: phishing.
Two years ago, Google introduced a two-step login option, which makes it harder for criminals to break into your account. With this option, Google typically sends users a secret code via text message every time they try to log into their accounts from a new computer.
The problem is that if criminals can convince you that you’re visiting Gmail even when you’re not, they can trick you into entering that secret code. In fact, the bad guys can even turn two-step authentication against legitimate users. Sometimes, they add their own phone number to the account “just to slow down account recovery by the true owner,” the paper states.
What do you do in the meantime? Well, you use that existing two-step authentication. It’s not perfect. But it’s better than just a password.
The good news is that people are actually using it — and we can thank Mat Honan for that. Honan’s story inspired a lot of people to lock down their Gmail accounts by linking them to their mobile phones.
“In the two days following Mat’s Wired article, a quarter-million people signed up for two step authentication,” says Grosse. He can’t say exactly how many people sign up on a typical day, but “it’s much less than that,” he says.
You can see the Epic Hack spike here, in this graph provided by Google:

Everyone logs into Google services like Gmail using a user name and password, but with Google’s two-step process, when you’re logging in from an unfamiliar computer, you also get a six-digit number messaged to your phone that you must enter before you can log in.
Honan says that if he’d had two-step authentication on his Gmail account, the whole incident probably would not have amounted to anything. But until the spammers and scammers decide to call it quits, we still need that Google ring.
Update: this story has been corrected to indicate the type of Yubico key device used by Google

Tuesday 8 January 2013






And the winner is Leo Messi Fifa Ballon d'Or 2012

No surprises as Leo Messi lifted his fourth Ballon d’Or in Zurich tonight after polling 41.60% of the votes, ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo on 23.68% and Andrés Iniesta on 10.91%. Barça were the best represented team along with Real Madrid in the Fifpro World XI with Dani Alves, Gerard Piqué, Xavi Hernandez, Iniesta and Messi making the team. Vicente Del Bosque was voted coach of the year ahead of José Mourinho and Pep Guardiola.



messi fifa ballon d'or 2012
Sporting a snazzy spotted jacket and bow tie Messi received his award before saying, “To tell you the truth this is really quite unbelieavable. The fourth award that I have had is just too great for words. I would like to recognise my other colleagues from Barcelona: Iniesta it has been great to train and play alongside you. I would also like to recognise all of my friends in the Argentinian national team. Everyone that has worked with me coaches and staff and my family and my friends. And finally to my wife and my son. Thank you.” When he finished his speech those in attendance rose to give him a standing ovation.
Here’s the full Fifa/FIFPro World XI:
Goalkeeper: Casillas
Defenders: Alves, Piqué, Ramos, Marcelo
Midfielders: Xabi Alonso, Xavi, Iniesta
Forwards: Messi, Falcao, Ronaldo

 

messi bags fourth time 

Ok, I know there are still a few hours to go before tonight's gala in Zurich for the 2012 Fifa Ballon d'Or, but there can be little doubt remaining that Leo Messi is going to win his fourth consecutive award. Contenders Andrés Iniesta and Cristiano Ronaldo have both had an exceptional year but they will be forced to accept that Messi is at a different level.
There are some in the media who complain that the prize should go to a player who has won more trophies in the year and that Messi's Copa del Rey is not enough. However, if you follow this argument you could say that Fernando Torres or Sergio Ramos should win this year which would give a whole new meaning to the word 'best'. The criteria decided on is of course the prerogative of each voter, but if the question is: who was the best player in world football in 2012? - then surely there can be only one reply.
Like trophies, goals are also an important part of the game, though Messi's insurmountable haul of 91 goals should not be the deciding factor either. The incredible consistency with which he has found the net has been remarkable and Barça's excellent start to the season owes a great deal to his lethal finishing. However, Messi is so much more than just a goalscorer.
Since Pep Guardiola gave him the 'false nine' role back in 2009 the team has been built around him and his understanding with Barça's other top stars is phenomenal. Whether combining in midfield with Xavi or Iniesta, linking closer to goal with Fabregas or Pedro, or sending perfectly timed passes for the forward runs of Alves or Alba, he always seems to know where the other player is as he directs the play.
messi malaga 68 goalsHe has adapted his work-rate more intelligently so that while he may at times appear stationary he is always ready to pressurize opponents at the most opportune moment. His has astonishing speed of thought which makes him capable of reacting quicker than other players to a loose ball or ricochet but it is still his velocity when running with the ball that most delights. Seeing Messi in full flight gives me a massive thrill every time, anything is possible when he has the ball at his feet, it has to be one of the most beautiful sights you can see in sport today.
There should be no shame for Iniesta or Ronaldo, just being on the podium with Messi should be seen as an honour, and both players have earned their places in football history. However, today we should all bow to Lionel Andrés Messi, the best player in the world of 2012, and for me and many many others, the best player of all time.
Send your comments on the Ballon d'Or. I'll post some photos and comment after the ceremony

MESSI  WITH HIS GOLDEN BALL -




EnJOy-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------