DealBook: KPN and América Móvil Still in Talks

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DealBook: Verizon in Talks to Buy Vodafone’s Stake in Its Wireless Unit

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Cavill Talks Superman's 75th Birthday

Superman celebrated his 75th anniversary in style at Comic-Con this year with a star-studded panel. Fans packed the room and cheered as guests like David Goyer, Jack Larson, Tim Daly, Molly Quinn and comic book legends Paul Levitz, Dan Jurgens, Jim Lee and Grant Morrison took the staged. Superman himself, Henry Cavill, surprised the crowd and took the stage as well, causing the crowd to jump to their feet and scream.

“The fact that Superman has lasted this long is really quite amazing. He’s going to outlive all of us,” Grant Morrison said once the audience finally settled down.

“It’s been my observation that Warner Brothers, over the years, has been very fortunate to get amazing actors to portray Superman. I’m honored to have been a part of it since 1951,” Jack Larson, who played Jimmy Olsen on the original Adventures of Superman show, said. He expressed how well he thought Cavill captured the character and mentioned he also enjoyed Dean Cain’s portrayal.

“Superman is a wonderful example to everyone, he does the right thing,” Molly Quinn, the voice of Supergirl in Superman: Unbound, added.

When asked to recommend a Superman comic to someone who had never read a comic, Paul Levitz said that he thought the answer would vary depending on the generation. “If I was to recommend it to someone today, I’d recommend Superman: Unchained by Scott Snyder and Jim Lee, because that is Superman of this time and you are imbuing him with the magic of your time and the right now.”

“Superman Vs. Muhammad Ali,” Morrison added.

“I’d recommend Grant’s All-Star Superman,” Lee said. He praised Morrison’s ability to capture the spirit of the past and bring all of Superman’s history into the story.

“I was fully aware of the responsibility,” Cavill said of taking the role of Superman. He expressed that he tried to not think of the weight of the role because he knew that the character meant so much to so many people.

“Superman is such an enormous character that so many different actors can portray him and he can handle it,” Tim Daly, the voice of the animated series Superman, said. He expressed that the character transcended class and nationality.

When asked if he drew from previous actor’s portrayals of Superman, Cavill answered “I tried to avoid watching other live action portrayals. I felt that those were other people interpretations and I wanted to honor the source material and not the movies before. I felt that it would be too removed if I studied those roles instead of the source, the comics.”

Another fan asked which of Superman’s powers the panelist would want; Grant Morrison won over the crowd when he brought up the Man of Steel’s long forgotten ability to shoot a smaller version of himself out of his finger. “This is real! He could project this tiny little Superman that he eventually got mad at because everyone started to love the tiny Superman,” Morrison laughed.

“I like all the versions of Superman. Like Batman, this is a very malleable character that can change and still be his core influence,” Morrison said. He noted that Superman has evolved throughout the years and reflects us and our society.

David Goyer then noted that Superman and Batman would be coming to the screen together in the recently announced 2015 film. “We aren’t sure if the title will be Batman Vs Superman or Superman Vs Batman, but they will face off.” Jim Lee noted that Superman got a raw deal in The Dark Knight Returns comic series by Frank Miller so a rematch was in order.

On the subject on Superman having a darker tone recently, Morrison said “He’s just reflecting our generally tendency. If he’s dark now, it’s because we have gotten a little bit darker.”

Benjamin is a writer and storyteller. He owns many leather-bound books and his office smells of rich mahogany. Follow Benjamin on Twitter @616Earth, or find him on IGN.

Neil Gaiman Talks Returning to Sandman at Comic-Con

Head of marketing John Cunningham introduced Executive Editor of Vertigo Shelly Bond, Sandman letterer Todd Klein, original Sandman penciller Sam Keith, Sandman cover artist Dave McKean, Sandman: Overture artist J.H. Williams III to the crowd, but the truly thunderous applause came when Sandman creator Neil Gaiman himself took the stage. Of all the DC panels throughout Comic-Con, this panel had the loudest cheering and the most frequent laughter thanks to Gaiman's superstar status and charming personality.

The panel featured a retrospective on some of the most notable issues of Sandman, and then a look ahead to the upcoming Sandman: Overture by Gaiman and Williams.

The crowd was shown a shot of the first advertisement for The Sandman, which featured the tagline, “I will show you terror in a handful of dust.” Gaiman said that it was originally “fear” instead of “terror” because he borrowed the quote from T.S. Elliot, but he was told they had to change it so they wouldn't get sued.

Gaiman said that the genesis of Sandman came when he was working on Black Orchid and then head of Vertigo Karen Berger told him she wanted to boost his profile by putting him on a monthly book and she suggested that he recreate Sandman. She actually rejected his first pitch, but two other editors liked it, so they gave him the green light.

McKean chimed in with a note that the design for Morpheus the Sandman came from Bono in a music video. Gaiman added, “I didn't want to go in the direction of superheroes. It was going to look enough like a superhero comic to the unwary... I'll go rock. I'll make him look like a rock star.”

Gaiman told a funny story about how he saw a drawing of Death without clothes and he saw that Jill Thompson was the artist. When she came up to ask for an autograph at a convention, he recognized her name and told her he loved her naked sketch of Death and he asked her to come on and draw the series. She was embarrassed and speechless, but wound up leaving Wonder Woman to draw Sandman.

As for Sandman: Overturn #1, Gaiman said, “When I was writing Sandman there would be stories that didn't fit, and at one point I realized that there was a story I thought would get told during Sandman hat didn't fit that just wasn't part of the theme. The story of what happened before the first panel of #1 when he was captured. Later on there was a text piece where I said he was exhausted and vulnerable to being captured, but I never told that story. Nobody knew expect for me what had happened. It was one of those stories that was sitting there. We talked about doing it for the 20th anniversary, but that didn't happen. Then when the new powers that be moved in and asked me what I wanted to do, I said I have this story I'd like to tell. Why don't we do this for the 25th anniversary? Then we had to find an artist.” Gaiman then pointed at Williams, earning a laugh from the crowd.

Gaiman talked about his experience with Williams. “I asked him to do something impossible. I would like you to draw me Morpheus as a pant with the leaves and the stem as the cloak and a face formed out of petals. That's the thing you tell an artist to put them in their place,” Gaiman joked.

Joshua writes for IGN. If Pokemon, Game of Thrones, or Green Lantern are frequently used words in your vocabulary, then you’ll want to follow him on Twitter and IGN.

Differences on Cybertheft Complicate China Talks

And to no one’s surprise, the Chinese had an answer ready: that the publication of secret documents showing the extent of American surveillance of Chinese universities and other institutions undercuts the Obama administration’s case.

That friction, American officials conceded in private, underscores how difficult it will be for the United States to make progress on what President Obama and his top aides have said is now a central issue between two countries whose economies are intertwined and whose militaries are in competition.

And at a time when the Chinese economy is showing signs that it is headed into a period of slower growth, the administration’s hopes of persuading Chinese leaders to crack down on the daily barrage of theft and espionage over the Internet — considered crucial to keep China competitive — is likely to be even more difficult.

“We both will benefit from an open, secure, reliable Internet,” Mr. Biden said at the opening of the talks, the Strategic and Economic Dialogue, an annual effort to bring together top Chinese and American cabinet and subcabinet officials on a range of problems. “Outright cyber-enabling theft that U.S. companies are experiencing now must be viewed as out of bounds and needs to stop.”

Mr. Biden was making the same point that Mr. Obama repeated in recent weeks, including during a meeting with China’s new president, Xi Jingping, in California. To the Americans, China’s cybertheft — often directed by units of the People’s Liberation Army — is different, and far more corrosive, than standard government espionage.

An American official who was sent out to brief reporters after the first day of talks said that when it came to the theft of intellectual property — including the designs of commercial products and military aircraft — “we don’t do it, and we don’t think any country should do it.”

China has always viewed the issue differently, seeing far less of a distinction involving what it regards as issues of economic and military security.

“For many Chinese, it is bizarre that how Washington can continue to pose as the biggest cyberespionage victim and demand others behave well,” China Daily, a government-influenced publication, wrote before the meeting, “after former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden revealed that U.S. spy agencies hacked deep into China and other countries’ computer networks, including those of government, military, research, educational and business organizations.”

It concluded that “by dividing cyberespionage into ‘bad’ and ‘good’ activities, Washington is trying to dictate the rules for global cyberdomain, which is a public space.”

American and Chinese cyberexperts met Monday for the first time in a working group intended to address the issue. That alone was progress: when the United States asked Chinese officials to discuss cybertheft, cyberespionage and cybersecurity at a meeting several years ago, there was almost no give and take. But new attention focused on the activities of the Chinese military, notably Unit 61398 of the People’s Liberation Army, has made it harder for Mr. Xi’s government to ignore the United States’ protests.

Mr. Snowden’s revelations may be a gift to the Chinese, because they shift the focus from China’s covert activities to Washington’s. And even American scholars say the Chinese have a good argument. “It is not true that ‘unwritten rules’ prohibit economic espionage,” said Jack Goldsmith, a Harvard law professor and cyberexpert who served in the Bush administration. “Economic espionage is expressly prohibited by U.S. domestic law but is not prohibited by international law, written or unwritten, and it is widely practiced.”

The most fruitful part of the conversations, American officials indicated in a briefing late on Wednesday, dealt with North Korea and climate change, two areas where the governments have been moving into alignment.

U.S. and China to Hold Talks on Hacking

The talks will begin in July. Next Friday, President Obama and President Xi Jinping of China, who took office this spring, are scheduled to hold an unusual, informal summit meeting in Rancho Mirage, Calif., that could set the tone for their relationship and help them confront chronic tensions like the nuclear threat from North Korea.

American officials say they do not expect the process to immediately yield a significant reduction in the daily intrusions from China. The head of the United States Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency, Gen. Keith B. Alexander, has said the attacks have resulted in the “greatest transfer of wealth in history.” Hackers have stolen a variety of secrets, including negotiating strategies and schematics for next-generation fighter jets and gas pipeline control systems.

Nonetheless, a senior American official involved in the negotiations to hold regular meetings said in an interview on Friday that “we need to get some norms and rules.”

“It is a serious issue that cannot simply be swatted away with talking points,” said the official, who noted that the meetings would focus primarily on the theft of intellectual property from American companies. “Our concerns are not limited to that, but that’s what needs urgent attention,” he added.

The Chinese government has insisted it is a victim of cyberattacks, not a perpetrator, and Chinese officials have vigorously denied the extensive evidence gathered by the Pentagon and private security experts that a unit of the People’s Liberation Army, Unit 61398 outside Shanghai, is behind many of the most sophisticated attacks on the United States.

On Saturday, after Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke of a “growing threat of cyberintrusions” at a conference in Singapore, in comments directed at China, a Chinese general gave a tart response saying she doubted the United States’ assurances that its growing military presence in Asia was not directed at China.

While cyberattacks will be a major subject of the talks in Rancho Mirage, at an estate that belonged to Walter Annenberg, the main effort will be to forge a rapport between Mr. Obama and Mr. Xi. American officials hope the estate, known as Sunnylands, which has played host to American presidents and foreign dignitaries dating to Richard M. Nixon, will put both men at ease.

American officials said they have been surprised by the pace at which Mr. Xi, a longtime party functionary who consolidated his grip on power in March, has installed new faces in the Chinese leadership and moved to take greater control over the military, something his predecessor, Hu Jintao, never mastered.

Another main issue at the meeting will be North Korea. American officials, emerging from talks with Mr. Xi and his team, believe that the new Chinese leader has less patience for North Korea and little of the sentimental attachment to its leaders that his predecessors had.

“What’s interesting here is the dog that isn’t barking,” the American official said. The Chinese, he noted, are not urging all sides to resume talks until the North Koreans agree that the objective is removing all nuclear weapons from the Korean Peninsula. “We’re not hearing the soothing mantra of restraint,” he said.

The Chinese have also taken public steps to confront North Korea, like ordering the Bank of China to stop dealing with North Korea’s largest foreign-exchange bank.

“They’re much more open to causing pain to North Korea,” said Jeffrey A. Bader, a top China adviser to Mr. Obama until 2011.

Still, during the latest round of the Korea crisis this spring, Kim Jong-un, the young and largely untested new North Korean leader, made it clear that he had no intention of ever giving up his small arsenal.

Cybersecurity issues loom large between the United States and China because they go to the heart of the economic relationship between the two countries, even more so now that previous sources of friction, like China’s foreign exchange policies, have eased in the last year.

Chinese academics and industrialists say that if China is to maintain its annual economic growth rate of 7 or 8 percent, it needs a steady inflow of new technology. That could make the Chinese reluctant to cut back on the systematic theft of intellectual property.

In return, the Chinese will press the Americans on their use of cyberweapons: while there is no evidence that they have been used against Chinese targets, the sophisticated cyberattacks on Iran’s nuclear program by the United States and Israel are often cited by the Chinese news media and military journals as evidence that Washington, too, uses cyberspace for strategic advantage.

The talks over computer hacking will start as part of the Strategic and Economic Dialogue, an annual meeting of Chinese and American officials on a broad range of issues. But a new working group is being organized on the subject that will meet more frequently, officials say.

Where the talks will lead, however, is unclear: after considerable debate within the Obama administration, officials have concluded that online conflict does not lend itself to the kind of arms control treaties that the United States and the Soviet Union began negotiating 50 years ago. Today, cyberweapons are held by private individuals as well as states, and figuring out where an attack began can be maddeningly difficult.

Another problem, China experts said, is that neither the Americans nor the Chinese are well prepared for a candid discussion of cyberissues. The growth of hacking, and its use in both military and corporate espionage, is a new enough phenomenon that it is not clear how seriously Mr. Xi and other senior Chinese leaders view it.

Tung Chee-hwa, a former chief executive of Hong Kong who has close ties to China’s leaders, said recently that when he raises the American concerns about hacking with senior officials in Beijing, they express puzzlement.

And neither side, experts said, is ready to discuss military espionage, which means the conversation will necessarily focus on the theft of corporate secrets by China-based hackers. On that subject, they said, Mr. Obama needs to be unyielding.

“Obama has got to say, ‘You’ve got a major hacking operation under way in Beijing, you’ve got a major hacking operation under way in Shanghai. This is going to have repercussions if we don’t see changes very quickly,’ ” said Kenneth G. Lieberthal, a China adviser in the Clinton administration who is now at the Brookings Institution.

China and the United States, experts say, could find common ground on the need to stop cyberattacks on critical national infrastructure, like the electrical grid, since it poses such a danger to both countries. “I personally think a bilateral ‘no sabotage’ pledge would be a very good idea,” Mr. Bader said.

Facebook Is Said to Be in Talks to Buy Waze

If the sale is concluded, it would give Facebook the ability to better deliver locally tailored ads and content to its 1.1 billion users.

The potential purchase price, which some news reports have said could run as high as $1 billion, would rival what Facebook paid last year to buy Instagram, a fast-growing mobile photo-sharing service.

Waze, which is based in Israel, has been talking to potential suitors for months, and the discussions are fluid. A deal may not be reached or other bidders could emerge.

A Facebook spokesman said the company did not comment on speculation. A Waze spokesman could not be reached for comment on Thursday evening.

The Israeli publication Calcalist first reported the news of the talks.

Maps have become a crucial battleground for big technology companies, including Google, Apple and Microsoft, as consumers rely more heavily on their cellphones and companies strive to deliver more location-based advertising and services.

Waze, which has more than 40 million users globally, is unusual in that it relies primarily on GPS data and real-time information from its users, who contribute updates on traffic, routes and even where to buy cheap gasoline.

Users of the service also typically share their locations continually as they drive — a potential gold mine of data that would be useful for Facebook as it seeks to serve up targeted ads.

“These people are giving permission for the cloud to track where they are,” said Brian Blau, a research director at Gartner, a technology research firm. “This is a particularly difficult problem for social networks in general. Very few people want to be tracked.”

Facebook currently uses maps from Microsoft’s Bing, but it also has a relationship with Waze. Facebook users can log into Waze using their Facebook accounts and share their location data with their Facebook friends.

Other technology companies, particularly Apple and Google, have also been watching Waze closely and may be interested in a potential acquisition of the start-up to improve their own mobile mapping services.

Facebook has been trying a variety of strategies to increase the amount of time that its users spend on its site, particularly on mobile phones. Last month, it introduced a new interface for Android smartphones called Facebook Home, and on Thursday the company said that about one million users had downloaded the software.

Facebook and other social media companies are just beginning to wrestle with the challenges of effectively delivering local advertising to their customers.

While Facebook might not be able to use Waze’s data immediately for that purpose, Mr. Blau said “this is more for the future. They are going to want to deliver contextual advertising.”

Waze has raised several rounds of financing from venture capital firms, including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, BlueRun Ventures, Magma Venture Partners and Vertex Venture Capital.

Claire Cain Miller contributed reporting.

EXCLUSIVE: Hip Hop News Daily Talks To YMCMB’s Latest Family Member, T.Rone- “Hello Love (FU),” About Rock Influences, Signing To YMCMB, & ‘Lust’ Music

I constantly heard this song over and over again, and I was wondering who was the guy singing, 

Hello Love!
I know ya deal,
And I know y can get me killed (get me killed).
How dare ya judge, the ways of lust
When you’re the reason that I don’t trust?
F*ck you Love! F*ck you Love!

Welp, after doing some research I was able to determine that it was YMCMB’s latest signee, T.Rone from Jacksonville, FL. The guy’s track is in heavy rotation and Hip Hop News Daily had to hear from him.

In a pretty interesting  interview, the Duval representer tells us his musical influences, his perception of lust, and more. Let me just say this guy has one hell of a vibrant personality…Anyway, take a look at what he said below:

HHND: I understand that you were recently signed to YMCMB. How did that happen?

T. Rone: The song was playing heavy in Miami and Birdman reached out-I flew down to Miami and he liked what he heard and I signed.

HHND: Cool. Now, tell us about the concept of Hello Love (FU). Where did that originate from?

T. Rone: Everybody has said FU love and turn right back around just to say hello again. I left the club one night and went into the studio and the beat dropped. That’s how I was feeling that night.

HHND: With this sound, there are not many people that sound like you, so to speak? What are your influences?

T. Rone: A lot of my influence comes from Rock music-street Rock influences like Kurt Cobain of Nirvana.

HHND: What would you call the type of music do you create?

T. Rone: I don’t put myself in a box- I create lust music.

HHND: What’s lust music?

T. Rone: Too much love music. The industry has lost its’ rawness and there is nothing wrong with lust. There’s a thin line between love and lust and I think its ok to lust. Lust doesn’t have to always be sexual. It can be about life and other things. Lust isn’t always a bad thing.

HHND: Some people have compared you to T-Pain. How do you respond to that?

T. Rone: There’s no comparison. On that song (Hello Love) that’s all me and no auto tune.

HHND: Did T-Pain influence you in any way?

T. Rone: No

HHND: So what are you working on now?

T.Rone: I’m working on a mixtape. It’s called “The Lord of Lust Part 1.” It will be out in the next couple of months.

HHND: Who is on the mixtape?

T. Rone: Right now, 2 Chainz, Juicy J, Fat Joe, Jim Jones, Raheem Devaughn

HHND: Ok cool…we are definitely waiting on that. Thanks for chatting with Hip Hop News Daily.

T. Rone: Cool.

Bits Blog: Jack Dorsey Talks Square and Wearable Devices

Mary Altaffer/Associated Press Jack Dorsey, the chief executive of Square, said he fancied devices that wrap around the wrist.

Many technology enthusiasts have had their eye on Glass, Google’s monocle that looks like something out of Star Trek. But the Internet-connected eyewear doesn’t really pique the interest of Jack Dorsey, chief executive of the mobile payment system Square and a co-founder of Twitter.

“Glasses are very compelling, and I think it’s an amazing technology,” Mr. Dorsey said, “but I just can’t imagine my mom wearing them right now. What is the value of Glass?”

Mr. Dorsey said he fancied devices that wrap around the wrist, like smartwatches or exercise bands, because they felt more natural. The conversation might hint that Square is considering a payment app for a smartwatch, perhaps the watch from Apple that has long been rumored to be in the works.

Mr. Dorsey shared his thoughts last Friday while at a grilled cheese shop in New York to talk about a new feature in Square’s cash-register software for iPads. The new feature allows restaurant owners to speed up the process of placing customized food orders with Square’s cash-register app for iPads, called Register.

With the new software, a restaurant can more easily customize orders. For example, if a customer chooses a grilled cheese sandwich, but wants it with gluten-free bread and extra peppers, the merchant can hit the grilled cheese sandwich button and then individually select the type of bread and extra peppers. In the past, a merchant would have needed to create a separate button in advance for each variation of each sandwich offered — for example, one for a regular grilled cheese sandwich, one for a grilled cheese with wheat bread and one with gluten-free bread and extra peppers.

Mr. Dorsey answered several of our questions about Square and its future. A transcript of the interview follows, edited for length and clarity.

What’s the message behind the news about the customized food orders?

People have known Square for accepting credit cards. This is a big push we’re making into smaller businesses and brick and mortar, specifically around restaurants. There’s this huge movement around quick-service restaurants all over the country, especially in places like New York, where you order at a counter. Food trucks are often an offshoot of this. These places are doing really creative crafty things and doing them very well.

When it comes to speeding up food orders for businesses, some of your competitors are enabling the ability for customers to order ahead and pay with an app, then skip the line and grab the food. Are you looking into that capability, too?

That’s definitely something we hear about it and it’s something we’d naturally want to do.

Last year Square introduced the ability for customers to pay with their face through Square Wallet, its payment app. Are people using that feature a lot, or is it just tech nerds?

We do have early adopters. I don’t want to disparage tech nerds because they’re the ones that spread things like Twitter and Facebook. I think we’ve been happy with the residence of Wallet, but we haven’t been thrilled. A lot of that is due to people understanding how to use it. We have a lot more work to do to surface it.

For those who use it, they love it. For the merchants who receive it, they love it. They get to know their customers as they walk in, what they like, what they might order, and it increases their revenue.

How has the Starbucks partnership been going? Have you seen an increase in users?

We definitely saw a surge in Wallet. We definitely saw a surge in Register, actually. It really validates the high end. They’re using the same tool that these guys are using, they’re using the same infrastructure. It really levels the playing field for them to compete with each other. It really validates that this is something businesses can trust —this huge company is using it, and I can also build my business on it.

Have you looked into Google Glass?

I don’t think glasses are the answer. I think it might be a 10-year answer, but not in the next five years. Maybe if they’re in sunglasses or what not.

I think the movement you see around Fitbit, Up and FuelBand, that seems to be the next step in wearable. So something on the wrist that feels natural, almost feels a bit like jewelry.

Glasses are very compelling and I think it’s an amazing technology, but I just can’t imagine my mom wearing them right now. What is the value of Glass?

Sounds like you have a lot more faith in the rumored iWatch.

(Laughs.) I don’t know, I think there’s a lot going on. The Pebble watch I think is pretty compelling as well.

DealBook: Best Buy’s Talks With Its Founder Said to Have Ended

Richard Sennott/The Star Tribune, via Associated PressRichard Schulze, the founder of Best Buy, at a store in April 2000.

Richard Schulze’s efforts to take over Best Buy, the struggling electronics retailer he founded nearly 47 years ago, have ended.

Talks between Best Buy and a group comprising Mr. Schulze and three private equity firms have ended, people briefed on the matter told DealBook on Thursday. Discussions could resume at some point, one of these people cautioned.

By the end, Mr. Schulze and the firms — Cerberus Capital Management, Leonard Green & Partners and TPG Capital — had been negotiating to buy a bigger stake in Best Buy that would have added to his roughly 20 percent stake, these people said.

Any prospect of a full takeover of Best Buy had disappeared several weeks ago, they added, after the investor consortium discovered little appetite for the debt that would have been involved in a leveraged buyout.

Shares in Best Buy had already fallen earlier on Thursday, after The Star Tribune of Minneapolis reported that the company’s founder had moved on to trying for a minority stake in the retailer. They closed at $16.41, leading to a market value of just $5.6 billion.

By comparison, when Mr. Schulze first disclosed his potential interest in buying all of the electronics chain, a takeover offer would have been worth in excess of $8.8 billion.

Shares in Best Buy have fallen over 11 percent since word of Mr. Schulze’s interest in a potential takeover first emerged last June.

Best Buy is expected to give a final update on its discussions when it reports quarterly earnings on Friday.

Rihanna TALKS About Chris Brown, Dating And Drugs, GETS SEXY During Midnight STUDIO Sessions

More pics from Rihanna’s November 2012 VOGUE spread have been released.  See the pics inside and see what she had to say about dating, drug, and Chris Brown. Also, check out her sexy studio attire………….

Rihanna is covering the November 2012 issue of VOGUE magazine.  She was snapped by Annie Leibovitz at Tejon Ranch in Lebec, Calif.  Inside, she dishes of her new hair, dating and where she stands with Chris Brown.

On her new pixie-cut hairstyle:

“Spur of the moment. My hair was supposed to be down to my ass [at the VMAs].”

On dating:

“I would love to go on a date. You don’t think that? I’m a woman. A young woman, vibrant, and I love to have fun. And I have too many vaginas around me at this point.  Seriously, all I want is a guy to take me out and make me laugh for a good hour and take my ass back home. He doesn’t even have to come up. All I want is a conversation for an hour.”

On rumors she was doing cocaine at Coachella: 

“They knew it was marijuana. It was completely clear to them. I just thought it was uncalled for. I don’t do cocaine. I don’t like being associated with anything that’s untrue.”

On the “Birthday Cake” remix with Chris Brown:

“I didn’t think it could be anything detrimental to my career. I was on a tour bus ride between two cities, listening to my album, thinking, Oooh, maybe I should make this into a duet. And I started coming up with a bunch of people, and his name crossed my mind. I thought, We haven’t made a song in so long together…it could be a little shocking.”

On the public’s fascination with her relationship with Chris:

“I don’t know if people will stop soon, but I feel like as soon as they have closure to it, they will. … But they’re not on the inside. They can’t see what I see, unless they’re sitting in my point of view. I guess I’ll learn to accept that.”

And yesterday……

The “Diamonds” singer headed to the studio last night after partying at Greystone’s in West Hollywood.

Rihanna rushed right from the club to the studio and didn’t change out of her sexy grey jumper dress for the session.

Perhaps dressing sexy helps her get into character for her songs.

The name of her new album will be Unapologetic which is fitting as we know she doesn’t make apologies for her choices in music, men or fashion.

We look forward to seeing what you come up with RiRi!

And yesterday……

The “Diamonds” singer headed to the studio last night after partying at Greystone’s in West Hollywood.

Rihanna rushed right from the club to the studio and didn’t change out of her sexy grey jumper dress for the session.

Perhaps dressing sexy helps her get into character for her songs.

The name of her new album will be Unapologetic which is fitting as we know she doesn’t make apologies for her choices in music, men or fashion.

We look forward to seeing what you come up with RiRi!

Japan’s Softbank in Talks for $12.8 Billion Sprint Stake

Softbank said reports about the talks were "based on speculation" and it had no comment. Sprint declined to comment. The report drove Sprint shares up 16 percent in premarket trading Thursday.

Sprint Nextel, whose market capitalization was $15.12 billion at Wednesday's market close, is the third-largest U.S. carrier, with more than 56 million users at the end of June.

Kevin Roe at Roe Equity Research estimated Softbank could be offering about $6.40 per Sprint Nextel share, a 27 percent premium.

Softbank is in talks with several banks to borrow money to finance a bid, the source told Reuters. One analyst said this deal might be the Japanese company's only option if it has eyes on the American market.

"In terms of (Sprint) standalone, we believe the asset represents the only way for a potential new entrant to get a national presence immediately in the U.S.," Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche wrote in a note to clients.

WEALTHY FOUNDER

Softbank, founded and led by Masayoshi Son - Japan's second-richest man, according to Forbes - was the first of Japan's leading mobile carriers to offer Apple Inc's iPhone in Japan.

It lost that monopoly last year, when rival KDDI Corp also began offering the iPhone. Softbank faces tougher competition at home against KDDI and market leader NTT Docomo.

The company has grown from a packaged software distributor 30 years ago into a broad telecoms group worth more than $40 billion. It took over Vodafone Japan in 2006.

As it chases market share, Softbank said this month it would buy smaller mobile service operator eAccess Ltd in a $1.84 billion deal. It said the buy would give it a total of 39 million users, just ahead of KDDI's 36 million.

Japanese media said buying Sprint - which competes in the United States against Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc - would also make it cheaper for Softbank to procure smartphones and other mobile devices.

NETWORK REVAMP

Sprint, led by Chief Executive Dan Hesse, has been bleeding customers for years and is in the middle of a costly network modernization project that involves upgrading its Sprint network. At the same time, it is decommissioning the Nextel iDen network it bought in 2005.

"The challenge is not access to capital," said Roe. "The challenge is that they're sub-scale (much smaller than rivals AT&T and Verizon) and going through a very challenging network transition."

Sprint may also be attractive as it has a majority interest in wireless data company Clearwire Corp, which owns attractive spectrum, Wells Fargo's Fritzsche said. Analysts at Evercore said Softbank and Clearwire are both in the process of upgrading their networks to the same standard, which might add further synergies.

Clearwire shares rose 23 percent in premarket trading.

JAPANESE FORAY

Fritzsche said regulators would likely look favorably on a deal that would bring an outside international player to the United States.

Japanese companies made a record 642 cross-border deals last year, according to Thomson Reuters data. Buoyed by a stronger yen, the value of all overseas deals rose to $69.5 billion, up 81 percent from 2010, also a record.

The biggest foreign acquisition by a Japanese company to date was Japan Tobacco's 1.8 trillion yen buy of British-based tobacco firm Gallaher in 2007.

The Japanese are no stranger to U.S. wireless companies. NTT Docomo was once a major shareholder of the former AT&T Wireless and explored an outright bid for the company at one time.

Meanwhile, Sprint is considering whether to make a bid for smaller rival MetroPCS Communications, which this month agreed to merge with Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile USA, a source told Reuters this week.

It was unclear what effect, if any, the Softbank offer might have on Sprint's potential pursuit of MetroPCS.

(Additional reporting by Mari Saito and James Topham, with Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bangalore; Writing by Ian Geoghegan and Ben Berkowitz; Editing by Ron Popeski and John Wallace)

DealBook: Ancestry.com Is Said to Be in Talks for a Buyout

After a brief run as a public company, Ancestry.com, the genealogy Web site, is closing in on a sale to take itself private.

The company, which has hired Qatalyst Partners to run its process, is in discussions with TPG Capital and Providence Equity Partners and Permira, according to people with knowledge of the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the talks were private. Though final bids are not due until early August, these people said, recent discussions have centered on a price of $35 to $39 a share. At that range, it will be valued at north of $1.5 billion, roughly triple its market value in 2009, the year it went public.

Shares of Ancestry.com fell 2 percent on Tuesday, to $27.23.

One of the people with knowledge of the matter said that the company would report earnings on Wednesday, which is expected to be factored into upcoming price discussions. This person also noted that there is no certainty that a transaction will get done.

Ancestry.com would be going private at a time when many Internet companies are waiting in line to go public. Over the past year, a slew of Web start-ups have made their debuts, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Zynga and Groupon. But the results, so far, have been mixed. Under the harsh glare of the public markets, many of these companies’ stock prices have stumbled. Facebook, for instance, which is set to report earnings on Thursday, is trading at close to $28 per share, roughly 25 percent below its May offering price.

For Ancestry.com, going private will be a welcome reprieve.

Since hitting a high of $45 a share last year, the stock has been battered by concerns about its future growth and the cancellation of a high-profile television show, “Who Do You Think You Are?” The show prominently featured the company’s research.

Started in 1996, the Ancestry.com Web site is part of the old guard of the Web (The company itself was founded in 1983.) The site, which helps users research and map their lineage, was created long before consumers thought about the Web in the context of social relationships. Unlike some of its younger peers, however, Ancestry.com is comfortably profitable. Last year, it generated $400 million in revenue and $62.9 million in net income — roughly double the previous year. It has more than two million subscribers, who pay $12.95 to $34.95 a month to use the service.

“The way it’s trading, people think it’s a no-grow,” said Raghavan Sarathy, an analyst with Dougherty & Company. “But there should be interest from private equity because they are generating copious cash.”

Still, despite the company’s profits, the market has recently chilled on Ancestry.com, which is seen as a maturing Internet asset. The company briefly received a marketing boost from “Who Do You Think You Are?” But the network canceled the show in May. Bereft of its prime-time platform, Ancestry.com may have to spend more of its precious cash to acquire subscribers. In the last quarter, the company’s subscriber acquisition cost – the average cost of acquiring new customers– was $88.11. It was lower than the prior quarter, but nearly 27 percent higher than the year-ago-period.

Peter Rosenberg Talks About Lil Wayne

When Lil Wayne spoke his mind about Peter Rosenberg‘s beef with Nicki Minaj, Peter just fought back.

Peter even explained how the “F” in “Weezy F. Baby” doesn’t stand for feminist. In a recent interview Lil Wayne explained that he pulled Nicki Minaj out last minute was because people need to respect women.

Peter Rosenberg, Hot 97's DJ, insulted Minaj by stating that her hit single “Starship” as “bullshit,” quickly Wayne takes action and removes Minaj from Summer Jam and didn’t perform.

Peter spoke about Lil Wayne’s comments on the radio by stating, “Lil Wayne thinks that I don’t show respect for women. Wayne is right about something—Women are mothers, are sisters, are daughters. But I have a question. Is me giving my opinion that one song is wack, is that showing a lack of respect for women?”

To make it more clear to Wayne and to express how Peter felt he played Lil Wayne’s single “6 Foot, 7 Foot” and stated on the track where Wayne says “hoes gon’ be hoes.” He even questioned Nicki by playing her single “Stupid Hoe” and said “You want respect for women yet you can’t sing a good song.”

Peter Rosenberg even suggested that Young Money should come and speak to him in person rather than hiding behind reporters. “Instead of talking to everyone else about Hot 97, how about…Young Money just come on down and come see us and talk to us? Oh, that’s because then they’d have to hear the truth. And they can’t handle the truth.”

Photo Source:thisiswalder.com