Horror cakes that will scare you away from eating desserts

What's sweet and creamy and bites back? This terrifying cake by artist Scott Hove. The California sculptor has created a whole series of gorgeously frosted cakes that just happen to have fangs and/or dismembered limbs. Forget the innocence of childhood birthday sweets. This is the cake version of the Big Bad Wolf disguised as Little Red Riding Hood's granny. Happy Halloween.

It's twisted, but yet I dare you to stop looking at them. Could it be the double set of fangs? The mash-up of scary and yummy? Is it the cherries, which for some reason look vaguely creepy here?

What would lead someone to create such culinary perversity, you ask? Are there other wild pastry chefs like him out there?

Of course there are! Here's another cake with bite: Jaws, with a fish victim in his mouth. I'd like to see this sugary shark and the Big Bad Wolf take each other on.

What's creepier than a cake with teeth? Maybe a wedding cake with bugs climbing up the tiers! Is this what happens when exterminators mate? As a guest, I wouldn't know whether to flick off the giant insects or just run for my life.

Oh, but that's only the beginning. How about a concoction covered in icing spiders and cobwebs? It's like a sack of eggs just hatched all over your cake. Can't you just feel eight scrambling little spider legs scratching across your tongue and the cobwebs sticking to the roof of your mouth? Eeech.

Is there anything more frightening, you ask? Yes, yes there is. Like a baby cake (for a shower) that's been cut up to leave behind an infant torso. Ew, ew, ew! Make it stop!

Attack of the killer tomato ... cake? The idea of a tomatoey dessert is disgusting in the first place (here's hoping this one is actually chocolate on the inside). But those toothpick spikes around the border seem threatening, and there's a dangerous gleam in its frosted little eyeballs. Shudder.

I guess all cakes are dangerous in a way, what with how tempting yet bad for the waistline they are. But these freaky creations take it up a notch. While they might be amusing (and timely, what with Halloween around the corner), these scary desserts really -- pardon the bad pun -- take the cake.

Would you eat a cake decorated with teeth or bugs?

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Samsung to pay Microsoft for every Android device they sell

Google’s dream of making a free and open mobile operating system is starting to look like a nightmare. Today Samsung and Microsoft announced that they have come to an agreement that will result in Samsung paying Microsoft a royalty on every Android device it sells. While it is still true that no one has to pay Google to put Android on their phone or tablet it seems as though they will have to pay Microsoft.

Microsoft has already made similar royalty deals with several other Android device makes, most notably among them is HTC. Samsung and HTC account for over half of all the Android phones sold in the U.S. over the past year. The most notable company that has not signed a deal with Microsoft is Motorola who is the third largest Android maker in the U.S.  With Google buying Motorola we don’t see a royalty agreement being made any time soon between Microsoft and Motorola.

The reason Android device makers are signing deals with Microsoft is pretty simple, because they don’t want to be sued. In an interview Microsoft’s general counsel Brad Smith said, “So far we have not seen a single Android device that does not infringe on our patents.” In order to protect themselves from being sued by Microsoft, and ultimately paying more these companies are cutting hedging their bets and paying Microsoft upfront.

It is rumored that HTC’s royalty deal with Microsoft is for around $5 per Android device sold, so it would be safe to assume that Samsung’s agreement is in that area too. Part of Samsung’s agreement is the company’s continued support of Microsoft phones, which basically means that Samsung now is agreeing to keep making Windows Phone devices. In a report released earlier this year it was estimated that Microsoft is making more money from HTC selling Android phones than it is selling its own WP7 devices.

Samsung has already sold over 10 million Galaxy S II devices worldwide even before launching in the United States, so as it looks right now Microsoft stands to make a bunch of money once the Galaxy S II is widely available on multiple U.S. carriers.

Ultimately all these companies are going to keep making Android devices because that is what everyone is buying, so we don’t think Android is going anywhere in the short or long term.  If companies have to pay Microsoft for both Android and WP7 devices we can see them giving more attention to WP7 devices in the future.

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Apple expected to unveil new iPhone next week

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc looks set next week to unveil its much-awaited new iPhone, which analysts say will have a bigger screen and work better with remote computing services.

Apple on Tuesday invited media to a "special event" called "Let's talk iPhone" on October 4 at its Cupertino, California headquarters, an unusual location for a company that typically introduces major products at larger venues in San Francisco.

The invitation did not have any other details, and an Apple spokesman would not provide further information.

"This is the iPhone 5," ThinkEquity analyst Mark McKechnie said of the event.

The new iPhone would be the first major product launch under Tim Cook, who took over full-time as chief executive after co-founder Steve Jobs resigned last month.

It was unclear if Jobs, who is now chairman, will take the stage at the event.

Though a good product, the current iPhone 4 could use some improvements, McKechnie said. "We talked about it having a bigger screen, a dual core processor, and probably integrates pretty well with the iCloud."

The iPhone -- introduced in 2007 with the touchscreen template now adopted by its rivals -- remains the gold standard in the booming smartphone market.

The new model, which some have dubbed the iPhone 5, will have a bigger touch screen, better antenna and an 8-megapixel camera, one source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters in August.

Hon Hai Precision Industries Co Ltd and Pegatron Corp of Taiwan will make the new phone, and have been told to gear up capacity for up to 45 million units in total, the source said.

NEW VOICE FEATURES?

Apple launched the iPhone 4 in June 2010 in black 16 gigabyte and 32 gigabyte versions, and added white ones in April. The company typically refreshes its iPhone lineup during its developer event in June, but delayed the new model this year.

Apple sold 20.34 million iPhones in the third quarter ended June 25, which analysts say helped it vault past Nokia and Samsung Electronics to become the world's biggest smartphone maker.

Some analysts are expecting another version of the iPhone 4 to be launched along with the next model.

"The new (iPhone) 4 will tackle the prepaid market and the (iPhone) 5 will have the A5 chip that's in the iPad and be faster, thinner and possibly with a bigger screen," Colin Gillis, analyst with BGC Partners said. He cited possible voice-recognition features as well.

Shares of Apple rose 0.6 percent to $405.66 on Nasdaq early Tuesday afternoon.

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A chance at dinner with Obama now costs only $3

On paper, it looks like President Obama may be turning into a cheap date. His re-election campaign is shifting downward the already-low contribution threshold for small donors seeking a chance to have dinner with the president.

The Obama campaign has been offering donors of $5 or more a chance to win a dinner with the president. But today, the campaign sent supporters a message from First Lady Michele Obama lowering the price to donations of $3 or more.

"These dinners mean a lot to Barack. They're a chance for him to talk with a few of the people who are driving the campaign--and a chance for him to say thank you," Michele Obama's email reads. "So come prepared to tell your story, and say whatever's on your mind. Don't miss the opportunity to be there. Donate $3 or more today, before the Sept. 30th deadline."

The shift presents an inviting opening for late-night talkshow hosts and GOP presidential hopefuls to crack wise about the sour state of the economy in the Obama years. In reality, though, there's a more likely--and mundane--inside-the-Beltway explanation for the downgraded barrier to entry in the Obama dinner sweepstakes: the Obama campaign's need to boost third-quarter fundraising totals among small donors.

A spokesman for Obama's re-election campaign did not respond to a request for comment from The Ticket.

Like other campaigns, the Obama campaign has frequently touted the number of contributors who donate small amounts as a measure of grassroots support.

But the president is facing more pressure than his Republican rivals on this front, in part because he enjoyed unprecedented support among small donors in 2008.  So far, the president's re-election campaign has had trouble persuading many of those contributors to donate again. A "vast majority" of Obama's 4 million donors from 2008 have not contributed to his 2012 campaign, the New York Times reported earlier this week.

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Feds: US man planned to blow up Pentagon

BOSTON (AP) — A man was arrested Wednesday and accused of plotting an assault on the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol using remote-controlled aircraft armed with explosives — the latest of several terrorism cases to spring from federal sting operations.

Rezwan Ferdaus was arrested in Framingham, Massachusetts, after undercover federal agents delivered materials he had allegedly requested, including grenades, six machine guns and what he believed was 24 pounds of C-4 explosive. Federal officials said the public was never in danger from the explosives, which it said were always under control and closely monitored.

Wednesday's arrest was similar to other cases in which reputed would-be terrorists were caught in sting operations that revolved around fictional plots against various targets, such as Dallas skyscapers or a Chicago nightclub. In this case, though, authorities say Ferdaus planned the scheme.

According to a federal affidavit, Ferdaus, 26, of Ashland, became convinced America was evil through jihadi websites and videos, and began planning "jihad" against the U.S. in early 2010. He contacted a federal informant that December and months later, allegedly began meeting to discuss the plot with undercover federal agents he believed were members of al-Qaida.

Ferdaus said he wanted to deal a psychological blow to the "enemies of Allah" by hitting the Pentagon, which he called "head and heart of the snake," according to the affidavit.
"Allah has given us the privilege," he allegedly told the informant. "... He punishes them by our hand. We're the ones."

Ferdaus, a U.S. citizen who graduated from Northeastern University with a bachelor's degree in physics, made a brief initial appearance Wednesday in federal court on charges of attempting to destroy federal buildings and providing support to a foreign terrorist organization, in this case al-Qaida. A detention hearing was scheduled for Monday.

Telephone messages were left at the office of his attorney, Catherine Byrne, and at the address listed for Ferdaus in the affidavit.

Several alleged domestic plots have been thwarted since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, including in Lackawanna, New York; Portland, Oregon; and Virginia.

Terrorism arrests involving federal stings have often been followed by claims of entrapment, but none of the cases brought since Sept. 11 has been thrown out by a court on such grounds.

U.S. Rep. William Keating of Massachusetts, a member of the Homeland Security Committee, said lawmakers have been warned for months of an emerging threat from homegrown extremists. He said al- Qaida is casting a wide net to radicalize individuals or small groups already in the country because of the significant advantages.

"They're already here, so they don't have the hurdles of getting into the country, they know the country better. ... They know how to move around," Keating said. "The testimony we heard, things like this (the Ferdaus arrest) were inevitable."

Ferdaus is accused of planning to use three remote control airplanes measuring up to 80 inches (200 centimeters) in length. Ferdaus allegedly planned to pack five pounds (2.27 kilograms) of explosives in each plane, while saving some of it to blow up bridges near the Pentagon.

The planes, guided by GPS and capable of speeds greater than 100 mph (160 kph), would hit the Pentagon and blow the Capitol dome to "smithereens," according to Ferdaus' plan, detailed in the affidavit. Ferdaus then planned a follow-up automatic weapons attack with six people divided into two teams, according to the affidavit.

At one point, according to recorded conversation detailed in the affidavit, Ferdaus told undercover agents that his desire to attack the United States was so strong, "I just can't stop. There is no other choice for me."

According to the affidavit, Ferdaus traveled to Washington in June to do surveillance, and drew up a 15-phase attack plan. He also allegedly rented storage space to work on the planes in Framingham, telling the manager he planned to use the space for music.

Asked at one point about possibly killing women and children, Ferdaus allegedly said all unbelievers of Islam were his enemies.

Prosecutors also accuse Ferdaus of supplying the undercover agents with mobile phone devices he said could be used to remotely detonate explosives. When the undercover agents falsely told him the devices had been used to kill three U.S. soldiers in Iraq, he allegedly became visibly excited and said he felt "incredible. ... We're changing the world."

Rezwan is unmarried and has no children, the affidavit said.

He had at least one previous brush with the law. In 2003, The Boston Globe reported that he and two other Ashland High School seniors were accused in a vandalism spree at the school.

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