Is this the end of the Scottie dog and the top hat? Monopoly holds vote on future of its tokens

Everyone who has ever played Monopoly has their favourite token, from the top hat to the motor car or the Scottie dog.

But some long-standing pieces could soon be made redundant and replaced with more up to date symbols.

The hat, the shoe or even, heaven forbid, the much-loved Scottie, could be replaced by a mobile phone, a winking face emoji or even a hashtag.

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Recommended byThe makers of Monopoly, have put the board game tokens to a public vote in order to determine which symbols should be employed by players in its new editions.

The eight standard pieces used for decades are lined up against a choice of more than 50 new designs.

Among the new tokens are a cowboy hat, cowboy boot, two different race car models, and a rotary phone.

The planned changes follow a public vote in 2013, in which people voted for Hazel the cat to replace the iron token which had been in the game since its inception.

Other choices on offer but rejected that year included a guitar, a helicopter, a diamond ring, and a robot.

The original six tokens in the popular board game were the thimble, top hat, iron, shoe, battleship and the cannon - which has now been retired.

Announcing the vote Jonathan Berkowitz, senior vice president of marketing for Hasbro Gaming, said: "The Monopoly Token Madness Vote lets our passionate fans choose all eight tokens in the Monopoly game and no token - not even the Scottie dog -- is safe.

“Only time will tell if fans will decide to stay with the classics, keep a few favorites or pick an entirely new lineup of tokens."

When the game was first devised in its current form in 1935 by domestic heater salesman and games designer Charles Darrow, he envisioned players using small items from around their homes as playing pieces.

The family’s little girl could have been a button, her older brother a bottle cap and the parents a car and a household pet.

Darrow’s niece suggested the tokens could be made to resemble the charms from a girl’s charm bracelet.

Many of the original tokens which Darrow settled on have an intriguing history of their own.

The top hat, one of the game’s most recognisable symbols, was based on the hat the game’s lead character, Mr. Monopoly, would wear. When the game was introduced, he was known as Rich Uncle Pennybags, and historians have long speculated the character was based on the wealthy US tycoon J.P. Morgan.

The shoe has also been around since the game’s original launch as a symbol of both hard work and the riches that, with a bit of luck, can accompany it.

Watch | Monopoly fans vote to add a cat and eliminate iron token from game The battleship was originally used by Parker Brothers in a game called “Conflict.” When that game failed the pieces were taken and used in the Monopoly set.

Until the 1950s there was also a purse among the tokens, along with a rocking horse.

The Scottie dog, though now regarded as an intrinsic part of the game, was only introduced during the 1950s.

During the 2013 poll it was by far the most popular piece, receiving almost a third of the vote.

Also introduced during the 1950s was the wheelbarrow, which replaced the lantern, purse and the rocking horse.

It was included as another symbol of hard work and one of the tools needed to build the properties around the board.

A sack of money became the first new token in over 40 years when it was added in 1999, only to be retired a decade later.

 The vote opens  on January 31 and the results will be announced by Hasbro on March 19, World Monopoly Day.

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Facebook Wants To Know If I Trust It

Last week, my email address and a very old email password appeared on a list of about five million compromised accounts that was leaked onto a Russian Bitcoin forum. I hadn't used that password in ages, and thought I was safe. As it turns outs, I was wrong.
My least-often used, but largest social media account, Facebook, still used this password. Some delightful resident of Indonesia decided to log into my account with it, but luckily, the security guards over at Facebook stopped the attempt and asked me to reset my password right away, via email. They also pressured me into activating two-step verification, which I am a big fan of, but had not turned on as I log into my Facebook account so infrequently.
I felt pretty good about Facebook. For a couple days at least.
Today, I decided to log back in and torture myself with some engagement photos or cat videos, and Facebook asked me if I'd like to take a survey. I love surveys so I took Facebook up on their offer:
Well, you did protect me from being hacked by a rogue Indonesian, so, sure, I am satisfied.
We don't know one another that well, Facebook. We had a thing back in high school and we were really close during prom, but we haven't talked much since then. I don't know you like that anymore; perhaps I never did.
I decided to dig a little deeper, so as not to dismiss a potentially caring and deep relationship with Facebook so quickly. I looked into which words Twitter thinks I use most often versus the words Facebook thinks I use most often.Clearly, I share the stories I write for The Wire across both platforms (link, written, interviews), but there's also a big difference in the kind of stories I share on Twitter (dolphin, sea, putin, kiev) and Facebook (death, police, interviews, ferguson.) Twitter is reserved for more light-hearted stories that I want to discuss with random Internet folk, whereas Facebook is for more serious matters that I prefer to discuss with friends. Facebook is also a bit outdated — I have written about Kiev more recently than about police officers or Ferguson.   Next, I looked at the ads I get on both networks. Facebook is trying to sell me shoes, phone cases ,and dresses. I don't actively post about any of those, but they are all generic to what my demographic is: 21-29, female, in a metropolitan city. I do like all of those things, but I am not compelled to click on any of their ads. Twitter, on the other hand, has me a little more figured out. A quick scroll down my timeline shows ads for a financial portfolio building firm I was researching for a story and Fanta, which I happen to love. It also makes sense, as I often tweet about my affection for Diet Coke.   With this method, I determined that Facebook, you certainly care about the ad dollars I can produce for you, and you care a lot about figuring out who I am, but you don't really know me . You care about the version of my profile that is most profitable. 
My first reaction is to click "Neither agree nor disagree." Sure, Facebook makes me feel creeped on and weird, but it hasn't actively violated my trust. It hasn't actively or consistently done anything to show it was trustworthy, either, besides this one time it protected my account from a hacker. Oh, right. That's why I got this survey at all. Because of that one hack that made me feel pretty okay about Facebook and want to start using it again. Facebook is skewing their own results with the timing of this survey. Of course their users are more likely to feel trusting of them right after the company protected them from a hack.
I decided to reach out to Facebook to learn a bit more about this strange timing and exactly what their plans were with my results. Would they show up in an investor report, used to prove to a board far more important than little old me that their mega company was very, very trustworthy? Would they become public? Well, I learned... absolutely nothing. I have no idea where that data is doing, or who inside (or outside) Facebook would be using it.
Notably, there is also no back button or the ability to change your answers:
So once you have said (well, multiple choice selected) your piece, Facebook wouldn't like to hear an updated opinion or second thought.
When the Washington Post's Brian Fung took a similar survey last year, Facebook told him, "We are constantly working to improve our service and getting regular feedback from the people who use it is an invaluable part of the process."
"Improve our service" could certainly mean "use this information in an internal investor report," meant to soothe those most invested in the company about their ability to be trustworthy. Perhaps when the public is allowed to see what they have to say about Facebook, then I would trust Facebook.
My Facebook account is now secure from whoever was in Indonesia and whoever else was scanning that list of five million hacked accounts, sure. I thank you for that Facebook, but I don't really think my account is secure from the prying eyes of your ad sales department.

Italy named world's top destination by Condé Nast readers

For the second consecutive year, the boot-shaped nation was named best overall destination in the Readers' Travel Awards conducted by Condé Nast Traveller UK.
With an overall rating of 94.49/100, Italy was ranked first among destination countries according to readers of the prestigious magazine, which is known as a key influencer in the luxury tourism sector. The country's culture and cuisine were cited as some of its most outstanding assets. With a score of 93.89, the US came in second, followed by France in third with 92.98. Readers gave both countries particularly high ratings in the accommodations category.
The survey indicates that Oceania is home to some of the world's most outstanding scenery, as Australia and New Zealand (sixth and seventh overall, respectively) scored the highest in this category. Greece, meanwhile, in fifth place, was praised for the hospitality of the local people.
In addition to polling readers on their favorite countries for travel, the magazine asked for their picks for best cities, best hotels and best islands, among other categories.
Parrot Cay by COMO in the Turks & Caicos took top spot for 'best of the best' in terms of hotels, as well as first place in The Americas & Caribbean, while first place in The Middle East, Africa, & The Indian Ocean was nabbed by Soneva Fushi in the Maldives; New Zealand's Huka Lodge in Taupo ranked highest in Australasia & The South Pacifc; Thailand's Four Seasons Resort Chiang Mai got the highest score in Asia & India; and The Bristol Paris was voted best hotel in the Europe, Turkey & Russia region.
When it came to top non-UK cities, New York came in first, followed by Paris, Rome, Barcelona and Venice.
As part of the survey, Condé Nast Traveller readers were asked to rate destinations, hotels, islands, tour operators, airports and other travel industry players based on different criteria.
The full results of the Condé Nast Traveller Readers' Travel Awards can be found in the October issue of the British magazine.

Microsoft near $2B deal to buy Minecraft maker, sources say

Microsoft Corp., maker of the Xbox video-game console, is in discussions to acquire Mojang AB, the software company behind the popular game Minecraft, for more than $2 billion, three people with knowledge of the talks said.
Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker, is in serious talks with four-year-old Mojang, said the people, who asked not to be named because the negotiations aren’t public. The deal may be concluded as soon as this week, though next week is more likely, said two people.
A purchase of Mojang would be the biggest deal struck since Satya Nadella took over as Microsoft’s chief executive officer in February, succeeding Steve Ballmer. Nadella has been shifting the company’s focus more toward Web-based services and cloud computing. It has also renewed a push to woo serious gamers to the Xbox, following a lacklustre attempt to turn the system into a device to serve up broader content such as movies and music.
“It’s one of the greatest success stories in gaming over the last 10 years,” said Doug Creutz, an analyst at Cowen & Co. in New York, referring to Mojang. “They’ve sold a lot of copies of Minecraft over the Xbox.”
Frank Shaw, a spokesman for Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft, declined to comment Tuesday. Jonas Maartensson, a vice president at Stockholm-based Mojang, declined to comment. Microsoft’s talks with Mojang were reported earlier Tuesday by the Wall Street Journal.
If a deal is reached, Microsoft plans to pay for an acquisition with cash held overseas, one person familiar with the company said. That would have favourable tax consequences for the software maker, whose vast majority of cash and short-term investments are kept outside the U.S.
The deal came together after Mojang founder Markus Persson reached out to Microsoft a few months ago, based on a positive working relationship on Minecraft for Xbox, said the person familiar with Microsoft.
The two companies quickly agreed on a framework and approximate price and have been working out the details since, the person said. Persson will help out with the transition, though he is unlikely to remain beyond that, according to the person.
Xbox chief Phil Spencer has a close relationship with Persson, and has flown out to have dinners with the Mojang founder, another person familiar with Microsoft said.
The software maker calculates it can boost Minecraft sales by expanding the number of game users through Microsoft’s position in video games and computers, and by expanding licensing for things like toys and movies, said one of the people.
Persson founded Mojang in 2010, after he coded Minecraft on a lark in 2009 as a side project when he came home from working his day job at King.com, a U.K.-based gaming site.
For a while, users could only buy Minecraft on Persson’s website, where it retailed for 15 euros. The game puts users inside a vast, pixelated landscape. The goal, as much as there is one, is to avoid being eaten by monsters that come out after dark. By April 2011, Minecraft, which is a bit like playing Lego in a virtual world, had sold more than 1.75 million copies.
Minecraft is made for multiple platforms including consoles, computers and mobile devices. As of June, Mojang had sold more than 54 million copies of the game in all its forms. It was the No. 2 bestselling game by physical retail copies sold in July for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, behind Sony Corp.’s The Last of Us for PlayStation consoles, according to research firm NPD Group Inc. It was the No. 3 game in June.
Minecraft was made available for the newest generation of consoles, Xbox One and PlayStation 4, earlier this month. Microsoft, if it completes the deal, will keep the game available for rival products, said two people familiar with the company’s plans.
The company thinks that this kind of product, like its Office productivity software, has to be available with high-quality versions for multiple platforms, including those of its rivals, the person with knowledge of Microsoft’s thinking said.

Real Madrid beats Atletico Madrid 4-1 to win Champions League final

LISBON, Portugal - Real Madrid broke down Atletico Madrid's resistance in extra time to win the Champions League final 4-1 on Saturday and finally deliver the club's record 10th European title.
Real struck three times in the second period of extra time, through Gareth Bale's header in the 110th minute, Marcelo's shot in the 118th and a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty.
It was an unfairly lopsided score after Atletico was on the brink of victory in regulation time.
Sergio Ramos's headed goal equalized for Real in the third minute of stoppage time at the end of 90 minutes.
Diego Godin put Atletico ahead when his 35th-minute header looped into a Real goal left vacant by captain and veteran goalkeeper Iker Casillas's reckless rush out.

Police officer shot at Brampton courthouse

A police officer has been wounded after a shooter opened fire in the Brampton courthouse.
The shooter has also been shot, the Star has confirmed.
Peel EMS confirmed they are transferring one patient to hospital from the courthouse.
Two lawyers say they have been locked down inside the sprawling, multi-floor courthouse.
It’s not clear where the shooting took place inside the courthouse.
Lawyer Corey Nishio told the Star Friday morning he was locked in a courtroom on the second floor of the courthouse.
He said he didn’t hear any shots fired, but said people in his courtroom are hearing that three or four shots were fired near the entrance of the courthouse and that the victim may have been an officer who was handling security.
Criminal defence lawyer Will Jaksa told the Star via Twitter while on lockdown that people in the hallways on the second floor of the courthouse were “scrambling” into rooms on that floor. He was locked down in courtroom 202

“Cops bravely went running towards the gunshots,” Jaksa wrote.
Court staff were being updated by administration and the latest unconfirmed update was that “someone came into the building shooting . . . An officer was taken away by ambulance,” he said.
Peel police were not immediately available to confirm this information.
The Star’s Kenyon Wallace and Rachel Mendleson are inside the courthouse and are also on lockdown. They saw a police officer in uniform taken to an ambulance out the front entrance.
One witness told the Star she saw a man lying on the ground in a pool of blood.
A police tactical team is on scene, along with more than a dozen police cruisers that have blocked and three ambulances.

First teams arrive in Sochi as Russia races to finish

Russia on Sunday welcomed the first teams to its southern resort of Sochi less than a week ahead of the start to the Olympic Games, as organisers worked all out to finish accommodation on time.
The Games, the biggest event Russia has hosted since the fall of the Soviet Union, are to get underway on February 7 at a ceremony starting at 2014 local time (1614 GMT) that is expected to project Russia’s status as a world and sporting power.
Athletes from five teams, including New Zealand and Japan, were given official welcoming ceremonies as they arrived at the Olympic Village ahead of the main influx of athletes next week.
Media arriving early for the Games have found organisers racing against the clock to finish accommodation on time, with rooms still being furnished even after journalists had checked in.
"There are still some issues to be solved as it is always just before the games," International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach acknowledged as he attended a session of the IOC executive board in Sochi.
"But always in this respect we are in contact with the organising committee and we hope that the situation will be solved in the next couple of days," he added.
After winning the right to host the Games in a bid spearheaded by President Vladimir Putin, Russia had to build almost all its infrastructure from scratch in an almost virgin area, a drive that has caused huge concern among environmental activists.
"The first time I visited the Olympic Park was in August 2009 and it was an empty site. I’m not afraid that things are not yet completed -- they are tiny details and will be finished soon,” said Oleg Kharchenko, the chief architect from state contractor Olympstroi.
Teams from New Zealand, Mongolia, Japan, Belgium and the Philippines are the first being ceremonially welcomed on Sunday in the two Olympic villages by the sea and by the mountains. The Russian team is due to arrive on February 5.
The world will be scrutinising Russia to see whether it is capable of hosting a world class Games amid concerns about issues ranging from the risk of attacks by Caucasus militants and Russia’s now notorious law against gay propaganda.
Russia is proudly presenting what it sees as a new concept for the Games, with stadium events like figure skating and ice hockey held in the Olympic Park on the temperate coastline and the alpine and nordic events in the snowy mountains above.
Despite being billed as the Sochi Games, the event is centred over 30 kilometres to the south of the city close to the resort of Adler, with self contained "mountain" and "coastal" clusters.
A security blanket has descended on the area after the deadly suicide bombings in Volgograd in December that killed 34 people and exposed the risk of militant attacks on the Games.
Cars need a special permit to enter the Sochi area and airport-style security is in force for commuters using local trains, with hundreds of volunteers body-searching passengers at each station.
The so-called “mayor” of the coastal Olympic village is the Russian pole vault champion Elena Isinbayeva who caused a furore with her anti-gay remarks at the World Athletics Championships in August.
The weather, however should pose little problem.
According to the Russian weather centre’s chief Sochi forecaster Valery Lukyanov, temperatures are near ideal for the first days of the Games, reaching up to 12 degrees Celsius by the sea but freezing nicely down to a minimum of minus 12 at night in the mountains.

Katy Perry sets Twitter milestone with 50 mln followers

Twitter Counter, a service for tracking Twitter usage, said Perry had picked up tens of thousands of followers since Thursday, as she roared her way to 50,025,667.
Perry, 29, whose "Dark Horse" tops the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart this week, opted to say nothing Friday about her online achievement.
Instead she tweeted thanks to Madonna for having invited her to curate the pop diva's Art for Freedom human rights project during the month of January.
Teen idol Justin Bieber dethroned Lady Gaga as the most-followed Twitter user in January 2013, but ceded the top spot to Perry in November.
On Friday, Bieber -- due in court on Valentine's Day over alleged drunk driving and illegal drag racing in Florida -- had 49,230,470 followers, followed by President Barack Obama with 41,219,748.
Lady Gaga, in fourth place with 41,025,492 followers, made Twitter history when she became the first to claim 20 million followers -- just under two years ago, in March 2012.
Perry's current album "Prism" entered the Billboard 200 chart at number one upon its release in October. Her goth-themed rendition of "Dark Horse" was a highlight of Sunday's Grammy awards.