Look up square in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Square or squares may refer to:

Mathematics and science[link]

• Square (cipher), a cryptographic block cipher
• Square (geometry), a regular quadrilateral with four equal sides and four right angles
• Square number, an integer that is the square of another integer

Construction[link]

• Square (area), an Imperial unit of floor area and other construction materials
• Square, a public meeting place:
  • Town square, an open area commonly found in the heart of a traditional town used for community gatherings
  • Market square, an open area where market stalls are traditionally set out for trading
  • Garden square, an open space with buildings surrounding a garden
• Square, a "L" or "T" shaped tool:
  • Combination square, a tool with a ruled blade and one or more interchangeable heads
  • Machinist square, a metalworking tool used to produce right angles
  • Steel square, also called a "framing" or "carpenter's" square, produces right angles
  • Try square, a woodworking tool for checking right angles
• Square, or quadrature, the process of producing right angles

Software Engineering[link]

• SQuaRE (Software engineering) a standard for Software product QUAlity Requirements and Evaluation.

Entertainment[link]

• Square (album), an album by Buck 65
• Square (band), a musical trio from Lincoln, Nebraska
• "Squares", a song by That Handsome Devil from A City Dressed in Dynamite

Companies[link]

• Square (company), former video game company that merged with Enix to become Square Enix
• Square (conglomerate), a Bangladeshi conglomerate of textiles, pharmaceuticals, toiletries, consumer products companies
• Square (application), a service and device that allows credit card payments to be accepted through mobile devices

Square characters and boxes[link]

• Square (character) (■), a written character
• ㅁ, ᆷ, ᄆ (Hangul characters)
• ロ (Ro (kana)
• 口, 囗 (Radical 30, Kangxi radical)

Other[link]

• Infantry square, a military tactic used by infantry when threatened by cavalry
• Square (astrological aspect), an aspect of 90 degrees
• Square (dessert), a dessert bar with the texture of a firm cake but softer than a cookie
• Square (sailing), to adjust the position of the yardarms on a square-rigged vessel to a 90 degree angle with the keel
• Square (slang), several meanings, such as a person or a cigarette

See also[link]

• All pages beginning with "Square"
• All pages with titles containing "Square"
• The Square (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

William Leonard Roberts II (born January 28, 1976), better known by his stage name Rick Ross (often stylized as RICK RO$$), is an American rapper. He derived his stage name from the drug trafficker "Freeway" Ricky Ross, to whom he has no connection. Ross founded the record label Maybach Music Group, on which he released his studio albums Deeper Than Rap and Teflon Don, Ross was also the first artist signed to Diddy's management company Ciroc Entertainment. In early 2012, MTV named Ross as the Hottest MC In The Game.^[3]

Early life[link]

William Leonard Roberts II was born in Coahoma County, Mississippi.^[1] and raised in Carol City, Florida, near Miami.^[2] After graduating from Carol City Senior High School, he later attended the historically black college Albany State University on a football scholarship.^[4]

Music career[link]

After being signed to Suave House Records, former label for rap duo 8Ball & MJG, he eventually signed a deal with Slip-n-Slide Records, which has been under the Def Jam umbrella since 2006. While signed to Slip-n-Slide, Ross toured with fellow rapper Trick Daddy and made guest performances on other Slip-n-Slide albums.^[2]

[edit] Port of Miami (2006)

His debut album Port of Miami was released in August 2006 and debuted at the top spot on the Billboard 200 album chart, with sales at 187,000 units after its first week.^[5][6] Christian Hoard of Rolling Stone magazine predicted that it would be "the summer's biggest rap record".^[7] The second single was "Push It", which samples "Scarface (Push It to the Limit)", the theme song off the gangster film Scarface.^[8] The music video for "Push It" was modeled after the film.^[9] During that time, Ross made guest performances on two singles from DJ Khaled's debut Listennn... the Album: "Born-N-Raised" and "Holla at Me". Port of Miami received Gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America on November 8, 2006.

[edit] Trilla (2008)

In March 2008, his second album Trilla was released and, as its predecessor Port of Miami had, debuted at the top of the Billboard 200.^[10] Its lead single "Speedin'" featuring R. Kelly peaked at #121 on the Billboard Hot 100; the next one, "The Boss" featuring T-Pain peaked at #17 on the Hot 100. The third single "Here I Am" featured Nelly and Avery Storm.^[11] MTV News ranked Ross on the fourth spot in its 2008 "Hottest MCs In The Game" list among ten rappers.^[12] The fourth single "This Is The Life" featured Trey Songz and was released in July.

[edit] Deeper Than Rap (2009)

"I look at the game and the business and all different aspects, it's a lot of great lyricists on the corner that will never properly understand the business and know how to market themselves and get in a position where they can gain capital. I look at all the strategies people use and what made them successful. What made Birdman just as relevant today after selling 50 million records? That intrigues me. To see the class of Jay-Z, his accomplishments and see how he sits backs and accurately makes his moves."^[13]

A track from the album called "Valley of Death" was what stood out to MTV reporters. In the song, Ross speaks briefly on his controversial stint as a prison guard. "Keep it trilla, nigga, never had a gun and badge," which he stresses, leaving the word that he was indeed an officer of the law. "Kept a nice watch, smoking on a hundred sack/ Back in the day I sold crack for some nice kicks/ Skippin' school, I saw my friend stabbed with an ice pick/ Can't criticize niggas trying to get jobs/ Better get smart, young brother, live yours." Later, he implies that while he was working as a corrections officer, he was on the streets. "Only lived once and I got two kids/ And for me to feed them, I'll get two gigs," he raps. "I'll shovel shit, I'll C.O./ So we can bow our heads and pray over the meatloaf." Although, he still provided no explanation for lying about being a C.O. to begin with, nor did he explain why he failed to pay child support for his children.^[14][15]

The cover of the May 2009 issue of XXL magazine, titled "Rick Ross Up in Smoke", featured Ross wearing a pair of Louis Vuitton sunglasses. After publication, a spokesperson for the luxury-goods maker contacted XXL to inform them that Ross was sporting fake sunglasses in the cover image.^[16] It was later revealed that the rapper was wearing authentic Louis Vuitton sunglasses which were altered by Jacob Bernstein, known as "The Sunglass Pimp". Bernstein defended his customizations despite Louis Vuitton's insistence that such modification and resale of trademarked property is not legal.^[17]

[edit] Teflon Don and other works (2010)

Rick Ross released his fourth studio album entitled Teflon Don, which was released on July 6, 2010. The lead is "Super High" featuring Ne-Yo. Actress Stacey Dash made an appearance in the music video. A second official single was released titled "Live Fast, Die Young" which features and is produced by Kanye West. The album debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 selling 176,000 copies in its first week.

In November 2010, rapper and frequent collabourator, Diddy, who in 2009 signed Ross to a management deal with his Ciroc Entertainment, announced from his YouTube account, that him and Ross are working on an EP together, which is going to be released in 2011.^{[dated info]} A single has been released for the project, called "Another One".^[18]

[edit] God Forgives, I Don't (2011 - present)

Rick Ross had also announced the release of his next album, "God Forgives, I Don't", for December 13, 2011, however it was confirmed on November 17, 2011 it has been pushed back for release in 2012.^[19][20]

Rick Ross premiered two songs from his new album "God Forgives, I Don't", titled "You The Boss" and "I Love My Bitches".^[21]

Along with his music projects, Rick Ross was nominated by The Source as its "Man of the Year".^[22]

Rick Ross performed at BET Awards 2011, which aired on June 26, 2011.^[23] He also received a nomination for Best Male Hip Hop Artist.^[24] In early 2012, Ross was named the Hottest MC In The Game.^[3]

Personal life[link]

Correctional officer photos[link]

In July 2008, The Smoking Gun produced details linking Ross' social security number to an eighteen month stint as a correctional officer at the South Florida Reception Center, along with a photograph purporting to be Ross in his correctional officer uniform.^[25] Ross initially denied that the photograph was of him;^[26] after overwhelming evidence of his past came into the public's eye, Ross later admitted that he did work as a correctional officer in Florida during the early 1990s.^[27] In a 2008 interview with AllHipHop.com,^[28] "Freeway" Ricky Ross, claimed offense that Roberts used his name and identity when he learned that The Smoking Gun posted documents revealing Roberts' previous employment as a Florida correctional officer.^[29]

Legal issues[link]

Mugshot of Rick Ross taken in 2008.

In January 2008, Ross was arrested on gun and marijuana charges. During a deposition of Officer Rey Hernandez, a Miami Beach cop who arrested Ross, Ross's lawyer, Allan Zamren, asked Hernandez why Ross’s case was assigned to the gang task force. The officer stated that it was because Ross claimed affiliation with Carol City Cartel and other known gang members. Zamren then pressed Hernandez for a personal link between Ross and the gang members, but ultimately one could not be established.^[30]

In August 2008, YouTube entertainer DJ Vlad filed a lawsuit against Ross for assault and battery. Vlad claimed Ross organized an ambush on him at the 2008 Ozone Awards in Houston, Texas for asking questions about his past as a correctional officer.^[31]

On June 18, 2010, Freeway Ricky Ross sued Rick Ross for using his name,^[32] filing a copyright infringement lawsuit in a California Federal Court.^[32] Jay-Z had been called to testify in the lawsuit, as he was CEO of Def Jam when Ross/Roberts was signed.^[32] The reformed drug kingpin was looking for 10 million dollars in the lawsuit.^[32] Also, the release of his album, Teflon Don, was threatened to be blocked by Freeway Ricky Ross. A week after the filing of the lawsuit, Rick Ross responded to the charges: "It’s like owning a restaurant, you’re gonna have a few slip and falls. You get lawsuits, you deal with them, and get them out your way…sometimes you lose."^[33] He then denied rumors that he would change his name to "Ricky Rozay" as a consequence of the lawsuit. The lawsuit was thrown out of court on July 3, 2010^[34] and his album, Teflon Don, was released on July 20 as scheduled.

On March 26, 2011, Ross was arrested in Shreveport for possession of marijuana. According to the police records, a strong odor of marijuana was detected from his room at the Hilton in Downtown Shreveport.^[35]

Religion[link]

Rick Ross is a Christian,^[36] and in an interview with Corey "Coco Brother" Condrey on Lift Every Voice, he indicated that "I had told myself at one point no matter what I go through, I never question God."^[37] In addition, Ross indicated that he prays every time he goes on stage to perform.^[38]

Seizures[link]

On October 14, 2011 Rick Ross suffered two seizures in the same day, once in the morning and once again early evening. Following the morning seizure, he was unconscious and CPR was being performed. He did, however, post a video to his Twitter account later in the day saying that he was OK.^{[citation needed]} Ross boarded another plane later in the day and suffered another seizure. On October 14, the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital confirmed that Ross had been admitted to the emergency room. TMZ, who first reported the seizure, updated their story originally posted at 4:45 PST, stating that Ross was in stable condition.^{[citation needed]}

Feud with 50 Cent[link]

In January 2009, Ross started a feud with rapper 50 Cent because he supposedly looked at him the wrong way at the BET Awards. 50 Cent told news sources that he did not remember seeing Ross there.^[39] In late January, "Mafia Music", by Ross, leaked onto the Internet. There were several lines that seemed to diss 50 Cent. Days later, 50 Cent released "Officer Ricky (Go Head, Try Me)" in response to Ross's disparaging remarks on his "Mafia Music" song.

Before going to Venezuela, 50 Cent uploaded a video entitled "Warning Shot," wherein he stated: "Rick Ross- I'mma fuck your life up for fun." In addition, 50 Cent released the first of a series of "Officer Ricky" cartoons. Early in February, 50 Cent once again made a video which he uploaded to YouTube in which he interviewed "Tia", the mother of one of Ross's children. She verifies that he was a correctional officer and claims his whole persona is fake and fraudulent.^[40] On Thursday, February 5, 2009, Game, who 50 Cent has a long-standing "beef" with, called up Seattle R&B station KUBE. When asked about the beef between 50 Cent and Ross, Game sided with 50 Cent and said that things are not looking good for Ross. He offered to help, stating, "Rick Ross, holla at your boy, man," and, "50 eating you, boy."^[41] On his album Deeper Than Rap, Ross references 50 Cent in the song "In Cold Blood". A video for the song was released that portrayed 50 Cent's mock funeral. Upon release, Ross stated that he has ended 50 Cent's career.^[42] That same day Ross released a new diss track called "Push 'Em Over The Edge". The next day 50 Cent released the controversial video "A Psychic Told Me", dissing DJ Khaled. On February 12, 50 Cent responded with "Tia Told Me", along with Lloyd Banks' response "Officer Down" and Tony Yayo's "Somebody Snitched".

In an interview, 50 Cent said Ross is "Albert From CB4. You ever seen the movie? He's Albert," he added. "It never gets worse than this. You get a guy that was a correctional officer come out and base his entire career on writing material from a drug dealer's perspective."^[43]

Discography[link]

Solo albums[link]

• 2006: Port of Miami
• 2008: Trilla
• 2009: Deeper Than Rap
• 2010: Teflon Don
• 2012: God Forgives, I Don't ^[20]

Maybach Music Group Albums[link]

• 2011: Self Made Vol. 1 (with Maybach Music Group)
• 2012: Self Made Vol. 2 (with Maybach Music Group)^[44]

Collaboration albums[link]

• 2009: Custom Cars & Cycles (with Triple C's)
• TBA: Bugatti Boyz (with Diddy)^[45][46]

Compilation albums[link]

• 2007: Rise to Power

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Rick Ross

• Rick Ross Official Def Jam Website
• Rick Ross at the Internet Movie Database

P-Square are a Nigerian R&B duo composed of identical twin brothers Peter and Paul Okoye.^[1]

History[link]

This section includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (November 2011)

The story of P-Square began in St. Murumba secondary school, a small Catholic school in Jos, Nigeria. Identical twins Peter and Paul joined their school music and drama club where they began singing, dancing, and miming songs by MC Hammer, Bobby Brown and Michael Jackson.

They later formed an a cappella quartet called "MMMPP" (M Clef a.k.a. Itemoh, Michael, Melvin, Peter and Paul). Drawing inspiration from their music idol Michael Jackson, they began break dancing, formed the group called "Smooth Criminals" in 1997. They droped M Clef from the group "MMMPP" which later was changed to "MMPP". Their artistic talent and precise dance routine soon made them household names in the city of Jos, where they performed at school functions and other occasions.

Later in 1999, Peter and Paul returned to music school to develop their skills on keyboard, drums, bass and rhythm guitar. Their work includes the soundtracks for a number of films like Tobi, Mama Sunday, Moment of Bitterness and Evas River.

Later in 1999, they applied to the University of Abuja to study Business Administration. The Smooth Criminals disbanded when its members left to various other universities. Subsequently Peter and Paul formed their own group, variously called "Double P", "P&P", and "Da Pees", until they eventually settled on "P Square". They are managed by Bayo Odusami aka Howie T, a seasoned concert promoter and the CEO of Adrot Nigeria Limited.

In 2001, "P-Square" won the "Grab Da Mic" competition, and hence Benson & Hedges sponsored their debut album, titled Last Nite, which was released under Timbuk2 music label. P-Square was also nominated as "Most Promising African Group" in the Kora Awards three months after the release of their debut album. They eventually won the 2003 Amen Award for "Best R&B Group".

In 2005, P Square released their second album, Get Squared under their own label, Square Records. This album was marketed nationwide by TJoe Enterprises, although they were still managed by Howie T of Adrot Nigeria Limited. The video for the second album held the #1 position on the MTV Base chart for four straight weeks.

They have an ever growing fan base across South Africa with a particular stronghold of die-hard fans in Cape Town.

The group has performed alongside the following international artists like Ginuwine, Sean Paul, Akon and Busola Keshiro. The members of P Square are now located in Lagos.

Late in 2007, they released their best selling album so far, Game Over. It has sold 8 million copies worldwide.

In 2009, P-Square released their fourth studio album, Danger. The album features collaborations with 2face Idibia, J Martins and Frenzy. The first single called "Danger" is a hip hop song with cutting synths and a frog bass baseline similar to an Eminem song. The video affirms this with the presence of clowns and staggered movements in front of the camera reminiscent of comical videos by Eminem. They are also known for the close resemblance which the twins have to American R&B Superstar, Usher Raymond.

On 4 April 2010, P-Square was named the Artist of the Year^[2] at the KORA All Africa Music Awards in Ouagadougou, Burkina-Faso while they were in London for a Concert at the Troxy, and they will receive a whopping sum of $1 Million Dollars as the Award Winners, in Ebebiyin City.

Controversies[link]

The duo are reported to handle most of their production/beat making in house. The band has been faced with many controversies for their habit of sampling western songs and popular hits in their records. They have addressed the issue many times in interviews as well as in the lyrics of their songs.^[3] Technically speaking, P Square does more in the line of reconstructing the drum patterns, chord progressions or lyrics of the sampled songs as against actually cutting parts of the song and directly sampling into their production. This accounts for the largely electronic feel of their sound.

Some of the songs which have been called up on this account include "Get Squared", "Game Over", "Danger" and others.

P-Square attracted headlines when they reportedly turned irate when they were notified in the middle of their at the Guinness Show performance by the organisers about some change in plans which would affect the length of their performance, and that of the next act, 2face.^[4]
As reported by a news site vanguardngr.com, the info apparently stirred up resentment as Peter immediately said "I don’t know why, anytime a foreign artiste comes to Nigeria, they (show organizers) wanna treat us like slaves in our country". Although initially they continued their performance but midway through, they threw their microphones to the ground and angrily stormed out of the stage saying, "We are leaving; they don’t want 2face to come on stage" They were said to have immediately left the premises of the show, but after intervention of the show organisers, they came on stage later with 2face for a performance, but later on were apologised to.

Signing with Konvict Muzik[link]

Record producer and singer Akon recently signed Nigerian artistes: Wizkid, Tuface and P-square as representatives of his record label Konvict Muzik in Africa. He revealed this in December 2011 in Lagos at the unveiling of Citron energy drink which took place in footballer Jay Jay Okocha's club Number 10. They join international artistes; Brick and Lace, T-Pain and Lady Gaga in the Konvict Muzik family.

Signing with Telecommunication Giants, Globacom[link]

The multiple award-winning twin brothers were officially unveiled as the new ambassadors of the Mike Adenuga owned telecommunications outfit in Lagosin 2011, but the mouth-watering amount was not revealed.

With the deal, P-Square has joined other Glo ambassadors which include, entertainers like Uche Jombo, Rita Dominic, Mike Ezuruonye, Desmond Elliot, Monalisa Chinda, Funke Akindele, Sammy Okposo, Nonso Diobi, Ramsey Nouah among others.

According to the Group Chief Operating Officer of Glo, Mr. Mohammed Jameel, the list of the company’s ambassadors could not be complete without P-Square, saying “that is why we are proud to present them as the new Glo ambassadors today.”

He said further that for some years now, Globacom has been watching with keen interest, the exploits of the Okoye brothers in the local and international music scene, and could not help, but include them on its list of ambassadors. The deal has further cemented the fact that P-Square is indeed the most successful Hip Hop group in Africa.

Just a few months ago, the group emerged the Best African Act at the coveted KORA All Africa Music Awards held in Burkina Faso. The award attracted the mouth-watering sum of $1million (N150million).

They recently returned from a very successful one and half months musical tour of the United States of America, which ended in New York City on 24 July 2010. The duo have been so successful that even the President of Burkina Faso, whose country hosted the last KORA Awards, ordered that they should be flown in his private jet. Apart from this, P-Square has invaded so many homes, hearts and phones with their hit songs, which have either become a national anthem of sort on the lips of so many people and ring tones on so many phones.

Discography[link]

• 2003: Last Nite
• 2005: Get Squared
• 2007: Game Over
• 2009: Danger
• 2011: The Invasion

Awards[link]

Won

• Hip Hop World Awards 2006
  • Best R&B Album (Get Squared)^[5]
  • Best Music Video (Get Squared)
  • Album of the Year (Get Squared)
  • Song of the Year ("Bizzy Body")
• City Mag 9th Awards Show (2006) - Best Hip Hop Group^[6]
• Nigerian Music Awards (NMA) 2006
  • Album of the year (Get Squared)^[7]
  • Music Video of the year (Get Squared)
• 2007 Channel O Music Video Awards - Best Duo or Group ^[8]
• 2008 Channel O Music Video Awards
  • Best Duo or Group ^[9]
  • Video of the Year ("Do Me") ^[9]
• MTV Africa Music Awards 2008 - Best Group^[10]
• MTV Africa Music Awards 2009 - Best Group ^[11]
• KORA Awards 2010 - Artiste of the Year
• LIL PERRY PRODUCTIONS 2010 - Producer of the Year

Nominated

• BET Awards 2010 - Best International Act
• KORA Awards 2003 - Most Promising African Group (Nominated)^[12]
• MOBO Awards 2006 - Best African Act^[13]
• MOBO Awards 2008 - Best African Act
• MTV Africa Music Awards 2008
  • Best Live Performer^[14]
  • Best Video^[14]
  • Artist of the Year^[14]
  • Best R&B^[14]
• MTV Africa Music Awards 2009 - Best Performer ^[15]

References[link]

15 http://www.zieplay.com/playart/play.php?artist=P-Square

External links[link]

• Official Website
• Peter Okoye on Twitter
• Paul Nonso Okoye on Twitter
• P-Square's channel on YouTube

This article has been nominated to be checked for its neutrality. Discussion of this nomination can be found on the talk page. (March 2012)

Kevin Rose
Born	(1977-02-21) February 21, 1977 (age 35) Redding, California, United States[1]
Nationality	American
Website
kevinrose.com

Kevin Rose (born Robert Kevin Rose, February 21, 1977) is an American Internet entrepreneur who co-founded Revision3, Digg, Pownce, and Milk. He also served as production assistant and co-host at TechTV's The Screen Savers. He is currently a senior product manager at Google.

Early life[link]

Rose was born in Redding, California^[1] and lived in Oregon before his family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he spent most of his childhood. He became an Eagle Scout with the Boy Scouts of America.^[2] Rose transferred to Vo-Tech High School in Las Vegas in 1992. He then attended the University of Nevada Las Vegas, majoring in computer science but dropped out in 1998.^[3] He worked for two dot-com startups through CMGI.^[1]

Career[link]

Television[link]

Rose was hired as a production assistant for The Screen Savers. He began appearing on-air, in "Dark Tip" segments, and on Unscrewed with Martin Sargent where he provided information on developing computing activities. He became a regular co-host when Leo Laporte left TechTV on March 31, 2004. On March 25, 2004, Comcast's G4 gaming channel announced a merger with TechTV which resulted in a round of layoffs. Rose moved to Los Angeles to stay with G4. On May 22, 2005, Rose reached an agreement with G4 that released him from his contract and went on to create Systm and later, Revision3, where he co-hosted Diggnation alongside Alex Albrecht for 6 years.

Guest appearances[link]

Kevin Rose appeared on the first episode of R&D TV alongside Diggnation co-host Alex Albrecht.^[4] On November 14, 2007, he was a contestant on a game show at NewTeeVee Live.^[5] On March 11, 2009, April 16, 2010, and November 28th, 2011, Rose was a guest on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon along with fellow Diggnation host Alex Albrecht.

Podcasting[link]

Rose began podcasting on July 24, 2003, with the release of the first episode of thebroken while he was still working on The Screen Savers at TechTV. Rose founded Revision3 in Los Angeles, California with Jay Adelson and David Prager in April 2005.^{[citation needed]} On July 1, 2005, Rose and Alex Albrecht started the weekly podcast, Diggnation, which summarizes top stories submitted by Digg users. On October 3rd, 2011, Alex and Kevin announced that they would be retiring the weekly Diggnation show at the end of the year. The final show was taped on December 30th, 2011 at The Music Box in Los Angeles, California.^[6][7]

Startups[link]

In 2004, Rose, Owen Byrne, Ron Gorodetzky, and Jay Adelson formed Digg, a technology link website. The website was publicly launched on December 5, 2004.^[3][8] In 2007, he was named to the MIT Technology Review TR35 as one of the top 35 innovators in the world under the age of 35.^[9] On September 1, 2010, Rose was replaced as CEO^[10] by Matt Williams, a former general manager of consumer payments at Amazon. On March 18, 2011, Rose resigned from his position at Digg.^[11][12]

On June 27, 2007, Rose launched a micro-blogging site named Pownce^[13] which was acquired by blogging company Six Apart and shut down not long after. In April 2011, the technology blog TechCrunch reported on the founding of "Milk".^[14] The company is focused on creating mobile applications. The first application to be released was Oink, a tool for ranking real-world items.^[15] In March of 2012, Milk, Inc announced that it would be shutting down Oink in order to focus on other offerings.

Google[link]

On March 16th, 2012 Rose announced that he, along with the rest of the Milk team (Daniel Burka, Chris Hutchins & Joshua Lane), would be joining Google.^[16] Kevin Rose started his first day as a senior project manager for Google on March 19, 2012.^[17][18] On May 30, AllThingsD reported that Rose had moved off the Google+ team to become a venture partner at Google Ventures. ^[19]

Investments[link]

Rose invested in Gowalla, Twitter, Foursquare, Dailybooth, NGMOCO, SimpleGeo, 3crowd, OMGPOP, Square, Facebook, Chomp and Formspring.^{[20][21][22][23]}

References[link]

External links[link]

Listen to this article (info/dl)

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More spoken articles

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kevin Rose

• Kevin Rose's Official Site
• Kevin Rose at the Internet Movie Database

Deaf Havana are an English alternative rock band from Hunstanton in King's Lynn, Norfolk in the UK. The band was formed in 2005 at the King's Lynn campus of The College of West Anglia. The band's early releases along with constant touring developed a strong fan base in the UK music scene.

Biography[link]

Early Days (2005-2008)[link]

Deaf Havana was formed when the original members met at the King's Lynn campus of The College of West Anglia. The band's roots can, however, be traced back much further with Ryan Mellor, James Veck-Gilodi and Lee Wilson all attending Smithdon High School and playing together in various local scene bands. At college, these members were joined by Tom Ogden and Sebastian Spitz. This early lineup saw James singing and Ryan taking guitar and vocal duties. The name "Deaf Havana" came from former guitarist Sebastian Spitz, however the name itself has no literal meaning. ^[1]

The band quickly got down to writing songs and an early demo, White Lines But No Camera, recorded in August 2006 at The Lodge, Northampton. The band toured this lineup until Pennells' replacing Spitz. Pennells was formerly a member of the band "Something About Dave". Around the same time, Mellor handed over guitar parts to Veck-Gilodi, and took on the lead role.

In late 2006, the band began writing songs for their debut EP, entitled "Evangeline". Two songs were roughly recorded, titled "The Smiles Were Forced" and "Where It Begins", which were uploaded on to the band's Myspace page. The EP was soon recorded, with "The Smiles Were Forced" being dropped from the EP's tracklisting, but seeing the light of day at the beginning of 2007. Its artwork is by Josh Brown who later had a song dedicated to him by the band called "Josh Brown, Don't Talk to Strangers", which was actually an early demo for the song "They Call It the Easy Life", featured on "It's Called the Easy Life". "For Stories Sake" was previously featured on the band's debut digital EP "White Lines But No Camera" with the slightly altered title "For the Stories Sake", and "Tell Me More Georgie Boy" is the only song from any previous release to make it onto Meet Me Halfway, At Least, and is now called "Another Day in This House".

Wolf at Your Door Records (2008-2010)[link]

[edit] It's Called the Easy Life

Beginning in October 2007, the band began work on new songs, which eventually saw the light of day on this release. On June 21, 2008, the band announced signing a deal consisting of one EP and two albums with Wolf at Your Door Records, as well as the recording date for said debut EP, now titled It's Called the Easy Life. The EP was eventually recorded by Jonny Renshaw from Devil Sold His Soul and was mixed by Matt O'Grady (You Me at Six, Architects) and released in October 2008. The EP received strong reviews from various musical publications, following which the band begin to receive some recognition.^[2][3] January 2009 saw the band complete a UK wide tour with We Are the Ocean and The Urgency,^[4] and the release for their first music video, "Oh Howard, You Crack Me Up".^[5]

[edit] Meet Me Halfway, At Least

On 25 May 2009 the band entered the studio to record their debut studio album, Meet Me Halfway, At Least with producer Matt O'Grady. The album was released for exclusive pre-order from Wolf at Your Door Records on 7 September and was released on iTunes and shops on October 5.

There have so far been two singles taken from this album. "Friends Like These" was released, with B-side "Hey Baby, This Is Our Song", on 17 August 2009 exclusively for digital download. A video was also released for this single. Their second single, "Nicotine and Alcohol Saved My Life", was released on 15 March 2010, also via digital download. The single contains a remix of "Friends Like These" by Essex band Kenai. Its music video was first shown on music channels and online from 22 February 2010.

Before the release of the album, Deaf Havana embarked on the UK "Metal Hammer Introducing" Tour along with Young Guns and The Casino Brawl. A week after the final date for this tour, Deaf Havana played an album release party show in hometown King's Lynn, with support from Underline the Sky and All Forgotten.

2010 saw the band on several tours across the UK and Europe, including a headlining UK mini tour with All Forgotten and Francesqa in March, a European tour with Emery from March through to April, as well as a support slot on Emarosa's UK tour in May. Just prior to the mini tour with All Forgotten, the band announced that Ryan would not be embarking on these tours with them due to personal circumstances, with Max d'Albiac from Brides replacing him.

10 May 2010 saw the band's announcement that Ryan would be leaving the band ^[6] due to the same personal problems that caused him to pull out of 2010 tours. Deaf Havana decided to continue as a four piece and a replacement for Ryan was not sought.