Rooney gets hair transplant, promises pictures

Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney's rapidly receding hairline has been a sensitive subject for him in recent years. He said as much when teammate Michael Owen cracked a joke about it on Twitter not long ago. Given that, it should come as no surprise that he decided to take action against his fleeing follicles.

It is, of course, none of our concern what he does with his hair. But since invasions of privacy are what they do best, The Sun tracked him down and ran a front-page story on Saturday revealing Rooney's "secret visit" to a hair clinic for eight-hour treatments.

So, Rooney took to Twitter ahead of England's Euro 2012 qualifier against Switzerland (for which he was suspended) and decided to embrace the fact that his secret is out:

One look at the reason #hairwego is trending on Twitter and you'll see that Wayne might be confusing jokes for support. But I say good for him. If his lack of hair was upsetting him, why not do something about it? And having a sense of humor about it becoming a story is even better. If only he did the same thing with reports of his prostitute-loving ways.

Wayne later said that he'll send out a picture of his new 'do on Monday morning. Here's our horribly photoshopped best guess as to what he will look like...

Top photo: Reuters

Down Photo: Twitter

Oops! French Open officials gave runner-up the winner’s trophy

There are two winner's trophies at the French Open, the large Coupe Suzanne Lenglen that you see female winners like Li Na hoist in the air and kiss after the match and the smaller replica version they take home. In an embarrassing mistake Saturday at Roland Garros, one of those trophies was accidentally awarded to runner-up Francesca Schiavone.

Schiavone was handed the small trophy by the gentleman on the left and posed for pictures with it alongside Li Na, the winner, and 1971 champion Evonne Goolagong Cawley. Notice how Schiavone's trophy is a mini version of the larger one Li Na is holding.

Evidently the large Coupe Suzanne Lenglen stays at Roland Garros and winners take home the smaller trophy. In the original picture, you can see the true runner-up trophy sitting on a table behind the players.

The mistake was eventually corrected and Schiavone was awarded the proper trophy.

Schiavone couldn't have minded giving the replica trophy back too much. After all, she won one last year.

Eminem Audi A6 Avant Video Is Not An Advertisement, Audi Spokesperson Says

A U.S. spokesperson for Audi has responded to the lawsuit filed in Hamburg Regional Court in Germany this week by Eight Mile Style LLC, Eminem's publishing company. The German automobile manufacturer is being sued for using an unauthorized sample of Eminem's Academy Award-winning song "Lose Yourself" from his film "8 Mile."

The Audi spokesperson told Yahoo! Music that the video that has sparked the debate is not a commercial. "The video referred to is not an advertisement," he said via email. "Also, this does not involve Audi of America. The video was not shown here in the U.S." The spokesperson added that due to the legal nature of the matter, he could not comment further.

In the European spot for the 2012 Audi A6 Avant, a professionally-dressed man drives the luxury vehicle through a city as the memorable guitar rift and snare taps from "Lose Yourself" play in the background.

The song choice and the video concept have also drawn comparisons to a 2011 Super Bowl advertisement Eminem made for Chrysler.

"We believe Audi not only used 'Lose Yourself' to sell their product without permission, but their spot actually feels inspired by elements of Chrysler's commercial campaign," a spokesperson for Eight Mile Style told Billboard.

In Eminem's advertisement for the Chrysler 200, a faceless driver tours Detroit, showing both the rundown and flourishing parts of the city. The marquee on the town's landmark Fox Theater reads, "Keep Detroit Beautiful," a reference to Eminem's 2009 song "Beautiful." The rapper is revealed as the driver of the car.

The 2012 Audi A6 clip is a more pristine version of the Chrysler 200 spot.

According to Billboard, Chrysler had not announced any plans to also file a suit against Audi.

Eminem wasn't the only pop star involved in a conflict this week. His "Love The Way You Lie" duet partner Rihanna received flack for her violent new video, "Man Down." But otherwise, other A-list musicians had a more positive week. Lady Gaga sold more than one million copies of her "Born This Way" album. Pink and her husband, Carey Hart, welcomed the birth of their baby girl. And Kanye West paid respects to the late iconic poet Gil Scott Herron by performing at his funeral.

Find additional details on these stories in the links below. Be sure to check back next week for more of the best music news. See you then.

The Mercedes-Benz of Helicopters

A European rotary-winged aircraft company has teamed up with Mercedes-Benz to outfit its twin-engine utility helicopter for business-luxury transport.

You can almost hear the call echoing through the Austrian Alps: “The top speed of mein SL65 AMG is too low! Get to ze choppah!” Assuming the angst-ridden Salzburg billionaire hadn’t removed the 155-mph limiter from his V-12-powered Mercedes-Benz, he would be right — but just barely. The Eurocopter EC145 won't exceed 167 mph, but the point-to-point convenience a helicopter affords means never missing a last-minute lunch in Vienna. Until now, however, one couldn’t purchase an EC145 with an interior spec'd out by the lux-meisters in Stuttgart.

The European rotary-winged aircraft consortium — and sister company of Airbus under the EADS umbrella — has teamed up with Mercedes-Benz to outfit its twin-engine utility helicopter for business-luxury transport. The lead on the project was undertaken by the company’s Advanced Design Studio in Como, Italy, which pulled design cues from the company’s designo roster of interior packages. Not to compare apples to oranges, the EC145 Mercedes-Benz Style is more akin to a S65 than an SL. Or, with its land-darn-near-anywhere capability, a G-Class SUV.

The rail-mounted seats can be configured for up to eight passengers (think capo, consigliere and six gorillas). The wood and ambient lighting draw influence from Benz’ up-level E-Class and S-Class sedans. Unfortunately, the SLS AMG’s gullwing doors aren’t an available option, as they interfere with the operation of the 145’s rotor. On the plus-side, Eurocopter can outfit the whirlybird with an infrared-suppression system, making it difficult for bad guys armed with Stinger missiles to get a lock on you as you and your lady of the evening snack on strudel and sip a nice riesling.

As for the price, Eurocopter EC145s start at $5.5 million, but the Mercedes-Benz version will reportedly go for closer to €6 million (or approximately $8.5 million).

Cities with the Most Billionaires, 2011

When the U.S. economy was riding high for most of the 20th century, it would have been impossible to imagine a foreign city--especially one in a Communist country--with more of the planet's very richest than New York, home of old-money Wall Street. But that indeed is the case. Today Moscow is the city with the most billionaire residents in the world.

The Russian capital boasts 79 billionaires, a stunning increase of 21 in just one year. That more than edges out No. 2 New York, with 59 billionaires, and No. 3 London with 41. Other cities in the top 15 include such rising stars as Mumbai, Taipei, Sao Paolo and Istanbul. Los Angeles manages a tie for No. 8.

The combined fortunes of Moscow's billionaire population top $375 billion, more privately amassed wealth than in any other city in the world.

Despite New York's relegation to second place, the city remains a favored locale of billionaires, whose collective net worth is $221 billion. The Big Apple boasts some of the most expensive ZIP codes in the U.S., due in part to the real estate prices paid by billionaires in this city. Indeed, many Moscow residents own secondary homes in New York, including fertilizer and coal magnate Andrey Melnichenko, whose wife recently closed on a $12.2 million penthouse apartment. Even the world's richest man, Carlos Slim (home: Mexico City), snatched up a $44 million mansion on Central Park last year.

To compile our list, we tallied the primary residences of all 1,210 billionaires on the 2011 Forbes World's Billionaires list, our annual assessment of people sporting seven-figure or higher fortunes in U.S. dollars. We did not take secondary homes into account for this list.

In the U.S. we stuck strictly to city limits. For example, while a smattering of prominent media barons like Viacom founder Sumner Redstone and T.V. tycoon Haim Saban reside in Beverly Hills, they are not included in the pile of Los Angeles residents since Beverly Hills is its own city (although largely surrounded by Los Angeles).

Here are the the world's five top cities for billionaires:

Istanbul, Turkey scores No. 5. Photo: Thinkstock

No. 5: Istanbul
Number of Billionaires: 36
Total combined wealth: $60.5 billion

Billionaires include: Turkey's richest person, Mehmet Emin Karamehmet, chairman of mobile phone company Turkcell; Turkey's former richest, finance and retail scion, Husnu Ozyegin; and Macedonian-born Sarik Tara, founder of construction giant, ENKA.

Hong Kong scores No. 4. Photo: Thinkstock

No. 4: Hong Kong
Number of Billionaires: 40
Total combined wealth: $176.8 billion

Billionaires include: Greater China's richest person, Hutchison Whampoa chairman Li Ka-shing; the Kwok family, the brothers behind Hong Kong's largest real estate developer, SHKP; and Angela Leong, the controversial heiress of Stanley Ho's casino empire.

London scores No. 3. Photo: Thinkstock

No. 3: London
Number of Billionaires: 41
Total combined wealth: $164.3 billion

Billionaires include: Indian citizen Lakshmi Mittal, the world's sixth-richest man thanks to steel-maker ArcelorMittal; daredevil Virgin founder Richard Branson; and Philip & Christina Green, the married couple behind clothing company Topshop.

New York City scores No. 2. Photo: Thinkstock

No. 2: New York
Number of Billionaires: 59
Total combined wealth: $220.8 billion

Billionaires include: media mogul and current mayor Michael Bloomberg; fashion designer Ralph Lauren; and real estate developer-turned-reality T.V. celebrity Donald Trump.

Moscow scores No. 1. Photo: Thinkstock

No. 1: Moscow
Number of Billionaires: 79
Total combined wealth: $375.3 billion

Billionaires include: Russia's richest man, steel magnate Vladmimir Lisin; commodities investor and Chelsea soccer team owner Roman Abramovich; and venture capitalist and Facebook investor Yuri Milner.

T. Rex Leech & Titanic Bacteria Make Top 10 New Species List

News – Bioluminescent Mushroom (Mycena luxaeterna) Common name: Eternal light mushroom. Lighting up the top …

A pancake-shaped batfish, a leech with titanic teeth found inside a human's nose and an iron-eating bacterium snagged spots on the Top 10 New Species list, announced Monday (May 23) by the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University and a committee of taxonomists.

This year's top 10 come from around the world, including Brazil, the Gulf of Mexico, the Mascarene Islands in the Indian Ocean, Madagascar, the North Atlantic Ocean, Oregon, Peru, the Philippines, South Africa and West Africa. [See a Gallery of Top 10 New Species]

The top 10, in no specific order, include:

• T.-rex leech: The Tyrannobdella rex leech, which sports gigantic teeth, was found in the nostril of a 9-year-old girl by Peruvian physician Renzo Arauco-Brown.
• Titanic bacterium: Found at the bottom of the ocean, at the site of the RMS Titanic shipwreck, this iron-eating bacterium named Halomonas titanicae. The bacterium sticks to steel surfaces, creating knob-like mounds of corrosion products, called "rusticles."
• Pancake batfish: The odd fish seems to hop on its thick, arm-like fins as it moves awkwardly in the water, resembling a walking bat. It was discovered in the Gulf of Mexico.
• Glowing fungus: Lighting up the top 10 is a luminescent fungus collected in São Paulo, Brazil, which have gel-coated stems that emit a bright, yellowish-green light constantly.
• Jumping cockroaches: As if cockroaches weren't creepy enough on the ground, one discovered last year has legs that are highly modified for jumping, putting its ability on par with grasshoppers. Named Saltoblattella montistabularis, the cockroach was discovered in the Mountain National Park in South Africa.
• Monitor lizard: At more than 6 feet (1.8 meters) in length, a fruit-eating monitor lizard discovered in the Philippines is the lengthiest species to make this year's top 10. The blue, black, green and gold lizard, named Varanus bitatawa, weighs in at 22 pounds and spends most of its time in trees.
• Dead antelope: A new antelope, named Philantomba walteri, was discovered in West Africa, but sadly it was already dead: it was discovered at a bushmeat market.
• Raspy cricket: Glomeremus orchidophilus made the list for its distinction of being the only pollinator of the rare and endangered orchid Angraecum cadetii in the Mascarene Archipelago in the Indian Ocean.
• Gilled mushroom: Called Psathyrella aquatica, this gilled mushroom was found in the northwestern United States submerged in the clear, cold, flowing waters of the upper Rogue River in Oregon.
• Giant orb-weaver: A giant orb-weaving spider discovered in Madagascar makes webs that can span rivers, streams and lakes. Its silk is more than two times stronger than any other known spider silk. [Gallery: Spooky Spiders]

This annual top 10 new species announcement commemorates the anniversary of the birth of Carolus Linnaeus, who initiated the modern system of plant and animal names and classifications. The list is issued annually by ASU's International Institute for Species Exploration to shine attention on biodiversity. Nominations were invited through the ASU website and also generated by institute staff and an international committee of experts.

"We can only realistically aspire to sustainable biodiversity if we first learn what species exist to begin with. Our best guess is that all species discovered since 1758 represent less than 20 percent of the kinds of plants and animals inhabiting planet Earth," Quentin Wheeler, an entomologist who directs the International Institute for Species Exploration, said in a statement.

Mike Picker (University of Cape Town, South Africa)

"A reasonable estimate is that 10 million species remain to be described, named, and classified before the diversity and complexity of the biosphere is understood," he said.

10 Free Ways to Speed Up Your PC

Does it feel like you can make a pot of coffee and clean the kitchen all in the time it takes for your computer system to boot up? Do you find yourself daydreaming of dropping it off the top of your office building while you’re waiting for web pages to load? If it seems like your computer is running slower every day, here are some things to do to get your “old reliable” running in tip-top shape. Of course, budget-savvy Nerd Chicks are always looking for ways to save some dough, so we’ve made sure they are all free.

1. Get Rid of the Nasties

Viruses and spyware don’t always break your computer, but they do always slow it down. They’re more common than you may think, and can hang out in your system, gumming up the works, without you even knowing it. Microsoft Security Essentials is a great, easy, all-in-one solution to keep your computer healthy and running in top form. Download it here.

2. Update Your OS

Windows issues updates all the time. These can patch holes in the software, closing vulnerabilities that viruses and spyware exploit, and generally make Windows run better. If you’re running Windows XP, right click on the My Computer icon on the desktop, select Properties and click on the Automatic Updates tab. Make sure you set them to download and install automatically.

3. Purge “Bloatware"

Still have that Norton Trial software installed from when you bought your machine three years ago? Get rid of it! Every time it pops up a window “reminding” you to buy it, I’m guessing a little voice in your head mutters unpleasant things. It’s also slowing down your system as the antiquated software runs in the background. Search for “Norton Removal Tool” (or “McAfee Removal Tool”) to make sure that you get the software fully uninstalled.

4. Speed Your Startup

MSConfig is a tool built in to most versions of Windows. Even novice computer surfers can use this tool to stop programs from starting automatically every time you boot up. While certain things are necessary for Windows to function, if your system is trying to turn on iTunes, your printer, and Adobe every time it boots up, the poor thing’s got a lot of things to get going before it can launch your Sudoku. Click the "Start" button. If you have a search option, type “msconfig” into the search field. If you don’t have a search option, but have a “Run” button on the startup menu, click that instead. When you do this, a window will appear on screen with the word "Run:" next to a blank text field. Type "msconfig" in the blank text field and press "Enter". Click the "Startup" tab at the top of the menu. Uncheck the boxes next to programs that you don't need during startup – but only programs you recognize! Click the "Apply" button, then select "OK", and restart your computer. I can almost hear your computer sighing in relief from here.

5. Defrag Your Hard Drive

Every time you save a file, or update software, your hard drive stores each new thing in chronological order. This means that when you launch Word, your system has to search all over your hard drive to find all the pieces that have been stored over the months, or years. Defragging simply means that your hard drive will take all the “like” things and put them together, allowing programs to launch and work faster. Windows 7 comes configured to defrag automatically, however Windows XP users will need to start the process manually. From the Start menu, right-click the “My Computer” option. Select “Manage” and choose disk defragmenter under the Storage section. Keep in mind that the process can take several hours, so set it to run at night. Also, remember to disable your system’s hibernate mode & screen saver before starting. When the process is complete, restart your PC.

6. Repair the Registry

Your system’s registry is like your hard drive’s table of contents. If there are incorrect entries, it can take your drive longer to find all the pieces of data it needs to launch and run programs. Glary Utilities is a great free application that you can install to quickly and easily fix registry errors and optimize your system’s performance. Download the free version here.

7. Clear Out the Cookies

Every time you visit a website, it stores little pieces of itself, or programs, on your system. The idea is that the next time you visit the site it will load that content faster. The problem is that it’s rare that we return to the same sites and see the same things over and over again. Instead, the process of digging through several MBs of temporary internet files will lead all websites to load more slowly. Clear out your cache with CCleaner , a top rated free software program for cleaning out temporary files and making your system run at its best. One tip: use the cookies tab to select cookies you want to keep from sites you visit often and/or want to continue to login to automatically (like your email, or your bank).

8. Clean it, No Really!

Your computer has a fan in it that draws in air to cool the CPU and components. If this fan or vent becomes clogged with dust, pet hair, or other nasties, your system can overheat, causing it to run more sluggishly and eventually break. Grab a can of air and take your PC outside for a field trip. Don’t just blow into the intake vent: open the case, don’t blow air too closely at the components, and blow dust away from the case.

Related: Best Online Movie and TV Sites

9. Ditch Internet Explorer

There are many alternative browsers you can use to access the Internet. Most techies agree that Google’s Chrome is the fastest option that doesn’t compromise compatibility.

10. If all else fails…

A surefire way to ensure that your system is running as close to good-as-new as you can hope to get is to back up your data, format your hard drive, and reinstall Windows. Keep in mind that you will need to reinstall all of your software, including office. Don’t forget to install your anti-virus and anti-spyware before surfing the net!

Getting on a regular maintenance schedule will save you, and your trusty computer, much pain and suffering. Especially if these tips keep you from drop kicking your PC off the roof! If you’re struggling with any of these steps, or want more info, check out my website, www.callnerds.com.