India Ink: Image of the Day: Feb. 18

Read More..

Google executive promises ‘insanely great cameras’ on next-gen Nexus phones

The cameras on Google’s (GOOG) line of Nexus smartphones have consistently performed worse than the competition. Some have said the default Android image processing software is at fault, while others have suggested low-end sensors are to blame. Google’s smartphones, nevertheless, cannot compete with Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone, HTC’s (2498) DROID DNA or Samsung’s (005930) Galaxy S III when it comes to photo quality. Things may be about to change, however.

[More from BGR: Broadband ISPs put to the test: Real data speeds vs. advertised speeds charted by FCC]

Vic Gundotra, Google’s senior vice president of engineering, revealed that the company is “committed to making Nexus phones [with] insanely great cameras,” adding “just you wait and see.”

[More from BGR: Best Buy makes online price-matching policy permanent]

It is thought that the executive’s comments were related to Google’s upcoming flagship smartphone. The company is rumored to be working on a device with Motorola, codenamed X Phone, that is said to include revolutionary new features. The handset is expected to debut in May at the company’s annual I/O Developer Conference and will reportedly be equipped with a high-end rear camera, long battery life and a flexible display.

This article was originally published on BGR.com

Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

Jerry Buss, Lakers Owner, Dies at 80

By Maggie Coughlan

02/18/2013 at 02:10 PM EST

Jerry Buss, the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, has died, the Associated Press reports. He was 80.

Buss had been hospitalized for cancer, but died of kidney failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on Monday, said his assistant, Bob Steiner.

Paying $67.5 million when he first bought the the Lakers from Jack Kent Cooke (in a deal that also included the N.H.L.'s L.A. Kings, the L.A. Forum sports arena and Cooke’s California ranch), Buss saw their value increase to $1 billion, according to a Forbes ranking in January, reports The New York Times. That made the team second in the N.B.A. to the New York Knicks’ $1.1 billion valuation.

During his 32 years with the Lakers, Buss's team made the N.B.A finals 16 times (through 2011), winning 10 titles between 1980 and 2010.

At just 24, Buss earned a Ph.D. in chemistry and later had careers in aerospace and real estate development.

Buss is survived by his six children.

As news of his death traveled, athletes and celebrities took to Twitter to share their condolences.

Read More..

Study: Better TV might improve kids' behavior

SEATTLE (AP) — Teaching parents to switch channels from violent shows to educational TV can improve preschoolers' behavior, even without getting them to watch less, a study found.

The results were modest and faded over time, but may hold promise for finding ways to help young children avoid aggressive, violent behavior, the study authors and other doctors said.

"It's not just about turning off the television. It's about changing the channel. What children watch is as important as how much they watch," said lead author Dr. Dimitri Christakis, a pediatrician and researcher at Seattle Children's Research Institute.

The research was to be published online Monday by the journal Pediatrics.

The study involved 565 Seattle parents, who periodically filled out TV-watching diaries and questionnaires measuring their child's behavior.

Half were coached for six months on getting their 3-to-5-year-old kids to watch shows like "Sesame Street" and "Dora the Explorer" rather than more violent programs like "Power Rangers." The results were compared with kids whose parents who got advice on healthy eating instead.

At six months, children in both groups showed improved behavior, but there was a little bit more improvement in the group that was coached on their TV watching.

By one year, there was no meaningful difference between the two groups overall. Low-income boys appeared to get the most short-term benefit.

"That's important because they are at the greatest risk, both for being perpetrators of aggression in real life, but also being victims of aggression," Christakis said.

The study has some flaws. The parents weren't told the purpose of the study, but the authors concede they probably figured it out and that might have affected the results.

Before the study, the children averaged about 1½ hours of TV, video and computer game watching a day, with violent content making up about a quarter of that time. By the end of the study, that increased by up to 10 minutes. Those in the TV coaching group increased their time with positive shows; the healthy eating group watched more violent TV.

Nancy Jensen, who took part with her now 6-year-old daughter, said the study was a wake-up call.

"I didn't realize how much Elizabeth was watching and how much she was watching on her own," she said.

Jensen said her daughter's behavior improved after making changes, and she continues to control what Elizabeth and her 2-year-old brother, Joe, watch. She also decided to replace most of Elizabeth's TV time with games, art and outdoor fun.

During a recent visit to their Seattle home, the children seemed more interested in playing with blocks and running around outside than watching TV.

Another researcher who was not involved in this study but also focuses his work on kids and television commended Christakis for taking a look at the influence of positive TV programs, instead of focusing on the impact of violent TV.

"I think it's fabulous that people are looking on the positive side. Because no one's going to stop watching TV, we have to have viable alternatives for kids," said Dr. Michael Rich, director of the Center on Media and Child Health at Children's Hospital Boston.

____

Online:

Pediatrics: http://www.pediatrics.org

___

Contact AP Writer Donna Blankinship through Twitter (at)dgblankinship

Read More..

Attorney killed wife on Italian cruise for her money, police say

A former Orange County attorney allegedly killed his ex-wife for financial gain in 2006 by strangling her and throwing her overboard while on a cruise along the Italian coast, authorities said.

Lonnie Kocontes, 55, a former Mission Viejo resident, was arrested Friday at his home in Safety Harbor, Fla., in connection with the death of his former wife, Micki Kanesaki, 52, of Ladera Ranch, authorities said. He is charged with one felony count of special circumstances for financial gain.

If convicted, he faces a maximum life sentence in state prison without the possibility of parole and is eligible for the death penalty, authorities said. Kocontes, who is being held without bail, also faces extradition proceedings at a date to be determined.

He is accused of financially benefiting from Kanesaki’s death because he was the beneficiary of several of their bank accounts and property and was receiving the proceeds from the sale of their home, authorities said.

The couple divorced in 2001 and were in the midst of a court battle when they decided to put aside their rancor and take a Mediterranean vacation together.

Kocontes is suspected of killing his wife on the night of May 25, 2006, or the morning of May 26, by strangling her and throwing her body overboard, authorities said.

At the time, Kocontes reported his wife missing. He told authorities that the couple had retired to bed when about 1 a.m. Kanesaki stepped out to get a cup of tea to help her relax and never returned.

Her body was found on the morning of May 27 by the Italian coast guard, floating in the sea near Reggio di Calabria.

"I wish I knew what happened," Kocontes was quoted as saying at the time. He told authorities that his former wife had previously talked of suicide.

But an autopsy revealed Kanesaki had been strangled, authorities said.

In 2008, Kocontes is accused of attempting to transfer $1 million between various banks accounts with his new wife, Katherine, authorities said. The FBI began investigating the money transfers for possible illegal activity and the U.S. attorney’s office ultimately seized the money from Kocontes’ bank account.

The Orange County district attorney’s office was contacted and subsequently the Sheriff’s Department relaunched its investigation, authorities said.

On Wednesday, the district attorney filed its murder case against Kocontes.      

The FBI and the Orange County Sheriff's Department are continuing the investigation.

ALSO:

Riverside officer wounded in Dorner manhunt is identified

Coliseum sues ex-auditor, alleging failure to detect corruption

LAPD's 'protection details' end after Dorner's remains identified

-- Andrew Blankstein

Read More..

Blasts Across Baghdad Kill at Least 21 People

BAGHDAD — A wave of attacks in Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad killed at least 21 people and wounded 125 on Sunday, a security official said.

Four car bombs exploded in a market, a bus station and on a major road in the Sadr City district, killing seven people and wounding more than 30 others, officials said.

More people were killed and dozens were wounded when car bombs were set off in a market in Husseiniya, northeast of Baghdad; in the southeastern Baghdad neighborhood of Al Ameen; and in the Kamaliya area in Baghdad’s eastern suburbs.

In the central Baghdad neighborhood of Karrada, near the Babil Hotel, a roadside bomb killed one person and wounded five others.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Sunni extremists have stepped up their efforts to undermine the Shiite-led government and stoke sectarian divisions since the beginning of the year. More than 200 people have been killed in attacks across Iraq since January.

Sunnis, who are a minority in Iraq, complain of discrimination by officials and accuse Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki and his political allies of seeking to monopolize power before the provincial elections this spring.

The government’s arrests of a Sunni politician’s bodyguards in December set off weekly protests in several Iraqi cities. But the protesters have rejected calls for violence and have distanced themselves from extremist groups.

Read More..

Leading Cuban dissident departs for world tour

HAVANA (Reuters) – Cuba‘s best-known dissident, blogger Yoani Sanchez, checked in without incident at Havana’s international airport on Sunday on her way to Brazil, the first stop on an 80-day-tour of a dozen countries.

She was sent off with hugs by a small group of family members and friends.

Sanchez was granted a passport two weeks ago under Cuba’s sweeping immigration reform that went into effect this year, after being denied permission to travel more than 20 times over the past five years.

“I made it through immigration, now I only need to board the plane and take off,” said Sanchez, who has promised to tweet throughout her saga.

In another tweet to her followers as she waited to board her plane, she added: “To tell the truth, my knees haven’t stopped trembling.”

Sanchez is one of a number of high profile government opponents who have received a passport under the new regulations, but the first to actually take advantage of the measure.

A few lesser-known dissidents have been denied passports.

Sanchez criticized the new law for not simply granting all Cubans the right to travel, but told Reuters at the airport, “I plan to take full advantage of it and push it to the limit.”

The old travel law was put in place in 1961 to slow the flight of Cubans after the island’s 1959 revolution.

The new law scrapped the much-hated requirement of having to obtain an exit visa and loosened other restrictions that had discouraged Cubans from leaving and traveling.

It was one of the wide-ranging reforms President Raul Castro has enacted since he succeeded his older brother, Fidel Castro, in 2008.

There are still travel restrictions, mainly for national security reasons and for those with pending legal cases.

PRIZE MONEY FOR A FREE PRESS

Sanchez, who has won a number of international prizes for her blog but has been denied permission to travel to collect them, said she would now do so and planned to use part of the prize money to “found a free press in Cuba.”

“I plan to visit various media and make contact to learn how a modern press runs,” she said.

Sanchez, a 37-year-old Havana resident, has incurred the wrath of Cuba’s government for constantly criticizing its communist system in her “Generation Y” blog, and using Twitter to denounce repression.

She is one of the world’s best-known bloggers and has tens of thousands of followers abroad, but few in Cuba where the government severely restricts the Internet.

Her blog is named after the penchant of Cuban parents during the Cold War era of Soviet backing for the island of choosing names for their children starting with “Y” because of the many popular Russian names starting with that letter.

Sanchez, considered Cuba’s pioneer in social networking, told Reuters earlier this week that she would visit the headquarters of Google, Twitter and Facebook, and travel to Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Mexico, the United States, Spain, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic and other countries.

Cuba’s leaders consider dissidents traitorous mercenaries in the employ of the United States and other enemies. Official bloggers regularly charge that Sanchez’s international renown has been stage-managed by Western intelligence services.

But Sanchez is also a critic of U.S. policy toward her homeland. In a recent blog, she said the decades-old trade embargo had failed to stifle the Cuban government and was exploited by Havana as “a big bad wolf to blame for everything.”

“The big news is not now, but in 80 days when she will return,” Bert Hoffmann, a Cuba expert at the German Institute of Global and Area Studies in Hamburg, said.

“Many regime opponents have left Cuba for exile, but this is the first time a prominent dissident sets out on a high-profile world tour to then come back to the island.”

Sanchez’s travels and eventual return to Cuba are being carefully monitored by governments and human rights advocates as a test of Cuban authorities’ commitment to free travel.

“She is gone, now let’s see if the government lets her back in or forces her into exile,” a European diplomat said.

(Reporting By Marc Frank; Editing by Sandra Maler)

Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Leading Cuban dissident departs for world tour
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/leading-cuban-dissident-departs-for-world-tour/
Link To Post : Leading Cuban dissident departs for world tour
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

See Mementos from the John F. Kennedy Auction

Fifty years after JFK's death, a cache of rare mementos from his closest aide goes on sale Feb. 17 at John McInnis Auctioneers

Credit: David F. Powers Estate/John Mcinnis Auctioneers

Updated: Saturday Feb 16, 2013 | 06:00 AM EST

Subscribe Now

Read More..

UN warns risk of hepatitis E in S. Sudan grows

GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations says an outbreak of hepatitis E has killed 111 refugees in camps in South Sudan since July, and has become endemic in the region.

U.N. refugee agency spokesman Adrian Edwards says the influx of people to the camps from neighboring Sudan is believed to be one of the factors in the rapid spread of the contagious, life-threatening inflammatory viral disease of the liver.

Edwards said Friday that the camps have been hit by 6,017 cases of hepatitis E, which is spread through contaminated food and water.

He says the largest number of cases and suspected cases is in the Yusuf Batil camp in Upper Nile state, which houses 37,229 refugees fleeing fighting between rebels and the Sudanese government.

Read More..

Christopher Dorner supporters organize on Facebook

Several days after Christopher Dorner's death ended his standoff with authorities, some sympathizers have been expressing support for him online and on the street.

Dorner -- accused of the slayings of four people -- has gained some
supporters on the Web who have read his alleged manifesto and believe
its claims that he was unfairly fired by the Los Angeles Police
Department and was a victim of
racism.

Dozens of protesters gathered outside LAPD headquarters in downtown L.A. on Saturday afternoon in an event they said was organized through a
Facebook page called “I support Christopher Jordan Dorner.” The post announcing the protest advised attendees to “keep it PEACEFUL” and
to bring recording equipment.

PHOTOS: Manhunt for ex-LAPD officer

The Facebook page states: “This is not a page about supporting the
killing of innocent people. It’s supporting fighting back against
corrupt cops and bringing to light what they do.”

Those gathered Saturday said they were protesting police corruption and the
way the massive manhunt for Dorner was conducted. Authorities said
Dorner appears to have died from a self-inflected gunshot wound after a
shootout with police in Big Bear on Tuesday, ending a deadly rampage
that stretched across Southern California.

Protesters also said they were appalled by police officers' mistakenly shooting
at passengers in two separate trucks in Torrance, wrongly believing
Dorner might be in the vehicles. One woman was shot in the back and is
still recovering.

FULL COVERAGE: Sweeping manhunt for ex-cop

The protesters emphasized that they did not condone the killings of which Dorner is accused.

Michael Nam, 30, stood at the corner of 1st and Main Streets with a
sign, painted by his girlfriend, showing a tombstone and the words “RIP
Habeas Corpus.” The tombstone was engulfed in flames.

Nam, of Lomita, said he was disturbed by the burning of a mountain
cabin near Big Bear where Dorner barricaded himself with a high-powered
sniper rifle, smoke bombs and a cache of ammo. The blaze started shortly
after police fired "pyrotechnic" tear gas into the cabin; the canisters
are known as "burners" because the intense heat they emit often causes a
fire.

WHO THEY WERE: Victims in the Dorner case

But authorities have maintained that the fire was not intentionally set. 

Dorner, whose charred body was found in the cabin, appears to have died of a single gunshot wound to the head, authorities said.

“How the police handled this -– they were the judge, the jury and the
executioner,” Nam said. “As an American citizen, you have the right to a
trial and due process by law.”

TIMELINE: Manhunt for ex-LAPD officer

Nam, a former Marine and a current member of the Army National Guard,
said he has combat experience from deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He said he has been in situations in which a combatant has been
barricaded and successfully waited until the person surrendered,
eventually getting “tired and coming out on their own.”

Nam said it was “pretty obvious” police wanted Dorner dead. “What I
saw was a complete disregard for the Bill of Rights,” Nam said.

San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon, during a news conference
Friday, defended the tactics used by his agency in the shootout at the
mountain cabin, which left one of his deputies dead and another
seriously wounded.

“The bottom line is the deputy sheriffs of this department, and the
law enforcement officers from the surrounding area, did an outstanding
job,” he said. “They ran into the line of fire.”

As the protesters stood Saturday, drivers passing by honked, waved
and gave thumbs up. A handful of officers watched from police
headquarters across the street.

Nam said he spoke to the officers before the protest began about what
the protesters should do to keep the event peaceful. He said the
officers were respectful.

The protesters marched around the block, circling an intersection
near the department headquarters. They chanted, “LAPD, you are guilty.”

Signs expressed anger at police and support for Dorner.

“If you’re not enraged, you’re not paying attention,” one sign read.

“Why couldn’t we hear his side?”

“Clear his name! Christopher Dorner”

Liliana Alaniz, 40, came with her family -– her mother, sister,
nieces and daughters -– from Long Beach to join the protest, which she
said was her first.

“I really, really believe he was innocent in the firing case,” Alaniz said of Dorner.

Alaniz held a sign that read, “Trying to clear your name.”

Her daughter, Andrea Tovar, said Dorner “has his supporters.”

“Murder is never right, but neither is the law when it’s unjust,”
said Tovar, 18. She said police need to know they “can’t get away with
everything.”

ALSO:

Ex-mayor who gambled away $1 billion to pay restitution

Riverside officer wounded in Dorner manhunt is identified

Dorner probably died of self-inflicted gunshot, officials say

-- Hailey Branson-Potts

twitter.com/haileybranson

Photo: Protesters outside LAPD headquarters on Saturday. Credit: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

Read More..