Apple issues fix for glaring security flaw on Mac computers

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple Inc has issued fixes for a security flaw in its Macintosh computers that allows hackers to intercept data such as email, patching a major and embarrassing glitch that came to light several days ago.

The security update for users of Apple’s OS X computer operating software follows a fix issued for iPhones last week, meaning all Apple device users now have access to the patch.

The flaw allowed attackers with access to a mobile user’s network, such as a shared unsecured wireless service offered by a cafe, to see or alter exchanges between the user and protected sites such as Google Inc’s Gmail or Facebook.

On Tuesday, Apple said in a statement that the Mac security update also improved features such as its FaceTime videoconferencing service and email.

The flaw appeared related to the way in which well-understood protocols were implemented, and how Apple’s software recognizes digital certificates used by websites to establish encrypted connections.

Researchers have said the bug could have been present for months. Apple has not said when or how it learned about the flaw in the way iOS handles sessions, in what are known as secure sockets layer (SSL) or transport layer security. Nor has it said whether the flaw was being exploited.

A spokesman for the company declined to comment on Tuesday.

source: interaksyon.com

Disney launches cloud movie service for mobile, online viewing

LOS ANGELES | Walt Disney Co has launched Disney Movies Anywhere, a service for consumers to buy and watch Disney, Pixar and Marvel films online and store them in the cloud, in the latest bid by a Hollywood studio to encourage digital movie purchases.

Disney, like other Hollywood studios, is trying to boost digital sales after consumers moved away in recent years from buying DVDs, cutting a lucrative source of revenue.

The media company said in a statement it launched the new service on Tuesday, coinciding with the digital release of Disney’s blockbuster animated movie “Frozen.”

The service allows consumers to buy digital movies from a library of more than 400 titles through Apple Inc’s iTunes store and the Disney Movies Anywhere website and app.

The purchased movies can be watched on a laptop or desktop computer, or on Apple’s iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, Disney said. Consumers can also view the films through the Apple TV box.

The service is built on Disney’s proprietary digital rights locker KeyChest, rather than UltraViolet, a cloud storage service used by other major Hollywood studios.

“The beauty of this technology is that it enables us to work with iTunes and future provider partners to ensure movie lovers have streamlined access to all of their favorite Disney titles no matter what device they are on,” said Jamie Voris, Disney Studios’ chief technology officer.

Disney said it is in talks with other retailers about offering the service outside of iTunes.

source: interaksyon.com

Matteo Renzi formally accepts Italy PM post

ROME - Matteo Renzi formally accepted the role of Italian prime minister Friday, kicking off hopes for a revival in the eurozone's third-largest economy and a fresh approach to the country's ills.

"I am aware of the responsibility, delicacy and extraordinary honour which comes from creating a government capable of bringing hope," the former mayor of Florence told journalists after nearly three hours of talks with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano.

"I will do everything possible to deserve the trust of deputies, senators and millions of Italians who are waiting for this government to provide concrete answers," he said.

The 39-year-old has became Italy's youngest-ever prime minister at the head of a coalition government, after helping engineer the downfall of his predecessor Enrico Letta, blamed for failing to carry out promised reforms.

Renzi unveiled his new 16-strong cabinet, which will be sworn in on Saturday, before the government goes to a vote in parliament next week.

Half of the new ministers are women, and -- with an average age of 47.8 years -- it is the youngest government in Italy's history, according to the Corriere della Sera daily.

The key post of finance minister has gone to Pier Carlo Padoan, the chief economist at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The interior ministry remains in the hands of Angelino Alfano, the head of the New Centre Right (NCR) party -- Renzi's coalition partner -- while the post of foreign minister has gone to Federica Mogherini, a specialist on European relations.

The announcement came after a day tense with last-minute haggling over key posts, with the new prime minister reluctant to keep a team that worked with Letta.

"Renzi's imprint emerges clearly from the many new names called to take on the role of minister for the first time," Napolitano said.

Economic reform promised

He called on the new government "to enact the institutional and economic reforms quickly," and bring relief to a country lumbered with a public debt equivalent to 130 percent of total economic output, and where hundreds of thousands of enterprises have been forced to fold.

Renzi has vowed to overhaul the job market, education and the tax system in his first few months in power.

His plan, outlined after a round of political negotiations on Wednesday, includes cutting the cost of politics, implementing constitutional and institutional reforms, and tackling the country's bloated justice system.

"All this will allow us -- by July, and our appointment with the EU presidency -- to be able to say what Italy asks of Europe, and not just what Europe asks of Italy," said Renzi, who has vowed his government will be able to last until the next scheduled elections in 2018.

The first test of political prowess for the fresh-faced former Boy Scout will be surviving a confidence vote in parliament next week.

Many Italians have appeared skeptical that the young Renzi can revolutionize the leadership and his popularity was dented by his daring power grab, which came just two months after he ruled out unseating Letta.

But in a country thirsting for change, analysts say his lack of experience in national government or parliament mean he is untainted by political corruption scandals, which may prove a winning quality.

With his catchy slogans and savvy use of social media, the informal Renzi has also proved particularly popular among younger voters turned off by old-school politicians -- and has called for his stellar rise to power to inspire the downtrodden and unemployed.

"If an under 40-year-old like me can become prime minister, this is a sign for the many youngsters who say that nothing is possible in Italy. It is not true," he said.

Renzi is little known internationally but sees himself in the mold of former British prime minister Tony Blair and the "New Labor" program, and his new government will be closely-watched by center-left parties in Europe.

source: interaksyon.com

Kidney failure rising by 10 to 15 pct per year; 23,000 undergoing dialysis in 2013

Close to 23,000 Filipinos underwent dialysis due to kidney failure in 2013, raising alarm at the Department of Health (DOH). To put that number into perspective, there were only around 4,000 cases of kidney failure in 2004, said Dr. Antonio Paraiso, DOH's manager for the Philippine Network for Organ Sharing.

Paraiso said this translates to "a 10 to 15 percent increase per year, and that's a big number."

In 2013 alone, Paraiso said at least 12,000 Filipinos developed kidney failure, requiring crucial transplants and/or, in the interim of undeteremined length, expensive dialysis.

Paraiso tied the rise in cases to an increase in diabetes and hypertension cases in the country. The third most common cause is glomeruloneprhtiris, a term used to refer to several renal diseases, "which used to be number one," he said.

The DOH blamed lifestyles - changing in unhealthy ways - for the shift in what's causing the most number of kidney problems. "Both diabetes and hypertension are lifestyle diseases," Paraiso said. "As our lives change, the illnesses we suffer also change with it."

To combat the kidney problems, Paraise called on the public to get examined by a competent doctor every year. He said lifestyle modification is also important to prevent not only kidney ailments but diabetes and hypertension as well.

source: interaksyon.com

Samsung seeks to wow mobile world with new smartphone

MADRID — Samsung aims to take the mobile world by storm Monday, almost certainly unveiling a new Galaxy S5 smartphone with rumoured Apple-fighting features such as a fingerprint scanner and larger screen.

The top smartphone maker coyly announced to journalists an “Unpacked 5″ event for the opening day of the February 24-27 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

“We are holding a global launch event of our new flagship product in 2014,” its invitation said, using a well-worn technique of not naming the smartphone so as to build anticipation.


The new device will be at the vanguard of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.’s defence of its number-one position.

The South Korean group sold 300 million smartphones last year, 31 percent of the nearly one billion sold globally and double archrival Apple Inc’s 15.6-percent share, according to US technology research house Gartner Inc.

The Galaxy S5 is variously rumoured to have a fingerprint scanner on the home button; a 5.24-inch, full high-definition display; a water and dust-proof case and a 16 megapixel camera.

At the same time, the industry anticipates that Samsung will reveal the latest, possibly thinner, version of its smartwatch, the Galaxy Gear 2, after the first version failed to win over many critics.

It will be one of an array of new “smart devices” to launch at the show, analysts predict, as manufacturers seek alternative sources of revenue during a slowdown in the well-developed smartphone market.

- The rise of Chinese smartphones -

A 42.3-percent surge in smartphone sales to 968 million units last year was propelled almost entirely by developing markets such as Africa, Asia, and Latin America, a report by Gartner showed.

Mature markets such as Western Europe and the United States actually slowed in the final quarter of 2013, it said.

Behind the glitz of the big Samsung launch and its battle with Apple, which traditionally skips the show altogether, analysts point to two developments in the sector: the rise of big Chinese manufacturers, and the growing importance of Internet giants.

China’s Huawei and Lenovo already held the number three and four positions for smartphone sales in the final quarter of 2013, according to Gartner, with their compatriot ZTE not far behind.

“Chinese players are looking beyond their own borders to scale up,” said Melissa Chau, senior research manager for the Asia Pacific at technology analysts International Data Corp.

China’s Lenovo took a big step in that direction in January, agreeing the $2.9 billion (2.1-billion-euro) purchase of the loss-making Motorola Mobility from Google to grab a strong platform in the Americas and a foothold in Europe.

The online world is also elbowing its way into the mobile market.

Facebook’s 29-year-old founder Mark Zuckerberg is the star speaker in Barcelona, a reflection of the surge in advertising revenue it now captures from mobile users.

Microsoft, meanwhile, has agreed to pay 5.44 billion euros for Nokia’s loss-making mobile phone division.

“Suddenly, mobile is not this separate industry from the Internet and technology, it is part of the same mix,” said Ian Fogg, senior principal analyst at research house IHS.

“We can see smartphones are now ubiquitous. We can see they are something consumers interact with throughout the day, wherever they are, including when sitting at the desk,” he added.

“That is fundamentally different for media companies, for communications companies, for retail companies and for pretty much every blue chip that wants to engage with consumers.”

Besides the new Samsung flagship, a slew of other smartphones are set for release in Barcelona.

- A connected fridge -

Nokia is rumoured to be unveiling new devices including, ironically, a smartphone using a version of Android rather than Microsoft Windows in an attempt to capture sales in emerging markets.

Sony, too, may launch a new Xperia smartphone, the first new edition of its flagship since announcing this month the sale of its stagnant PC business to focus instead on smartphones and tablets.

Taiwan’s HTC, China’s ZTE, Huawei and struggling US mobile maker Blackberry are also expected to launch devices.

But the connected world is now moving well beyond mobile phones and tablets, as the “Internet of things” phenomenon hooks to everything from your television or fridge to the lightbulb.

Manufacturers will attempt to show off the advantages of the connected world, but it is a development that also presents some security challenges.

Security provider Thinkpoint Inc. said last month it had uncovered more than 750,000 malicious emails from more than 100,000 everyday consumer gadgets such as home-network routers, multimedia centres, televisions and at least one refrigerator.

source: interaksyon.com

Filipinos should closely watch their heart health, urges cardiologists

While February is Valentine month, romance is certainly in the air these days. But at Cardinal Santos Medical Center (CSMC), its medical experts are calling on Filipinos to take a closer look at their hearts—literally.

“There are four major risk factors for heart disease,” says Dr. Zenaida Uy, Chief Medical Officer for Cardinal Santos Medical Center (CSMC). “These are smoking, diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol. Outside of those, obesity as well as family history can also lead to cardiovascular complications.”

Identifying risks, however, is not the problem, explains Dr. Uy. She adds, “It is persuading those at risk to visit the doctor regularly. And in the event that they do visit, the bigger challenge is getting them to commit to a healthier lifestyle.”

Heart disease is deeply rooted in basic lifestyle choices—particularly in diet and exercise. Eating excessive amounts of red meat or smoking cigarettes ultimately take their toll in the long run, advises Dr. Uy.

“It is all about healthier habit formation,” she asserts. “Nonetheless, most Filipinos forego preemptive behaviors in favor of instant gratification. But once this horrid disease has taken hold of your body, everything changes; at this point, your past choices can no longer be undone.”

Heart disease costs over P500K
The World Health Organization (WHO) ranks coronary artery disease (CAD) as the leading cause of death in the Philippines. According to the National Statistics Office (NSO), cardiovascular diseases are responsible for at least five of 10 deaths in the country. In 2011 alone, this prevalent type of heart disease was responsible for 57,864 Filipino fatalities—that is over five times more than the death toll of Super Typhoon Yolanda.

“When a doctor suspects a patient has CAD, an angiogram is immediately recommended,” narrates Dr. Uy. “If critical artery blockages are found, that patient will need to undergo angioplasty or bypass surgery as well.”

According to Dr. Uy, both operations would cost around Php500,000 (easily more in severe cases). And if you consider medicines, she adds, a patient needs to spend Php5,000 to Php8,000 in order to manage the condition.

“And that is just financially,” warns the cardiologist. “The severe chest pains you have to endure and the emotional toll that burdens your friends and family cannot be expressed in Pesos. Worst of all, CAD—and heart disease in general—could be avoided.”

Commit to a healthy lifestyle
Forming habits centered on healthier choices go a long way in securing a person’s health and wellness. And Dr. Uy says this begins with “a well-balanced diet and an effective exercise regimen.”

She elaborates, “Low-fat and low-salt diets should be complemented by a moderate exercise routine at least 45 minutes a day, five times a week. You may also opt for more strenuous exercises at a lesser frequency.”

“Most Filipinos dread exercise, but it really depends on how you frame it,” notes the doctor. “I always advise couples to look at exercise as a bonding experience—an activity that not only maintains their health but also strengthens their relationship.”

She concludes, “Your body has a remarkable capacity to maintain your health. All you have to do is commit to healthier choices.”

source: interaksyon.com

Russia crashes out of Olympic ice hockey tournament as USA, Canada set semis date

SOCHI – Russia crashed out of the Olympic Games hockey tournament Wednesday, slumping to a 3-1 defeat to Finland in a dismal quarter-final performance that prompted jeers from their shell-shocked fans.

Despite taking the lead, Russia were rocked by a Finnish side that had also humiliated them 4-0 the last time they met in the Olympics at Turin in 2006.

“It sucks. There is no more I can say,” admitted Russia’s highest profile star Alex Ovechkin, one of the faces of the Sochi Games, after his country’s second successive Olympic quarter-final exit.

“We had a good start, scored a goal. But two mistakes cost us the game. We try to score another one, but all we can try is to score more goals. I have no more emotions.”

Head coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov said: “I didn’t expect things to turn out this way.”

Finland advances to the semi-finals where they will face Sweden who rolled over Slovenia 5-0.

The USA easily beat the Czechs 5-2 in their quarter-final and will face defending champions Canada who survived a scare before easing past Latvia 2-1 on a late goal in the third.

Olympic all-time scoring leader Teemu Selanne and Juhamatti Aaltonen scored consecutive first period goals for Finland, taking advantage of two slow-footed Russian defencemen to erase a one-goal Russian lead.

Mikael Granlund, who added the third, said Finland were worthy winners.

“They had the first goal, but we bounced back really good, and throughout the game we defended well and didn’t give them much. We made it tough on them,” he said.

“We stick together, we play together. We know what we’re doing, and we defend each other and that’s how we can succeed and will succeed. I think we deserved to win.”

Failed to provide much offence

Ilya Kovalchuk scored the lone goal for Russia, who were also ousted in the quarters when they were clobbered by eventual champions Canada 7-3 four years ago in Vancouver.

“The pressure was all on the Russian side,” said Selanne. “They played four games in five nights and we tried to use that to our advantage. So this is a big thing for us.”

After Kovalchuk opened the scoring, Aaltonen scored on a great individual effort halfway through the period to tie the score 1-1.

He stickhandled past Russian defenceman Nikita Nikitin and took a shot that squeezed between netminder Semyon Varlamov’s arm and body.

Selanne then scored from in close to make it 2-1 late in the first period.

Granlund outraced Russian defenceman Vyacheslav Voinov for a loose puck in the neutral zone and drove to the net before passing to the middle to Selanne who beat Varlamov through the legs with 2:22 left in the first.

Granlund scored a power play goal 5:37 into the second to make it 3-1. Selanne took the shot in the slot and Granlund got the rebound and banged it home.

The 43-year-old Selanne, who is playing in his sixth and final Olympics, is the all-time scoring leader in the Winter Games. Earlier in this tournament he became the oldest male player to score a goal in the Olympics.

“It is hard to believe that now we can compete against the best Russian players in the world,” said Selanne. “I am very proud of our hockey.”

Henrik Lundqvist stopped 19 shots for his second shutout of the tournament as Sweden beat Slovenia.

Sweden led by just one goal at the end of the second but then broke the game open in the third as Daniel Sedin, Loui Eriksson and Carl Hagelin, with two, scored in front of a crowd of 7,325 at the Bolshoi Ice Dome.

Defenceman Shea Weber blasted a one-timer at 13:06 of the third on the power play to lift Canada past Latvia.

James Van Riemsdyk, Dustin Brown, Phil Kessel, David Backes and Zach Parise scored as the Americans rolled over the Czechs 5-2 to reach the semis.

source: interaksyon.com

How US supplanted WWI-ravaged Europe as economic center

PARIS - The dollar's supremacy and the United States' global economic dominance were built on the ruins of a Europe devastated by World War I, which dramatically ended a virtual stranglehold on world power that had lasted four centuries.

The US had been the main industrial power since the end of the 19th Century -- in 1913 its per-capita GDP was nearly 30 percent higher than that of Europe's richest country, Britain.

But thanks to American isolationism Europe remained the world's banker, with all the political power that went with that position.

On the eve of war, the combined foreign investments of Britain, France, and Germany were worth 10 times those of the US, according to French historian Antoine Prost.

Within just five years, the situation had been completely reversed. Europe's coffers had been bled dry by a conflict whose long duration it had not foreseen, and which had cost 50 times more than experts had predicted in 1914.

In ruining Europe, the conflict had "gone some way toward redefining the hierarchy of global economic powers -- with the US at the top -- along lines that remain largely unchanged today," said economic historian Olivier Feiertag.

French historian and economist Alain Plessis estimates the direct cost of the war for the six main belligerents at between 150 and 170 billion dollars, or between three and four times their GDP.

In addition, Europeans had to deal with the massive cost of reconstruction, of pensions for millions of war wounded, widows and orphans, and for industrial reconversion.

The war had also cost the European powers the bulk of their gold reserves. Much of this was lost to the US, which doubled its stock of the precious metal between 1913 and 1919.

When war broke out, it held 40 percent of world gold reserves; by 1923, that figure had swelled to 50 percent.

"There can be scarcely any doubt that World War I, by changing the division of metal reserves in a durable way, is the starting point for the international supremacy of the American currency that marked the whole of the 20th Century," said Feiertag.

Debt-based global economy

This new supremacy was reinforced by the fact that by the end of the war the US was the world's biggest lender, having supplanted its European allies who had borrowed more than 10 billion dollars to finance the conflict.

"Between 1914 and 1919 Europe went from net creditor to the rest of the world to the biggest debtor," said Feiertag.

Debt -- both foreign and domestic -- would in turn weigh down Europe's major economies. In 1931, 52 percent of the French state's budget went on servicing public debt taken on during and after the war and paying war pensions.

This, combined with a major increase in public spending, fed into inflation rates unheard of before the war.

Prices had doubled in France and Britain and quadrupled in Germany and Austria-Hungary during the war.

After it ended, they went sky-high, permanently weakening Europe's currencies -- with the notable exception of sterling.

Britain had invested heavily in North America before the war. Spared any direct action on its soil, it did not have reconstruction costs, and it had relied more than its neighbors on taxes to fund the fighting.

It therefore came out of the war in better financial shape than other nations in Europe. Even victorious France had lost the bulk of its foreign capital -- held in central Europe and Russia -- and had to deal with destruction on a massive scale.

The French franc was to lose two-thirds of its value between 1919 and 1928, while the German mark collapsed in a bout of hyperinflation that plunged the economy into crisis in 1922 and 1923.

Economic and monetary chaos proved just as lasting in most of the countries that succeeded Europe's defeated empires -- among them Bolshevik Russia, Hungary, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Finland.

The conflict also laid the foundations for a debt-based global economy that persists to this day, according to Feiertag.

For the US, the war "marked its arrival on a global stage that not only would it not leave, but that it would come to lead," ending centuries of European dominance, said French historian Jean-Jacques Becker.

source: interaksyon.com

Sound-based login startup joins Google tech chorus

SAN FRANCISCO — An Israel-based startup specializing in using sounds instead of passwords for logging in said Monday it has been bought by Google.

SlickLogin did not disclose financial terms of the deal, and Google did not respond to an AFP request for comment about the acquisition.

“We started SlickLogin because security measures had become overly complicated and annoying,” the startup’s three-member team said in a post on their website.

“Our friends thought we were insane, but we knew we could do better.”

The SlickLogin trio in Tel Aviv said they are joining the Google team with the mission of making the Internet safer for people while keeping the log-in process easy.

The founders of the company are billed as products of the cyber security unit of the Israel Defense Forces.

SlickLogin is barely two months old and has yet to field a commercial product but is reported to be developing a way to protect online accounts with a technique akin to sonic handshakes.

The technology involves sending barely audible sounds through computer speakers and then having the users’ smartphones recognize the unique tones and respond in kind. It also reportedly factors in the location of smartphones.

“Just place your phone next to your laptop\tablet and you can login,” SlickLogin said.

SlickLogin technology could replace passwords in some cases but is more likely to be looked at for use as an added layer of security in what is referred to as “two-factor authentication” to thwart cyber criminals.

source: interaksyon.com

Violin star Vanessa Mae happy despite last-place finish in Olympic skiing

ROSA KHUTOR – Violin virtuoso Vanessa Mae, Thailand’s first ever female skier at the Olympics, came last in a rainy giant slalom on Tuesday but was still bubbling with joy after finishing the slushy course.

The Singapore-born British former child prodigy came through the finish line in 74th place, a massive 26.98sec behind leader Tina Maze of Slovenia.

Hesitantly out of the starting gate, she clocked 1min 44.86sec down the course, 7.83sec behind her closest rival Xia Lina of China.

But at least, she finished — unlike 15 others who failed to make it down.

And coming long after top medal contenders who fought for every hundredth of a second, the 35-year-old Mae — racing under the name Vanessa Vanakorn — was happy with her result.

“I expected to be last but at the end of the day the Olympics is a great opportunity,” she said, still wearing a bright green and pink mouthguard.

“I think I’m going to make a second run so it was really cool.”

“I nearly crashed three times, but I made it down and that was the main thing. Just the experience of being here is amazing. I was worried I was going to get lost (on the course), but I just about managed it.”

“I’m a last-minute kind of girl, I mean training for the Olympics with six months to go was a last-minute thing.”

“My main purpose of being here was to really have a good time, to improve my skiing in a very short amount of time,” she said.

Although a British citizen, strict British Olympic Association rules on team selection for alpine skiing saw Mae take Thai citizenship in her bid to make the Olympics.

The violinist — who has described music as her “lifelong passion” but skiing as her “lifelong hobby” — eventually qualified after getting the required number of points in four races in Slovenia.

On Tuesday, donning an orange helmet and largely dark blue catsuit, Mae negotiated the course with a conservative style, clearly lacking the cutting edge of Maze and other leaders in the discipline.

Still she dismissed talk of a possible injury that could hurt her other career.

“You have to take risks in life at the end of the day. You can insure yourself up to your eyeballs but you won’t enjoy life.”

Mae, whose full name is Vanessa-Mae Vanakorn Nicholson, made her name as a child classical violinist before becoming renowned for what she has described as her “techno-acoustic fusion”.

While not well known in Thailand, she became a household name in Britain, with worldwide record sales in excess of 10 million.

source: interaksyon.com

Simon Cowell’s girlfriend gives birth to boy in New York

NEW YORK | British TV and music mogul Simon Cowell, who had long said fatherhood was not in his plans, welcomed a son on Friday, his representative AnnMarie Thomson said.

The former “American Idol” judge’s girlfriend, Lauren Silverman, gave birth to the 6 pound, 7 ounce (2.9 kilograms) boy in New York. It is her second child and Cowell’s first.

Cowell, 54, who gained fame as an acid-tongued judge on television singing contests in the United States and his native Britain, has never married.

“I’m not brilliant with babies,” Cowell told U.S. magazine Parade last October. “I never know what to do. But (once he’s older) I think I’ll be a good dad in terms of advice.”

Silverman’s pregnancy first came to light last year when her ex-husband filed for divorce in New York and naming Cowell as a co-respondent.

Cowell’s “The X Factor” contest was canceled last week by U.S. broadcaster Fox, and he said that he would return to the judges panel on its UK counterpart amid sagging ratings.

source: interaksyon.com

Canada, Russia open Olympic hockey campaigns on victorious note

SOCHI – Defending champions Canada and host Russia swept aside battling opponents while the USA steamrolled Slovakia on the second day of the men’s ice hockey tournament at the Sochi Olympics Thursday.

Shea Weber and Jamie Benn scored second period goals as Canada got its gold medal defence off to a solid start in the preliminary round by edging Norway 3-1 in front of a crowd of 10,261 at the Bolshoi Ice Dome.

Russian star Alex Ovechkin scored with his first shot of the Games as the host nation survived a scare to beat Slovenia 5-2, and the United States — who won the silver four years ago in Vancouver — scored six goals in the second period as they thumped hapless Slovakia 7-1.

After a slow start in the first period, the defending Olympic champion Canadians got rolling in the second when Weber scored on a blast from the point with just over six minutes gone.

“In the first period we were testing the waters a bit,” said star forward Sidney Crosby.

“In the second and third period we found our game and wore them down. We know we have to get better as things go on.”

Benn made it 2-0 on a shot from the left side nine minutes later for Canada, who are seeking to win their first Olympic gold outside of North America in 62 years, since 1952 in Oslo.

For a while Thursday it looked like Canada was still suffering from jet lag after the long flight from North America as they failed to generate many scoring chances and only outshot Norway 9-8 in the first period.

Canada’s biggest question mark coming into the tournament was their goaltending and starter Carey Price didn’t do much to lessen those concerns.

A Price mistake led to the Norway goal early in the third period. Price tried to play the puck behind his net but lost it to Mathis Olimb who skated out front and took a shot that was deflected in by Patrick Thoresen.

“We have to be a little satisfied even though it hurts to lose,” said Thoresen.

Canada outshot Norway 38-20 overall but this game was much closer than the last time the two teams met in the Olympics in Vancouver in 2010 when Canada cruised to an 8-0 win.

Embarrassing quarter-final loss

Following an embarrassing 7-3 quarter-final loss to Canada in 2010, Russia are desperate to show they can win a gold medal on their home soil.

After racing into a 2-0 lead, they conceded twice in the second period while scoring once themselves, starting the third period with a slender 3-2 lead before adding two more goals.

Ovechkin said they got sidetracked because they wanted to put on a show for the raucous crowd inside the Bolshoi rink which chanted, stomped their feet and waved red and blue flags throughout the contest.

“We started well and got the lead but then we stopped playing,” Ovechkin said. “We tried to make casual moves and when we had a chance to shoot the puck we didn’t do it.

“We tried to play too beautiful for our fans.”

Ovechkin said the team got too fancy, especially in the second period, thinking they could rest on their two-goal lead.

“It is good to get this kind of lesson,” he said. “When you get a 2-0 lead you feel like the game is going to be easy and we stopped playing.”

Ovechkin scored on his first shot of the tournament after just 77 seconds and also provided an assist on Evgeny Malkin’s goal a few minutes later in the opening period.

The USA dominated the second period against Slovakia with two goals in 66 seconds.

Ryan Kesler scored to make it 2-1 after 1:26 and Paul Stastny made it 3-1 after 2:32.

David Backes scored from a scramble and Stastny notched his second after 13:30 to make it 5-1.

Stastny’s goal chased goalie Jaroslav Halak from the net and he was replaced by Peter Budaj, who was in the game just 50 seconds when Phil Kessel scored to make it 6-1.

source: interaksyon.com

Quitting smoking makes you happier, says UK study

PARIS - Moderate or heavy smokers who quit tobacco get a boost in mental wellbeing that, for people who are anxious or stressed, is equivalent to taking anti-depressants, a study said Thursday.

British researchers examined 26 published investigations into the mental health of smokers.

They looked at standardized scorecards for symptoms of anxiety, depression, stress and quality of life, derived from questionnaires completed by volunteers.

The smokers were 44 years old on average and smoked between 10 and 40 cigarettes a day. They were questioned before they tried to give up smoking and again after their attempt -- an average of six months later.

Those who succeeded in quitting reported reduced depression, anxiety and stress and had a more positive outlook on life compared with those who continued smoking.

"The effect sizes are equal or larger than those of anti-depressant treatment for mood and anxiety disorders," said the study, published by the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

Quitters who had been diagnosed with psychiatric disorders enjoyed a similar improvement.

Lead investigator Gemma Taylor of the University of Birmingham's School of Health and Population Sciences said she hoped the findings would dispel a widespread misconception about smoking.

"It's a common myth that smoking actually is good for your mental health -- 'smoking relieves stress,' 'smoking helps you relax,' 'smoking helps you enjoy things' -- and that common myth is really hard to overcome," Taylor told AFP in a phone interview.

But actually, the study showed that "when you stop smoking and you break the nicotine withdrawal cycle, your mental health improves."

Taylor pointed to a mainstream theory in tobacco addiction research: that a smoker's psychological state fluctuates throughout the day as a result of exposure to nicotine.

The sense of calm or wellbeing from a cigarette is followed immediately afterwards by classic withdrawal signs of a depressed mood, anxiety or agitation.

Smokers, though, tend to misattribute these symptoms and blame them on stress or other factors.

And because nicotine has a calming effect, they perceive that cigarettes improve their mental health.

Smoking is already blamed for a wide range of physical diseases and disorders, ranging from cancer, blindness and cardiac problems to diabetes, gum disease and impotence.

The UN's World Health Organization (WHO) estimated last July that tobacco kills almost six million people each year, a toll that will rise to eight million annually in 2030.

About four out of every five deaths will occur in low- and middle-income nations, it said.

Despite a decline in smoking prevalence in some nations, in overall terms the number of people smoking today is greater than in 1980, due to population growth, according to a paper published last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

source: interaksyon.com

Microsoft Windows 8 lags predecessor in first-year sales

SEATTLE — Microsoft Corp’s Windows 8 system has racked up more than 200 million license sales since its launch 15 months ago, according to Tami Reller, its head of marketing, lagging Windows 7 which sold 240 million within its first year.

The latest Windows 8 sales figure, announced by Reller at a Goldman Sachs technology conference on Thursday, is the first that Microsoft has made public for more than six months.

The relatively slow sales of Windows 8, and its latest incarnation Windows 8.1, reflect a steady two-year decline in personal computer sales, as smartphones and tablet sales explode. Sales of tablets are set to overtake PCs worldwide next year.

Windows 8 was designed as a flexible new system that would work equally well on desktops PCs and touchscreen tablets, but it ended up alienating many traditional users, while the company’s Surface tablet has not won over many Apple Inc iPad users.

More worryingly for Microsoft, the number of people actually using Windows 8 is persistently low. While many businesses technically have purchased Windows 8 licenses, few have installed the system on office machines.

According to tech statistics firm NetMarketShare, only about 11 percent of PC users worldwide are using Windows 8 or 8.1. Meanwhile, 48 percent are sticking with Windows 7 and 29 percent are still running Windows XP, which is more than a decade old.

Windows 7, helped by the fact that it replaced the generally unpopular Windows Vista, is Microsoft’s most successful operating system to date, selling more than 450 million licenses.

source: interaksyon.com

Zuckerberg tops US donations in 2013 with $1 billion - report

WASHINGTON DC - Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg was America's most generous donor in 2013, giving nearly $1 billion of his fortune to charity, according to a magazine report on Monday.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy, which tracks charitable giving in the United States, said Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan gave 18 million shares of Facebook stock, valued at some $992 million, to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

The Mountain View, California-based foundation specializes in investment and management of charitable funds, with some $4.7 billion in assets under management.

Over the past two years, Zuckerberg and his wife, a physician, have given 36 million Facebook shares to the fund, valued at about $1.5 billion.

The couple dedicated their 2012 funds managed by the group for health and education, the Chronicle of Education wrote.

Zuckerberg, who turns 30 later this year, is the youngest benefactor ever to top the magazine's annual charitable donations list.

His net worth was estimated by Forbes magazine at $19 billion as of September, making him the 20th richest in the United States.

That figure is believed to have shot up, however, thanks to a healthy rise in the value of Facebook shares, and now is approaching $30 billion, the market intelligence firm Wealth-X estimated recently.

Last year, the Facebook mogul and his wife occupied the number two spot in charitable giving, making donations of nearly a half billion dollars in 2012.

First place went to billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who gave about $3 billion to charity in 2012.

source: interaksyon.com

Jay Leno ‘Tonight Show’ goodbye gets more viewers than first farewell

LOS ANGELES | Jay Leno’s send-off as the host of NBC’s late-night talk show the “Tonight Show” drew 14.6 million viewers, Nielsen Media Research said on Friday, topping the audience that bid adieu to the host when he left the show for the first time in 2009.

Leno’s emotional farewell on Thursday was the comedian’s fourth-largest “Tonight Show” audience since he took the reins from Johnny Carson in 1992.

The finale attracted the same number of viewers who tuned in to watch Leno interview U.S. President Barack Obama in 2009, in what was the first ever appearance of a sitting president on a late-night talk show.

Carson, who led the show for 30 years, attracted 42 million viewers for his final show in 1992, in an era when broadcast television commanded far greater audiences than today.

Viewership of the “Tonight Show,” which has been the top-rated late night show under Leno’s guidance since 1995, was also helped on Thursday by NBC’s lead-in coverage of the first day of Winter Olympics.

Leno, 63, was given a star-studded good-bye with comedian-actor Billy Crystal as the featured guest and surprise appearances by Oprah Winfrey, Jack Black, Carol Burnett and Kim Kardashian, among others.

Audiences during Leno’s final week rose to nearly 5 million per episode compared to the season average of 3.9 million.

Guests on the show in the past week included actors Sandra Bullock, Matthew McConaughey, comedian Jimmy Fallon, former NBA basketball player Charles Barkley and musical performances from country singers Blake Shelton and Lyle Lovett.

Current “Late Night” host Fallon, 39, will take over for Leno on February 17 as Comcast Corp-owned NBC attempts to transition the show to the younger, under-50 demographic most coveted by advertisers while keeping its grip atop the ratings.

It is not known if Leno will pursue another show in television once his contract with NBC expires in September, but the comedian will tour his stand-up show as he has done in years past.

O’BRIEN’S FINAL JAB

Leno’s highest-rated show drew 22.4 million viewers in 1993, a year into his tenure, and was tied to the finale of the NBC comedy series “Cheers,” which was one of the most-watched TV episodes in U.S. history.

Other notable episodes during Leno’s reign include his first telecast in 1992, which attracted 16.1 million viewers, and 15 million viewers tuned in to watch the show after the 1998 finale of popular sitcom “Seinfeld.”

NBC previously attempted to make the passage to a younger audience in 2009 by slotting Leno into primetime and giving its marquee “Tonight Show” to comedian Conan O’Brien, who had been the host of “Late Night.”

Some 11.9 million people watched Leno’s final show in 2009 before handing off to O’Brien. But the failure of the Leno-O’Brien gambit led NBC to reinstall Leno as “Tonight Show” host after just eight months and forced O’Brien to end his contract with NBC, resulting in a very public, bitter feud.

Leno’s departure aroused congratulations, a wry mention and a jab from his late-night talk show rivals.

O’Brien, who was groomed for Leno’s seat only to be pushed out by the network and the host, said on his TBS cable program that he would allow himself a single joke at Leno’s expense.

“The Olympics start airing tonight on NBC … NBC will finally get to show somebody who is OK with passing the torch.” the comedian quipped.

CBS’ David Letterman, beaten out by Leno for the “Tonight Show” chair in 1992, ultimately straining their friendship, noted that Leno’s 22 years on the show were “remarkable” and congratulated him on a “wonderful run.”

ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel, who has been highly critical of Leno’s brand of middle-brow humor, the treatment of O’Brien and the handling of his departures, tweeted out a congratulatory note on Twitter.

“Issues aside, 20 years at #1 is a remarkable achievement. Congratulations and best wishes to @jayleno on an incredible run,” the “Jimmy Kimmel Live” host wrote.

source: interaksyon.com

First medals up for grabs in Sochi after lavish opening ceremonies

SOCHI – Olympic athletes were on Saturday set to compete for the first medals of the Sochi Winter Games after Russia staged a thrilling opening ceremony aimed at convincing sceptics it was a worthy host.

President Vladimir Putin declared open the 22nd Winter Olympics which are inextricably linked with his name, after he championed the idea, bid and sometimes controversial construction race to host the Games in the Black Sea resort.

After a build-up dogged by controversies on issues ranging from Russia’s gay rights record to security, the focus finally moves to the sporting action at sea-level and in the mountains with five gold medals available on Saturday.

The first gold will likely come from the women’s cross-country skiathlon, while Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, 40, will become the joint most successful Winter Olympian of all time if he wins a medal in the sprint.

Women will seek gold in the spectacular moguls freestyle event, the men’s snowboard slopestyle will be decided after a succession of spectacular crashes while the endurance kings of speed skating will face off for the lung-busting 5,000 metres.

The high-octane ceremony at the 40,000 capacity Fisht stadium on the Black Sea got off to a rocky start when one of five illuminated artificial snowflakes which were supposed to morph into the Olympic rings failed to appear, leaving an embarrassing set of just four rings.

But organisers brushed off the technical glitch, admitting that they covered-up the glitch by quickly inserting footage of the segment they had recorded days earlier.

Thereafter the show charmed and stunned in equal measure, taking hundreds of millions of spectators around the world on a lightning tour of Russian history and culture guided by a young girl named Lyubov (Love).

In a nod towards Russia’s proud sporting past, the Olympic cauldron was lit by two triple gold-winning Soviet winter sports icons — figure skater Irina Rodnina and ice hockey legend Vladislav Tretyak — as fireworks rained into the sky.

The flame had been brought into the stadium by US-based Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova and the final relay included Olympic rhythmic gymnastics champion Alina Kabayeva who has been rumoured in some quarters to be Putin’s lover.

The concerns that have shadowed these Games were underlined when a Ukrainian man attempted to hijack an airliner en route from Ukraine to Turkey and divert it to Sochi.

But Turkish military jets forced the plane to land in Istanbul, where security teams overpowered the man, said to be drunk.

Security concerns had already intensified as the United States announced a temporary ban on liquids and gels in hand luggage on Russia-bound flights, following a warning that militants could stuff explosives into toothpaste.

There were no signs of such tension in Sochi as the teams entered the stadium — led by tradition by ancient Olympic Games founder Greece — to the sound of pumping dance house music in an effort to dynamise the procession.

The Russian team won huge cheers as they entered to the song “Nas Ne Dogonyat” (“Not Gonna Get Us”) by female pop duo Tatu known for their raunchy lesbian-tinged pop videos.

Although both girls are heterosexual, their involvement could be seen as a coded riposte to Western allegations that Russia is intolerant of homosexuality.

In line with Olympic protocol, Putin, who has championed the drive to host the Olympics in Sochi since before the successful bid in 2007, made no speech save declaring the Games open.

Putin welcomed more than 40 other heads of state and leaders for the ceremony, including UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and embattled Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

However US President Barack Obama as well as the leaders of key EU states Britain, France, and Germany were conspicuous by their absence, a move seen by many as a snub over Russia’s now notorious anti-gay law.

IOC President Thomas Bach made an impassioned call for politics to stay out of sports, saying “have the courage to address your disagreements in political dialogue and not on the back of your athletes”.

Some 3,500 fireworks weighing a total 22.5 tonnes were set off in the course of the ceremony which involved some 3,000 performers and 2,000 volunteers.

But it remains to be seen whether the Sochi opening ceremony will shift the cloud of controversy that has hung over the Games, the most expensive in history with an estimated price tag of $50 billion.

source: interaksyon.com

Tom Cruise lawyer dismisses ‘bizarre’ $1 billion lawsuit over ‘Mission Impossible’ film

LOS ANGELES | A lawyer for Tom Cruise poured scorn on a $1 billion lawsuit alleging that filmmakers stole a screenwriter’s work to create a blockbuster “Mission: Impossible” film, calling the legal action “bizarre.”

Timothy Patrick McLanahan claims the 2011 film “Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol” was based on a script he wrote in 1998 called “Head On,” which he tried unsuccessfully to get made in Hollywood.

He pitched it initially to the William Morris Agency, but “I was told… that they could not use the script as a movie,” McLanahan wrote in the lawsuit, filed in December and published this week by celebrity news website Radar Online.

He alleges agents there then passed the screenplay, without his permission, to Creative Artists Agency (CAA), which represents Cruise, leading to a project he claims became the 2011 “Mission: Impossible” movie.

When McLanahan watched the film, “I immediately realized that the scripts for this movie had been illegally written and produced from Head On’s 1998 copywright,” he wrote in the lawsuit, which names Cruise among 13 defendants.

But Cruise’s lawyer Bert Fields dismissed the lawsuit.

“Tom Cruise has never stolen anything from anyone,” he told AFP Wednesday. “This bizarre lawsuit against 13 people… will be quickly dismissed by the court.”

In his legal filing, McLanahan specified why he is seeking $1 billion.

He noted that “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” made over $690 million at the box office, some $145 million in DVD and Blu-ray sales, and millions of dollars in film rentals.

“Because the ‘Ghost Protocol’ film generated close to $1 billion, I am asking for this amount in damages,” he wrote in the lawsuit, filed in California on December 17.

source: interaksyon.com

Connections, reconnections…and twins finding each other on Facebook

Get those tissues out, and start scrolling.

In celebration of its tenth birthday, Facebook has come up with www.facebookstories.com to present how users from all over the world were able to use the popular social networking site in an extraordinary way.

There’s Andrea Mihalik from New Jersey, United States, who makes one-of-a-kind, handcrafted chairs for her business, Wild Chairy. On a visit to Kiltamany, a small village in Kenya, she was able to witness a wedding, where the locals were dressed up in beaded jewelry and patterned clothing.


In awe, she knew she wanted to collaborate with the women who wove their own neckpieces. They were able to keep in touch through Facebook messaging, and Mihalik has incorporated their designs into two of her chairs.

One of the women from the village said, on the video that accompanies the story, that she and her fellow weavers were able to send their children to school through the sale of their wares.

Learn more about “Weaving Connections” here: .

Another character is Yisrael Quic, a librarian in the village of San Juan La Laguna in Guatemala.

36 years of war had created a culture of silence in his community of Tz’utujil Mayans. But with the help of teachers who donated books to build a library, the new generation is not just gaining access to information, but slowly finding their voice, as well.

With the arrival of the Internet to their village, they were able to access more knowledge online, but, sadly, there was none on their native language.

Quic is remedying this through a Facebook page and group where he writes in their Mayan language, to be able to bring it – and their way of life – to the future.

Learn more about “The Librarian” here: http://www.facebookstories.com/stories/53739/the-librarian.

A third story is straight out of Parent Trap. Born in Busan, South Korea, Samantha from New Jersey and Anaïs from Paris, France, were twins separated – if not at birth, then somewhere around that time, when they were put up for adoption by different institutions.

After Anaïs saw videos of Samantha on YouTube and a trailer for the latter’s movie 21 & Over, she messaged her on Facebook to find out if there was more to their uncanny resemblance than a mere coincidence.

Five days later they came face-to-face on Skype, and the rest is history.

Learn more about the “Twinsters” here: http://www.facebookstories.com/stories/53771/twinsters.

Facebook has many other stories to move and to inspire, such as that of a homeless poet in São Paulo, Brazil; a photographer in New York, New York; an art movement celebrating LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) rights in Sydney Australia; a cab driver in London, England; lovers in the US, whose relationship transcended continents and lifetimes; and a man from Manitoba, Canada, who helped a boy from Congo undergo a surgery so he could walk.

source: interaksyon.com

Facebook plans low-key birthday bash

SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook has grown into an Internet giant over the last decade, but it is celebrating its birthday with a low-key, belated party and an eye toward the future.

While the arrival of its 10th anniversary on Tuesday has pundits analyzing the social network’s past and theorizing about its future, the Internet juggernaut is trying to stay focused on the job at hand.

“Just as we do every year, we will have an internal party on Friday afternoon,” Facebook spokeswoman Arielle Aryah told AFP in response to a query regarding the company’s birthday celebration plans.



It remained to be seen whether the Menlo Park, California-based social network, which now boasts over a billion users, had something playful planned for its actual anniversary on Tuesday.

In an earnings call last week to discuss stellar quarterly results, Facebook chief and co-found Mark Zuckerberg gave a nod to the growth seen during the past decade but focused on the future.

Zuckerberg spoke of making “apps” for showcasing Facebook features on smartphones or tablets to stay in synch with mobile Internet lifestyles.

Long-range goals included using artificial intelligence to figure out how pictures, videos, comments and more shared at Facebook are related and of shooting toward helping people share anything they want, with anyone they want, whenever they want.

Facebook broke ground late last year on an expansion to its campus in former Sun Microsystem digs in the Silicon Valley city of Menlo Park.

The new West Campus was designed by respected architect Frank Gehry.

As Facebook celebrates its 10th anniversary, the world’s biggest social network is finding its path as a maturing company, adapting to an aging user base.

Zuckerberg has repeatedly described Facebook’s mission as “making the world more open and connected,” and some say he has accomplished just that.

The company created in a Harvard dorm room in 2004 has established itself as a phenomenon, securing its place in the world of the technology giants.

“Facebook has made the world much smaller, much more interactive,” said Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry.

In its short history, Facebook has become a part of daily life for more than a billion people around the globe.

“More than 20 percent of all time spent on the Internet is spent on Facebook,” says Lou Kerner, founder of the Social Internet Fund.

Facebook says it has a global total of 1.23 billion monthly active users, including 945 million who use the social network on a mobile device.

And, a Pew Research Center survey released Monday suggests no slowing momentum for the network, even though more than half of US Facebook users said they are turned off by oversharing and didn’t like the fact that they showed up in pictures without giving permission.

After a calamitous initial public offering in May 2012 plagued by technical glitches, Facebook saw its share price slump by half.

But the company has been on a roll for the past year, with its stock hitting record highs.

According to the research firm eMarketer, Facebook has become the second-largest recipient of digital advertising spending behind Google, and is particularly strong in mobile ads.

“Facebook appears the best way to play the social Internet,” Morgan Stanley analysts said in a note to clients, preferring Facebook to the up-and-coming network Twitter.

source: interaksyon.com

Samsung to unveil latest Galaxy smartphone in late February

SEOUL — Samsung Electronics Co will unveil a new version of its flagship Galaxy S smartphone this month, but expectations are low that features such as a bigger screen will lead to a sharp jump in sales given intensifying competition.

Samsung sent out invitations on Tuesday for “Samsung unPacked 5″ event on February 24 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The launch has been brought forward by around three weeks after sales of Samsung’s S4 came in weaker than expected, analysts said.

The world’s biggest smartphone maker is bracing for its weakest mobile annual profit growth in seven years amid fierce competition from Apple Inc and Chinese vendors, and as growth for high-end smartphones eases due to near saturation in many markets.

The S5 is widely expected to feature a bigger screen, an improved rear camera and biometric functions such as iris recognition or a fingerprint scanner. It may also come with an improved Galaxy Gear smartwatch.

The launch at the annual industry gathering is set to reflect a new emphasis on costs, marking a departure from the glitzy marketing Samsung has deployed in the past, including the use of actors and a full live orchestra to launch the S4 at New York’s Radio City Music Hall last year.

A bigger screen for the S5 may not become much of a selling point as Apple is widely expected to introduce large-screen smartphones – Samsung’s mainstay products – later this year. Apple is also expected to gain ground in China after it began selling iPhones through China Mobile, the world’s biggest mobile carrier by subscribers, last month.

More challenges may come from China’s PC maker Lenovo Group which announced last week it would buy Google Inc’s Motorola Mobility handset unit for $2.9 billion.

source: interaksyon.com

Kevin Durant stars as Thunder snap Grizzlies’ six-game streak

Thunder 86, Grizzlies 77: Kevin Durant collected 31 points, eight assists and eight rebounds as host Oklahoma City ended Memphis' six-game winning streak.

Serge Ibaka added 21 points on 10-of-17 shooting and 12 rebounds for the Thunder, who have won 11 of their last 12 games. Durant went 11-of-21 from the field to get back to the 30-point plateau after missing the mark in back-to-back games.

Marc Gasol scored 13 points and Zach Randolph recorded 13 points and 13 boards to lead the Grizzlies. Courtney Lee added 11 points but Nick Calathes slumped to eight on 4-of-11 shooting in his second start in place of injured point guard Mike Conley (ankle).

Lee's basket with 4:54 left pulled Memphis within 78-75 before Durant scored four points in a 7-0 burst to push the lead back to double figures. The Grizzlies managed one field goal the rest of the way and turned it over four times in the final three minutes to help Oklahoma City put it away.

Memphis went without a field goal over the final 6:25 of the second quarter as Durant led a 20-4 run to send the Thunder into the break with a 51-36 lead. The Grizzlies found their rhythm again early in the third quarter and chopped the deficit to 62-57 before four points from Durant in the final minute helped give Oklahoma City a 69-61 lead heading into the fourth.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The teams combined to go 6-of-34 from 3-point range, with Durant struggling to 2-of-7 from beyond the arc.  Memphis held its 11th straight opponent under 100 points – a string that began with a 90-87 triumph over Oklahoma City on Jan. 14.  Thunder reserve C Steven Adams had four of the team's nine blocked shots.

source: interaksyon.com

Snowstorm sweeps across US Northeast, trapping Super Bowl fans

NEW YORK - A fast-moving winter storm swept into the Northeast on Monday, yet again forcing flight cancellations, slowing traffic and proving weather-forecasting groundhog Punxsutawney Phil right.

Travelers leaving the New York City area after Sunday night's Super Bowl championship football game faced long delays at the region's airports and risky driving on snow-covered roads.

Hardest hit by the storm-related flight delays and cancellations was Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, the closest to the stadium where the Denver Broncos fell to the Seattle Seahawks 43-8 in the National Football League's matchup.

"Only thing worse than sitting through awful game last night is now sitting at airport on weather delay, probable cancellation," tweeted Nick Griffith, sports director at TV station Fox 31 in Denver, adding the hashtag "#longtrip."

The storm was expected to drop 4 to 8 inches of snow on an area stretching from eastern Kentucky to eastern New York state, the National Weather Service said.

"Snow is coming down faster than we can plow it," New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a news conference.

He said efforts to plow city streets were aimed at an improved performance over the cleanup of a big storm in late January.

In that storm, some residents of Manhattan's tony Upper East Side neighborhood claimed their streets were ignored as part of the mayor's key campaign theme of addressing income inequality.

"The response to the last storm obviously left something to be desired," de Blasio said at the news conference.

He said New York City has adjusted how it responds to storms by coordinating agency efforts, changing snow removal routes and scouting conditions in various neighborhoods.

"It's good we got the Super Bowl done so well" before the storm hit, added de Blasio, whose city shared in the Super Bowl hosting honors with New Jersey.

At Newark Airport across the Hudson River in New Jersey, 204 flights were canceled as of mid-afternoon on Monday, according to Flightaware.com, an online site that tracks air traffic.

Plenty of football fans were stewing after getting stuck for hours on Sunday trying to board trains to and from the game at the New Jersey Transit hub station of Secaucus Junction.

"So, folks spent $1500+ for the honor of 3 hours to get in their seats, 6 hours to leave, & now 3 hour snow delay at the airport," noted one observer on Twitter.

Declaring it the first-ever "Transit Bowl," New Jersey Transit tweeted that it transported more than 33,000 fans, which it said was four times as many people as the National Football League had predicted.

Thanks to the wet snowstorm, delays and cancellations also plagued New York's LaGuardia Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport, as well as Philadelphia International Airport.

The small Teterboro Airport near the football stadium in New Jersey, which handles the private jets that would whisk away celebrities and other moneyed Super Bowl attendees, also reported delays, Flightaware.com said.

"All the people came here for the Super Bowl thinking "Jersey ain't bad" are probably now stuck in the airport for the rest of the day," tweeted Jonathan Chung.

Across the United States, 1,669 flights were canceled, Flightaware.com said.

Driving was hazardous along the Interstate 95 corridor from Washington north to Boston, according to meteorologists.

The storm blew in after dumping several inches of snow in the Ohio Valley on Sunday, the day famed groundhog Punxsutawney Phil emerged from his burrow in the town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, saw his shadow and - as the legend goes - predicted six more weeks of winter.

Still more wintry weather lay ahead, the New York mayor said.

"The fact is that we are facing not one, not two, but three storms potentially this week," he said.

A second storm was likely to arrive in the region on Tuesday night and a third on the weekend, he said.

The National Weather Service on Monday issued winter storm warnings for sections of Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Maryland, as well as New Jersey, Delaware and New York City and its surrounding areas.

source: interaksyon.com

Asian shares skid, but dollar regains some traction

MANILA - Asian shares stumbled on Tuesday though the dollar regained firmer footing, after disappointing data cast doubt on the strength of the U.S. economy and gave investors little reason to hope for stability in emerging markets after their recent rout.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell about 1.4 percent, touching its lowest level since early September at one point and flirting with its biggest one-day decline since August. But the greenback's descent took a breather, with the dollar index gaining 0.2 percent to 81.164.

Hong Kong shares, reopening on Tuesday after the Lunar New Year holiday, caught up with plunges elsewhere. Mainland Chinese markets remained shut for the holiday and will reopen on Friday.

"Experienced emerging market investors would be looking at this selldown with great interest, looking to pick up quality names on the dip, but they are still in the minority for now," said Erwin Sanft, Standard Chartered's Hong Kong-based China equity strategist.

Japan's Nikkei stock average lost 3.3 percent, extending its declines into a fourth session, breaking below the key technical 200-day moving average for the first time since November 2012 and bringing losses for this year to around 13 percent.

That makes it the worst performer among major developed markets since the start of 2014, with the S&P 500 down 5.8 percent and the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 down 3.3 percent. The sharp drop came even after the Bank of Japan bought 123 billion yen ($1.21 billion) worth of exchange traded funds this year as of February 3 to support the equities market.

Data showing U.S. manufacturing activity slowed sharply last month dealt a heavy blow to markets already worried that the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to taper its asset purchases would lead to capital flight from emerging markets.

"Investors should steer clear of risk assets over the short term as the turmoil does not look like it will be over anytime soon," Mitul Kotecha, the Hong Kong-based head of global foreign exchange strategy for Credit Agricole, said in a note to clients.

"A combination of tapering, a confluence of country- specific emerging market concerns and weaker growth in China provide the backdrop for a volatile few weeks, if not longer, ahead," Kotecha added.

The yield on benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notes stood at 2.589 in Asian trading, after falling as low as 2.582 percent on Monday, the lowest since November 1.

January's sharp fall in U.S. output activity came on the back of the biggest drop in new orders in 33 years, while construction spending barely rose in December, suggesting the U.S. economic recovery is more tenuous than some investors had believed.

The data pushed the benchmark S&P 500 index into its worst single-day drop in seven months, while the CBOE volatility index soared 16.5 percent to close at its highest level since December 2012.

That helped send the dollar as low as 100.77 yen and the euro as low as 136.37 yen, levels neither pair had touched since late November.

In Asian trading, the dollar took back some lost ground, adding about 0.3 percent to buy 101.24 yen, while the euro rose 0.1 percent on the day to 136.75 yen.

The Australian dollar rallied after the Reserve Bank of Australia dropped its easing bias in the first policy review of the year, encouraging markets to increase the chance of an interest rate hike.

The Aussie was last up 1.5 percent at $0.8877 after the RBA also toned down its rhetorical campaign for a weaker currency.

On the commodities front, U.S. oil edged up slightly to $96.62 a barrel, after plunging $1.09 on Monday, as the weaker-than-expected U.S. factory data fanned fears about demand in the world's largest economy.

March Brent crude firmed slightly to $106.04 a barrel after two straight sessions of losses.

The stock market selloff added to the safe-haven appeal of gold, with spot gold steady on the day at $1,259.15 an ounce, after gaining 1.1 percent on Monday.

But three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange edged down to $7,034.75 a tonne after earlier hitting a two-month low and on track for its tenth straight losing session.

source: interaksyon.com

ABS-CBN to refinance debt

MANILA – ABS-CBN Corp will refinance an outstanding loan owed to Security Bank.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the Lopez-led broadcast firm said its board approved the refinancing of its outstanding obligations under a P1.65 billion loan with Security Bank Corp through a four-year term to be arranged by SB Capital Investment Corp.

Rolando P. Valdueza, ABS-CBN chief financial officer, said the company will use internally generated cash for its loan refinancing.

Earlier, ABS-CBN raised P6 billion from the first tranche of its P10 billion in fixed-rate bonds. The proceeds will be used to finance the company’s capital expenditure program over the next few years.

The company intends to construct sound stages. The planned sound stages will deliver improvements to operations by increasing production quality and reducing costs associated with on-location shoots.

At present, the majority of ABS-CBN's filming is done on-location.

The company will also use part of the proceeds for the rollout of digital terrestrial TV and the expansion of its pay-TV business through Sky Cable.

In the first nine months of 2013, ABS-CBN recorded a profit of P1.89 billion, up by 22 percent from P1.555 billion in the same nine months in 2013.

Consolidated revenues of P25.227 billion from advertising and consumer sales had risen 16 percent from P21.79 billion in 2012.

Advertising revenues reached P14.773 billion, a growth of 20 percent from P12.33 billion in 2012. Consumer sales amounted to P10.454 billion for an 11 percent increase from P9.46 billion in 2012.

Mobile app

ABS-CBN on Monday launched a mobile application aimed at ensuring the safety of passengers in the country.

Called PasaHero, the mobile app allows users to record, plot and broadcast details of their trip via social media and texts and notify family and friends of any danger encountered on the road.

Donald Lim, head of ABS-CBN's digital media division, said when passengers feel threatened they can press the app's "panic" button to activate the phone's video camera, record audio and video files on the device, and send details of their exact location to a customized list of emergency contacts.

"It's very simple and easy to use. Our vision is to make people safer when they go around," Lim said.

To date, PasaHero has been downloaded by 25,000 people to their iOs and Android devices.

ABS-CBN also partnered with Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC), Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB), and Land Transportation Office (LTO), as well as other corporate partners for a taxi booking app -- Grab Taxi -- and carpooling app -- Tripid -- for its safety mobile app.

Under the partnership, DOTC, LTFRB, and LTO will help in informing the public about the PasaHero app and educate stakeholders such as bus franchise owners and taxi operators about how the app can help in promoting passenger safety and security.

Michael Arthur Sagcal, spokesperson of DOTC said ABS-CBN's safety mobile app is a "good" step towards achieving safer transportation.

"This is in line with the government's vision to provide a safer transportation for the public," he said.

source: interaksyon.com

Autopsy set for actor Philip Seymour Hoffman

NEW YORK - An autopsy on the body of Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was to take place in New York on Monday, a day after he was found dead in his Manhattan apartment of a suspected heroin overdose.

The sudden death of the 46-year-old, hailed as the finest character actor of his generation, has shocked Hollywood. He was discovered with a syringe lodged in his arm and surrounded by envelopes of what appears to have been heroin.

The alarm was reportedly raised when Hoffman failed to turn up on Sunday to collect his three children from their mother, who called a friend to go and check on him.

Police say his death seems to have been the result of an overdose but refused to release further details until the New York medical examiner's office conducts the autopsy.

Hoffman mesmerized filmgoers with his portrayal of some of the most repellent and yet electrifying characters of the silver screen.

He won an Oscar for his performance as Truman Capote in the 2005 film "Capote" and was nominated for three further Academy Awards as a supporting actor in 2008, 2009, and 2013.

But for all his success, Hoffman struggled in the limelight and with addiction. He spoke less than a year ago about a recent heroin relapse, having been sober for two decades.

Celebrity website TMZ reported that Hoffman admitted in May to falling off the wagon more than a year previously, starting with prescription pills and escalating to snorting heroin.

At the time he said the heroin binge had "lasted a week or so" and that he checked himself into a rehab center for 10 days.

He credited what he called "a great group of friends and family" for helping him, and continued to work on film projects.

But in August he dropped out of shooting the spy thriller Child 44 for "undisclosed reasons" and was replaced by Vincent Cassel, sparking rumors about his health.

The last time he was seen at an official event was the Sundance Film Festival in the US state of Utah in mid-January, where he appeared pale and gaunt.

'Tragic and sudden loss'

Since his death it has emerged that he was recently living apart from his long-time girlfriend and their three children, in the rented apartment where he died near the family home.

In an earlier interview with the CBS show "60 minutes" he said he had been sober since he was 22.

Talking about his addiction at the time to drugs and alcohol, he said: "I was 22 and I got panicked in my life."

His family has released a brief statement asking for privacy to mourn their "tragic and sudden loss."

Tributes have poured in from fellow celebrities and actors.

"I feel so fortunate to have known and worked with the extraordinary Philip Seymour Hoffman and am deeply saddened by his passing," said Julianne Moore, who co-starred with Hoffman in "Boogie Nights," "Magnolia," and "The Big Lebowski."

George Clooney, who appeared alongside Hoffman in "The Ides of March," said: "There are no words... it's just terrible."

"This is a horrible day for those who worked with Philip. He was a giant talent," Tom Hanks said. Hanks starred with Hoffman in "Charlie Wilson's War."

Born Philip Hoffman in July 1967 in New York state, he earned a drama degree from New York University in 1989.

In 1997, he made waves as a closeted gay crew member in Paul Thomas Anderson's porn industry tale "Boogie Nights," followed by a quirky turn in the Coen brothers' "The Big Lebowski" (1998).

In Anthony Minghella's thriller "The Talented Mr Ripley," he stole the show from co-stars Matt Damon and Jude Law with his supporting role as slippery and duplicitous preppie Freddie Miles.

The late Minghella once said that Hoffman was an extraordinary actor "cursed, sometimes, by his own gnawing intelligence, his own discomfort with acting."

In one of his most recent roles, Hoffman played game master Plutarch Heavensbee in the second installment of the blockbuster "Hunger Games" franchise.

He had been cast in the final two takes of the series, and industry publication Variety said the films would be released in November 2014 and 2015 as planned.

source: interaksyon.com

Facebook battles to stay young and cool

SAN FRANCISCO, February 2, 2014 (AFP) – Sixteen-year-old Owen Fairchild doesn’t hang out at Facebook as much as he did when he was just a kid.

It is not that he and his friends are abandoning the social network. They are spreading their love to rival networks like Twitter, Pinterest, SnapChat, Instagram and blogging platform Tumblr.

“I’ve moved on,” the teenager said. “I go to Tumblr a lot more; there is a lot of funny stuff. SnapChat is super-fun because you can send really unattractive pictures of yourself and they will delete after a few seconds.”

Contrary to what grownups might think, teens sometimes prefer to catch up on life face-to-face in the real world, he added.

“I think Facebook is still very popular even though some people might be losing interest,” said the 11th-grade student at Alameda Community Learning Center, a charter school in Alameda across the bay from San Francisco.

“There is no talk among my friends saying Facebook is for old people.”

Facebook, born on a college campus a decade ago, has grown to 1.23 billion active users worldwide.

But as it prepares to celebrate its 10th anniversary, Facebook is now facing challenges in keeping its original base of young users as new social networks vie to be the coolest on the Internet.

A social networking trend set in motion by Facebook has been accelerated by soaring popularity of smartphones that let people share images, videos, thoughts or observations at any moment.

Hot young services such as Pinterest, Twitter and SnapChat have sparked concerns that Facebook is losing teens and may follow predecessor MySpace into social networking obscurity.

Facebook’s demographics appear to be shifting as adults, even seniors, use the network to catch up with long-lost friends and stay connected to family and colleagues.

Princeton University student Susannah Sharpless said she and friends have stopped letting Facebook consume their lives.

“Everyone in my friend group went through this stage where we hated Facebook and deleted it,” Sharpless told AFP.

“I was one of the first people to get it back. Slowly, everyone did.”

Breaking from Facebook served as a detox period during which she and friends got a better handle on what was a daily habit, the college junior said.

“I realized how to live without the mindless Facebook stalking that I used to do,” Sharpless said.

“I check my Twitter feed all the time; there is nothing that I definitely need to know on Facebook.”

She also finds more interesting fare on Instagram, which Facebook bought about two years ago in a billion-dollar deal.

“Facebook isn’t done,” Sharpless said. “I think it is just changing in the way people use it.”

Social media network analytics company Socialbakers on Thursday posted findings indicating that “the sky is not falling” when it comes to Facebook’s appeal to the younger set.

Interactions at Facebook by people ages 13 to 24 grew about 29 percent last year, according to Socialbakers.

“Teens are definitely not leaving en masse as some reports would have you believe,” Socialbakers data specialist Ben Harper said in a blog post.

During an earnings call this week, top Facebook executives sidestepped a question about whether the social network was losing teens.

“We are working on great products that all our users, including teens, will take seriously,” said Facebook chief financial officer David Ebersman.

Forrester Research analyst Nate Elliott dismissed Facebook gloom-and-doom talk as “silly.” He argued that, unlike the defunct MySpace, Facebook innovates relentlessly and copies winning features from competitors.

For example, Facebook has woven Twitter-style real-time status updates into the service and introduced a new mobile app aimed at becoming a social newspaper of sorts.

Young people might change how they use Facebook, but they aren’t leaving, according to the Forrester analyst.

“It is not a zero-sum game,” Elliott said. “You don’t stop using one network because you start using another.”

Forrester is preparing to release results of a youth survey that the analyst said contradict the “breathless proclamations of doom” about Facebook.

“When you strip away the hyperbole and just look at the numbers, Facebook is absolutely crushing all the other social networks in terms of young users who go there,” Elliott said.

Independent Silicon Valley analyst Rob Enderle countered that some studies in recent months indicate young people are departing Facebook in a shift that should worry the social network.

“The youth is your seed corn to make sure your service grows; they drive something like this,” Enderle said. “The trendy kids at school need to be at Facebook.”

source: interaksyon.com