AllThingsD relaunches as Re/code

NEW YORK — The technology news blog AllThingsD has relaunched under the name Re/code under a partnership with NBCUniversal, after splitting with News Corp’s Wall Street Journal.

Re/code is a “media news, reviews and analysis site launching today, with the same talented team we’ve worked with for many years at the former All Things Digital site that we ran for Dow Jones & Co,” said a statement Thursday from executive editors Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher.

The website is the first project of the new independent media company, Revere Digital LLC, backed by Comcast’s NBCUniversal News Group and former Yahoo chairman Terry Semel’s Windsor Media.

Revere will be operating news sites and apps, as well as a series of conferences, according to the statement.

Its first “Code Conference” will be held May 27 to 29 in Southern California, by the same team that produced conferences under the AllThingsD conference banner.

The Wall Street Journal, part of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, said in September it would split with the technology news website amid a major reorganization in Murdoch’s holdings.

The newspaper, part of the Dow Jones unit of News Corp, is beefing up its technology coverage and launched its own tech section following the departure of the AllThingsD team.

source: interaksyon.com

Big Bang star Kaley Cuoco marries tennis pro Ryan Sweeting - reports

Kaley Cuoco, 27, star of television series Big Bang Theory, tied the knot with fiance tennis pro Ryan Sweeting, 26, on New Year's Eve after a whirlwind courtship, entertainment website E! said.

"Cuoco's wore a custom, petal-pink strapless tulle ball gown by Vera Wang to swap vows with Sweeting. The dress had a sweetheart neckline, a hand-gathering detailed bodice and hand appliqué Chantilly lace accents. The veil, also by Wang, was nude tulle with petal-pink floating hand appliqué Chantilly lace," said the website.

Some 150 friends and family members attended the fire-and-ice-themed reception. Among them were Big Bang Theory co-star and real life ex-boyfriend Johnny Galecki, the website said citing Us Weekly.

The wedding was held at Hummingbird Nest Ranch, a Spanish-style villa and sprawling grounds tailor-made for parties (and the occasional film shoot) nestled in the Santa Susana Mountains, just north of Los Angeles, E! said.

source: interaksyon.com

Arsenal players send get well message to Michael Schumacher after win

LONDON – Players from Premier League leaders Arsenal sent stricken Formula One great Michael Schumacher a get well message after their 2-0 home win over Cardiff City on Wednesday.

Following the match at the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal’s German forward Lukas Podolski posted a picture on Facebook of him and several of his teammates holding an undershirt bearing the message ‘GET WELL SOON SCHUMI’.

In a written message, Podolski said: “Tough game, important win and we are on top position again. But our thoughts are with you, Michael. All the best wishes from AFC team to you. Poldi.”

Seven-time world champion Schumacher began the new year in an induced coma in a hospital in the French city of Grenoble after hitting his head on a rock while skiing in the Alps.

The German sustained severe brain injuries in the incident, but his condition was described on Wednesday as “stable”.

source: interaksyon.com

Philrealty sells insurance arm

MANILA—Philippine Realty and Holdings Corp (Philrealty) has relinquished control of its insurance subsidiary to a group of private investors.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Philrealty said it inked a deal for the sale of its 70 percent stake in Meridian Assurance Corp for P191 million.

The transaction, which covers the sale of 1.75 million shares at P109.14 apiece, is subject to approval by the Insurance Commission.

A regulatory filing show Philrealty owns 86.66 percent of Meridian, a medium-sized non-life insurance company, underwriting fire, marine, and casualty and surety undertakings including miscellaneous lines of insurance.

Aside from its head office in Pasig, Merdian maintains offices in the key cities of Cebu and Davao.

The insurance firm's net underwriting income fell to P17.12 million in the first six months of last year from P17.81 million in the same period in 2012 due to lesser bookings. Philrealty took over Meridian in August 1994 from the Lozano-Ramirez group.

In March, Philrealty inked a deal with its major shareholder Greenhills Properties for the development of a 6,400-square meter lot in Bonifacio Global City. Total project cost will reach P5 billion.

Philrealty had said it would break ground on the project by middle of the year at the earliest to convert the land into a prime mixed-use development that will feature retail, residential, office, serviced apartments, and a hotel.

Philrealty is the company behind the Philippine Stock Exchange Center and the Alexandra mid-rise luxury condominiums in Ortigas Center, Pasig City. It is building the Andrea North condominium development in New Manila, Quezon City.

Two years ago, the Quezon City Regional Trial Court denied the petition of Philrealty to exit from rehabilitation.

Philrealty stopped payments of its liabilities at the height of the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s.

source: interaksyon.com

Revlon drops China business, cuts 1,100 jobs

NEW YORK - US cosmetics company Revlon said Tuesday it was shutting down its operations in China to cut costs, eliminating about 1,100 positions.

Revlon said its China business represented about two percent of total sales, which topped $1.4 billion worldwide in 2012, and that the move would lead to savings of about $11 million a year.

It said most of the 1,100 jobs cut will be in China, including approximately 940 beauty advisers that were hired indirectly through a third-party agency.

The company will incur about $22 million in pre-tax charges due to the restructuring, of which $20.9 million was being recorded as a charge in December 2013.

Revlon markets beauty products under the Revlon, Gatineau, Mitchum, and Ultima II brands.

Shares were up 0.2 percent to $24.60 in midday trade Tuesday.

source: interaksyon.com

Schumacher improving but ‘not out of danger’: doctors

GRENOBLE — Doctors treating Michael Schumacher said Tuesday the Formula One legend has undergone a second operation following his life-threatening ski accident but warned he is “not out of danger”.

Surgeons said there had been a “slight improvement” in his condition and that they had “gained some time” by performing a successful second operation on the seven times world champion on Monday night.

His family is at the hospital in the French Alpine city of Grenoble where the former racing driver remains in a coma after he fell and slammed his head on a rock while skiing off-piste on Sunday.

News of the accident stunned the world and racing stars joined German Chancellor Angela Merkel and legions of fans in expressing their hopes for his recovery.

The second operation Monday was to remove a blood clot which was putting pressure on the brain, doctors said.

Surgeons only went ahead with the operation after consulting Schumacher’s family, who took the “difficult decision” to agree to a new procedure.

However, Jean-Francois Payen, head of the intensive care unit, told reporters at a press conference Tuesday that Schumacher was still in danger.

“We cannot speculate on the future,” he said.

Doctors claimed they were “surprised” by the improvement in Schumacher’s condition but he was still “critical” and remained “fragile”.

Doctors have said that Schumacher, who is due to turn 45 on January 3, has age and physical fitness on his side but stressed it was too early to say if he would pull through.

He has been put in a medically induced coma to spur recovery. The coma reduces the patient’s temperature to around 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) to reduce swelling.

By being unconscious, the brain is also switched off to sounds, light and other triggers that cause the organ to use up oxygen as it processes the stimuli.

Helmet smashed in two

A source close to the investigation into the off-piste accident at the posh ski resort of Meribel told AFP that Schumacher’s helmet, which medics say saved his life, was smashed “in two” by the impact.

The German newspaper Bild also quoted a rescuer as saying the split helmet was “full of blood”.

Schumacher’s family in a statement expressed their thanks to the doctors who they said were doing “everything possible to help Michael” and to well-wishers around the world.

Damon Hill, who fought several memorable on-track battles with Schumacher, said he was “praying” for his former rival.

Merkel was “extremely shocked” by the incident, her spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters.

Formula One quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel, 26, who has said Schumacher was his childhood idol, said: “I am shocked and I hope that he’ll be feeling better as soon as possible.

Schumacher, who won the last of his world titles in 2004, towered over the sport since his debut in 1991, winning more Formula One world titles and races than any other. He had a record 91 wins and is one of only two men to reach 300 grands prix.

His duels in his heyday with Hill and Jacques Villeneuve, fired by an unquenchable competitive spirit, have gone down in Formula One lore.

Schumacher was born in January 1969 near Cologne, Germany, the son of a bricklayer who also ran the local go-kart track, where his mother worked in the canteen.

By 1987, Schumacher was the German and European go-kart champion and was soon racing professionally. In 1991 he burst into Formula One by qualifying seventh in his debut race in Belgium and a year later, he won his first Formula One grand prix.

He joined Ferrari in 1996 and went from strength to strength over the next decade, dominating the podium, before retiring aged 37.

But the father of two could not resist the lure of the track and in 2010 he came out of retirement, signing a deal with Mercedes before quitting for good in 2012.

source: interaksyon.com

Pope calls for global solidarity in New Year blessing

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis on Wednesday called for greater solidarity in the world in his first New Year blessing as pontiff in front of crowds of pilgrims on St Peter's Square.

"We all have a responsibility to act so that the world may be a community of brothers who respect each other, who accept their diversity and who take care of one another," the pope said on Catholic World Peace Day.

The first pope from Latin America said violence and injustice "cannot leave us indifferent or immobile" and said 2014 should bring "a real commitment to build a society with more justice and more solidarity".

"We have to stop on this road of violence! What is happening in the heart of man? In the heart of humanity? We have to stop!" the pope said.

Francis said he hoped that greater "fraternity" and a "cry for peace" from war-torn parts of the world would encourage more dialogue and "tear down walls that prevent enemies from seeing each other as brothers".

At a New Year mass in St Peter's Basilica earlier on Wednesday, Francis prayed in his homily for people "who hunger and thirst for justice and peace" in the world.

He also called on the faithful to show "strength, courage and hope" in the year to come, speaking in his homily in front of thousands of people in the church.

Francis was elected in March 2013 following his predecessor Benedict XVI's momentous resignation -- a first for the Catholic Church since the Middle Ages.

His down-to-earth style and commitment to reforming the Vatican have raised hopes in the Roman Catholic Church following a years of turmoil due to shocking child sex abuse scandals and growing secularization in the West.

The 77-year-old Francis has called for the Church to reach out more to the vulnerable and has said it should be a "poor Church for the poor" that is less "Vatican-centric" and gives more power to local bishops.

source: interaksyon.com

Candy Crush, Vine, Snapchat among top smartphone apps of 2013

TORONTO — Snapchat, Vine, and Candy Crush Saga earned coveted spots on smartphones this year, making them among the most downloaded apps of the year.

There are more than a million apps on Apple Inc’s App Store and Google Inc’s Play store, the two dominant marketplaces for apps, which see billions of downloads each year.

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This year, the most downloaded apps were new takes on communication, gaming, and entertainment, according to mobile app experts.

“2013 was a really interesting year in terms of maturation, milestones and new trends,” said Craig Palli, chief strategy officer at Fiksu, a mobile marketing company based in Boston.

“The most downloaded apps were in familiar categories, but offered new twists,” he added.

While old favorites such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter — available for iPhone, Android and other devices – continued to be popular ways of communicating with friends, Snapchat eclipsed them in downloads in 2013, becoming the sixth most downloaded free app of the year on the App Store, according to Apple.

“Snapchat went from being a niche app to achieving much more critical mass, so much so that Facebook was reportedly willing to spend billions of dollars to acquire the company,” said Palli.

With Snapchat, users can send photos and videos that disappear shortly after they are viewed.

Launched in 2011, the app’s user base continued to grow rapidly in 2013, with over 13 million people using the app in October, according to the latest available estimates from global information and measurement company Nielsen. In December alone, over 400 million pieces of content were shared through the app, according to Snapchat, based in Venice, CA.

Vine, a video sharing app released earlier this year by microblogging company Twitter Inc, was the fourth most downloaded free app in 2013. The app, for iPhone, Android and other devices, allows users to share videos under six seconds in length. Nielsen estimates over 6 million people in the US were using the app in October of this year.

Snapchat and Vine fall into a category that mobile analytics firm Flurry calls camera-enhanced messaging, which they said grew eightfold in 2013.

“The communications category underwent phenomenal growth this year. Messaging apps like Snapchat, Line, Kakao (KakaoTalk) and WeChat are all exploding and becoming bigger than the carriers in their home countries in terms of users,” said Simon Khalaf, chief executive of San Francisco-based company Flurry.

Crushing Saga

Games were another popular category, with Candy Crush Saga for iPhone, Android and Kindle Fire securing its position as the top downloaded free app, and as the top revenue grossing app. It has been downloaded over 500 million times since its launch last year, according to its creator King, based in the UK. Nielsen estimates that over 20 million people in the US were playing the game in October of this year.

In the entertainment category, Pandora continued to be the leading way to stream music and was the ninth most downloaded, and third top grossing, app in 2013.

“Clearly the device has swallowed radio,” said Palli. “Despite the new entrants, Pandora remains the dominant player in the space,” he added.

But the biggest trend of 2013, according to Palli, is the emergence of apps as a way to control companion devices, which he believes will continue to grow in 2014.

On Christmas Day, apps that pair with devices were among some of the top downloaded apps on the App Store.

The Fitbit app, for iPhone and Android, pairs with an electronic wristband to track metrics such as steps taken, distance traveled, and calories burned. It was the 16th most downloaded app on December 25, according to Palli, who monitored the Apple rankings.

Other apps that pair with devices, such as Chromecast, UP by Jawbone, and GoPro were also among the top downloads that day.

Khalaf predicts that apps for televisions will be the trend to watch for 2014.

“I think 2014 could be the year the TV industry gets disrupted by mobile,” said Khalaf.

“If you think about it, every American spends $100+ dollars per month on a service that is not personalized and not mobile. It’s an area that’s ripe for disruption and I think someone will come up with new content, maybe a new device and more importantly a better business model.”

source: interaksyon.com

Patti Austin welcomes New Year with two Yolanda benefit shows

After a successful fund-raising concert with Lea Salonga, Martin Nievera and Richard Merk at Solaire Resort & Casino last December 29, Grammy-winning pop, R&B and jazz singer Patti Austin celebrated New Year’s eve with another benefit show for the survivors of typhoon Yolanda at Fairmont Hotel in Makati.

The show, dubbed “One Heart, One Voice”, was held at the Fairmont’s Raffles Ballroom. It also featured Richard Merk, Emcy Corteza and the Sticky Band.

In a press conference to promote her Fairmont show, the 63-year-old singer born in Harlem, New York expressed how much she enjoys coming back and forth to the Philippines, a country she has been visiting since 1973.

“I’m always happy to come here. Last time I was here was only last September and before that was 10 years ago. Every time I’m here in your country, I see a lot of gradual improvement, a lot of progress,” she declared.

Patti was, however, heartbroken to hear about the devastation that the recent calamities, especially typhoon Yolanda, had left in their wake. Which is why she decided to take a more active role in personally helping rehabilitate the survivors.

In addition to donating part of the proceeds of her Solaire and Fairmont concerts, Patti will personally lead a continuing effort to design and build houses in Tacloban through Habitat For Humanity. During the press conference, Patti said she was particularly concerned with giving more than just empty houses and hopes to get acquainted with some of the typhoon survivors before she returns to the US.

Beginning her career in the 1960s as a session singer for the label of her godfather Quincy Jones, Patti released her debut album in 1976 and continues to record to this day.

Over the years, she scored several hits with songs like “Say You Love Me”, “What’s at the End of a Rainbow”, “Rhythm of the Street”, “All Behind Us Now”, her jazzed-up covers of the Stylistics’ “Stop Look Listen” and the Platters’ “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” and, of course, her smash duets with James Ingram, “How Do You Keep The Music Playing” and their US number one, “Baby Come To Me”.

Asked if she has ever done these duets with other people, Patti said she only prefers to do it with her original recording partner. When Ingram is not around, Patti would sing his parts just like how he did in the record.

“I try not to do those songs with other people. I tried ‘Baby Come To Me’ a couple of times with someone else, it’s just not the same thing so I don’t even bother. James would always tease me, ‘You do me better than I do me, I don’t know how that’s possible’ so there’s also a comedic effect to it,” she quipped.

Patti said Martin Nievera actually asked her if she wanted to do those duets with him.
“I told him I don’t do them for a specific reason and you’ll know the reason when you watch the show. After he saw me sing ‘Baby Come To Me’, he was just cracking up. Okay, I get it, he said,” she said, smiling.

As for “How Do You Keep The Music Playing”, the singer said it was originally intended for her to sing alone for the movie “Best Friends” starring Goldie Hawn and Burt Reynolds.

“After I recorded it alone, it was decided that it should be created as a duet that would be used in the middle part. But that wasn’t the original intention,” she revealed.

Asked how much she remembers about the 1980s when she had her greatest success, Patti said even she was surprised that she didn’t remember much of the period when she was still in her 30s.

“I don’t remember a whole heck of a lot being in my 30s. It’s probably a nondescript period in my life and it’s funny because in retrospect, they’ve been the most highly visible portion of my life. I was too busy to be highly visible to pay attention to what it was,” she joked.

“I remember much more from 40 onwards and 30 down but my 30s are just kind of a blur. There’s something about your 30s that’s kind of a waiting period until you become a complete person. I don’t recall a lot about it. I’m happy to say that it ended soon and I’m back in the real world.”




With regards to spending New Year’s eve outside of her home country, Patti said it was not a totally new experience for her.

“I’ve been doing New Year’s eve shows since I was in my 20s and none of it has ever been where I live. What’s my memorable New Year’s eve show? Nobody remembers their New Year’s eve. It’s New Year’s eve, most people are drunk. It’s not to be remembered. You just blur and block everything out,” she cracked.

There is one particularly one New Year’s eve that she won’t forget, though.

“I wasn’t performing so I decided I was going to act like a tourist and go to Times Square on New Year’s Eve. I live in Manhattan so I never really go to Times Square, the Empire State building, the Statue of Liberty, the Museum of Natural History, the Carnegie Hall. I mean, I live there. But that one time, I decided to go to Times Square,” she recalled.

“It was an interesting experience, thousands of drunk people screaming at each other. It was very strange standing for hours trying to get a cab after it was all over, though. I can’t forget that experience.”

source: interaksyon.com

US court blocks contraception clause in health care law

WASHINGTON - A US Supreme Court justice has blocked a stipulation in the new health care reform law that requires some religion-affiliated organizations to provide insurance that includes birth control.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor acted late Tuesday just hours before the Affordable Care Act law was to take effect, in response to an order of nuns in Colorado, US media reported.

She gave the government until Friday morning to file briefs on the matter.

The contraception requirement has been one of the most controversial aspects of the health law.

Religious opponents of abortion object to the requirement to provide emergency contraception pills.

As a compromise, the administration said that women who work for nonprofit religious groups that are against birth control could receive separate coverage not paid for by the employers.

But it refused to offer such assurances to secular businesses whose owners have religious objections to contraception.

That distinction has led to a separate group of lawsuits. Last month, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a pair of cases on whether corporations can deny insurance coverage for contraception.

Sotomayor's order applies to the Colorado nuns, the Little Sisters of the Poor, and other Roman Catholic nonprofit groups that use a health plan called the Christian Brothers Employee Benefit Trust.

The groups' lawsuit is one of many challenging the federal requirement for contraceptive coverage. But a decision on the merits of that case by the full Supreme Court could have broader implications, the New York Times said.

source: interaksyon.com