Facebook Password Ban Among New 2013 State Laws

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CHICAGO (Reuters) - Employers in California and Illinois will be prohibited from demanding access to workers' password-protected social networking accounts ...

Ban on demanding Facebook passwords among new 2013 state laws ...
In all, more than 400 measures were enacted at the state level during 2012 and will become law in the new year, according to the National Conference of ...

Wireless Power May Cut the Cord for Plug-In Devices, Including Cars

National Geographic
New technology that allows for wireless charging of electronic devices could make a rarity of cord jungles like the one in this image, captured this year at a power generation station in New York City during the blackout caused by Hurricane Sandy.

Stanford waited for right time to hand reins to Kevin Hogan

San Jose Mercury News
STANFORD -- Coach David Shaw rattled off the attributes that earned redshirt freshman Kevin Hogan the coveted quarterback spot on a Stanford team preparing to face Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day.

Game Over: Zynga Shuts Down Petville And 10 Other Titles To Cut Costs

TechCrunch
During its heyday on Facebook it built dozens of games, then aggressively launched mobile games as smartphones gained popularity. It didn't seem like a problem when the company was preparing for a big IPO. But Zynga's share price got decimated over ...

Forbes
Can Online Poker Save Zynga? $417B Global Gambling Market Throws Pincus ...
Forbes
It's been volatile for Zynga ever since the company went public. The stock is down about 75% since its December 2011 IPO, falling off a cliff in late-July after lowering its guidance only to continue making its way lower. A few weeks ago, Zynga and ...

Michael Crabtree's career day helps 49ers win NFC West with 27-13 victory

Michael Crabtree's career day helps 49ers win NFC West with 27-13 victory over ...
Washington Post
SAN FRANCISCO — Bare-chested Joe Staley and Mike Iupati jumped up and down wearing only their shorts, each offensive lineman doing his best to will the Vikings to victory from afar. The 49ers — sporting fresh red NFC West champion caps after beating ...

San Francisco 49ers notebook: Frank Gore sets franchise record with 51st ...
San Jose Mercury News
SAN FRANCISCO -- Frank Gore is heading to the playoffs for only the second time in his eight seasons, and he's doing so as the 49ers' all-time leader in rushing touchdowns. Gore ran for his 51st career touchdown Sunday ...

Bid farewell to Giants, get ready for NFC North

San Jose Mercury News
There won't be an NFC Championship Game rematch between the 49ers and defending champion New York Giants, who were eliminated from playoff contention Sunday despite their 42-7 rout of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Is Windows 8 off to a slow start?

Acer President: 'Still Too Early to Say' if Windows 8 is a Flop
PC Magazine
Is Windows 8 off to a slow start? Depends which manufacturer you ask. Dell CEO Michael Dell has said that demand for Windows 8 from both consumers and enterprise buyers is, "quite high," whereas Fujitsu president Masami Yamamoto has said the exact ...

Silicon Valley entrepreneur Krikorian quits Amazon board

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Silicon Valley entrepreneur and investor Blake Krikorian has quit the board of Amazon.com Inc about a year and a half after ...

Silicon Valley entrepreneur Krikorian quits Amazon board at ...
Silicon Valley entrepreneur and investor Blake Krikorian has quit the board of Amazon.com about a year and a half after joining to take up an unspecified role at the ...

Just in from Oort for 2013: comet with 'amazing tail

Houston Chronicle
A comet due to pass near Earth in 2013 just might outshine the moon in the night sky. Reuters reports that the comet, ISON, could appear in the sky as early as October 2013. It will be 1.2 million ..

San Jose bird watchers join thousands around the country for annual count

San Jose Mercury News
SAN JOSE -- It was a day truly for the birds. Thousands of volunteers Saturday headed into the wilds around San Jose and other communities nationwide to tally the numbers of California towhee, acorn woodpeckers and scores of other fowl in what has been ...

No. 2 UConn women rout No. 1 Stanford 61-35; Featuring Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis

San Jose Mercury News
STANFORD, Calif.—Swarmed by three defenders for much of the day, Chiney Ogwumike released the ball off-balance or just plain forced it up to try to somehow get No.

Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis delivers in home state...
San Francisco Chronicle
PALO ALTO, Calif. - When Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis headed home to her native California, there was a little extra gift waiting for her that was most certainly not on the UConn sophomore forward's Christmas list.

Cassini Solstice Mission: Saturn Images

Here on the Gallery page you can find the very latest images, videos and products from the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn, including the spectacular launch ...

Stunning Photos of Saturn and its Moons | Cassini Probe ...
NASA has unveiled amazing new photos of Saturn's rings, atmosphere and moons Janus and Mimas. The Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn snapped both photos.

Same-Sex Marriage And Adoption: Unresolved Issues In France

NPR
Thousands of supporters of same-sex marriage took to the streets in Paris last weekend in support of the government's plans to legalize marriage and adoption for gay couples.

Maine's Same-Sex Marriage Law Goes Into Effect
Huffington Post
After waiting years and seeing marriage rights nearly awarded and then retracted, gay couples in Maine's largest city didn't have to wait a moment longer than necessary to wed, with licenses issued at the stroke of midnight as the law went into effect.

New China Family Law Forces Grown-Up Children to Visit Senior Parents

New China family law regulates family visits - Jacksonville ...
On Friday Dec. 28 China's national legislature amended their law on the elderly. The new china family law now requires that adult children make regular ...

New China Family Law | Wal-Mart
New China Family Law, A new amendment to a law passed in China will force kids to visit their elderly parents “often” or face legal ramifications.

Oakland Raiders name Terrelle Pryor to start at quarterback Sunday

Tri-Valley Herald
Oakland Raiders' quarterback Terrelle Pryor (6) throws against the Kansas City Chiefs in the second quarter at the O.co Coliseum in Oakland, Calif.

Serial Bay Area copper thief gets 3 years

San Francisco Chronicle
Dennis McGuire of San Francisco became a poster boy for copper theft after he was accused of a string of high-profile Bay Area heists, only to be repeatedly freed from jail.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: No. 2 UConn meets No. 1 Stanford

San Francisco Chronicle
PALO ALTO, Calif . - Don't even try to ask Kelly Faris to reflect on the pride she may feel of being UConn's leading scorer the last time the Huskies ventured out to Maples Pavilion.

The top 10 tech 'fails' of 2012

(CNN) -- Well, you can't win 'em all. In 2012, we saw big tech advances. Smartphones got bigger. Tablets got smaller. Social media played a role in everything from a presidential election to disaster relief.

San Jose State tops Bowling Green in Military Bowl

Auburn Citizen
Among the accomplishments this season for San Jose State: It's no longer a school anyone would want to schedule for homecoming. The No. 24 Spartans have their first 11-win season since 1940, capping a comeback year with a 29-20 win over Bowling ...

San Francisco's Mansion Discounts Luring Technology Millionaires

San Francisco Chronicle
Jeff Paster, a developer of luxury homes in California's Marin County, couldn't find a buyer for the brand-new waterfront mansion he listed in January for $45 million.

Half of Americans leave landline behind

NBCNews.com
A new study indicates that fully half of Americans are living in a household that uses only or mostly mobile phones - but the remainder is slow to convert.

Military Bowl preview: San Jose State vs. Bowling Green

National Football Post
The 2012-13 college football postseason continues Thursday as San Jose State and Bowling Green collide in the Military Bowl. Let's take a glance at this matchup between the Spartans and the Falcons. San Jose State (10-2) vs. Bowling Green (8-4) at 3 p.m. ...

Mayors of Palo Alto, Madison, Wis., make friendly wager over Rose Bowl game

San Jose Mercury News
Count the mayors of Palo Alto and Madison, Wis., among the masses who have been swept up by Rose Bowl fever. Madison's Paul Soglin is convinced his Wisconsin Badgers will best the Stanford Cardinal when the two college football teams meet in the ...

Oops! Zuckerberg Family Photo Goes Public ABC News

Oops! Zuckerberg Photo Goes Public ABC News
The Facebook Privacy Setting That Tripped Up Randi Zuckerberg Forbes

Oops. Mark Zuckerberg's Sister Has A Private Facebook Photo ...
Family members of Facebook's founder are not immune from privacy breaches on the social network.

Facebook Privacy Is So Confusing Even the Zuckerberg Family ...
Mark's sister got a little sensitive last night over a photo of the Zuckerberg clan celebrating the holidays — the public outing of which may say as much about ...

Marvell Ordered to Pay $1.17 Billion for Infringing Patents

Marvell slammed with $1.2 billion patent-infringement ...
Marvell Technology Group was found guilty of infringing two patents held by Carnegie Mellon University and ordered to pay $1.17 billion in damages in a ...

Marvell Ordered to Pay $1.17 Billion for Infringing Patents ...
A U.S. jury ordered Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (MRVL) to pay $1.17 billion in damages that may be tripled for infringing patents on integrated-circuit ...

Human Hand Evolved For Fighting, Study Of Boxers & Martial Artists Suggests

Huffington Post
Human hands may have evolved their unique shape in order to better punch the living daylights out of competitors, a new study suggests.

Erratic Environment May Be Key to Human Evolution

LiveScience.com
At Olduvai Gorge, where excavations helped to confirm Africa was the cradle of humanity, scientists now find the landscape once fluctuated rapidly, likely guiding early human evolution.

Fluctuating Environment May Have Driven Human Evolution
Science Daily
A series of rapid environmental changes in East Africa roughly 2 million years ago may be responsible for driving human evolution, according to researchers at Penn State and Rutgers University.

Netflix blames Amazon for Christmas Eve outage

- Yahoo! News ...
NEW YORK (Reuters) - An outage at one of Amazon's web service centers hit users of Netflix Inc's streaming video service on Christmas Eve and was not fully resolved ...

Netflix Hit by Outage, Blames Amazon - WSJ.com
Netflix said it restored its streaming video service a day after it was hit by an outage as a result of problems at Web service provider Amazon.com.

Raiders QB Palmer out with cracked ribs, bruised lung

Panthers knock out QB Carson Palmer, hand Raiders seventh ...
Carolina Panthers' Cam Newton (1) is sacked by Oakland Raiders' Miles Burris (56) during the first half of an NFL football game in Charlotte, N.C., Sunday ...

Mattel and Hasbro terrified over Kindle Fire, high-tech toys

Mattel and Hasbro said to be ‘terrified’ as more kids seek high-tech Christmas gifts By BGR News

Mattel and Hasbro terrified over Kindle Fire, high-tech toys ...
Christmas has come and gone, and Mattel and Hasbro are terrified because kids have asked for high-tech toys like Amazon's Kindle Fire, according to a Dec ...

Merry Chistmas, San Francisco Bay Area!

China alcohol ban:Moutai shares lead alcohol tumble after China bans spirits from army feasts

Moutai shares lead alcohol tumble after China bans spirits ...
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese distiller Kweichow Moutai Co Ltd led a tumble in the country's alcohol sector on Monday after Beijing banned its top brass from hosting ...

Seahawks crush 49ers, 42-13; Niners humbled, stunned by worst loss in Harbaugh era

San Francisco Chronicle
Seattle -- The home crowd was deafening, but the message sent by the home team Sunday night was even more earsplitting: Look out for us in January.

In Depth:Niners humbled, stunned by worst loss in Harbaugh era

Christmas season in overdrive on San Carlos' Eucalyptus Avenue

San Jose Mercury News
SAN CARLOS -- If you sell your home on the 1900 block of Eucalyptus Avenue, you have to mention the lights in the disclosure packet.

Raiders again offensively inept in 17-6 loss to Panthers

Silver and Black Pride
This game typified the ineptitude of the Raiders offense. They couldn't get into the endzone and gave the Panthers a fairly easy win in Carolina.

Colts' Luck sets rookie record for yards passing

Colts' Luck sets rookie record for yards passing - Yahoo! Sports
Colts' Luck sets rookie record for yards passing - The Associated Press

Luck Sets Rookie Record, Rookie PK Sets NFL Mark - ABC News
Andrew Luck has broken the NFL rookie record for yards passing, and rookie kicker Blair Walsh has broken the league mark for 50-yard plus field goals in a ...

Telepresence robots let employees 'beam' into work

San Jose Mercury News
PALO ALTO, Calif.—Engineer Dallas Goecker attends meetings, jokes with colleagues and roams the office building just like other employees at his company in Silicon Valley.

War Z pulled: Zombies game taken off Stream site

IGN
The War Z Pulled From Steam Update: You can no longer buy Hammerpoint's game on Steam. Valve is offering refunds.

War Z pulled: Zombies game taken off Stream site - National ...
Recent game issues have seen War Z pulled from the Steam digital distribution service. The game launched this past Monday, but was apparently in an ...
www.examiner.com/article/war-z-pulled-zombies-game-taken... -

Darpa's Mule Looks Useful

iProgrammer
We seem to be heading towards the robotic future ever faster. Now Darpa's robotic mule seems to have joined driverless cars and robot vacs - it looks useful.
Related Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency »

Did Motorola Mobility Only Cost Google $1.5 Billion?

Forbes
We know what the headline number that Google paid for Motorola Mobility was: that's $12.5 billion. But it's possible for us to dig a little deeper and see what the real net cost is as well.

Google has sold Motorola Mobility’s set-top box business to Arris Group for $2.35bn in cash and stock, in a deal that will go through next year. The internet giant is offloading Motorola Home and getting a 15.7 per cent or so stake in broadband technology firm Arris plus $2.05bn in cash at the same time, Moto announced.

Google can expect to reap $700m a year in tax deductions from future profits each year through 2019. Google also will be able to immediately reduce its taxes by $1bn due to Motorola Mobility’s US net operating loss, and by a further $700m due to its foreign operating loss.

Will Google's Top Secret “X Phone” Steal the Smartphone Market

PFhub
news Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) is stepping up the attack on Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) after a report came out that the company is working on “top secret” phone, dubbed the “X Phone”. Google will use Motorola to develop the phone; after Google bought the ...

Golden State Warriors defeat Charlotte Bobcats; Meet Stephen Curry

Inside Bay Area
The Golden State Warriors' Stephen Curry (30) has his shot blocked by the Charlotte Bobcats' Bismack Biyombo (0) in their NBA game played at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif.

Apple Reaches Highest-Ever U.S. Sales Share, 53.3%, On iPhone 5 Strength

Phone 5 pushes Apple to its highest US smartphone market share ever
VentureBeat
Apple has reached the highest smartphone market share ever thanks to strong sales of the iPhone 5, according to the latest sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

In Depth:Apple Reaches Highest-Ever U.S. Sales Share, 53.3%, On iPhone 5 Strength ...TechCrunch

Rumor: Apple HDTV Tests Underway at Hon Hai

Patently Apple
Today, a new report out of Taipei emphatically states that "Apple's Inc.'s television sets have gotten underway at Hon Hai Precision Industry Co." Although Hon Hai, the world's largest contract electronics maker, has declined to respond to the reports ...

Google and antitrust

The Economist
“HAVE you been duped by a bad search?” asks scroogled.com, a cheeky website that urges people to post gripes about the quality of Google searches on a related Facebook page. Scroogled was set up by Microsoft and encourages you to use Bing, ...

Citing Logistics, FTC Pushes Antitrust Inquiry Against Google Into January
New York Times
WASHINGTON - Google was prepared to start the holidays early this week, by settling its antitrust dispute with federal regulators without a harsh punishment.

Research in Motion shares plunge 17%

CNNMoney
Shares of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion plunged 17% Friday, after the company reported plummeting quarterly sales. RIM's revenue for its fiscal third quarter, which ended Dec. 1, dropped 47% to $2.7 billion, matching the forecasts of analysts ...

From Canada:Nokia, RIM agree to new patent licences

Steve Jobs' yacht tied up in payment spat

USA TODAY
Steve Jobs' yacht tied up in payment spat. 9:30a.m. EST December 21, 2012. CommentsShare. jobs yacht venus. The yacht ordered by Apple's late founder Steve Jobs at the De Vries shipyard in the Netherlands.

Facebook $1 Fee to Message Non-Friends

Marketing to Women: Facebook $1 Fee to Message Non-Friends ...
Is sending a Facebook message to someone worth a dollar to you or your company? Well, Facebook announced Thursday that it is testing a new service to ...

Facebook $1 Fee: Would You Pay For Inbox Access ...
Facebook is reportedly testing a new feature which would allow users to send messages straight to the inbox of people that they don't know in exchange for ...

Brothers Grimm Google Logo Celebrates 200th Anniversary Of Children's Story

Brothers Grimm Google Logo Celebrates 200th Anniversary Of Children's Story ...Huffington Post
By the mid-twentieth century, several of the tales had become Disney-movie famous ("Beauty And The Beast," "Snow White And The Seven Dwarves"). More recently, entertainers have turned their eyes to the stories of the lives and talents of the Grimm ...

The real Brothers Grimm were stranger than fiction Christian Science Monitor
Head over to Google's homepage on Thursday and you'll enjoy a scrollable comic strip telling the story of Little Red Riding Hood. The doodle celebrates the 200th anniversary of "Grimm's Fairy Tales," a compendium of European folk tales first published ...

Apple Inc. (AAPL) was the most popular stock among hedge funds

Apple Inc. (AAPL) Is A Good Stock for 2013
Insider Monkey
Apple Inc (AAPL) Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was the most popular stock among hedge funds for the third quarter of 2012 (see the full rankings), as our database of 13F filings included 146 hedge funds and other notable investors with long positions in Apple.