Facebook Making a Phone, Sort Of

View Photo ABC News - Facebook Making a Phone, Sort Of (ABC News) Facebook is building a phone right in front of our faces. Maybe not a real phone, but all the apps and features you'd expect one to have. Facebook has just added a voice message feature to its Messenger app for iOS and Android. Within the app you can now send a recording to your friends. If you've downloaded...

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NBA-Lakers guard Bryant finally joins Twitter world

Jan 4 (Reuters) - Los Angeles Lakers All-Star guard Kobe Bryant finally succumbed to the social network Twitter when he opened his own verified account on Friday."The antisocial has become social #mambatweets," Bryant, who is nicknamed "Black Mamba", said in his first tweet.Within five hours of his account being open, the 14-time All-Star and five-time NBA champion had attracted nearly 300,000 followers.One...

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The Most and Least Influential Social Media Celebs

While he isn't currently available for promotional work, businesses would have the most success on social media with President Barack Obama endorsing their goods and services, new research shows.A study by social marketing platform SocialToaster revealed that Obama is considered the most influential celebrity on social media. Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Ashton Kutcher and Anderson Cooper followed the...

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Exclusive: Huawei partner offered embargoed HP gear to Iran

A major Iranian partner of Huawei Technologies offered to sell at least 1.3 million euros worth of embargoed Hewlett-Packard computer equipment to Iran's largest mobile-phone operator in late 2010, documents show.China's Huawei, the world's second largest telecommunications equipment maker, says neither it nor its partner, a private company registered in Hong Kong, ultimately provided the HP products...

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Analysis: Six months on, Monti's labor reform has changed little

ROME (Reuters) - Overhauling Italy's rigid labor rules was supposed to be Mario Monti's flagship reform.It required drawn out, often heated bargaining with unions, employers and political parties. Yet six months after their approval the measures seem to be having little effect on hiring, firing or the labor market in general.The technocrat premier's aim was to encourage hiring of permanent rather...

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Tras seis meses, poco ha cambiado con la reforma laboral de Monti

ROMA (Reuters) - Reacondicionar las rígidas leyes laborales de Italia se suponía que iba ser la reforma clave de Mario Monti.Ello requería negociaciones prolongadas y a menudo acaloradas con sindicatos, empleadores y partidos políticos. Pero seis meses después de su aprobación las medidas parecen estar teniendo poco efecto en la contratación, el despido o el mercado laboral en general.La intención...

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ANALISIS-Poco ha cambiado en Italia tras reforma laboral de Monti

ROMA (Reuters) - Reacondicionar las rígidas leyes laborales de Italia se suponía que iba a ser la reforma clave de Mario Monti.Ello requería negociaciones complejas y prolongadas con sindicatos, empleadores y partidos políticos. Pero seis meses después de su aprobación, las medidas parecen estar teniendo poco efecto en la contratación, el despido o el mercado laboral en general.La intención del primer...

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Nokia predicted to abandon mobile business, sell assets to Microsoft and Huawei in 2013

Nokia (NOK) appears to have finally turned a corner with the Lumia 920, a smartphone that is seemingly selling quite well after a string of early flops from the struggling smartphone maker. According to Keepskor founder and Forbes contributor Tristan Louis, however, Nokia’s recent efforts will ultimately be for naught. 2013 will see a great deal of movement in the mobile industry according to the...

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Video game shares down in wake of shooting

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Shares of video game makers and sellers fell Thursday in the aftermath of a mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school, which has renewed debate about violent gamesand their potential influence on crime. Shares of GameStop Corp., whose stores sell video games as well as systems like the Xbox and Wii, fell 5 percent in afternoon trading. Investors are...

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North Korea’s first video game: A boring version of ‘Crazy Taxi’ that nitpicks your bad driving

In theory, a driving game set in North Korea could be fun — it could revolve around delivering kidnapped movie stars from the airport to Dear Leader’s headquarters, for instance. In reality, though, it looks as though playing a driving game set in North Korea is about as much fun as actually living in North Korea. Business Insider’s Gus Lubin has posted his first impressions of “Welcome to Pyongyang,”...

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Brain Benefits for the Holidays? Stuff the Stocking with Video Games

Happy holidays! As the year draws to a close, one thing I'm celebrating is the fun I've had helping put together the magazine I edit, Scientific American Mind. I am looking forward to working on new articles and projects in 2013. (We have some surprises in store.) I'm pleased about my growing and attentive audience for Streams of Consciousness, too. Thank you for reading, thinking and, when you have...

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Video games and shooting: Is the NRA right?

After a week of silence following the Sandy Hook school shooting that killed 20 first graders and six staff in Newtown, Conn., the National Rifle Association blamed the entertainment industry – specifically the producers of violent video games for inciting what has become a pattern of gun violence in the United States.In describing the industry, NRA Vice President Wayne LaPierre said, “There exists...

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Atheist Kids and Bullying: Just an Xbox and a Football Game Away From Redemption

I’ll never forget the year my eight-year-old daughter came home from school saying she got in trouble for going to the bathroom.“I was afraid,” she said, “that the devil was coming out of the mirror to get me.... I wanted Aya to stay with me until I was done.”Like any parent, I sat her down and asked her to tell me why she would ever think a mirror could spawn something as terrifying as that.“Susie...

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