Google Maps rides to iOS users' rescue (week in review)





Apple's Aussie adventure led to this disclaimer.



(Credit:
Victoria Police)



Google Maps returned to the iOS platform this week, but that was not enough to rescue Apple's map app rep.


Banished from Apple's iOS earlier this fall, Google Maps returned to the mobile platform in the form of a standalone app. The official Google Maps app returned to Apple's App store Thursday evening with turn-by-turn navigation, as well as public transit directions, integrated Street View, and a 3D-like Google Earth view. Google Maps didn't take long to capture the top spot among free iPhone apps.


The release came a few days after Apple again became the subject of ridicule when police in Australia issued a warning discouraging iPhone users from relying on Apple's map app after rescuing several people who became stranded in recent weeks in the wilderness following the app's directions.


However, the bad directions may not entirely be the iPhone makers fault; apparently there are two listings for the same problematic location in the Australian Gazetteer, the de facto local geographical dictionary that lists some 322,000 locations and their corresponding GPS coordinates.

•  Police: Google Maps giving dangerous directions, too

•  Samsung knocks Apple Maps in Sydney marketing stunt

•  Apple could make bid for map firm TomTom, analyst says


More headlines

Google tweaks image search to make porn harder to find


The company says the move is designed to ensure adult content is shown only to those who explicitly request it.

•  Google: No immediate plans for Google Apps on Windows 8

Instagram photos disappear from Twitter feeds


Picture this: The photo-sharing app completely turns off all support for the microblogging site.

•  Twitter takes on Instagram with new photo filters

•  Instagram improves camera, editing, and adds new filter

•  Analyst: Instagram will be big moneymaker for Facebook

BlackBerry 10 revives RIM's chances at federal agency


The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency had said it would dump BlackBerry in favor of the iPhone. But now it will run a pilot program for new BB10 devices.

•  BlackBerry 10 goes 'gold' for developers

•  BlackBerry 10 to feature deep integration of Evernote

Crazy like a fox? McAfee admits to playing the 'crazy card'


The security software founder, who has arrived back in the U.S. after fleeing Belize for Guatemala, tells ABC News he faked health problems to avoid being deported to Belize.
•  Antivirus guru John McAfee sells rights for movie about his life

U.N. summit implodes as U.S., others spurn Internet treaty


The summit on telecommunications policy breaks down after U.S., Canada, and other democracies refuse to sign a treaty that would hand a U.N. agency more authority over how the Internet is managed.

•  U.N. summit derailed over human rights controversy

•  Russia abandons proposal for U.N. governance of Internet

•  U.N. proposal renews concerns of Internet power grab

Facebook privacy settings get reworked once again


The social network overhauls its settings, not for the first time, in an attempt to make things easier for people to understand, and phases out the option to block people from searching for your profile.

•  Facebook: No more voting, but we're still listening

•  Facebook voting is gone, but privacy issues just get worse

•  The Facebook vote and a nation-state in cyberspace

FTC re-slams apps for kids over privacy concerns


In a follow up to a 2011 study, the Federal Trade Commission found that "little or no progress has been made" on disclosure of information gathering since the first report was issued.

•  Developer temporarily pulls kids app accused of privacy violations


Also of note

•  Facebook helps FBI take down $850M botnet crime ring

•  FCC wants texting apps like iMessage in text-to-911 plan

•  Former top Apple fanboy now rocks all Android devices

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Pictures: Unspoiled Rivers

Photograph by David Doubilet, National Geographic

A bushman paddles a canoe along the Okavango River, southern Africa's fourth longest waterway. The Okavango starts in Angola and 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) later drains into Botswana's Moremi Wildlife Reserve, where it creates an unusual landlocked, delta-like oasis in the Kalahari Desert.

This oasis, protected by the reserve, is a near-pristine maze of papyrus reeds, channels, and islands that serve as a watering hole for a host of species, including zebras, wildebeests, lions, cheetahs, cranes, and wild dogs.

Flooded annually by seasonal rains, the swampy Okavango Delta can expand to a size of 6,500 square miles (16,800 square kilometers)—an area larger than the state of Connecticut.

The river itself winds through dense forest, dry savanna, and dunes as it makes its way south. While it provides much-needed water to an arid landscape, the river remains mostly untouched by large boats, and its banks remain mostly unsettled. (Watch National Geographic video about Africa's Okavango River Delta.)

But that doesn't mean it is safe. Some argue that the water that sustains the river's vast wetland would be put to better use by local agricultural operations, diamond mines, or in major cities, such as Pretoria in South Africa.

—Tasha Eichenseher

Published November 30, 2012

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More Than 20, Mostly Kids, Killed at Grade School













More than two dozen people, mostly elementary school children, were shot and killed at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school this morning, federal and state sources tell ABC News.


The massacre involved two gunmen at a Connecticut school this morning, prompting the town of Newtown to lock down all of its schools and draw SWAT teams to the school, authorities said today.


State Police confirm that one shooter is dead. A second gunman is apparently at large. Car-to-car searches are underway.


It's unclear how many people have been shot, but 25 people, mostly children are dead, multiple federal and state sources tell ABC News. That number could rise, officials said.


It is the worst shooting in a U.S. elementary school in recent memory.


The shooting comes just three days after masked gunman Jacob Roberts opened fire in a busy Portland, Ore., mall killing two before turning the gun on himself.


Today's shooting occurred at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, about 12 miles east of Danbury.


Watch State Police News Conference Live at 1 p.m. at ABCNews.com


State Police received the first 911 call at 9:41a.m. and immediately began sending emergency units from the western part of the state. Initial 911 calls stated that multiple students were trapped in a classroom, possibly with a gunman, according to a Connecticut State Police source.






Shannon Hicks/The Newtown Bee











Connecticut School Shooting: 3 Victims Hospitalized Watch Video









Connecticut School Shooting: 1 Gunman Confirmed Dead Watch Video







A photo from the scene shows a line of distressed children being led out of the school.


LIVE UPDATES: Newtown, Conn., School Shooting


While some students have been reunited with their parents on the school's perimeter, one group of students remains unaccounted for, according to a source with a child in the school.


The school is kindergarten through fourth grade.


CLICK HERE for more photos from the scene.


Three patients have been taken to Danbury Hospital, which is also on lockdown, according to the hospital's Facebook page.


"Out of abundance of caution and not because of any direct threat Danbury Hospital is under lockdown," the statement said. "This allows us simply to focus on the important work at hand."


Newtown Public School District secretary of superintendent Kathy June said in a statement that the district's school were locked down because of the report of a shooting. "The district is taking preventive measures by putting all schools in lockdown until we ensure the safety of all students and staff."


State police sent SWAT team units to Newtown.


All public and private schools in the town are on lockdown.


"We have increased our police presence at all Danbury Public Schools due to the events in Newtown. Pray for the victims," Newtown Mayor Boughton tweeted.


State emergency management officials said ambulances and other units were also en route and staging near the school.


A message on the school district website says that all afternoon kindergarten is cancelled today and there will be no mid-day bus runs.



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Violent beauty at the end of an Alaskan glacier



Flora Graham, deputy editor, newscientist.com


CATERS_Crashing_Glacier_Scares_Birds_02.jpg

(Image: Jon Cornforth/Caters)


You can almost hear the crash of ice on water in this image of an ice sheet shearing off the Chenega glacier in Prince William Sound, Alaska. But when photographer Jon Cornforth pressed the shutter, it was eerily silent.


"I saw the birds erupt in flight before I even saw the ice falling," says Cornforth. "I heard the actual sound a moment later."





The process whereby huge chunks of ice break away from a glacier into the sea is called calving, and as these birds could tell us, it's an impressive event. Huge waves created by falling ice can endanger nearby ships, and the calves themselves may become roaming icebergs.


In the Antarctic, massive icebergs can do far more than frighten the birds. In 2010, a 860-billion-tonne berg threatened marine life and global ocean currents. Five years earlier, the biggest berg ever seen wallowed in the southern seas, cutting off supplies to penguins and Antarctic research bases.


When calving gets out of hand, it can drain glaciers and release water locked up in ice sheets. A time-lapse video of a glacier in Greenland revealed this process in action.


For more cold, hard facts, read our feature on the end of the last great ice age.




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Golf: US 2014 Ryder Cup captain Watson wants Tiger on team






NEW YORK: Eight-time major golf champion Tom Watson, named on Thursday to be captain of the 2014 US Ryder Cup squad by the PGA of America, said that he sees Tiger Woods being on that team.

Citing the 14-time major champion's hunger for victory, Watson said a healthy Woods would be a certainty on the 12-man US lineup by virtue of a captain's selection even if he is unable to qualify on points.

"I want him on my team," Watson said. "Tiger is maybe the best player in history. If he's not on the team, he's going to be number one in my picks."

Watson, who at 63 is the oldest captain in US Ryder Cup history, had been critical of Woods in the aftermath of his infamous sex scandal.

But Watson said he admires Woods for his determination to win and Woods was among the first to applaud Watson's appointment.

"I would like to congratulate Tom Watson on his selection as Ryder Cup captain," Woods said in a statement. "I think he's a really good choice. Tom knows what it takes to win and that's our ultimate goal.

"I hope I have the privilege of joining him on the 2014 United States team."

Watson, a five-time British Open champion, was selected in hopes of ending an American slump in the biennial golf showdown. Europeans have won five of the past six Ryder Cup matches, including at Medinah near Chicago last September.

"It's going to be a great journey. I hope that we will change the tide," Watson said.

The prior US Ryder Cup captain age mark belonged to Sam Snead, who was 57 when he guided the Americans in 1969.

Watson called the tension of the Ryder Cup as huge as any golf event.

"The pressure is incredibly strong," he said. "The pressure of playing in the Ryder Cup is greater or as great as in any event. My job is to help them deal with that pressure.

"I've lived for that pressure and lived underneath that pressure all my career."

Watson will be 65 when the next Ryder Cup is contested in 2014 at Gleneagles in Scotland. Having won his first major title in Scotland at Carnoustie in 1975 and taken four major crowns on Scottish soil, Watson said he knew he wouldn't have the crowd in 2014.

"They are going to be cheering against me," he said.

Watson first served as the US captain in 1993, the last time a US squad won a Ryder Cup on European soil.

"I really wanted the challenge to do it again," Watson said. "I was waiting for about 20 years to get the call.

"I loved it the first time. It's just a great honor to be able to do it again.

"This time we need 14 1/2 points."

Watson becomes the first repeat US Ryder Cup captain since 1987, when Jack Nicklaus guided the Americans at his Muirfield Village home course but the Americans suffered their first defeat on US soil.

Brandt Snedeker, like Woods a member of this year's losing squad, backed Watson as well.

"Obviously they were looking outside the box, given our recent failures," Snedeker said in a posting on the tour website.

"They wanted to get a guy who has had success and commands respect. I think that's why they went this way: to get the US to rally around him as a way to rejuvenate the American side.

"Tom is one of the best competitors of all time. He's going to bring that fire and unwillingness to lose and mental strength that has defined his career."

Saying he hoped to bring the "Watson luck" to the US side, Watson said his role was inspirational and informational more than motivational.

"They don't need to be motivated. My job is to maybe inspire a little bit," Watson said. "The most important thing is to be there to help them out."

Among the lessons Watson cited was arriving early to allow bodies time to adjust to time changes before tinkering with stroke mechanics.

PGA of America president Ted Bishop said there was no problem selecting Watson despite him not having played full-time on the PGA circuit in 14 years.

"We're just tired of losing Ryder Cups," Bishop said, explaining that Watson's appointment was in large part due to that "weariness".

Watson, who won 39 PGA titles - the last at the 1998 Colonial, had no worries about age differences, citing contact with several top players and his playing in a few events alongside many of today's stars, including the Masters and British Open.

"I deflect that very simply by saying we play the same game," Watson said.

-AFP/ac



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Nook HD tablets now available at Walmart



Consumers looking for a Nook
tablet can now pick one up at Walmart.


The retail outlet is selling the Barnes & Noble tablets at their usual prices. So the Nook HD tablet will run you $199 for the 8GB version and $229 for the 16GB model. The Nook HD+ will cost you $269 for the 16GB edition and $299 for the 32GB model.


All four versions and their related accessories are available through Walmart's online store as well as its brick-and-mortal outlets.


"Our two new tablets offer the best quality reading and entertainment experiences, at the best price, and we're excited to bring Nook HD and Nook HD+ to Walmart customers in-store and online," Jamie Iannone, President of Digital Products at Nook Media, said in a statement.


The Nook HD offers a 7-inch display and a high-resolution screen. The Nook HD+ ups the ante with a 9-inch screen and a 1,920x1,280-pixel resolution.


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Hubble Discovers Oldest Known Galaxy


The Hubble space telescope has discovered seven primitive galaxies formed in the earliest days of the cosmos, including one believed to be the oldest ever detected.

The discovery, announced Wednesday, is part of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field campaign to determine how and when galaxies first assembled following the Big Bang.

"This 'cosmic dawn' was not a single, dramatic event," said astrophysicist Richard Ellis with the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Rather, galaxies appear to have been formed over hundreds of millions of years.

Ellis led a team that used Hubble to look at one small section of the sky for a hundred hours. The grainy images of faint galaxies include one researchers determined to be from a period 380 million years after the onset of the universe—the closest in time to the Big Bang ever observed.

The cosmos is about 13.7 billion years old, so the newly discovered galaxy was present when the universe was 4 percent of its current age. The other six galaxies were sending out light from between 380 million and 600 million years after the Big Bang. (See pictures of "Hubble's Top Ten Discoveries.")

Baby Pictures

The images are "like the first ultrasounds of [an] infant," said Abraham Loeb, a specialist in the early cosmos at Harvard University. "These are the building blocks of the galaxies we now have."

These early galaxies were a thousand times denser than galaxies are now and were much closer together as well, Ellis said. But they were also less luminous than later galaxies.

The team used a set of four filters to analyze the near infrared wavelengths captured by Hubble Wide Field Camera 3, and estimated the galaxies' distances from Earth by studying their colors. At a NASA teleconference, team members said they had pushed Hubble's detection capabilities about as far as they could go and would most likely not be able to identify galaxies from further back in time until the James Webb Space Telescope launches toward the end of the decade. (Learn about the Hubble telescope.)

"Although we may have reached back as far as Hubble will see, Hubble has set the stage for Webb," said team member Anton Koekemoer of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. "Our work indicates there is a rich field of even earlier galaxies that Webb will be able to study."


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Fiscal Cliff Talks' Latest Victim? Sandy Relief













President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner just can't seem to break through an impasse in their "fiscal cliff" talks, increasing pessimism about a deal by Christmas and now threatening to sidetrack billions in federal aid for victims of superstorm Sandy.


After weeks of public posturing and private negotiations, both sides remain firmly dug in with their opposing positions on tax hikes and spending cuts for deficit reduction.


"The president wants to pretend spending isn't the problem," Boehner told reporters today. "That's why we don't have an agreement."


House Republicans are demanding significant changes to entitlement programs to curb spending, which Democrats flatly oppose. The White House, invoking the president's re-election and public opinion polls on its side, still insists there will be no deal without a tax-rate increase on the top 2 percent of U.S. income-earners.


"Until the Republicans realize this, are willing to do what is right, we are going nowhere," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said.


The gridlock on how to best reduce the deficits and debt threatens to derail another pressing piece of business at hand: the White House's $60 billion emergency-relief request for states devastated by Sandy.






Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo; Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo











How The Fiscal Cliff Is Hurting Small Business Watch Video









President Obama: 'Taxes Going Up One Way or Another' Watch Video









20 Women Senators Devise Their Own Fiscal Cliff Financial Plan Watch Video





Some Republicans are balking at the size of the request -- which was endorsed by the governors of the affected states, including New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie -- noting that its price tag would nearly wipeout any deficit savings Democrats are seeking next year by raising tax rates on the rich.


Other lawmakers have said the aid package should be offset with a fresh batch of spending cuts, which could be hashed out in committee hearings early next year. FEMA still has $5 billion in its Disaster Relief Fund, they say, enough to last until March.


Congressional leaders on both sides warned members Wednesday to prepare for a working Christmas in Washington unless a compromise can be reached soon. The "fiscal cliff" hits in 19 days, triggering a cascade of automatic tax hikes and deep spending cuts that could thrust the economy back into recession.


Obama and Boehner have traded a series of proposals over the past few days, speaking at least once by phone this week. The president lowered his desired target for new tax revenue from $1.6 trillion to $1.4 trillion; Boehner has indicated his willingness to raise more than the $800 billion he put on the table.


But the Ohio Republican said today that the two sides are nowhere near a deal.


"More than five weeks ago, Republicans signaled our willingness to avert the 'fiscal cliff' with a bipartisan agreement that is truly balanced and begins to solve our spending problem," Boehner said. "The president still has not made an offer that meets these two standards."


Obama predicted Monday that Republicans will ultimately accept tax hikes for the wealthy and signaled new willingness to make "tough" spending cuts. But he did not offer specifics.


"If the Republicans can move on that [taxes], then we are prepared to do some tough things on the spending side," Obama told ABC's Barbara Walters this week. "Taxes are going to go up one way or another. And I think the key is that taxes go up on high-end individuals."


In the event both sides cannot reach a broad deal, there is still some optimism about a last-ditch effort by both parties to prevent an income tax hike on 98 percent of earners.





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Another year wasted by climate negotiators



































INTERNATIONAL climate change talks turned 18 earlier this month, but there was little sign that their wasted youth is over. The 18th annual climate change summit in Doha, Qatar, might have ended with an apparent victory for developing nations, but in reality the world is barely any nearer to facing up to its responsibilities.











First the good news. Rich countries have conceded that they should help poor countries cope with the harm they will suffer as the world warms. With dangerous climate change now almost inevitable, developing countries need this lifeline (see "Doha summit launches climate damage aid").













The agreement could have a useful knock-on effect, pressuring developed countries to take action on their own emissions. If they do not make cuts, they could ultimately face a much larger bill for damages.












But for all the fanfare, it was an agreement in principle only. The treaty signed at Doha did not establish a mechanism for compensation, or commit any money. Instead, it made a promise to set something up at next year's conference. The text thus follows a well-worn and tiresome path of procrastination.











In Bali in 2007, nations agreed to establish a binding treaty by the end of 2009. That promise was broken when the 2009 Copenhagen summit collapsed. Cancun 2010 agreed on virtually nothing except to meet again in 2011. Durban 2011 agreed to agree on a new treaty by 2015. Every year, delegates use the same tactic to give the appearance of action, but achieve nothing in practice.













In some respects, Doha was a step backwards. The biggest breakthrough in Copenhagen came when developed countries promised to give money to poor countries to help them adapt. Yet Doha saw this commitment placed on the back burner.












After the conference Edward Davey, the UK's secretary of state for energy and climate change, was harangued by a young delegate for agreeing such a feeble treaty. Davey responded that he would have liked to have done more but had to "live in the real world". His meaning is clear, but the real real world is not one of endless diplomatic quibbling. It is one of rising seas and deadly storms. The negotiations have long since lost touch with it.


















































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UN court sentences Srebrenica commander to life for genocide






THE HAGUE: The UN's Yugoslav war crimes court found Bosnian Serb general Zdravko Tolimir guilty of genocide for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, Europe's worst atrocity since World War II, and sentenced him to life in jail.

"The majority of the court finds you guilty" of crimes including genocide, judge Christoph Flugge told the Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

"Zdravko Tolimir, you are hereby sentenced to life imprisonment," the judge then told the gaunt former commander, who crossed himself three times before the verdict was handed down.

The majority of the court's judges agreed with prosecutors who had asked for a life sentence, saying Tolimir, now 64, was involved in "massive" crimes committed at the Srebrenica and Zepa enclaves in July 1995.

They said they were "of a massive scale, severe in (their) intensity and devastating in (their) effect."

Judges said Tolimir -- whom they called the "right-hand man and eyes and ears of (Bosnian Serb army commander) Ratko Mladic," -- who is also being tried by the court -- had overseen Bosnian Serb army officers conducting the slaughter of at least 6,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica.

Conducting his own defence, Tolimir said that what happened at Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia in July 1995 amounted to "fighting against terrorist groups", rather than the murder of Muslim men and boys after Dutch peacekeepers at the "safe" enclave were overrun by Mladic's forces.

Tolimir, said Judge Flugge, "had full knowledge of the despicable criminal operations and himself furthered their goals," in this brutal episode in the Balkans country's bloody 1992-95 war that claimed 100,000 lives and left 2.2 million others homeless.

Apart from genocide, Tolimir was found guilty on six other counts including extermination, murder, persecution and forcible transfer.

Judges said prosecutors did not prove a count of deportation beyond reasonable doubt in relation to the attacks on Srebrenica and Zepa.

During his trial prosecutors said the former intelligence chief was part of a grand scheme to murder thousands of Muslim men and boys and expel thousands of woman and children from the enclave in order to create a "mono-ethnic Serb state."

The prosecution also alleged that about 25,000 women, children and elderly people were forcibly transferred from the enclaves to Muslim-controlled territories, while thousands of men and boys old enough to bear arms were executed and dumped in mass graves.

Tolimir was involved in a "joint criminal enterprise" to "summarily execute and bury thousands of Bosnian Muslim men and boys aged 16 to 60 captured from the Srebrenica enclave," according to the charge sheet.

During the trial, prosecutors said Mladic relied on Tolimir to "carry out the slow strangling of the Srebrenica and Zepa enclaves" to create conditions which would force the Muslim population "to give up hope of survival."

Tolimir is the most senior Serb to have a verdict handed down by the UN war crimes court since two Croatian generals and two former Kosovar guerrillas were acquitted last month, sparking Serbia's ire.

In 2004, Radislav Krstic became the highest-ranking Bosnian Serb officer to be sentenced on appeal to 35 years in jail for his role in the Srebrenica massacre.

Arrested in May 2007 in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Tolimir had seen his trial delayed several times due to ill-health.

Mladic, also dubbed "the Butcher of Bosnia," was arrested in Serbia last year, and now faces 11 counts before the same Hague-based court, including for the Srebrenica massacre.

-AFP/ac



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