Jimmy Dushku: The 25-year-old who is North Korea's one true Twitter friend

Mother Jones takes a look at a globetrotting young investor who's the only American — and the only human being — Pyongyang followsGoogle Chairman Eric Schmidt capped a controversial four-day visit to North Korea on Thursday with a call for the country's censorship-happy communist government to give its people access to the internet, or face further economic decline due to the country's global isolation....

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What would your signature look like if Jack Lew wrote it? (Interactive)

White House chief of staff Jack Lew's signature has been ridiculed as nothing more than a series of childish loops—a nontrivial point, given that President Barack Obama is expected to nominate Lew as the new Treasury secretary, meaning his signature will adorn new U.S. currency.Now, Yahoo News exclusively brings you the Jack Lew Signature Generator. Just type in your name, hit the button, and see...

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Gasoline prices predicted to fall in 2013

NEW YORK (AP) — At least gasoline should cost you less in 2013.Hamburger, health care and taxes are all set to take a bigger bite out of the family budget this year. But drivers' annual gas bills are expected to drop for the first time in four years.Forecasters say ample oil supplies and weak U.S. demand will keep a lid on prices. The lows will be lower and the highs won't be so high compared with...

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Everything You Need to Know About Steubenville High's Football 'Rape Crew'

In the past 24 hours, the story of an alleged rape in the small, football-driven Ohio town of Steubenville has transformed from a local controversy with a curious social-media angle to an all-out Internet crusade, with potential cover-ups, allegations of prosecutors colluding with coaches, disgusting new video, and hackers to the rescue. Here's a primer on what looks like it may become one of the...

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Turkish agency blamed by U.S. companies for intercepted Web pages

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - An agency of the Turkish government deployed a deceptive version of some Google Inc web pages, possibly to monitor activity by its employees, major Internet companies said on Thursday.The reports are the latest in a series of incidents in which hackers or governments have taken advantage of the loose rules surrounding the standard security for financial and other sensitive...

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Huawei launches the Ascend P1 in the U.S. for $450 through Amazon

Despite its attempts to attract new customers with high-end phones, Huawei (002502) remains relatively unknown to U.S. consumers. The company is looking to change that and on Thursday announced the availability of the Ascend P1 smartphone. The Android-powered device is equipped with a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED display, a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and an 8-megapixel rear camera. The handset...

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China's Huawei expects profit jump after reporting drop in 2011

HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, the world's No.2 telecom equipment maker, expects a 2012 profit gain after reporting a sharp drop a year ago, thanks to new projects and increased sales in high-end mobile phone markets such as Japan.Net profit is expected to be around $2.4 billion, rotating and acting Chief Executive Officer Guo Ping said in a New Year message to employees...

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Samsung, Nokia and others hit with fresh patent infringement lawsuit

InterDigital (IDCC) on Thursday filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission against Samsung (005930), Nokia (NOK), Huawei (002502), and ZTE (000063) for selling devices that allegedly infringe upon seven of its 3G and 4G wireless patents. The company has asked the ITC to block sales of the infringing products, which incorporate WCDMA, CDMA2000, LTE and Wi-Fi technologies. The ITC...

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James Cameron Relives Voyage to Ocean's Deepest Spot

SAN FRANCISCO — The first thing James Cameron saw 7 miles below the sea was man-made: tracks from a remotely operated vehicle."When I got to the bottom, I saw skid marks from the ROV," Cameron said yesterday (Dec. 4) here at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union, referring to a 2009 survey by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. Scientific results of the film director's expedition...

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Are Online Degrees as Valuable as Traditional College Diplomas?

Millennials are the first generation to grow up with constant technology and personal computers. That might explain why they see such a value in online education.A recent poll by Northeastern University showed that 18 to 29 year olds had a more negative view about attending college because of the high cost, and a more positive opinion about online classes than their older counterparts. The survey...

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Red Hat divulgará los resultados del tercer trimestre del año fiscal 2013 a través de un webcast

Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT), proveedor líder mundial de soluciones de código abierto, analizará los resultados del tercer trimestre del año fiscal 2013 el jueves, 20 de diciembre de 2012, a partir de las 5:00 p. m., hora del Este.Se puede acceder a un webcast en vivo en la página de Relaciones con los Inversores de Red Hat en http://investors.redhat.com y la reproducción se encontrará disponible a partir...

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Big-data analytics company Cloudera raises $65 million

It's a point-and-shoot digital camera, with the back side replaced by a smartphone-sized tablet. It's a smartphone that can't make voice calls, and has a big camera lens sticking out of the back. It's the Samsung Galaxy Camera, and it combines the equivalent of a $199 digital camera with the Android OS and hardware performance of Samsung's Galaxy S III smartphone.Tech gadget reviewers like The Verge's...

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Modern Etiquette: A bit of netiquette will keep Christmas real

 Christmas is a convivial time of year when people get together for celebrations and conversation. It's all about human contact so it's important that you're discriminating about how you use your digital devices.It's fine if they're used to facilitate get-togethers and spread seasonal cheer. But Christmas is a real, not a virtual event, so it's important to discard the phones, tablets and computers...

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In Newtown, an anguished debate over gun rights, controls

Two days after a gunman opened fire in a Connecticut elementary school, killing 26 people, several dozen parents and children gathered in a circle at Newtown's public library to draw something positive from the town's sudden, tragic notoriety.After several hours of anguished discussion about gun control, and of the responsibilities of parents and community members to prevent more bloodshed, Newtown...

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Internet ayatollah: Iran's supreme leader "likes" Facebook

 Facebook - banned in Iran due to its use by activists to rally government opponents in 2009 - has an unlikely new member: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.Launched a few days ago, the Facebook page "Khamenei.ir" displays photographs of the 73-year-old cleric alongside speeches and pronouncements by the man who wields ultimate power in the Islamic Republic.While there are several other Facebook...

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Shine America, Jack Black's Electric Dynamite Producing Comedy Series for Yahoo

 Shine America and Jack Black's Electric Dynamite Productions have partnered to produce "Ghost Ghirls," a new comedy series that will debut in the Spring on Yahoo! Screen, the web giant's video portal.Jeremy Konner, Amanda Lund and Maria Blasucci created the show, which stars Lund and Blasucci as a pair of hapless investigators on the hunt for paranormal activity. It has begun production on a...

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As online voting begins, Oscars take extra steps not to leave voters behind

The Academy opened online voting for the first time in his history on Monday. But in the days leading up to the unprecedented move away from paper ballots, AMPAS also took measures to make sure that chunks of its membership aren't left on the sidelines by the digital revolution."We're trying to enfranchise as many members as possible," AMPAS COO Ric Robertson told TheWrap.Months ago, the organization...

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Analysis: Apple's swoon exposes risk lurking in mutual funds

The nearly 28 percent decline in shares of Apple Inc since mid-September isn't just painful to individual shareholders. It's also being felt by investors who chased hot mutual funds that loaded up on Apple as the stock raced to a record $705 per share.Apple makes up 10 percent or more of assets in 117 out of the 1,119 funds that own its shares, according to data from Lipper, a Thomson Reuters company....

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EU charges Samsung with abusing vital telecoms patent

The European Commission charged Samsung Electronics on Friday with abusing its dominant position in seeking to bar rival Apple from using a patent deemed essential to mobile phone use.The Commission sent a "statement of objections" to the South Korean group, with its preliminary view that Samsung was not acting fairly."Intellectual property rights are an important cornerstone of the single market....

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Vatican says pope beats Justin Bieber on re-tweets

Pope Benedict, white-haired, 85, and a neophyte to social media site Twitter, has beaten out 18-year old heartthrob Justin Bieber to set a percentage record for re-tweeting by his followers, the Vatican said on Thursday. The Vatican newspaper said that as of noon Italian time on Thursday the pope had 2.1 million followers on Twitter, eight days after his first tweet was sent. While Canadian...

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