NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks fell on Monday as investors cashed in recent gains that lifted the S&P 500 to a five-year high and awaited the start of the fourth-quarter earnings season.
The day's decline was broad across all sectors, but energy and utilities were the top decliners. The S&P 500 energy sector index <.gspe> fell 1 percent and the utilities sector <.gspu> was off 1.2 percent.
Another sector in focus was the financials. Financial stocks fell after a group of major U.S. banks agreed to pay billions in settlement with U.S. regulators.
The KBW bank index <.bkx>, a gauge of U.S. bank stocks, was down 0.7 percent.
Earnings are expected to be only slightly better than the third-quarter's lackluster results, and analysts' current estimates are down sharply from where they were in October.
"There is little doubt that concerns about the fiscal cliff created spending hesitancy in both consumers and businesses in the fourth quarter, and it is likely that will adversely impact earnings season," margins are choppy and cost cuts have run their course, said Randy Frederick, managing director of active trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab.
Aluminum company Alcoa Inc will unofficially launch the reporting season by announcing its results after Tuesday's market close. Alcoa shares were down 1 percent at $9.17.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was down 76.03 points, or 0.57 percent, at 13,359.18. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was down 8.40 points, or 0.57 percent, at 1,458.07. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was down 11.89 points, or 0.38 percent, at 3,089.77.
The day's decline came a session after the S&P 500 finished at a five-year high and investors booked profits on stocks' best weekly gain in more than a year, boosted by a budget deal and economic data. The S&P 500 rose 4.6 percent last week.
Ten mortgage servicers - including Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan , and Wells Fargo - agreed on Monday to pay $8.5 billion to end a case-by-case review of foreclosures required by U.S. regulators.
Bank of America also announced roughly $11.6 billion of settlements with mortgage finance company Fannie Mae and a $1.8 billion sale of collection rights on home loans.
The bank also entered into agreements with Nationstar Mortgage Holdings and Walter Investment Management to sell about $306 billion of residential mortgage servicing rights.
"The settlements may remove any overhang for the stock in the near term, but it only partially satisfies the issue," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of Solaris Asset Management.
Bank of America shares were down 0.7 percent at $12.02 while Nationstar Mortgage Holdings jumped 12.7 percent to $37.44.
Citigroup shares were down 0.5 percent to $42.20. Wells Fargo shares fell 1.1 percent to $34.55.
Walt Disney Co started an internal cost-cutting review several weeks ago that may include layoffs at its studio and other units, three people with knowledge of the effort told Reuters. Disney shares fell 2.4 percent to $50.95.
Video-streaming service Netflix Inc shares gained 2.3 percent to $98.20 after it said it will carry previous seasons of some popular shows produced by Time Warner's Warner Bros Television.
Amazon.com shares hit their highest price ever at $269.22 after Morgan Stanley raised is rating on the stock. Shares were up 2.8 percent at $266.63.
Major U.S. technology companies could miss estimates for fourth-quarter earnings as budget worries likely led some corporate clients to tighten their belts last month.
(Reporting By Angela Moon; Editing by Kenneth Barry and Nick Zieminski)
A video report from Euronews on an anti-censorship protest on Monday in the Chinese city of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province.
As my colleague Edward Wong reports, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the headquarters of a newspaper office in southern China on Monday to register their anger at the censorship of a recent editorial.
Video of the demonstration, posted online by international news organizations and Chinese bloggers, showed the protesters carrying white and yellow chrysanthemums, a flower that symbolizes mourning, and banners that read: “Get rid of censorship. The Chinese people want freedom.”
Video uploaded to a Chinese social media site on Monday showed a protest outside the offices of Southern Weekend, a relatively liberal newspaper in Guangzhou.
One video clip uploaded to a Chinese social media site and later copied to YouTube showed that the event was documented by a number of photographers, including at least one uniformed police officer.
People showed their support for journalists who had declared a strike to protest what they called overbearing censorship.
Hang Tung Chow of Labour Action China, a nongovernmental organization based in Hong Kong, posted copies of several images and video clips of the protest originally uploaded to Chinese social media accounts on her Twitter feed.
Angry journalists at the Southern Weekend newspaper have called for the removal of Tuo Zhen, the top propaganda official in Guangdong, blamed for censoring a New Year’s editorial that was supposed to have called for greater respect for rights enshrined in China’s Constitution. One video clip uploaded to YouTube on Sunday showed a lone man protesting outside the newspaper building holding a sign reading: “Tuo Step Down!”
KUWAIT (Reuters) – A Kuwaiti court sentenced a man to two years in prison for insulting the country’s ruler on Twitter, a lawyer following the case said, as the Gulf Arab state cracks down on criticism of the authorities on social media.
According to the verdict on Sunday, published by online newspaper Alaan, a tweet written by Rashid Saleh al-Anzi in October “stabbed the rights and powers of the Emir” Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah.
Anzi, who has 5,700 Twitter followers, was expected to appeal, the lawyer, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.
Kuwait, a U.S. ally and major oil producer, has been taking a firmer line on politically sensitive comments aired on the Internet.
In June 2012, a man was sentenced to 10 years in prison after he was convicted of endangering state security by insulting the Prophet Mohammad and the Sunni Muslim rulers of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain on social media.
Two months later, authorities detained Sheikh Meshaal al-Malik Al-Sabah, a member of the ruling family, over remarks on Twitter in which he accused authorities of corruption and called for political reform, a rights activist said.
While public demonstrations about local issues are common in a state that allows the most dissent in the Gulf, Kuwait has avoided Arab Spring-style mass unrest that toppled three veteran Arab dictators last year.
But tensions have intensified between the hand-picked government, in which ruling family members hold the top posts, and the elected parliament and opposition groups.
(Reporting by Mahmoud Harbi; Writing by Mahmoud Habboush; Editing by Jason Webb)
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Bradley Cooper didn't necessarily have the wildest of birthday celebrations, but his special day certainly didn't go unnoticed.
The Silver Linings Playbook star, who turned 38 on Saturday, was greeted by a slew of screaming fans when he arrived on the red carpet at the 24th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala in Palm Springs, Calif.
"Bradley started interacting with his fans and then they broke out into song, chanting 'Happy birthday to you,'" an onlooker tells PEOPLE.
Running late into the event because of the fan holdup, Cooper whisked by many of the reporters, and when asked about his birthday plans, answered with a smile, "I'm here!"
But the birthday surprises didn't end there.
After being honored with a Desert Palm Achievement Award presented by Playbook director David O. Russell, PEOPLE's former Sexiest Man Alive was given a shoutout by event host Mary Hart, who insisted the entire room sing "Happy Birthday" to the actor.
"It seemed very unexpected," the onlooker adds. "He seemed a little shy and embarrassed by it, but while managing to smile still."
CHICAGO (AP) — Roll up a sleeve for the blood pressure cuff. Stick out a wrist for the pulse-taking. Lift your tongue for the thermometer. Report how many minutes you are active or getting exercise.
Wait, what?
If the last item isn't part of the usual drill at your doctor's office, a movement is afoot to change that. One recent national survey indicated only a third of Americans said their doctors asked about or prescribed physical activity.
Kaiser Permanente, one of the nation's largest nonprofit health insurance plans, made a big push a few years ago to get its southern California doctors to ask patients about exercise. Since then, Kaiser has expanded the program across California and to several other states. Now almost 9 million patients are asked at every visit, and some other medical systems are doing it, too.
Here's how it works: During any routine check of vital signs, a nurse or medical assistant asks how many days a week the patient exercises and for how long. The number of minutes per week is posted along with other vitals at the top the medical chart. So it's among the first things the doctor sees.
"All we ask our physicians to do is to make a comment on it, like, 'Hey, good job,' or 'I noticed today that your blood pressure is too high and you're not doing any exercise. There's a connection there. We really need to start you walking 30 minutes a day,'" said Dr. Robert Sallis, a Kaiser family doctor. He hatched the vital sign idea as part of a larger initiative by doctors groups.
He said Kaiser doctors generally prescribe exercise first, instead of medication, and for many patients who follow through that's often all it takes.
It's a challenge to make progress. A study looking at the first year of Kaiser's effort showed more than a third of patients said they never exercise.
Sallis said some patients may not be aware that research shows physical inactivity is riskier than high blood pressure, obesity and other health risks people know they should avoid. As recently as November a government-led study concluded that people who routinely exercise live longer than others, even if they're overweight.
Zendi Solano, who works for Kaiser as a research assistant in Pasadena, Calif., says she always knew exercise was a good thing. But until about a year ago, when her Kaiser doctor started routinely measuring it, she "really didn't take it seriously."
She was obese, and in a family of diabetics, had elevated blood sugar. She sometimes did push-ups and other strength training but not anything very sustained or strenuous.
Solano, 34, decided to take up running and after a couple of months she was doing three miles. Then she began training for a half marathon — and ran that 13-mile race in May in less than three hours. She formed a running club with co-workers and now runs several miles a week. She also started eating smaller portions and buying more fruits and vegetables.
She is still overweight but has lost 30 pounds and her blood sugar is normal.
Her doctor praised the improvement at her last physical in June and Solano says the routine exercise checks are "a great reminder."
Kaiser began the program about three years ago after 2008 government guidelines recommended at least 2 1/2 hours of moderately vigorous exercise each week. That includes brisk walking, cycling, lawn-mowing — anything that gets you breathing a little harder than normal for at least 10 minutes at a time.
A recently published study of nearly 2 million people in Kaiser's southern California network found that less than a third met physical activity guidelines during the program's first year ending in March 2011. That's worse than results from national studies. But promoters of the vital signs effort think Kaiser's numbers are more realistic because people are more likely to tell their own doctors the truth.
Dr. Elizabeth Joy of Salt Lake City has created a nearly identical program and she expects 300 physicians in her Intermountain Healthcare network to be involved early this year.
"There are some real opportunities there to kind of shift patients' expectations about the value of physical activity on health," Joy said.
NorthShore University HealthSystem in Chicago's northern suburbs plans to start an exercise vital sign program this month, eventually involving about 200 primary care doctors.
Dr. Carrie Jaworski, a NorthShore family and sports medicine specialist, already asks patients about exercise. She said some of her diabetic patients have been able to cut back on their medicines after getting active.
Dr. William Dietz, an obesity expert who retired last year from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said measuring a patient's exercise regardless of method is essential, but that "naming it as a vital sign kind of elevates it."
Figuring out how to get people to be more active is the important next step, he said, and could have a big effect in reducing medical costs.
___
Online:
Exercise: http://1.usa.gov/b6AkMa
___
AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors' "fiscal cliff" worries are likely to give way to more fundamental concerns, like earnings, as fourth-quarter reports get under way next week.
Financial results, which begin after the market closes on Tuesday with aluminum company Alcoa , are expected to be only slightly better than the third-quarter's lackluster results. As a warning sign, analyst current estimates are down sharply from what they were in October.
That could set stocks up for more volatility following a week of sharp gains that put the Standard & Poor's 500 index <.spx> on Friday at the highest close since December 31, 2007. The index also registered its biggest weekly percentage gain in more than a year.
Based on a Reuters analysis, Europe ranks among the chief concerns cited by companies that warned on fourth-quarter results. Uncertainty about the region and its weak economic outlook were cited by more than half of the 25 largest S&P 500 companies that issued warnings.
In the most recent earnings conference calls, macroeconomic worries were cited by 10 companies while the U.S. "fiscal cliff" was cited by at least nine as reasons for their earnings warnings.
"The number of things that could go wrong isn't so high, but the magnitude of how wrong they could go is what's worrisome," said Kurt Winters, senior portfolio manager for Whitebox Mutual Funds in Minneapolis.
Negative-to-positive guidance by S&P 500 companies for the fourth quarter was 3.6 to 1, the second worst since the third quarter of 2001, according to Thomson Reuters data.
U.S. lawmakers narrowly averted the "fiscal cliff" by coming to a last-minute agreement on a bill to avoid steep tax hikes this weeks -- driving the rally in stocks -- but the battle over further spending cuts is expected to resume in two months.
Investors also have seen a revival of worries about Europe's sovereign debt problems, with Moody's in November downgrading France's credit rating and debt crises looming for Spain and other countries.
"You have a recession in Europe as a base case. Europe is still the biggest trading partner with a lot of U.S. companies, and it's still a big chunk of global capital spending," said Adam Parker, chief U.S. equity strategist at Morgan Stanley in New York.
Among companies citing worries about Europe was eBay , whose chief financial officer, Bob Swan, spoke of "macro pressures from Europe" in the company's October earnings conference call.
REVENUE WORRIES
One of the biggest worries voiced about earnings has been whether companies will be able to continue to boost profit growth despite relatively weak revenue growth.
S&P 500 revenue fell 0.8 percent in the third quarter for the first decline since the third quarter of 2009, Thomson Reuters data showed. Earnings growth for the quarter was a paltry 0.1 percent after briefly dipping into negative territory.
On top of that, just 40 percent of S&P 500 companies beat revenue expectations in the third quarter, while 64.2 percent beat earnings estimates, the Thomson Reuters data showed.
For the fourth quarter, estimates are slightly better but are well off estimates for the quarter from just a few months earlier. S&P 500 earnings are expected to have risen 2.8 percent while revenue is expected to have gone up 1.9 percent.
Back in October, earnings growth for the fourth quarter was forecast up 9.9 percent.
In spite of the cautious outlooks, some analysts still see a good chance for earnings beats this reporting period.
"The thinking is you need top line growth for earnings to continue to expand, and we've seen the market defy that," said Mike Jackson, founder of Denver-based investment firm T3 Equity Labs.
Based on his analysis, energy, industrials and consumer discretionary are the S&P sectors most likely to beat earnings expectations in the upcoming season, while consumer staples, materials and utilities are the least likely to beat, Jackson said.
Sounding a positive note on Friday, drugmaker Eli Lilly and Co said it expects profit in 2013 to increase by more than Wall Street had been forecasting, primarily due to cost controls and improved productivity.
(Reporting By Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Kenneth Barry)
John Kiriakou with his daughter Kate at home in Arlington, Va., last month. He has struggled with how to explain to his children that he will be going away.
WASHINGTON — Looking back, John C. Kiriakou admits he should have known better. But when the F.B.I. called him a year ago and invited him to stop by and “help us with a case,” he did not hesitate.
Timeline
Leak-Related Cases Prosecuted During the Obama Administration
Christaan Felber for The New York Times
Mr. Kiriakou is scheduled to be sentenced to 30 months in prison as part of a plea deal.
In his years as a C.I.A. operative, after all, Mr. Kiriakou had worked closely with F.B.I. agents overseas. Just months earlier, he had reported to the bureau a recruiting attempt by someone he believed to be an Asian spy.
“Anything for the F.B.I.,” Mr. Kiriakou replied.
Only an hour into what began as a relaxed chat with the two agents — the younger one who traded Pittsburgh Steelers talk with him and the senior investigator with the droopy eye — did he begin to realize just who was the target of their investigation.
Finally, the older agent leaned in close and said, by Mr. Kiriakou’s recollection, “In the interest of full disclosure, I should tell you that right now we’re executing a search warrant at your house and seizing your electronic devices.”
On Jan. 25, Mr. Kiriakou is scheduled to be sentenced to 30 months in prison as part of a plea deal in which he admitted violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act by e-mailing the name of a covert C.I.A. officer to a freelance reporter, who did not publish it. The law was passed in 1982, aimed at radical publications that deliberately sought to out undercover agents, exposing their secret work and endangering their lives.
In more than six decades of fraught interaction between the agency and the news media, John Kiriakou is the first current or former C.I.A. officer to be convicted of disclosing classified information to a reporter.
Mr. Kiriakou, 48, earned numerous commendations in nearly 15 years at the C.I.A., some of which were spent undercover overseas chasing Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups. He led the team in 2002 that found Abu Zubaydah, a terrorist logistics specialist for Al Qaeda, and other militants whose capture in Pakistan was hailed as a notable victory after the Sept. 11 attacks.
He got mixed reviews at the agency, which he left in 2004 for a consulting job. Some praised his skills, first as an analyst and then as an overseas operative; others considered him a loose cannon.
Mr. Kiriakou first stumbled into the public limelight by speaking out about waterboarding on television in 2007, quickly becoming a source for national security journalists, including this reporter, who turned up in Mr. Kiriakou’s indictment last year as Journalist B. When he gave the covert officer’s name to the freelancer, he said, he was simply trying to help a writer find a potential source and had no intention or expectation that the name would ever become public. In fact, it did not surface publicly until long after Mr. Kiriakou was charged.
He is remorseful, up to a point. “I should never have provided the name,” he said on Friday in the latest of a series of interviews. “I regret doing it, and I never will do it again.”
At the same time, he argues, with the backing of some former agency colleagues, that the case — one of an unprecedented string of six prosecutions under President Obama for leaking information to the news media — was unfair and ill-advised as public policy.
His supporters are an unlikely collection of old friends, former spies, left-leaning critics of the government and conservative Christian opponents of torture. Oliver Stone sent a message of encouragement, as did several professors at Liberty University, where Mr. Kiriakou has taught. They view the case as an outrage against a man who risked his life to defend the country.
Whatever his loquaciousness with journalists, they say, he neither intended to damage national security nor did so. Some see a particular injustice in the impending imprisonment of Mr. Kiriakou, who in his first 2007 appearance on ABC News defended the agency’s resort to desperate measures but also said that he had come to believe that waterboarding was torture and should no longer be used in American interrogations.
Bruce Riedel, a retired veteran C.I.A. officer who led an Afghan war review for Mr. Obama and turned down an offer to be considered for C.I.A. director in 2009, said Mr. Kiriakou, who worked for him in the 1990s, was “an exceptionally good intelligence officer” who did not deserve to go to prison.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: January 5, 2013
A summary that appeared with an earlier version of this article misspelled the surname of the former C.I.A. operative. He is John C. Kiriakou, not Kiriako.
If denial isn’t just a river in Egypt, then mobile isn’t just a city in Alabama. And if 2012 proved one thing, it’s that there’s no denying mobile is the present and future of technology.
Sales figures for mobile devices reached new heights in 2012. Market research firm Gartner predicted tablet sales would near 120 million, about doubling the total sold in 2011.
[More from Mashable: Would You Make Your Kid Sign a Contract to Use an iPhone?]
In addition, the number of active smartphones eclipsed 1 billion during the past year. That’s one for every seven people on the planet. And while it took almost two decades to reach 1 billion active smartphones, research firm Strategy Analytics projects there will be 2 billion by 2015, fueled by growth in developing economies in China, India and Africa.
It’s not just phones and tablets though. All sorts of smart mobile technology flourished in 2012, from watches and wristbands to glasses that can project video on the inside of the lenses. Speaking of glasses, in April, Google sent the tech world into a tizzy when it unveiled plans for a futuristic headset called Project Glass.
[More from Mashable: ‘Offensive Combat’ Brings Hardcore Gaming to Facebook]
Well, if you think mobile came a long way in 2012, this year could be even better. Here’s an outline of where we think mobile technology is headed in 2013.
Brand Wars Will Drive Innovation
In terms of smartphones, mobile in 2013 will be like an evening of boxing. For the main event, heavyweights Apple and Samsung will square off to see which can produce the world’s most popular device.
The Samsung Galaxy III recently dethroned the iPhone for that honor. While Apple went conservative with new features on the iPhone 5, Samsung went bold, equipping the Galaxy S III with an enormous 4.8-inch display, near field communication (NFC) technology (more on this later), a burst-shooting camera and a voice-enabled assistent akin to the iPhone’s Siri.
Apparently, Apple is preparing to counter-punch. There are already rumors that Apple is testing its next iPhone, identified as “iPhone 6.1″ which runs iOS 7.
Behind the iPhone and Galaxy a host of capable contenders are hungry for a shot at the belt, including devices from Motorola, HTC and Nokia.
There might even be some new players in the game. It seems likely that Amazon will debut a Kindle Phone sometime in 2013. There was even talk that Facebook was working on its own smartphone, but CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg squelched those rumors in September.
What does this all this mean for us? It means better phones. Competition drives innovation. Look for these brands to consistently try to one-up one another with faster processors, better cameras and more innovative features.
That’s not the only battle that will play out in 2013. Another one to watch will be the fight for third place in mobile operating systems. Android is the undisputed number one with nearly 75% global market share. While Apple’s iOS is miles behind Android, it is still firmly entrenched at number two.
In 2013, the top two contenders for third place will be Windows Phone 8 and BlackBerry 10, which is expected to launch in the coming months.
A few dark horses are running in this race for third. Mozilla plans to launch a Firefox OS sometime during 2013. Then, there is Tizen, a Linux-based mobile OS. Samsung recently revealed plans to release Tizen-based devices in 2013.
Both Firefox and Tizen are open source mobile operating systems, but they won’t be the only ones. There are two other open source mobile operating systems to watch going forward. Jolla expects to release smartphones and possibly tablets running its Sailfish OS in 2013; and Ubuntu-based smartphones should hit the market by early 2014.
No NFC Mobile Payment, Yet
Before leaving the house, most will check to make sure they have three things: keys, wallet and cellphone. Well, thanks to NFC technology, cellphones might soon lighten the load by essentially replacing wallets with an “e-wallet.”
It seems like we have been talking about NFC for years now. Basically, it enables two devices to make a very short-range and secure connection through radio technology. If a smartphone is equipped with NFC, as are most newer-model Androids, and if a retailer has an NFC terminal, one could make a purchase by simply tapping the phone on the terminal.
NFC technology also has other applications, such as data transfer between phones, but mobile payments is the feature most often discussed.
Services like Isis and Google Wallet are already in place. They secure one’s payment information within a device.
The reason why mobile payment through NFC has not yet hit the mainstream is that device penetration is not at the point where it has prompted retailers to update their technology. Basically, not enough smartphones have the technology. Androids have started to adapt, but unlike iPhones, Android hardware is not uniform across the various devices.
While the wheels have been in motion for some time, they’re really spinning now that most new Androids, including the Galaxy S III, come with NFC. If Apple releases a new iPhone during 2013, and if Apple decides to include NFC this time around, it will probably tip the scales in favor of rapid adoption of mobile payment.
Even if all that does happen, however, there probably won’t be a new iPhone until later in the year, so odds are you’re not going to see NFC penetrate the mainstream during 2013. Maybe 2014 will finally be the year of NFC.
Flexible Smartphones
Here’s something you never knew you needed — a flexible smartphone. These devices will be lighter, more durable and the screen will be bendable. This feat is possible by making the display out of an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) and shielding it in plastic rather than glass. Samsung is reportedly moving forward with plans to start producing a bendable phone.
Samsung is not the only player in this game, however. Many companies are developing bendable screens. At Nokia World in London in 2011, Nokia showed off a device which not only bends but is controlled by bending. Check it out in the video below.
Since there are quite a few companies working on this, it seems likely that one will try to be first to market in 2013. There are rumors that the next model of Samsung’s Galaxy will feature a bendable HD display. We’ll find out much more about this at the Consumer Electronics Show, scheduled for next week. Stay tuned for updates.
The Future of Smartphone Cameras
Cameras and phones have been married for about a decade (they dated, previously). In that time, the relationship has been constantly improving in terms of specs, which has led to higher-quality photographs.
Nokia upped the ante significantly in 2012 when it released the 808 PureView, a smartphone equipped with a 41-megapixel camera. The iPhone 5 has an eight-megapixel camera. Granted, more megapixels doesn’t necessarily equate to better pictures, but it’s certainly one important element. The gallery below features pictures taken with the 808 PureView.
Nokia 808 PureView
The Nokia 808 PureView comes in several colors. It’s heavier than your average phone, with the camera lens protruding from the back. By far its most interesting feature is the 41-megapixel camera, which takes amazing photos.
Click here to view this gallery.
In 2013, we can not only expect more megapixels, and better sensors, flashlights and shutter speeds from smartphone cameras; there are also some futuristic developments in the works.
One most likely to hit the market in 2013: a sensor developed by Toshiba that will allow users to adjust the area of focus of a shot during post-processing, much like with a Lytro cameras.
Another development to anticipate is greater availability and lower cost for smartphone cameras that shoot 3D photos and video.
While all of these improvements are exciting, it’s not just smartphones that are getting better cameras. Better cameras are literally being turned into smartphones. In 2012, Samsung released a Galaxy Camera which Mashable’s tech editor Pete Pachal described as an “incredible device.”
Connected cameras might not become the norm in 2013, but they will definitely become more common.
Eventually, there could even be cameras that have the ability to penetrate objects such as thin walls, clothing or even skin. While the technology is in place, don’t look for it in 2013. The world probably isn’t ready for x-ray vision quite yet.
Wearable Tech
It’s not enough to carry technology anymore. Nowadays people want to wear it, too.
In April, the Pebble Watch, which integrates with both Android and iOS devices, received Kickstarter funding totaling over $ 10 million from nearly 70,000 backers. Pebble still has not shipped watches. It is currently accepting pre-orders, but has not announced a release date. It’s relatively safe to assume these watches will be available in 2013.
Although there are other smart watches currently available, Pebble may face some serious competition if the rumors about Apple producing a smart watch prove true. In fact, Apple recently received 22 patents that would enable the company to move forward with a range of wearable smart technology, including sneakers, shirts, skiing gear and more.
Patents alone mean very little. So unless you hear otherwise, don’t expect Apple smartpants (which, if they do happen, should definitely be called “smartypants”) anytime during 2013.
And speaking of extremely exciting wearable technology that probably won’t happen during 2013, let’s all re-watch this video for Google Glass while wistfully longing for the future to arrive.
On the bright side, since we survived the Mayan apocalypse, it looks like we might eventually make it to the future, after all. In case you hadn’t noticed, it seems pretty obvious that when we get there, glorious mobile technology will abound.
Images courtesy of Flickr, SETUP Utrecht, John Biehler and via Isis
This story originally published on Mashable here.
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There’s Christmas, there’s New Year’s Eve, and then there’s “every celebrity in the world takes a tropical vacation” week. It really seems that almost every star worth talking about (Jessica! Lea! Julianne!) went on an exotic getaway this week, and we’re jealous — and cold.
But we’re also keeping mental notes on the swimsuits we want to steal for summertime — and these pretty ladies had four of our favorites.
Naomi Watts made a splash while vacationing in St. Barts, choosing a neutral scoop-neck one-piece accessorized with a printed white sarong. Jennifer Aniston opted to show off a few more curves in a black bikini and sheer sarong, a low-key follow-up to her red-hot two-piece from earlier in her visit to Cabo.
Sofia Vergara put her famous assets on display in Miami in a sexy black one-piece and teal skirt that somehow left a lot and very little to the imagination at the same time. And in Hawaii, Ashlee Simpson showed off her fabulous figure in a patterned two-piece that was definitely the most fun of the bunch.
Which bathing suit do you like best? Are you a one-piece or two-piece person? Vote in our poll below, and leave your thoughts in the comments!
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration says its new guidelines would make the food Americans eat safer and help prevent the kinds of foodborne disease outbreaks that sicken or kill thousands of consumers each year.
The rules, the most sweeping food safety guidelines in decades, would require farmers to take new precautions against contamination, to include making sure workers' hands are washed, irrigation water is clean, and that animals stay out of fields. Food manufacturers will have to submit food safety plans to the government to show they are keeping their operations clean.
The long-overdue regulations could cost businesses close to half a billion dollars a year to implement, but are expected to reduce the estimated 3,000 deaths a year from foodborne illness. The new guidelines were announced Friday.
Just since last summer, outbreaks of listeria in cheese and salmonella in peanut butter, mangoes and cantaloupe have been linked to more than 400 illnesses and as many as seven deaths, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The actual number of those sickened is likely much higher.
Many responsible food companies and farmers are already following the steps that the FDA would now require them to take. But officials say the requirements could have saved lives and prevented illnesses in several of the large-scale outbreaks that have hit the country in recent years.
In a 2011 outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe that claimed 33 lives, for example, FDA inspectors found pools of dirty water on the floor and old, dirty processing equipment at Jensen Farms in Colorado where the cantaloupes were grown. In a peanut butter outbreak this year linked to 42 salmonella illnesses, inspectors found samples of salmonella throughout Sunland Inc.'s peanut processing plant in New Mexico and multiple obvious safety problems, such as birds flying over uncovered trailers of peanuts and employees not washing their hands.
Under the new rules, companies would have to lay out plans for preventing those sorts of problems, monitor their own progress and explain to the FDA how they would correct them.
"The rules go very directly to preventing the types of outbreaks we have seen," said Michael Taylor, FDA's deputy commissioner for foods.
The FDA estimates the new rules could prevent almost 2 million illnesses annually, but it could be several years before the rules are actually preventing outbreaks. Taylor said it could take the agency another year to craft the rules after a four-month comment period, and farms would have at least two years to comply — meaning the farm rules are at least three years away from taking effect. Smaller farms would have even longer to comply.
The new rules, which come exactly two years to the day President Barack Obama's signed food safety legislation passed by Congress, were already delayed. The 2011 law required the agency to propose a first installment of the rules a year ago, but the Obama administration held them until after the election. Food safety advocates sued the administration to win their release.
The produce rule would mark the first time the FDA has had real authority to regulate food on farms. In an effort to stave off protests from farmers, the farm rules are tailored to apply only to certain fruits and vegetables that pose the greatest risk, like berries, melons, leafy greens and other foods that are usually eaten raw. A farm that produces green beans that will be canned and cooked, for example, would not be regulated.
Such flexibility, along with the growing realization that outbreaks are bad for business, has brought the produce industry and much of the rest of the food industry on board as Congress and FDA has worked to make food safer.
In a statement Friday, Pamela Bailey, president of the Grocery Manufacturers Association, which represents the country's biggest food companies, said the food safety law "can serve as a role model for what can be achieved when the private and public sectors work together to achieve a common goal."
The new rules could cost large farms $30,000 a year, according to the FDA. The agency did not break down the costs for individual processing plants, but said the rules could cost manufacturers up to $475 million annually.
FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said the success of the rules will also depend on how much money Congress gives the chronically underfunded agency to put them in place. "Resources remain an ongoing concern," she said.
The farm and manufacturing rules are only one part of the food safety law. The bill also authorized more surprise inspections by the FDA and gave the agency additional powers to shut down food facilities. In addition, the law required stricter standards on imported foods. The agency said it will soon propose other overdue rules to ensure that importers verify overseas food is safe and to improve food safety audits overseas.
Food safety advocates frustrated over the last year as the rules stalled praised the proposed action.
"The new law should transform the FDA from an agency that tracks down outbreaks after the fact, to an agency focused on preventing food contamination in the first place," said Caroline Smith DeWaal of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
