Crossfade preventing play count updates in iTunes 11

iTunes 11 is the latest version of Apple's music player and management software, but if you have upgraded youriTunes installation to this latest version you may find that some of the statistics regarding your library are not being updated.Whenever you play a song in iTunes, the program keeps track of the number of times the song has completed playing, how many times it is skipped, and when these events...

Read More..

New technology to keep drunk drivers from driving

(CBS News) CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The message from police to party-goers this New Year's Eve is: "Drive sober or get pulled over." There were nearly 10,000 deaths from drunk driving in the U.S. last year, down 2.5 percent from the year before. There is now a debate over technology that could prevent drunk drivers from starting their engines. Meredith and Matt Eastridge, in an undated photo/CBS News...

Read More..

Clinton's Blood Clot Could've Been Life Threatening

Hillary Clinton's latest health update -- cerebral venous thrombosis -- is a rare and potentially "life-threatening" condition, according to medical experts, but one from which the globe-trotting secretary of state is likely to recover from.In an update from her doctors, Clinton's brain scans revealed a clot had formed in the right transverse venous sinus, and she was being...

Read More..

Bombs kill 23 across Iraq as sectarian strife grows

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 23 people were killed and 87 wounded in attacks across Iraq on Monday, police said, underlining sectarian and ethnic divisions that threaten to further destabilize the country a year after U.S. troops left. Tensions between Shi'ite, Kurdish and Sunni factions in Iraq's power-sharing government have been on the rise this year. Militants strike almost daily...

Read More..

No House vote before US 'fiscal cliff' deadline

WASHINGTON: The US House of Representatives will not vote on Monday on an 11th-hour proposal to prevent the country from tottering over the so-called "fiscal cliff," a senior Republican source told AFP.US markets will not immediately feel the shock of the failure as January 1 is a public holiday, giving lawmakers a short breathing space in which to hammer out a stop-gap deal and pass it...

Read More..

Predicting the most unlikely tech events that will happen in 2013

Mr. Pop on his flip phone. (Credit:Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)The other day I was lying on the beach when an older, bronzed man came and lay down next to me.He made some groaning noises and chatted on his flip phone. He was Iggy Pop. This, in itself was unusual. However, at the very moment he was there I was reading a book called "Paris, I Love You, But You're Bringing Me Down," by Rosencrans Baldwin....

Read More..

Five killed in Oregon tour bus crash

LA GRANDE, Ore. Authorities say five people died and about 20 more were injured in a tour bus crash on an icy stretch of interstate in Oregon. Police say the bus lost control around 10:30 a.m. on the snow- and ice-covered lanes of Interstate 84 in eastern Oregon. The bus crashed through a guardrail and went down an embankment a few hundred feet. Rescue workers are using ropes to help retrieve...

Read More..

Fiscal Cliff-Hanger: No Vote Tonight, Reid Says

With less than two days remaining for Congress to reach a budget agreement that would avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff," a senior White House official tells ABC News that President Obama is still "modestly optimistic" that a deal can be struck to prevent middle class taxes from increasing on New Year's Day.But a resolution to the ordeal won't come tonight.Senate Majority Leader...

Read More..

No end to Syria war if sides refuse to talk: envoy

AZAZ, Syria/CAIRO (Reuters) - The international peace negotiator for Syria pleaded with outside countries on Sunday to push the warring parties to the table for talks, warning that the country would become a failed state ruled by warlords unless diplomacy is given a chance. Lakhdar Brahimi, who inherited the seemingly impossible task of bringing an end to the war after his predecessor...

Read More..

Football: Evra vows to banish United's Wigan ghosts

WIGAN, United Kingdom: Manchester United defender Patrice Evra has promised there will be no repeat of last season's debilitating defeat at Wigan Athletic when the sides meet again on New Year's Day.Alex Ferguson's side were beaten 1-0 at the DW Stadium at the start of a run of just one win in four matches that led to Manchester City regaining control of the title race on the way to winning...

Read More..

New law strengthens patents on product designs

Patent law has long protected companies from having the appearance of their products copied, as we saw during this year's copyright battle between Apple and Samsung over the shapes of their smartphones andtablets. But protections for design patents grew stronger this month, thanks to a new law signed this month by President Barack Obama.The Patent Law Treaties Implantation Act of 2012, as it is known,...

Read More..

N.J. family in limbo after Russia adoption ban

(CBS News) Two years ago, Kim and Robert Summers decided to adopt from Russia. It took nearly 18 months, but last July, the couple was matched with a 15-month-old boy. Kim says when she saw his picture for the first time, "I knew that this was the child I was meant to parent ... And I took one look at this little ginger boy, and I fell in love with him." Kim Summers and the Russian child she and...

Read More..

'Cliff' Summit Brings Hope for a Deal

Political brinkmanship appears to have created a last minute chance for the White House and Congress to agree on a plan to avoid sending the country over the fiscal cliff.President Obama emerged from an Oval Office meeting with Congressional leaders this evening to say "we had a constructive meeting today" and that he was "moderately optimistic" that they could devise a federal...

Read More..

India gang rape victim dies in Singapore hospital

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The Indian gang rape victim whose assault in New Delhi triggered nationwide protests died in hospital on Saturday of injuries suffered in the attack, a Singapore hospital treating her said. The death of the 23-year-old medical student could spawn new protests and possibly fresh confrontations with the police, especially in the Indian capital, which has been the focus...

Read More..

Yen rebounds slightly against dollar

NEW YORK: The yen edged higher against the dollar Friday after days of declines on expectations Japan would implement more monetary easing under its new prime minister.The dollar stood at 85.98 yen around 2200 GMT, down from 86.09 late Thursday.In Asian trade earlier in the day, the yen sat at more than two-year lows against the greenback.Investors have been selling the yen on expectations...

Read More..

Leaked images suggest BBM video chat coming to BlackBerry 10

Images posted to CrackBerry forums suggest important upgrades coming to BBM. According to leaked slides posted to CrackBerry's reader forums, RIM's upcoming device running BlackBerry 10 will include video chatting and screen sharing through BBM. The images have since been removed, but the folks at BGR were able to snag one with screenshots and a few details on the speculated features.According...

Read More..

"Rescue Me" soul singer Fontella Bass dead at 72

ST. LOUIS Fontella Bass, a U.S. soul singer who hit the top of the R&B charts with "Rescue Me" in 1965, has died. She was 72. Bass died Wednesday night at a St. Louis hospice of complications from a heart attack suffered three weeks ago, her daughter, Neuka Mitchell, said. Bass had also suffered a series of strokes over the past seven years. "She was an outgoing person," Mitchell said. "She...

Read More..

Retired Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf Dead at 78

Retired Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, who topped an illustrious military career by commanding the U.S.-led international coalition that drove Saddam Hussein's forces out of Kuwait in 1991 but kept a low public profile in controversies over the second Gulf War against Iraq, died Thursday. He was 78.Schwarzkopf died in Tampa, Fla., where he had lived in retirement, according to...

Read More..

Russia's Putin signals he will sign U.S. adoption ban

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin signaled on Thursday he would sign into law a bill barring Americans from adopting Russian children and sought to forestall criticism of the move by promising measures to better care for his country's orphans. In televised comments, Putin tried to appeal to people's patriotism by suggesting that strong and responsible countries should take care...

Read More..

Egypt's Mubarak back in hospital as health worsens

CAIRO: Egypt's state prosecutor on Thursday ordered imprisoned former dictator Hosni Mubarak transferred to a military hospital after his health deteriorated, a source at the prosecutor's office said.Mubarak, serving a life sentence over the killings of protesters, was briefly taken to hospital on December 19 for scans after he fell in his prison bathroom and hurt his head.Mubarak, 84,...

Read More..

Google extends free calling through Gmail

The Gmail calling plugin.(Credit:Google)People who use Gmail to make phone calls in North America will be able to do so free for another year.Google said in a blog post today that it was extending free domestic calling through 2013. It also touted its low rates for international calls.Launched in the summer of 2010 as an alternative to Skype, Google's calling plugin lets people make calls to any mobile...

Read More..

Study: Cancer drug substitute linked to higher rate of relapse

(CBS News) Abby Alonzo was 10 when she was diagnosed in 2009 with Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system. With proper treatment, 90 percent of patients survive. "It wasn't as hard for me as I think it as it was on my mom and my brother and my dad," Abby says. Abby began a seven-drug regimen. But in 2010, doctors told Abby's mother, Katie, there was a nationwide shortage of one of the...

Read More..

WH Lashes Out at 'Congressional Stupidity'

With only days to come up with a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff, the White House said “congressional stupidity” was damaging the economy but that an agreement could be reached if Republican leaders don’t get in the way.President Obama cut his Hawaiian vacation short and headed back to Washington today while the Senate is scheduled to reconvene on Thursday. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said...

Read More..

Syria to discuss Brahimi peace proposals with Russia

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad sent a senior diplomat to Moscow on Wednesday to discuss proposals to end the conflict convulsing his country made by international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, Syrian and Lebanese sources said. Brahimi, who saw Assad on Monday and is planning to hold a series of meetings with Syrian officials and dissidents in Damascus this week, is trying...

Read More..

US to reach debt limit on New Years Eve

WASHINGTON: The United States government will reach its statutory 16.39-trillion-dollar debt limit -- a ceiling imposed by Congress -- on Monday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said.In a letter Wednesday to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Geithner said the treasury would take "extraordinary measures" to postpone the day the US could default on its liabilities, but could not say...

Read More..

Stuxnet attacks Iran again, reports say

An Iranian news agency says the country successfully fended off yet another attack by the Stuxnet worm, according to reports.The cyberattack targeted a power plant and other sites in southern Iran over the fall, the BBC and the Associated Press reported today.Discovered in June 2010, Stuxnet is believed to be the first malware targeted specifically at critical infrastructure systems. It's thought...

Read More..

AR-15 gun sales continue to spike after shootings

CBS News) The Newtown shootings and Monday's ambush in Webster, N.Y., have fueled the debate over gun control. While that debate intensifies, something else is spiking: Gun sales. At gun shows across the nation this past weekend people stood in line hoping to get their hands on an AR-15, the military-style rifle used in the Newtown Connecticut school shooting. Popular AR-15 rifle at center of gun...

Read More..