A man was left in cardiac arrest and two firefighters injured after a raging inferno erupted at a Brooklyn medical lab, fire officials said.
The fire started on the third floor of the four-story building at 2:03 p.m. on the corner of Utrecht Avenue near 52 Street in Borough Park, sources said.
The critically injured man, who was found inside the burning building, was rushed to Lutheran Hospital. The two firefighters suffered non-life-threatening injuries, fire officials said.
No company today elicits such devotion and dedication among its customers and shareholders like Apple. The fervor felt by Apple fans for its products, its leaders and its business underscore the company’s technological eco-centric strategy. While that loyalty has made for rich rewards over the long term, it will mean very little to a myopic stock market when Apple reports its latest financial results Wednesday.
When a company so dominates a business like Apple does, it is subject to plenty of rumors, especially when that company, like Apple, is disciplined to not respond to speculation. There have been a series of anonymous and Wall Street analyst worries floated in the past quarter centered on the iPhone 5. First were concerns Apple couldn’t get enough supplies to build the phones fast enough. Then there were hints Apple cut its supply orders, suggesting slower sales.
Apple optimists have been quick to defend the company even as its stock has fallen from $700 to around $500 per share since September. The stock drop has come even as Apple probably sold a record number of iPhones and iPads during the holiday quarter.
No doubt Apple will trumpet its financial prowess on Wednesday. And it should. After all it generates more than $500 million dollars a day. But the short-sighted stock market has been conditioned to expect big numbers. Therein is the challenge for Apple: incubating such devotion without inflating expectations.
Tom Hudson is anchor and managing editor of Nightly Business Report, produced by NBR Worldwide and distributed nationally by American Public Television. In South Florida, the show is broadcast at 7 p.m. weekdays on Channel 2. Follow him on Twitter, @HudsonNBR.
A 62-year-old man was medically evacuated from a diving vessel by a Coast Guard rescue crew Saturday in the vicinity of Key West.
Coast Guard Sector Key West received a report that a crewmember aboard the diving vessel Dare suffered a severe hand injury and needed urgent medical attention.
Sector Key West issued a urgent marine information broadcast and launched a rescue boat crew from station Key West to the scene.
The man was picked up from the dive vessel by the rescue crew and taken to Coast Guard Station Key West where he was transferred to local paramedics.
SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) – As cell phones, iPods and laptops creep steadily into every corner of modern life, America’s national parks have stayed largely off the digital grid, among the last remaining outposts of ringtone-free human solitude.
For better or worse, that may soon change.
Under pressure from telecommunications companies and a growing number of park visitors who feel adrift without mobile-phone reception, the airwaves in such grand getaway destinations as Yellowstone National Park may soon be abuzz with new wireless signals.
That prospect has given pause to a more traditional cohort of park visitors who cherish the unplugged tranquility of the great outdoors, fearing an intrusion of mobile phones – and the sound of idle chatter – will diminish their experience.
Some have mixed emotions. Stephanie Smith, a 50-something Montana native who visits Yellowstone as many as six times a year, said she prefers the cry of an eagle to ring tones.
But she also worries that future generations may lose their appreciation for the value of nature and the need to preserve America’s outdoor heritage if a lack of technology discourages them from visiting.
“You have to get there to appreciate it,” Smith said. “It’s a new world – and technology is a part of it.”
Balancing the two aesthetics has emerged as the latest challenge facing the National Park Service as managers in at least two premier parks, Yellowstone and Glacier national parks, consider recent requests to install new telecommunications towers or upgrade existing ones.
There is no system-wide rule governing cellular facilities in the 300 national parks, national monuments and other units the agency administers nationwide. Wireless infrastructure decisions are left up to the managers of individual park units.
The agency’s mission statement requires it to protect park resources and the visitor experience, but each individual experience is unique, said Lee Dickinson, a special-uses program manager for the Park Service.
“I’ve had two visitors calling me literally within hours of each other who wanted exactly the opposite experience: One saying he didn’t vacation anywhere without electronic access and the other complaining he was disturbed by another park visitor ordering pizza on his cell phone,” Dickinson said.
CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?
Wireless supporters say more is at stake than the convenience of casual phone conversations. Cellular providers say new wireless infrastructure will boost public safety by improving communications among park rangers and emergency responders.
They argue that the ability to download smartphone applications that can deliver instant information on plants and animals will also enrich park visitors’ experiences.
“Our customers are telling us that having access to technology will enhance their visit to wild areas,” said Bob Kelley, spokesman for Verizon Wireless, which is seeking to install a new 100-foot cell tower at Yellowstone.
Rural communities that border the national parks also stand to benefit from enlarged cellular coverage areas.
On the other side of the debate, outdoor enthusiasts worry that bastions of quiet reflection could be transformed into noisy hubs where visitors yak on cell phones and fidget with electronic tablets, detracting from the ambience of such natural wonders as Yellowstone’s celebrated geyser Old Faithful.
Expanding cellular reception may even compromise safety by giving some tourists a false sense of security in the back country, where extremes in weather and terrain test even the most skilled outdoorsman, according to the National Parks Conservation Association.
Tim Stevens, the association’s Northern Rockies director, said distractions like meandering moose already challenge the attention of motorists clogging park roads at the height of the summer tourist season.
“People brake in the middle of the road to watch animals. The added distraction of a wireless signal – allowing a driver to text Aunt Madge to say how great the trip is – could have disastrous consequences,” he said.
Yellowstone already offers some limited mobile-phone service, afforded by four cellular towers previously erected in developed sections of the park.
But vast swathes of America’s oldest national park, which spans nearly 3,500 square miles across the states of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, still lack wireless reception in an age dominated by Wi-Fi and iPad users who expect access even in the most remote locations.
Park officials see definite signs that a portion of the roughly 3 million annual visitors to Yellowstone, which crafted a wireless plan in 2008, are finding the lack of cell phone coverage disconcerting.
Park spokesman Al Nash said he routinely fields calls from anxious relatives of Yellowstone visitors unable to contact their loved ones.
“They say, ‘My gosh, my niece, daughter or parents went to Yellowstone, and we haven’t heard from them for three days,’” he said.
(Reporting and writing by Laura Zuckerman; Editing by Steve Gorman and David Gregorio)
Gadgets News Headlines – Yahoo! News
ET's Rocsi Diaz sat down first with First Lady Michelle Obama at the Kids' Inaugural Concert to discuss a variety of topics from her new hairstyle and birthday celebration to Lance Armstrong.
RELATED: Actors Who've Played Presidents
Mrs. Obama debuted her shoulder-length bob with eye-level bangs via Twitter on her birthday, Thursday, January 17, and she told Rocsi that Dr. Jill Biden may have had an influence on her.
"I've been coveting [Dr. Biden's] bangs for four years," joked Mrs. Obama, quipping that they're "the bang sisters." She also revealed that husband President Barack Obama gave her a "beautiful necklace" as a recent birthday gift.
On the topic of Lance Armstrong's interview with Oprah in which he admits to doping, Mrs. Obama said, "I didn't even get a chance to see it. It's a sad situation for everyone who's watching ... I think we have to remember all the people that have been helped and who will continue to need the help of [The Livestrong Foundation]. We should focus on making sure that cancer survivors and people dealing with the disease have the kind of support, medical and research, that they need to deal with the situation. We can't lose sight of that accomplishment."
Rocsi will present at tonight's Kids' Inaugural, which marks the latest efforts by the First Lady and Dr. Jill Biden's Joining Forces initiative to urge Americans to support our troops, and our Gold Star and Blue Star families.
The First Lady described the event in a video message, explaining that it's about "celebrating who we are as Americans and the people who make our country great -- our men and women in uniform, our military spouses, and our amazing military kids. So it's no surprise that when Jill and I decided to host this event, everyone wanted to join us -- from Katy Perry to Glee, from Nick Cannon to Usher. They know that military kids serve this country right alongside their moms and dads, and we’re really looking forward to celebrating our military families this weekend."
A company that sold Sept. 11 commemorative coins supposedly containing silver from ground zero has agreed to pay $750,000 to settle charges that it deceived consumers.
The Federal Trade Commission says Port Chester, N.Y.-based National Collector's Mint charged customers for items they never ordered and failed to identify its wares as imitations.
A law passed in 2010 created an official Sept. 11 medal to benefit the museum being built at the World Trade Center site.
New York Sen. Charles Schumer and Rep. Jerrold Nadler complained the National Collector's Mint's coins could deprive the museum of funds.
The FTC said in a release Thursday the agreement bars National Mint from misrepresenting its products.
Schumer said Saturday that the nation will not tolerate a "despicable scam."
The company's attorney didn't immediately return a phone message Saturday.
No company today elicits such devotion and dedication among its customers and shareholders like Apple. The fervor felt by Apple fans for its products, its leaders and its business underscore the company’s technological eco-centric strategy. While that loyalty has made for rich rewards over the long term, it will mean very little to a myopic stock market when Apple reports its latest financial results Wednesday.
When a company so dominates a business like Apple does, it is subject to plenty of rumors, especially when that company, like Apple, is disciplined to not respond to speculation. There have been a series of anonymous and Wall Street analyst worries floated in the past quarter centered on the iPhone 5. First were concerns Apple couldn’t get enough supplies to build the phones fast enough. Then there were hints Apple cut its supply orders, suggesting slower sales.
Apple optimists have been quick to defend the company even as its stock has fallen from $700 to around $500 per share since September. The stock drop has come even as Apple probably sold a record number of iPhones and iPads during the holiday quarter.
No doubt Apple will trumpet its financial prowess on Wednesday. And it should. After all it generates more than $500 million dollars a day. But the short-sighted stock market has been conditioned to expect big numbers. Therein is the challenge for Apple: incubating such devotion without inflating expectations.
Tom Hudson is anchor and managing editor of Nightly Business Report, produced by NBR Worldwide and distributed nationally by American Public Television. In South Florida, the show is broadcast at 7 p.m. weekdays on Channel 2. Follow him on Twitter, @HudsonNBR.
The past few days have kept the eldest son of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. busy. He’s been to at least three states to carry on his father’s message: ending violence and learning from historical wrongs.
In a Fort Lauderdale Baptist church early Friday, he delivered another directive:
“A nation is judged on how we treat our most prized possession,” Martin Luther King III said. “And our most precious resource, I think, is our children.”
King served as the keynote speaker at the ninth annual Martin Luther King Jr. inspirational breakfast hosted by the YMCA of Broward County.
More than 500 gathered inside the First Baptist Church on Broward Boulevard, selling out the $2,500 per table event, to honor King’s legacy.
“My concern was that it would not be reduced to a day of relaxation,” said King III. “We have to look at this as a day on — not a day off.”
The Rev. King, a prominent civil rights leader, was born this week 84 years ago. He lead peaceful protests and bus strikes working for racial equality until his 1968 assassination.
The younger King told the South Florida audience about spending his youth at the local YMCA in Birmingham, learning to swim and working out with his dad.
“Those were wonderful experiences, experiences that I will never forget,” he said.
Like his father, King III has been a fighter for human rights, justice and non-violence in the United States and abroad. He also served as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s president, a position his father once held.
During his 2009 inauguration, President Barack Obama declared the holiday honoring King should be spent as a national day of service.
At Friday’s event, 15 youngsters from the Lauderhill YMCA were honored for their service to the community. The young friends managed to clean up a popular overpass and get rid of gangs who were harassing children.
They called their project “Own the Overpath.” The idea started when 14-year-old Kervens Jean-Louis was attacked by a gang on a fenced in walkway that spans the Florida Turnpike while coming from the YMCA, based at Boyd Anderson High School. But Jean-Louis didn’t back down.
He and other students mobilized and launched a campaign to clean-up the area surrounding the “overpath.” The youngsters made a formal presentation to the Lauderhill City Commission and Florida Department of Transportation officials.
Now, there is a $400,000 project in the works to install more lights on the bridge to increase visibility. The city broke ground in November.
“I learned that when you speak out loud it makes a difference,” said Jean-Louis.
For Jean-Louis, speaking loud meant going back to the bridge to warn others of the dangers of traveling across it at night.
He will spend this upcoming Saturday as a volunteer, painting and cleaning up a garden.
“Now I tell others what’s going on and how they can help out,” he said, much like the man they had all come to honor.
After the youngsters were honored, King III left the crowd to ponder a final thought: “We can either be a thermometer or a thermostat.”
A thermometer, he explained, takes the temperature while a thermostat regulates the temperature.
Despite the progress his father saw in his lifetime, and the decades since his death, there is still much work to be done, King III said.
“I always come with a heavy heart in January,” he said. “Because we have not fully realized the dream.”
TOKYO/SEOUL (Reuters) – Sharp Corp has nearly halted production of 9.7-inch screens for Apple Inc’s iPad, two sources said, possibly as demand shifts to its smaller iPad mini.
Sharp’s iPad screen production line at its Kameyama plant in central Japan has fallen to the minimal level to keep the line running this month after a gradual slowdown began at the end of 2012 as Apple manages its inventory, the industry sources with knowledge of Sharp’s production plans told Reuters.
Sharp has stopped shipping iPad panels, the people with knowledge of the near total production shutdown said. The exact level of remaining screen output at Sharp was not immediately clear but it was extremely limited, they said.
Company spokeswoman Miyuki Nakayama said: “We don’t disclose production levels.”
Apple officials, contacted late in the evening after normal business hours in California, did not have an immediate comment.
The sources didn’t say exactly why production had nearly halted. Among the possibilities are a seasonal drop in demand, a switch to another supplier, a shift in the balance of sales to the mini iPad, or an update in the design of the product.
Macquarie Research has estimated that iPad shipments will tumble nearly 40 percent in the current quarter to about 8 million from about 13 million in the fourth quarter, although Apple’s total tablet shipments will show a much smaller decrease due to strong iPad mini sales.
APPLE SHARES
Any indication that iPad sales are struggling could add to concern that the appeal of Apple products is waning after earlier media reports said it is slashing orders for iPhone 5 screens and other components from its Asian suppliers.
Those reports helped knock Apple’s shares temporarily below $ 500 this week, the first time its stock had been below the threshold mark in almost one year.
Apple, the reports said, has asked state-managed Japan Display, Sharp and LG Display to halve supplies of iPhone panels from an initial plan for about 65 million screens in January-March. Apple is losing ground to Samsung, as well as emerging rivals including China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and ZTE Corp.
NO BIG CHANGE AT OTHER MAKERS
In addition to Sharp, Apple also buys iPad screens from LG Display Co Ltd, its biggest supplier, and Samsung Display, a flat-panel unit of Samsung Electronics.
Both LG Display and Samsung Display declined to comment.
A source at Samsung Display, however, said there had not been any significant change in its panel business with Apple, which has been steadily reducing panel purchases from the South Korean firm.
A person who is familiar with the situation at LG Display said iPad screen production in the current quarter had fallen from the previous quarter ending in December, mainly due to weak seasonal demand that is typical after the busy year-end holiday sales period.
Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu said some of the product cutbacks at Sharp are probably seasonal.
“The March quarter is almost always weaker than the December quarter,” he said, adding that Apple also consolidates suppliers of certain components during quarters with weaker demand. “The Korean manufacturers are more efficient and typically have lower costs.”
Apple’s iPad sales may have also suffered amid a weak Christmas shopping period that hurt other consumer gadget makers as well.
CROWD OF RIVAL PRODUCTS
Apple also faces stiffening competition in tablets from a growing crowd of rival products from makers including Samsung with its Galaxy and Microsoft Corp’s Surface. A consumer shift to smaller 7-inch screen devices, which Apple responded to late last year by launching its iPad mini for $ 329, are adding pressure.
BNP Paribas expects the iPad mini will eat into sales of the full-sized iPad, with the mini rise to 60 percent of total iPad shipments in the January-March quarter.
Looking to cut into Apple’s market share in the smaller segment are Amazon.com Inc with its Kindle and Google Inc with its Nexus 7.
CEO Tim Cook, who is credited with building Apple’s Asian supply chain, has overseen several gadget launches, including the iPhone 5, the latest iPad models and the iPad mini during his first year, is under pressure to deliver the kind of product innovations that wowed consumers during Steve Jobs’ tenure to keep his company’s profit growth stellar.
Sharp, which also supplies screens for the iPhone, has been working with its main banks on a restructuring plan after posting a $ 5.6 billion loss for the past fiscal year. To secure emergency financing from lenders including Mizuho Financial Group and Mitsubishi Financial Group it had mortgaged its domestic factories and offices including the one building screens for Apple.
In December, Qualcomm Inc agreed to invest as much as $ 120 million in Sharp and the two companies said they would work to develop new power-saving screens.
(Additional reporting by Poornima Gupta in San Francisco; Writing by Tim Kelly; Editing by Ken Wills and Richard Chang)
Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News
From Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Lawrence's awkward exchange on our platform to Ben Affleck and Jeremy Renner's adorable buddy-buddy moment, ET has your rare, behind-the-scenes look beyond the camera's scope on the Golden Globes red carpet.
Pics: Candid Shots from the 2013 Golden Globes Ceremony
Watch the video above for an inside look at the wild scene!
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