Hurricane Sandy Victims Find Refuge on Timeshare Marketplace RedWeek.com

Timeshares are not only for fun vacation getaways, as evidenced by the story of RedWeek.com members Bob and Jody; left homeless by Hurricane Sandy last month. With the holidays approaching, Bob and Judy turned to leading timeshare marketplace RedWeek.com to secure a timeshare rental in New York City.Seattle, WA (PRWEB) December 19, 2012Timeshares are not only for fun vacation getaways, as evidenced...

Read More..

Pure-Ecommerce.com Introduces Its New 2013 Premier Internet Business Site Collection Featuring Upgraded Designs, Larger Product Counts, and Video and Mobile Marketing

14 New Pure-Ecommerce.com Internet Businesses for Sale in the Most Popular Niche Markets in the Online MarketplaceCARY, NC (PRWEB) December 19, 2012Pure-Ecommerce.com introduces its 2013 Premier Internet Business Site Collection. This incredible new collection of 14 internet businesses for sale has been created in some of the most popular niche markets in the online marketplace. The Collection includes:...

Read More..

Escape Villas Offers Family Vacation Rentals for the Holidays

Trade the cold winter weather in North America for a tropical Christmas vacation in Costa Rica, where travelers can spend their holidays enjoying outdoor family adventures in the comfort of an Escape Villa family vacation rental.Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica (PRWEB) December 19, 2012As the holiday season approaches, more Americans are planning to travel for Christmas compared to 2011, according to a...

Read More..

Shiny Reputation Highlights Airbnb for their Focus on Local Neighborhood Information

Shiny Reputation proclaims their opinion on the recent launch of Airbnb’s Neighborhoods program, in which they are looking to narrow the focus of their site to concentrate on services in local neighborhoods where rental properties are located.San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) December 19, 2012Shiny Reputation has issued an announcement about the launch of the Airbnb Neighborhood program, which seeks to give...

Read More..

KSL Cars Adds Contact At Once! Live Chat in Ads

Utah Dealerships Can Integrate Chat to Connect with Potential BuyersAtlanta (PRWEB) December 19, 2012Contact At Once!, the leading live chat provider connecting online and mobile car shoppers to auto dealers, today announced that it has been selected by KSL Cars, Utah’s leading online marketplace, as its exclusive provider of live chat for automotive advertising. KSL Cars will bundle Contact At Once!...

Read More..

Samsung is replacing faulty Galaxy S IIIs that are suddenly dying for no reason

Samsung (005930) is reportedly quietly replacing faulty Galaxy S III devices according to many users on XDA Developers. The issue appears to be related to the NAND becoming corrupted and killing off the Galaxy S III’s mainboard, which causes the phone to essentially “brick” itself. Users have reported the issues have affected some devices after 150-200 days after purchase. Users on XDA Developers...

Read More..

Insight: Security fears dogged Canada debate on China energy bid

OTTAWA (Reuters) - In September, two months after China's state-owned CNOOC Ltd made an unexpected $15.1 billion bid for Canadian energy company Nexen Inc, Canada's spy agency told ministers that takeovers by Chinese companies may threaten national security.The rare warning from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), which was disclosed to Reuters by intelligence sources, did not stop...

Read More..

Huawei shows off 6.1-inch Android phablet ahead of CES [video]

It looks like things are going to get worse before they start to get better. Further blurring the line between a smartphone that is too big to be used comfortably and a tablet the is too small to be used efficiently, Huawei has plans to unveil a new smartphone-tablet hybrid device at the Consumer Electronics Show in early January. The Android “phablet” was recently shown off by a Huawei executive...

Read More..

Iran says defeats cyber attack on industrial sites

DUBAI (Reuters) - An Internet virus attacked computers at industrial sites in southern Iran, in an apparent extension of a covert cyber war that initially targeted the country's nuclear facilities, an Iranian official said.Iran, the world's No. 5 oil exporter, has tightened online security since its uranium enrichment centrifuges were hit in 2010 by the Stuxnet computer worm, which Tehran believes...

Read More..

Iran media report new cyberattack by Stuxnet worm

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An Iranian semi-official news agency says there has been another cyberattack by the sophisticated computer worm Stuxnet, this time on the industries in the country's south.Tuesday's report by ISNA quotes provincial civil defense chief Ali Akbar Akhavan as saying the virus targeted a power plant and some other industries in Hormozgan province in recent months.Akhavan says Iranian...

Read More..

Twitter offers users scrapbook of past tweets

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Twitter is offering its more than 200 million users a chance to keep a digital scrapbook of all their tweets.The tool, announced this week, is designed to make it easier for people to review all their activity on Twitter's trend-setting messaging service.When it's available, the downloading option will appear at the bottom of each user's settings menu.Twitter, which is based in...

Read More..

Facebook tests charging users to send certain messages

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc unveiled a test on Thursday that charges users to send certain types of messages through the social network, the latest example of the company looking for new sources of revenue and profit.Until now, Facebook's messaging system sends the most-relevant messages, including those from users' Facebook friends, into an Inbox and siphons off less-relevant messages,...

Read More..

Twitter post offers clue to The Civil Wars' future

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — While there still remain questions about the future of The Civil Wars, there's new music on the way.Joy Williams, one half of the Grammy Award-winning duo with John Paul White, said Thursday during a Twitter chat that she was in the studio listening to new Civil Wars songs.It's a tantalizing clue to the future of the group, which appeared in doubt when a European tour unraveled...

Read More..

Facebook tests charging to route messages to inbox

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Facebook says it is testing a service that will charge users $1 to guarantee that messages they send to people they are not connected to arrive in users' inboxes, rather than in an often-ignored folder called "other."The "other" folder is where Facebook routes messages it deems less relevant. Not quite spam, these include messages from people you most likely don't know, based...

Read More..

Facebook tests $1 fee for messages to non-friends

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Facebook says it is testing a service that will charge users $1 to guarantee that messages they send to people they are not connected to arrive in users' inboxes, rather than in an often-ignored folder called "other."Launched in 2011, the "other" folder is where Facebook routes messages it deems less relevant. Not quite spam, these include messages from people you most likely...

Read More..

Delhi police say they will protect women on buses

Indian officials announced Friday a broad campaign to protect women in New Delhi following the gang rape and brutal beating of a 23-year-old student on a moving bus in the capital.Police arrested a boy Thursday night, the fifth person detained in connection with the crime, Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar said. Authorities were hunting for the final assailant, he said. Those arrested were being...

Read More..

Russia's Gazprom to buy Kyrgyz state gas company

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) — Kyrgyzstan's state-owned natural gas company says it is to be sold to Russia's energy monopoly Gazprom, raising hopes of an end to debilitating energy shortages in the impoverished Central Asian nation.Kyrgyzgaz general director Turgunbek Kulmurzayev said Friday that the sale of the company to the Russian gas giant would be completed by April 1.Last week, gas and electricity...

Read More..

Coalition soldier missing in Afghanistan

A search is under way in southern Afghanistan for a soldier from the NATO-led coalition, believed to be the first to have gone missing since a U.S. Army sergeant was captured by the Taliban more than three years ago, a military spokesman said Friday. U.S. Army Maj. Martyn Crighton said the soldier was among the 1,560 troops from the former Soviet republic of Georgia serving in the country. A statement...

Read More..

US budget negotiations setback drives stocks down

A failed attempt find a compromise in U.S. budget negotiations sent global stock markets plummeting Friday, as investors feared the world's largest economy could teeter into recession if no deal is found. Without an agreement, the U.S. economy will fall off the so-called "fiscal cliff" on Jan. 1 when Bush-era tax cuts expire and spending cuts kick in automatically. The measures were designed to have...

Read More..

Japan's next leader wants freer rein for military

Imagine that North Korea launched a missile at Japan. Tokyo could — and would certainly try to — shoot it down. But if the missile were flying overhead toward Hawaii or the continental United States, Japan would have to sit idly by. Japan's military is kept on a very short leash under a war-renouncing constitution written by U.S. officials whose main concern was keeping Japan from rearming soon after...

Read More..

Saudi website editor could face death for apostasy-rights group

RIYADH (Reuters) - The editor of a Saudi Arabian website could be sentenced to death after a judge cited him for apostasy and moved his case to a higher court, the monitoring group Human Rights Watch said on Saturday.Raif Badawi, who started the Free Saudi Liberals website to discuss the role of religion in Saudi Arabia, was arrested in June, Human Rights Watch said.Badawi had initially been charged...

Read More..

Iran a central issue for my next term: Netanyahu

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Iran's perceived nuclear threat against Israel will be the central issue concerning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government if he is re-elected in a month's time, the Israeli leader said on Saturday.Netanyahu has set out a mid-2013 "red line" for tackling Iran's uranium enrichment project. The West says this programme is aimed at developing the means to build atomic bombs....

Read More..

Obama seeks scaled-down 'fiscal cliff' agreement

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has scaled back his ambitions for a sweeping budget bargain with Republicans. Instead, he's calling for a limited measure sufficient to prevent the government from careening off the "fiscal cliff" in January by extending tax cuts for most taxpayers and forestalling a painful set of agency budget cuts.In a White House appearance Friday, Obama also called on...

Read More..

Yet another Senate race on the horizon in Mass.

BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts voters weary from one of the nation's costliest and most divisive U.S. Senate races are all but certain to find themselves thrown back into another tumultuous election now that President Barack Obama has nominated Sen. John Kerry for secretary of state.If confirmed by the Senate, as expected, Democrat Kerry would have to resign the seat he's held for nearly three decades,...

Read More..

'Fiscal cliff' leaves Boehner a wounded speaker

WASHINGTON (AP) — John Boehner is a bloodied House speaker following the startling setback that his own fractious Republican troops dealt him in their "fiscal cliff" struggle against President Barack Obama.There's plenty of internal grumbling about the Ohio Republican, especially among conservatives, and lots of buzzing about whether his leadership post is in jeopardy. But it's uncertain whether any...

Read More..

Sun Life sells U.S. annuity business, shares drop

TORONTO (Reuters) - Sun Life Financial Inc will sell its U.S. annuity business for $1.35 billion to a firm connected to Guggenheim Partners in a deal that should reduce the exposure of the insurer's earnings to market swings and boost its cash levels.While the deal could bring long-term benefits to Sun Life, whose earnings have been derailed by wild market swings during recent years, investors pulled...

Read More..

FactSet forecasts second-quarter results largely below estimates, shares fall

(Reuters) - FactSet Research Systems Inc reported lower-than-expected first-quarter revenue, and the financial information provider forecast current-quarter results largely below estimates as banks and brokerages cut costs.FactSet shares fell 5 percent before the bell on Tuesday.The company, which provides data to portfolio managers, research analysts and investment bankers, forecast second-quarter...

Read More..

News Corp files with U.S. regulators to split company

(Reuters) - Rupert Murdoch's News Corp formally applied to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to separate its publishing and entertainment assets into two independent, publicly traded companies.The new News Corp will comprise a range of newspaper brands, information and integrated marketing services, digital real estate services, book publishing, digital education, and sports programming...

Read More..

GE to buy aviation unit of Italy's Avio for $4.3B

FAIRFIELD, Conn. (AP) — Industrial conglomerate General Electric plans to buy the aviation business of Italian manufacturer Avio for $4.3 billion to grow its jet propulsion business and strengthen its supply chain.The Fairfield, Conn., company said Friday that it wants to build its supply chain as it ramps up engine production. The deal also gives GE a chance to offer Avio products outside the aviation...

Read More..

Pinnacle to buy Ameristar Casinos for about $869M

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Pinnacle Entertainment is buying Ameristar Casinos for about $869 million, plus taking on its $1.9 billion in debt.If approved by shareholders and regulators, the deal would more than double Pinnacle's casino and resort holdings to 17 in the United States.Pinnacle will pay $26.50 for each share of Ameristar Casinos Inc. That's a 20 percent premium over the company's Thursday closing...

Read More..

Futures tumble on stalemate in Washington

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock futures are moving sharply lower after GOP leaders unexpectedly postponed a vote on legislation that would raise taxes on wealthier Americans, bringing the country closer to the so-called fiscal cliff.Dow Jones industrial futures are down 163 points to 13,104. The broader S&P futures have given up 19 points to 1,421.60. Nasdaq futures are down 34.50 points to 2,665.50.House...

Read More..

Obama vows to press ahead on fiscal cliff solution

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says he'll press ahead with Congress in hopes of preventing across-the-board tax increases set to strike taxpayers Jan. 1 after House GOP leaders unexpectedly put off a vote on legislation calling for higher rates on million-dollar earners Thursday evening.The measure "did not have sufficient support from our members to pass," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio,...

Read More..

Italian court overturns Google convictions

MILAN (AP) — An Italian appeals court has overturned the convictions of three Google executives who had been charged for a video on a Google site that showed a disabled teen being bullied.Google called Friday's ruling "a total victory."A lower court in 2010 held the executives criminally responsible for the posting of the video.The verdict raised concerns that Internet platforms could be forced to...

Read More..

Nokia, RIM settle old disputes in new patent pact

HELSINKI (AP) — Nokia Corp. and Canadian smartphone rival Research In Motion have agreed on a new patent licensing pact which will end all existing litigation between the two struggling companies, the Finnish firm said Friday.The agreement includes a "one-time payment and on-going payments, all from RIM to Nokia," Nokia said, but did not disclose "confidential" terms.Last month, Nokia sued the Blackberry...

Read More..

Steve Jobs' yacht caught up in payment spat

AMSTERDAM (AP) — The sleek, white superyacht Apple founder Steve Jobs commissioned before his death cannot leave the Netherlands just yet due to a payment disputeJobs collaborated on designing the 78.2-meter (256-foot) all-aluminum "Venus," which has a minimalist aesthetic, with French product designer Philippe Starck. Dutch newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad reported Friday that Starck hired a debt...

Read More..

Making money: Renting in retirement, and more

R enting in retirementOlder homeowners are often urged to sell their big family house and buy a smaller one. But for some, it might make more sense to rent, said Jeff Brown at The Street. "Clearly, this goes against the grain." But renting requires less cash up front than a purchase, which is appealing if you have "a special need" for extra cash or a "juicy investment opportunity." Renting...

Read More..