NHL owners unanimously approve labor deal

NEW YORK (AP) — NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman felt all the anger directed toward him as the lockout dragged on and threatened to wipe out the entire hockey season.So when he stood on a podium bearing the league shield on Wednesday and announced that the owners unanimously approved the labor deal reached over the weekend with the players' association, he also took the time to mend badly damaged fences."To...

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NHL players to begin voting Thursday

NEW YORK (AP) — NHL players will have 36 hours from Thursday night until Saturday morning to vote on the new labor deal that would end the four-month lockout.The players' association announced that electronic voting will begin Thursday at 8 p.m. EST and will last until Saturday at 8 a.m. The union said it will announce the result after voting is finished.If a majority of the more than 700 players...

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Sabres G Miller calls NHL lockout 'waste of time'

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — After rejoining his Buffalo Sabres teammates on the ice for the first time in some nine months, goalie Ryan Miller had a few lingering frustrations to get off his chest regarding the NHL lockout."The best thing to do is acknowledge that it was stupid," Miller said Friday, before turning his attention to Sabres fans. "I appreciate their patience. I know it's a hard situation....

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Patent trolls’ latest gambit: Sue businesses if they dare to use office scanners

We’ve seen a lot of ridiculous claims asserted by patent trolls over the past few years, but this one truly takes the cake: Ars Technica reports that an entity called “Project Paperless LLC” has been sending out letters to small and medium-sized businesses demanding licensing fees for using office scanners capable of sending PDFs via email. Steven Vicinanza, founder of Atlanta-based IT services provider...

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Typical American without a landline: A 27-year old Latino living in Columbus, Ohio

The statistical study compiled by NHIS about landline and mobile phone usage in American households is a pretty fascinating read. The number of U.S. adults with a mobile phone but no landline rose to 34% in the first half of 2012. That percentage is ticking up roughly two points every six months — a fairly rapid clip. The number of adults with a landline but no mobile phone plunged below 8% according...

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Microsoft lashes out at Google’s decision to spurn Windows Phone

Dave Heiner, vice president and deputy general counsel for Microsoft (MSFT), took aim at Google (GOOG) and the company’s unwillingness to develop for Windows Phone 8 in a blog post on Wednesday. Heiner claims that, “Google continues to prevent Microsoft from offering consumers a fully featured YouTube app [among other] for the Windows Phone.” Microsoft has been apparently been trying to get a full-feature...

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British soldier killed in latest 'insider attack' in Afghanistan

• A daily summary of global reports on security issues.A man wearing an Afghan National Army uniform opened fire on on fellow Afghan troops and British coalition forces in Helmand Province yesterday, killing at least one British soldier in the first insider attack of 2013. The shooting shines the spotlight once again on concerns about the Afghan National Army's ability to assume responsibility for...

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France's 'boys will be boys' mentality challenges gender equality

The flip side of feminism in France is a very flip attitude that being macho is an excuse that rightly covers many sins.The French may duly proclaim and agree with gender equality and modern feminist notions. But in practice, those ideas run up against a powerful, culturally sanctioned "old-boy mentality" in Paris – an attitude, often held among power elites of both sexes, that "boys will be boys."Recommended:...

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Do French women need feminism?

When ex-model and former French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy made comments in the December issue of Paris Vogue declaring, "My generation doesn't need feminism," Anne-Cécile Mailfert, one of many French women catching the news on her iPhone, was aghast."What? No way! We have to do something," she characterizes the collective response of the organization she serves as spokesperson for, Osez Le Féminisme...

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Armstrong to break silence in Oprah interview

(Reuters) - Lance Armstrong will break his silence about his lifetime ban from cycling and the doping charges made against him in a televised interview with Oprah Winfrey next week, the television presenter announced on Tuesday.The interview, to be broadcast on the Oprah Winfrey Network on January 17, will be the first the American cyclist has conducted since receiving his ban and being stripped...

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