Google Maps finally comes to iOS. Again [updated]






Apple has had quite a bumpy car ride so far with it’s mapping product. That all ends in just a couple hours, however, because late Wednesday evening Google is planning on bringing Maps back to iOS with the release of the company’s own software. AllThingsD is reporting that Google’s app will be available for download in the App Store shortly, and we’ll provide some initial thoughts on it soon after.


UPDATE: Google Maps is now available on Apple’s App Store for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.






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Gadgets News Headlines – Yahoo! News


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EXCLUSIVE: Brandi Glanville Releases Book Cover

Brandi Glanville's upcoming book, Drinking and Tweeting: And Other Brandi Blunders, is picking up buzz in the Twittersphere what with The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star's notorious back-and-forths with LeAnn Rimes, and ET has an exclusive first look at the cover art of the hardcover.

RELATED: Brandi Says Her Son Got Sick Eating LeAnn's Laxatives

The book supposedly details Brandi's split from ex-husband Eddie Cibrian (who's now married to LeAnn Rimes), telling the story from her point of view.

In an interview with Fox 411, Brandi described the book, saying, "It's a cautionary tale about breaking up and making sure that before you become part of a 'we' you have to become an 'I' and I wasn't. It's just a tale of what I went through, the mistakes I made, what I'd do differently, the things that I did that I'm proud of. There's a lot of embarrassing detail. I want people to not be embarrassed going through breakups and divorces, to know what to do before they get involved in a relationship."

Drinking and Tweeting will be released February 12.

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NY voters want legalized marijuana, stricter building codes post-Sandy








ALBANY - Legalize it.

Most New York voters favor legalizing marijuana, but by a slim 51-44 majority, according a new poll.

Quinnipiac University found the younger the voters, the higher they are on the idea, with 62 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds favoring legalization.

Meantime homeowners and businesses destroyed by Hurricane Sandy should rebuild to stricter building codes, according to 65 percent of voters - including 68 percent in the city and 67 percent on Long Island, the hardest hit regions.

Eight percent think destroyed structures shouldn't be rebuilt at all, the Dec. 5-10 telephone survey of 1,302 voters found.




While 74 percent say they're concerned about climate change and two thirds expect their community to be hit by a major storm in the next decade, only 45 percent think Sandy actually resulted from climate change. Half of voters didn't - including 83 percent of Republicans.

Voters are split on fracking - and on Gov. Cuomo's non-decision so far on the controversial issue.

The poll found 44 percent support drilling for natural gas upstate because of potential economic benefits while 42 percent are opposed for fear of environmental damage.

Most favor a tax on gas drilling companies (54-32 percent) and believe high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing will create jobs (78-15 percent), while half think the practice of fracturing shale with a pressurized chemical, water and sand mix to extract gas will damage the environment (50-17 percent).

On Cuomo, 26 percent say he's “carefully evaluating the issue" while 25 percent accuse him of “dragging his feet."

Four of every five voters favor raising the minimum wage (80-18), with strong support even among Republicans (61-38). And 43 percent even support an increase above the $8.50 an hour Cuomo and fellow Democrats have proposed.

Still, 49 percent think small businesses will reduce hiring if the minimum wage is raised to 44 percent who don't.










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Lennar to borrow $1.7 billion from Chinese bank




















Miami-based Lennar Corp. has gotten approval on $1.7 billion in loans from China Development Bank to fund the development and construction of two major projects in San Francisco, according to a person familiar with the transaction.

The contract, set to close by Dec. 31 subject to various conditions, would mark the first U.S. loan by the big state-owned Chinese bank. One condition — tagged the “Chinese component”— is that China Railway Construction Corp. be included as a general contracting partner in the project, the person said.

Closing by year’s end is crucial because of new tax rules set to take effect, the person added.





The agreement, first reported in The Wall Street Journal, would provide funding for the first six years of what is envisioned to be a 20-year project.

The loan agreement, reached Dec. 7 after Lennar officials met in China with bank officials, provides for $1 billion in financing to a partnership led by Lennar to redevelop Hunters Point Shipyard-Candlestick Point, a site in southeast San Francisco spanning more than 700 acres, the person said. Plans for the mixed-use community call for nearly 12,000 residential units on the site. Construction is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2013.

Under the pact, the Chinese bank would provide another $700 million to a partnership of Lennar, Stockbridge Capital Group and Wilson Meany, a real estate investment and development firm, to redevelop Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Islands in San Francisco Bay. Some 8,000 units of housing are planned for the mixed-use project on 535 acres. The U.S. Navy is set to turn over the first parcel of land to the development company in late 2013.





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Parents of students at Broward school warned of Legionnaires’ Disease exposure




















Parents of students at Olsen Middle School in Dania Beach were being informed on Tuesday that their children may have been exposed to someone diagnosed with Legionnaires’ Disease, Broward School District officials said.

The person with Legionnaires’ Disease was not a student, district spokeswoman Nadine Drew said. They did not say if the infected person was a teacher.

Automated ‘robo-calls’ were made to the telephones of Olsen Middle School parents that explained how the district was working with the Broward Health Department





To read the entire Sun Sentinel story click here.





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Pope Benedict offers blessings with his first tweet






VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – After weeks of anticipation, Pope Benedict sent his first tweet on Wednesday.


“Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart.”






The tweet was sent when the 85-year-old pope tapped on a touch screen at the end of his weekly general audience in the Vatican before thousands of people.


(Reporting By Philip Pullella, editing by Paul Casciato)


Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News


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Hugh Hefner's Fiancee Shows Off Engagement Ring

If the size of the diamond is any indication of Hugh Hefner's love for bride-to-be Crystal Harris, it's a safe bet to say that he's head over heels.

RELATED: Hugh Hefner Gets Marriage License?

Harris revealed her engagement ring on Tuesday, via her Twitter feed.

"My beautiful ring from [Hugh Hefner]," Crystal posted along with photos of the giant sparkler.

The couple is reportedly planning to wed on New Year's Eve.

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More NY voters want coalition to run state Senate, say no to Hillary Clinton for mayor








ALBANY — Hail to the chiefs!

More New York voters prefer a bipartisan coalition to run the state Senate than outright control by Democrats or Republicans, according to a new poll.

Quinnipiac University found 48 percent favor a power-sharing coalition — as Senate Republicans and five breakaway Democrats have formed — to 31 percent backing a Democratic majority and 17 percent GOP control.

And 53 percent called such an alliance a "good way to create effective government," while 30 percent call it a power grab, the survey found.

The poll also found:

- Voters disagree with Mayor Bloomberg's suggestion that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton succeed him, with 51-46 opposition in the city to the former first lady and ex-U.S. senator from New York running for mayor and 58-36 opposition statewide.




- 73 percent of voters say government corruption is a "very serious" or "somewhat serious" problem in New York.

- Voters oppose by 51-39 public financing of state campaigns, as Gov. Cuomo and fellow Democrats have pushed.

The Dec. 5-10 telephone survey of 1,302 voters followed last week's announcement of an agreement under which Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos of Long Island and Independent Democratic Conference leader Jeff Klein of The Bronx will share equal power in running the Senate when the new legislative session begins next month.

For now, voters still disapprove of the job the state legislature is doing by 46-35 percent.

“Maybe the new coalition leadership in the state Senate finally will lift the state legislature out of the job approval swamp," said poll spokesman Maurice Carroll.

Yet Cuomo hit his all-time high for job approval in a Quinnipiac poll at 74 percent. Just 13 percent disapproved of his performance, while 80 percent rated his handling of Hurricane Sandy "excellent" or "good."

Newly-re-elected U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) also notched her highest job approval rating ever, 61-18, with Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) at 63-23.










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With spam, it’s better not to give or receive




















Q. Recently I’ve been unable to send emails from my home email address. In addition, my incoming email contains several notices of undeliverable emails that I didn’t send that are addressed to people I don’t know. I suspect that my computer is infected by some malicious software and is being used to send spam email — and that those that are undeliverable are being returned. What should I do?

Joseph Campbell Burnsville, Minn.

I agree that your PC has been taken over by hackers and is being used to send spam.





The fact that you aren’t able to send emails from your home account supports this theory, since it indicates that your Internet service provider believes you are spamming and has temporarily blocked your ability to send email to anyone.

I suggest you download and run the free version of security program Malwarebytes (go to www.tinyurl.com/cwbd73f and click “free download.”) If that doesn’t work, try Windows System Restore to eliminate recently installed software (see www.tinyurl.com/y9q9apj and www.tinyurl.com/ykgps6.) Then call your Internet service provider; explain what happened and what you’ve done to fix it. If your PC is clean, you’ll be allowed to send email again.Q. I’ve recently received a lot of spam, including some that appear to be from people I know — except that the messages come from the wrong email address. How does a spammer use a familiar name with a fake email address and send it to me?

Also, is there a way to find out the identity of the people who send spam emails? I’ve read that the email address of the sender is not always accurate.

Ginger Bramlett Rockwall, Texas

The bogus email that appeared to be from your friend, but came from the wrong email address, is from a spammer who is trying to trick you into opening the email.

Why did this happen? Your friend’s email may have been hacked and his or her address book stolen, providing the spammer with a host of addresses where an email bearing your friend’s name might be opened by the recipient.

It’s hard to find out who actually sent spam, because originating email addresses are easy to fake.

I suggest you send these emails to your spam filter so that you and others may be spared at least some spam in the future. In addition, your Internet service provider allows you to block spam that comes from a specific domain name — the part of the email address that follows the symbol, such as Yahoo.com. See www.tinyurl.com/cxmq4m7.





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South Florida pols sticking to party lines on fiscal cliff




















Don’t expect South Florida’s congressional delegation to stray too far from party lines when it comes to dancing on the edge of the fiscal cliff, the end-of-the-year spending cuts and tax increases set to take effect if Congress and the president don’t address them.

Democrats are firmly with President Barack Obama, whose proposal seeks to raise $600 billion over a decade by eliminating tax deductions and $960 billion over the same period by raising tax rates for the top 2 percent of income earners. Many Democrats sounded as though the highly charged presidential campaign was still under way.

Republicans are just as committed to their party.





There’s been "no evidence thus far" that Republicans are truly interested in the middle class, said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, of Weston, who the president just asked again to head the Democratic National Committee.

"We need to continue to focus on rebuilding our economy from the middle class out," she said during an appearance on MSNBC.

"President Obama talked eloquently and passionately during the campaign about making sure that we can get a handle on this deficit, that we can rebuild our economy from the middle class out, that we can focus on creating jobs and getting the economy turned around," she added.

Equally firm: South Florida Democratic Reps. Alcee Hastings, of Miramar and Frederica Wilson, of Miami. Both are members of the Congressional Black Caucus, which released a statement of principles this week calling for the Bush-era tax cuts to expire on the wealthiest Americans.

Social Security should be completely off the table, the caucus warned, and it said it would oppose any plans that change the eligibility for Medicare or cut Medicaid, the statement said.

Some Democrats made conciliatory moves, however. Sen. Bill Nelson said that during his campaign, voters told him they want consensus and an end to partisan gridlock.

"They want bipartisanship," he said in a video message. "They want to stop the ideological rigidity."

It’s the only way to rebuild the economy and reduce the federal deficit, while preserving Social Security and Medicare, he said. He called on people of both political parties "to reach across the aisle and work together so America doesn’t go over the cliff."

That’s unlikely to come from his Republican counterpart, Sen. Marco Rubio, who along with former vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin was featured in a speech this week in Washington.

Rubio blamed the "complicated and uncertain tax code" for "hindering the creation of middle-class jobs." He gave no hint he would be interested in supporting the president’s tax proposal on the wealthiest Americans.

"You can’t open or grow a business if your taxes are too high or too uncertain. And that’s why I personally oppose the president’s plan to raise taxes," Rubio said. "This isn’t about a pledge. It isn’t about protecting millionaires and billionaires. For me, it’s about the fact that the tax increases he wants would fail to make even a small dent in the debt but it would hurt middle-class businesses and the people who work for them."

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, of Miami, was one of the few Republicans from South Florida to suggest she’d be open to tax reform, saying there needs to be a review of the tax code "to remove special interest tax loopholes used by the wealthy."

But she warned that the country’s debt exists "not because tax rates are too low, but because government spends too much."

Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, also of Miami, said he was less optimistic about a resolution now than he was right after the election.

He said he feels as though Republicans have moved closer to the president without getting credit for it.

"I’m very disappointed with the president’s response," he said in an interview.

"The speaker put forward a proposal, and whether you agree with it or not, there are a couple of things beyond debate: He’s gotten closer to the president’s position."

Even those on their way out of Congress made no move to cross party lines. Republican Rep. Allen West, of Plantation, who was ousted by Democrat Patrick Murphy, warned constituents in a letter that he didn’t think there was a true plan to reduce spending.

Rep. David Rivera, a Republican who lost his re-election bid and who will be replaced by Democrat Joe Garcia, did not respond to a request for comment.





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