Oppo BDP-105: Not your average Blu-ray player

The Oppo BDP-105 Blu-ray, SACD, and DVD-Audio player(Credit:Oppo)Even by Oppo's high standards the BDP-105 is an extraordinary Blu-ray player. Sure, it's loaded with up-to-the-second features -- 4K upscaling, 2D-to-3D conversion, and a high-quality USB 2.0 digital-to-analog converter -- but what really makes the Oppo special is the sound. Pop the cover and look inside and you'll see why. Most of the...

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Hackers take over gov't website to avenge Aaron Swartz

This screenshot shows the website of the U.S. Sentencing Commission after it was hijacked by the hacker-activist group Anonymous, early Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013, to avenge the death of Aaron Swartz, an Internet activist who committed suicide. The website of the commission, an independent agency of the judicial branch, was replaced with a message warning that when Swartz killed himself two weeks ago...

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Cops Using More Private Cameras to Nab Suspects

Philadelphia detectives were able to quickly make an arrest in the murder and burning of a female pediatrician by viewing surveillance video of nearby stores and a hospital that captured the suspect entering the doctor's home and later getting into his truck.In the hours after Dr. Melissa Ketunuti's body was found strangled and burning in her basement, city's Homicide Task Force...

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At least 22 die in Egyptian clashes over death sentences

PORT SAID, Egypt/CAIRO (Reuters) - At least 22 people died on Saturday when Egyptians rampaged in protest at the sentencing of 21 people to death over a soccer stadium disaster, adding to bloody street turmoil confronting Islamist President Mohamed Mursi. Armored vehicles and military police fanned through the streets of Port Said after the violence. The state news agency quoted a general...

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Bangladesh garment factory fire kills six workers

DHAKA: At least female six workers were killed Saturday after a blaze swept through a small garment factory in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, police and fire officials said.The latest fire comes two months after the country's deadliest garment factory blaze that killed 111 workers and put the spotlight on the industry's appalling safety and labour issues.Fire officials on Saturday said...

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Square COO Rabois steps down; CFO becomes acting replacement

Square chief operating officer Keith Rabois has stepped down from his post.Rabois issued a statement yesterday that was obtained by All Things Digital, saying that "it is better at this point for me to be doing something different every day," adding that he "will have more to share" about his future plans "soon."Square has announced that CFO Sarah Friar will temporarily replace Rabois until a final...

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Court: Obama appointments are unconstitutional

President Barack Obama violated the Constitution when he bypassed the Senate to fill vacancies on a labor relations panel, a federal appeals court panel ruled Friday. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said that Obama did not have the power to make three recess appointments last year to the National Labor Relations Board. The unanimous decision is an embarrassing...

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Unplanned Pregnancies Hurt Military Women

Women in the military have access to some of the nation's best health care, which includes free birth control. But a new study shows that many women are not using it and the rate of unintended pregnancy is double that of the general population.And today, with the Department of Defense having just ended its longtime ban on women serving in combat roles, an unplanned pregnancy...

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North Korea threatens war with South over U.N. sanctions

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea threatened to attack rival South Korea if Seoul joined a new round of tightened U.N. sanctions, as Washington unveiled more of its own economic restrictions following Pyongyang's rocket launch last month. In a third straight day of fiery rhetoric, the North directed its verbal onslaught at its neighbor on Friday, saying: "'Sanctions' mean a war and a declaration...

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A*STAR scientist wins Singapore Challenge at Global Young Scientists Summit

SINGAPORE: A research scientist at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) has won the Singapore Challenge medallion at the inaugural Global Young Scientists Summit@one-north (GYSS).Dr Lynette Cheah was presented with a medallion by President Tony Tan and awarded a prize of US$100,000 to pursue her research interests.She submitted a proposal on building a transportation...

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The strange resurrection of Net neutrality

WASHINGTON, D.C.--At this week's State of the Net conference, an annual event of the bipartisan Congressional Internet Caucus, members of Congress, staffers, and technology policy junkies gathered once again to explore the government's Internet-related priorities for the new year. A few themes emerged, including possible legislation over cybersecurity, a rewrite of the 1996 Communications Act, reforming...

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Polar air mass keeps icy grip on Northeast

PORTLAND, Maine Polar air settled in earnest over the Northeast after trekking through the Midwest, grinding trains to a halt, bursting pipes and bringing further misery to folks still trying to recover from superstorm Sandy. The coldest temperatures were expected to continue Thursday, after which conditions should slowly moderate before returning to normal, said John Koch, a meteorologist with...

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Exterminator Charged in Pa. Doctor's Murder

Philadelphia-area exterminator Joseph Smith was arrested and charged today in the strangling and burning death of pediatrician Melissa Ketunuti.Smith, 36, had been sent to Ketunuti's home on a service call, where the two got into "some kind of argument" in Ketunuti's basement on Monday, Capt. James Clark of the Philadelphia police department said this morning."At her home they...

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North Korea to target U.S. with nuclear, rocket tests

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Thursday it would carry out further rocket launches and a nuclear test that would target the United States, dramatically stepping up its threats against a country it called its "sworn enemy". The announcement by the country's top military body came a day after the U.N. Security Council agreed to a U.S.-backed resolution to censure and sanction North...

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Plans to build upon the good work of predecessor: Koh Poh Koon

SINGAPORE: The People's Action Party's (PAP) candidate for the Punggol East by-election Koh Poh Koon has emphasised that he has plans for Punggol East residents and build upon the good work of his predecessor.Addressing the last PAP rally on Thursday evening, Dr Koh said his plans include mobilising youths to assist the vulnerable, complete the upgrading of Rivervale Plaza, have a Community...

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CES, Kickstarter hit Pebble smartwatch starts launching

The Pebble Smartwatch is shipping now.(Credit:Pebble)The Pebble smartwatch that excited Kickstarter users and impressed more than a few CES attendees earlier this month, has started shipping.Pebble announced the news on its Kickstarter page today, saying that the first batch of its units -- a little under 500 -- are being sent out to its earliest backers. The company said that it had hoped to ship...

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Deep freeze grips Midwest, slides toward Northeast

MADISON, Wis. The Upper Midwest remained locked in a deep freeze Wednesday as the bitter temperatures crept eastward where at least one mountain resort warned it was too cold even to ski. Overnight, ice-covered Chicago firefighters spent hours fighting a massive fire at a warehouse on the city's South Side, hindered by the single digit chill. The cold snap arrived Saturday night as waves of Arctic...

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Clinton Answers for Benghazi Security Failures

Outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stood her ground today, telling Senate Foreign Relations Committee that cuts to State Department funding have hampered efforts to secure diplomatic outposts around the world.Citing a report by the department's Accountability Review Board on the security failures that led to the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi, Libya, during an...

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Cameron promises Britons straight choice on EU exit

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron promised on Wednesday to give Britons a referendum choice on whether to stay in the European Union or leave if he wins an election in 2015, placing a question mark over Britain's membership for years. Cameron ended months of speculation by announcing in a speech the plan for a vote sometime between 2015 and the end of 2017, shrugging off...

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WP responds to criticism, promotes Lee in final rally

SINGAPORE: The Workers' Party (WP) held its third and final rally for the Punggol East by-election on Wednesday evening.Speakers made a concerted attempt to convince voters that the party's candidate Lee Li Lian is best suited to represent residents in Parliament.Non-constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) Gerald Giam responded to Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean's comments that WP...

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Giottos: Honey, I shrunk the tripod

Good news for shutterbug travelers with limited luggage space: Popular tripod maker Giottos has just released a new range of "YTL" tripods that utilize a new Y-shaped center column design that's 30 percent smaller than the cylindrical columns found in typical tripods. This allows the tripod legs to be tucked into the center column closer, making the tripod more compact and allowing it to be easily...

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U.K. grandma gets death sentence in Bali

BALI An Indonesian court sentenced a British grandmother to death on Tuesday for smuggling cocaine worth $2.5 million in her suitcase onto the resort island of Bali — even though prosecutors had sought only a 15-year sentence. Lindsay June Sandiford, 56, wept when judges handed down the sentence and declined to speak to reporters on her way back to prison, covering her face with a floral scarf....

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Group Finds More Fake Ingredients in Popular Foods

It's what we expect as shoppers—what's in the food will be displayed on the label.But a new scientific examination by the non-profit food fraud detectives the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP), discovered rising numbers of fake ingredients in products from olive oil to spices to fruit juice."Food products are not always what they purport to be," Markus Lipp, senior director...

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