Facebook (FB) announced on Tuesday that it will begin opening Facebook Messenger to consumers who do not have a Facebook account, starting in countries like India and South Africa, and later rolling out the service in the United States and Europe. This is a belated acknowledgement of a staggering strategic mistake Facebook made two years ago. That is when the messaging app competition was still wide open and giants like Facebook or Google (GOOG) could have entered the competition. WhatsApp, the leading messaging app firm, had just 1 million users as late as December 2009. By the end of 2010, that number had grown to 10 million. Right now, it likely tops 200 million, though there is no current official number
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IHT Rendezvous: India Is Not a Secular Republic
Label: WorldMUMBAI — “Twenty” is somehow a newsworthy round number and it is inevitable that the 20th anniversary of an event that shook India will be observed by the nation with deeper introspection than usual on this Dec. 6. On this date in 1992, a mob of Hindu demonstrators tore down the Babri Masjid, a mosque more than 450 years old that they claimed was built over a Hindu temple. Hundreds of Muslims and Hindus died. Using the anniversary of this tragedy as the peg, my latest column questions India’s constitutional claim and aspiration that it is a secular republic.
Secularism is a noble idea but in practice. The fundamental nature of believers has triumphed over a grand idea and India does not want to concede this reality. It is not a fatal conflict, but a deep fault-line that will long endure, a problem that will never have an easy resolution.
The biologist and writer Richard Dawkins once said, ‘‘We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.’’ The first part of this statement is at the heart of India’s struggle with the idea of the secular republic. Indian intellectuals who espouse the importance of secularism are almost all atheists or agnostics. They are not the core of the nation. They are not the ‘‘temple-goers,” to borrow from the title of the Indian writer Aatish Taseer’s novel.
People infatuated with the idea that India is secular point to some extraordinary people, usually Hindus, who fight dangerous fundamentalists of their own faith to procure justice for Muslims who have faced atrocities. For instance, the daring social activists who have been working for years in the western state of Gujarat to bring to justice powerful politicians accused of engineering the 2002 riots — including Narendra Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat. In fact, one of Mr. Modi’s former ministers, Maya Kodnani, has been sentenced to 28 years in prison for her role in the riots. Are these activists examples of a secular nation?
No. These heroes and their pursuits would not be required in a truly secular nation, and people who accused of mass murder would not win elections by huge mandates in the first place.
PlayStation 3 was the world’s No.1 Netflix streaming device this year
Label: TechnologyThere are dozens of devices that can stream Netflix (NFLX), but only one can machine be crowned the king of the living room. According to Netflix, that device is Sony’s (SNE) PlayStation 3 console. Without revealing any specific figures, Netflix announced on its blog “in the U.S. and globally, PS3 is the largest TV-connected platform in terms of Netflix viewing” and that “at times, PS3 even surpassed the PC in hours of Netflix enjoyment to become our No. 1 platform overall.”
Netflix’s blog is quick to mention why the PS3 is the most popular streaming device this year, applauding it for being the first console to have 1080p HD video and 5.1-channel Dolby Digital Plus surround sound, post-play, second screen controls, subtitles and easy app updates.
While the Xbox 360 is gaining ground in terms of how many hours users spend watching videos on it, streaming video services such as Netflix requires an Xbox LIVE Gold subscription. One reason why the PlayStation 3 might be leading Netflix streaming is because it doesn’t require a subscription fee to have access to the Netflix app, or any other streaming video app such as Amazon (AMZN) Instant Video.
“The PlayStation and Netflix communities both share a strong passion for high quality entertainment,” Sony Computer Entertainment of America CEO and president Jack Tretton said. “Netflix provides a fantastic experience for watching TV shows and movies on PS3, and our joint development will continue to produce innovations for our customers that further demonstrate PS3 as the true home for entertainment in the living room.”
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Gaming News Headlines – Yahoo! News
Shania Twain & Jennifer Lopez: Looking Bangin' in Bodysuits
Label: Lifestyle
Stylewatch
Style News Now
12/04/2012 at 10:00 AM ET
Arnulfo Franco/AP (2)
If this is what being in your 40s looks like, then sign us up now!
Shania Twain kicked off her Las Vegas residency over the weekend, taking the stage at Caesars Palace in a shimmering skintight bodysuit.
“The show is very fun for me,” Twain, 47, told reporters. “I was a bit worried that we were staying in the same place. Was I going to lose that edge? But I’ve never had a show this exciting before.”
Her glimmering look called to mind the Zuhair Murad bodysuit Jennifer Lopez, 43, wore while touring the world this summer. “My utmost wish is for each costume to create a ‘Wow!’ effect the moment she steps on stage,” Murad told PEOPLE at the time. “Jennifer has a beautiful body and wears each look perfectly.”
Yes, we know, there are likely rigorous workouts, serious shapewear, personal chefs and good genes involved in looking this hot in a bodysuit, but we’re giving major props to these women anyway. May we have bodies that look even half that great when we hit that age!
PHOTOS: SEE MORE STARS IN SIMILAR LOOKS IN ‘FASHION FACEOFF’
CDC says US flu season starts early, could be bad
Label: HealthNEW YORK (AP) — Flu season in the U.S. is off to its earliest start in nearly a decade — and it could be a bad one.
Health officials on Monday said suspected flu cases have jumped in five Southern states, and the primary strain circulating tends to make people sicker than other types. It is particularly hard on the elderly.
"It looks like it's shaping up to be a bad flu season, but only time will tell," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The good news is that the nation seems fairly well prepared, Frieden said. More than a third of Americans have been vaccinated, and the vaccine formulated for this year is well-matched to the strains of the virus seen so far, CDC officials said.
Higher-than-normal reports of flu have come in from Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas. An uptick like this usually doesn't happen until after Christmas. Flu-related hospitalizations are also rising earlier than usual, and there have already been two deaths in children.
Hospitals and urgent care centers in northern Alabama have been bustling. "Fortunately, the cases have been relatively mild," said Dr. Henry Wang, an emergency medicine physician at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Parts of Georgia have seen a boom in traffic, too. It's not clear why the flu is showing up so early, or how long it will stay.
"My advice is: Get the vaccine now," said Dr. James Steinberg, an Emory University infectious diseases specialist in Atlanta.
The last time a conventional flu season started this early was the winter of 2003-04, which proved to be one of the most lethal seasons in the past 35 years, with more than 48,000 deaths. The dominant type of flu back then was the same one seen this year.
One key difference between then and now: In 2003-04, the vaccine was poorly matched to the predominant flu strain. Also, there's more vaccine now, and vaccination rates have risen for the general public and for key groups such as pregnant women and health care workers.
An estimated 112 million Americans have been vaccinated so far, the CDC said. Flu vaccinations are recommended for everyone 6 months or older.
On average, about 24,000 Americans die each flu season, according to the CDC.
Flu usually peaks in midwinter. Symptoms can include fever, cough, runny nose, head and body aches and fatigue. Some people also suffer vomiting and diarrhea, and some develop pneumonia or other severe complications.
A strain of swine flu that hit in 2009 caused a wave of cases in the spring and then again in the early fall. But that was considered a unique type of flu, distinct from the conventional strains that circulate every year.
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Online:
CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly
Wall Street little changed before next "cliff" signal
Label: BusinessNEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks were little changed on Tuesday as the market awaited developments in negotiations in Washington to avert a "fiscal cliff" that could push the U.S. economy into recession.
Republicans in Congress proposed steep spending cuts to bring down the budget deficit on Monday but gave no ground on President Barack Obama's call to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans, and the proposal was quickly dismissed by the White House.
The market has been subject to swings in reaction to the proposals floated so far by politicians. Still, many investors expect the two sides to come up with a deal before the year-end deadline, which could trigger a rally in equities.
"Investors everywhere are focused on what is happening here related to the fiscal cliff and the risk that nothing will happen," said Gail Dudack, Chief Investment Strategist, Dudack Research Group in New York.
"From what I have seen, there is a consensus that something will happen. Maybe if it is not ideal, something will happen."
Differences within the Republican Party over how to engage with the Democrats came to the fore on Tuesday as one senator opposed to raising taxes lashed out at House Speaker and fellow Republican John Boehner for proposing to increase revenue by closing some tax loopholes.
Despite the sudden moves in the market, a measure of investor anxiety has held surprisingly flat.
The CBOE volatility index <.vix>, a gauge of market anxiety, was at 17 but has not traded above 20 since July following its 2012 high near 28 hit in June. The VIX's 10-day Average True Range, an internal volatility measure, is at its lowest since early 2007.
Obama will meet with U.S. governors at the White House on Tuesday to talk about the fiscal cliff, a $600 billion package of tax hikes and federal spending cuts that would begin January 1.
The president is also expected to talk about the fiscal cliff during an interview scheduled for 12:30 p.m. (1730 GMT) on Bloomberg TV.
Coach
The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> rose 27.92 points, or 0.22 percent, to 12,993.52. The S&P 500 <.spx> edged up 0.44 points, or 0.03 percent, to 1,409.90. The Nasdaq Composite <.ixic> fell 4.44 points, or 0.15 percent, to 2,997.76.
Darden Restaurants Inc
In contrast, Big Lots Inc
Toll Brothers
MetroPCS Communications
Shares of Pep Boys-Manny Moe and Jack
(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Kenneth Barry)
Malaysia Urged to Protect Domestic Workers
Label: World
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysia must punish the recruitment agents accused of forcing more than 100 foreign women to work as domestic help without pay and enforce laws to protect migrant workers, the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur and a migrant workers’ support group said on Monday.
Malaysian immigration officers on Saturday rescued 105 women, mostly Indonesians, who said they had been forced to work as domestic helpers and at food stalls, been given little food and been confined to a four-story building at night in the port town of Klang, near Kuala Lumpur.
“A few of them said they had been beaten by the supervisors,” said Chandran Muniandy, the assistant deputy director of immigration in Klang. “They locked them up. They couldn’t go anywhere.”
Some of the women in the group, which included 95 Indonesians, 6 Filipinos and 4 Cambodians, said that they had been forced to work for up to six months and had not been paid, Mr. Chandran added.
Twelve people who worked for the agency, including Malaysians and foreigners, have been arrested under Malaysia’s antitrafficking laws, Mr. Chandran said, adding that he expected to make more arrests.
The case is the latest in a series of episodes involving Indonesian domestic workers that have at times strained diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Malaysia. Last month, two Indonesian domestic workers reported that they had been raped. One alleged that she had been raped by three police officers, while the other woman said her employer had raped her.
In December 2011, Indonesia lifted a ban in place since 2009 that had prevented women from coming to Malaysia to work as domestic helpers.
“We will send a diplomatic note to the Malaysian government asking for tough punishment against them,” said Suryana Sastradiredja, a spokesman for the Indonesian Embassy, referring to those alleged to be the perpetrators in the Klang case.
Yusnida, an Indonesian woman, said that the agency had taken her and other women to work as maids in different homes each day from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m., according to a report in The Star, a Malaysian newspaper. “My hands and legs were swollen from the long hours of work every day,” she was quoted as saying. “The agent only provided us with two meals a day. There was not enough food, and the workload was heavy.”
The agency told her that she could leave only once she had paid the agency a fee for bringing her to Malaysia, according to the report.
Mr. Suryana, of the Indonesian Embassy, urged the Malaysian authorities to take swift action against those who committed crimes against domestic workers.
He expressed anger that the three police officers charged with the rape of the Indonesian worker last month had been released on bail.
“I’m very, very angry with the situation,” he said. “If one Indonesian commits a crime, the Malaysian government is very quick to react, but a crime involving Malaysians, they are very slow.”
Irene Fernandez, the executive director of Tenaganita, an advocacy group for migrant workers in Kuala Lumpur, said the Malaysian authorities needed to provide better protection for domestic helpers and more effectively prosecute unscrupulous agents who abuse workers.
“A lot of homes are looking for part-time workers and cleaners, and so they are using that now and providing this form of labor where the workers are in a slavery-like situation,” she said, adding that women were often lured to Malaysia by agents who promised them factory jobs, only to find themselves forced to work as domestic helpers after their arrival.
Is the iPad Mini as Good as the iPad?
Label: TechnologyThe iPad Mini‘s screen doesn’t have the same “resolutionary” Retina display as its bigger brother, but don’t worry: the Apple snobs appear to have gotten over that. After spending time with his new baby-tablet, The New York Times‘s Nick Bilton gave in, calling the gadget his new “Desert Island Device.” (It replaced his iPhone, by the way.) The inferior screen had worried Bilton like it had others, but no longer: ”I used it for two weeks and my concerns about the screen’s quality are completely irrelevant.” It’s not that Bilton prefers the “fuzzy” screen, as he called it. But the portability of the lightweight Mini outweighs that for him, making this tablet, in his opinion, really the best tablet Apple has ever made.
RELATED: Prepare for an iPad Mini This Month
Considering all the fawning over the Retina display on the iPad proper, it’s pretty amazing to see reviewers toss that upgrade for something that Steve Jobs forbid the company to create. Bilton’s not the only one to prefer the new cousin, even if it is technically worse. Noted Apple-phile Jonathan Gruber said he hadn’t touched the fourth-generation iPad that Apple released this year as well “I’ve gone small and fuzzy,” he wrote. When the Retina display first came out, Gruber called it “pure joy” for his “dream iPad.” But a funny thing happened on the way out of the hype cycle: Apple put out something the masses were supposed to like more than the techies, and that just made everyone like it even more. Call it a holiday miracle, but the Apple snobs may be snobs no more.
Gadgets News Headlines – Yahoo! News
West Point Hosts First Same-Sex Marriages
Label: LifestyleBrenda "Sue" Fulton and Penelope Gnesin
Jeff Sheng/Outserve-SLDN/AP
West Point Military Academy has made history by hosting the institution's first same-sex marriages.
The 210-year-old Academy hosted the nuptials of Brenda "Sue" Fulton, a 53-year-old West Point graduate, and Penelope Gnesin, 52, at the Academy's Cadet Chapel on Dec. 1. "It was such a sacred, joyous day," Fulton told CNN.
The chapel was the first place Fulton heard the Cadet Prayer – which includes the line, "make us to choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong" – and it resonated with her.
"As both Penny and I worked to support LGBT military people, those principles were always in front of us," Fulton said. "To be able to celebrate this with so many of our straight and gay military folks, bi and trans, was really overwhelming."
Prior to Fulton and Gnesin's ceremony, Army 1st Lt Ellen Schick and Shannon Simpson wed in West Point's original Old Cadet Chapel on Nov. 24.
"Ellen is very proud to serve her country and wanted a military wedding," Simpson told OutServe Magazine. "We felt that we should be allowed the same opportunity to marry on a military post as any heterosexual military couple."
The marriages come after two major victories for the LGBT community. In 2011, New York legalized same-sex marriage and the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy was repealed.
Explainer: Why was pregnant duchess hospitalized?
Label: HealthLONDON (AP) — While morning sickness in pregnant women is common, the problem the Duchess of Cambridge has been hospitalized with is not.
In a statement Monday, palace officials said she was hospitalized with hyperemesis gravidarum, a potentially dangerous type of morning sickness where vomiting is so severe no food or liquid can be kept down. Palace officials said the duchess was expected to remain hospitalized for several days and would require a period of rest afterwards.
"It's not unusual for pregnant women to get morning sickness, but when it gets to the point where you're dehydrated, losing weight or vomiting so much you begin to build up (toxic) products in your blood, that's a concern," said Dr. Kecia Gaither, director of maternal fetal medicine at Brookdale University and Medical Center in New York.
The condition is thought to affect about one in 50 pregnant women and tends to be more common in young women, women who are pregnant for the first time, those expecting multiple babies and in non-smokers. Gaither said that fewer than one percent of women with the condition need to be hospitalized.
Doctors aren't sure what causes it but suspect it could be linked to hormonal changes or nutritional problems.
Women admitted to the hospital with hyperemesis gravidarum are usually treated with nutritional supplements and given fluids intravenously to treat dehydration. Dr. Dagni Rajasingam, a spokeswoman for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said most women hospitalized with the condition are discharged within several days.
"It depends on how well the woman is keeping fluids down," she said.
If the problem is recognized and treated early, doctors say there are no long-term effects for either the mother or the child. Left untreated, the mother could be at risk of developing neurological problems — including seizures — or risk delivering the baby early.
Gaither said the condition usually subsides by the second trimester.
"The rest of the pregnancy could be entirely uneventful," she said, adding that pregnant women treated for the condition are usually advised to avoid fatty foods that could aggravate the problem.
Gaither said the duchess would probably be able to meet her usual royal obligations by her second trimester.
"She should be able to meet all her public obligations soon," she said, advising her to take her vitamins and ensure there are no other underlying health problems. "She should just be looking forward to having a healthy little plump person."
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