Driver in Rickenbacker Causeway cyclist death to be sentenced




















A motorist who killed cyclist Aaron Cohen in a hit-and-run crash on the Rickenbacker Causeway will learn his fate Wednesday.

A Miami-Dade judge on Wednesday afternoon will sentence Michele Traverso, 26, who earlier pleaded guilty for the crash that killed Cohen last February.

The fatality, and a similar hit-and-run wreck in 2010, has renewed calls for increased safety for cyclists and joggers on the popular causeway. Fellow cyclists staged a memorial ride and erected a billboard overlooking Interstate 95 in Cohen’s honor.





Members of Miami’s avid cycling community are expected to be on hand for the 1 p.m. sentencing.

Traverso, driving on a suspended license, struck Cohen and cycling partner Enda Walsh as the two rode in the northbound lanes near the crest of the bridge. Traverso surrendered to police 18 hours after the crash.

Though there were reports of Traverso drinking in Coconut Grove that night, investigators could not prove that his blood alcohol content level was above the legal limit because of the delay in turning himself in.

Traverso pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident involving a death, leaving the scene of an accident with great bodily harm, and driving with a suspended license. He also pleaded guilty to earlier cocaine possession charge.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge William Thomas could sentence him to as little as 22.8 months in prison, and as much as 35 years behind bars.

In May, Thomas told Cohen’s widow, Patricia Cohen, that he would be unlikely to deliver the maximum sentence, although he could consider “20 or 25 years” after hearing from her and Traverso’s own family at a possible sentencing.

The Cohen family is suing Traverso and his father, who owned the car.





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Facebook search to generate revenue, no rival to Google: analysts






(Reuters) – Facebook Inc’s new search tool has strong potential to generate revenue for the social networking company, though it is unlikely to challenge Google Inc as the world’s dominant search engine, Wall Street analysts said on Wednesday.


Facebook’s “graph search” tool, rolled out on Tuesday, lets its more than 1 billion users trawl their network of friends to find everything from restaurants to movie recommendations and is the company’s biggest foray into online search.






Graph search contains some category suggestions that can be easily monetized, BofA Merrill Lynch analysts said in a note.


“It should be easy to incorporate commercial search results via Facebook’s partnership with Bing,” they added.


Facebook currently has a partnership with Microsoft Corp, whose Bing search engine provides search results for external websites. Microsoft also integrates certain Facebook results into its Bing search results.


BofA Merrill Lynch analysts estimated Facebook could add $ 500 million in annual revenue if it can generate just one paid click per user per year, and raised its price target on the stock by $ 4 to $ 35.


Facebook’s shares were flat at $ 30.10 in early trading on Wednesday. They have jumped about 50 percent since November to Tuesday’s close after months of weakness following its bungled Nasdaq listing in May.


However, analysts at J.P. Morgan Securities said the lack of a timeline for the possible launch of graph search on mobile devices may weigh on the tool’s prospects.


The success of the graph search, which will rely heavily on local information, depends on Facebook launching a mobile product, the analysts said. Half of all searches on mobile devices seek local information, according to Google.


Graph search also lacks the depth of review content of Yelp Inc, the analysts added.


Pivotal Research Group analyst Brian Wieser said monetization potential would be largely determined by Facebook’s ability to generate a significant portion of search query share volumes and he expects that quantity to be relatively low.


“Consumers are likely to continue prioritizing other sources, i.e. Google. Advertisers would consequently only use search if they can, or are perceived to, satisfy their goals efficiently with Facebook,” Wieser said.


NO GOOGLE KILLER


Analysts mostly agreed that Facebook’s search tool was unlikely to challenge Google’s dominance in web search at least in the near term.


“As of now, we do not see Graph Search as a threat to Google Web search. Looking forward, Facebook Graph searches could be competitive with certain categories of Google searches, such as Places and Maps,” BofA Merrill said.


Internet search, social networking tools and e-commerce are among the biggest weapons that companies such as Facebook, Google and Amazon.com Inc have in their battle for supremacy. A successful combination of the three could win the day for them.


Google has been trying to combine social networking and search for more than a year by integrating Google+ into its search engine.


“Overall, Graph Search offers users a unique view to information not available on Google, but does not replace Google. We view the relationship between Facebook Graph Search and Google as both competitive and complementary,” Piper Jaffray & Co analysts said.


The brokerage said users looking to buy a cellphone, for example, could search for friends’ reviews on Facebook and expert reviews on Google.


(Reporting by Sayantani Ghosh in Bangalore; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)


Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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First ET Interview: Naomi Watts

Naomi Watts is making waves with her intense performance in The Impossible, and now we're flashing back to Naomi's first-ever ET interview, when she sported brunette locks and was starring in a 1996 TV movie.

Video: 'Impossible' Oscar Buzz Makes Naomi Watts Nervous

Naomi starred opposite James Earl Jones, Ellen Burstyn, Richard Thomas and Kevin Kilner in Timepiece, a drama about an old clockmaker who faces racism and is tried for murder. The film is set in the 1940s, and despite the serious nature of the plot, the mood was light on the set as Naomi was filming a Christmas scene and enthusiastically reminiscing about her own family's holiday traditions.

Video: Naomi Talks Princess Diana Movie

There's also a fun outtake featuring Naomi and co-star Kilner doing a holiday promo for ET; Kilner gets uncomfortably close to Naomi, and you can see her blush while attempting to keep her composure…

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Flu activity high in all regions of NJ








TRENTON, NJ — The New Jersey Health Department says flu activity is now high in all regions of the state.

But Health Commissioner Mary O'Dowd said Wednesday that the flu vaccine has shown to be "a very good match" for the various strains that have been circulating in the state.

Three of the state's five regions had reported moderate flu activity last week, but the number of cases in those areas has increased in recent days.

O'Dowd says those who get the flu should stay home for at least 24 hours after their fever is gone without the use of a fever-reducing medicine, except to get medical care.











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Miami Dolphins bill would bring state money to aging stadiums




















A bill drafted by the Miami Dolphins would give Florida sports teams $3 million a year in state money to improve older stadiums, provided the owner pays for at least half the cost of a major renovation.

Under the law, the stadium would need to be 20 years old and the team willing to put in at least $125 million for a $250 million renovation. That’s less than the $400 million redo of Sun Life Stadium that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross proposed this week, which he hopes will win state approval thanks to his offer to fund at least $200 million of the effort to modernize the 1987 facility.

Miami-Dade and Florida would fund the rest through a mix of county hotel taxes and state general funds set aside for stadiums. Sun Life currently receives $2 million a year through the program, and the Dolphins want to create a new category that would give them an additional $3 million.





While the Miami Marlins and Miami Heat both play in stadiums subsidized by county hotel taxes, the Dolphins receive no local dollars. The bill would change that by allowing Miami-Dade to increase the tax charged at mainland hotels to 7 percent from 6 percent, and eliminate the current rule that limits the money to publicly owned stadiums. Sun Life Stadium, in Miami Gardens, is privately owned but sits on county land.

The bill pits enthusiasm for one of Florida’s most popular sports teams against a lean budget climate and lingering backlash against the 2009 deal that had Miami and Miami-Dade borrow about $485 million to build a new ballpark for the Marlins. Ross also must navigate a Republican-led Legislature that has twice rebuffed his requests for public dollars.

“I would be surprised if that bill even got a hearing in committee,” said Mike Fasano, a Republican representative from the Tampa area and a critic of tax-funded sports deals. “I’m a big Dolphin fan, and have been for years. But with all due respect, we’ve got people who are struggling throughout this state right now . .. The last thing we should be doing is giving a professional sports team or facility additional tax dollars.”

While the bill would open up the $3 million subsidy to other the teams, the Dolphins see it as unlikely that another owner would be willing to put up as much money for renovations as Ross, a billionaire real estate developer.

If the bill were enacted today, any stadium opened before 1993 would be eligible for the money, provided it could show the proposed renovation would generate an additional $3 million in sales taxes.

Ross and his backers are pitching the renovation as a boon to tourism, with Sun Life a magnet for the Super Bowl, national college football games and other major events. The National Football League is considering South Florida and San Francisco for the 2016 Super Bowl, and the Dolphins say approval of renovation funding is crucial to winning the bid.

Sen. Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens, who sponsored the Senate bill, said the funding makes sense because when Sun Life hosts a Super Bowl, the entire state benefits from both tourism dollars and publicity.

“It’s a small price to pay for economic development, and for all the shine we get from major sporting events,” said Braynon, whose district includes Sun Life. Rep. Eduardo “Eddy” Gonzalez, R-Hialeah, is the sponsor on the House side.





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Gov. Scott scolded by legislative black caucus




















Gov. Rick Scott heard a litany of complaints Tuesday from the Legislative Black Caucus, on matters ranging from judicial appointments to civil rights for ex-felons. Throughout an hour-long discussion, the Republican governor held his ground in the face of grievances from Democratic lawmakers.

Criticized for making only a handful of black appointments to the judiciary, Scott said he’s limited to the choices given him by nominating panels and won’t appoint judges who believe in “judicial activism.” He said 6.5 percent of his judges are African-American (Florida’s black population is more than twice that). But Scott broke the tension by pointing out that he has appointed the wives of Reps. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, and Joe Gibbons, D-Hallandale Beach, to state boards.

Faulted for signing a flawed election law that cut back the days of early voting, Scott said: “We’ve got to make changes, I agree. I didn’t have anything to do with passing it.” Scott’s administration, however, did spend more than $500,000 in legal fees last year successfully defending the law against numerous legal challenges.





Black lawmakers make up about one-fifth of the Legislature’s membership. They remain angry at Scott for one of his first decisions as governor: He and the three Republican Cabinet members imposed a five-year waiting period after ex-felons leave prison before they can apply for restoration of their civil rights.

“Once you’re out as a felon, you should spend time making sure you’re doing the right thing before you get your rights back,” Scott told the group, seated around a large square table.

The meeting ended with a plea that Scott appoint a task force to look at disparities in sentencing that affect young black men. Scott did not directly respond to the request.

“It’s deja vu all over again from last year,” said Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, as the session ended. “He’s still stuck on judicial activism. He wants everyone to think like him. He wants to run the state like a corporation, like it’s Florida, Inc. He’s not flexible on a lot of things.”





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Apple supplier sees big Q4 boost, likely a good sign for iPhone 5 demand






Shares of Apple (AAPL) have been hit hard over the last few days. Investors continue to worry about the company’s profit margins, demand for its popular line of smartphones and tablets, and its future endeavors. With upcoming competition from Research in Motion (RIMM) and Microsoft (MSFT), and an ongoing battle with Google’s (GOOG) Android operating system, analysts fear that Apple’s mobile dominance may be a thing of the past. While we won’t officially know anything until the company reports its holiday earnings on January 23rd, a small German company has painted a calming picture for Apple shareholders.


[More from BGR: HTC One SV review]






Dialog Semiconductor announced last week that it expects to report a significant increase in sales for its December quarter. The company noted that the increase was due to “a stronger than anticipated end of year, underpinned by a strong late surge in demand for smartphone and tablet products.” Dialog Semiconductor now expects to report revenues of $ 268 million, an increase from between $ 215 million and $ 235 million.


[More from BGR: Extensive BlackBerry Z10 demo video posted by German website [video]]


The important thing to note is that, as of this past fall, Apple is Dialog’s largest customer and accounts for 60% of its total revenue.


Logic dictates that solid demand for Apple’s iPhone and iPad during the holidays helped boost Dialog’s performance. This could also mean that the iPhone-maker will report not only a strong December quarter, but a better-than-expected March quarter as well.


It looks like all this talk about customers losing interest in Apple may indeed be premature.


This article was originally published on BGR.com


Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Justin Bartha The New Normal Interview

Save for Burt and Kurt Hummel, creating empathetic families has never been Ryan Murphy's strong suit. In fact, he's built an incredibly successful empire on the backs of the dysfunctional McNamara, Harmon and McQueen/McPherson clans. But with The New Normal, Murphy and co-EP Ali Adler have presented one of the most adorable blending broods currently on TV, reminding the world that it truly does take a village.

In tonight's all-new episode, titled Stay-At-Home Dad, that fact is hammered home in both Brian and David as each believes he could trade in his career for a permanent position driving carpool. ETonline caught up with star Justin Bartha to talk about this episode (one of his favorites yet), what it means to be part of a show like The New Normal and why he signed up in the first place.


ETonline: The evolution of the show, and its characters, has been great to watch. What have you thought of the season so far?


Justin Bartha: The first season of a TV show is very hard, and in trying to speak objectively, I think we started off on a high note. It's very hard to get your footing so fast. There's a lot of early episodes that I think are really great television. As everyone gets to know these characters and how they relate to each other, we're settling into something that feels like a family, which I think every show tries to obtain.


RELATED - Ryan Murphy Makes ET's Entertainers Of the Year List


ETonline: What have you enjoyed learning about David as the season progresses?


Bartha: On a TV show, since you get a chance to sit with a character for a long slow burn, there's a certain point where you start thinking as the character, and your point of view changes as the character's point of view changes. The heart of our show is the way this group of people connect and how their points of views change as the characters get to know each other, so that's been the biggest enjoyment for me. David's evolution is such a living thing, and because the other actors are so talented, everything is changing week to week because of what the actors are doing with their characters.


ETonline: I've loved the flashbacks we've seen of Brian and David's pre-pilot lives. How helpful has it been to have a tangible reference point like that?


Bartha: Oh my god, it's absolutely invaluable. Those are some of the most fun things to shoot because the show is about how all these characters from different backgrounds and points of view relate to each other and evolve over this short amount of time. In the episodes coming up, you'll see snippets of them as children, which really helps the audience fill in the pieces of who these people are. And for the viewers stuck on the sexuality aspects, those moments really show how everyone is the same at their core.


RELATED - 6 Best New Shows of 2013


ETonline: There was so much controversy around the show before it actually premiered, now that The Million Moms have marched away, what kinds of reactions have you gotten from fans?


Bartha: The fans have been overwhelming generous and nice. Because of how strong the writing is and how talented this cast is, the material is handled with such respect, so I think the fans are responding because it's kind of a fresh take on what a half-hour comedy is. We didn't want to do the usual sitcom, obviously you can't get away from certain aspects of that, but we wanted to have a different vibe, and I think people are responding to that fresh take while also loving the characters.


ETonline: Would you have been interested in doing a more traditional sitcom?


Bartha: The one thing we all talked about before I even signed on to do the show is that we all [Ryan Murphy, Ali Adler, Andrew Rannells] very much wanted to portray a couple in the most realistic way possible. That includes intellectually, comically, sexually. Everything has to be on the table because the only way people will care about the characters is if they seem authentic. It was a concerted effort to do that, and that's part of the journey -- not everything is funny all the time, you can't always have characters hanging out and making quips. And if they are, they're probably hiding something. We wanted to be as real as possible, and if it's grounded in that reality, even if it's uncomfortable for some people, hopefully it will transcend the usually throwaway entertainment you see on other channels.


ETonline: What can you tease about tonight's episode?


Bartha: For me, this is very much the epitome of what our show is trying to say. I love this episode. You'll see a jumping off point to the guys as fathers, and for whatever fantasy you have about what it's like to be a parent, actually being a parent is nothing like that. It's not to be taken lightly, and they both feel they have what it takes, in different ways, to quit their lives and just be a dad. Brian and David both have these fantasies and they get a chance to practice with Shania. You'll see how they both take on the responsibility of actually being a father and if they have what it takes.


ETonline: Speaking of Bebe Wood [who plays Shania], I am astounded by her performance every week. How cool is it to see such a young actor bring so much to the table?


Bartha: What's interesting about Bebe is you forget she's a child. There are very rare moments on set where she acts like a little kid. Sometimes Andrew and I will turn to one another and say, "Oh yeah, she is a child!" You honestly forget because she's so fantastic -- she's my favorite actress right now. She's such a fun person to be in a scene with and she's genuinely funny. A lot of times, especially with kid actors, they're just reciting lines and those become funny because a kid is saying it. Bebe has the unique ability to actually make something funny. I don't even know how that works. It's so much fun to watch.


The New Normal
airs Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m. on NBC.

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Global entrepreneurship nonprofit Endeavor coming to Miami




















Flawless execution helped propel Argentine Marcos Galperin’s e-auction site, Mercado Libre, above the competition to become a $3.8 billion company. Some 50,000 small businesses now use it to market their wares.

Leila Velez and HeloĆ­sa Helena Assis, cousins who grew up in the slums of Rio, started with one product and one salon. Today their company, Beleza Natural, operates 24 salons that bring in $75 million in revenues, employs 1,500 people and has an eye on U.S expansion.

Both were powered, in part, by Endeavor, a global nonprofit that selects, mentors, supports and accelerates high-impact entrepreneurs in metropolitan areas of 16 countries — and, soon, in Miami.





Endeavor and its local supporter, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, announced Tuesday that Knight is providing Endeavor with $2 million in grant funding over five years for Endeavor’s first U.S. expansion. Endeavor’s Miami office could ultimately service dozens of local entrepreneurs, but first a local board needs to be assembled, a managing director hired and offices set up.

Beginning late this year, South Florida’s innovators will be able to apply to become Endeavor Entrepreneurs, connecting them to a global network of mentors and advisors who can help grow their ventures. “We think this is a cornerstone of making Miami more of a place where ideas are built,” said Matt Haggman, Miami program director for the Knight Foundation, which has made entrepreneurship a key focus of its Miami program.

The announcement is an important milestone in Miami’s efforts to accelerate an entrepreneurial ecosystem, which has been gaining momentum, said Haggman, who led the effort for Knight, its largest investment in entrepreneurship to date. Accelerators, incubators and co-working spaces have been opening up, including Launch Pad Tech, which is receiving $1.5 million in public funding and opens for its first class next week. Last month, the first ever Innovate MIA week attracted hundreds of entrepreneurs, investors and other supporters to a packed schedule of daily events, which included the Americas Venture Capital Conference and Endeavor’s International Selection Panel.

“Miami is almost the perfect seeding ground for Endeavor,” said Peter Kellner, co-founder of Endeavor and now an Endeavor board member, an investor and South Florida resident who began discussing the project with Haggman in the spring. “There are commitments from large institutions like Knight, FIU, UM, there is capital, there are people that are interested in making things happen, there are already clusters of activity like accelerators and incubators. That’s where Endeavor thrives.”

Endeavor selects and works primarily with companies from a wide range of industries that are already earning $500,000 to $15 million in annual revenue and ready for the next stage: explosive growth.

“While the vast majority of small businesses employ two or three people, Endeavor businesses employ an average of 237,” said Endeavor co-founder and CEO Linda Rottenberg.

Launched in 1998 and headquartered in New York City, Endeavor now operates throughout Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Southeast Asia and supports more than 750 entrepreneurs who are chosen in a rigorous selection process.





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Facebook unveils social search feature








AP


Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park today.



MENLO PARK, Calif. —Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a new search feature on Tuesday in the company's first staged event at its Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters since its May initial public offering.

Called "graph search," the new service lets users search their social connections for information about people, interests, photos and places. It'll help users who want to scroll through all the photos their friends took in Paris or search for the favorite TV shows of all their friends who happen to be doctors.




Until now, Facebook users were unable to search for friends who live in a certain town or like a particular movie. With the new feature, people can search for friends who, say, live in Boston who also like "Zero Dark Thirty".

Zuckerberg says the search feature is "privacy aware," which means users can only search for content that has been shared with them.

Facebook is stressing that graph search will be made available to users very slowly, beginning Tuesday. Though the company has focused on refining its mobile product for much of last year, the search feature will only be available on Facebook's website for now.

Zuckerberg hinted last fall that a search feature was in the works in his first post-IPO public interview.

Facebook's stock slid 50 cents to $30.45 following the announcement. It's still down nearly 20 percent from its IPO price of $38.










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