Man, 21, Convicted in Oregon Bomb Plot

PORTLAND, Ore. — A 21-year-old Somali-American arrested here in late 2010 after pushing a cellphone button to trigger what he believed was a huge car bomb, in fact an elaborate and inert F.B.I. decoy device, was convicted on Thursday in Federal District Court of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. He faces up to life in prison. The jury, deliberating for one day, rejected the...

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U.S. tablet shipments soar during holidays, threaten to surpass PCs

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook’s prediction that tablets would one day outsell personal computers appears to be coming true.Holiday season shipments of tablet computers touched a record 52.5 million, up 75 percent from a year ago, as consumers snapped up a wide range of the touch-enabled mobile devices and lower priced offerings, according to International Data Corp (IDC),...

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Appeals judges: Anti-paparazzi law appears legal

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An appeals panel says California's anti-paparazzi statute appears to be constitutional based on a brief filed by prosecutors.A preliminary statement by three judges in Los Angeles requires a judge who dismissed charges aimed at a paparazzo who authorities say was driving recklessly to review his order. The judge may stick to his ruling, which would trigger a full appeal, or he could...

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Well: Waiting for Alzheimer's to Begin

My gray matter might be waning. Then again, it might not be. But I swear that I can feel memories — as I’m making them — slide off a neuron and into a tangle of plaque. I steel myself for those moments to come when I won’t remember what just went into my head.I’m not losing track of my car keys, which is pretty standard in aging minds. Nor have I ever forgotten to turn off the oven after use, common...

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Food Companies Meet to Weigh Federal Label for Gene-Engineered Ingredients

Saul Loeb/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesDemonstrators from Safe Food Activists and Concerned Consumers at a protest in Washington, D.C., earlier this month. With Washington State on the verge of a ballot initiative that would require labeling of some foods containing genetically engineered ingredients and other states considering similar measures, some of the major food companies and Wal-Mart,...

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William Cowan Named Interim Senator in Massachusetts

BOSTON — Gov. Deval Patrick on Wednesday appointed William Cowan, a Boston lawyer who is a longtime friend and former aide, to serve as an interim United States senator until voters chose a successor to John Kerry in a special election set for June 25. Mr. Cowan, 43, who is known as Mo, is a former partner in the politically connected law firm of Mintz Levin and will become Massachusetts’...

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Are Weak Wii U Sales a Bellwether of Shifting Game Demographics?

Nintendo expects to sell fewer Wii U and 3DS units than originally claimed, according to reports this morning. The company says it sold three million Wii U units through December, but slashed its forecast of 5.5 million Wii U units sold by the end of March to just four million in all. On the Wii U software side, Nintendo is now forecasting 16 million units in the same timeframe, a number that’s...

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Patty Andrews of Andrews Sisters dead at 94

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Patty Andrews, the last surviving member of the singing Andrews Sisters trio whose hits such as the rollicking "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B" and the poignant "I Can Dream, Can't I?" captured the home-front spirit of World War II, died Wednesday. She was 94.Andrews died of natural causes at her home in the Los Angeles suburb of Northridge, said family spokesman Alan Eichler...

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Illness Walks the Runway

A top fashion designer quarantines a sneezing underling, forcing her to work in a closet. An industry P.R. executive makes colleagues douse their hands with Purell. Germ-phobic magazine editors are powerblasting offices with antiseptic wipes and Lysol. Such is the dread gripping the fashion world as it prepares for New York Fashion Week, beginning Feb. 7, with a killer flu and a stomach-bug...

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BlackBerry Maker Unveils Its New Line

Marcus Yam for The New York TimesThorsten Heins, the chief executive of BlackBerry, which was known as Research in Motion, introduces the company's new phones. BlackBerry’s maker unveiled a new operating system and a new line of phones on Wednesday, along with a new corporate name, with the hope of restoring its products’ status as a symbol of executive cool. Analysts, technology reviewers...

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