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Sunday, May 13, 2012
Apple to drop Google Maps with the next iPhone?
Rumor has it that the next iPhone will eschew Google's Maps backend in favor of Apple's own. Rene over at iMore, who has a good handle on how the minds in Cupertino operate, has a great overview of Apple's supposed current strategy that you really should read to try to make sense out of this one. The short version -- Apple wants to shed Google's services. Not because users have a problem using them, but because they don't want Google to profit. Instead of offering an additional choice with their own version of a maps app, they are just going to replace what users know and love with something that generates less profit for Google. Smart business move, but a pretty foul dump on the users.
They're going to need some real magic to pull this one off. In the current version, Apple builds the UI and Google provides the mapping data. Google is really good at mapping stuff. The rumored version-in-waiting is supposed to add a 3D view, becoming the new killer feature for the next version of iOS. The problem is, users don't care about 3D map view (or anything 3D on their mobile devices) -- they care about features, ease-of-use, and integration. Apple can certainly take care of the integration part, and even give it some of that good old fashioned Apple magic in the UI department. But that still isn't going to cut it. Google has the one big thing™ when it comes to maps and navigation -- search data.
When you tap the button and tell your phone to find 1313 Mockingbird Lane, there's this unfathomably huge pool of data Google has at it's disposal to populate that map. Need to know where the closest Starbucks is? Ask Siri, or just look at the Google Maps app. Apple can't replicate this without years of it's own data. Users will be left with an app with a pretty front-end, that's actually a step backwards in functionality. Apple will either have to offer a sub-par maps experience, or use Google anyway. And the first person who says Bing has to stay late and clean the chalkboard. That's two steps backwards.
Google creates the web services people want and use -- even people with iPhones. This is a space where Apple is going to find it's difficult to compete, and fickle users may just look elsewhere. Of course, you'll find just as many bloggers telling tales of how great this is, and that Apple invented Maps. It's going to be interesting to watch this one play out.
Source: iMore
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Saturday, May 12, 2012
William Balfour Guilty In Jennifer Hudson Family Murder Case
Oscar winner was on hand when the jury read verdict convicting Balfour on all counts on Friday afternoon.
By Gil Kaufman
William Balfour in his booking photo
Photo: Cook County Sheriff's Department/ WireImage
After two-and-a-half days of deliberation, the jury in the murder trial of William Balfour returned a guilty verdict on all counts on Friday afternoon (May 11).
Balfour was on trial for the murders of Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson's mother, brother and nephew. The jury returned guilty verdicts on three counts of murder, as well as one count each of home invasion, residential burglary, possession of a stolen vehicle, and aggravated kidnapping.
Because Illinois no longer has a death penalty, Balfour will spend the rest of his life in jail without the possibility of parole. According to the Chicago Tribune, an hour before reading the verdict, the jury sent a note to Judge Charles Burns informing him that they were split, but still working to reach a verdict. Around the same time, Burns received another note asking for all of the evidence about the cell-phone tower coverage in the area of the murder.
The judge sent back a transcript of the testimony of FBI Special Agent Nikki Skovran, who performed a forensic analysis on Balfour's cell phone on the day of the murders that placed him near the Hudson home around the time the victims were killed. Earlier, the jury of six men and six women had requested copies of two videos in evidence: one from an area high school that showed the time Balfour's car was parked on the street and another of the police interrogation of Balfour, in which he claimed he left it there around 8:30 a.m. on the morning of the murders.
During the trial, prosecutors had argued that the time stamp on the school surveillance video provided proof that Balfour, 31, was lying about his whereabouts that morning. Balfour is alleged to have shown up at the Hudson home on the morning of the killings appearing agitated, saying he'd been up all night drinking. He spotted balloons that Julia received from a new boyfriend for the holiday Sweetest Day, got angry and punched the balloons, according to police. When Julia left the house to go to work, Balfour remained behind outside.
The jury began their deliberation on Wednesday night and had been sequestered at a hotel for two nights.
As the verdict was read, Hudson, huddled close with her fiancé, David Otunga, and sister Julia, said "yes!" and broke into tears, according to CNN.
Lawyers for Balfour had argued that the state's case was based largely on circumstantial evidence and lacked any DNA or fingerprints tying Balfour to the crime scene. Furthermore, they insisted that Chicago police had hastily investigated the crime and rushed to apprehend their client because of the media attention on the case due to Hudson's fame. They proposed the alternate theory that some other unknown assailant in the crime-ridden Southside Chicago neighborhood had targeted the family because of the alleged crack-cocaine dealing activities of Hudson's brother, Jason.
During 11 days of testimony from 83 witnesses — only two of which were called by the defense for a total of 30 minutes — prosecutors rebutted that claim by presenting witness testimony, firearms evidence and cell-phone records that pointed toward Balfour's guilt.
Though prosecutors lacked hard physical evidence, they repeatedly alluded to threats Balfour had made in the past on the lives of Julia and her family, as well as the cell-phone records and the gun residue on Balfour's clothing in the vehicle he stole from the Hudson home.
Hudson took to the witness stand on the first day of the trial and tearfully recounted her family's disapproval of Balfour's relationship and marriage to the singer's sister, Julia. The "Dreamgirls" star choked back tears that morning as she told jurors that no one in her family wanted Balfour to marry her sister.
"We didn't like the way he treated her, and I didn't like the way he treated my nephew," she said of Balfour, who had pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder in the October 24, 2008 slayings of Hudson's mother, Darnell Donerson; brother Jason Hudson; and her 7-year-old nephew, Julian King.
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What My Mom Taught Me: Celebrities Dish!
To gear up for Mother's Day, iVillage asked celebs (Kate Hudson! Jennifer Garner!) what they've picked up from their moms
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Thursday, May 10, 2012
Lawmakers' plan would save some targeted California parks
SACRAMENTO ? Lawmakers are considering a new proposal to save dozens of state parks from the budget ax, rather than follow through with plans to close them in the middle of summer vacation season.
Seventy parks were set for closure to save money, and 20 could still be shut. Some have already been rescued, at least for the short term, by pledges from outside donors. But a proposal to charge for entrance at more parks, tap vehicle registration fees to maintain park roads and redirect other state funds would keep dozens more open.
All told, the new plan would make more than $40 million available annually to cover day-to-day costs and make overdue improvements, said the authors, state Sens. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) and Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa).
"We took a step back and said there has to be a better way," Simitian said in announcing the legislation Tuesday.
If the park closures occur, redwoods in Humboldt County on the north coast, the Salton Sea State Recreation Area and miles of sand dunes in Mendocino County could be blocked to visitors, as could Fort Tejon in Kern County and Saddleback Butte State Park in eastern Los Angeles County.
When a park is closed, the state closes its facilities and removes the rangers and other workers who assist visitors. Only one park has closed so far: Providence Mountain near the Mojave Desert, which was remote and understaffed.
Shutting a quarter of California's 279 state-run parks is expected to save $22 million in the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1. That is a small fraction of Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed $95.4-billion budget, and activists and lawmakers say the state should not risk the loss of tourism income or the illegal activity that could breed in unpatrolled parks.
The effect of the closures would not be limited to the state lands. Gary Ballard, who runs the Peg House, a food store just outside the Standish-Hickey State Recreation Area in Legett, in Mendocino County, said he wouldn't be able to make payroll without the usual influx of summer visitors.
"If that [the park] closes up, pretty much the economy of the town of Legett does not have a lot going for it," he said.
Outside donors and the federal government have swooped in to keep 16 parks open, at least temporarily. They include Jack London's historic home north of Sonoma and McGrath Beach, south of Ventura, deemed one of the best bird-watching spots in California.
J. Daniel McCranie, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, helped gather $900,000 to fund Henry W. Coe State Park, south of San Jose, for three years. McCranie said it was "kind of mind-bending" that the state needed donations to keep the parks open. But three decades of hiking in Coe left him attached to the nearly 90,000 acres of hills, valleys and wildflowers.
Many of the outside funding deals are temporary. "They're not part of the long-term solution," said Jerry Emory, spokesman for the California State Parks Foundation.
Simitian and Evans said their plan could augment the volunteer financing agreements and keep those parks open in the future as well.
The proposal faces its first test ? vetting by a subcommittee ? as early as Wednesday. But it's already been blessed by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), whose spokesman Mark Hedlund called it a "thoughtful, comprehensive plan."
The proposal received a cooler reception from Assembly Speaker John A. P?rez (D-Los Angeles). His spokesman, John Vigna, said the speaker wants to keep the parks open and is "considering all the available options."
H.D. Palmer, a spokesman for Brown's Department of Finance, said the administration had not yet reviewed the plan.
chris.megerian@latimes.com
Times staff writer Nicholas Riccardi contributed to this report.
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