Review: Nintendo’s TVii tops button-laden remotes

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nintendo‘s TV-watching tool for the new Wii U game console beats my regular remote control hands down.

Called TVii, the service transforms how you watch television in three key ways. It turns the touch-screen GamePad controller for the Wii U into a remote control for your TV and set-top box. It groups your favorite shows and sports teams together, whether it’s on live TV or an Internet video service such as Hulu Plus. And it offers water-cooler moments you can chat about on social media.

It takes some getting used to, and I had a lot of re-learning to do after years of using my thumb to channel surf. But once I did, I found the service an advance from the mass of buttons on most TV remote controls.

TVii comes free with the Wii U, although it didn’t become available in the U.S. until mid-December, about a month after the game machine’s debut.

One nice touch is that TVii gives you a way to search for shows over Internet video apps and live TV all in one place. I can then choose whether to watch it on the big TV or on my controller’s touch screen, which measures 6.2 inches diagonally.

Handling these different sources of video at once is a tall order, and Nintendo Co. does it pretty well. No one else has combined live and Web TV as seamlessly before. As the lines blur between the two, I would hope some of TVii’s advances are copied and improved upon by other gadget makers and TV signal providers.

For starters, TVii asks for your TV maker, your set-top box maker, your location and your TV provider (that could be an antenna). TVii then uses infrared codes to control your TV just like the old remote, and it can offer a traditional channel guide for live TV shows. TVii also asks for your favorite shows, sports teams and movies. This helps it create an easy-to-understand grouping of shows you might want to watch.

I appreciate the way TVii walked me through the setup process. It was refreshing, given the misfortune I recently had of trying to program the remote control that came with my cable set-top box, which is about as fun as doing your tax returns. TVii takes away the need to read folded-up instruction manuals that appear to be written by and for electronics hobbyists.

After the setup, TVii presents you with a series of icons for Favorites, TV, Movies, Sports and Search. A little avatar of your identity is in one corner, and tapping on it lets you adjust your favorites or go through the setup again. Each person in a household can have a different avatar and set of favorites.

In Favorites, your shows are listed with cover art, and you can swipe through the offerings. Tapping one, say, “The Mindy Project,” will pull up an episode list with pictures and brief summaries. Choosing an episode will bring up a range of options — the channel if it’s on live TV, or buttons for Hulu Plus or Amazon, where you can pay for monthly access or just one episode through the service’s app. (The free version of Hulu is blocked on gadgets, including the Wii U and tablet computers. Apple’s iTunes, unsurprisingly, isn’t integrated.) The option of clicking through to Netflix will be added some time in 2013.

One hiccup is that if you want to watch a show on live TV now, it asks if your TV’s input source is already set to the set-top box, rather than the Wii U or another gadget such as a DVD player. If it is, you tap “yes” and the channel changes. If not, you have to tap until the source switches to the right one and then tap “yes.” Still, there’s no need to go back to your TV’s remote control.

The other menu items for TV, Movies, Sports and Search operate pretty similarly. Eventually you’ll get a range of options to watch. In the case of sports, you’ll likely see several game possibilities, with the latest score showing up on each game icon.

As an alternative, you can resort to a physical TV button on the GamePad that brings up touch controls that mimic a simplified, standard remote.

Another option is using an altogether separate interface in which favorite channels and other controls are displayed graphically on a semi-circular wheel. It looks strange, and I wouldn’t recommend it.

Anyone who is frustrated by the jumble of cables and boxes that now surround TVs will see TVii’s appeal. My wife said she liked the ease of holding and touching the controller, rather than fiddling with the button-laden remote. One downside I can see with TVii is that you have to keep looking down to figure out what to watch. And you have to plug it in frequently, as the GamePad controller will die out after three to five hours of use.

TVii also offers a standard channel guide in which you can scroll up and down for programs on different channels or right and left for different times of day. A touch will change the channel to the program, which is nice.

For certain shows and sporting events, TVii will supply a running list of key events called “TV tags.” These descriptions of events, like the precise moment when Mindy’s Christmas party descends into chaos, are displayed on the GamePad’s screen, along with a screenshot. Tapping on one opens up a comment window, and an onscreen keyboard allows you to make a comment. For sports, you get a description of each play, such as the number of yards thrown in a pass, beside a graphic that gets updated.

Not many people have Wii U consoles yet, nor is everyone tuned to TVii. As a result, I found myself with only one or two commenters to share my thoughts with.

If you’ve connected TVii to Facebook and Twitter (again, some sign-up is involved), your comments will go out to your friends and followers, but the TV tag that you are commenting on won’t show up, so they might not know what you’re talking about. TVii adds the hashtag “NintendoTVii” to help readers take a guess.

In the end, TVii isn’t perfect.

It isn’t yet able to program your digital video recorder, although it will do so for TiVo DVRs by March. Sports are limited to pro and college basketball and football, and there’s no integration with fantasy sports leagues. And the battery life of the GamePad is short.

A review unit I was sent failed to take a charge and had to be replaced, although I haven’t found others who have had the same problem.

These irritations aside, Nintendo has given us a way to control the clutter of channels, apps and devices crowding around the TV. It’s relatively easy and intuitive and some updates are on the way. Considering the garble of the TV universe, that’s pretty good.

___

About TVii:

TVii turns the GamePad controller for the Wii U into a remote control that integrates your live TV and Internet video experience. The service is free, but you’ll need a Wii U game console, which starts at $ 300. You’ll also need to pay extra to use video services such as Hulu Plus, Amazon and Netflix.

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U.S. pop singer Patti Page dies at age 85

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – American pop singer Patti Page, whose 1950 hit “Tennessee Waltz” topped the charts for months, has died in Southern California, her manager said on Wednesday. She was 85.

Nicknamed “The Singing’ Rage,” Page sold more than 100 million albums in her 67-year career, which included 1950s chart toppers “(How Much Is That) Doggie in the Window,” “I Went to Your Wedding” and “All My Love (Bolero).”

She died on Tuesday in a nursing home in Encinitas, north of San Diego, after suffering congestive heart failure, her manager, Michael Glynn, told Reuters.

“She’d been having some health issues for the past couple of years,” Glynn said. “She was actually doing better yesterday. I spoke to her and she sounded well.”

Page won a Grammy for her 1998 album “Live at Carnegie Hall: The 50th Anniversary Concert” and will be honored with a lifetime achievement Grammy in February. She had expected to attend the ceremony, Glynn said.

Page was born in Oklahoma as Clara Ann Fowler in 1927 and was known for her light, every-girl voice. Her first big hit was “With My Eyes Wide Open, I’m Dreaming,” which peaked at No. 11 on the charts in 1950.

Eight years later, Page scored her penultimate top-10 song, “Left Right Out of Your Heart,” as rock ‘n’ roll was emerging as the dominant trend in popular music.

Her final big hit was “Hush … Hush Sweet Charlotte” in 1965. The song served as the theme of a film of the same name starring Bette Davis.

Her reputation was burnished in recent years when rock group The White Stripes covered her 1952 song “Conquest” on their Grammy-winning 2007 album “Icky Thump.”

She was married three times, most recently in 1990.

Page is survived by her two children, and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Peter Cooney)

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Clinton discharged from hospital, doctors expect full recovery

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was discharged from a New York hospital on Wednesday after being treated for a blood clot near her brain and her doctors expect her to make a full recovery, the State Department said.

Clinton, who has not been seen in public since December 7, was at New York-Presbyterian Hospital under treatment for a blood clot behind her right ear that stemmed from a concussion she suffered in mid-December, the department said on Sunday.

The concussion was the result of an earlier illness, described by the State Department as a stomach virus she had picked up during a trip to Europe that led to dehydration and a fainting spell after she returned to the United States.

“Secretary Clinton was discharged from the hospital this evening. Her medical team advised her that she is making good progress on all fronts, and they are confident she will make a full recovery,” Philippe Reines, a deputy assistant secretary of state, said in a statement.

Reines said Clinton was “eager to get back to the office.”

Earlier, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters at her daily briefing Clinton had been talking with her staff by telephone and receiving memos.

Clinton also spoke to two foreign officials – the U.N. envoy on Syria and the prime minister of Qatar – on Saturday, the day before the State Department disclosed the blood clot and her stay at the hospital.

In a statement released by the State Department on Monday, Clinton’s doctors said she was being treated with blood thinners and would be released from the hospital once the correct dosage had been determined.

(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Sandra Maler and Todd Eastham)

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A Relief Rally, a Dead-Cat Bounce, or an Ephemeral Rise

Though Maryland born and bred, Josh Scheinker affects a SoCal zen, complete with what seems like a surfer-dude tan and coif. But the senior vice president of Janney Montgomery Scott’s Baltimore-based Scheinker Investment Partners admits that fear and loathing toward the fiscal cliff had shattered his calm. “My wife and kids,” Scheinker says, “were all wondering why my New Year’s was so stressful, why I was watching C-SPAN, and whether I needed to be in a white padded room.”

Scheinker, along with rest of Wall Street and global markets, celebrated Wednesday after Washington churned out a 13^th-hour deal to stave off $ 600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts. All manner of risk assets, including stocks and commodities, surged to start 2013, after the House’s 257-167 vote on the hastily cobbled-together deal. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, Standard & Poor’s 500, and Nasdaq rallied an average of 2.65 percent. Europe and emerging markets rejoiced. Catastrophe avoided. At least mostly, for now.

Uncle Sam will permanently tax dividends and long-term capital gains at a 10 percent, 15 percent, or 20 percent rate, depending on a person’s or household’s overall income. Without this new certainty, the levy on dividends would have automatically jacked up to taxpayers’ ordinary income-tax rate. The bad news: Taxpayers with modified adjusted gross incomes of more than $ 200,000 for individuals and $ 250,000 for married joint filers will have to pay an additional 3.8 percent Affordable Care Act tax on their net investment income.

It’s a tricky grab for lawmakers on both sides of the partisan divide: How much and where, specifically, do you tax investors, who have been privy to a multiyear bull market in equities and fixed-income—an unavoidably attractive target for badly needed government revenue? How do you tap that source without choking off the undeniable wealth effect of a rising market? Love them or hate them, the top 20 percent of American income earners own about 90 percent of shares, a relationship that correlates disproportionately with retail sales, the health of which courses through the broader economy.

“Today the stock market has increasingly become the disciplining force in spurring action in Washington,” wrote Merrill Lynch economist Ethan Harris on Monday. “‘Stock market vigilantes’ have replaced ‘bond market vigilantes.’”

That’s a curious observation in light of how big a year markets had in the face of what was widely bandied as looming budgetary catastrophe. How urgently will lawmakers finish the substantial unfinished business of raising the country’s $ 16.4 trillion debt limit or deal with sequestration’s huge budget cuts if the market goes into panic mode?

For his part, Blackstone’s Byron Wien said the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will fall below 1,300 this year (from its current 1,456). He correctly called the S&P’s ascent last year above 1,400. Not once last year did the market have a single day when it was down for the year.

“The hard work,” says Janney Montgomery chief fixed-income strategist Guy LeBas, “is far from done. The cliff represented the confluence of opposing needs to reduce the long-term budget deficit and support short-term economic growth. Congress, in this instance, opted for the immediate benefits of the latter rather than the stability of the former. That decision delays what will inevitably be tougher decisions in the long run.”

“So, is this a relief rally, a dead-cat bounce, or just an ephemeral rise?” asks Scheinker, who says he plans to glue himself to C-SPAN again next month. “Do I feel comfortable here? No, not really. Does the market truly understand what deal was just signed off on? I am not too sure. I can tell you that my clients are very worried about the future of America.”

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GM recalls 145,628 mid-sized pickups for hood latch issue

(Reuters) – General Motors Co said on Thursday it is recalling 145,628 mid-sized pickup trucks globally as the hood could open unexpectedly due to a possible missing latch.

Of the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon pickups affected by the recall, 118,800 are in the United States, 15,264 are in Canada, 7,492 are in Mexico and the rest are exports, GM said.

GM is recalling the model year 2010 to 2012 trucks because the hood may be missing a secondary hood latch, so if the primary latch is not engaged the hood could open and block the driver’s view and increase the risk of a crash, according to documents filed with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

There are no reports of crashes or injuries related to the issue, and there are four known cases of the secondary hood latch being missing, GM said.

GM said it will notify owners and instruct them to inspect their trucks for the presence of a secondary hood latch or take the truck to a dealer for inspection. If the secondary latch is missing, a new hood will be installed, the company said.

Dealers were notified of the issue on December 18 and GM expects to begin mailing letters to owners on January 17, according to NHTSA.

(Reporting By Ben Klayman in Detroit; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

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Thieves stole more than $1 million worth of Apple products during a New Years Eve heist

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Playboy Hugh Hefner marries his ‘runaway bride’

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hugh Hefner is celebrating the new year as a married man once again.

The 86-year-old Playboy magazine founder exchanged vows with his “runaway bride,” Crystal Harris, at a private Playboy Mansion ceremony on New Year’s Eve. Harris, a 26-year-old “Playmate of the Month” in 2009, broke off a previous engagement to Hefner just before they were to be married in 2011.

Playboy said on Tuesday that the couple celebrated at a New Year’s Eve party at the mansion with guests that included comic Jon Lovitz, Gene Simmons of KISS and baseball star Evan Longoria.

The bride wore a strapless gown in soft pink, Hefner a black tux. Hefner’s been married twice before but lived the single life between 1959 and 1989.

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Gambian leader says to build herbal AIDS-cure hospital

BANJUL (Reuters) – AIDS patients would be offered an herbal cure at a 1,111-bed hospital in Gambia that the president said on Tuesday he plans to build despite medical concerns the treatment is dangerous.

President Yahya Jammeh said in 2007 he had found a remedy of boiled herbs to cure AIDS, stirring anger among Western medical experts who claimed he was giving false hope to the sick.

“With this project coming to fruition, we intend to treat 10,000 HIV/AIDS patients every six months through natural medicine,” Jammeh said in his New Year’s address, adding that he expected the 1,111-bed hospital to open in 2015.

The World Health Organisation and the United Nations have said Jammeh’s HIV/AIDS treatment is alarming mainly because patients are required to cease their anti-retroviral drugs, making them more prone to infection.

Jammeh said in October that 68 HIV/AIDS patients undergoing his herbal remedy had been cured and discharged, the seventh batch since the treatments began five years ago.

Other African leaders have drawn criticism for extolling the power of natural remedies to combat AIDS.

The administration of former South African President Thabo Mbeki was ridiculed for denying there was a link between HIV and AIDS while prescribing meaningless treatments such as beet root instead of internationally proven medicines.

The HIV rate in Gambia is relatively low compared to other African states, with 2 percent of the country’s roughly 1.8 million people infected, according to the United Nations.

Jammeh came to power in Gambia, a sliver of land on Africa’s west coast that is popular with sun-seeking European tourists, in a bloodless military coup in 1994.

He is accused by activists of human rights abuses during his rule, and most recently drew international criticism for executing nine death-row inmates by firing squad.

(Reporting by Pap Saine; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Michael Roddy)

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London Market Report

31 December 2012 Last updated at 08:23 ET

Continue reading the main story
Continue reading the main story

(Close): London’s leading shares fell in Monday trading, amid fears that budget talks would not stop the US sliding over the “fiscal cliff”.

In a truncated New Year’s Eve session, the benchmark FTSE 100 index dropped by 0.47%, or 27.56 points, to 5,897.81.

However, the index still ended the year nearly 6% higher, having fallen by 5.6% during 2011.

Engineering firm Melrose Industries did worst on the day, down 3.5%. Capital Shopping Centres Group shed 2.1%.

Leading the day’s winners, B&Q owner Kingfisher bucked the downward trend with a rise of 0.8%.

The broader-based FTSE 250 index had an even better year, notching up record annual gains of 22%.

The 250-share index is seen as more representative of the British economy as a whole, since it contains a greater proportion of firms that are actually based in the UK.

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France counts 1,193 cars torched on New Year’s Eve

PARIS (AP) — A New Year’s Eve tradition for some in France of torching empty, parked cars has continued.

Interior Minister Manuel Valls said Tuesday that 1,193 vehicles were burned overnight around the country, where the stunt began in the 1990s.

There was no way to compare this figure to recent ones because the conservative government of former President Nicolas Sarkozy stopped making the numbers public while he was in office. But the rate of burned cars was apparently steady. On Dec. 31, 2009, 1,147 vehicles were burned.

For some, the decision of France’s current Socialist government to resume making public figures of New Year’s Eve’s torched cars is unwise.

Bruno Beschizza, a security chief for Sarkozy’s UMP party, said on iTele TV that publishing the numbers motivates youths to commit such crimes.

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Zynga carries out planned games shutdown, including “Petville”

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Social games publisher Zynga Inc confirmed on Monday that it has carried out 11 of the planned shutdowns of 13 game titles, with “Petville” being the latest game on which it pulled the plug.

Zynga in October said it would shut down 13 underperforming titles after warning that its revenues were slowing as gamers fled from its once-popular titles published on the Facebook platform in large numbers and sharply revised its full-year outlook.

The San Francisco-based company announced the “Petville” shutdown two weeks ago on its Facebook page. All the 11 shutdowns occurred in December.

The 11 titles shut down or closed to new players include role-playing game “Mafia Wars 2,” “Vampire Wars,” “ForestVille” and “FishVille.”

“In place of ‘PetVille,’ we encourage you to play other Zynga games like ‘Castleville,’ ‘Chefville,’ ‘Farmville 2,’ ‘Mafia Wars’ and ‘Yoville,’” the company told players on its ‘PetVille’ Facebook page. “PetVille” players were offered a one-time, complimentary bonus package for virtual goods in those games.

“Petville,” which lets users adopt virtual pets, has 7.5 million likes on Facebook but only 60,000 daily active users, according to AppData. About 1,260 users commented on the game’s Facebook page, some lamenting the game’s shutdown.

Zynga has said it is shifting focus to capture growth in mobile games. It also applied this month for a preliminary application to run real-money gambling games in Nevada.

Zynga is hoping that a lucrative real-money market could make up for declining revenue from games like “FarmVille” and other fading titles that still generate the bulk of its sales.

Zynga shares were up 1 percent at $ 2.36 in afternoon trade on Monday on the Nasdaq.

(Reporting By Malathi Nayak; Editing by Leslie Adler)

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Is Tom Cruise still a go-to action hero? Hollywood, “Jack Reacher” say yes

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Given his age and the tough year he’s had in the tabloids, is Tom Cruise still a go-to guy when Hollywood is looking for an action hero?

The answer is yes, based on the performance of his current movie, Paramount‘s “Jack Reacher.” It’s taken in $ 45 million in the 10 days since opening with $ 15.6 million in a very crowded and competitive holiday market. Its second week was a solid $ 14 million, and it’s added $ 22 million from overseas.

Holiday movies tend to have legs and “Reacher” has yet to roll out in the majority of major foreign territories, so both of those numbers, particularly the international, will be growing. All signs point to it surpassing $ 200 million at the worldwide box office. That’s not a blockbuster figure, and Paramount is staying mum on a sequel, but with a $ 60 million budget, “Jack Reacher” will make money for Paramount.

There were questions coming in. With his divorce from Katie Holmes and subsequent custody battle, Cruise is carrying plenty of public relations baggage. His foray earlier this year into musicals with “Rock of Ages” was critically applauded but proved a box-office dud. That’s on top of his well-known support for Scientology.

He’s 50 now, which might be the new 40 in the real world, but is starting to get on in years in the realm of action heroes. Daniel Craig is 44. Jeremy Renner is 41. We are a long way from “Top Gun” – that was 1986 – so it probably won’t be too, too long until “The Expendables” franchise comes calling for Cruise.

But in the meantime, “Reacher” is going to be profitable for Paramount and Cruise’s portrayal of the tough, ex-military drifter has drawn critical kudos, so there’s a bit of momentum now. And it’s clear from his upcoming schedule that Hollywood is still convinced he can carry an action film.

Next for Cruise will be two sci-fi movies: Universal’s “Oblivion” is due in April and “All You Need is Kill” is set for March 2014 from Warner Bros. After that, there’s a potential “Van Helsing” remake at Universal and “Mission: Impossible 5″ is on Paramount‘s 2015 slate.

His recent track record at the box office, particularly when you look at his performance in the action genre, suggests the studios are making a pretty good bet.

“Rock of Ages” may have crumpled, but “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” was a huge hit for Paramount, taking in nearly $ 700 million worldwide in 2011. “Knight & Day,” from Fox in 2010, and “Valkyrie,” from United Artists in 2008, both made over $ 200 million worldwide.

Supporting roles in “Tropic Thunder” and “Lions for Lambs” preceded those, but those came on the heels of two Paramount movies: “Mission Impossible 3,” which made nearly $ 400 million worldwide in 2006, and “War of the Worlds,” which did $ 592 million in the previous year.

The bottom line: Hollywood is still convinced you can still take Tom Cruise, movie action hero, to the bank.

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Clinton’s blood clot an uncommon complication

The kind of blood clot in the skull that doctors say Hillary Rodham Clinton has is relatively uncommon but can occur after an injury like the fall and concussion the secretary of state was diagnosed with earlier this month.

Doctors said Monday that an MRI scan revealed a clot in a vein in the space between the brain and the skull behind Clinton’s right ear.

The clot did not lead to a stroke or neurological damage and is being treated with blood thinners, and she will be released once the proper dose is worked out, her doctors said in a statement.

Clinton has been at New York-Presbyterian Hospital since Sunday, when the clot was diagnosed during what the doctors called a routine follow-up exam. At the time, her spokesman would not say where the clot was located, leading to speculation it was another leg clot like the one she suffered behind her right knee in 1998.

Clinton had been diagnosed with a concussion Dec. 13 after a fall in her home that was blamed on a stomach virus that left her weak and dehydrated.

The type of clot she developed, a sinus venous thrombosis, “certainly isn’t the most common thing to happen after a concussion” and is one of the few types of blood clots in the skull or head that are treated with blood thinners, said neurologist Dr. Larry Goldstein. He is director of Duke University‘s stroke center and has no role in Clinton’s care or personal knowledge of it.

The area where Clinton’s clot developed is “a drainage channel, the equivalent of a big vein inside the skull — it’s how the blood gets back to the heart,” Goldstein explained.

It should have no long-term consequences if her doctors are saying she has suffered no neurological damage from it, he said.

Dr. Joseph Broderick, chairman of neurology at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, also called Clinton’s problem “relatively uncommon” after a concussion.

He and Goldstein said the problem often is overdiagnosed. They said scans often show these large “draining pipes” on either side of the head are different sizes, which can mean blood has pooled or can be merely an anatomical difference.

“I’m sure she’s got the best doctors in the world looking at her,” and if they are saying she has no neurological damage, “I would think it would be a pretty optimistic long-term outcome,” Broderick said.

A review article in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2005 describes the condition, which more often occurs in newborns or young people but can occur after a head injury. With modern treatment, more than 80 percent have a good neurologic outcome, the report says.

In the statement, Clinton’s doctors said she “is making excellent progress and we are confident she will make a full recovery. She is in good spirits, engaging with her doctors, her family, and her staff.”

___

Online:

Medical journal: http://dura.stanford.edu/Articles/Stam_NEJM05.pdf

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The Cliff Is Not a Credit-Rating Crisis

(Updates Dow Jones industrial average’s closing figure)

To quote the 1980s Soviet-dissing comedian Yakov Smirnoff: “What a Country!” That punch line seems terribly appropriate when you consider that America is uniquely positioned to explore true fiscal profligacy.

In August 2011, you’ll recall, amid the debt-ceiling debacle, Standard & Poor’s (MHP) did the unthinkable and downgraded the U.S. credit rating. Did the dollar collapse? Treasuries plunge? Bond vigilantes with pitchforks maraud down the corridors of Wall Street? Just the opposite: By dint of the dollar being the global reserve-currency of choice—and Treasuries being the ultimate redoubt of safety and liquidity—U.S. bond prices rose and yields fell while our printing presses went full-tilt. Risk on or risk off, creditors the world over can’t seem to get enough of American debt.

Now there’s a sequel to the debt ceiling drama: the Fiscal Cliff, a budgetary tragedy entirely of lawmakers’ creation.

So how will the credit-raters and debt markets react to this surreal state of affairs?

S&P put out a Dec. 28 bulletin, “Congressional Impasse On Fiscal Cliff Does Not Affect U.S. Sovereign Rating.” The ratings giant cited its 2011 downgrade language—when it called out “the political brinkmanship of recent months [that] highlights what we see as America’s governance and policymaking becoming less stable, less effective, and less predictable”—to reiterate that it “believes that this characterization still holds.”

But this time a political impasse means the deficit would be cut. “If lawmakers reach no agreement,” says S&P, “the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the government will receive additional revenue and will forgo additional expenses of upwards of $ 500 billion (3% of 2013 GDP) a year.”

As for Moody’s (MCO), the firm remarked on Dec. 27 that its “Aaa rating of the U.S. government is based on an assessment of very high economic strength, very high institutional strength, very high government financial strength, and low susceptibility to event risk. The rating carries a negative outlook, which was assigned primarily due to the rapid increase in federal government debt during the past five years and the uncertain debt trajectory in the medium term. … The statutory debt limit will be reached soon if Congress does not act to raise it. … Our view is that the probability of a missed interest payment on bonds resulting from a failure to raise the debt limit is extremely low.”

And then there’s Fitch Ratings. We’ll spare you the riveting boilerplate.

Point is, for all the Big Three’s codified importance to investors, not many seem seem to be waiting with bated breath for their reaction to what ultimately emerges from Washington’s cliff impasse. “S&P downgrading the U.S. last year was meaningless, because people don’t rely on S&P to tell them the credit quality of the U.S. government,” says Donald Steinbrugge, managing partner of Agecroft Partners, a broker-dealer that serves hedge funds. He says if Congress does not reach an agreement on the budget and the fiscal cliff is implemented, the markets will be the primary judge of the ripple effect on the broader economy and corporate profits. “This will result in a sell-off,” he says, “where the degree of decline will depend on how long investors believe the cliff will be in place.”

On the last day of the year, with an hour of trading left, no resolution from the Beltway, and the U.S. Treasury Department hitting up against its debt ceiling, the Dow Jones Industrial average rose 166 points.

Meantime, since the U.S. downgrades of 2011, the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index has returned a total of 23 percent (it has been up for the year every day of 2012); volatility, as measured by the VIX, has plunged; and government bonds have been in clover. In fact, the 10-year Treasury yield averaged 1.79 percent this year, its lowest yield since 1941.

Makes you wonder how badly America will fare—if and when its debt ever gets upgraded.

Businessweek.com — Top News

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Pope marks end of difficult year, notes God’s good

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI marked the end of a difficult year Monday by saying that despite all the death and injustice in the world, goodness prevails.

Benedict celebrated New Year’s Eve with a vespers service in St. Peter’s Basilica to give thanks for 2012 and look ahead to 2013. He appeared tired during the service and used a cane afterward — an indication that the busy Christmas season may be taking a toll on the 85-year-old Benedict.

In his homily, Benedict said it’s tough to remember that goodness prevails when bad news — death, violence and injustice — “makes more noise than good.” He said taking time to meditate in prolonged reflection and prayer can help “find healing from the inevitable wounds of daily life.”

This past year was full of highs and lows for the pope, including a successful trip to Mexico and Cuba but also the betrayal of his butler, convicted in October of stealing Benedict’s personal papers and leaking them to a journalist.

After the service, Benedict was brought out in a covered car to pray before the Vatican’s main nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square. Walking with a cane in the chilly piazza, Benedict chatted animatedly with the artist who crafted the scene, which recreated an entire village from the poor, southern Italian region of Basilicata which donated this year’s crèche.

The Vatican gladly accepted Basilicata’s donation after the €550,000 price tag the Vatican paid for the 2009 nativity scene was revealed in the documentation leaked by Benedict’s ex-butler Paolo Gabriele.

Gabriele was convicted of aggravated theft by a Vatican tribunal and sentenced to 18 months in prison. He received a pre-Christmas papal pardon and is expected to soon leave his Vatican City apartment for a new home and job elsewhere.

On Tuesday morning, Benedict celebrates a New Year’s Day Mass, which the Catholic Church celebrates as its world day of peace.

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Kobe Bryant Finally Joins Twitter — Kind Of

Long among the sports world’s biggest Twitter holdouts, Kobe Bryant has finally joined the social network. But he hasn’t opened an account, and won’t be around for long.

Social savvy fans are being blessed with his presence thanks to Nike Basketball, which has turned over its account to Bryant since Tuesday.

[More from Mashable: Avery Johnson’s Teenage Son Unloads on Twitter After NBA Firing]

Nike Basketball, which sponsors Bryant and produces his official sneaker, announced the Kobe takeover in a Christmas Day tweet. The account’s name is now “Kobe Bryant” although its handle remains @nikebasketball. Kobe has spent the past few days tweeting about a variety of subjects using a series of hashtags that play off the theme #counton-fill-in-the-blank.

He’s tweeted about the Lakers progress as a team:

[More from Mashable: FanDuel Is Fantasy Sports With a Twist]

He’s tweeted behind-the-scenes snippets of training and treatment:

And he’s tweeted a totally normal, typical, everyday holiday family portrait:

Bryant actually joined Twitter for realsies back in 2011, but then deleted the account after racking up more than 35,000 followers in a just a few hours. He’s one of the NBA’s few stars without a Twitter presence. Nearly 90% of the league’s players are on the social network, according to Twitter.

But Bryant did become much more active on Facebook this summer, especially while traveling with the United States’ Olympic basketball team. He has nearly 15 million fans there, and reportedly writes his status updates and messages himself, with editing and actual posting done by support staff. In November he asked Facebook fans whether to join Instagram or Twitter next, and on Monday hinted in a status update that he may soon open an Instagram account.

What athletes would you most like to see get more active on social media? Let us know in the comments.

BONUS: 30 Must-Follow Twitter Accounts This NBA SEASON

1. @NBA

The NBA is arguably the world’s most engaging sports league on social media. Follow its official Twitter account for news, highlights and promotions.

Click here to view this gallery.

Thumbnail image courtesy Flickr, Keith Allison

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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New Year’s Resolutions For Better Health

New Year’s resolutions are typically so singular, self-focused and private. How about making a resolution or two this year that has benefits beyond yourself? Here are some suggestions with lots of links to get you started.

You can help stop the spread of disease. Resolve to get up-to-date on your vaccines. While children have a full slate of vaccines, many adults don’t realize they have regular immunization obligations, too. Getting flu, pertussis, human papillomavirus and other vaccines can protect you and help stop the spread of diseases that harm others. Here’s a great guide to adult immunizations from the federal government. If the cost of vaccines is an issue, check into free or low-cost immunizations through your county’s public health department. Here’s a guide to finding your local office. Volunteer with an organization that needs your help. A group called Catchafire matches professionals who wish to volunteer their skills to organizations that need the help — including many important health organizations. The idea is to give great organizations access to top talent while respecting the professionals’ schedules and making their volunteer work meaningful. Here’s the link. Influence a healthier food climate. Americans spend about half of their food budgets eating out. So we had better demand thorough nutritional information about what we’re getting. Under healthcare reform, many restaurant chains will soon carry nutritional information. But the law has loopholes. If you don’t see the information you’re looking for on salt, fat, calories or other nutrients, ask the restaurant’s manager where you can find it. Nutritional information should be easy to access. Until it is, speak up and ask for it. Do your part to keep down healthcare costs. The Affordable Care Act will bring many consumers into the insurance healthcare system for the first time. But that doesn’t mean we can ignore the cost of care. Rising healthcare costs remain a huge issue that could drag down the economy and bedevil some reform efforts. You can help by being a wise healthcare consumer. Read your insurance policy and know what it does and doesn’t cover. Take advantage of free preventive care services and screening tests under the ACA. Shop around for prescriptions to find the cheapest prices. Ask your doctor for generic equivalents. Finally, use your health savings account if your employer offers one. These accounts provide incentives for using your money wisely, shopping around to find the best healthcare prices and weighing the costs and benefits of certain drugs, tests or procedures.  Here’s a guide to understanding how HSAs work. Be responsible about the prescription drugs you store at home. You can reduce your own risk of addiction and lower the risk for others, too, if you are careful about medications kept in your home. This year marked a turning point in the nation’s epidemic of prescription-drug abuse and addiction.  Admissions to addiction treatment centers for use of narcotic painkillers rose 569 percent in the past decade, according to the federal government. More people now die from drug overdoses than from traffic accidents. More than six million Americans abuse prescription drugs, and more than 70 percent of addicts get their drugs through family or friends or by raiding a home medicine cabinet. Dispose of unused medications. The Drug Enforcement Agency operates a National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day a few times a year (the next one is in April), that makes it easy to dispose of dangerous substance.  Go through your home today and collect unused medications. You can take them to a pharmacy for disposal or even flush them down the toilet. Some drugs carry disposal instructions on the label. Here’s information on how to dispose of prescription medications. Be a safe driver. One of the biggest safety issues on the nation’s roads these days is driver distraction. A large share of the distractions come from talking on a hand-held cell phone or text messaging while driving. You’re 23 times more likely to crash if you text while driving. Most states now prohibit texting while driving, but there are still many people who do it while knowing it’s unsafe. Break yourself of this terrible habit. The federal government has a website that provides people with information and tools to discourage distracted driving. Included in this package is a simple pledge sheet you can print out, sign and post on your refrigerator door or bathroom to help you make the commitment. There are a couple of other things you can do, too. Speak out if the driver you’re riding with is distracted. Encourage family and friends to drive phone-free. Run a race for the greater good. Who doesn’t love a good 5K walk or run? You benefit from the exercise and, if you choose a charity race, others reap rewards, too. There are thousands of charity races each year. Pick one and invite your friends to participate with you. Here’s a website to help you find a race.  Apply for a grant. There’s money out there for doing good. Saucony’s Run for Good Foundation aims at preventing child obesity by promoting running as part of a healthy lifestyle for kids. The foundation issues grant money to organizations that want to organize a kids’ running group. You can find information on how to apply at the foundation website. Sign a petition. Concerned about flame retardants in consumer products? Gun safety? Funding for research to fight a particular disease? There’s probably a petition for that. It’s an easy way to make your voice heard. Both change.org and thepetitionsite.com are good places to look to find a petition close to your heart.

Question: What resolutions can you make to help others? Tell us what you think in the comments.

---

Shari Roan is an award-winning health writer based in Southern California. She is the author of three books on health and science subjects.

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Stock futures edge higher as “cliff” talks continue

(Reuters) – Equity futures were slightly higher on Sunday night as talks continued in Washington over resolving the “fiscal cliff.”

While the Senate will not vote Sunday night on any bill to avoid a series of $ 600 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts, as many had hoped, negotiations continued between lawmakers and the White House.

The Senate will reconvene on Monday after the open of equity trading. In order for a deal to take effect, it would also have to be passed by the House of Representatives.

Despite the gain indicated by futures, stocks still could end up falling on Monday when the cash markets open if lawmakers are unable to come to an agreement to avoid the cliff, which many fear could push the economy into recession.

“There is always a chance for a massive stalemate, and we could see a lot more volatility if we get to a point where there’s no more hope. Right now there’s still hope,” said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of Sarhan Capital in New York.

Midnight on Monday marks the deadline for a deal, though the government can pass legislation in 2013 that retroactively prevents going over the cliff, an option that is viewed as politically easier.

“At some point, someone will have to blink, or Congress will just come in early in 2013 and vote for a tax cut,” Sarhan said. “Something will be done to resolve this.”

S&P 500 futures were up 5.4 points, or 0.4 percent, at 1,389 in electronic trading. Still, futures were about 7 points below the fair value level of 1,397.19. Fair value is a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Despite the rise, if futures remain below fair value, cash markets will open lower.

Dow and Nasdaq futures were also slightly higher, though below fair value.

Stocks fell sharply on Friday, with significant losses in the last minutes of trading, as prospects for a deal worsened at the beginning of the weekend.

The rise in the futures market does not necessarily augur for a rally on Monday, however. The cash market and futures markets closed with a wide gulf on Friday, by virtue of the extra 15 minutes of trading in futures.

The S&P 500 closed at 1,402.43 at 4 p.m. ET on Friday, down 1.1 percent, but futures continued to fall before closing 15 minutes later with a loss of 1.9 percent. S&P futures and the S&P cash index don’t match point-by-point, but that kind of disparity points to a weak opening in stocks on Monday.

One hour before they had hoped to present a plan on Sunday, Democratic and Republican Senate leaders said they were still unable to reach a compromise.

Earlier in the day, President Barack Obama, appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said investors could begin to show greater concerns in the new year.

“If people start seeing that on January 1st this problem still hasn’t been solved … then obviously that’s going to have an adverse reaction in the markets,” he said,

Investors have remained relatively sanguine about the process, believing that it will eventually be solved. In the past two months markets have not shown the kind of volatility that was present during the fight to raise the debt ceiling in 2011.

The Dow industrials and the S&P 500 each lost 1.9 percent last week, after stocks fell for five straight sessions, which marked the S&P 500′s longest losing streak in three months. Equities have largely performed well in the last two months despite constant chatter about the fiscal cliff, but the last few days shows a bit of increased worry.

The CBOE Volatility Index <.vix> rose to its highest level since June on Friday, closing at 22.72.</.vix>

(Additional reporting by David Gaffen; Editing by Jan Paschal)

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Pakistan militants kill 41 in mass execution, attack on Shi’ites

PESHWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistani militants, who have escalated attacks in recent weeks, killed at least 41 people in two separate incidents, officials said on Sunday, challenging assertions that military offensives have broken the back of hardline Islamist groups.

The United States has long pressured nuclear-armed ally Pakistan to crack down harder on both homegrown militants groups such as the Taliban and others which are based on its soil and attack Western forces in Afghanistan.

In the north, 21 men working for a government-backed paramilitary force were executed overnight after they were kidnapped last week, a provincial official said.

Twenty Shi’ite pilgrims died and 24 were wounded, meanwhile, when a car bomb targeted their bus convoy as it headed toward the Iranian border in the southwest, a doctor said.

New York-based Human Rights Watch has noted more than 320 Shias killed this year in Pakistan and said attacks were on the rise. It said the government’s failure to catch or prosecute attackers suggested it was “indifferent” to the killings.

Pakistan, seen as critical to U.S. efforts to stabilize the region before NATO forces withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, denies allegations that it supports militant groups like the Afghan Taliban and Haqqani network.

Afghan officials say Pakistan seems more genuine than ever about promoting peace in Afghanistan.

At home, it faces a variety of highly lethal militant groups that carry out suicide bombings, attack police and military facilities and launch sectarian attacks like the one on the bus in the southwest.

Witnesses said a blast targeted their three buses as they were overtaking a car about 60 km (35 miles) west of Quetta, capital of sparsely populated Baluchistan province.

“The bus next to us caught on fire immediately,” said pilgrim Hussein Ali, 60. “We tried to save our companions, but were driven back by the intensity of the heat.”

Twenty people had been killed and 24 wounded, said an official at Mastung district hospital.

CONCERN OVER EXTREMIST SUNNI GROUPS

International attention has focused on al Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban.

But Pakistani intelligence officials say extremist Sunni groups, lead by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) are emerging as a major destabilizing force in a campaign designed to topple the government.

Their strategy now, the officials say, is to carry out attacks on Shi’ites to create the kind of sectarian tensions that pushed countries like Iraq to the brink of civil war.

As elections scheduled for next year approach, Pakistanis will be asking what sort of progress their leaders have made in the fight against militancy and a host of other issues, such as poverty, official corruption and chronic power cuts.

Pakistan’s Taliban have carried out a series of recent bold attacks, as military officials point to what they say is a power struggle in the group’s leadership revolving around whether it should ease attacks on the Pakistani state and join groups fighting U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan.

The Taliban denies a rift exists among its leaders.

In the attack in the northwest, officials said they had found the bodies of 21 men kidnapped from their checkpoints outside the provincial capital of Peshawar on Thursday. The men were executed one by one.

“They were tied up and blindfolded,” Naveed Anwar, a senior administration official, said by telephone.

“They were lined up and shot in the head,” said Habibullah Arif, another local official, also by telephone.

One man was shot and seriously wounded but survived, the officials said. He was in critical condition and being treated at a local hospital. Another had escaped before the shootings.

Taliban spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan claimed responsibility for the attacks.

“We killed all the kidnapped men after a council of senior clerics gave a verdict for their execution. We didn’t make any demand for their release because we don’t spare any prisoners who are caught during fighting,” he said.

The powerful military has clawed back territory from the Taliban, but the kidnap and executions underline the insurgents’ ability to mount high-profile, deadly attacks in major cities.

This month, suicide bombers attacked Peshawar’s airport on December 15 and a bomb killed a senior Pashtun nationalist politician and eight other people at a rally on December 22.

(Additional reporting by Saud Mehsud in DERA ISMAIL KHAN and Gul Yousufzai in QUETTA; Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Michael Georgy and Ron Popeski)

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