Aaron Swartz, co-founder of Reddit and online activist, dies

NEW YORK— ...

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Aaron Swartz, Coder and Activist, Dead at 26

We often say, upon the passing of a friend or loved one, that the world is a poorer place for the loss. But with the untimely death of programmer and activist Aaron Swartz, this isn’t just a sentiment; it’s literally true. Worthy, important causes will surface without a champion equal to their measure. Technological problems will go unsolved, or be solved a little less brilliantly than...

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Mike Tyson to punch up “Law & Order: SVU” with guest appearance

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Mike Tyson is stepping into the ring with “Law & Order: SVU.”The former boxing champ will guest-star on the NBC procedural drama next month, a spokeswoman for the network told TheWrap on Friday.Tyson will play Reggie Rhodes, a murderer on death row who was victimized by a difficult childhood.The episode is currently scheduled to air on February 13, just in time for...

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‘Bodega Clinicas’ Draw Interest of Health Officials

HUNTINGTON PARK, Calif. — The “bodega clinicas” that line the bustling commercial streets of immigrant neighborhoods around Los Angeles are wedged between money order kiosks and pawnshops. These storefront offices, staffed with Spanish-speaking medical providers, treat ailments for cash: a doctor’s visit is $20 to $40; a cardiology exam is $120; and at one bustling clinic, a colonoscopy is advertised...

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Fourth Quarter

EssaySelling Out by Selling OffBy JOHN SCHWARTZ When all other moneymaking ideas fail, you can always try selling your worldly possessions. But even that can run into a wall.Off the ShelfStrategic Advice, Long Before You InvestBy PAUL B. BROWN Two new books — “Plan Your Prosperity” and “Diary of a Hedgehog” — offer ideas to consider long before you invest in any mark...

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Obama moves up deadline for Afghans to take lead security role

WASHINGTON -- President Obama on Friday said he is moving up the deadline for Afghan forces to take the lead in securing their...

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Doomed Spacecraft Captures Awesome Close-Up Video of Moon

Three days before the moon-orbiting Ebb spacecraft collided with a lunar mountain, its on-board cameras captured some striking images of the pockmarked moon’s northern hemisphere — from just six miles up. On Jan. 10, NASA released what look like scenes from a science fiction movie: two probe’s-eye views of the lunar farside, made from Ebb’s stitched-together images.The...

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ABC’s “Zero Hour” Will Conclude Conspiracies After Each Season

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Paul Scheuring, the executive producer of ABC’s “Zero Hour,” says the conspiracy driving the new ABC drama will “100 percent” wrap up at the end of its first season.Premeiring February 14, the show follows Anthony Edwards (“ER”) as the publisher of a magazine that investigates conspiracy theories. But after his wife (Jacinda Barrett) is abducted from her antique clock shop,...

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Personal Health: Keeping Firearms Away From Children

I doubt that our forebears who ratified the Second Amendment in 1791 ever imagined how carelessly and callously firearms would be used centuries later. Witness the senseless slaughter of 20 innocent children and 6 adults last month in Newtown, Conn. As a mother of two and grandmother of four, I can’t imagine a more painful loss.If you are as concerned as I am about the safety of your children and...

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DealBook: Wells Fargo Profit Jumps 24% in Quarter, Driven by Mortgage Gains

8:46 a.m. | Updated Wells Fargo reported $5.1 billion in profit for the fourth quarter on Friday, a 24 percent increase, driven by the bank’s lucrative mortgage business.Seizing on low-interest rates that have spurred a flurry of refinancing activity, the bank again notched record profits. For the last 12 quarters, profits at the bank have increased.In this latest quarter, Wells Fargo, based in San...

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Irvine City Council overhauls oversight, spending on Great Park

Capping a raucous eight-hour-plus meeting, the Irvine City Council early Wednesday voted to overhaul the oversight and spending...

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Hands-On: Nvidia's Project Shield Is Impressive, But Not Perfect

As a gamer, I can’t help but be wowed by Nvidia’s Project Shield. But after getting to use the Android-powered portable gaming console/controller/mini-tablet hybrid device here at CES, I see some potential pitfalls.Project Shield is a console-style gaming controller with the buttons, triggers, dual joysticks and single directional pad you’re familiar with if you’ve ever touched an Xbox or...

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Depardieu skips court to set up Strauss-Kahn role

PARIS (Reuters) – French film star Gerard Depardieu skipped a court hearing on drink-driving charges on Tuesday as he pursued a headline-grabbing world tour that has seen him set up an alleged tax haven home in Belgium and pick up a passport in Russia.The garrulous actor’s lawyer said he had missed the hearing in Paris because he was now in Montenegro for meetings about a film in which he will play...

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Flu Widespread, Leading a Range of Winter’s Ills

It is not your imagination — more people you know are sick this winter, even people who have had flu shots. The country is in the grip of three emerging flu or flulike epidemics: an early start to the annual flu season with an unusually aggressive virus, a surge in a new type of norovirus, and the worst whooping cough outbreak in 60 years. And these are all developing amid the normal winter...

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Media Decoder Blog: With 'Daisy,' Beats Electronics Bets on Digital Music

Memo to Spotify: Beats Electronics is coming for you.Beats, whose success with the Beats by Dr. Dre line of high-end headphones transformed a hobbyist niche into a huge mainstream market, has been planning its entry into the streaming music world since at least last year, when it bought the digital service, Mog.Beats has been slow to reveal its plans, and the streaming market has been growing steadily...

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L.A. County sheriff's area homicides fall; serious crime up overall

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Glenn Beck Says 3-D Printers Will Make America Great Again

Glenn Beck has seen the future, and it is 3-D printed.On Tuesday, he featured one of MakerBot’s Replicators on his radio show/online broadcast, making it clear that he was impressed by the desktop device.“This can make anything,” he says as the machine diligently prints out a tiny shark model. He’s no less impressed by how easy it is to create the models for a print, too, pointing to Autodesk’s...

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Jimmy Kimmel beats Letterman, closes on Leno in new time slot

NEW YORK (Reuters) – In a late night riff on David and Goliath, TV talk show host Jimmy Kimmel beat out veteran David Letterman and nearly caught ratings champion Jay Leno with his first show in their time slot.The move from midnight to 11:35 p.m., which took effect on Tuesday, paid off big for ABC. “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” with guest Jennifer Aniston, attracted 3.1 million viewers, the second-highest...

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Pap Test May Prove Useful at Detecting More Types of Cancer, Study Suggests

The Pap test, which has prevented countless deaths from cervical cancer, may eventually help to detect cancers of the uterus and ovaries as well, a new study suggests. For the first time, researchers have found genetic material from uterine or ovarian cancers in Pap smears, meaning that it may become possible to detect three diseases with just one routine test. But the research is...

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Obama’s Pick for Treasury Is Said to Be His Chief of Staff

WASHINGTON – President Obama will announce on Thursday that he intends to elevate his chief of staff and former budget director, Jacob J. Lew, to be his next secretary of Treasury, according to officials familiar with the decision. If confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Lew, 57, would be Mr. Obama’s second Treasury secretary, replacing Timothy F. Geithner, the last remaining principal on Mr. Obama’s...

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Testimony about Colorado massacre resumes in James Holmes hearing

More emotional testimony was expected at a hearing on the Aurora movie theater massacre, as prosecutors continued to lay out their case against the defendant, James Holmes. ...

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Help Wanted: Astronauts Needed for Mars Colony

Mars One, a nonprofit organization based in the Netherlands, intends to establish a human settlement on Mars in 2023.They need astronauts.Anyone on planet Earth can apply if they meet the basic requirements. But obviously, the job isn’t for just anyone.Today, Mars One released its application criteria. Among other virtues, astronaut candidates must have “a deep sense...

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Fox: Passion, disagreements with new ‘Idol’ team

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — Five minutes into their season-opening news conference and the new team at “American Idol” were having their first disagreement — about their disagreements.Asked Tuesday whether a supposed feud between new judges Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj was a publicity stunt, Fox network executive Mike Darnell said it was authentic. He said there was a lot of passion within the group,...

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Gaps Seen in Therapy for Suicidal Teenagers

Most adolescents who plan or attempt suicide have already gotten at least some mental health treatment, raising questions about the effectiveness of current approaches to helping troubled teenagers, according to the largest in-depth analysis to date of suicidal behaviors in American teenagers. The study, posted online Tuesday by the journal JAMA Psychiatry, found that 55 percent of suicidal...

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