Google launches Snapseed photo editor on Android, makes iOS version free

After acquiring the makers of Snapseed in September, Google (GOOG) on Thursday released the popular photo application for Android smartphones and tablets. Google also updated the iOS version of the app to add Google+ integration and some new filters, and it cut the price of the original app from $ 4.99 to free. Snapseed is a simple yet powerful photo editor from Nik Software that allows users to enhance...

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Mario Lopez Is Spontaneous, Romantic, Says New Bride Courtney Mazza

By Dahvi Shira and Patrick Gomez 12/08/2012 at 03:30 PM EST Courtney Mazza, Mario Lopez and their daughter, Gia FameFlynet There's no lack of spice in the lives of newlyweds Mario and Courtney Lopez."The most romantic thing about Mario is his spontaneity," Courtney...

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Smokers celebrate as Wash. legalizes marijuana

SEATTLE (AP) — The crowds of happy people lighting joints under Seattle's Space Needle early Thursday morning with nary a police officer in sight bespoke the new reality: Marijuana is legal under Washington state law.Hundreds gathered at Seattle Center for a New Year's Eve-style countdown to 12 a.m., when the legalization measure passed by voters last month took effect. When the clock struck, they...

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Wall Street Week Ahead: "Cliff" worries may drive tax selling

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors typically sell stocks to cut their losses at year end. But worries about the "fiscal cliff" - and the possibility of higher taxes in 2013 - may act as the greatest incentive to sell both winners and losers by December 31. The $600 billion of automatic tax increases and spending cuts scheduled for the beginning of next year includes higher rates for capital...

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The Lede Blog: Hospital Nurse in Radio Hoax With Kate Middleton Is Found Dead

Video of a statement on Friday from the London hospital where Kate Middleton was treated this week.A nurse at a London hospital, who took a prank call from two Australian radio disc jockeys pretending to be Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles to get details on Kate Middleton’s medical condition, was found dead on Friday, the hospital said.John Lofthouse, the chief executive of the King Edward VII...

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The X Factor: Will Demi Lovato Be Back Next Season?

TV Watch The X Factor By Gabrielle Olya 12/07/2012 at 03:55 PM EST Demi Lovato and Simon Cowell She's sassy with Simon Cowell and, after Thursday's elimination of CeCe Frey, she became the first judge this season to lose all her contestants on The X Factor. So,...

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Smokers celebrate as Wash. legalizes marijuana

SEATTLE (AP) — The crowds of happy people lighting joints under Seattle's Space Needle early Thursday morning with nary a police officer in sight bespoke the new reality: Marijuana is legal under Washington state law.Hundreds gathered at Seattle Center for a New Year's Eve-style countdown to 12 a.m., when the legalization measure passed by voters last month took effect. When the clock struck, they...

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Solid jobs data spurs little buying, Apple falls again

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 eked out only a slight gain on Friday as weak consumer sentiment data offset enthusiasm from a better-than-expected jobs report, while the Nasdaq slipped after some investors resumed a sell-off of Apple shares. Wall Street opened higher after the U.S. Labor Department said non-farm payrolls added 146,000 jobs in November. However, the gains faded,...

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U. S. and Russia to Meet on Syrian Conflict

DUBLIN — A new round of diplomacy on the conflict in Syria will begin on Thursday afternoon when Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations special envoy, hosts an unusual three-way meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov. The session, which is being held on the margins of a meeting on European security, comes amid reports of heightened...

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Bo Obama Adorns White House Christmas Card

People Pets 12/06/2012 at 03:55 PM EST White House Christmas card MAI / Splash News Online It wouldn't be Christmas at the White House without Bo Obama.After inspecting this season's holiday decorations – in which he is prominently featured through a life-size...

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Celebrations planned as Wash. legalizes marijuana

SEATTLE (AP) — Legal marijuana possession becomes a reality under Washington state law on Thursday, and some people planned to celebrate the new law by breaking it.Voters in Washington and Colorado last month made those the first states to decriminalize and regulate the recreational use of marijuana. Washington's law takes effect Thursday and allows adults to have up to an ounce of pot — but it bans...

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Wall Street flat, Apple helps techs to rise

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks drifted near the unchanged mark on Thursday as investors postponed big bets before the November employment report on Friday, but technology stocks rose on gains in Apple and Broadcom. Monthly payroll numbers, to be released by the Labor Department, are expected to show a sharp slowdown in jobs growth because of superstorm Sandy. Broadcom boosted...

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Serbian Ambassador to NATO Is Said to Commit Suicide

PARIS — The Serbian ambassador to NATO, Branislav Milinkovic, jumped to his death from a multistory parking garage on Tuesday afternoon at the Brussels airport, diplomats said Wednesday. ReutersBranislav Milinkovic, Serbia's ambassador to NATO, sits at the alliance headquarters in Brussels Dec. 14, 2006. Mr. Milinkovic, 52, a respected diplomat, lawyer...

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Facebook’s Instagram cuts support for key Twitter integration

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Facebook Inc’s recently acquired photo-sharing service, Instagram, removed a key element of its integration with Twitter, signaling a deepening rift between two of the Web’s dominant social media companies.Instagram’s Chief Executive Kevin Systrom said Wednesday his company turned off support for Twitter “cards” in order to drive Twitter users to Instagram’s own website....

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Teen Arrested in Bank Robbery Had Bragged of Heist on YouTube

By Johnny Dodd 12/05/2012 at 03:35 PM EST There are criminal masterminds, and then there's Hannah Sabata.The 19-year-old high school dropout allegedly knocked off a bank in Nebraska, then posted a YouTube video bragging about it. "Kind of a strange deal isn't it?" York County Sherriff Dale Radcliff tells PEOPLE. In...

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Longer tamoxifen use cuts breast cancer deaths

Breast cancer patients taking the drug tamoxifen can cut their chances of having the disease come back or kill them if they stay on the pills for 10 years instead of five years as doctors recommend now, a major study finds.The results could change treatment, especially for younger women. The findings are a surprise because earlier research suggested that taking the hormone-blocking drug for longer...

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Dow, S&P rebound on banks, but Nasdaq sours with Apple

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks mostly rose on Wednesday, boosted by a rally in bank shares, though a steep drop in Apple limited the advance and kept the Nasdaq in negative territory. Trading was volatile, with the S&P 500 dropping into negative territory at one point and the Nasdaq falling more than 1 percent before rebounding. The Dow, which doesn't contain Apple Inc as a component,...

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Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany Opens Campaign for a Third Term

BERLIN — Angela Merkel began her campaign for re-election on Tuesday with a display of the down-to-earth pragmatism that has helped make her immensely popular among Germans and well positioned to win a third term as chancellor next year. Wielding two bouquets of bright orange flowers after delegates in her center-right Christian Democratic Union elected her to a seventh term as their party...

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China goes crazy for iPhone 5: Preorders hit 100,000 units in under 24 hours

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Frankie Muniz Recovering from a 'Mini-Stroke'

By Mike Fleeman 12/04/2012 at 03:50 PM EST Malcolm's in the middle of a health scare.Former child star Frankie Muniz is recovering from "mini-stroke" that sent him to the hospital last Friday. Muniz, who turns 27 on Wednesday, tells his Twitter followers that the experience was "not fun at all." "Have to start...

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CDC says US flu season starts early, could be bad

NEW YORK (AP) — Flu season in the U.S. is off to its earliest start in nearly a decade — and it could be a bad one.Health officials on Monday said suspected flu cases have jumped in five Southern states, and the primary strain circulating tends to make people sicker than other types. It is particularly hard on the elderly."It looks like it's shaping up to be a bad flu season, but only time will tell,"...

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Wall Street flat on lack of "fiscal cliff" progress

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks fluctuated between small gains and losses on Tuesday after remarks by President Barack Obama on budget talks dented optimism a solution could be found to prevent the economy from falling into recession. Obama rejected a Republican proposal to resolve a looming fiscal crisis as "still out of balance" and said any deal must include a rise in income tax rates...

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DealBook: UBS Described as Near Deal With U.S. and Britain on Rate Rigging

UBS, the Swiss banking giant, is close to reaching settlements with American and British authorities over the manipulation of interest rates, the latest case in a multiyear investigation that has rattled the financial industry and spurred a public outcry for broad reform.UBS is expected to pay more than $450 million to settle claims that some employees reported false rates to increase the bank’s profit,...

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Lindsay Lohan Is 'Out of Control,' Says a Source

By Aili Nahas 12/03/2012 at 03:00 PM EST Things are not looking good for Liz and Dick star Lindsay Lohan.Less than 24 hours before the well-documented punching incident at an N.Y.C. nightclub that got her arrested, Lohan was "dancing like crazy" past 2 a.m. at The Darby, at one point "causing a scene" when...

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Fossil fuel subsidies in focus at climate talks

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Hassan al-Kubaisi considers it a gift from above that drivers in oil- and gas-rich Qatar only have to pay $1 per gallon at the pump."Thank God that our country is an oil producer and the price of gasoline is one of the lowest," al-Kubaisi said, filling up his Toyota Land Cruiser at a gas station in Doha. "God has given us a blessing."To those looking for a global response to climate...

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