Goodbye Google Places, hello Google+

Goodbye Google Places, hello Google+

(CNN) -- Google Places is gone, replaced by a new feature that combines its Google Plus social site and renowned restaurant reviewers Zagat.

Announced Wednesday, Google Plus Local is the latest push by Google to incorporate its networking site into more of its other products, with the goal of creating a single, seamless Web experience.

Plus Local is designed to let users discover and share information about local restaurants, shops and other sites.

"Finding the best places to go is an essential part of our lives, as are the people and resources that help us make those decisions," Google product manager Avni Shah wrote on the company's official blog. "In fact, the opinions of friends, family or other trusted sources are often the first we seek when looking for the perfect restaurant for date night or the cafe that makes the best latte ever."

A new "Local" tab on the side of a Google Plus page lets users click and search.

Results will include reviews from Zagat, which Google bought in September, as well as ratings and comments from friends. The results also will appear when Google users search for a local site using Google search or Google Maps.

Companies listed on the less-social Google Places can be converted over to Google Plus. According to the blog Search Engine Land, roughly 80 million businesses' pages already had been converted Wednesday morning.

Google Plus reports being up to about 100 million users since opening to the public in September. That's a far cry from Facebook's roughly 900 million accounts.

Some in the tech world were saying Wednesday that Google Plus Local might be a way to begin catching up.

"What Google still lacks in Google+ is a way of getting different businesses' networks to interact with each other -- meaning, Facebook may have its own Facebook Places, but it also has a range of apps from others, like Gogobot and more, that enhance that experience," wrote Ingrid Lunden of TechCrunch.

"Google is still largely relying on its own data to get the job done. That could make the experience more cohesive, or (the problem Google+ has been having up to now) a little too quiet."

Via: Goodbye Google Places, hello Google+

Israel returns 91 Palestinian bodies

Israel returns 91 Palestinian bodies

(CNN) -- In what has been described as a humanitarian gesture, the Israeli government on Thursday handed over the remains of 91 Palestinians killed in attacks against Israeli targets over the past four decades.

The remains, which had been interred in numbered graves by Israel, began arriving in the West Bank and Gaza early Thursday, the Palestinian Authority-controlled WAFA news agency reported.

The remains of 79 Palestinians were delivered to the seat of the Palestinian government in Ramallah, West Bank, where Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas presided over an official military ceremony.

The 79 caskets, wrapped with the Palestinian flag, were carried by the Palestinian presidential guard into the main square of the presidential compound. Abbas, family members of those killed and other honorees stood by as 21-gun salutes were fired.

Abbas laid a wreath on the caskets, and a formal prayer was given by the former mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein. The ceremony was broadcast on Palestinian television.

The remaining 12 bodies were to be delivered to families in Gaza.

Among the returned will be the remains of seven Palestinians involved in a 1975 attack against The Savoy hotel in Tel Aviv. Those remains, along with some that are unidentified, will be buried in the Ramallah military cemetery.

Some families were demanding DNA testing to verify the identities of the remains.

The return of the remains was meant as a "confidence-building measure to help get the peace process back on track." said Mark Regev, an Israeli government spokesman.

"Israel is ready for the immediate resumption of peace talks without any preconditions whatsoever," he said in a statement.

The return was harshly criticized by some in Israel, who compared it to last year's exchange of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups on the Gaza border captured Shalit in 2006.

Meir Indor, chairman of Almagor, the Israeli association of terror victims, told CNN that releasing the remains would only serve "for the continuation (of) terror."

"Beyond our personal feelings, it is devastating to see the hard murderers that were released last year under the Shalit deal becoming a building block in the Palestinian campaign of propaganda and (being) glorified as freedom fighters," Indor said.

"The Palestinian society must show disapproval of their actions. This is another stage in the making of terrorist theology."

Most Israelis consider the remains to be those of terrorists, but many Palestinians view the men as martyrs in the decades-old struggle to establish a Palestinian state.

Fatima Abdul Karim of the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center, which helps Palestinian family members find missing relatives, called it "a very special and historic moment."

While the release of the remains is good news, she noted that hundreds of Palestinians remain missing.

"It is a success, but that is not the end of the story," Abdul Karim said. "There are stories that are still being unraveled."

Mohammad Shtayyeh, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization's central committee and a senior Palestinian negotiator, noted in comments to CNN that although 91 sets of remains were received, "we did not receive all of them, and it is with great bitterness that we received their remains."

He said many Palestinians were hoping prisoners still alive in Israeli jails would also be released.

"To keep human bodies in cemeteries ... in graves that (have) no names," only numbers, he said, "just shows how ugly the Israeli occupation is."

Ahmad al-Bouz was shocked and surprised to learn the remains of his brother Nasser were being returned by Israel. For 23 years, the family has not known what happened to him.

"All these years, we believed he was missing," al-Bouz said. "We have consulted every human rights organization, but to no avail." He said his family asked the Israeli government about his brother in the past, but was told no information was available.

He said his family is still seeking information and will examine the body and conduct DNA testing on the remains.

Ghazi Jarwan, the father of a Palestinian militant killed while participating in a 2003 Tel Aviv attack that killed five Israelis, described the return of his son's remains as cause for celebration.

"I am happy, because I am proud of my son and consider this a national wedding for my son," he said.

Via: Israel returns 91 Palestinian bodies

Goodbye Google Places, hello Google+

Goodbye Google Places, hello Google+

(CNN) -- Google Places is gone, replaced by a new feature that combines its Google Plus social site and renowned restaurant reviewers Zagat.

Announced Wednesday, Google Plus Local is the latest push by Google to incorporate its networking site into more of its other products, with the goal of creating a single, seamless Web experience.

Plus Local is designed to let users discover and share information about local restaurants, shops and other sites.

"Finding the best places to go is an essential part of our lives, as are the people and resources that help us make those decisions," Google product manager Avni Shah wrote on the company's official blog. "In fact, the opinions of friends, family or other trusted sources are often the first we seek when looking for the perfect restaurant for date night or the cafe that makes the best latte ever."

A new "Local" tab on the side of a Google Plus page lets users click and search.

Results will include reviews from Zagat, which Google bought in September, as well as ratings and comments from friends. The results also will appear when Google users search for a local site using Google search or Google Maps.

Companies listed on the less-social Google Places can be converted over to Google Plus. According to the blog Search Engine Land, roughly 80 million businesses' pages already had been converted Wednesday morning.

Google Plus reports being up to about 100 million users since opening to the public in September. That's a far cry from Facebook's roughly 900 million accounts.

Some in the tech world were saying Wednesday that Google Plus Local might be a way to begin catching up.

"What Google still lacks in Google+ is a way of getting different businesses' networks to interact with each other -- meaning, Facebook may have its own Facebook Places, but it also has a range of apps from others, like Gogobot and more, that enhance that experience," wrote Ingrid Lunden of TechCrunch.

"Google is still largely relying on its own data to get the job done. That could make the experience more cohesive, or (the problem Google+ has been having up to now) a little too quiet."

Via: Goodbye Google Places, hello Google+

Israel returns 91 Palestinian bodies

Israel returns 91 Palestinian bodies

(CNN) -- In what has been described as a humanitarian gesture, the Israeli government on Thursday handed over the remains of 91 Palestinians killed in attacks against Israeli targets over the past four decades.

The remains, which had been interred in numbered graves by Israel, began arriving in the West Bank and Gaza early Thursday, the Palestinian Authority-controlled WAFA news agency reported.

The remains of 79 Palestinians were delivered to the seat of the Palestinian government in Ramallah, West Bank, where Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas presided over an official military ceremony.

The 79 caskets, wrapped with the Palestinian flag, were carried by the Palestinian presidential guard into the main square of the presidential compound. Abbas, family members of those killed and other honorees stood by as 21-gun salutes were fired.

Abbas laid a wreath on the caskets, and a formal prayer was given by the former mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein. The ceremony was broadcast on Palestinian television.

The remaining 12 bodies were to be delivered to families in Gaza.

Among the returned will be the remains of seven Palestinians involved in a 1975 attack against The Savoy hotel in Tel Aviv. Those remains, along with some that are unidentified, will be buried in the Ramallah military cemetery.

Some families were demanding DNA testing to verify the identities of the remains.

The return of the remains was meant as a "confidence-building measure to help get the peace process back on track." said Mark Regev, an Israeli government spokesman.

"Israel is ready for the immediate resumption of peace talks without any preconditions whatsoever," he said in a statement.

The return was harshly criticized by some in Israel, who compared it to last year's exchange of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups on the Gaza border captured Shalit in 2006.

Meir Indor, chairman of Almagor, the Israeli association of terror victims, told CNN that releasing the remains would only serve "for the continuation (of) terror."

"Beyond our personal feelings, it is devastating to see the hard murderers that were released last year under the Shalit deal becoming a building block in the Palestinian campaign of propaganda and (being) glorified as freedom fighters," Indor said.

"The Palestinian society must show disapproval of their actions. This is another stage in the making of terrorist theology."

Most Israelis consider the remains to be those of terrorists, but many Palestinians view the men as martyrs in the decades-old struggle to establish a Palestinian state.

Fatima Abdul Karim of the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center, which helps Palestinian family members find missing relatives, called it "a very special and historic moment."

While the release of the remains is good news, she noted that hundreds of Palestinians remain missing.

"It is a success, but that is not the end of the story," Abdul Karim said. "There are stories that are still being unraveled."

Mohammad Shtayyeh, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization's central committee and a senior Palestinian negotiator, noted in comments to CNN that although 91 sets of remains were received, "we did not receive all of them, and it is with great bitterness that we received their remains."

He said many Palestinians were hoping prisoners still alive in Israeli jails would also be released.

"To keep human bodies in cemeteries ... in graves that (have) no names," only numbers, he said, "just shows how ugly the Israeli occupation is."

Ahmad al-Bouz was shocked and surprised to learn the remains of his brother Nasser were being returned by Israel. For 23 years, the family has not known what happened to him.

"All these years, we believed he was missing," al-Bouz said. "We have consulted every human rights organization, but to no avail." He said his family asked the Israeli government about his brother in the past, but was told no information was available.

He said his family is still seeking information and will examine the body and conduct DNA testing on the remains.

Ghazi Jarwan, the father of a Palestinian militant killed while participating in a 2003 Tel Aviv attack that killed five Israelis, described the return of his son's remains as cause for celebration.

"I am happy, because I am proud of my son and consider this a national wedding for my son," he said.

Via: Israel returns 91 Palestinian bodies

Goodbye Google Places, hello Google+

Goodbye Google Places, hello Google+

(CNN) -- Google Places is gone, replaced by a new feature that combines its Google Plus social site and renowned restaurant reviewers Zagat.

Announced Wednesday, Google Plus Local is the latest push by Google to incorporate its networking site into more of its other products, with the goal of creating a single, seamless Web experience.

Plus Local is designed to let users discover and share information about local restaurants, shops and other sites.

"Finding the best places to go is an essential part of our lives, as are the people and resources that help us make those decisions," Google product manager Avni Shah wrote on the company's official blog. "In fact, the opinions of friends, family or other trusted sources are often the first we seek when looking for the perfect restaurant for date night or the cafe that makes the best latte ever."

A new "Local" tab on the side of a Google Plus page lets users click and search.

Results will include reviews from Zagat, which Google bought in September, as well as ratings and comments from friends. The results also will appear when Google users search for a local site using Google search or Google Maps.

Companies listed on the less-social Google Places can be converted over to Google Plus. According to the blog Search Engine Land, roughly 80 million businesses' pages already had been converted Wednesday morning.

Google Plus reports being up to about 100 million users since opening to the public in September. That's a far cry from Facebook's roughly 900 million accounts.

Some in the tech world were saying Wednesday that Google Plus Local might be a way to begin catching up.

"What Google still lacks in Google+ is a way of getting different businesses' networks to interact with each other -- meaning, Facebook may have its own Facebook Places, but it also has a range of apps from others, like Gogobot and more, that enhance that experience," wrote Ingrid Lunden of TechCrunch.

"Google is still largely relying on its own data to get the job done. That could make the experience more cohesive, or (the problem Google+ has been having up to now) a little too quiet."

Via: Goodbye Google Places, hello Google+

Israel returns 91 Palestinian bodies

Israel returns 91 Palestinian bodies

(CNN) -- In what has been described as a humanitarian gesture, the Israeli government on Thursday handed over the remains of 91 Palestinians killed in attacks against Israeli targets over the past four decades.

The remains, which had been interred in numbered graves by Israel, began arriving in the West Bank and Gaza early Thursday, the Palestinian Authority-controlled WAFA news agency reported.

The remains of 79 Palestinians were delivered to the seat of the Palestinian government in Ramallah, West Bank, where Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas presided over an official military ceremony.

The 79 caskets, wrapped with the Palestinian flag, were carried by the Palestinian presidential guard into the main square of the presidential compound. Abbas, family members of those killed and other honorees stood by as 21-gun salutes were fired.

Abbas laid a wreath on the caskets, and a formal prayer was given by the former mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein. The ceremony was broadcast on Palestinian television.

The remaining 12 bodies were to be delivered to families in Gaza.

Among the returned will be the remains of seven Palestinians involved in a 1975 attack against The Savoy hotel in Tel Aviv. Those remains, along with some that are unidentified, will be buried in the Ramallah military cemetery.

Some families were demanding DNA testing to verify the identities of the remains.

The return of the remains was meant as a "confidence-building measure to help get the peace process back on track." said Mark Regev, an Israeli government spokesman.

"Israel is ready for the immediate resumption of peace talks without any preconditions whatsoever," he said in a statement.

The return was harshly criticized by some in Israel, who compared it to last year's exchange of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups on the Gaza border captured Shalit in 2006.

Meir Indor, chairman of Almagor, the Israeli association of terror victims, told CNN that releasing the remains would only serve "for the continuation (of) terror."

"Beyond our personal feelings, it is devastating to see the hard murderers that were released last year under the Shalit deal becoming a building block in the Palestinian campaign of propaganda and (being) glorified as freedom fighters," Indor said.

"The Palestinian society must show disapproval of their actions. This is another stage in the making of terrorist theology."

Most Israelis consider the remains to be those of terrorists, but many Palestinians view the men as martyrs in the decades-old struggle to establish a Palestinian state.

Fatima Abdul Karim of the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center, which helps Palestinian family members find missing relatives, called it "a very special and historic moment."

While the release of the remains is good news, she noted that hundreds of Palestinians remain missing.

"It is a success, but that is not the end of the story," Abdul Karim said. "There are stories that are still being unraveled."

Mohammad Shtayyeh, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization's central committee and a senior Palestinian negotiator, noted in comments to CNN that although 91 sets of remains were received, "we did not receive all of them, and it is with great bitterness that we received their remains."

He said many Palestinians were hoping prisoners still alive in Israeli jails would also be released.

"To keep human bodies in cemeteries ... in graves that (have) no names," only numbers, he said, "just shows how ugly the Israeli occupation is."

Ahmad al-Bouz was shocked and surprised to learn the remains of his brother Nasser were being returned by Israel. For 23 years, the family has not known what happened to him.

"All these years, we believed he was missing," al-Bouz said. "We have consulted every human rights organization, but to no avail." He said his family asked the Israeli government about his brother in the past, but was told no information was available.

He said his family is still seeking information and will examine the body and conduct DNA testing on the remains.

Ghazi Jarwan, the father of a Palestinian militant killed while participating in a 2003 Tel Aviv attack that killed five Israelis, described the return of his son's remains as cause for celebration.

"I am happy, because I am proud of my son and consider this a national wedding for my son," he said.

Via: Israel returns 91 Palestinian bodies

Goodbye Google Places, hello Google+

Goodbye Google Places, hello Google+

(CNN) -- Google Places is gone, replaced by a new feature that combines its Google Plus social site and renowned restaurant reviewers Zagat.

Announced Wednesday, Google Plus Local is the latest push by Google to incorporate its networking site into more of its other products, with the goal of creating a single, seamless Web experience.

Plus Local is designed to let users discover and share information about local restaurants, shops and other sites.

"Finding the best places to go is an essential part of our lives, as are the people and resources that help us make those decisions," Google product manager Avni Shah wrote on the company's official blog. "In fact, the opinions of friends, family or other trusted sources are often the first we seek when looking for the perfect restaurant for date night or the cafe that makes the best latte ever."

A new "Local" tab on the side of a Google Plus page lets users click and search.

Results will include reviews from Zagat, which Google bought in September, as well as ratings and comments from friends. The results also will appear when Google users search for a local site using Google search or Google Maps.

Companies listed on the less-social Google Places can be converted over to Google Plus. According to the blog Search Engine Land, roughly 80 million businesses' pages already had been converted Wednesday morning.

Google Plus reports being up to about 100 million users since opening to the public in September. That's a far cry from Facebook's roughly 900 million accounts.

Some in the tech world were saying Wednesday that Google Plus Local might be a way to begin catching up.

"What Google still lacks in Google+ is a way of getting different businesses' networks to interact with each other -- meaning, Facebook may have its own Facebook Places, but it also has a range of apps from others, like Gogobot and more, that enhance that experience," wrote Ingrid Lunden of TechCrunch.

"Google is still largely relying on its own data to get the job done. That could make the experience more cohesive, or (the problem Google+ has been having up to now) a little too quiet."

Via: Goodbye Google Places, hello Google+

Israel returns 91 Palestinian bodies

Israel returns 91 Palestinian bodies

(CNN) -- In what has been described as a humanitarian gesture, the Israeli government on Thursday handed over the remains of 91 Palestinians killed in attacks against Israeli targets over the past four decades.

The remains, which had been interred in numbered graves by Israel, began arriving in the West Bank and Gaza early Thursday, the Palestinian Authority-controlled WAFA news agency reported.

The remains of 79 Palestinians were delivered to the seat of the Palestinian government in Ramallah, West Bank, where Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas presided over an official military ceremony.

The 79 caskets, wrapped with the Palestinian flag, were carried by the Palestinian presidential guard into the main square of the presidential compound. Abbas, family members of those killed and other honorees stood by as 21-gun salutes were fired.

Abbas laid a wreath on the caskets, and a formal prayer was given by the former mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein. The ceremony was broadcast on Palestinian television.

The remaining 12 bodies were to be delivered to families in Gaza.

Among the returned will be the remains of seven Palestinians involved in a 1975 attack against The Savoy hotel in Tel Aviv. Those remains, along with some that are unidentified, will be buried in the Ramallah military cemetery.

Some families were demanding DNA testing to verify the identities of the remains.

The return of the remains was meant as a "confidence-building measure to help get the peace process back on track." said Mark Regev, an Israeli government spokesman.

"Israel is ready for the immediate resumption of peace talks without any preconditions whatsoever," he said in a statement.

The return was harshly criticized by some in Israel, who compared it to last year's exchange of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups on the Gaza border captured Shalit in 2006.

Meir Indor, chairman of Almagor, the Israeli association of terror victims, told CNN that releasing the remains would only serve "for the continuation (of) terror."

"Beyond our personal feelings, it is devastating to see the hard murderers that were released last year under the Shalit deal becoming a building block in the Palestinian campaign of propaganda and (being) glorified as freedom fighters," Indor said.

"The Palestinian society must show disapproval of their actions. This is another stage in the making of terrorist theology."

Most Israelis consider the remains to be those of terrorists, but many Palestinians view the men as martyrs in the decades-old struggle to establish a Palestinian state.

Fatima Abdul Karim of the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center, which helps Palestinian family members find missing relatives, called it "a very special and historic moment."

While the release of the remains is good news, she noted that hundreds of Palestinians remain missing.

"It is a success, but that is not the end of the story," Abdul Karim said. "There are stories that are still being unraveled."

Mohammad Shtayyeh, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization's central committee and a senior Palestinian negotiator, noted in comments to CNN that although 91 sets of remains were received, "we did not receive all of them, and it is with great bitterness that we received their remains."

He said many Palestinians were hoping prisoners still alive in Israeli jails would also be released.

"To keep human bodies in cemeteries ... in graves that (have) no names," only numbers, he said, "just shows how ugly the Israeli occupation is."

Ahmad al-Bouz was shocked and surprised to learn the remains of his brother Nasser were being returned by Israel. For 23 years, the family has not known what happened to him.

"All these years, we believed he was missing," al-Bouz said. "We have consulted every human rights organization, but to no avail." He said his family asked the Israeli government about his brother in the past, but was told no information was available.

He said his family is still seeking information and will examine the body and conduct DNA testing on the remains.

Ghazi Jarwan, the father of a Palestinian militant killed while participating in a 2003 Tel Aviv attack that killed five Israelis, described the return of his son's remains as cause for celebration.

"I am happy, because I am proud of my son and consider this a national wedding for my son," he said.

Via: Israel returns 91 Palestinian bodies

Goodbye Google Places, hello Google+

Goodbye Google Places, hello Google+

(CNN) -- Google Places is gone, replaced by a new feature that combines its Google Plus social site and renowned restaurant reviewers Zagat.

Announced Wednesday, Google Plus Local is the latest push by Google to incorporate its networking site into more of its other products, with the goal of creating a single, seamless Web experience.

Plus Local is designed to let users discover and share information about local restaurants, shops and other sites.

"Finding the best places to go is an essential part of our lives, as are the people and resources that help us make those decisions," Google product manager Avni Shah wrote on the company's official blog. "In fact, the opinions of friends, family or other trusted sources are often the first we seek when looking for the perfect restaurant for date night or the cafe that makes the best latte ever."

A new "Local" tab on the side of a Google Plus page lets users click and search.

Results will include reviews from Zagat, which Google bought in September, as well as ratings and comments from friends. The results also will appear when Google users search for a local site using Google search or Google Maps.

Companies listed on the less-social Google Places can be converted over to Google Plus. According to the blog Search Engine Land, roughly 80 million businesses' pages already had been converted Wednesday morning.

Google Plus reports being up to about 100 million users since opening to the public in September. That's a far cry from Facebook's roughly 900 million accounts.

Some in the tech world were saying Wednesday that Google Plus Local might be a way to begin catching up.

"What Google still lacks in Google+ is a way of getting different businesses' networks to interact with each other -- meaning, Facebook may have its own Facebook Places, but it also has a range of apps from others, like Gogobot and more, that enhance that experience," wrote Ingrid Lunden of TechCrunch.

"Google is still largely relying on its own data to get the job done. That could make the experience more cohesive, or (the problem Google+ has been having up to now) a little too quiet."

Via: Goodbye Google Places, hello Google+

Israel returns 91 Palestinian bodies

Israel returns 91 Palestinian bodies

(CNN) -- In what has been described as a humanitarian gesture, the Israeli government on Thursday handed over the remains of 91 Palestinians killed in attacks against Israeli targets over the past four decades.

The remains, which had been interred in numbered graves by Israel, began arriving in the West Bank and Gaza early Thursday, the Palestinian Authority-controlled WAFA news agency reported.

The remains of 79 Palestinians were delivered to the seat of the Palestinian government in Ramallah, West Bank, where Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas presided over an official military ceremony.

The 79 caskets, wrapped with the Palestinian flag, were carried by the Palestinian presidential guard into the main square of the presidential compound. Abbas, family members of those killed and other honorees stood by as 21-gun salutes were fired.

Abbas laid a wreath on the caskets, and a formal prayer was given by the former mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein. The ceremony was broadcast on Palestinian television.

The remaining 12 bodies were to be delivered to families in Gaza.

Among the returned will be the remains of seven Palestinians involved in a 1975 attack against The Savoy hotel in Tel Aviv. Those remains, along with some that are unidentified, will be buried in the Ramallah military cemetery.

Some families were demanding DNA testing to verify the identities of the remains.

The return of the remains was meant as a "confidence-building measure to help get the peace process back on track." said Mark Regev, an Israeli government spokesman.

"Israel is ready for the immediate resumption of peace talks without any preconditions whatsoever," he said in a statement.

The return was harshly criticized by some in Israel, who compared it to last year's exchange of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups on the Gaza border captured Shalit in 2006.

Meir Indor, chairman of Almagor, the Israeli association of terror victims, told CNN that releasing the remains would only serve "for the continuation (of) terror."

"Beyond our personal feelings, it is devastating to see the hard murderers that were released last year under the Shalit deal becoming a building block in the Palestinian campaign of propaganda and (being) glorified as freedom fighters," Indor said.

"The Palestinian society must show disapproval of their actions. This is another stage in the making of terrorist theology."

Most Israelis consider the remains to be those of terrorists, but many Palestinians view the men as martyrs in the decades-old struggle to establish a Palestinian state.

Fatima Abdul Karim of the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center, which helps Palestinian family members find missing relatives, called it "a very special and historic moment."

While the release of the remains is good news, she noted that hundreds of Palestinians remain missing.

"It is a success, but that is not the end of the story," Abdul Karim said. "There are stories that are still being unraveled."

Mohammad Shtayyeh, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization's central committee and a senior Palestinian negotiator, noted in comments to CNN that although 91 sets of remains were received, "we did not receive all of them, and it is with great bitterness that we received their remains."

He said many Palestinians were hoping prisoners still alive in Israeli jails would also be released.

"To keep human bodies in cemeteries ... in graves that (have) no names," only numbers, he said, "just shows how ugly the Israeli occupation is."

Ahmad al-Bouz was shocked and surprised to learn the remains of his brother Nasser were being returned by Israel. For 23 years, the family has not known what happened to him.

"All these years, we believed he was missing," al-Bouz said. "We have consulted every human rights organization, but to no avail." He said his family asked the Israeli government about his brother in the past, but was told no information was available.

He said his family is still seeking information and will examine the body and conduct DNA testing on the remains.

Ghazi Jarwan, the father of a Palestinian militant killed while participating in a 2003 Tel Aviv attack that killed five Israelis, described the return of his son's remains as cause for celebration.

"I am happy, because I am proud of my son and consider this a national wedding for my son," he said.

Via: Israel returns 91 Palestinian bodies

Goodbye Google Places, hello Google+

Goodbye Google Places, hello Google+

(CNN) -- Google Places is gone, replaced by a new feature that combines its Google Plus social site and renowned restaurant reviewers Zagat.

Announced Wednesday, Google Plus Local is the latest push by Google to incorporate its networking site into more of its other products, with the goal of creating a single, seamless Web experience.

Plus Local is designed to let users discover and share information about local restaurants, shops and other sites.

"Finding the best places to go is an essential part of our lives, as are the people and resources that help us make those decisions," Google product manager Avni Shah wrote on the company's official blog. "In fact, the opinions of friends, family or other trusted sources are often the first we seek when looking for the perfect restaurant for date night or the cafe that makes the best latte ever."

A new "Local" tab on the side of a Google Plus page lets users click and search.

Results will include reviews from Zagat, which Google bought in September, as well as ratings and comments from friends. The results also will appear when Google users search for a local site using Google search or Google Maps.

Companies listed on the less-social Google Places can be converted over to Google Plus. According to the blog Search Engine Land, roughly 80 million businesses' pages already had been converted Wednesday morning.

Google Plus reports being up to about 100 million users since opening to the public in September. That's a far cry from Facebook's roughly 900 million accounts.

Some in the tech world were saying Wednesday that Google Plus Local might be a way to begin catching up.

"What Google still lacks in Google+ is a way of getting different businesses' networks to interact with each other -- meaning, Facebook may have its own Facebook Places, but it also has a range of apps from others, like Gogobot and more, that enhance that experience," wrote Ingrid Lunden of TechCrunch.

"Google is still largely relying on its own data to get the job done. That could make the experience more cohesive, or (the problem Google+ has been having up to now) a little too quiet."

Via: Goodbye Google Places, hello Google+

Pop singer marries

Pop singer marries

(CNN) -- Spaniard pop singer Alejandro Sanz has married Raquel Perera in a private ceremony in Barcelona, Spain, the couple announced Wednesday.

The newlyweds, who married on May 23, then baptized their son, Dylan, on Saturday, the parents said in a statement.

"It was a very beautiful day, unique and moving and everything went as we had dreamed," the couple said in a statement about their wedding.

Via: Pop singer marries

What Cook's comments reveal about Apple's future

What Cook's comments reveal about Apple's future

(Wired) -- When Apple CEO Tim Cook took the stage at the All Things Digital Conference Tuesday night, he wasn't just answering questions from Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher he was also dropping hints about the future of Apple's product roadmap.

Sure, a lot of his answers just regurgitated the same pat, familiar themes we've heard from Cook and other Apple executives: The iPad is taking the world by storm. The iPhone's doing great. The iPod has been the gateway drug for a new generation of Apple and Mac users.

But even Tim Cook can't completely stick to the script. During his interview, he teased a few interesting tidbits which we present here along with analysis on what his words actually mean.

Siri should improve in the near future

Last week a former Apple employee reportedly said that former Apple CEO Steve Jobs would have "lost his mind" over Siri, and that employees are embarrassed by the virtual assistant. But luckily for Apple, any embarrassment should soon abate.

"There's more that [Siri] can do, and we have a lot of people working on this," Cook said. "And I think you will be really pleased with some of the things you'll see over the coming months on this. We have some cool ideas about what Siri can do. We have a lot going on on this."

Clearly, Apple wants to evolve Siri, and lift its current "beta" status. A recent study may have found that 66 percent of iPhone 4S users are either "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with Siri, but Apple has still been hit with a class-action suit from users who feel Siri was deceptively advertised.

In a final, non-beta version of Siri, Apple's virtual assistant would be better equipped to parse the nuances of human dialog. We should be able to talk to Siri as if she were an actual assistant. If a query needs clarification, she should be able to ask you much more specific questions to determine exactly what you need.

Siri's capabilities should also expand via new database partnerships. Yelp and WolframAlpha are great wealths of information, but Siri needs even more sources of human intelligence. In the original Siri iOS app, you could make OpenTable restaurant reservations using Siri. I would expect this and similar functionality to return.

You should also be able to use Siri to post tweets, and eventually Facebook status updates as well (other virtual assistant apps already do this). I would imagine that Apple will eventually open up Siri to third-party developers, so they could incorporate her voice recognition, dictation, and search features within their own apps, making Siri useful and ubiquitous system-wide.

Apple's leaving wearables to third parties

Don't expect Apple to debut a headset or wrist-worn iDevice any time soon. Apple hasn't bought into the wearable fad, illustrated most notably by the Nike Fuel Band and Pebble Smartwatch. On the topic of wearables, Cook said:

"I have on a Nike Fuel Band. I think there are some cool things that can be done. I think it is an interesting area. The question is, Can it change somebody's behavior? The book hasn't been written on that yet."

Of course, Apple does promote the iPod nano as a watch replacement, so it's not like the company is completely ignoring the trend. But, for now, it looks like Apple won't be releasing any trendy wearable gadgets to jump on the bandwagon and, in fact, there's no need to.

Developing new hardware, especially in the relatively immature wearable space, takes a lot of time, money, and intellectual resources. So Apple has much more to gain by letting other manufacturers make wearable accessories which inevitably hook into Apple's existing ecosystem via iOS apps. Apple reaps the benefit of increased iDevice purchases and upgrades, and even takes a 30 percent cut of any paid app that a wearable computing manufacturer might sell.

Expect Facebook-Apple collaboration

Historically, Apple and Facebook haven't always seen eye-to-eye a collaboration between Facebook and Apple reportedly failed prior to the release of Apple's Ping social network, and Facebook has since cozied up with Microsoft on its Windows Phone platform. Nonetheless, it doesn't look like past conflicts are preventing Apple and Facebook from working together in the future.

"I think the relationship is very solid," Cook said of Apple's relationship with Facebook. "We have great respect for them. I think we can do more with them. Just stay tuned on this one."

Just stay tuned? Cook might as well just have told us, "Yes, Facebook and Apple are teaming up right now." iOS already features deep Twitter integration, and significant Facebook integration is a glaring omission.

It's not a stretch to think iOS 6 could yield greater Facebook integration like what the OS already provides for Twitter (indeed, code in an iOS 5 beta hinted at just such a thing). Perhaps we'll find out more during Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in a few weeks' time. Or perhaps we'll have to wait until the next iPhone is announced, likely in October. Whatever the case, we have to assume that Cook wants to see Facebook tools integrated throughout the mobile OS.

Apple is deeply interested in the TV space

Apple is widely rumored to be working on its own TV set, which many consumers are eager to get their hands on. Cook is still playing coy about the subject, but more than ever before it sounds like Apple is actively exploring the TV space.

"This is an area of intense interest for us," Cook said about the Apple TV set-top box, the company's current living-room content solution. "We are going to keep pulling the string and see where this takes us."

Could it take Apple to a full-fledged television set? Cook wouldn't directly say. Instead, he commented on Apple's strategy upon entering a new product area: "We would look not just at this area, but other areas, and ask, Can we control the key technology? Can we make a significant contribution far beyond what others have done in this area? Can we make a product that we all want? ... Those are all the things we would ask about any new product category."

Cook didn't answer his own questions, but we can.

Can Apple control the key technology? Yes. Apple already dominates manufacturing in a number of overseas factories. It's a master of supply-chain control. There should be little doubt that Apple can control the key technology, both on the manufacturing side, and the patents-software side.

Can Apple make a significant contribution to the TV space? Yes. Through a dedicated, TV-optimized version of Siri and a smart TV UI based on trademark Apple simplicity and aesthetics, Apple could advance the state of TV usability.

Can Apple make a TV we all want? Yes. As we reported above, consumers are excited by the prospect of an Apple-branded HD television. Come on, Tim! The questions you posed are softballs. You've basically announced that an iTV is all but inevitable.

No more lost iPhones?

"We're going to double down on secrecy on products," Cook said. "But, on other things supplier responsibility, environmental issues, etc., Apple will be the most transparent company."

In a one-year period, Apple reportedly lost two iPhones: an iPhone 4 prototype in the spring of 2010 that made its way onto Gizmodo, and an iPhone 4S prototype that never made it into the public eye. And just this week, 9to5 Mac scored some images of what could be the next iPhone.

For a company that likes to keep upcoming product information under lock and key, such mishaps are monumental. Perhaps Apple will implement a new or different product testing program one that doesn't involve its beta testers drinking at bars?

Joking aside, keeping multiple thousands of Foxconn workers from pulling out their own cameras and sending a few shots to the press for a quick buck would be a huge endeavor. Apple's next lines of defense might involve much more sophisticated device tagging, and elaborate sting operations, using deliberate bits of misinformation to smoke out moles who are giving up secrets.

Ping's days are numbered

"We tried Ping and I think the customer voted and said this isn't something that I want to put a lot of energy into," Cook said. "Will we kill it? I don't know, I'll look at it."

The first day Ping came out, we were excited to check it out and join the music-centric social network. Unfortunately, it just didn't stick, and Apple's aware of that. Rather than make a big announcement about its demise, we'd hazard that Apple will likely quietly put it to pasture some time in the next year or two.

For video highlights of Tim Cook's talk Tuesday evening, click here.

Subscribe to WIRED magazine for less than $1 an issue and get a FREE GIFT! Click here!

Copyright 2011 Wired.com.

Via: What Cook's comments reveal about Apple's future

'Devil Wears Prada' sequel in the works

'Devil Wears Prada' sequel in the works

(EW.com) -- If trends come in cycles, maybe it's time to bring Miranda Priestly, Andrea Sachs, and the "clackers" at Runway magazine out of the fashion closet.

EW has learned exclusively that author Lauren Weisberger is working on "Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns," a sequel to her debut novel "The Devil Wears Prada." Simon & Schuster will be publishing the follow-up in April 2013 -- 10 years after the release of the original.

In 2003, "The Devil Wears Prada" reached the top of the best-seller lists and went on to inspire the hit 2006 film starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway. The novel -- a roman clef partly based on Weisberger's own experience as second assistant to Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour -- told the story of Andrea "Andy" Sachs, an aspiring journalist dealing with the increasingly unreasonable demands of her fashion editrix boss Miranda Priestly.

"Revenge Wears Prada" picks up eight years after Andy parted ways with Miranda on bad terms. Andy is now editing The Plunge, the hottest bridal magazine around, alongside Emily, her one-time Runway nemesis turned current BFF. While Andy is planning her own wedding to Max, a handsome media scion, she remains haunted by her impeccably heeled former boss -- and the magazine world being as small as it is, it's only a matter of time before she hears the dreaded syllables "Ahn-dre-ah!" again.

Weisberger has written three novels since "The Devil Wears Prada," but this is her first return to the cutthroat world of Runway magazine. Are you excited for Miranda Priestly's wrath? Do you dare dream of a Streep-Hathaway-Blunt-Tucci reunion?

See the full story at EW.com.

Via: 'Devil Wears Prada' sequel in the works

RIM's patents could be worth billions

RIM's patents could be worth billions

WATERLOO, Ontario Research In Motion Ltd., the maker of the BlackBerry, is in steep decline. The company, once the crown jewel of the Canadian technology industry, is now worth 1 of Apple's market capitalization. One way for RIM to stop the downward tailspin: It could sell itself to a competitor or financial firm. But who would step up to buy RIM and why?

Late Tuesday, the company said it expects to post an operating loss for the current quarter, a sign that BlackBerry sales are falling even faster than analysts expected. On Wednesday, the company's stock hit its lowest level since 2003, the year RIM went from making two-way e-mail pagers to smartphones.

The stock has fallen 93 since their peak in 2008. Since then, the BlackBerry's dominance as the smartphone for on-the-go business people has been eviscerated by Apple Inc.'s iPhone, and more recently, by phones running Google Inc.'s Android software. Research firm IDC says BlackBerrys now account for 6.4 of the global smartphone market, a third of what they had two years ago.

In that time, the company's financial performance has suffered. RIM reported a 25 revenue decline in the latest fiscal quarter, to $ 4.2 billion from $ 5.6 billion. For the full fiscal year that ended on March 3, it earned $ 1.2 billion, or $ 2.22 per share, on revenue of $ 18.4 billion. That's down from net income of $ 3.4 billion, or $ 6.34 a share, on revenue of $ 19.9 billion in fiscal 2011.

RIM issued the dire warning about its business Tuesday, adding that it will lay off a "significant" number of employees.

Still, the company is defiant. Chief executive, Thorsten Heins, says he can turn things around with the help of fresh smartphone software. Heins joined RIM four years ago and was most recently its chief operating officer. He replaced co-CEOs Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis in January after the company lost tens of billions in market value.

"My charter from the board of directors is very clear: long-term value creation with RIM," Heins told The Associated Press in an interview at the company's headquarters in Waterloo, Ontario, earlier this month.

Analysts give RIM only a slight chance of coming out of the crisis. To hedge its bets, the company has hired bankers to look at its options. It's not actively looking to sell itself, Heins said, but it wants to be prepared.

"We are prudent because we know the situation is somewhat challenging," Heins said. "So we are just looking at everything that could be an option. That doesn't mean we are pulling on those options. But we need to understand what is our field of action that we could take in case we need to?"

As RIM's prospects worsened, last year marked a turning point in the way analysts assess RIMs value. Instead of treating it like a company with a future, they started looking at it as a collection of parts that could be split up and sold separately to the highest bidder.

Michael Walkley at Canaccord Genuity believes most of the company's value lies in the monthly fees it gets from phone companies in exchange for running the systems that deliver email and Web pages to BlackBerrys.

RIM has 78 million users connected to this system, but Walkley estimates that only 20 million are corporate and government users who are likely to stick around because of the communications security RIM provides. The rest are consumers who will jump to competing phones, he believes. That business is worth about $ 2.75 billion to a competitor, Walkley wrote in a research report Wednesday.

The other major component of RIM's value is its patent portfolio. The company had an early scare in U.S. patent courts in 2006, when it was forced to pay $ 612.5 million to a small company founded by an inventor who had patents on wireless e-mail delivery. Since then, it's filed for thousands of patents to use as a defense against future suits.

Patents on wireless technologies exploded in value last year, as Apple and Microsoft Corp. started suing makers of phones that run Google's Android software. Countersuits followed. A consortium that included Apple and RIM bought the patents of a defunct Canadian maker of telecommunications gear, Nortel, for $ 4.5 billion last year. That compares with the $ 1.13 billion Nortel's once-prominent wireless networks business fetched in 2009.

As a counter-move, Google bolstered its own patent portfolio by buying Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., a U.S. phone maker with only slightly better prospects than RIM, for $ 12.5 billion.

Where does that leave RIM? Christopher Marlett, the CEO of MDB Capital, said RIM's patents are worth more than $ 1 billion, and could be worth as much as $ 4 billion if a bidding war develops between Apple, Google, Microsoft Corp. and perhaps Samsung Electronics Co.

"It's a question of how aggressive they get," Marlett said. His firm is an investment bank that focuses on intellectual property, including patents.

Walkley puts the value of RIM's portfolio at $ 2.5 billion, excluding the patents RIM bought from Nortel and shares with Apple, Microsoft and other buyers.

RIM has $ 2.1 billion in cash, but Walkley discounts this completely, since the phone business will likely start using up cash soon, and downsizing will require severance payments. That means the email network and the patents comprise RIM's entire value at $ 5.25 billion, by his estimate.

That's very close to RIM's current market capitalization, at $ 5.4 billion, though a buyer could be expected to pay a premium.

The cash cushion also means that RIM is in no imminent danger of going bankrupt. But as the shares decline, RIM is likely to face increasing pressure from shareholders to unlock the company's value through a sale, and to abandon the comeback plan.

A possible middle ground would be to sell the patent portfolio while keeping the rest of the company. Two months ago, AOL, once a pioneering Internet service provider, sold and licensed its patents which are more modest than RIM's for $ 1 billion to Microsoft.

Microsoft is one company that's been suggested as a potential RIM buyer. The software juggernaut is trying to get back into smartphone software, but its Windows Phones haven't been popular so far. Buying RIM could give it a chance to establish itself as a provider of trusted wireless email services, though moving subscribers from BlackBerry to Windows could be challenging.

AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson contributed from New York.

Yankees salvage series vs. Angels

Yankees salvage series vs. Angels

Chris Carlson/AP

Yankees' Raul Ibanez (r.) celebrates with Eric Chavez after scoring on Nick Swisher's sacrifice fly during the sixth inning.

YANKEES 6, ANGELS 5

ANAHEIM - Mark Trumbo was at the plate in the ninth inning Wednesday night, hoping to crush the Yankees' spirit for the second time in three days.

This time, however, the Bombers' bullpen got the job done against the Angels slugger, as Rafael Soriano retired him to nail down a 6-5 win in the series finale.

Soriano wasn't the only reliever to record a crucial out, as Cory Wade - who served up Trumbo's walk-off homer Monday - struck out Howie Kendrick with runners at the corners to end the seventh, then breezed through a perfect eighth.

"Huge out in the seventh, three big outs in the eighth and a nice job by Sori after they got a couple guys on," Joe Girardi said. "It's the difference in the game, what our bullpen did. A nice job by everybody."

The Yankees snapped the Angels' eight-game winning streak, allowing them to leave Southern California on a high note. The Yankees don't play in Anaheim again during the regular season, though the two teams will meet again in the Bronx right after the All-Star break.

The Yankees finish the West Coast portion of their nine-game road trip with a 4-2 record, as they'll take Thursday off before playing three against the Tigers in Detroit this weekend.

"It's nice; 4-2 so far on this road trip sounds a lot better than 3-3," Girardi said. "It's perspective; if you start off 0-3 and end up 3-3, you're pretty happy. But starting out 3-0 and the way we lost Monday, it's a nice win."

Nick Swisher's sacrifice fly in the sixth proved to be the winning run, though Curtis Granderson and Robinson Cano provided the bulk of the scoring with home runs in the Yankees' five-run third inning against Ervin Santana.

Ivan Nova picked up his sixth win of the season despite an ugly pitching line, giving up five runs on eight hits and three walks over 6 2/3 innings.

"It's hard when you're not pitching good, especially when you know that you're better than what you're showing right now," Nova said. "It's really hard for me. So I think I have to enjoy this win today; the team won, that's the most important thing."

Nova was staked to a big lead in the third inning on the two home runs, but he was unable to hold it for long. The Angels scored four times in the fourth to tie the game, the second time in three days they quickly erased a sizeable Yankees lead.

"I thought he did a good job after that," Girardi said. "He left some pitches up that they hit, but I thought he ended up on a good note and got us into the seventh inning."

Nova held the Angels to one run in the first after loading the bases before he recorded an out, but the Yankees broke out in the third, exploding for five runs against Santana to seize control of the game.

Granderson's homer, a three-run shot, was his 16th of the season. Cano added a two-run shot two batters later, his eighth.

"Nice at-bat by Grandy to work the count and finally get a fastball to hit the three-run homer, then Robbie Cano to hit the two-run homer," Girardi said. "You take that inning away and you take Nova's bad inning away, we might still be playing."

That bad inning from Nova came in the fourth, starting with Trumbo's two-run blast, his third of the series.

Erick Aybar hit a one-out single and Bobby Wilson bunted his way on with two outs, bringing Mike Trout to the plate. The rookie belted a two-run double to right-center, bringing the Angels all the way back to tie the game at 5.

A rare triple by Raul Ibanez started a rally in the sixth, allowing Swisher's fly ball to left to score him for a 6-5 lead.

"They ran balls down all week long on us and played tremendous," Girardi said of Trout and Peter Borjous, the Angels' speedy outfielders. "On the triple by Raul, if you have a slower center fielder, he might pull up. He was pretty close to getting it and we ended up getting the triple, so in the one instance, it might have cost them."

Nova worked into the seventh before Girardi went to Boone Logan with two out and nobody on base. Logan allowed a pair of singles by Kendrys Morales and Trumbo, but Wade came in and fanned Kendrick on a big curveball, slamming his fist into his glove three times as he held on to the one-run lead.

"You're not going to be able to go out and get guys out all the time or everybody could do this game," Wade said. "It's part of it. You're going to come in situations like that and you're going to have to be able to forget it when you give up home runs like that. It happens to everybody but the key is to come back and do the job next time."

That wouldn't be the final scare for the Yankees, as Soriano walked Alberto Callaspo with one out in the ninth, putting the tying run on base for Albert Pujols.

Pujols hit a grounder up the middle for a single, but Jeter stopped it before it reached the outfield, holding the lead runner at second base. Torii Hunter hit a grounder to Alex Rodriguez, who tagged Callaspo for the second out. Trumbo tried to play the role of hero again, but Soriano got him to hit a shallow fly ball to left to end the game, earning his sixth save.

"Good win," Russell Martin said. "It's not the most stress-free win, but you're playing a tough team. They were hot, won eight in a row or something like that, and we just did enough to put out the fire."

Chris Carlson/AP

Angels centerfielder Peter Bourjos watches Raul Ibanez's ball smash into the wall for a triple during the sixth inning.

North Korea proclaims itself a nuclear state

North Korea proclaims itself a nuclear state

Seoul (CNN) -- North Korea proclaimed itself a "nuclear state" this week following a revision of its constitution earlier this year.

Kim Jong-Il has "transferred the country into an undefeated country with strong political ideology, a nuclear power state, and invincible military power," according to the updated constitution posted on its portal website Naenara. The website posted the revised constitution on Wednesday, according to Yonhap, the South Korean state affiliated news agency.

North Korea ready to carry out nuclear test at any moment, Seoul says

The statement looks all too familiar.

North Korea previously announced its nuclear capability through its state-run broadcaster and newspapers, "but no expression can be stronger than including it in their constitution," Professor Choi Jong Kun of Yonsei University told CNN.

"It is an announcement of confirmation," he added, "and it appears to be directed to the U.S. and other relevant nations."

The communist state carried out nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.

Signs of new activity at North Korea's nuclear test site

Pyongyang recently announced that it will press on with its nuclear program in response to what it calls "hostility from the United States."

A defense publication, IHS Janes, also said it detected signs of activities ramping up at North Korea's nuclear test site, raising speculation Pyongyang may be preparing for a third nuclear test.

Via: North Korea proclaims itself a nuclear state

What Cook's comments reveal about Apple's future

What Cook's comments reveal about Apple's future

(Wired) -- When Apple CEO Tim Cook took the stage at the All Things Digital Conference Tuesday night, he wasn't just answering questions from Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher he was also dropping hints about the future of Apple's product roadmap.

Sure, a lot of his answers just regurgitated the same pat, familiar themes we've heard from Cook and other Apple executives: The iPad is taking the world by storm. The iPhone's doing great. The iPod has been the gateway drug for a new generation of Apple and Mac users.

But even Tim Cook can't completely stick to the script. During his interview, he teased a few interesting tidbits which we present here along with analysis on what his words actually mean.

Siri should improve in the near future

Last week a former Apple employee reportedly said that former Apple CEO Steve Jobs would have "lost his mind" over Siri, and that employees are embarrassed by the virtual assistant. But luckily for Apple, any embarrassment should soon abate.

"There's more that [Siri] can do, and we have a lot of people working on this," Cook said. "And I think you will be really pleased with some of the things you'll see over the coming months on this. We have some cool ideas about what Siri can do. We have a lot going on on this."

Clearly, Apple wants to evolve Siri, and lift its current "beta" status. A recent study may have found that 66 percent of iPhone 4S users are either "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with Siri, but Apple has still been hit with a class-action suit from users who feel Siri was deceptively advertised.

In a final, non-beta version of Siri, Apple's virtual assistant would be better equipped to parse the nuances of human dialog. We should be able to talk to Siri as if she were an actual assistant. If a query needs clarification, she should be able to ask you much more specific questions to determine exactly what you need.

Siri's capabilities should also expand via new database partnerships. Yelp and WolframAlpha are great wealths of information, but Siri needs even more sources of human intelligence. In the original Siri iOS app, you could make OpenTable restaurant reservations using Siri. I would expect this and similar functionality to return.

You should also be able to use Siri to post tweets, and eventually Facebook status updates as well (other virtual assistant apps already do this). I would imagine that Apple will eventually open up Siri to third-party developers, so they could incorporate her voice recognition, dictation, and search features within their own apps, making Siri useful and ubiquitous system-wide.

Apple's leaving wearables to third parties

Don't expect Apple to debut a headset or wrist-worn iDevice any time soon. Apple hasn't bought into the wearable fad, illustrated most notably by the Nike Fuel Band and Pebble Smartwatch. On the topic of wearables, Cook said:

"I have on a Nike Fuel Band. I think there are some cool things that can be done. I think it is an interesting area. The question is, Can it change somebody's behavior? The book hasn't been written on that yet."

Of course, Apple does promote the iPod nano as a watch replacement, so it's not like the company is completely ignoring the trend. But, for now, it looks like Apple won't be releasing any trendy wearable gadgets to jump on the bandwagon and, in fact, there's no need to.

Developing new hardware, especially in the relatively immature wearable space, takes a lot of time, money, and intellectual resources. So Apple has much more to gain by letting other manufacturers make wearable accessories which inevitably hook into Apple's existing ecosystem via iOS apps. Apple reaps the benefit of increased iDevice purchases and upgrades, and even takes a 30 percent cut of any paid app that a wearable computing manufacturer might sell.

Expect Facebook-Apple collaboration

Historically, Apple and Facebook haven't always seen eye-to-eye a collaboration between Facebook and Apple reportedly failed prior to the release of Apple's Ping social network, and Facebook has since cozied up with Microsoft on its Windows Phone platform. Nonetheless, it doesn't look like past conflicts are preventing Apple and Facebook from working together in the future.

"I think the relationship is very solid," Cook said of Apple's relationship with Facebook. "We have great respect for them. I think we can do more with them. Just stay tuned on this one."

Just stay tuned? Cook might as well just have told us, "Yes, Facebook and Apple are teaming up right now." iOS already features deep Twitter integration, and significant Facebook integration is a glaring omission.

It's not a stretch to think iOS 6 could yield greater Facebook integration like what the OS already provides for Twitter (indeed, code in an iOS 5 beta hinted at just such a thing). Perhaps we'll find out more during Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in a few weeks' time. Or perhaps we'll have to wait until the next iPhone is announced, likely in October. Whatever the case, we have to assume that Cook wants to see Facebook tools integrated throughout the mobile OS.

Apple is deeply interested in the TV space

Apple is widely rumored to be working on its own TV set, which many consumers are eager to get their hands on. Cook is still playing coy about the subject, but more than ever before it sounds like Apple is actively exploring the TV space.

"This is an area of intense interest for us," Cook said about the Apple TV set-top box, the company's current living-room content solution. "We are going to keep pulling the string and see where this takes us."

Could it take Apple to a full-fledged television set? Cook wouldn't directly say. Instead, he commented on Apple's strategy upon entering a new product area: "We would look not just at this area, but other areas, and ask, Can we control the key technology? Can we make a significant contribution far beyond what others have done in this area? Can we make a product that we all want? ... Those are all the things we would ask about any new product category."

Cook didn't answer his own questions, but we can.

Can Apple control the key technology? Yes. Apple already dominates manufacturing in a number of overseas factories. It's a master of supply-chain control. There should be little doubt that Apple can control the key technology, both on the manufacturing side, and the patents-software side.

Can Apple make a significant contribution to the TV space? Yes. Through a dedicated, TV-optimized version of Siri and a smart TV UI based on trademark Apple simplicity and aesthetics, Apple could advance the state of TV usability.

Can Apple make a TV we all want? Yes. As we reported above, consumers are excited by the prospect of an Apple-branded HD television. Come on, Tim! The questions you posed are softballs. You've basically announced that an iTV is all but inevitable.

No more lost iPhones?

"We're going to double down on secrecy on products," Cook said. "But, on other things supplier responsibility, environmental issues, etc., Apple will be the most transparent company."

In a one-year period, Apple reportedly lost two iPhones: an iPhone 4 prototype in the spring of 2010 that made its way onto Gizmodo, and an iPhone 4S prototype that never made it into the public eye. And just this week, 9to5 Mac scored some images of what could be the next iPhone.

For a company that likes to keep upcoming product information under lock and key, such mishaps are monumental. Perhaps Apple will implement a new or different product testing program one that doesn't involve its beta testers drinking at bars?

Joking aside, keeping multiple thousands of Foxconn workers from pulling out their own cameras and sending a few shots to the press for a quick buck would be a huge endeavor. Apple's next lines of defense might involve much more sophisticated device tagging, and elaborate sting operations, using deliberate bits of misinformation to smoke out moles who are giving up secrets.

Ping's days are numbered

"We tried Ping and I think the customer voted and said this isn't something that I want to put a lot of energy into," Cook said. "Will we kill it? I don't know, I'll look at it."

The first day Ping came out, we were excited to check it out and join the music-centric social network. Unfortunately, it just didn't stick, and Apple's aware of that. Rather than make a big announcement about its demise, we'd hazard that Apple will likely quietly put it to pasture some time in the next year or two.

For video highlights of Tim Cook's talk Tuesday evening, click here.

Subscribe to WIRED magazine for less than $1 an issue and get a FREE GIFT! Click here!

Copyright 2011 Wired.com.

Via: What Cook's comments reveal about Apple's future

Feds shut down 26 interstate bus compani...

Feds shut down 26 interstate bus compani...

David Karp/AP

FILE - In this March 12, 2011 file photo, Emergency personnel investigate the scene of a bus crash on Interstate-95 in the Bronx borough of New York. Twenty-six bus operations that transported more than 1,800 passengers a day along Interstate 95 between New York and Florida have been closed for safety violations in what federal officials say is the government's largest single safety crackdown of the motor coach industry in at least a decade.

WASHINGTON Twenty-six bus operations that transported more than 1,800 passengers a day along Interstate 95 between New York and Florida have been closed for safety violations in what federal officials say is the governments largest single safety crackdown of the motor coach industry.

Teams of officials for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, armed with legal orders declaring the bus operations imminent hazards to public safety, swooped down Wednesday on companies based in six states: Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, New York, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Officials withheld details about the operation until Thursday.

The shutdown orders were aimed at the companies headquarters and at bus pickup locations. Most of the 233 bus routes serviced by the companies either departed from or terminated in New York Citys Chinatown district.

Besides the shuttered bus operations, 10 people company owners, managers and employees were ordered to stop all involvement in passenger transportation operations, including selling bus tickets, the Transportation Department said.

The shutdowns are the culmination of a yearlong investigation by the safety administration that focused on three primary companies: Apex Bus Inc. and I-95 Coach Inc., both of New York, and New Century Travel Inc. of Philadelphia. Each of the three companies oversaw a broad network of other bus companies, officials said. The other bus operations targeted in the crackdown were companies that were affiliated with one of the three primary companies but have other names.

Phone calls and emails to the three companies seeking comment were unanswered.

Safety officials have long complained that their attempts to put unsafe bus operators out of business are frequently thwarted by reincarnated carriers that simply reopen for business under a different name or in a different location, or that transfer their buses to an affiliated company that shares similar ownership. Buses belonging to such rogue companies are known in the industry as ghost buses because they are frequently painted white with relatively little decoration to make it easier to repaint them with a new company name.

The motor coach industry transports more than 700 million passengers a year in the U.S., roughly the same as the domestic airlines.

Bus industry officials said they have been urging the government to crack down on unsafe operators and were aware of the investigation before the shutdowns.

These businesses have been doing all they can to operate far below the accepted level of safety, said Dan Ronan, a spokesman for the American Bus Association.

NBC is Justin time, with new special Jun...

NBC is Justin time, with new special Jun...

Peter Kramer /AP

Justin Bieber will star in an NBC special June 21.

NBC will broadcast a new Justin Bieber special on June 21 from 8-9 p.m.

Justin Bieber: All Around the World follows Bieber on a 12-day, seven-country concert swing.

Part of the show will also come from the Justin-Cam, which catches the action as he sees it.

John Berman moves to CNN

Longtime ABC correspondent John Berman has jumped to CNN, where he will join Ashley Banfield and Zoraida Sambolin as co-anchors of CNNs 5-7 a.m. Early Start.

Berman also will report for other CNN shows.

He started at ABC in 1995, and from 1997-99 was head writer for World News Tonight With Peter Jennings. He also covered presidential elections and wars.

Jim Paratore, producer for DeGeneres, dies

Jim Paratore, the producer who championed Ellen DeGeneres transition to daytime television despite skepticism about an openly gay host, died Tuesday of an apparent heart attack during a cycling vacation in France.

Paratore, 58, also produced Extra, The Peoples Court, The Rosie O'Donnell Show and The Bachelor franchise before founding the gossip website TMZ.

And Craig Stanke, deputy sports editor at cbssports.com, died Tuesday at 56. He had run a 5K on Memorial Day.

Dots all ...

Fox Business Network is launching a new show Monday called Money With Melissa Francis, 5 p.m weekdays. Hallmark has okayed a series based on Debbie Macombers Cedar Cove. It stars Andie MacDowell and will premiere in early 2013.

NYPD school safety data shows most arres...

NYPD school safety data shows most arres...

Doug Menuez/Getty Images

Teenage boy getting handcuffed.

Most of the students arrested or ticketed by police are in Bronx schools, according to a new analysis of NYPD school safety data released by the New York Civil Liberties Union.

The report, released Wednesday, shows that 33 of arrests were made and nearly 55 of summonses were given in the Bronx. Citywide, police arrested 327 students and handed out 555 summonses in schools from January through March.

More than 96 of arrests were of black or Latino students, and more than 73 were male.

Black students comprise only 31 of the student population in city schools, but 64 in this demographic were arrested.

These data show how the impact of heavy-handed policing in city schools falls mostly on black students who account for 64 percent of the arrests, and on male students who represent about three-quarters of all arrests, said NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman in a statement.

"If the Bloomberg administration truly wants to help young men of color succeed, then it must address these disparities and focus more resources on educating children, not arresting them.

Joseph Duarte, a sophomore at Samuel Gompers High School in the Bronx, said he and his classmates feel singled out.

These numbers make us feel like the NYPD is targeting black and Latino students, and that's just plain wrong, said the 15-year-old member of the Dignity in Schools campaign. We go to school to get an education, not arrested.

During the last two reporting periods, there were 606 arrests and 1,087 summonses in city schools.

The NYCLU and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal class action lawsuit in 2010 challenging the NYPDs practice of arresting children in city schools. That lawsuit is still pending.

clestch@nydailynews.com

‘Apassionata,’ a 40-horse extravaganza,...

‘Apassionata,’ a 40-horse extravaganza,...

KNOPF

'Apassionata' features stunts, such as this one where a daredevil stands on the backs of horses as they jump over fiery rails.

If youre a horse lover, gallop dont walk to the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J.

From Friday through Sunday, Apassionata, a 40-horse equestrian extravaganza with five international teams of riders will take over the stadium.

Boasting everything from dressage a formal form of horse training to daredevil acts complete with death-defying tricks and pyrotechnics, Apassionata is what might happen if Cirque du Soleil featured stallions instead of limber, European mimes.

Horse shows in America are often competitions or rodeos, says Scott Faris, the Broadway director whos helming the show for its U.S. debut. This is not that; its a piece of theater with horses as the stars.

The two-act show, subtitled The Beginning, is indeed set up like a Broadway play, but theres no chance audiences will confuse it with Equus.

From my point of view, the show loosely follows the relationship between humans and horses, explains Faris.

The show opens with wild horses running freely into the stadium and, over the course of the performance, introduces its teams - classic riders from Portugal, Ukrainian stuntmen and French comedians, to name a few - and their horses, building up to what the director describes as a climactic ending.

Working with a cast (human and animal alike) with such studied, unique skills has been exciting for Faris, himself an amateur rider with some experience.

I tried to ride for a while and thought, Wow, thats hard, he says. When I came into this, I had knowledge without being a horse person. I knew how hard it was to get horses to do what you want, so I knew how sophisticated the riders were.

Even longtime pony professionals are impressed with what the Apassionata players can achieve.

In this show, you have a lot of things happening, says Sylvie Willms, a classical rider who joined the show nine years ago after a lifetime around horses. You can see something funny, something classic, some trick riding. The trick riders go under the horses belly while galloping and do a lot of complicated moves. I dont do that at all, so its impressive for me.

As it will be for audiences. Faris says after viewing the show in Europe, where its been seen by more than 5 million people, he included only numbers that made audiences gasp or applaud.

The result, he says, is a theatrical presentation of fantastic horsemanship, even for people who would never find themselves at a rodeo.

Whether you love horses or not, the director says, youll be won over by the beauty and excitement of the numbers.

YOU SHOULD KNOW

Apassionata runs June 1-3 at the Izod Center, 50 Route 120, East Rutherford, N.J. (800) 745-3000. Tickets, $ 29 and up. Info: izodcenter.com.

Lupica: Mets' Baxter up on Curran events

Lupica: Mets' Baxter up on Curran events

Andrew Savulich/New York Daily News

Mike Baxter enjoys a moment before a game at Citi Field. The Queens native played for Jack Curran (below) at Archbishop Molloy high school and still seeks his former coach's counsel.

Mike Baxter, one more surprise in this surprise season for the New York Mets, comes to it all from Whitestone in Queens.

He comes from there, and from the buses and trains he used to take to school, and from the ones he took to Mets games, when he was a high school kid telling himself he was riding the same subway train his guy, John Olerud, used to take to old Shea Stadium.

Baxter comes from the Padres organization, where he worked his way up through the minors, waiting for his chance, not knowing his big chance wouldnt come until baseball brought him back to New York, until outfielders started to get hurt with the Mets this season.

Then the kid from out of the stands at Shea was right in the middle of the action at Citi Field, a pinch-hitter at first and now a part-time leadoff man who is batting a very snappy .339.

And Mike Baxter, the Whitestone kid, the Queens kid, also comes to this moment from Archbishop Molloy, from batting third in the order for Jack Curran, one of the great names in the history of high school sports in the city of New York.

Seth Wenig/AP

Mike Baxter (r.), let go by San Diego, now sets the table for David Wright.

Curran is best known for 54 years of coaching basketball at Molloy. But you better believe the old minor league pitcher out of All Hallows in the Bronx, the son of a New York City policeman, has coached baseball just as long at Molloy, been a Coach of the Year in baseball 25 times even more than he has been in basketball.

Curran coached Kenny Anderson in basketball and Brian Winters and Kevin Joyce, famous names out of the citys basketball past. But now Coach Curran of Molloy sends Baxter to left field at Citi Field, now there are the days and nights when Jack Curran watches a kid from Molloy batting leadoff for the New York Mets.

Hes still coaching me, Baxter said on Wednesday afternoon before the Mets lost, 10-6, to the Phillies at night.

When asked exactly how Curran is doing that, Baxter laughed and said, Hes still telling me not to take a straight ball for strike one.

Curran is still telling hitters that at Molloy. He was coaching Wednesday at Fordham in the Catholic High School playoffs, a 7-5 loss to St. Raymonds. But it is double elimination, Curran said Wednesday night, so this years Molloy team was still alive in the playoffs. The 54th season still going.

Oh, I hate to see them take one right down the middle, Jack Curran said. It might be the best pitch theyll see on that at-bat. It might be the best pitch theyll see all day long. So, yes, I was telling Mike the same thing now that I did when he was playing shortstop for me at Molloy.

There have been so many ballplayers for Curran at Molloy. But Baxter is the first position player to make the big leagues out of all of them. There have been high draft choices, and others who made it as far as Triple-A. Baxter, the shortstop turned outfielder, the guy Sandy Alderson grabbed off waivers last summer because he remembered him from when he was running the Padres, is Jack Currans first to make the show.

It is very meaningful for me, it is very meaningful for Molloy, Curran said. The thing I remember about (Baxter) is how hard he worked, how much he wanted this. Hed finish practice with us and then hed still be out there on the field with his father, his father hitting him ground balls.

Howard Simmons/New York Daily News

Mike Baxter and Jack Curran hold the CHSAA championship trophy at Shea Stadium.

Baxter wanted to be a shortstop. St. Johns, Jack Currans old school, recruited him, but wanted to make him into an outfielder, Curran said. So Baxter went to Columbia instead, finally ended up at Vanderbilt, where he played first and third. The Padres drafted him. Now, a long time after Molloy, he has made it all the way back home.

It is not the biggest sampling, of course, barely over 60 at-bats so far. But he still was hitting .339. Ten RBI in the at-bats that hes gotten.

And, Jack Curran said, 11 doubles already, if Im not mistaken. Hes hit the ball hard and made the most of his opportunity. Hes done the thing you have to do when you get a chance like this: Showed them he belongs.

Curran added this: Keep an eye on this young man. I believe the more he learns the pitchers, the better hes going to hit. And the work ethic that I remember is still there. He called me the other day and I said, Where are you? He said, Im on the Long Island Expressway, on my way to the ballpark. I looked at the clock. It was 12:30. For a 7 oclock game.

Baxter was drafted out of Vanderbilt in the fourth round, 2005 draft. Ended up with the Mets last August. Now there are the nights when he is at the top of the batting order. The Molloy man being one more unlikely hero for the Mets in this unlikely season they are having.

They have come off the bench for the Mets, out of the minor leagues. Bench guys asked to be front-line guys, and right now. Minor leaguers asked to produce like major leaguers. Baxter is just the one who comes from Queens to Citi Field, comes from Molloy, from the buses and trains he used to take to get to Shea.

And the great Jack Curran, who thought he was going to pitch his way to Ebbets Field once, finally gets one of his position players to the big leagues. So many good stories around the Mets this season, from just about everywhere.

Baxters the one from here.

Shawn Colvin tells all, with new album a...

Shawn Colvin tells all, with new album a...

Shawn Colvin

Confessional singer-songwriters love to spill their guts. After all, its part of their job description. But normally they confine their revelations to the music.

Shawn Colvin went the extra mile on that one.

On Tuesday, shell issue both a new album, All Fall Down, which chronicles a particularly rotten breakup, and a memoir (Diamond in the Rough) which reveals the alcoholism she experienced in her 20s, her many bouts with depression and the romantic disasters that have given her enough writing material to last several lifetimes.

On that last issue, Colvin admits, Im a loving person, but Im a lousy girlfriend. Obviously, its not my forte.

Luckily, she relates her romantic travails as well as her anxiety attacks with high humor throughout the book. The light tone comes as something a surprise, considering her songs tend to be more understated and serious.

I think Im kind of a funny person, actually, says Colvin. Also, it was important to me that the humor cut into the darker stuff. Otherwise, it comes off as self-pitying. One of my inspirations was Spalding Grey. He didnt hold back, but he was hysterical, and that made him lovable.

Colvin may have felt an extra need to rally readers on her side since, by her own admission, shes not the publishing worlds most obvious choice for a celebrity author. I dont consider myself particularly iconic, she says. I was really dubious about it.

In fact, she backed into the whole process. According to Colvin, she was approached by her managers with the idea. They thought I had a story to tell. But they were very sneaky. They said, Just write two chapters and see.

Then I got a book deal on account of it. So I thought, well somebody thinks you can write this book, so maybe I do have a story to tell.

Shell tell part of it at a reading this Tuesday at Barnes & Noble Tribeca, following a concert Monday at City Winery.

The aftermath of the relationship, which occupies much of the new album, gets angrier play at the end of the book. I did not take the high road on that one, Colvin admits. I did not paint a flattering picture of this man. (Unlike other lovers in the book, this one remains unnamed).

The new music honors Colvins usual mix of measured frustration and wise revelations, delivered with agile vocals and finely woven folk-rock melodies. Surprisingly its Colvins first work produced by Buddy Miller, who encouraged her as a struggling musician back in the New York clubs of the 80s.