The Next PlayStation: 5 Lessons I Hope Sony’s Learned

From wishful thinking to shockingly sudden all-but-certainty, Sony‘s next game system may be here at last (I’ll try to avoid calling it things Sony hasn’t, like “PlayStation 4″ or “Orbis”), apparently head-faking Microsoft to debut earlier than expected at what’ll no doubt be a media circus in New York (and online) come Feb. 20.The event invite cleared my inbox last night accompanied by, well,...

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Culliver to have sensitivity training, help youth

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — San Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver will begin sensitivity training and education immediately after the Super Bowl following his anti-gay remarks this week, then likely start volunteer work with at-risk homosexual youth nationwide.Culliver is scheduled to begin working with "The Trevor Project," an organization that provides crisis and suicide intervention to lesbian,...

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Ferrol Sams, Doctor Turned Novelist, Dies at 90

Ferrol Sams, a country doctor who started writing fiction in his late 50s and went on to win critical praise and a devoted readership for his humorous and perceptive novels and stories that drew on his medical practice and his rural Southern roots, died on Tuesday at his home in Fayetteville, Ga. He was 90. The cause, said his son Ferrol Sams III, also a doctor, was that he was “slap...

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Americans Closest to Retirement Were Hardest Hit by Recession

David Maxwell for The New York TimesSusan Zimmerman, 62, has three part-time jobs. Michael Stravato for The New York TimesArynita Armstrong, 60, at her home in Willis, Tex. She last worked five years ago. “When you’re older, they just see gray hair and they write you off,” she says. In the current listless economy, every generation has a claim to having been most...

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The Lede Blog: Video and Images of New Clashes in Cairo

Last Updated, 6:04 p.m. As our colleagues Kareem Fahim and David Kirkpatrick report, Egyptian protesters clashed with riot police officers outside the presidential palace in Cairo on Friday night.Protesters hurled rocks and launched fireworks over the building’s outer wall, setting fire to a guard tower and drawing a robust response from security forces, who protesters said fired tear gas, rubber...

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Apple edges out Samsung for mobile phone sales lead in fourth quarter

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Apple Inc became the top mobile phone seller for the first time in the lucrative U.S. market during the fourth quarter of 2012, outshining arch rival Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, a report by Strategy Analytics showed.Apple‘s share of the U.S. mobile phone market, including feature phones and smartphones, jumped to 34 percent from 26 percent, while Samsung’s share grew to 32.3...

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NFL's Goodell: Proper tackling, HGH key issues

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says the league needs to make football safer by doing more to eliminate blows to the head and knees and by suspending players for illegal hits.During his annual news conference two days before the Super Bowl, Goodell also said Friday he wants a "new generation" of the Rooney Rule because "we didn't have the outcomes we wanted" when none of 15 recent...

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Well: Gluten-Free Muffin Recipes

For people who need to eliminate gluten from their diet, baking becomes a challenge. Beginners often find gluten-free baked goods too dense. Even the Recipes for Health columnist Martha Rose Shulman didn’t like the flavor of a commercial gluten-free flour mix, which left her gluten-free cookies and tart-shells with a strong taste of bean flour. As a result, she created her own gluten-free mix for...

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DealBook: Dutch Government Takes Control of SNS Reaal

The Dutch government on Friday nationalized one of the country’s biggest financial institutions, SNS Reaal, after the troubled company failed to find a private sector buyer.The Dutch finance minister, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said that the government would spend 3.7 billion euros ($5 billion) in taxpayer money to clean up the bank, which has struggled for years with unprofitable real estate loans. Mr....

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Hagel Offers Endorsement of U.S. Military Might

Tough Questions for Hagel at Hearing: Chuck Hagel, President Obama’s nominee for secretary of defense, had some sharp exchanges with Senator John McCain.WASHINGTON — Chuck Hagel, President Obama’s nominee to be secretary of defense, came under sharp and sometimes angry questioning Thursday on a wide range of issues from fellow Republicans at his Senate confirmation hearing, including from his old...

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