Broken Xbox 360s Made CheapyD’s Baby Cry

Space shuttle Atlantis astronauts prepare for morning landing

HOUSTON – Atlantis’ astronauts aimed for a morning touchdown Wednesday to conclude a two-week mission that expanded the international space station with the addition of a new European lab. Forecasters expected nearly perfect weather for Atlantis’ planned landing at Kennedy Space Center, but crews were standing by for a California landing just in case. Atlantis’ [...]

Kirstie Alley plans to develop her own weight-loss brand

LOS ANGELES – Kirstie Alley and Jenny Craig may have gone their separate ways, but the one-time “Fat Actress” isn’t giving up on the weight loss industry. “After lengthy negotiations, regretfully the Jenny Craig Company and I did not come to an agreement to continue as their spokesperson,” Alley said in a statement posted on [...]

Toshiba drops HD DVD business; Seen as victory for Blu-ray format

TOKYO – Toshiba’s decision to no longer develop, make or market high-definition HD DVD players and recorders will mean consumers can start feeling more confident about buying the victorious rival technology – a Blu-ray disc player. Analysts say competition is expected to heat up among the manufacturers of Blu-ray players and recorders, which include Japanese [...]

It’s official: Nets trade Jason Kidd to Dallas Mavericks

Jason Kidd is no longer a Net. The trade that was on-again, off-again for almost a week finally became official Tuesday afternoon, and now the most successful era in the history of the Nets is over. Kidd was sent to Dallas along with forwards Malik Allen and Antoine Wright in exchange for point guard Devin [...]

Apple plans 2GB iPod Shuffle, cuts price on 1GB player

Apple on Tuesday shuffled (har, har) its lineup of matchbook-size digital music players, announcing a new iPod Shuffle with double the storage space and slashing the price of its 1GB models to $49. The 2GB version of the screenless flash memory-based player will cost $69 and be available for sale later this month, Apple said [...]

Spears loses gag order bid

A Superior Court commissioner denied a request yesterday by Britney Spears’s divorce attorney to issue a gag order in the pop star’s child-custody dispute with ex-husband Kevin Federline. Attorney Anne Kiley argued that media coverage was “emotionally and physically” dangerous to the 26-year-old pop star. Kiley said the court should prohibit attorneys from discussing the [...]

NBC News reprimands employee for Obama picture error

NEW YORK – NBC News said Tuesday it has reprimanded the employee responsible for mistakenly flashing a picture of Osama bin Laden on MSNBC as Chris Matthews talked about Barack Obama. “This mistake was inexcusable,” MSNBC spokesman Jeremy Gaines said. It happened during the opening of “Hardball” Monday evening. Matthews was previewing a story on [...]

Music can speed recovery from debilitating strokes, study finds

PARIS (AFP) – A daily dose of one’s favourite pop melodies, classical music or jazz can speed recovery from debilitating strokes, according to a study published Wednesday. When stroke patients in Finland listened to music for a couple of hours each day, verbal memory and attention span improved significantly compared to patients who received no [...]