LAX Shooting

Wounded LAX shooting suspect gave police crucial information
November 03, 2013

LOS ANGELES The gunman charged in the deadly shooting at Los Angeles International Airport lay bloodied and handcuffed on the floor of Terminal 3 after being gunned down by police, but he replied to critical questions that helped authorities lock down the scene.

Paul Ciancia, 23, was hauled away moments later on a stretcher and later heavily sedated for medical reasons, but not before he told investigators he had acted alone when he opened fire in the terminal, a law enforcement official who has been briefed on the investigation told The Associated Press on Sunday.

Change in Time

It may be a bit brighter Monday morning than in recent weeks, the result of the change back to Standard Time, but the sunny skies will come with a chill.

Some parts of central North Carolina could see temperatures dip to below the freezing mark in the next two mornings, said WRAL meteorologist Aimee Wilmoth. 

"Jackets will be in order," she said. "It will be a pretty day, but it will be a cool day."

With the dew point low, the air will remain very dry. There is the chance for just afew high clouds Monday and temperatures will stay only in the 50s.

"A clockwise flow is bringing those colder temperatures our way from the north," Wilmoth said.

By mid-week, the weather warms back to about 70 degrees, but another cooling trend is on the way for next weekend.

NEW YORK – Just before mile 24, Ethiopian Buzunesh Deba looked over her shoulder as her lead began to vanish. Once Kenya's Priscah Jeptoo, with her knock-kneed stride belying the ease of her pace, pulled ahead, there was no need to look back.

In her New York City Marathon debut, Jeptoo won the women's race on Sunday with a time of 2 hours, 25 minutes, 7 seconds, almost a minute ahead of Deba. As she crossed the finish line, Jeptoo threw her arms in the air, then leaned over for an extended breath. With the victory, she received a $500,000 bonus for also capturing the World Marathon Majors women's title.

Kenya's Geoffrey Mutai, 32, won the men's race in 2:08:24. It's the third time Kenyans swept both the men's and women's titles (2002, 2003). The only other country to sweep was the United States in 1977.

TRIBUTE: New York has Boston feel

Jeptoo entered New York as a favorite in the women's field after winning the London Marathon this year. Deba, who trains in the Bronx, finished runner-up for her second consecutive race in New York.

At mile 14, Jeptoo was trailing by 3 minutes, 29 seconds and didn't know how big the gap was until an official riding a bicycle told her. "I realized that three minutes is almost one kilometer. So I started to push the pace," she said. "I was having confidence that I will make it."

The first American woman to finish was Adriana Nelson, 33, of Fort Collins, Colo., who was 13th. Born in Romania, Nelson became an American citizen in 2011.

Ethiopia's Tsegaye Kebede finished second in the men's race, almost a minute behind Mutai, and took the World Marathon Majors men's title. The World Marathon Majors series includes five major marathons, the Olympics and world championships. Professional runners accumulate points over a two-season cycle.

Mutai is one of the fastest marathon runners in the world, posting a 2:03:02 on Boston's hilly course in 2011.

In 2011, when Mutai won New York, he shattered the course record by more than two and a half minutes. Given the strong wind on Sunday, no such marks were in reach. "To win is easy, but to defend your title is not easy," Mutai said. "The weather today, it was not easy."

As for the reaction back home after winning two consecutive New York City marathons? "I think I'm more famous now in Kenya," he said.

Ryan Vail, from Portland, Ore., was the first American male finisher in 13th place.

American Tatyana McFadden made historywith her victory in the women's wheelchair race, completing a sweep of the Boston, London, Chicago and New York marathons in a single year.

More than 50,000 runners started the race through the five boroughs. Six months after two explosions near the Boston Marathon finish line killed three people and injured more than 260, security was highly visible along the New York course. Race organizers spent about $1 million on security, double the amount of the previous year. There were more barricades and security checkpoints for spectators and runners were not allowed to carry over the shoulder hydration packs.

All of the runners were given blue ribbons to pay tribute to Boston. A Boston Marathon yellow line was also painted alongside the traditional blue line heading into the homestretch.

The New York City Marathon returned after last year's cancellation due to Superstorm Sandy. About 22,000 runners entered in last year's race returned to the field for Sunday's race, according to the New York Road Runners.

Geoffrey Mutai of Kenya crosses the finish line to win the men's division of the New York City Marathon.  STAN HONDA, AFP/Getty Images

FULLSCREEN

Stoke goalkeeper Asmir Begovic scores after 13 seconds against Southampton

toke goalkeeper Asmir Begovic netted one of the most remarkable and ridiculous goals of the season against Southampton – scoring a wind-assisted opener after just 13 seconds.

Just moments after kick-off at a blustery Britannia Stadium, Begovic kicked away a pass-back from deep inside his own area, which deceived everyone because of the conditions.

Asmir Begovic is mobbed by team-mate Ryan Shawcross after his bizarre goal (Picture: Chris Brunskill/Getty)

As the ball sailed much further than expected and bounced on the edge of the Saints penalty area, having been left by the away side’s centre-backs, it also cleared the despairing reach of Begovic’s opposite number Artur Boruc to fly into the net.

Begovic and his team-mates’ celebrations were as much disbelief as they were joy – much like the home fans packed into the Britannia.

Talk about home advantage and knowing the conditions…

Asmir Begovic (right) gives a guilty smirk after his kick went directly in (Picture: PA)

After listing Nexus 5 at an outrageous $799, Best Buy settles for $100 markup

Best Buy is going to be expensive. Very expensive. The massive US retail chain has priced off-contract purchases at an eye-popping $799.99 according to a new Sprint listing on its website. That's for the 16GB model, which sells for $349 at Google Play. Even Sprint itself isn't asking for that much; the carrier is charging $449.99 for the device at full cost — $100 more than Google. Best Buy has tacked on an extra $350 to that figure, instantly putting off-contract purchases out of reach for most customers. The company routinely prices "replacement" devices well above their normal suggested retail price, but we've rarely seen a gap as massive as this one.

Best Buy has stayed relatively mum on its Nexus 5 plans since Google's announcement, so the listed replacement price may be some sort of placeholder or error. There's also the possibility that the retailer will offer the Nexus 5 alongside other Google hardware (Chromebooks, Chromecast, etc.) at a lower rate. Many Best Buy locations now feature special Google sections that showcase the company's offerings. After Thursday's announcement, many had hoped that the Nexus 5 would appear there at its more affordable $349.99 price point. We've reached out to both Best Buy and Google for clarification on Nexus 5 pricing and availability.

Thanks, TheLightDivided!

Update: Several hours after this story was posted, Best Buy quietly lowered the Nexus 5's off-contract price to $449.99. This matches Sprint's MSRP and is far more reasonable than the original $799.99 pre-order rate.

Only People In Central Africa Saw Total Eclipse Of The Sun

If you got up early enough on Sunday, you might have been treated to a morning surprise in the sky.

A partial solar eclipse — one of only two on Earth this year — was visible in the sky over much of the eastern USA early Sunday morning.

The eclipse, seen for only about 30 minutes after sunrise, appeared throughout the entire East Coast where clouds didn't obscure it. It could only be seen as far west as eastern Ohio, eastern Kentucky, eastern Tennessee and most of Georgia.

Sunrise on Sunday morning was at roughly 6:30 a.m. or slightly later, so you would have needed to get up early to see it. But it should have seemed easier to get up early this Sunday: Remember, daylight saving time came to an end Sunday morning (officially at 2 a.m.).

This eclipse was a rare "hybrid" eclipse, in which a few parts of the Earth saw an "annular" eclipse (where the moon does not completely block out the sun, leaving just a "ring of fire" around the moon), while other parts saw a "total" eclipse, when the moon completely covers the sun.

The USA, along with parts of Europe and Africa, didn't see the annular or the total variety and were treated instead to a "partial" solar eclipse: The sun appeared as if it has had a big bite taken out of it. Only people in central Africa, in countries such as Gabon, Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia, saw the total eclipse of the sun.

The next chance to see a total solar eclipse in the U.S. will be Aug. 21, 2017.

Weather conditions were forecast to be best for eclipse viewing in the southeastern U.S., where clear skies were expected Sunday morning, according to AccuWeather. Skies were predicted to be cloudier in the Mid-Atlantic and along the Northeast coast, while rain and even some snow showers may have obstructed the sky in interior sections of the Northeast and New England

IPad Air Shows Off Apple At Best But If You Want Mini Keep Waiting

With just one iPad to entice customers, Apple again appears to have had a big opening weekend, selling around 3 million of the new tablet. The new iPad Air is the biggest update by far to the original 9.7-inch model that Apple brought to life in 2010. It’s significantly thinner, much lighter and a lot faster. Many reviews even claim that if you were waiting on a Retina iPad Mini for the holidays, you should reconsider and pick up this one instead. For most people, that’s probably not the right choice, even though the iPad Air is fantastic.

Mini for everyone?

Apple brought the Mini to life last year, seemingly against the wishes of Steve Jobs who had lots of nasty words for 7-inch tablets. So Apple took pains to explain the Mini was a 7.85-inch tablet and made it a great one. It was — at the time — remarkable for its thinness and solidity but lacked the razor-sharp display that Apple had made the centerpiece of its marketing. As Idiscussed in a earlier post. for a company like Apple, it wasn’t sufficient that a Retina-class display could be built for the Mini, but rather that Apple would need to acquire tens of millions of them in the first year alone. The company sold 70 million iPads last year and Mini at this point accounts for at least half of them.

Leaving aside the presence in the lineup of the now ancient, by tech standards, iPad 2, Apple offers the original Mini for $299, the Retina Mini (shipping later this month) for $399, and the Air for $499. The latter two can be upgraded with more memory and 4G radios to get online without WiFi for up to hundreds more. Typically, this would imply the company would be pushing people toward the middle model, but that represents a problem for Apple. The Retina Mini isn’t out yet and will likely remain in short supply into 2014. CEO Tim Cook suggested as much on the earnings call last month.

Why? The reason is that display. There is nothing especially unique about packing about 3 million pixels (2048 x 1536) into a screen that size, it just hadn’t been a focal point of the industry until recently. And making LCD screens is all about volume.  The Retina Mini will get there, but in the short run, Apple partner Sharp has struggled to produce panels. The reason is that Sharp is shifting to a new kind of LCD using IGZO (indium gallium zinc oxide) technology that’s very power efficient and theoretically inexpensive. But here have been growing pains in the transition away from silicon-based LCDs and Apple is rumored to be talking to Samsung again about supplying displays in 2014. Apple hates to do this given the tension between the two, but it may not have a choice.

Lighter than Air?

You do have one, though, which brings us back to the Air alternative. Apple has taken a lot of the best of the Mini and brought it to the Air. Losing nearly 2 mm in the chassis from 9.4 mm in the previous full-size iPad may now sound like much, but at 7.5 mm, the Air feels thin in a way the third and fourth-generations iPads felt a bit porky. The least successful feature of the iPad Mini, the slightly sharp chamfered edge, unfortunately comes along to the Air too. It adds harshness to an otherwise smooth experience. To be clear, holding the Air isn’t as unpleasant as holding a Microsoft Surface, but every time that edge rolls past a finger, you can’t help wonder, “why isn’t this smooth?”

Most everything else about the Air is: buttery smooth. Performance is outstanding. The screen is gorgeous. The thin bezels make it almost all screen without leading to errant presses. And the Air lost enough weight (.44 pounds down to 1 pound even) that holding it for extended periods to read, even one-handed, is now an option. This is where the tradeoffs really start to come into play. The Retina Mini is now a virtual clone of the Air as if it was hit by a shrink ray. The tech specs are nearly identical. (Though it’s likely Apple will make the processor in the Retina Mini very slightly slower to keep the battery life between the two consistent, few will notice).

But three things stand out: The Mini remains 1.5 inches shorter, 1.3 inches narrower and nearly 5 ounces lighter. Some are making noise about the fact the Air is closer in weight to the Mini than to the previous iPad. I’m not sure why this matters. For things like reading a book or just holding onto for extended periods of time, the differences tend to prove dramatic. It’s why lots of book lovers still buy the Kindle Paperwhite from Amazon and why the Mini was so popular in the first place.

The Air is very much the product Apple likely wishes it could have produced as the first Retina iPad. It’s a clear upgrade from the iPad 2 in a way the original Retina tablet wasn’t. But it’s no Mini. That’s not a knock on the Air; I bought one to replace a third-gen iPad. The larger screen is clearly more enjoyable for watching a movie on an airplane or in a hotel room. It’s also better for reading the screen at a distance in the kitchen when using it as a recipe guide. And Air is light enough that when carrying it around in a backpack, the difference between them there is negligible.

For me, the iPad hasn’t yet become a replacement for my laptop, but Apple’s decision to give away its Office-like apps has made me at least consider the possibility of using it that way at times. Again, the Air would work in a way the Mini just wouldn’t. All of this said, there’s a $100 difference and a lot of weight between the two. It’s more mass than a lot of people first realize holding the tablets for just a few seconds. (It took me an instant in the Apple store to decide the Mini remains dramatically lighter the Air, but I’ve been following this technology closely for a long time.) If you wanted a Mini because it’s smaller and lighter, you probably still do. The Mini is, ironically, easier to casually to type on for texting because your thumbs will have less trouble with the smaller screen.

The good news is that unlike with iPhone, Apple gives you a choice with iPad: If you prefer a larger screen, Apple offers it, if you don’t, fine. And truthfully, the decider needs to be the end user. You will have to choose between a bigger, more visible display and a lighter, easier-to-hold iPad (unless, of course, you just get both; they’ll easily synchronize). The Air is so good at being Mini-like, it made the choice much harder. Tracking the Retina Mini’s arrival later this month will be interesting.