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MORNING PREP - MORNING PREP - MORNING PREP - MORNING PREP
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! CYBER CORNER !
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IN THE NEWS: STAPLES TO CLOSE HUNDREDS OF STORES
UNDATED (AP) — First, it was Radio Shack. Now, Staples has become the second major chain this week featuring electronic sales to announce it's closing stores. Staples is the nation's largest office-supply company. And it says now that nearly half its shares are generated online, it plans to close more than 10 percent of its stores in North America by the end of next year. The closing of up to 225 stores is part of a plan to save about a half billion dollars. Two days ago, RadioShack, which is fighting to update its image, announced plans to close up a fifth of its U.S. locations.
IN THE NEWS: MASSACHUSETTS LAWMAKERS PASS LAW TO CRACK DOWN ON UPSKIRT SHOTS
BOSTON (AP) — They're called "upskirt" photos — and lawmakers in Massachusetts are taking steps to ban them, whether they're taken of women, children — or men. The legislation makes it illegal to secretly take photos of "sexual or other intimate parts" of people in public. The move came just a day after the state's highest court ruled that a man who took cell phone photos up the skirts of female passengers on the Boston subway didn't violate state law. The new law says anyone who sneaks such photos without the subject's consent would face a misdemeanor charge — and a maximum penalty of two and a half years — and a $5,000 fine. The crime would be a felony with increased penalties if the subject is under 18.
ON THE WEB: BACON APP
CYBERSPACE (AP) — Even in these supposedly calorie-conscious days, people still love them some bacon. And if you are the type who want to wake up to the sound and smell the backside of a pig being sizzled on the stove, you can do it — without any of the fat. Oscar Mayer says it has created a bacon-scented app for the iPhone. The app produces the sound of bacon being fried. If you want the sound, there's a dongle that attaches to the iPhone's headphone jack. That device — like the one recently created to promote Pop Secret popcorn — will be available only in limited quantities and won't be sold in stores.
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Online:
Oscar Mayer Bacon site: http://www.wakeupandsmellthebacon.com
IN STORES: APPLE DENIED REQUEST TO STOP SALE OF SAMSUNG PRODUCTS
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — A federal judge in California has turned down Apple's request to permanently ban Samsung from selling 23 older-model smartphones and tablets. Those products were those that a 2012 jury found had infringed on patents held by Apple — and Apple wanted them pulled from the market. But Judge Lucy Koh ruled that the makers of the iPhone and iPad and other devices failed to prove that Samsung's patent infringement caused irreparable harm to Apple sales. The ruling came as the world's two biggest smartphone makers prepare to go to court again later this month. The issue this time: Apple's claim that Samsung's newest devices, such as its Galaxy S III, also copied Apple technology.
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Online:
Apple site: http://www.apple.com
Samsung site: http://www.samsung.com
by Oscar Wells Gabriel II
Oscar Gabriel can be reached at ogabriel@ap.org.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
