Pictures: Wildfires Scorch Australia Amid Record Heat

Photograph by Jo Giuliani, European Pressphoto AgencySmoke from a wildfire mushrooms over a beach in Forcett, Tasmania, on January 4. (See more wildfire pictures.)Wildfires have engulfed southeastern Australia, including the island state of Tasmania, in recent days, fueled by dry conditions and temperatures as high as 113ºF (45ºC), the Associated Press reported. (Read "Australia's Dry Run" inNational...

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Dead Lotto Winner's Wife Seeks 'Truth'

The wife of a $1 million Chicago lottery winner who died of cyanide poisoning told ABC News that she was shocked to learn the true cause of his death and is cooperating with an ongoing homicide investigation."I want the truth to come out in the investigation, the sooner the better," said Shabana Ansari, 32, the wife of Urooj Khan, 46. "Who could be that person who hurt him?"It...

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Tony Fadell: From iPhones to sexing up thermostats

After quitting Apple, the tech guru behind the iPod wanted to revolutionise our homes – starting with the humble thermostat After you left Apple, you developed a "smart" thermostat. Was that always your plan?Not at all! The plan was to retire with my wife, who also worked for Steve [Jobs], and spend time with...

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Korean pop icon Rain confined to barracks to "repent"

SEOUL: South Korean pop icon Rain has been confined to barracks for a week, the defence ministry said Tuesday, after his dating put him on the wrong side of the country's strict military service rules."Under a decision by the disciplinary commission of his unit, Rain will be confined to his barracks to spend seven days of repentance," a defence ministry spokesman said.The 30-year-old singer...

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Synology lauches DSM 4.2 beta at CES 2103

DSM 4.2 adds a slew of improvements to already excellent Synology NAS servers.(Credit:Synology)LAS VEGAS -- When it comes to network attached storage (NAS), Synology's DiskStation Manager (DSM) operating system has been as good as it gets. Yet it's about to get even better.The NAS server maker announced and demoed today at CES 2013 the public beta of its latest DSM 4.2. This is a major upgrade from...

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Primitive and Peculiar Mammal May Be Hiding Out in Australia

It’d be hard to think of a mammal that’s weirder than the long-beaked, egg-laying echidna. Or harder to find.Scientists long thought the animal, which has a spine-covered body, a four-headed penis, and a single hole for reproducing, laying eggs, and excreting waste, lived only in New Guinea. The population of about 10,000 is critically endangered. Now there is tantalizing evidence that...

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Meet Obama's Defense Secretary Nominee

President Obama nominated former Senator Chuck Hagel as the next U.S. secretary of defense. To those who haven't followed the Senate closely in the past decade, he's probably not a household name.Hagel is a former GOP senator from Nebraska and Purple-Heart-decorated Vietnam veteran, but he wouldn't necessarily be a popular pick with Republicans in Congress.At age 21, Hagel and...

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West vs Asia education rankings are misleading

Western schoolchildren are routinely outperformed by their Asian peers, but worrying about it is pointless MATHEMATICS and science are as essential to modern economies as coal was to the industrial revolution. So when the results of international tests show Western schoolchildren lagging behind their peers...

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TP students present innovations at exhibition

SINGAPORE: More than 60 nifty inventions were presented at this year's Engineering Project Show at Temasek Polytechnic on Monday.Some ideas included a baby pram that can function as a high chair and a tray return system. The ideas are the final-year projects of the polytechnic's engineering students.Five students created an "Ah Long" detector, which could be attached to front doors to...

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HTC Q4 profit, sales plunge amid holiday crush

The Droid DNA didn't help HTC's results in the fourth quarter.(Credit:Sarah Tew/CNET)LAS VEGAS--Apparently, the worst isn't over for HTC.The Taiwanese company reported that its fourth-quarter profit fell more than 90 percent to 1 billion Taiwanese dollars ($34 million) from more than 10 billion Taiwanese dollars a year ago. Sales fell roughly 40 percent to 60 billion Taiwanese dollars.The poor results...

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