European businesses slow to go online: study

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European businesses are not doing enough to use the internet to grow their customer base and promote products, Belgian database and marketing firm Email-Brokers said after studying 13 million websites.

Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands have the highest proportion of companies online but even in these countries 40 percent of business have no internet presence, it found.

The European Commission has estimated that companies which exploit the full potential of the internet create, on average, more than twice as many jobs.

“It is one of the ways to create employment and economic growth and it is not Star Trek, it exists today,” Email-Brokers head William Vande Wiele said.

Britain and Liechtenstein were the most advanced in terms of e-commerce – defined as being able to process orders and payments, with 16 percent and 17 percent, respectively, of business sites offering it, compared with 6 percent in Belgium and 9 percent in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands.

Vande Wiele said many corporate websites were badly designed, and did not provide basics such as adequate contact information or company details.

In Belgium, 91 percent of all corporate websites did not meet such basic standards, compared with about 20 percent in Luxembourg and France, the study concluded.

“Sites which do not comply with such minimum standards do not inspire confidence and before buying something online a user will need a minimum level of confidence,” Vande Wiele said.

Many websites are not kept up to date, the study also found, with more than 80 percent of business sites in Belgium, Greece, Italy and Spain not updated for more than a year.

(Reporting by Robert-Jan Bartunek; Editing by Dan Lalor)

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Waitress strips naked for final shift at Roberta's

Restaurant goers at Roberta's, a pizzeria in Bushwick, Brooklyn, got more than just their dinner this past weekend. Customers got an eyeful when they were being served by a naked waitress.

The eatery is tucked away in an old garage that is graffiti-laden. Customers often wait hours for the chance to dine on its Neapolitan-style pies, some of which have cheeky names like "Cheeses Christ."

This past Friday patrons weren't talking about the pizza, though, but about a waitress who got naked to celebrate her last shift at the restaurant.

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The server wore nothing but a pair of ankle-high black boots and ripped fishnet stockings and paraded in front hungry-eyed patrons.

One patron, Vicky Oyomba, posted a picture on her Twitter account. The message "Peace out" was scrawled on the waitress' back in black marker.

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4 smartphones with standout features

These days, smartphones are almost all drawing from the same bag of tricks, and it can be hard to tell one from the next. If the average smartphone will do all the basic things you want it to, what does it take to be special? Here are four smartphones with unusual features that really make them stand out.

Nokia Lumia 920

Rating: 4 stars out of 5 (Excellent)

The good: This phone forges new Windows Phone ground with wireless-charging support and a highly sensitive screen you can use with gloves. Moreover, Nokia helps fill in Windows Phone OS gaps with a few missing features.

The bad: A thick, heavy build and slippery finish for some colors make the Lumia 920 harder to hold and carry, and the phone’s overhyped camera doesn’t have enough settings.

The cost: $99.99

The bottom line: Nokia’s Lumia 920 is heavy and thick, but if you want the most powerful, feature-rich Windows Phone smartphone available, this is it.

Samsung Galaxy Note 2

Rating: 4 stars out of 5 (Excellent)

The good: Oodles of screen real estate make this terrific for videos, games, and reading, and its improved stylus aids productivity. A blazing quad-core processor, a great camera and strong battery life round out the advantages of this Android 4.1 phone.

The bad: The huge display makes it unwieldy to carry, and hiccups in the S Pen stylus and apps can slow you down. The pricey Note 2 isn’t a suitable tablet replacement across all categories.

The cost: $149.99 to $309.99

The bottom line: Samsung delivers a powerful, boundary-pushing device that gets a lot right. Yet its complicated features and high price raise questions about its purpose.

Motorola Droid Razr Maxx HD

Rating: 4 stars out of 5 (Excellent)

The good: This Droid (Verizon) offers fast performance, a big, eye-popping screen and luxurious design. It also has great call quality, lots of storage, 4G data speeds, and unbeatable battery life.

The bad: The major weakness is a camera that produces subpar images. The phone is filled with Verizon bloatware as well.

The cost: $149.99 to $299.99

The bottom line: Motorola’s fast, stylish Droid Razr Maxx HD offers outstanding battery life, but its camera captures unimpressive images.

Samsung Galaxy Beam

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5 (Very good)

The good: An integrated pico projector, as well as a dual-core processor, 720p video capture and a 4-inch Super AMOLED screen.

The bad: The projection software needs some work, the 5-megapixel camera sometimes blurs indoor shots, and the Beam is thicker and heavier than many phones.

The cost: $474.49 to $839.99

The bottom line: Despite weak software, the Galaxy Beam’s bright projector pushes boundaries, and strong smartphone features make it a worthy standalone device.

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Police shoot, kill woman accused of holding knife to her boyfriend

A woman who was holding her boyfriend at knife point as their 3-year-old boy was in their home was shot to death by deputies in Lake Worth Tuesday morning.

Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputies were called to the home in a duplex about 2:45 a.m. by the boyfriend who was frantic, saying she was going to kill him, sheriff’s spokeswoman Teri Barbera said.

“When we arrived she had him by the shirt with a knife in hand. We told her to put the knife down repeatedly. When she turned to stab him, we shot her. In an effort to save his life, we shot,” Barbera said.

Though deputies then ran to her assistance and called paramedics, the woman, who is 24, died from her injuries.

Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said Tuesday morning, “If the deputies had not taken the action they did she would have knifed him on the spot.”

Bradshaw said the 911 calls reveal the couple were in a “violent confrontation” and that the boyfriend was trying to get the child away from the boy’s mother. When deputies arrived, the woman let go of the child and came through the front door with her boyfriend, holding him by the shirt with one hand and a knife in the other.

“The deputies actions actually saved his life and probably, further down the road, the child’s life,” Bradshaw said.

Bradshaw said deputies had been called before to the duplex and that the couple has had previous problems. He did not release their names, but said the woman was 24-years-old and her boyfriend is about the same age. Bradshaw also said there are possible child abuse charges pending against the woman.

The boy will likely be placed with relatives, Bradshaw said.

This is the second shooting death of 2013 in Palm Beach County. A bartender at a Boca Raton restaurant was shot and killed in a robbery Friday, Jan. 4.

Rafael Rodriguez was bartending when the restaurant was robbed by several men. The robbers took personal items, including wallets, jewelry and cellphones from the victims. As the robbers were leaving, Rodriguez exchanged words with one of them. The robber fired at Rodriguez, striking him once. Rodriguez, 46, died at a local hospital after being shot once.

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Conn. lawmaker apologizes over Facebook post

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut lawmaker has apologized after saying in a Facebook post that shooting victim and former Arizona U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords should “stay out of my towns.”

Giffords last week visited Newtown, Conn., where a gunman killed 20 young children and six adults at an elementary school last month. The Democrat, who met with families of the victims, was critically wounded two years ago in a deadly mass shooting in Tucson, Ariz.

The Hartford Courant posted images Sunday showing Republican state Rep. DebraLee Hovey‘s Facebook comments. In one dated Friday she says, “Gabby Giffords stay out of my towns!!”

Hovey released a statement Monday saying her comments were insensitive and that she apologizes if she offended anyone.

Hovey had said in another post that the visit was political.

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Gang member gunned down in Harlem: cops

A gang member was gunned down in a Harlem housing project last night, authorities said.

Jayyidah Woodley, 32, was found in the lobby of the King Tower Houses on Lenox Avenue at 11:30 p.m., police said.

She was shot several times in the chest and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Woodley has 12 prior arrests, including one for murder, and is a member of the Bloods gang, police sources said.

It was not immediately known what sparked the violence, police said.

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Norwegian Cruise Line to go public

In a long expected move, Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Line Tuesday announced plans to take the company public.

The company has registered an initial public offering of 23,529,412 ordinary shares with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The shares will be traded on the NASDAQ; no price has set been set.

The third largest ocean-going cruise line, Norwegian Cruise Line has 11 ships with itineraries in North America (including Alaska and Hawaii), the Caribbean, Bermuda, the Mediterranean and the Baltic. Genting Hong Kong - a subsidiary of Genting Group, a gambling and resort conglomerate that purchased the land currently occupied by The Miami Herald in 2010 for $236 million - owns 50 percent of the cruise line in a partnership with private equity firms Apollo Management and TPG.

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Traffic alert: Heavy traffic expected on I-95 all day for BCS game

If you’re on South Florida roadways on Monday, be prepared for occasional tie-ups as fans, VIPs and the teams head to Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens.

Game executives urge commuters to brace for heavy traffic from noon to 9 p.m. Monday and to avoid northbound Interstate 95 between downtown Miami and the Golden Glades. Kickoff is 8:30 p.m.

Florida’s Turnpike and arterial roads also are expected to back up during the afternoon and evening hours. Backups were reported along U.S. 1 north of downtown Miami early Monday.

The University of Alabama is based at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach and Notre Dame is based at the Westin Diplomat in Hollywood.

Parking lots at Sun Life will open at noon Monday and be open to ticketholders only. Other parking lots near the stadium include Calder Race Track and four neighboring schools.

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Alcatel One Touch readies U.S. invasion with world’s thinnest smartphone and a colorful 5-inch phablet

TCL Communication’s (2618) Alcatel One Touch brand is ostensibly unknown in the United States, but the company is looking to make a name for itself at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. Alcatel One Touch has a number of new devices debuting at CES 2013 and to start things off, the China-based firm has unveiled a trio of intriguing new Android phones.

[More from BGR: ‘iPhone 5S’ to reportedly launch by June with multiple color options and two different display sizes]

While the show doesn’t officially begin until Tuesday, Alcatel One Touch got an early start on Monday — likely in order to ensure that it can lay claim to “the world’s thinnest smartphone” for at least a few hours.

[More from BGR: Next-generation LTE chips to reduce power consumption by 50%]

The first of three smartphones debuting at CES 2013 is the One Touch Idol Ultra, a sleek Android-powered handset that is just 6.45 millimeters thick. To put that dimension in perspective, the phone is 15% thinner than Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone 5.

Other notable specs include a 4.7-inch HD AMOLED display, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, an 8-megapixel camera, 1GB of RAM and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

Next up is the One Touch Idol, an entry-level version of the Idol Ultra. Measuring a slightly thicker 8.15 millimeters, the One Touch Idol includes a 4.7-inch qHD IPS display, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, an 8-megapixel camera, 512MB of RAM and the same Jelly Bean OS as the Ultra model.

Finally, Alcatel One Touch has unveiled its first entry into the “phablet” market with the One Touch Scribe HD. This stylus-ready device features a 5-inch HD IPS display, the 1.2GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6589 chipset, an 8-megapixel camera, 1GB of RAM, a microSD slot and Android 4.1. The One Touch Scribe HD also comes in a variety of colors including black, white, red and yellow.

Each of the three smartphones Alcatel One Touch debuted on Monday will launch in China later this month. The One Touch Scribe HD will then be released in the U.S. some time in the second quarter for a surprisingly affordable $ 397 before taxes and subsidies, and both the One Touch Idol and One Touch Idol Ultra will launch at a later point in time. The latter will cost $ 444 before taxes and subsidies, while pricing for the One Touch Idol has not yet been announced.

No carrier partners have been revealed at this point in the U.S. or in China.

This article was originally published by BGR

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Obama taps Brennan for CIA, Hagel for Pentagon

REUTERS

Assistant to the President for Counterterrorism and Homeland Security John Brennan, left, and former US Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE)

WASHINGTON — President Obama on Monday will nominate Chuck Hagel as his next defense secretary and counterterrorism adviser John Brennan to lead the Central Intelligence Agency, two potentially controversial picks for his second-term national security team.

Hagel, even before being nominated, has faced tough criticism from congressional Republicans who say the former GOP senator is anti-Israel and soft on Iran. And Brennan, a 25-year CIA veteran, withdrew from consideration for the spy agency's top job in 2008 amid questions about his connection to harsh interrogation techniques used during the George W. Bush administration.

The White House said Obama will announce both nominations Monday afternoon. Along with secretary of state nominee Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., Hagel and Brennan would play key roles implementing and shaping Obama's national security priorities in a second term. All three men must be confirmed by the Senate.

In nominating Hagel, Obama signaled he is willing to take on a tough confirmation fight. Once Hagel emerged as Obama's likely nominee, GOP lawmakers began sharply questioning his commitment to Israel and his willingness to take a hard line with Iran over its disputed nuclear program.

Hagel, a 66-year-old moderate Nebraska Republican, has criticized discussion of a military strike by either the US or Israel against Iran. He also irritated some Israel backers with his reference to the "Jewish lobby" in the United States. And he has backed efforts to bring Iran to the table for future peace talks in Afghanistan.

White House officials say Hagel's positions on Israel and Iran have been misrepresented. They cite his Senate votes for billions in military assistance to Israel and his support for multilateral sanctions on Tehran.

Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser, said Hagel will be "completely in line with the president" on both issues.

"The president has a record of unprecedented security cooperation with Israel and that's going to continue no matter who the defense secretary is," Rhodes said.

Hagel has also been criticized by some Democrats for saying in 1998 that a nominee for an ambassador post was "openly, aggressively gay." He has since apologized for those comments.

Hagel is the second straight Obama favorite for a top national security post to face criticism from Capitol Hill even before being nominated. United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice withdrew her name from consideration for secretary of state amid charges from GOP senators that she misled the public in her initial accounting of the attacks on Americans at a diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.

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