Ads are Invading Gadgets and Apps that You Already Paid For

Most of us are used to seeing ads on stuff that we get for free, like smartphone and tablet apps or online news websites. But you’re probably also used to being able to pay to remove ads, whether by getting the premium version of an app or even upgrading to a new computer that doesn’t have so much garbage on it.

As it turns out, this strategy doesn’t work so well anymore. That’s because companies are starting to put “special offers” all over things that you buy … and this time, it’s not just the usual preinstalled trashware. Here’s a look at some of the latest strikes in the war for your attention.

​Microsoft: Xbox Music and Xbox Live

Last year’s redesign of the Xbox 360 dashboard featured prominent ads, including videos that played automatically, even if you were paying for a $ 60/year Xbox Live Gold membership. This year, Microsoft introduced its new Xbox Music Pass, which allows you to stream millions of songs to your Xbox 360 or Windows 8 PC. It has an ad-supported free trial mode, which lets you listen to songs (and ads) for free for the first six months before imposing a monthly listening limit.

But according to Neowin.net editor Owen Williams, the ads stay even if you pay $ 99 per year for the subscription service. On top of that, you can’t use Xbox Music on the actual Xbox at all (beyond a 30-day trial) unless you ​also​ pay for an Xbox Live Gold Subscription. That’s almost $ 160 per year for two separate subscriptions, and in return you apparently get twice the ads.

​Microsoft: Windows 8

If the ads in the Xbox Music service aren’t enough, Microsoft has also put ads all over its Windows 8 operating system. Whether you buy a new Surface tablet or you pay for the upgrade from Windows 7 such as through buying a separate boxed copy, you still have to contend with ads in “many of the bundled [Modern] UI applications,” according to Williams.

​Amazon: The entire Kindle lineup

Amazon began selling Kindle e-readers with “special offers” a while back. These appeared on the lock screen, and replaced the normal screen saver, which was more literary.

When Amazon announced its new lineup of Kindle Fire HD tablets not too long ago, it turned out that every single one of them had advertisements. Not just on the lock screen, but now even in a corner on the home screen while you’re browsing through your books and apps.

At the time, Amazon wasn’t offering any way to get rid of these ads on the new Kindle Fire HD, but the company now gives people the option to buy Kindles sans ads for an extra $ 15. That won’t help you with in-app ads, though, if you use free apps.

Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.

Linux/Open Source News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Q & A: Weighing the Evidence

Q. My husband weighs twice as much as I do, yet we take the same dose of over-the-counter medications, as recommended on the packaging. Shouldn’t weight be a factor?

A. There is little information about using weight as a factor in adjusting doses of either prescription or over-the-counter medications, said Dr. Steven A. Kaplan, director of the Iris Cantor Men’s Health Center at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell hospital.

“We are beginning to study different responses by weight,” he said, but he and other researchers have reached no conclusions on recommendations for therapy.

“In my own field, urology,” he added, “my opinion is that it is more likely for the recommended dose to be ineffective in a larger person rather than to be toxic in a thinner adult.”

Some prescription drugs, like chemotherapy agents, already have their dosages adjusted for weight because of their highly toxic nature. As for over-the-counter drugs, recommended doses generally tend to be weighted in favor of safety rather than efficacy, Dr. Kaplan said.

He and other doctors emphasized the importance of following package directions. For example, acetaminophen (like Tylenol) can present a life-threatening risk if the liver cannot process a high dose. If you find that the recommended dose does not work for you, Dr. Kaplan said, speak to your doctor.

C. CLAIBORNE RAY

Readers may submit questions by mail to Question, Science Times, The New York Times, 620 Eighth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10018, or by e-mail to question@nytimes.com.

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Group mobilizing young people to push for national debt plan

WASHINGTON — Kicking the can down the road on the skyrocketing national debt could hurt young people more than anybody. And now they are organizing to fight back.

A new group, the Can Kicks Back, aims to give Americans 18 to 32 years old a voice in the debate over tax hikes and budget cuts that loom next year if Congress and President Obama cannot agree on a deficit-reduction plan.

"Young people are struggling in this economy, and our goal is to demonstrate how the growing national debt is impacting that problem," said Ryan Schoenike, a co-founder of the group.

Part of that effort will be sending a giant mascot character in the shape of a can to college campuses to generate support, and then to Congress to highlight the concerns of young people. The group is focusing on how the debt affects the ability of people to get a job, pay for their education and raise a family, Schoenike said.

To drive home the point, the group is highlighting the share of the national debt being shouldered by every American.

Although the U.S. national debt officially is about $16.25 trillion, the Can Kicks Back is using a much higher figure — $71 trillion — which includes unfunded liabilities such as Social Security, Medicare and government pensions.

Each person's share of that larger figure is $227,000 and rising, the group said.

The group's advisory board includes Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, the former co-chairs of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform that developed a sweeping deficit-reduction plan.

The Can Kicks Back is working with the Campaign to Fix the Debt, an organization founded by Bowles and Simpson that also includes leading corporate chief executives.

The group is trying to build off the engagement of many young people in the presidential election and wants to launch chapters on at least 500 college campuses by the end of the 2013 spring semester.

The group's goal is to pressure Congress and the White House to agree to "a bold, balanced and bipartisan 'grand bargain' on fiscal issues" by the Fourth of July. To do that, the group wants young people to commit to making a 30-second phone call each week to a member of Congress pushing for a deficit-reduction deal.

"It's a simple act, sort of 30 seconds to save your future," Schoenike said. The group wants those calls to add up to a "million millennial minutes."

"There's such a disconnect between what we see in the real world and what happens in Washington," said Nick Troiano, the group's other co-founder.

Comments last week by Obama and House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) about their willingness to compromise on tax rates and revenues are a good sign for a possible compromise, but young people can add to the pressure to make a deal, Troiano said.

jim.puzzanghera@latimes.com

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GOP might never again hold power in California

California Republicans have suffered a painful thrashing, and the prognosis isn't good. Recovery is far from certain.

Until last week, it was possible to be guardedly optimistic about the ultimate restoration of a healthy two-party system in California. Political power is cyclical. California at its core is centrist, even if tilted left. Surely the GOP someday would bounce back.

But now it's hard to argue with the numbers. The California electorate is changing in composition and creed. The GOP must change with it or become permanently powerless. Yet it is bogged down on the right and becoming weaker.

It's practically impossible to envision Californians electing a Republican governor in the future, certainly not in the next gubernatorial election, in 2014. Talk to GOP pros and none can suggest a realistic, credible challenger to Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown.

Especially after voters accepted his tax increase, Brown looks like a shoo-in for reelection, assuming he runs. And it's hard to imagine this 74-year-old career pol not running. His life is politics and governing.

Business will back Brown because he'll be the only moderate check on a Legislature dominated by liberal Democrats. Republicans will be virtually useless.

Let's count the election day wounds:

Mitt Romney lost to President Obama by a landslide 21 percentage points in a state that used to consistently side with the Republican nominee.

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein drew only token Republican opposition and won by 23 points.

Democrats, at last count, were gaining four congressional seats in California.

The stunner was the state Assembly, where Democrats apparently achieved a historic supermajority to match the party's similar feat in the Senate. This means there's virtually nothing that Democrats can't pass on their own in Sacramento, relegating Republicans to mathematical irrelevancy.

But it doesn't stop there.

The Republican slice of registered voters in California slipped below 30%. Only eight years ago it was nearly 35%. Democrats are 44%.

And about that loud anti-tax mantra, the Republicans' favorite rallying cry: Most voters aren't listening.

Two tax-increase measures were approved by Californians. Brown's Prop. 30 won by a surprising 8 points. Prop. 39, ending a tax break mainly for out-of-state corporations, was approved by 20 points.

The shame for Republicans is that they could have helped Democrats pass similar tax measures in the Legislature and, in turn, won major concessions. Most important for their allies in business, they probably could have gained relief from a thicket of stifling environmental regulations. They also could have owned public pension reform and, perhaps, passed a meaningful state spending cap.

Republicans claim Brown wouldn't buck labor opposition to reforms. The governor counters that skittish Republicans never would pinpoint a concession they'd accept in trade for their tax votes.

Whatever, it's opportunity lost. Those days of GOP bargaining leverage are history.

And when business interests and conservatives complain about liberal domination of the Legislature and labor buying votes, they should blame Republicans. They're supposed to provide the opposition. But they've allowed themselves to become so weak they're helpless.

But are they hopeless? Can they recover?

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HTC shares jump after settles patent issues with Apple

TAIPEI (Reuters) – Shares of HTC Corp jumped by their permitted daily limit on Monday after the Taiwanese smartphone maker announced a global patent settlement and 10-year licensing agreement with Apple Inc, allowing the struggling company to focus on product development.

The settlement would give HTC a short-term boost, analysts suggested, but long-term performance would still depend on the company’s ability to deliver competitive products to grab back some of the market share it has lost to Apple and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co.

HTC’s shares opened up by the maximum allowed 6.86 percent at T$ 241.50, and remained at that level in morning trade in a broader market that slipped 0.15 percent.

The shares have bounced 24.5 percent from a closing low of T$ 194 two weeks ago, which was the lowest since 2005 before the company transformed into a top brand from an obscure contract maker. But the shares remain some 80 percent below their record high last April.

HTC and Apple’s settlement and licensing agreement on Saturday ended one of the first major conflagrations of the smartphone patent wars. The California giant sued HTC in 2010, its first major legal salvo against a manufacturer that used Google’s Android operating system.

“The licensing agreement is beneficial to HTC’s future product development, especially in the U.S. market,” said Gartner analyst C.K. Lu.

“The settlement is positive to the consumer image of both camps (Apple and Google) as they are now unlocked from a constant patent war.”

The two companies did not disclose details of the settlement or the licensing agreement, but HTC said the agreement will not impact its financials and it will not change its fourth-quarter guidance.

HTC said last month it expected its fourth-quarter revenue to be about T$ 60 billion ($ 2.05 billion), down from T$ 70.2 billion in the third quarter and below expectations of T$ 74.0 billion in a poll of 23 analysts by Reuters.

It expected a gross margin and an operating margin of around 23 percent and 1 percent, respectively, falling from 25 percent and 7 percent in the previous quarter.

The company said the operating margin would be hit by higher spending on marketing.

Analysts’ forecasts on how much HTC needs to pay Apple range from “not a very high price” to as much as over $ 10 per phone, though they remain best guesses, based partly on the assumed $ 10 royalty that phone makers pay Microsoft per Windows 7 phone, and on the $ 5-6 dollar that Android phone makers are believed to pay Microsoft after a separate lawsuit last year.

However, some analysts warn that HTC’s other challenges outweigh the settlement.

Its phones have lost a lot of their appeal among consumers as Apple’s iPhones and Samsung’s Galaxy series dominate shopping lists, drawing parallels with the decline of Finland’s Nokia, once one of the dominant mobile phone players.

“Nokia settled with Apple in 2011 by winning royalties from Apple, but it did not change the landscape at all for smartphone competition. Samsung continued to win market share despite the losses to Apple,” wrote Barclays analyst Dale Gai in a research note.

“We believe the lawsuits remain non-events in terms of HTC’s fundamentals. HTC’s challenges remain and could get worse into 2013 from more competition.”

(Editing by Jonathan Standing)

Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Bond soars with record $87.8M 'Skyfall' debut

LOS ANGELES (AP) — James Bond's "Skyfall" has extended its worldwide box-office rule to North America, hauling in a franchise-record $87.8 million in its first weekend at U.S. theaters.

Adding in $2.2 million from Thursday night previews at IMAX and other large-format theaters, "Skyfall" has taken in $90 million domestically, according to studio estimates Sunday.

That lifts the worldwide total for "Skyfall" to $518.6 million since it began rolling out overseas in late October. Internationally, the 23rd Bond flick added $89 million this weekend to raise its overseas revenue to $428.6 million.

The third installment starring Daniel Craig as British super-spy Bond, "Skyfall" outdid the $67.5 million U.S. debut of 2008's "Quantum of Solace," the franchise's previous best opening. "Skyfall" more than doubled the $40.8 million debut of Craig's first Bond film, 2006's "Casino Royale."

"Skyfall" already has passed the $407.7 million overseas total for "Quantum of Solace" and by Monday, it will top the $432.2 million international haul for "Casino Royale."

The Craig era has reinvigorated one of Hollywood's most-enduring franchises, whose first big-screen Bond adventure, "Dr. No," debuted 50 years ago.

"It's quite a testament to Bond, considering it's the 50th anniversary. What a great anniversary present," said Rory Bruer, head of distribution at Sony, which produces the Bond films along with MGM.

"Skyfall" was the weekend's only new wide release, but Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" had a huge start in a handful of theaters. Starring Daniel Day-Lewis as the 16th president, "Lincoln" took in $900,000 in 11 theaters for a whopping average of $81,818 a cinema. By comparison, "Skyfall" averaged $25,050 in 3,505 theaters.

"Lincoln" centers on the months leading up to the president's assassination in April 1865, as he maneuvers to pass the 13th amendment abolishing slavery and end the Civil War. Distributor Disney will expand "Lincoln" into nationwide release of about 1,600 theaters Friday and may widen the film further over Thanksgiving week.

The film has strong Academy Awards prospects for two-time directing winner Spielberg, two-time acting recipient Day-Lewis and the rest of the cast, which includes Oscar winners Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones.

"The performances are some of the greatest of recent time," said Dave Hollis, head of distribution for Disney. "I don't know if you're ever going to think about it again without seeing our actor as Lincoln. Daniel is extraordinary in the role."

"Skyfall" took over the top spot at the weekend box office from Disney's animated comedy "Wreck-It Ralph," which fell to No. 2 with $33.1 million, raising its domestic total to $93.7 million.

While "Skyfall" marked a new high for Bond's opening-weekend revenue, the film has a long way to go to match the biggest audiences 007 has ever drawn. Adjusted for inflation, Sean Connery's 1965 Bond adventure "Thunderball" would have taken in an estimated $508 million domestically in today's dollars, with its 1964 predecessor "Goldfinger" not far behind at $444 million, according to box-office tracker Hollywood.com.

The Bond films over the last two decades have come in around the $200 million range domestically in inflation-adjusted dollars.

Still, Craig's Bond is setting a new critical standard for the franchise. While "Quantum of Solace" had a so-so critical reception, "Skyfall" and "Casino Royale" are among the best-reviewed Bond films, with critics and fans enjoying the darker edge Craig has imprinted on 007.

"'Skyfall' is to the Bond franchise what 'The Dark Knight' was to the Batman franchise," said Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian. "By taking it to a whole other level, this is a different kind of Bond that can be taken really seriously."

Directed by Sam Mendes, the Academy Award-winning filmmaker behind "American Beauty" and Craig's director on "Road to Perdition," ''Skyfall" continues the current franchise's exploration into the emotional traumas that have shaped Bond's cool, aloof manner.

The film reveals secrets out of the past of Bond's boss, British spymaster M (Judi Dench), and pits 007 against a brilliant but unstable former agent (Javier Bardem) who's out for revenge.

Hollywood remains on a brisk pace this fall as the busy holiday season approaches. Overall domestic revenues totaled $172 million, up 26 percent from the same weekend last year, when "Immortals" led with $32.2 million.

For the year, domestic revenues are at $9.1 billion, up 4.3 percent from 2011's, according to Hollywood.com.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. "Skyfall," $87.8 million.

2. "Wreck-It Ralph," $33.1 million.

3. "Flight," $15.1 million.

4. "Argo," $6.7 million.

5. "Taken 2," $4 million.

6. "Here Comes the Boom," $2.6 million

7. "Cloud Atlas," $2.53 million.

8. "Pitch Perfect," $2.5 million.

9. "The Man with the Iron Fists," $2.49 million.

10. "Hotel Transylvania," $2.4 million.

___

Estimated weekend ticket sales at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada) for films distributed overseas by Hollywood studios, according to Rentrak:

1. "Skyfall," $89 million.

2. "Argo," $12 million.

3. "Wreck-It Ralph," $11.2 million.

4. "Hotel Transylvania," $11.1 million.

5. "A Werewolf Boy," $10.5 million.

6. "Cloud Atlas," $8.7 million.

7. "Paranormal Activity 4," $6 million.

8 (tie). "Asterlix and Obelix: God Save Britannia," $4.4 million.

8 (tie). "Confession of Murder," $4.4 million.

10. "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted," $4.1 million.

___

Online:

http://www.hollywood.com

http://www.rentrak.com

___

Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

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The Neediest Cases: Single Mother Battling Breast Cancer Takes Strength From Her Children

She had not expected her fingernails to feel as if they had been hollowed out.

Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times

Josmery Batista, 34, with her children: Analisse, 4, left; Erika, 10; and Jeremy, 1. Ms. Batista is receiving chemotherapy treatment.

For the past 100 years, The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund has provided direct assistance to children, families and the elderly in New York. To celebrate the 101st campaign, an article will appear daily through Jan. 25. Each profile will illustrate the difference that even a modest amount of money can make in easing the struggles of the poor.

Last year donors contributed $7,003,854, which was distributed to those in need through seven New York charities.

Josmery Batista, 34, had braced herself for many of the side effects that would result from her palliative chemotherapy treatment. She knew about the dizzy spells, the head pain and the body aches, just as she knew about the fatigue, which weakens her so much at times that she is unable to bathe her infant son or even to hold him.

But when her nails became so brittle that she could not properly wash dishes, a development as alarming as it was discouraging, she sought comfort and reassurance from one of her new friends walking the same path.

Ms. Batista, a single mother of three, knows that she is blessed to have found a support group of others, like her, who are undergoing cancer treatment, and she gains additional courage from the memory of friends who did not survive. She also knows how blessed she is to have sisters to lean on for help.

But friends and siblings alone are not what fortify her will to survive.

“My children give me the strength to fight this illness, this disease,” Ms. Batista said. “My support system has been a great help. But what keeps me going is my kids.”

Five months into her pregnancy with her son, Jeremy Tavarez, now 1, Ms. Batista began to experience excruciating pain from her neck to her midsection. She had no idea what was wrong. When she sought help, examinations ruled out ailments like arthritis or liver problems. Tests for cancer would have involved radiation and, thus, potential harm to the baby, so Ms. Batista waited until after the birth to be tested further. Last November, one month after her son’s birth, Ms. Batista was told she had Stage 4 breast cancer. The disease has since spread to her liver and her bones.

She receives chemotherapy treatment every 21 days at Elmhurst Hospital Center, near her home in Flushing, Queens, and is then required to take pills for the next 14 days. The side effects of that medication are the cause of much of her discomfort.

Petite yet resilient, Ms. Batista is driven to take Tylenol instead of a nap. She will weather the lethargy and endure the pain to ensure that her son and her other two children, Erika, 10, and Analisse Tavarez, 4, can have as normal a life as possible. Whenever she is able to, she plays with her children, accompanies them to school or helps them with homework.

“Even though she’s battling every day, going to the hospital and stuff like that, she doesn’t let her kids fully know, and they’re happy,” said Ms. Batista’s sister Dalisa Batista, who assists with child care.

Josmery Batista, who came to the United States from the Dominican Republic in 1998, had been employed for 13 years as a jewelry sample maker in Manhattan. She has been unable to work since her treatment began and is living month to month as a result.

She receives $450 a month in food stamps and collects $868 monthly in workers’ compensation, a payment that is set to expire in January. Ms. Batista says her children’s father also provides $400 a month in child support. Her rent is $1,100 a month.

With her finances tight, Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens, one of the agencies supported by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund, granted Ms. Batista $500 from the fund in September to cover five weeks of child care when she is at treatment and her relatives are unavailable. The agency also supplies the family with food from the Queens North Community Center pantry, which is affiliated with Catholic Charities.

“She stays very strong,” said Dalisa, who describes her sister as an inspiration. “I never really see her crying at home. She doesn’t cry in front of the kids.” Dalisa added that her niece Erika, who is still too young to fully grasp the severity of her mother’s situation, boosted morale with a child’s innocent honesty.

“Her daughter always gives her strength because she always tells her, ‘You’re beautiful with no hair,’ ” Dalisa said. “She tells her stuff like ‘I don’t want you to wear wigs. You’re beautiful to me.’ ”

The future holds many questions, but estimates are that Josmery Batista will be receiving treatments for at least the next six months. She says she will continue to do what she has been doing all along, basking in the love of those around her.

“I live my life as normal as possible, and I push myself to do the things I need to do,” Ms. Batista said. “I’m not going to allow the illness to dictate how I’m going to carry my life and what I need to do as a mother.”

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Lenders, title insurers find new ways to delay or kill mortgages

Do you know the difference between credit rescoring and credit repair?

Apparently, some lenders don't. As a result, they are refusing to fund mortgages that they otherwise would approve.

At the same time, some title companies are starting to play hardball with borrowers who have recently undertaken home improvement projects. Even if the work is relatively minor, and even if it has been completed, the companies are refusing to issue title insurance policies, effectively stopping refinancings in their tracks.

For as long as Richard Temme of Woodland Hills Mortgage in Woodland Hills can remember, title companies would write policies on properties with recent or ongoing construction as long as the borrower agreed to indemnify the company against mechanic's liens. But lately, the mortgage broker reports, title firms have become much more cautious.

The typical indemnification holds the title company harmless from any liabilities, losses, damages, expenses or charges the company may incur because of mechanic's lien disputes between the borrower and the contractor. Borrowers also usually agree to defend any action based on a lien and do all the things necessary or appropriate to clear the lien from the title.

But in an increasing number of cases, that is not enough, Temme says. "We've seen title companies declining to issue on many more loans" than in the past, he says. As a result, he adds, "even minor home improvement projects, recent or unfinished, can hold up or kill a loan."

This may be a California phenomenon because the laws are different in other states. But in the Golden State, contractors, subcontractors and suppliers can file liens retroactively to the day they started their work or furnished materials.

If that date of the lien is before the day the mortgage is closed, the lien, not the mortgage, is in the first position. As a result, some title agencies are not writing policies unless the borrower can put a much higher level of net worth behind the indemnification, Temme says. And some are not accepting any indemnification at all.

Meanwhile, otherwise good loans are being rejected by lenders that confuse rescoring with credit repair. They are not the same.

Credit repair is often a scam. In fact, attorneys at the Federal Trade Commission say they've never seen a legitimate operation that offers to erase bad credit, create a new credit identity on your behalf or remove bankruptcies, judgments, liens or bad loans from your record. If the bad information in your file is correct, there is nothing that can be done to remove it, at least not legally.

No wonder lenders want nothing to do with applicants who have paid someone to clear accurate data from their records. If you have bad credit, after all, you are probably a bad risk.

Rescoring, on the other hand, corrects errors in your file, which may result in an increase to your all-important credit score.

Whereas credit repair firms are not legitimate, the 70-odd companies that provide rescoring are credit reporting agencies that work with the national credit repositories — Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. As resellers of credit information contained within the three repositories, they not only provide the majority of all credit reports but also have a legal obligation to you and your creditors.

Moreover, according to Terry Clemans of the National Credit Reporting Assn., rescoring is a program developed in conjunction with and processed through the big three credit repositories. Indeed, each repository maintains a special rescoring department that deals directly with resellers.

When a credit file is rescored, it is checked twice for accuracy, first by the reseller and again by the national repository. It is, Clemans says, "one of the safest transactions for any creditor because everything is double-verified."

If a change is warranted — say, a trade line was reported incorrectly, or the damaging information is not yours but someone's with a similar name — the miscue is corrected at the repository level and a new credit report and credit score are issued.

If you believe data in your credit file are incorrect, you can have the data removed on your own if you have the time and patience. It can take anywhere from 30 to 45 days. But if you are in a hurry, you can pay a reseller to do it for you, usually within 24 to 72 hours, Clemans says. The cost ranges from $50 to a few hundred bucks, depending on how complex the problem is.

Rescoring has been a popular service for seven or eight years, Clemans says, and he thinks some lenders are so worried about bad risks that they are confusing credit rescoring with credit repair. He calls it a "knee-jerk reaction after all the pain" resulting from the mortgage meltdown.

"I have heard from lenders … claiming they are trying to protect themselves from consumers 'gaming' the system for better rates," he says.

But as Clemans sees it, lenders that object to rescoring are basically telling a consumer seeking a quick resolution of incorrect data that they can't have it corrected for that particular loan application. As a result, he wonders whether it is lenders who are gaming the system in an effort to force borrowers into higher interest rates.

Whether or not that's true, there's little that would-be borrowers can do besides take their business elsewhere — or sue the lender under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

As far as mechanic's liens are concerned, mortgage broker Temme is telling his refinancing customers to advise the title company in writing of any construction or rehab projects on the property. Otherwise, he says, if a lien is filed, the title company may sue for the amount it has to pay the lender to pay off the lien.

And tell the title firm early. Even if the company will accept an indemnification, the process can take weeks, he says, noting that loans can be lost during that period.

lsichelman@aol.com

Distributed by Universal Uclick for United Feature Syndicate.

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Ohio teen gets prison for life in Craigslist murders

AKRON, Ohio (Reuters) – Seventeen-year-old Brogan Rafferty was sentenced to life in prison without parole Friday for his role in the killing of three men, two of whom were lured by a Craigslist ad promising work on an Ohio farm.

Rafferty was 16 when he was arrested in November 2011, but was tried as an adult. He was convicted late last month in the murders of David Pauley, 51, of Norfolk, Virginia; Ralph Geiger, 56, of Akron, Ohio; and Timothy Kern, 47, of Massillon, Ohio.

Rafferty also got 10 years for the attempted murder of Scott Davis, who was shot in the arm while escaping after meeting Rafferty and alleged triggerman Richard Beasley.

Prosecutors called the teen an apt pupil to Beasley, 53, who is also charged in the murders.

Rafferty testified that he was terrified of the man he had considered a father figure and spiritual adviser after he saw Beasley shoot Geiger in the head execution-style.

Beasley allegedly enticed Geiger with the offer of a non-existent caretaker job, killed him, stole his identity, and then drew other victims by posting the bogus job on Craigslist.

Rafferty, wearing prison stripes with hands clasped in front of him, told the court Friday that Beasley an “evil, deceitful cruel murderer,” but admitted the he bore some responsibility.

“I was involved, I didn’t like it, and now I see there were many options I couldn’t see then that I see now, but I can’t make anything better and I’m sorry,” he said.

Judge Lynn Callahan called Rafferty’s case “heartbreaking” but said she did not accept that he had no way out of his situation.

“You embraced the evil, you studied it,” she said. She said Rafferty had been dealt “a lousy hand in life,” but she found nothing in the case that could be chalked up to the recklessness of youth.

“You could have been so much more; you are so intelligent,” the judge told Rafferty.

During the trial, jurors heard testimony that the teen helped dig graves for some of the men and was found in possession of guns and knives stolen from them after Beasley shot them.

Beasley’s trial is scheduled in the same courtroom for January 7. He faces the death penalty if convicted. Both Rafferty’s and Beasley’s attorneys are under a gag order and are not permitted to talk to the media.

Under Ohio law, juveniles older than 15 who are charged with a serious offense and crimes that involve a firearm are sent to adult court for trial.

Last summer, a U.S. Supreme Court decision struck down mandatory life sentences for juveniles. The high court found that judges and juries passing sentence on juvenile murders must weigh mitigating circumstances, including the youth’s role and family background.

A 2005 Supreme Court decision made it unconstitutional to execute anyone under the age of 18.

Rafferty’s attorney Jill Flagg objected to his sentence and will appeal.

In other incidents involving Craigslist and other social media, people advertising goods for sale or responding to ads have been attacked and killed.

In 2009, a former medical student was accused of killing a masseuse he met through Craigslist. In February, two men in Tennessee were accused of killing a man and a woman for “unfriending” the daughter of one of the suspects on Facebook.

(Reporting by Kim Palmer; Editing by Mary Wisniewski and Eric Walsh)

Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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War photography exhibit debuts in Houston museum

HOUSTON (AP) — It was a moment Nina Berman did not expect to capture when she entered an Illinois wedding studio in 2006. She knew Tyler Ziegel had been horribly injured, his face mutilated beyond recognition by a suicide bombing in the Iraq War. She knew he was marrying his pretty high school sweetheart, perfect in a white, voluminous dress.

It was their expressions that were surprising.

"People don't think this war has any impact on Americans? Well here it is," Berman says of the image of a somber bride staring blankly, unsmiling at the camera, her war-ravaged groom alongside her, his head down.

"This was even more shocking because we're used to this kind of over-the-top joy that feels a little put on, and then you see this picture where they look like survivors of something really serious," Berman added.

The photograph that won a first place prize in the World Press Photos Award contest will stand out from other battlefield images in an exhibit "WAR/PHOTOGRAPHY: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath" that debuts Sunday — Veterans Day — in the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. From there, the exhibit will travel to The Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles, the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington and The Brooklyn Museum in Brooklyn, N.Y.

The exhibit was painstakingly built by co-curators Anne Wilkes Tucker and Will Michels after the museum purchased a print of the famous picture of the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima, taken Feb. 23, 1945, by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal. The curators decided the museum didn't have enough conflict photos, Tucker said, and in 2004, the pair began traveling around the country and the world in search of pictures.

Over nearly eight years and after viewing more than 1 million pictures, Tucker and Michels created an exhibit that includes 480 objects, including photo albums, original magazines and old cameras, by 280 photographers from 26 countries.

Some are well-known — such as the Rosenthal's picture and another AP photograph, of a naked girl running from a napalm attack during the Vietnam War taken in 1972 by Huynh Cong "Nick" Ut. Others, such as the Incinerated Iraqi, of a man's burned body seen through the shattered windshield of his car, will be new to most viewers.

"The point of all the photographs is that when a conflict occurs, it lingers," Tucker said.

The pictures hang on stark gray walls, and some are in small rooms with warning signs at the entrance designed to allow visitors to decide whether they want to view images that can be brutal in their honesty.

"It's something that we did to that man. Americans did it, we did it intentionally and it's a haunting picture," Michels said of the image of the burned Iraqi that hangs inside one of the rooms.

In some images, such as Don McCullin's picture of a U.S. Marine throwing a grenade at a North Vietnamese soldier in Hue, it is clear the photographer was in danger when immortalizing the moment. Looking at his image, McCullin recalled deciding to travel to Hue instead of Khe Sahn, as he had initially planned.

"It was the best decision I ever made," he said, smiling slightly as he looked at the picture, explaining that he took a risk by standing behind the Marine.

"This hand took a bullet, shattered it. It looked like a cauliflower," he said, pointing to the still-upraised hand that threw the grenade. "So the people he was trying to kill were trying to kill him."

McCullin, who worked at that time for The Sunday Times in London, has covered conflicts all over the world, from Lebanon and Israel to Biafra. Now 77, McCullin says he wonders, still, whether the hundreds of photos he's taken have been worthwhile. At times, he said, he lost faith in what he was doing because when one war ends, another begins.

Yet he believes journalists and photographers must never stop telling about the "waste of man in war."

"After seeing so much of it, I'm tired of thinking, 'Why aren't the people who rule our lives ... getting it?' " McCullin said, adding that he'd like to drag them all into the exhibit for an hour.

Berman didn't see the conflicts unfold. Instead, she waited for the wounded to come home, seeking to tell a story about war's aftermath.

Her project on the wounded developed in 2003. The Iraq War was at its height, and there was still no database, she said, to find names of wounded warriors returning home. So she scoured local newspapers on the Internet.

In 2004 she published a book called "Purple Hearts" that includes photographs taken over nine months of 20 different people. All were photographed at home, not in hospitals where, she said, "there's this expectation that this will all work out fine."

The curators, meanwhile, chose to tell the story objectively — refusing through the images they chose or the exhibit they prepared to take a pro- or anti-war stance, a decision that has invited criticism and sparked debate.

And maybe, that is the point.

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Plushnick-Masti can be followed on Twitter at https://twitter.com/RamitMastiAP

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