Yahoo Revamped: Now With Facebook-Like Newsfeed

February, 20, 2013 8:54 am | Comments On #marissa mayer, Media, Today Show, Yahoo

Yahoo rolled out a new look for its homepage on Wednesday, giving users a more Facebook-like experience with a bottomless newsfeed of videos, pictures and stories.

CEO Marissa Mayer said on NBC's "Today" that the company would introduce more changes over the next week and tweek the design in the coming months.

The revamp marks the most obvious change to one of the world's most- popular websites since Mayer took over in July. Yahoo, founded in 1994, has struggled to continue to appear new and innovative compared to rivals like Facebook, Twitter and Google.

"We wanted it to be familiar but also wanted it to embrace some of the modern paradigms of the web,"...

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Apple Suffers Hacking Attack

February, 20, 2013 7:49 am | Comments On #appl, Apple, Hackers, hacking, Media

Apple admitted its systems were infiltrated by hackers Tuesday. However, the company said no customer data was compromised.

The iPhone maker said in a statement that some employees visited a developer site that installed malware on their Mac computers.

"We identified a small number of systems within Apple that were infected and isolated them from our network. There is no evidence that any data left Apple," the company said in a statement to TheWrap.

Also read: Facebook Hacked in 'Sophisticated Attack'

It remains unclear when the hack occurred. However, the company...

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Crime Writer Patricia Cornwell Wins $50.9M Lawsuit

February, 19, 2013 3:59 pm | Comments On #crime writer, kay scarpetta, lawsuit, Media, Patricia Cornwell

Author Patricia Cornwell was awarded $50.9 million on Tuesday in a federal lawsuit against her former financial manager, according to court documents obtained by TheWrap.

Cornwell, whose best-selling series of crime novels stars the medical examiner Kay Scarpetta, sued Anchin, Block & Anchin LLP and its former principal, Evan Snapper, in 2009 for negligence and breach of contract.

A U.S. district court jury in Massachusetts on Tuesday ruled unanimously that the financial firm cost Cornwell and her company millions of dollars in losses and unaccounted revenue.

Lawyers for the New York firm said no money was missing from Cornwell's accounts and blamed losses on the economic recession and on what they considered the author's extravagant lifestyle, which included a $40,000 per month apartment in New York City and expensive cars and helicopters.

But...

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Huffington Post Executive Editor Tim O'Brien to Depart

February, 19, 2013 12:00 pm | Comments On #Huffington Post, Huffpo, Media, tim o'brien

The Huffington Post's executive editor Tim O'Brien is leaving the site to work on the second installment of his five-book series, a spokesman told TheWrap.

O'Brien, a former New York Times Sunday Business editor and 2009 Pulitzer Prize finalist, is working for Random House on a series of historical thrillers set shortly after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

"Tim has a book contract he wants to fulfill, and he wants to be fully engaged in his book writing," HuffPost spokesman Rhoades Alderson told TheWrap.

It remains unclear whether O'Brien will be replaced, but Alderson said his duties will be distributed to the senior editorial team of Howard Fineman, Peter Goodman, Ryan Grim, Kate Palmer, John Montorio, Sam Stein and Amanda Terkel.

Arianna Huffington, the site's founder and editor-in-chief, announced O'...

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Bill Gates: I'm Not Satisfied With Microsoft's Innovations

February, 18, 2013 3:04 pm | Comments On #Bill Gates, Media, Microsoft

Bill Gates admitted he is "not satisfied" with Microsoft as the tech giant has lagged behind in innovations in the gadget market.

In an interview with Charlie Rose on "CBS This Morning," the Microsoft chairman and philanthropist praised CEO Steve Ballmer's leadership but said neither excutive was happy with the company's status quo.

"There's a lot of things like cellphones where we didn't get out in the lead very early," the 57-year-old billionaire said in the interview. "We didn't miss cellphones, but the way we went about it didn't allow us to...

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N.Y. Times Public Editor: Reporter Used Poor Judgment in Tesla Review

February, 18, 2013 1:47 pm | Comments On #Margaret Sullivan, Media, NY Times, NYT, public editor

The New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan said Monday that she found problems with reporter John M. Broder's note-taking and judgment after his negative review of the Tesla Model S sparked a tiff with the carmaker's CEO, Elon Musk.

The Feb. 8 story, paired with a photo of a red Model S hoisted onto the flatbed of a tow truck, claimed that the electric car's battery could not hold up over long distances, as advertised. Musk quickly challenged the account of the test drive, and released driving data that seemed to contest Broder's article.

But while Sullivan said Musk's vehement dismissal of the Times story as "faked" doesn't hold up, she criticized some of Broder's reporting.

"I do not believe Mr. Broder hoped the drive would end badly," Sullivan...

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Alec Baldwin Denies Racial Slur Aimed at Photographer

February, 18, 2013 9:52 am | Comments On #Alec Baldwin, Media, new york post, newspapers, tabloid

Alec Baldwin denied hurling a racial slur at a New York Post photographer after telling another reporter he wanted her to "choke to death," the Post reported Monday.

The New York PostBaldwin allegedly called the black Post photographer a racial epithet, a "crackhead" and a "drug dealer" when the photographer and a reporter approached him on the street in Manhattan's East Village.

The Post reported that Baldwin, when asked for comment about a lawsuit against his wife, Hilaria, grabbed reporter Tara Palmeri's arm and said, "I want you to choke to death."

...

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Mother Jones Wins George Polk Award for '47 Percent' Romney Scoop

February, 18, 2013 8:23 am | Comments On #47 percent video, george polk awards, journalism, Media, mother jones, Romney

The Mother Jones reporter who shook up last year's presidential campaign with a report on Mitt Romney's remarks that 47 percent of Americans "believe they are victims" was among the winners of this year's George Polk Award.

David Corn, the reporter who broke the story, is one of the winners, along with an array of other news outlets, including the New York Times, Bloomberg News, Frontline, GlobalPost and the Washington Post.

The 64th annual prize, awarded by Long Island University, honors examples of bold reporting. The name pays tribute to George Polk, a CBS correspondent murdered in 1948 while covering the Greek civil war.

“Our winners were outstanding during a year filled with...

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Reader's Digest Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection for Second Time

February, 18, 2013 7:44 am | Comments On #bankruptcy, magazines, Media, Reader's Digest, readers digest

The holding company that owns Reader's Digest has filed for bankruptcy protection for a second time in four years, according to documents obtained by TheWrap.

The company is laboring under $465 million in debt.

RDA Holding Co.'s Chapter 11 filing comes as the magazine industry is struggling to adjust to declining print advertising and growing competition from other online outlets. Last week, Time Warner entered into talks to sell most of its 21 magazines to publisher Meredith Corporation.

Reader's Digest, a general interest magazine, was founded by DeWitt and Lila Wallace and went public in 1990. It is perhaps best known for its landmark 1952 report on the dangers of cigarette smoking.

In 2007, an investor...

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Facebook Hacked in 'Sophisticated Attack'

February, 15, 2013 5:27 pm | Comments On #Facebook, hack, Hackers, Media

Facebook said on Friday that it was the subject of a "sophisticated attack" from hackers last month, but no user data was compromised.

Employees at the social network visited an infected site and its servers downloaded malicious software, or malware, from the mobile developer site.

"As soon as we discovered the presence of the malware, we remediated all infected machines, informed law enforcement, and began a significant investigation that continues to this day," the company said in a blog post Friday. "Facebook was not alone in this attack. It is clear that others were attacked and infiltrated...

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