Why bother with a Facebook phone? Facebook’s app is already on 86% of iPhones and iPads

Rumors suggesting Facebook (FB) is working on a smartphone have resurfaced a number of times over the past year. Each time, Facebook denied the various claims. Facebook may indeed still be working on its own phone but as a new report from market research firm NPD Group shows, it probably doesn’t need to.[More from BGR: Is Samsung the new Apple?]Facebook makes money by gathering information about its...

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Yoda statue among features of new N. Calif. park

SAN ANSELMO, Calif. (AP) — A Northern California city has approved a new downtown park to be built on land donated by filmmaker George Lucas that will feature statues of Indiana Jones and Yoda, two of his most popular characters.The Marin Independent Journal reports (http://bit.ly/Ws4CcS ) that the San Anselmo Planning Commission voted unanimously Monday to approve the park, which could be completed...

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Economic Scene: Health Care and Pursuit of Profit Make a Poor Mix

Thirty years ago, Bonnie Svarstad and Chester Bond of the School of Pharmacy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison discovered an interesting pattern in the use of sedatives at nursing homes in the south of the state. Patients entering church-affiliated nonprofit homes were prescribed drugs roughly as often as those entering profit-making “proprietary” institutions. But patients in proprietary...

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Wall Street gains as earnings flow in; Alcoa up

Stocks rose on Wall Street Wednesday after U.S. corporate earnings reports got off to a good start. The Dow Jones industrial...

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Testimony about Colorado massacre resumes in James Holmes hearing

More emotional testimony was expected at a hearing on the Aurora movie theater massacre, as prosecutors continued to lay out their case against the defendant, James Holmes. ...

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Target to match some rivals’ online prices year-round

(Reuters) – Target Corp said on Tuesday it will match on a year-round basis the prices found on the websites of key rivals Amazon.com Inc, Best Buy Co Inc, Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Toys R Us, its latest tactic to hold onto shoppers focused on price.The move extends an online price-matching program that Target introduced over the holiday season and which was supposed to last only from November 1 to...

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Spielberg earns 11th Directors Guild nomination

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Steven Spielberg has extended his domination at the Directors Guild of America Awards, earning a nomination Tuesday for his Civil War epic "Lincoln" to pad the record he already held to 11 film nominations from the guild.Also nominated were past winners Kathryn Bigelow for her Osama bin Laden thriller "Zero Dark Thirty"; Tom Hooper for his musical "Les Miserables"; and Ang Lee for...

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Oil Sand Industry in Canada Tied to Higher Carcinogen Level

Todd Korol/ReutersAn oil sands mine Fort McMurray, Alberta. OTTAWA — The development of Alberta’s oil sands has increased levels of cancer-causing compounds in surrounding lakes well beyond natural levels, Canadian researchers reported in a study released on Monday. And they said the contamination covered a wider area than had previously been believed. For the study, financed by the Canadian...

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Americans may face rising gasoline prices again in 2013

The GasBuddy 2013 Fuel Price Outlook report warns that gasoline prices may rise again this year. ...

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From gang member to team player

SAN FRANCISCO — Luis Aroche learned about violence at Leonard R. Flynn Elementary School, across from the projects where his...

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