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HOUSTON (AP) — Jack Brooks, who spent 42 years in Congress representing his Southeast Texas district and was in the Dallas motorcade in 1963 when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, has died. He was 89.

Brooks died Tuesday night at Baptist Hospital of Beaumont after a sudden illness, according to a statement from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department. Brooks, who would have turned 90 on Dec. 18, was surrounded by family when he died, Deputy Rod Carroll said.

Brooks was among the last links to an era when Democrats dominated Texas politics and was the last of “Mr. Sam’s Boys,” protégés of fellow Texan and legendary 21-year Democratic House Speaker Sam Rayburn in the state’s congressional delegation.

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Microsoft has unleashed Socl into beta for all comers to probe, bringing it out of the experimental stages and a step closer to a full-fledged site. We first heard about the project back in July when it was dubbed Tulalip, and MS Research’s Fuse Labs officially launched it internally and into some universities back in October last year. The site carries the Windows 8 tile-like look, and Fuse says that imagery is emphasized over “blue links” for search, helping democratize the site “even for people who speak different languages.” That lets you find others via posts, a people gallery, or someone’s page — where new posts, people and interests can be viewed all at once. A nav bar allows articles to be created by topics like web, videos or news, and users can create “parties,” where they can chat, create playlists or watch videos with others in a similar fashion to Google Hangouts. The project was coded using Redmond’s Java-hued Typescript to allow for rapid coding changes, according to Fuse’s blog in the source below. To try it out for yourself, check the “more coverage” link.

Filed under: Internet, Microsoft

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Via: Techmeme

Source: Microsoft Research FuseLabs

NEW BATAAN, Philippines — Mud-stained bodies covered with banana leaves were laid out in a row and survivors dried their soiled belongings on the roadside under a bright sun Wednesday, a day after a typhoon killed more than 270 people in the southern Philippines.

Officials feared many more bodies could be found as rescuers reach hard-hit areas that had been isolated by landslides, floods and downed communications.

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RIM has given the official word that it will be adding a financial feature to its BlackBerry Messenger App called “Money.” The upcoming feature will allow BBM users to transfer funds from their phone. It’s slated for release in Indonesia first, with the only timeline given being that it’ll happen “shortly,” with other locations to follow.

Word that RIM has such a feature planned has been circulating for awhile, but this is the first time any official confirmation has been given. When visiting Jakarta several weeks ago, the company’s CEO Thorsten Heins hinted at this feature, saying that BlackBerry Messenger is as strong of a platform for financial transactions as it is for communication. RIM’s Managing Director of South Asia Operations Hastings Singh then offered BBC this statement in an interview.

“Indonesia is very important for RIM. It is a huge market for us … So we are offering a new innovation – BBM Money which will be launched in Indonesia – first in the world – shortly. It is a peer-to-peer transfer service that anyone with a Blackberry phone can use to transfer funds to someone else with a Blackberry phone.”

BlackBerry has been losing ground in the market, with government agencies dropping it in favor of more popular mobile operating systems, including the NTSB, while consumers largely select either Android or the iPhone. Despite its trouble battling against Android and iOS, BlackBerry is still massively popular in Indonesia, where it has over 50-percent of the marketshare. There’s no info on when Money will be available in Indonesia and beyond, but perhaps we’ll know more once BB10 launches next year.

[via Tech Crunch]

BlackBerry Messenger Money app set to launch in Indonesia is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Robert Griffin III seems to have the Midas touch. The rookie quarterback has led the Redskins back to .500 with three straight wins, each coming against division opponents. Along the way, he broke the NFL rookie QB record for rushing yards in a single season. He’s playing so well that even his fumbles somehow turn into touchdowns.

Now that’s special. But could he help the Washington Wizards? Remember, we’re talking about the same Wizards who started the season 0-12 and had just one win going entering Tuesday night when they happened to be playing the defending champions Miami Heat. RG3 attended Tuesday night’s game at the Verizon Center and sat courtside, where he witnessed the 1-13 Wizards pull off an improbable upset over the Heat, despite LeBron James’ triple double.

Maybe some of his magic did rub off on another D.C. professional sports team. After all, the Redskins had just defeated the defending Super Bowl champions New York Giants. It’s not logical, but sometimes certain things in sports don’t make sense (see: Tim Tebow’s 2011 season).

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