Franchise show comes to Miami Beach

Entrepreneurs looking to start off a new business in 2013 might find some ideas at Franchise Expo South.

One of the largest franchise shows in the country kicks off Jan. 11 at the Miami Beach Convention Center and runs until Jan. 13. Hundreds of top brands from food to retail concepts will try to attract prospective franchisees for Florida, Latin America and the Caribbean. Businesses looking to expand in South Florida, include Burger 21, McAlister’s Deli, Kiddie Academy, Sign-A-Rama, Cinnabon, EmbroidMe, and Wireless Zone.

This year for the first time, the show will focus on the trend toward mobile franchise businesses. The “GoMobilePavilion” will highlight dozens of mobile franchise concepts, which typically come with lower initial investment and decreased labor costs. Educational sessions will also discuss how to convert a traditional business to a mobile one.

Registration fees vary, but start as low as $5 in advance or $10 on-site. For more information about the show, which is sponsored by the International Franchise Association, visit www.franchiseexposouth.com

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Mobile data says Miami stayed up latest of any city on New Year’s Eve

Go to bed and pull up the covers, New York: Miami is now officially the city that never sleeps.

According to Sense Networks, a company that specializes in mobile location and behavioral targeting data, Miami stayed up the latest of all big American cities on New Year’s Eve this year. Sleepy New York could muster only a fifth-place finish, also falling behind Jersey City and Newark, N.J., and Garland, Texas and. Even Newark managed to prop its eyelids open later than NYC.

The data, based on analysis of mobile location data of residents in the 100 most populated U.S. cities, will come as no surprise to locals who have seen clubbers staggering out into the daylight with all the grace of melting vampires. So what does Miami have that allowed us to snag the no. 1 spot?

“Great weather, great parties and people who love their smartphones,” says Heather Sears, vice president of marketing for Sense Networks (who laments the fact that she rang in 2013 in frigid Boston instead of on a South Florida beach). “People keep their smartphones within arm’s distance 24/7. They’re really, truly addicted. And on New Year’s Eve they’re wishing each other ‘Happy New Year’ and texting and sending photos.”

Other cities that made the Top 10 late night list: Laredo, Tex.; Atlanta; Chandler, Ariz.; Chicago; Houston.

Who crashed the earliest? Sears may have a point about the weather: Anchorage, Alaska, turned in earliest, followed by Riverside, Ga.; Chula Vista and Anaheim, Calif.; and Reno, Nev.

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Samsung and Apple are still the only winners in the mobile market

The duopoly of the U.S. mobile market intensified dramatically in 2012. Despite increased efforts from Motorola, LG (066570), HTC (2498), Nokia (NOK) and Microsoft (MSFT) to gain market share, Samsung (005930) and Apple (AAPL) continue to steal customers away from every other company. During a three-month period ending in November, comScore found that Samsung’s lead in the U.S. smartphone market increased 1.2 percentage points for a controlling 26.9% share. Apple’s smartphone market share grew from 17.1% to 18.5%, gaining 1.4 points following the launch of the iPhone 5. Rounding out the top-five were LG, Motorola and HTC, all of which saw their market shares decrease from August. LG fell 0.7 points to 17.5%, Motorola dropped 0.8 points to 10.4% and HTC’s market share decreased from 6.3% to 5.9%.

[More from BGR: Samsung confirms plan to begin inching away from Android]

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

The research firm found that 123.3 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the period, an increase of 6% since August. A majority of devices, 53.7%, were powered by Google’s (GOOG) Android operating system, which saw growth of 1.1 percentage points. Apple’s iOS market share increased 0.7 percentage points to 35%.

2012 was a transitional year for Research in Motion (RIMM) and Microsoft. Both companies spent most of the year preparing new operating systems. RIM will unveil its BlackBerry 10 operating system later this month and devices powered by Windows Phone 8 launched this past November. As a result, both companies saw lost share toward the end of 2012; RIM’s BlackBerry platform ranked third with a 7.3% share, down from 8.3% in August, and Microsoft’s operating system dropped 0.6 percentage points to a 3% share of the market.

This article was originally published by BGR

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Connie Britton Emmys 2011 Flashback

Connie Britton had some fun with ET, who complimented her on her glowing appearance, and absolutely shimmering... clavicle?

"Yes, my clavicle always shimmers, and I wake up looking like this."

For those who haven't brushed up on human anatomy, the clavicle is the same thing as the collarbone. And Britton was absolutely rocking it in her sleeveless dress.

See Also: Stars React To Their Golden Globe Nominations

The actress and singer was nominated for her acclaimed role as Tami Taylor on the concluded NBC series Friday Night Lights, and also discussed her then upcoming miniseries, American Horror Story: Asylum.

"I don't sing [on the show], I do a lot of screaming. We have replaced singing for screaming on American Horror Story."

Her role on that mini-series would earn Britton another Emmy nomination the following year. Shamefully, neither of those nods resulted in wins for one of our favorite TV actresses.

See Also: Can Connie Britton Sing? Watch!

Even so, Britton is back to singing on the new ABC series Nashville, and that leading role has even earned her a Golden Globe nomination. You can find out if she wins when the Globes air on NBC, January 13.

To see Britton's entire playful red carpet interview, see the video above.

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City audit shows faulty receipts filed by education officials to Bronx pizzeria

Their story stretched more than the mozzarella.

Education bureaucrats submitted apparently faulty receipts to justify hundreds of dollars of expenses at a Bronx pizzeria and other food purchases made by public schools, an audit found.

City Comptroller John Liu asked city investigators to look into the potentially fraudulent proof submitted after the fact for more than $500 in pizza and Pepsi purchases from Arturro’s Pizzeria in Marble Hill.

READ THE FULL AUDIT HERE

Officials in his agency said it wasn’t clear that the receipts were completely fabricated — only that they appeared to be created after the fact to cover-up lousy record-keeping by Ellis Prep Academy and its Department of Education managers.

The allegedly bogus bills were among a host of questionable credit-card purchases uncovered in an audit of five schools and their oversight office.

The review found that a whopping 64 percent of the $133,173 purchases examined were not documented or bid out properly — or weren’t justifiable expenses — including:

• $775 for five Kindles from Amazon.com

• $194 purchase from Costco.com labeled both as a refrigerator and as movie tickets

• $679 from Target.com for sofa beds.

• $1,292 for two dinner events at Calle Ocho Restaurant in The Bronx

The audit looked at only a small sample of the $17.2 million in credit card purchases by schools in fiscal 2011, and was the latest in a string of investigations that found poor oversight by the DOE.

“Greater care and discretion in the use of [credit]-cards is in order before outright waste and abuse ensues,” said Liu.

His office made 13 recommendations for how the DOE can boost its oversight of credit card purchases, 10 of which the agency backed.

A spokeswoman for the schools investigation office did not respond to an email and phone call asking whether it had opened a probe regarding the pizza pie receipts.

A DOE spokeswoman said the agency was told that a probe had already been closed with no positive findings.

“We implemented most of the Comptroller’s recommendations prior to the audit,” she said.

Additional reporting by Gillian Kleiman

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New York real estate investor expands Lincoln Road presence

A New York real estate investment fund continued to expand its presence on Lincoln Road last month, purchasing three storefronts on the prime retail street.

Thor Equities said Thursday that it closed last month on the purchase of 663, 665, and 667 Lincoln Road. The company declined to reveal the purchase price for the 5,000 square feet of retail space. Tenants include Pizza Rustica, So Good Collections and 16 Handles (665).

Thor sees opportunity to attract fashion retailers looking to enter the market. Lincoln has recently seen an influx of international retailers like H&M, Forever 21 and Lacoste.

Joe Sitt, chairman and chief executive of Thor Equities, was one of the first institutional investors to see Lincoln Road’s potential when he started buying property more than five years ago. At the time Sitt says other institutional investors “laughed” because they thought the market was too much of a party town. Sitt has been outbid by some of those same investors on other recent attempts to purchase property on Lincoln.

“Lincoln Road is the hottest retail street in all of Miami and is among the busiest corridors in the world,” Sitt said.

The new acquisitions give Thor Equities a total of 16,000 square feet of retail space in Miami Beach.

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Biker killed in crash on West Flagler Street

Miami police Wednesday afternoon were investigating a fatal motorcycle accident on West Flagler Street.

The accident occurred around 3:30 p.m. when a biker and a vehicle collided near 43th Avenue, just west of LeJeune Road.

The unidentified motorcyclist died on the scene. The driver of the car involved is being questioned by police.

Police are investigating the cause of the crash.

No charges have been filed.

This story will be updated when more details are available.

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Ubuntu se mete en los celulares con un sistema operativo propio

Al igual que otras plataformas que buscan una convergencia entre el mundo móvil y la PC, Canonical confirmó el arribo de su sistema operativo Ubuntu a los dispositivos móviles. Disponible en una primera instancia como una instalación no oficial para la línea de smartphones Nexus 3, la versión de Linux utilizada en más de 20 millones busca posicionarse como una alternativa ante un mercado dominado por compañías como Apple y Google, junto a las propuestas de Microsoft con Windows Phone y Research in Motion con sus teléfonos BlackBerry.

La compañía dio un primer paso en febrero de 2012 con Ubuntu for Android , una distribución para “mejorar” el Android convencional.

La versión actual es un sistema operativo que sólo comparte con Android el uso de sus drivers (ambos están basados en Linux), pero no usa una máquina virtual Java, por lo que los 700.000 programas con las que cuenta Android no estarán disponibles directamente. Ubuntu tendrá su propia suite de aplicaciones, y permitirá la suma de nuevas que estén programadas en HTML5 o sean nativas.

Canonical también planea lanzar un teléfono de diseño propio que llegaría al mercado en 2014, pero no brindó mayores detalles sobre el fabricante involucrado. Los recientes cambios en la interfaz de Ubuntu, denominada Unity, marcaron una tendencia en la distribución hacia la interacción en pantallas sensibles al tacto, y este lanzamiento representa un primer paso de la distribución para ingresar en el mundo móvil de los smartphones y las tabletas.

Las prestaciones de una PC, en un dispositivo de bolsillo

Según Mark Shuttleworth, CEO de Canonical, en un principio esta versión de Ubuntu apunta a los entusiastas de la plataforma, pero con una rápida expansión hacia el resto de los usuarios. “Por primera vez en la historia los usuarios de los teléfonos celulares pueden tener las prestaciones completas que tiene en una PC, y tenemos una ventaja en esto”, dijo el ejecutivo.

Así lo explica Mark Shuttleworth en video, mostrando los gestos que permiten controlar Ubuntu móvil:

El concepto se asemeja a la modalidad presentada por Motorola con su teléfono Atrix , que se convertía en una PC al ser conectado en una base que servía de conexión con un monitor. A su vez, el móvil también podía ser utilizado como una notebook mediante un dispositivo denominado lapdock.

Aún no disponible para su descarga, la presentación formal de Ubuntu para teléfonos ante el público será en la feria Consumer Electronic Show de Las Vegas, en donde LA NACION estará presente para la cobertura de los primeros lanzamientos del año que realizará la industria.

En busca del podio móvil

Con los dispositivos basados en iOS y Android, varias compañías disputan ser la alternativa a las plataformas dominantes. Microsoft busca de la mano de Nokia posicionar a Windows Phone junto a fabricantes como HTC y Samsung. La compañía de Redmond también desea aprovechar la integración con Windows 8 para sacar provecho de su dominio en el mundo de las PC, un segmento en lento retroceso frente a los teléfonos inteligentes y tabletas.

En este punto, la integración entre las PC y los dispositivos móviles también forman parte de los objetivos de Apple, que replicó el exitoso modelo App Store en su línea de computadoras con Mac OS X, utilizado en el iPhone y la tableta iPad, mientras que Google mantiene su apuesta en su plataforma basada en la nube con servicios como Gmail y Drive, entre otros.

Por su parte, Research in Motion presentará su nueva plataforma BB10 , un demorado lanzamiento que tendrá lugar a fines de este mes y con el que busca recuperar el terreno perdido en los últimos años con un renovado teléfono móvil tactil basado en el sistema operativo QNX, utilizado en su tableta Playbook.

Dentro de este pelotón de contendientes también se encuentra Firefox OS , un competidor que más se asemeja a la filosofía de la plataforma de Canonical y que ofrece un sistema operativo basado en el navegador web de la fundación Mozilla. Cuenta con el apoyo de las principales operadoras de telecomunicaciones y apunta a contar con un teléfono de costo accesible para mercados emergentes.

Por su parte, un grupo de desarrolladores responsables de Meego, la plataforma utilizada por Nokia para el N9, se reunieron para presentar a Sailfish OS , un sistema operativo basado en Linux que se encuentra en una incipiente etapa de desarrollo y que planea tener también, al igual que Firefox OS y Ubuntu, un teléfono para mediados de este año.

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Julianne Hough Reveals Horrific Childhood Abuse

Though Julianne Hough is known for her bubbly personality, it turns out not everything in her life has been so charmed.

Julianne covers Cosmopolitan's February issue, where she reveals she suffered mental and physical abuse while living in London as a young girl in order to pursue her dancing career. She attended the prestigious Italia Conti Academy of Arts on a five-year scholarship, along with her brother Derek.

Video: See Hough & Duhamel's Hot Romance in 'Safe Haven'

"While I was in London, I was abused, mentally, physically, everything," she reveals, and it didn't stop there -- she says it got worse when she "started hitting puberty, when I started becoming a woman and stopped being a little girl."

Though Julianne declines to go into the specific details, she does say that she was forced to push out an overly sexual image at a very young age.

"I was 10 years old looking like I was 28, being a very sensual dancer. I was a tormented little kid who had to put on this sexy facade because that was my job and my life. But my heart was the same, and I was this innocent little girl. I wanted so much love," she says. "I was told if I ever went back to the United States, three things were going to happen. One: I was going to amount to nothing. Two: I was going to work at Whataburger. And three: I was going to end up a slut. So, it was like, I can't go back. I have to be this person."

Related: Julianne Hough -- I'm 20 Pounds Heavier Since Dating Seacrest

Julianne of course did return to the United States, where she became a star thanks to her winning performances on Dancing with the Stars.

On a lighter note, Julianne also dishes to the magazine about her relationship with Ryan Seacrest.

"We love what we do. We take pride in giving it our all, but then when we're alone, we really focus in on going to dinners and being extra-romantic and affectionate and just being there for each other," she says.

And clearly, the two know how to keep the sparks alive -- Julianne recalls when the two were stranded and alone during Superstorm Sandy in New York, and took advantage of the rare time the two workaholics couldn't work.

"It was great," says Hough, smiling. "We put on some candles, had some sexy time....Ha!"

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Cop shoots man near Brooklyn Technical High School after he lunged at him with scissors

Police shot and seriously wounded a 40-year-old man who charged at him with scissors in a building across the street from Brooklyn Technical HS in Fort Greene, according to authorities and sources.

The gunfire broke out just before 3:22 p.m. inside the apartment building 48 Fort Greene Place, between Lafayette and DeKalb avenues, authorities said.

Law-enforcement sources said the cop, who was alone, had been on his way to traffic court when a frantic person approached him and asked for help, saying there was a man wielding a sharp object.

The cop then went to 48 Fort Greene Place, where he confronted that hulking, 260-pound man, identified as Keary Green, who was wielding a pair of scissors, sources said.

When Green allegedly unged at the cop, the officer fired a single round, hitting the man in the stomach, the source said.

Green was rushed to nearby Kings County Hospital.

"All I heard was a gunshot," said Thomas McCormick, who lives several doors away from 48 Fort Greene Place. "I looked out the window, and the whole block was locked down. They dragged someone into an ambulance, and they took off down the block."

Residents of the block described Green as violent, and said his girlfriend lived in the building where he was shot.

"He was crazy! She was afraid of him," said a long-time resident of the block about Green and his girlfriend.. "He looked crazy . . . like he shouldn't be on the streets.

"She always looked scared," said the resident about Green's girlfriend.

"He was physically, mentally, verbally abusive. She know him from living on Long Island," the resident said. "I think they went to high school together. She knew him for some time . . . I think he tried to reel her back or something. He was just an abusive guy. He just looked crazy!"

Students from Brooklyn Technical were being dismissed from the school at the exit a block away from the shooting scene.

The officer involved in the shooting was transported to Methodist Hospital, but it is not known if that officer was injured in the incident.

Additional reporting by Larry Celona, Amy Stretten, Amber Sutherland and C.J. Sutherland

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