10 tricks for using the Google Maps app

10 tricks for using the Google Maps app
10 tricks for using the Google Maps app
Do you use Google Maps on your phone or tablet? Of course you do. But if you're anything like me, you probably install the updates, skip over the details, and continue to use the app like nothing ever happened. That's bad. You see, Google Maps is constantly changing, and keeping up with the latest features can save you lots of time in the long run. Here are our 10 favorite shortcuts for the latest version.

And in case you're wondering, all of these tips (except the last one) apply to both the iOS and Android versions of Google Maps, and several of them were shared in a blog post today from the Google Maps team:

1. Save addresses for faster directions

If you use Google Maps for directions, it makes sense to store your home and work addresses so you don't need to reenter them all the time. To do this, tap the person icon in the right hand corner of the Search bar. You can always edit your addresses later by pulling out the settings tab at the bottom left corner of the screen.

2. Drop a pin to see the street

Street view is more fun on a desktop, but it works surprisingly well on your phone. Just press and hold the area you want to see on the map to drop a pin. From there you'll be given the option to enter street view, get directions, or share the location.

3. Start GPS navigation in seconds

Select where you want to go, then hold your finger in that spot to drop a pin. When you do this, a transportation icon will appear in the bottom right corner of your screen. Tap and hold it to activate turn-by-turn GPS navigation.

4. More ways to zoom

You can still pinch to zoom. But now you can also double-tap the map, hold you finger down, then scroll or down. It sounds a little weird, but it actually feels pretty intuitive.

5. See a list instead of a map

Sometimes it's easier to see a list of nearby places rather than a mass of dots scattered across a map. To see a list of your search results, type a search, then tap on the list view icon on the right hand side of the bar.

6. Get more information about a business

Tap on a business, then swipe the info sheet at the bottom of the screen up or down to learn more about it. Swiping left or right will show you similar places nearby.

7. Save a place for later

Have you ever walked by a place and made a mental note to check it out later? Now you can Google Maps do that for you. Just pull up the info sheet for the location you're at and tap save. To find the location later, tap on the person icon in the upper right hand corner and scroll down to your saved places.

8. Let Google figure out what you should do

Not sure what to do with your day? Tap on the search bar, then hit Explore, and Google will come up with recommendations for nearby hotels, shops, restauarants, and things to do.

9. Rate your favorite spots

Are you the Yelping type? Well, as long as you have a Google+ account you can start rating your favorite (and least favorite) places on Google as well. When you pull up the info sheet for a location, just scroll down to "Rate and Review," where you can assign a star rating and write a review.

10. Go offline

(This tip is limited to Android right now, but Google claims it's coming soon to iOS. You can use this tip in the meantime as a workaround.) If you want to make sure you can access a map no matter what, open the map you plan to use while you're still somewhere with a good connection. Then tap the search box, scroll all the way up past the suggestions, and select "Make this map area available offline."

IDC: Apple iOS losing ground in smartphone market

IDC: Apple iOS losing ground in smartphone market
IDC: Apple iOS losing ground in smartphone market
Nearly 80% of the smartphones shipped worldwide during the second quarter of this year ran Google's Android operating system, says a quarterly report from research firm IDC.

More than 187 million of the 236.4 million smartphones shipped last quarter ran Android, finds IDC. The overall number of smartphone shipments represents a 51% jump from the same period last year.

Top rival Apple and its iOS operating system for the iPhone watched its market share slump last quarter, with only 13% of devices shipping with iOS.

IDC research manager Ramon Llamas attributes the decline in market share to the lack of a new device to attract consumers.

"Without a new product launch since the debut of the iPhone 5 nearly a year ago, Apple's market share was vulnerable to product launches from the competition," says Llamas in a statement. "But with a new iPhone and revamped iOS coming out later this year, Apple is well-positioned to re-capture market share."

Apple is expected to unveil the first details of fresh devices this fall. During a quarterly earnings call in April, Apple CEO teased "really great stuff" in the works for the holiday season and beyond.

Meanwhile, Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system is gaining around, posting the largest year-over-year increase of the top platforms, finds IDC.

"Nokia has clearly been the driving force behind the Windows Phone platform and we expect that to continue," says IDC's Ryan Reith.

LG unveils G2 smartphone

LG unveils G2 smartphone
LG unveils G2 smartphone
NEW YORK — Bring up the rear.

That's the headline design initiative in the LG Electronics G2 smartphone that was unveiled at a New York City press event Wednesday morning and that the company says will reach U.S. consumers in the fall. It's not meant to be a pejorative.

The rear of the phone is where LG designers have placed the physical power control and volume switch, as opposed to the sides or top where such smartphone buttons typically reside. The back of the phone is also where your index finger usually is when the device is held up to your ear during a call.

"For too long we have been blaming fingers for smartphone drops that were simply not their fault," says James Fishler, LG Electronics USA's senior vice president for marketing. "It sounds so simple but is a big design enhancement."

It seems to make sense, but I'll have to live with the phone for a while to see if I ultimately agree. My first inclination when I picked up the device at the launch event was to navigate my own paws to the side. So it looks like it will take getting used to.

The South Korean manufacturer has added other simple but potentially important innovations. If you get a call, you can merely pick up the phone to answer it, just like the good old days when we answered calls on corded telephones just by answering the phone. LG's innovation here would let you answer a call, say, in the cold of winter without having to remove your gloves. And don't worry about the ringtone blasting your eardrum — the volume is automatically reduced when the phone gets closer to your ear.

LG is actually making a big deal about the studio sound that's built into the phone, so much so that it is preloading ring tones recorded by the Vienna Boys' Choir — one of the members of the choir sang during the launch event, held appropriately at a Lincoln Center jazz venue.

Meanwhile, the G2 has a bezel-to-bezel 5.2-inch full-high-definition IPS display that LG claims is the largest screen size on a phone that is still comfortable to hold. The phone is very thin. It runs on Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2, the version on many high-end rival phones.

Inside sits a premium quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor and 32 GB of internal storage. There is no expansion option, but LG customers do get up to 50 GB of free online storage through Box. LG is promising an all-day battery.

The G2 has included optical image stabilization inside its 13-megapixel rear camera that LG says can reduce the blur when you capture still pictures in a moving vehicle and help minimize the shakes when you are shooting video. I need to test out the claim.

Among the other features: You can knock on the screen twice to wake it up or shut it off, which is nice but not entirely original. There's a Guest Mode that promises to let you share the phone with your kids while restricting access to the apps that they can use. Another feature summons the appropriate apps when you plug in a pair of headphones, while pushing to the background the apps that you are unlikely to use at that point.

LG said the device will be available through all the major U.S. carriers but hasn't announced pricing or precise timing.

The company faces the obvious challenge of competing in the hotly contested mobile category against all the usual suspects — Apple, Samsung, HTC, Nokia, a re-energized (under Google) Motorola and others.

"LG is not a small company without resources," says analyst Avi Greengart of Current Analysis. "If they can adequately fund a good advertising campaign, they should be able to compete. But it's an incredibly competitive segment."

I plan to take a closer look at the G2 when review units become available.

Groupon matches quarterly profit forecasts

Groupon matches quarterly profit forecasts
Groupon matches quarterly profit forecasts
LOS ANGELES -- Online coupon service Groupon not only reported quarterly results Wednesday that matched expectations, but named a permanent CEO.

Groupon, which offers consumers a chance to prepay for discounted goods and services, reported adjusted earnings of $0.02 a share. That matched estimates, says S&P Capital IQ. Including all charges, the company posted a net loss of a penny a share, also matching expectations.

Meanwhile, the company appointed Eric Lefkofsky as its CEO and named co-interim CEO Ted Leonsis chairman. Lefkofsky was the co-interim CEO. The appointment comes months after Groupon's original CEO Andrew Mason resigned. Lefkofsky is a 44-year-old entrepreneur who had a hand in the creation of Groupon.

Shares of the company jumped 20% on the news in afterhours trading. "It's a reflection on how investors look at the installation of Eric Lefkofsky as permanent CEO," says Thomas White of Macquarie Research. "There are signs of progress."

Analysts had been closely watching the company's revenue, looking for signs of growth. And revenue during the quarter rose 7.1% to $608.7 million, topping the $606.2 million that was expected. Most notably, Groupon is finding success with its marketplace business, where it sells discounted merchandise to consumers on the Website. Additionally, the company reports getting 50% of its North American transactions on mobile devices, up from 30% in June 2012.

Investors are concerned where Groupon will find profitable growth as it looks to expand. There's also increasing competition for discounts to mobile users. Results in the first quarter matched expectations on the bottom line, but the outlook for the second quarter was below expectations.

This year, shares of Groupon have rallied 77.2%. Wednesday shares closed down $0.07 to $8.63.

Going forward, Groupon issued guidance that it expected revenue of between $585 million and $636 million, in line with the $622.4 million expected by analysts. Additionally, the company authorized a repurchase of up to $300 million in common stock.

Investors are hoping "this turnaround, or if you will, evolution of Groupon is on track," White says.

Bird flu researchers want to create deadly virus in lab

Bird flu researchers want to create deadly virus in lab
Bird flu researchers want to create deadly virus in lab
Researchers said Wednesday they want to create a lab version of a deadly emerging bird flu in order to study a strain that might be more infectious to people. Responding to past concerns about such research, the U.S. government said it will require extra safety measures.

The H7N9 bird flu virus has killed 43 people in China. The 22 international researchers from 15 institutions say the infectivity research "is necessary and should be done," a statement in Science magazine said. They promise to follow enhanced lab safeguards. Similar efforts to study a more transmissible flu virus, for H5N1 bird flu, triggered a research moratorium and controversy in 2011.

The virus is believed to usually travel from poultry to people in the 130 cases seen in China. So far, at most only two cases appear to involve person-to-person infection with the flu. A case of a 60-year-old father giving the illness to his 32-year-old caretaker daughter was reported this week in the journal BMJ. While the H7N9 cases stopped in March, experts fear a re-emergence of the virus this fall, potentially in a form immune to anti-viral drugs.

"The risk of a pandemic caused by an avian influenza virus exists in nature," the researchers said in the statement led by Dutch virologist Ron Fouchier of Erasmus MC in Rotterdam. Forchier was prominent in the 2011 dispute over similar infectiousness research to make the H5N1 virus transmissible among ferrets. The statement said researchers will follow lab safeguards put into place following that controversy. They hope that by determining what changes might make the virus more dangerous to people, they can also aid vaccination efforts in the event of a natural outbreak.

The proposal still is controversial, with some researchers calling for the very highest level of security for labs pursuing the research. "The scientific justification presented for doing this work is very flimsy, to put it mildly, and the claims that it will lead to anything useful are lightweight," said Princeton's Adel Mahmoud in comments to Science. While U.S. research-funding agencies under the Department of Health and Human Services indicated they would review proposals to perform the infectivity research, Science also reported that prominent Chinese labs do not appear interested in such efforts.

Yahoo is getting a new logo - in a month

Yahoo is getting a new logo - in a month
Yahoo is getting a new logo - in a month
SAN FRANCISCO — Internet icon Yahoo is changing its distinctive logo for the first time in nearly two decades.

The question is: To what? And will the exclamation point stay or go?

Each day over the next four weeks — the Silicon Valley company is showcasing 30 different logos on its home page. On Sept. 4, one of them will replace Yahoo's distinctive purple Y! logo.

The company has decided on the new logo, but wants to showcase different looks to depict its "renaissance" under its new CEO, Marissa Mayer.

The logo change, the first major modification in Yahoo's 18-year history, will be promoted in a "30 days of change" marketing campaign, company officials told USA TODAY. Yahoo tweaked its logo shortly after it was founded, but decided this time to create a bold, new look.

"The logo is your calling card, identity, manifestation," Chief Marketing Officer Kathy Savitt says.

"The Yahoo logo is iconic; some people love it, some people hate it," Savitt says. "We decided to change it, to reflect new products … and depict our next chapter."

Since Mayer took over as CEO a year ago, Yahoo has scooped up more than 20 companies — including Tumblr and, last week, Rockmelt — and overhauled its existing product lineup, including its home page, Flickr and e-mail.

The charismatic Mayer has also reversed the company's flagging fortunes, with a series of encouraging quarters, an infusion of fresh talent through acquisitions and a 70% bump in its shares. Still, Yahoo faces fierce competition from the likes of Google and Facebook for digital ads.

"We've been talking about changing the logo since September," Savitt says. "The timing is right. It will reflect our brand, which is entertaining, fun, engaging, delightful, playful."

Yahoo tinkered with the look of its logo shortly after the company was founded in 1995, but it has largely remained the same for years. In changing its iconic logo, Yahoo joins Twitter, Microsoft and eBay, which have done the same. In Yahoo's case, it' may tweak its typeface, color (purple) and punctuation (exclamation point), but keep the yodel sound the same, Savitt says.

"There is both risk and reward in changing a logo," says Dennis Ryan, chief creative officer at advertising agency Olson, whose clients include Target and General Mills. He recently redid the logo for Belize, for that country's tourism bureau. "Good logos represent every memory consumers have for a particular company."

"Yahoo is, in many ways, the Internet's first icon," Savitt says. "It was the first wave for discovering content on the Web."

Albert Tan, brand director at mobile-security start-up Lookout, which changed its logo this year, says the underlying rationale for change has more to do with where a company is headed. A logo change also requires updates to a company's product line and mission statement, Tan says.

Twitter hires stock admin ahead of expected IPO

Twitter hires stock admin ahead of expected IPO
Twitter hires stock admin ahead of expected IPO
SAN FRANCISCO -- Twitter, whose management has denied IPO plans, has hired a stock administration analyst.

Twitter's stock administration analyst formerly handled stock grants to meet the "IPO deadline" at troubled games maker Zynga, according to her profile on LinkedIn. Such a job position suggests Twitter is moving forward in plans to manage the allocation of its restricted stock units ahead of a planned IPO.

The micro-blogging service has been the focus of attention around speculation that the startup will go public in early 2014.

Top Twitter executives and its founders have remained dismissive around questions regarding its IPO, offering few hints. CEO Dick Costolo has outright said the company is not focusing on an IPO. And co-founder Jack Dorsey, who sits on the board and runs Square, has told Bloomberg that Twitter is "not even thinking" of an IPO.

The company inadvertently showed its hand in its bid for an initial public offering with a job posting for financial reporting manager, spotted Monday by USA TODAY. That job position was intended to find somebody to help with the company's S-1 and handle quarterly earnings reports. Twitter quickly had the job posting removed.

Twitter's offering is expected to be the biggest consumer Internet IPO splash since Facebook's in May 2012.

Talking Tech: 5 cool photo tools on Google+

Talking Tech: 5 cool photo tools on Google+
Talking Tech: 5 cool photo tools on Google+
VENICE BEACH, Calif. — More photos are shared every day on Facebook, the most-used social network, than anywhere else on the Web. So what do you do when you're the No. 2 social network trying to gain traction against Facebook? If you're Google+, you try to outdo Facebook on photos, offering more tools and enhancements to make images look larger and prettier. Most important, G+ lets you download your photos in top resolution, which Facebook won't do.

While Facebook has more than 1.1 billion members, Google+ is one-fifth the size, with 190 million members. Facebook says more than 300 million photos are uploaded daily. Google won't reveal photo stats for its social network.

But the Internet giant has added several new features to G+ this year, says Kate Cushing, a product manager for Google. In case you missed them, here are five cool photo tools and features on Google+.

• Auto backup. With the G+ app for Android or Apple devices, you can automatically back up your camera phone photos. Just download the app, click on the "auto backup" tab in the settings, and every photo you take with the mobile device will be instantly uploaded to Google+. The photos are uploaded privately. Log into your G+ account and you can then create galleries, add tags and descriptions, and share them both on the social network and via e-mail. "If you lose your phone, you won't lose your pictures," says Cushing. "You can always get them back, because they're in the cloud." (Apple has a similar feature, iCloud, but it only works with Apple devices.)

(Reader alert: Google offers 15 gigabytes of free storage, which can quickly fill up if you take tons of photos — especially if you add in pictures from your high-resolution digital SLRs and point-and-shoots. Camera phone photos are offered at unlimited storage, but only in "tablet resolution." In other words, Google resizes your camera photos to smaller resolution unless you specify otherwise.)

• Auto enhance. In 2012, Google bought beloved Photoshop plug-in maker Nik Software, a favorite among professional photographers for its tools to pretty-up images. Nik's tools have been built into G+ to auto-enhance with improved color saturation and clarity. "We look for shots where maybe the lighting wasn't right, maybe a vignette would make it look nice," says Cushing. You have the option of undoing the auto tools and showcasing the picture without the enhancements.

• GIFs and panoramas. You've seen those animated photos online known as GIFs? G+ turns your series of pictures (such as multiple photos of two kids dancing) into GIFs that can be posted on the network. It also automatically creates panoramas of scenic shots. (This is an auto-only feature. You can't do it manually in G+.)

• Highlights. You go on a trip, shoot 1,000 photos, and Google creates a highlight showcase. "We look for photos where people are smiling, where everybody is included, and we put them up top, so you don't have to scroll through and sift through them."

• Search. Google is known for search, and it's bringing those tools to Google+ for going through your complete online photo library. Beyond typical actions such as searching for photos of your family (Mom, Jimmy, etc.) or vacations (New Zealand, San Francisco), Google throws in advanced queries for subjects you wouldn't expect to be searchable, such as "red" (photos that include red sunsets, red tablecloths and the like), "wine" (pictures with wine bottles) and "skies."

"It's a fast way to find photos you've taken," she says.

'New York Times' publisher says paper is not for sale

'New York Times' publisher says paper is not for sale
'New York Times' publisher says paper is not for sale
The New York Times is not for sale, the paper's publisher, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., says.

"Will our family seek to sell the Times? The answer to that is no," said Sulzberger, who is also chairman of The New York Times Co., in a statement to employees Wednesday night.

"The Times is not for sale, and the Trustees of the Ochs-Sulzberger Trust and the rest of the family are united in our commitment to work together with the Company's Board, senior management and employees to lead The New York Times forward into our global and digital future," he said in the statement, which the Times provided USA TODAY.

In the wake of Monday's purchase of The Washington Post by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos — and the New York Times Co.'s sale of The Boston Globe to Boston Red Sox owner John Henry — media watchers been speculating on which major paper would be the next on the block. "There has been much speculation and understandable concern about what this could mean for us," Sulzberger said in the statement.

MEDIA SHAKEUP: Year of media deals could be gearing up for more

"We were all taken by surprise on Monday afternoon with the announcement of the Graham family's decision to sell The Washington Post," the note to employees continues. "Surprise probably doesn't cover it; we were stunned. We have spoken to Don Graham, and he reiterated to us his desire to put The Washington Post into the hands of someone who he and his family believe is best positioned to help it grow and thrive and compete in the global and digital marketplace.

"It's sad to see a great American newspaper family like the Grahams depart from the Post, a publication for which we at the Times have much affection and common ground," it continues. "While the Times will continue to compete with them for the big story, we hope for the sake of quality journalism and an informed citizenry that Jeff Bezos will continue the tradition of excellence that the Grahams achieved in their eight decades of stewardship."

Sulzberger noted that the Times' digital subscription model, which requires readers to pay for online articles after reading 20 in a month, "set the standard for the industry and put us on the path forward," he said. "The Company is profitable and generates very strong cash flow, which we believe makes us perfectly able to fund our future growth. The Times has both the ideas and the money to pursue innovation."

Ask Matt: Is Facebook overvalued at $38?

Ask Matt: Is Facebook overvalued at $38?
Ask Matt: Is Facebook overvalued at $38?
Shares of Facebook rallied more than 30% on the release of the news. The stock has finally busted above its $38 a share initial public offering price of more than a year ago.

Are shares overpriced at $38 a share? To find out, investors can examine the company's PEG ratio. The PEG ratio compares a company's P-E ratio to its expected growth rate. A PEG over one indicates the stock isn't exactly a bargain.

Facebook is expected to earn an adjusted profit of 71 cents a year in 2013 and post an average annual revenue growth rate of roughly 23% over the next five years. That gives Facebook a PEG ratio of 2.3, well above what makes a reasonably priced stock. That might be why even the average Wall Street analyst is calling a price target on Facebook at $37 a share.

More strategists join the growing '1700 Club'

More strategists join the growing '1700 Club'
More strategists join the growing '1700 Club'
At the start of the year, Wall Street's so-called "1700 Club," didn't have a single member. But that was before the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index zoomed past 1500 and 1600 on its way to its record-breaking run past 1700 last week.

Today, seven top stock strategists have joined the club, whose membership requirements include being bullish on stocks and owning a 2013 year-end price target of 1700-plus for the benchmark index. All the founding members have boosted prior lower targets to keep pace with the sizzling stock market of 2013.

The club's first member was Tony Dwyer, strategist at Canaccord Genuity. Back in March, he raised his target to 1760 from 1650. (In late July, he expressed confidence in his 2014 target of 1955, a 16% leap from Wednesday's close of 1691, after "busting" some market "myths," including one that says the market is "already up too much," and "it is too late to buy.") Dwyer remains bullish, as he thinks economic growth and inflation numbers are too low for the Fed to start pulling back on its market-friendly bond-buying program this year.

The club's most-bullish member, however, is Tom Lee. On July 26, JPMorgan's chief U.S. equity strategist raised his market outlook for the second time this year, bumping up his target to 1775 from 1715. That equates to further gains of 5%.

Other Wall Street firms that have joined the 1700 Club include Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Stifel Nicolaus, Credit Suisse and Oppenheimer. Of the 17 firms whose S&P 500 price targets are tracked by Bloomberg, 15 have boosted their market outlooks this year, but a dozen still have current targets below 1700.

Lee told USA TODAY that his bullish call is "less about the market's momentum" and "more about the economy's momentum."

Says Lee: "We are seeing signs of a U.S. acceleration." He cites as evidence a better-than-expected July reading on U.S. manufacturing, a drop in the number of Americans filing for weekly unemployment benefits and a decline in the unemployment rate to 7.4%, its lowest level since December 2008.


What could spoil the party?

A sharper-than-expected slowdown in China and a "policy" mistake this fall involving U.S. lawmakers, he says. But the bull won't be killed off until the next recession, Lee adds, which he sees few signs of now.

One Wall Street strategist who has no interest in joining the 1700 Club is Gina Martin Adams, equity strategist at Wells Fargo Securities. Her year-end target for the S&P 500 is 1440, about 15% below current levels and the lowest on the street. Her models show an economy that simply is not picking up enough steam to enable Corporate America to make as much money later this year and next as bulls believe. With Fed stimulus set to be reduced in coming months, the economy and corporate earnings will face a fresh headwind.

Tesla shares soar on earnings surprise

Tesla shares soar on earnings surprise
Tesla shares soar on earnings surprise
Tesla Motors shares put the pedal to the metal on Wednesday in after-hours trading following results that show the company's revenue is growing better than forecasts and profit that blew past expectations.

Shares of Tesla jumped 14% to $153.20 in trading after it reported results. Year to date, the stock has soared 300%.

The auto maker, led by founder Elon Musk, reported net income of $26.3 million, excluding one-time items, that handily beat expectations for a loss of $18.9 million. That comes after it posted its first profit ever in its previous quarter, defying skeptics that it could become profitable.

Tesla delivered earnings per share of 20 cents, ahead of forecasts for a loss of 19 cent per share.

Revenue came in ahead of expectations, at $401.5 million, suggesting the auto maker's growth plans are on track.

CEO Musk, founder and chairman of SolarCity as well as CEO of SpaceX, has grabbed the auto industry's attention with his focus on on-board computing in Tesla cars and advances in battery technologies.

"The automaker's long-term goal of producing a high-volume, low-cost electric car is the next big hurdle, but for now they seem to be firing on all non-existent cylinders," says Kelley Blue Book analyst Karl Brauer, .

TRANSIT IDEA: Tesla touts 'hyperloop' tech

Musk also has ambitious plans for building out Tesla's network of charging stations with plans to expand nationwide by 2015. If that weren't enough, the busy CEO is developing robotic battery-changing prototype stations that could get cars in and out in minutes for about $50. The other option is a fast-charging wait for a charge that is free at Tesla's growing network.

Tesla watchers were fine-tuned to its earnings report for any signs of the auto maker's advances on these fronts or slips in expectations. The auto industry will continue to be watching its unit sales to gauge its growth and whether its risky bet on a charging network is proving possible on such a time table. Investors are also closely watching Tesla's guidance on its premium-targeted gross margins.

"We feel pretty confident about the 25% number," said Musk on a conference call of the company's progress toward the target.

Analysts had predicted the auto maker would report sales of 5,000 cars in the quarter. "I think they'll come in higher by about 10%," says Ben Kallo, analyst with Robert W. Baird & Co.

Tesla beat expectations on its closely watched number of cars delivered, with 5,150 cars moved for the quarter.

"We improved our production rate by 25% from 400 to almost 500 vehicles per week," Tesla said in its earnings statement.

Tesla was expected to report a loss of $18.9 million in net income compared with a loss of $93.2 million in the same period a year ago, according to the survey of estimates from Thomson Reuters.

Analysts were bracing for Tesla to report a revenue slide in the quarter. Analysts expected second-quarter revenue of $383.4 million -- way up from the $26.65 a year ago -- compared with the previous quarter's $561.8 million in revenue.

Usher's ex gets post-accident custody hearing

Usher's ex gets post-accident custody hearing
Usher's ex gets post-accident custody hearing
UPDATE: Following a serious accident in a pool, TMZ reports that Usher's ex, Tameka Foster Raymond, has filed documents in Fulton County, Ga., asking for custody of their two boys, Usher V ("Cinco"), 5, and Naviyd Ely, 4.

And now, she's going to get her day in court.

The Associated Press reported on Wednesday night that a judge has scheduled an emergency custody hearing for Friday. The court filing says the 5-year-old boy "suffered a near-death accident" while left unsupervised in a pool at the Grammy winner's home on Monday.

Foster Raymond claims that her pop star ex, who appeared on The Voice earlier this year, is absent because of work most of the time and has delegated his parental duties to others.

Usher's ex wants temporary primary custody of the boys because she claims the caregivers he has in his home are not doing an adequate job with her sons.

MORE: Details about the accident

In a statement Wednesday night, Usher said he's "blessed and fortunate" that his son is recovering.

"I am overwhelmed by the outpouring of prayers, love and support for my family's well-being. I would like to thank my Aunt Rena as well as the doctors and nurses who are working with us around the clock," he said in a statement issued through a spokeswoman and reported by AP. "I would especially like to thank the two men who saved my son's life, Eugene Stachurski and Ben Crews. They are true heroes and I am deeply grateful to them."

On Monday, Cinco reached into a pool drain to retrieve a toy and got stuck. The elder Usher's aunt, Rena Oden, who was supervising the boy, went in to rescue him but it wasn't until three other adults intervened that he was freed and then rushed to a hospital. Cinco is expected to make a full recovery.

The 911 call made during the accident was released Tuesday.

"I need an ambulance," says the breathless caller in the audio clip.

"My nephew was in the pool ... and I couldn't get him ... I couldn't get him..." says Oden. "Oh..."

The dispatcher urges her to "stay with me" and to "breathe."

RELATED: Pool-related injuries are not uncommon

The aunt says, "They're doing CPR on him now." Two male employees working at the house were able to free the little boy.

"Is he coming around?" she can be heard asking someone else.

"He's breathing," she says.

Five questions for ex-MTV VJ Kennedy

Five questions for ex-MTV VJ Kennedy
Five questions for ex-MTV VJ Kennedy
Ready for a dose of '90s nostalgia? Kennedy, a former MTV VJ, has written a memoir, The Kennedy Chronicles: The Golden Age of MTV Through Rose-Colored Glasses (Thomas Dunne), in which she lays out the scandalous, celeb-infused experiences of her past that will, for better or worse, be embedded in pop-culture history forever. The L.A. radio personality, 40, spoke with USA TODAY's Lindsay Deutsch about regrets, nostalgia and why she loves the '90s.

1. You were young, irreverent, and even voted most hated VJ. Do you have any regrets?

No. That's the time to do it. I was young. I was 20. I wasn't worried about my brand. I just wanted to make the most of the experience, and that's what I did.

2. What would you say is your proudest moment, and the one that still gives you a lump in your throat?

My proudest moment was also my most impulsive and least thought-out. That was licking the mike in front of the mayor of New York (Rudy Giuliani) in front of a live crowd at the VMAs (Video Music Awards) in 1994. The crowd had been booing, and I totally got everyone on my side.

3. Is it weird being out of the spotlight for so long and now seeing headlines like how you almost lost your virginity to Michael Jordan?

It's fun. It's seems so far away in the distant past. And people are telling me about their crazy experiences, too, so there's a lot of emotional corroboration. There are some crazy stories. It's not that I feel detached, but that it's pristine.

4. Why write a memoir now?

We're in a really nice pocket for '90s nostalgia. People who grew up then are at an age where they're looking back to the not-too-distant past. We all have to be reminded of how awesome the '90s were. They're the forgotten decade.

5. Who inspired you?

I love the Motley Crue memoir. I think Vince Neil is a great writer. I actually spoke with him before I started my book, and at the tail end, he gave me some wonderful advice. His style is very personal, but he's also a very clear thinker.

In 'The White Queen,' the royalty gets medieval

In 'The White Queen,' the royalty gets medieval
In 'The White Queen,' the royalty gets medieval
Can't get enough about the royal Windsors and their progeny? Take a look at the triumphs and traumas of their medieval predecessors when the lavish costume drama The White Queen lands Friday (9 p.m. ET/PT) on Starz.

It's not just about royals behaving badly; it's about royals throwing out every rule in the Good Book they claim to follow. It's royals lying and scheming, stealing and torturing, loving and hating. It's about blood, lust and tears, all in the same family.

You think the Windsors and the fictional Lannisters had their problems? Meet the Plantagenets and Tudors, Yorks and Lancasters, the royal cousins whose struggle for the throne soaked England in blood in the second half of the 15th century.

"Men go to battle. Women wage war," reads the tagline for the 10-part series (which also airs Saturday), a British production filmed in the gloriously antique canal city of Bruges across the channel in northern Belgium.

Queen stars Swedish-born beauty Rebecca Ferguson, 29, as the title character, Elizabeth Woodville, and Max Irons (son of Jeremy) playing her king, the impulsively lustful Edward IV.

"The exercise of power by men is a familiar story, (but) women have to exercise it in their own individual and subtle ways," says Philippa Gregory, the English historian whose best-selling novels about the women of The Cousins' War (The White Queen, The Red Queen and The Kingmaker's Daughter) were adapted as the basis for the series.

As with earlier pay-cable British costume dramas (The Tudors and The Borgias), this series has lots of sex and nudity and deals with such topics as incest and rape, child marriage, child pregnancy and child murder, torture and taxes and near-constant warfare, plus plague and a dash of witchcraft.

"Getting (naked) in front of loads of people is always nerve-wracking and embarrassing the first time you have to do it,"says a laughing Irons, 28, in a phone interview from London.

So how much of The White Queen is true? Quite a lot. But as usual, British viewers have gleefully pointed out language and costume anachronisms, such as a few stray zippers on the clothes.

Gregory is unperturbed. "There are thousands of costumes, and these had to be made in modern fabrics and dyed in modern colors, but they look fantastic and authentic if you're not peering trying to find a zipper," she says.

Max Irons, Rebecca Ferguson 'The White Queen'
Max Irons as Edward IV and Rebecca Ferguson as his queen in 'The White Queen' on Starz, starting Aug. 10.(Photo: Starz)
Besides, an absolutely accurate adaptation is not necessarily the best approach, even if full documentation of the medieval period were available.

"A really good movie is going to have different criteria (from a novel or a work of history)," she says. "You're always bound to feel ambivalent but I really, really like what's been done with it."

Gregory's mission and that of the series is to highlight the compelling stories of medieval royal women who led dramatic, shocking, tragic lives — suitable for cable TV — that even the British know only vaguely, never mind the Yanks.

There's Elizabeth Woodville, the beautiful "commoner" from a Lancaster family who snags the York king when he spots her on the side of a road as he rides past. There's her "frenemy" Lady Margaret Beaufort (Amanda Hale), a Lancastrian heir driven to madness, fanaticism and paranoia by her horrifying childhood (forced pregnancy at 13), who plots to put her own son on the throne.

There's Elizabeth's sister-in-law, Lady Anne Neville (Faye Marsay), daughter of the "kingmaker" Earl of Warwick (James Frain of The Tudors), who becomes the Princess of Wales and eventually queen but ends up her father's pawn and another victim of The Cousins' War. Plus, Oscar nominee Janet McTeer plays Elizabeth's French mother, Jacquetta Woodville, a politically savvy survivor who believed herself to be a spell-casting descendant of a river goddess.

Original films falling flat with summer moviegoers

Original films falling flat with summer moviegoers
Original films falling flat with summer moviegoers
Elysium has the kind of pedigree that screams summer blockbuster: a nine-digit budget, Oscar-winning stars and a young director who was nominated for an Oscar with his last original screenplay, 2009's District 9.

The sci-fi thriller, starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster and directed by Neill Blomkamp, opens nationwide Friday and would seem poised for box-office success. But this season has been brutal on originality. And as much as moviegoers claim they want fresh stories, they are plunking down less money on them than ever and embracing sequels, remakes and spinoffs instead.

A Gannett/USA TODAY analysis of more than two decades of summer box-office receipts finds that Hollywood has never been more derivative. Among the top 20 summer films dating to 1993:

• Original films accounted for just 39% of box office from 2003-12, down from 65% in the prior 10 years.

• So far this summer, original stories account for just 30% of ticket sales.

• Original movies accounted for less than half (47%) of the top summer releases from 2003-12, down from 70% the decade prior.

This summer has been particularly stingy with big-budget original films. The $135 million animated comedy Turbo has mustered just $70 million. Pacific Rim, the $190 million monster movie, has done $94 million. And the $150 million White House Down remains in the red with a box office haul of $72 million.

Wheeler Winston Dixon, professor of film studies at the University of Nebraska and author of several books on Hollywood, says studios and fans share equal blame for the dearth of new stories.

"Films today routinely cost $100 to $200 million, and with that kind of money at stake, who has time for originality? It's much safer to bank on a profitable franchise."

And Dixon places viewer blame squarely on the shoulders of fanboys — particularly those who have made San Diego's Comic-Con a pop media Woodstock.

"Filmmaking today seems driven by the Comic-Con fan base, and that's the sure sign of the kiss of death for anything even remotely out of the ordinary," he says, noting the genre's dependency on serialized writing. "Comic-book movies have moved to the mainstream, displacing more thoughtful, adult fare."

But Robert McKee, a screenwriting lecturer whose character was portrayed in the Nicolas Cage film Adaptation, says the criticism of sequels is film "snobbery."

Sequels "have always been around," he says. "Homer's Odyssey is the sequel to The Iliad. Shakespeare turned sequels into trilogies. Audiences love sequels because they get hooked on a character like Odysseus in the first story and want to enjoy him again and again."

More importantly, he says, "hits don't steal audiences from other films. No one who would have seen The Place Beyond the Pines went to see Iron Man 3 instead. If they liked good movies, they saw both."

That will be the ultimate measure of the $115 million Elysium.

"Original story or not, this could be big," says Jeff Bock, vice president of Exhibitor Relations. "It has a hot director and puts Matt Damon against the world, a role fans love. Stars still go a long way in this business."

Matt Damon's 'Elysium' is grimly enthralling

Matt Damon's 'Elysium' is grimly enthralling
Matt Damon's 'Elysium' is grimly enthralling
With its scorched Earth and brave new world themes, Elysium (***out of four; rated R; opening Thursday in select cities and Friday nationwide) is decidedly more thought-provoking than most big-studio summer fare.

Director Neill Blomkamp's dystopian sci-fi thriller is absorbing, stylish and well-acted. But it doesn't fully realize its fascinating premise, or live up to the promise established by Blomkamp's riveting last film, 2009's District 9.

Set in 2154 after an apocalyptic event, humanity is divided along the lines of haves and have-nots. The 1 percenters live on Elysium, a sparkling, perfectly manicured orbiting space station modeled after the world's most luxurious havens. The masses eke out an existence on a ruined, teeming, polluted Earth. Horrible poverty, rampant crime and widespread sickness prevail. In contrast, Elysium denizens all have sumptuous homes equipped with state-of-the-art healing pods in which people are re-atomized and cured of all injuries and infirmities.

Emigration is impossible, as enforced by Secretary of Defense Delacourt (Jodie Foster), a power-mad head in a helmet of lacquered blond hair.

The only person who can level the disparities between the two worlds is the not-so-mad Max (Matt Damon), an Earth dweller who lives in a vast, bombed-out slum formerly known as Los Angeles. On the job at a prison-like factory, Max suffers a life-threatening injury that impels him to risk all and get to Elysium. He takes on a perilous mission in which he goes up against the ruthless Delacourt and Kruger (Sharlto Copley), a sadistic mercenary.

Miraculously, Max retains a sense of humor and human decency even though his existence could not be grimmer. Damon is perfectly cast as Max. Ever likable, he's terrific as a reluctant hero driven by despair and inherent goodness. Many of the people he lives among are Spanish speakers, and Damon is convincingly bilingual. In contrast, those living on Elysium speak French. Such subtleties are wonderfully intelligent touches.

Max re-connects with his childhood best friend Frey (Alice Braga), a nurse at an impoverished hospital and the mother of a critically ill young girl.

Bound for Elysium, Max is fused with a metal casing that turns him into a kind of walking computer. He's joined on the mission by good pal Julio, soulfully played by Diego Luna. Their passage has been arranged by Spider (Wagner Moura), the leader of an underground rebel group. Max has struck a perilous bargain with Spider. Before boarding the flight he must download crucial information from the brain of a multimillionaire CEO (William Fichtner).

District 9 was captivating from start to finish. Elysium is a sporadically engaging tale, as well as a potent commentary on immigration and health care policies. The striking production design by Philip Ivey, who has re-imagined Earth as one massive shantytown, is vividly immersive.

There is, however, a missing component: Delacourt and President Patel (Faran Tahir) are the only Elysium residents given names. But they, like everyone else there, are essentially cardboard cutouts. Foster plays Delacourt in one megalomaniacal note. Even some sympathetic Earth residents are not multi-dimensional. A sense of fully drawn contrasting lives (not just lifestyles) would have improved a compelling concept.

Blomkamp knows how to create scenarios that seem frighteningly plausible. With all its promise and smarts, it's a shame that the film ultimately degenerates into a good-guy-vs.-crazed-villain scenario.

Husband-and-wife team introduce kids to 'Martin & Mahalia'

Husband-and-wife team introduce kids to 'Martin & Mahalia'
Husband-and-wife team introduce kids to 'Martin & Mahalia'
The husband-and-wife team of Brian and Andrea Pinkney have collaborated on about 20 illustrated books for children, mostly about African-American history.

But until Andrea, the writer, mentioned it a few years ago, Brian, the illustrator, didn't know that Mahalia Jackson, the Queen of Gospel, sang at the March on Washington nearly 50 years ago on Aug. 28, 1963.

"Everyone knows about Dr. King's 'I Have a Dream' speech," Brian says in an interview with his wife. "But how many people know that Mahalia Jackson was also there?"

They will now if they read the Pinkneys' latest book, Martin & Mahalia: His Words, Her Song (Little Brown, for readers 6 and up), whose release is timed to the anniversary of the march.

It's a perfect project for the couple, whose motto could be "His Pictures, Her Words."

"Martin and Mahalia were two vocal giants," Andrea says. "Their voices — his sermons, her spirituals — influenced so many others."

Andrea, 49, grew up in Washington, D.C., hearing stories about the march from her father, Philip Davis, who, as one of the first black interns in Congress, attended the march along with 250,000 others.

"My mother also wanted to go," she says, "but she was eight months pregnant with me."

That same day, Brian, now 51, was celebrating his 2nd birthday in Boston, where his dad, Jerry Pinkney, was designing greeting cards before going on to a career as a children's book illustrator. (He won the Caldecott Medal for the best picture book in 2010 for The Lion & the Mouse.)

Andrea, who has two teenage girls with Brian, remembered that her dad and other marchers were given maps as part of an "Organizing Manual." She found a copy, and it serves as the framework for Brian's watercolors in Martin & Mahalia.

Andrea's opening lines in the book suggest a march: "You are here./Let the map lead the way./Let the dove fly ahead./On the path./To the dream./To the words./And the songs."

Brian says his watercolors contrast his two subjects by "employing blues and greens for Martin, red and oranges for Mahalia, and purples and magentas when Martin and Mahalia blend their talents."

From history books, Andrea learned that Jackson met King in 1955 during the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott, which launched his civil rights crusade.

In 1963, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, she was the lead-in for King, singing the gospel classic I've Been 'Buked, and I've Been Scorned.

She also influenced King's speech, which famously soared beyond his prepared text. Based on several history books, Andrea writes that Jackson, who had heard King speak many times before, "called out to her friend, 'TELL THEM YOUR DREAM, MARTIN!' " And he did.

The book ends by noting that after King was assassinated in 1968, Jackson sang Take My Hand, Precious Lord at his funeral. And when Jackson died in 1972 at age 60, King's widow, Coretta Scott King, delivered an eulogy at her funeral, praising Mahalia "for being black and proud and beautiful."

Ashton Kutcher, Josh Gad premiere 'Jobs' in New York

Ashton Kutcher, Josh Gad premiere 'Jobs' in New York
Ashton Kutcher, Josh Gad premiere 'Jobs' in New York
NEW YORK -- Hubris, or a heck of a career move?

It certainly takes confidence to play one of the most revered, iconic entrepreneurs in recent history, as Ashton Kutcher does in Jobs. As the title of the film indicates, he's Apple founder Steve Jobs, the technology prophet who died on Oct. 5, 2011, from pancreatic cancer.

The film, opening Aug. 16, also stars Josh Gad as Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and was feted at a special screening Wednesday night at the Museum of Modern Art.

What would Kutcher ask Jobs if he could have dinner with him?

"Nothing," said Jobs.

He was kidding. "Steve Jobs was a brutally honest guy. He just wanted you to be better at whatever it was. I'd try to explain to him the things that I'm trying to achieve and get his honest feedback. And I think he, unlike most people, wouldn't be afraid to tell me."

In other Kutcher news, as his divorce from Demi Moore drags on, he's been getting very hot and heavy with adorable actress Mila Kunis. And the new season of his CBS series Two and Half Men premieres on Sept. 26.

Gad, meanwhile, said his home really is full of Apple products. As for his first major tech splurge: "When I was about 25, I did an episode of ER. I got a MacBook Pro. I thought I was going to be rich. I wasn't," he says.

Larry David plays loss for laughs in HBO's 'Clear History'

Larry David plays loss for laughs in HBO's 'Clear History'
Larry David plays loss for laughs in HBO's 'Clear History'
Long hair and a beard may disguise Larry David, but they can't hide his personality.

The Curb Your Enthusiasm star briefly takes on the aging hippie look in HBO's Clear History (Saturday, 9 p.m. ET/PT), his comedic film about a man whose humiliating past catches up with him.

David plays Nathan Flomm, a Silicon Valley electric-car company executive who gives up his job — and 10% of the company — in a petty tiff, only to see the company become a billion-dollar entity after his departure.

A decade later and looking like Larry David again, he's living a low-key lifestyle as a new man, Rolly DaVore, in Martha's Vineyard when circumstances threaten to unmask him.

David, who had heard about an Apple executive who sold his shares before the company took off, was intrigued by the idea of a man losing so much.

"I just put myself in that position, and I wondered what would have become of me. How do people handle something like that?" says David, joined by director Greg Mottola (Superbad) for a discussion about the movie.

DaVore is beloved, which is not usually the case for David's persnickety character in HBO's Curb, but he does have the kinds of pet peeves familiar to David fans, such as a frustration with low-lying electrical outlets, a distaste for birthday e-mails and an obsession with silverware cleanliness at a local restaurant.

"I am playing a version of myself — in different circumstances," David says. "Putting on the hair and the beard was different. That was not pleasant but fun, in a way, to act in that. But the character? Not far from me, not a huge stretch."

As for whether his style of humor, which draws big laughs even as it creates awkward tension, can make viewers uncomfortable, he says, "If you hit upon truth, people relate to that. If you say things people are thinking, they'll generally laugh. ... It's not uncomfortable to me."

David attracted a varied cast for the film, including Jon Hamm, who plays his former boss, Kate Hudson, Bill Hader, Philip Baker Hall, Michael Keaton, Danny McBride, Eva Mendes, Amy Ryan, J.B. Smoove and Liev Schreiber. The actors were working with a detailed outline, but the dialogue is improvisational, as on Curb.

"I think there was a little bit of a concern that the acting styles would clash a little bit," but they didn't, Mottola says. "Once you start improvising, it's sink or swim. You're thrown in, (but) these are all smart, inventive people."

Going in, David did not know the improvisational abilities of some of the cast members, because they didn't audition. "Here, a lot of it was blind faith," he says. "What surprised me was how good everybody was."

The movie features the music (and band members) of Chicago, who played along with a joke about sex with groupies. "They're not a band you'd expect to have those interactions with their fans," Mottola says.

David, a co-creator of Seinfeld, says (as usual) that he's undecided about whether he will do a ninth season of Curb, . though he appreciates fan interest in the show.

"I'm just very flattered by it. I don't know if I'm going to do any more, and I don't like the idea of disappointing people, but we have done eight seasons, and there comes a point in any series where it has to end. I know people were very disappointed when Seinfeld ended, but they got over that, and they'll get over this."

Whether or not he does another season of Curb, he'll be working on something.

"Even though I'm a Jew, I guess you could say I have a Protestant work ethic," he says. "I don't know what I would do. I have to (work)."

A closer look at why child obesity rates may be falling

A closer look at why child obesity rates may be falling
A closer look at why child obesity rates may be falling
Statistics out last week from the CDC's 2013 Breastfeeding Report Card show that more than three out of four U.S. mothers (77%) tried to breast-feed their newborns in 2010, up from 71% a decade earlier. Rates were highest in Idaho (91.8%) and lowest in Mississippi (50.5%). Experts cite regional differences in culture and workplace policies that support breast-feeding as the reason for the gap.

According to the report, based on a national telephone survey of more than 8,000 parents and caretakers of small children, the percentage of infants still breast-feeding at 6 months increased to 49% in 2010 from 35% in 2000. The percent still breast-feeding at 12 months rose to 27% from 16% in 2000.

A number of studies have found that breast-feeding has health benefits, including that breast-fed babies are less likely to become overweight.

"One of the things that breast-feeding does, besides the possible chemistry that may affect obesity, is that it teaches babies how to eat right and how to stop eating when they're full, instead of when their mother thinks they're full. So I'm not surprised at all that the report mentioned breast-feeding," says Gail Herrine, an obstetrician/gynecologist at Temple University Health System in Philadelphia.

"With formula, because it's so expensive, the mother makes a bottle, doesn't want to waste any, and tries to get the baby to take it all in." That sets the stage for teaching children to "stop eating when they're stuffed," Herrine says, "not when they're full."

In spite of the increase in breast-feeding rates, there is still concern that infants are not breast-fed as long as recommended. The American Academy of Pediatrics advises exclusive breast-feeding for about the first six months of a baby's life, followed by breast-feeding in combination with the introduction of complementary foods until at least 12 months of age. Then, breast-feeding can be continued for as long as mutually desired by mother and baby.

NUTRITION

The government's Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) is now more in line with the updated dietary guidelines than in the past. The program promotes whole fruits and vegetables instead of juice, which has more sugar, lower-fat milk and breast-feeding.

Even with the improvements in programs such as WIC, it's still a challenge to follow good dietary advice when you're on a limited budget, says Lawrence Cheskin, associate director of the Johns Hopkins Global Center for Childhood Obesity in Baltimore.

"We can talk all we want about eating more fresh fruits and vegetables, but fresh fruits and vegetables are relatively expensive for the amount of calories that they provide, particularly out of season," he says. "And unfortunately, the cheapest foods are often the ones most likely to provide too many calories and too much fat."

Thomas Robinson, director of the Center for Healthy Weight at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital in Palo Alto, Calif., says several other factors may also be contributing to a decline in child obesity. Schools are serving healthier lunches and taking junk food out of vending machines, he says. Some children's hospitals also are not serving fast foods or sugary and sweet beverages. And restaurants' menu labels, which include caloric information, may help parents make decisions about what to order and how often to eat there, he adds.

"All those changes add up," says Robinson, a professor of pediatrics at the Stanford University School of Medicine. "They are changing the environment, which makes it easier for parents to help feed their kids in a healthy way."

Southern California wildfire explodes, 3 injured

Southern California wildfire explodes, 3 injured
Southern California wildfire explodes, 3 injured
LOS ANGELES -- A fast-moving wildfire exploded in size soon after it ignited Wednesday afternoon, burning some homes and forcing the evacuation of dozens of families in Riverside County west of Palm Springs.

The fire burned an estimated 5,000 acres -- or nearly 8 square miles -- in four hours after it began shortly after 2 p.m. PT, said Daniel Berlant, spokesman for Cal Fire, the state department of forestry and fire protection.

"It has been a very fast moving fire,'' Berlant said. "It exploded this afternoon, really due to the fact that conditions are critically dry across California.''

The fire was uncontained as night fell, and smoke from burning chaparral and other brush choked the air in Palm Springs, the desert resort town about 20 miles to the east of the burning area.

Three people were injured. One civilian was burned and airlifted to a hospital, U.S. Forest Service spokesman John Miller said. Two firefighters were also injured, but details were unavailable, Miller said.

State fire spokeswoman Julie Hutchinson said the wildfire near Banning was blocking the highway escape route of some residents who were told to shelter in place. Deputies who were trying to help them evacuate were also forced to remain.

It was not clear how many people were involved. Hutchinson said officials were trying to assess how they are doing.

The Desert Sun of Palm Springs reported multiple structures had burned. One man, Dave Clark of the Twin Pines community, watched as his house was consumed by flames while the homes of nearby neighbors were spared.

Fire officials ordered the evacuation of three communities: Poppet Flats, Twin Pines and Silent Valley. Video images from TV news helicopters showed several structures burning. Berlant said the evacuation affected several dozen homes.

An evacuation center was established at a high school in the town of Hemet.

State highway 243, which connects the city of Banning on the desert floor with nearby mountain communities, was closed. The fire was in dry, hilly terrain about 85 miles east of Los Angeles.

Boys killed by python died from asphyxiation

Boys killed by python died from asphyxiation
Boys killed by python died from asphyxiation
Authorities on Wednesday planned to remove other animals from the pet shop, though Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Alain Tremblay said the 4.3-meter (14-foot) python had been kept inside the apartment. Police are treating the deaths in Campbellton, New Brunswick, as a criminal investigation.

Tremblay said the snake was housed in a large glass enclosure that reached the ceiling of the apartment and escaped through a small hole in the ceiling connected to the ventilation system. He said the snake made its way through the ventilation system, the pipe collapsed and the snake fell.

The friend of the boys was sleeping in another room and was unharmed.

The pet store owner, Jean-Claude Savoie, has told a television station that he didn't hear a sound and discovered the "horrific scene" when he went into his living room on Monday morning.

Police said the snake was killed by a veterinarian. It was sent for a necropsy to confirm the type of snake and help understand what may have caused it to attack.

Anne Bull, a spokeswoman for the New Brunswick's Natural Resources department, said the African rock python is not permitted in the province and said the department had no knowledge of the existence of the snake prior to this week's tragedy.

Bull said the department has obtained a search warrant for the store and said a number of exotic animals were discovered while police were investigating.

"If we discover any illegal exotic animals, they will be seized and efforts will be made to relocate them to accredited zoos," Bull said in an emailed statement.

Reptile expert Bry Loyst, curator of the Indian River Reptile Zoo in Ontario, said the New Brunswick government has asked him for help in removing animals from the pet store and taking them to accredited zoos elsewhere in the country.

Loyst said police told him it wasn't the first time that the python had escaped. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Const. Julie Rogers-Marsh said she could not confirm that because she had not heard that.

Paul Goulet, founder and co-owner of Little Ray's Reptile Zoo in Ottawa, said snakes don't recognize humans as a source of food, but if the children smelled like animals, it could explain an attack.

"If a snake sees an animal moving, giving off heat and smells like a goat, what is it? It's a goat," Goulet said.

Friends: Murder suspect had crush on missing teen

Friends: Murder suspect had crush on missing teen
Friends: Murder suspect had crush on missing teen
Friends of a missing California teenager say the 40-year-old man wanted for the suspected murder of her mother and possibly her brother had a crush on the girl.

James Lee DiMaggio is the subject of a nationwide manhunt after the bodies of 44-year-old Christina Anderson and an unidentified child were found Sunday night in his burning house in Boulevard, Calif., 50 miles east of San Diego. DiMaggio was a close friend of the family and known as "Uncle Jim."

The California Highway Patrol has issued a statewide AMBER Alert for Anderson's 16-year-old daughter, Hannah, and her 8-year-old son, Ethan, who are missing. Authorities are still determining whether the second body found in the ashes of DiMaggio's home, about 5 miles from the Mexican border, is the boy's or another child.

Oregon and Washington also issued statewide alerts for them Wednesday.

The Texas-born DiMaggio is wanted on suspicion of murder and arson in a search that began in Southern California and has spread to Mexico and neighboring states.

The CHP said that DiMaggio was believed to be driving a 2013 blue, four-door Nissan Versa, with California license plates 6WCU986, and that he may be heading to Texas or Canada.

A possible sighting of the vehicle in southern Oregon on Wednesday afternoon, near the Modoc National Forest, turned out to be a false alarm. DiMaggio's friends described him as an avid camper.

At the request of the CHP, the Oregon State Police issued an AMBER Alert. The initial San Diego County AMBER Alert was upgraded Monday night, using California's statewide cellphone network for the first time.

Brett Anderson, Anderson's husband and the children's father, flew from Tennessee to San Diego on Tuesday and pleaded with DiMaggio to release his daughter, saying, "You've taken everything else."

"Jim, I can't fathom what you were thinking. The damage is done," he said Tuesday night outside San Diego County Sheriff's Department headquarters after being interviewed by investigators.

He also appealed to Hannah, saying he loves her very much and "if you have a chance, you take it. You run. You'll be found."

Authorities said DiMaggio had a "close platonic relationship" with Christina Anderson, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Her father, Christopher Saincome, said he had seen DiMaggio two or three times and described him as a good friend of his son-in-law.

DiMaggio was like family to the children, who called him "Uncle Jim." But Hannah's friends said he had recently expressed different feelings for the teen.

"He said he had a crush on her, but didn't mean it in an intimate way," 15-year-old Marissa Chavez toldThe San Diego Union-Tribune. "He said, 'If I was your age, I'd date you.'"

New cellphone AMBER Alerts rattle Californians

New cellphone AMBER Alerts rattle Californians
New cellphone AMBER Alerts rattle Californians
That was what Californians were debating after their sleep was interrupted Monday night when millions of cellphones erupted in screeching, buzzing mayhem that many didn't know their devices were capable of.

The AMBER Alert was a replay of what New Yorkers, Georgians and others across the country have experienced this year.

AMBER Alerts started going to cellphones in January, part of a broader Wireless Emergency Alert System that can also send imminent-threat alerts for natural and man-made disasters, and alerts from the president. A cellphone user can opt out of the first two but not presidential alerts.

Ninety-eight percent of cellphone owners are signed up for the alerts — even if they don't know it. Most newer cellphones are automatically set up to receive them. Alerts can be turned off by contacting the service provider or changing the phone's settings.

The alert Monday was California's first AMBER Alert sent statewide to cellphones, issued in the case of James Lee DiMaggio, who is suspected of abducting two children after their mother was killed.

When an alert is triggered, a message goes from a government agency to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which verifies it, then sends it on to Verizon, Sprint and all but a few small carriers. Cellphones in the target area where the alert applies get a loud beeping alert and vibration.

It's that noise that has people such as Brant Walker, 33, of San Francisco, opting out.

"The alerts are really annoying," he said. "I've gotten probably eight to 10 of them over the last few days. There is no warning. You could be in a car rocking out to music with the stereo all the way turned up and the alert just overrides it and gives you a really loud, audible siren noise."

"They certainly have the right to opt out, but we hope they don't," said Bob Hoever of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. "Finding a missing child is like finding a needle in a haystack. The more eyes and ears you have out there, the smaller that haystack becomes."

The messages are meant to be disruptive. The unique signal and vibration are intended to show urgency and make sure people with hearing or vision problems get it, said Brian Josef, assistant vice president for regulatory affairs of CTIA-The Wireless Association, which represents cellphone companies.

"Our hope is that they don't opt out. It's no exaggeration that these alerts literally save lives," Josef said. "We have always urged that they be sent judiciously and sparingly, and we not have 'car alarm syndrome,' where people disregard the alert."

"The alerts help us get information right out to the public," said Fran Clader, spokeswoman for the California Highway Patrol, which sends AMBER Alerts. The people out on the roads, they are the eyes of California's law enforcement. When there is a child in danger, we need everyone looking for them."

Clader said the department got complaints and praise for the alert Tuesday on its Facebook page and other social media.

"Some people were startled because it came in the middle of the night, and we certainly understand that, but if there is any opportunity someone might see the car and call law enforcement, we need to take advantage of that opportunity," Clader said. "Lives are at risk here."

"They are a great idea, but the deafening beeps and overriding settings need to be addressed," said Sandy Fiehrer, 52, of Dublin, Ohio, who has gotten several alerts. "There are a lot of situations where your phone needs to be silent. When you are sleeping, at the doctor's office, especially driving — those abrupt loud sounds could be dangerous."

Powerball numbers selected as jackpot nears $450 million

Powerball numbers selected as jackpot nears $450 million
Powerball numbers selected as jackpot nears $450 million
DES MOINES (AP) -- With almost $450 million on the line, the nearly nationwide lottery Powerball game picked a set of winning numbers Wednesday: 05, 25, 30, 58, 59 and Powerball 32.

Lottery officials estimated the jackpot at $448 million. The allure of all that money had players in a buying frenzy Wednesday, further confirming a trend that lottery officials say has become the big ticket norm: Fatigued Powerball players, increasingly blasé about smaller jackpots, often don't get into the game until the jackpot offers big bucks.

Meghan Graham, a convenience store worker from Brookline, Mass., has purchased nearly a dozen Powerball tickets in recent months thanks to the huge jackpots, and the third-largest-ever pot was enough reason to buy again.

"The more it keeps increasing, that means nobody is winning ... a lot of people are gonna keep buying tickets and tickets and tickets and you never know, you just might get lucky if you pick the right numbers," she said.

A recent game change intended to build excitement about the lottery increased the frequency of huge jackpots, and Wednesday's jackpot drawing comes only a few months after the biggest Powerball jackpot in history — a $590 million pot won in Florida.

With a majority of the top 10 Powerball jackpots being reached in the past five years, lottery officials acknowledge smaller jackpots don't create the buzz they once did.

"We certainly do see what we call jackpot fatigue," said Chuck Strutt, executive director of the Multi-State Lottery Association. "I've been around a long time, and remember when a $10 million jackpot in Illinois brought long lines and people from surrounding states to play that game."

Tom Romero, CEO of the New Mexico Lottery and chairman of the Powerball Group, agreed.

"Many years ago, $100 million was really exciting and people would immediately buy more, occasional players would start buying," he said. "Then the threshold was $200 million. Now, we see here in New Mexico, we're approaching the $300 million mark."

The revamp of Powerball in January 2012 changed the price of a ticket from $1 to $2, a move that upped the chances of the game reaching a major jackpot. There was a loss in the number of players, but the new game — which also created more chances to win smaller, $1 million and $2 million prizes — has brought in 52% more in sales, Strutt said. Sales were $5.9 billion in the fiscal year that ended in June.