Daily News Courier

Nightclub fire ‘like a war zone’

Survivors of a weekend fire in a Brazilian nightclub that killed 233 people recall the moment of horror when a pyrotechnic display set the ceiling alight, prompting a stampede.

Short Circuits and Thermal Runaway involved in Boeing Fire

The NTSB continues an investigation to determine why safeguards failed.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board chairman, Deborah Hersman, said yesterday that the battery that recently caught fire on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner in Boston showed signs of short circuiting and a phenomenon called thermal runaway.

Missile fire — and money top issues in Israel election

The pundits in Israel, the United States and the West Bank have pretty much forecast the winner of Tuesday’s Israeli national elections.

Amazon takes $50 off the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 for Student Prime users

In case you did not manage to score an Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8.9 during the holidays, January might be the perfect time to purchase one for yourself.

The Kindle Fire HD

The Kindle Fire HD delivers a tablet experience many folks will love, but is it the right choice for me? Have a read and see what a total Android nerd thinks of Amazon's latest offering.

Amazon’s new Kindle tablets don’t get the attention that other Android tablets get. Android purists tend to scoff at them, thinking that the operating system being used — a true custom fork of Android 4.0 — is entirely too basic, lacking many of the features and customization settings that stock Android or the more traditional OEM builds like Sense or TouchWiz have.

But simple — and consistent — software has a place. Amazon’s removal of some of the more advanced parts of the Android OS are also part of the reason not much talk goes on about the Kindle Fire HD — it tends to just work, and users have few issues they need to sort out. Amazon has perfected the K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stupid) philosophy of smart devices.

I’ve had both Kindle Fire HD devices here for a while, and have spent a good bit of time playing with the hardware and Amazon’s operating system as shipped. It’s time I put down a few words about them.

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iPad Mini?s Daily Ad Impressions Already Beating Kindle Fire

AppleInsider reports today that just one month after its release, the iPad mini already appears to be going great guns in terms of ad impressions, even beating the Kindle Fire’s figures from last year. The figures come courtesy of Millenial Media, whose study tracked device ad impressions for the first-month sales of the Kindle Fire last year and the iPad mini this year. According to the results, the Kindle Fire saw a 19% daily growth rate in the first month that it was on sale last year, whereas the iPad mini enjoyed a daily growth rate of 28%.

Quote:

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"Every holiday season there seems to be one particular item that stands out as the ‘must have gift’ of the year, and in 2012, early figures lead us to believe that this could be the iPad mini," said Millennial Media SVP of Global Monetization Solutions Matt Gillis. "Truth be told, don’t tell my kids but there are already two sitting under our tree at home."

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Let’s hope that his kids aren’t reading this!

Source: iPad mini ad impressions growing 28% per day, outperforms last year’s Kindle Fire

Amazon

Amazon

3 accused of locking gate in fire

Three managers at a Bangladeshi clothing factory were arrested and accused of locking a main gate of the facility hampering people trying to flee a weekend inferno that killed more than 100 workers, police said.

Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8.9″ Video Unboxing

To be totally honest, when the doorbell rang earlier today and the UPS man handed me an Amazon package, I could not for the life of me recall what I had ordered. It was only when I opened the package and saw the box for the Kindle Fire HD 8.9" within that I remembered pre-ordering one the day it was initially announced over two months ago. 

Phil's Fire HD 8.9" should arrive on Monday and team will take it from there, but in the spirit of the unnecessary yet mandatory unboxing, I fired up the video camera to get one done. Check out the video above to see what's in the box and how it sizes up compared to Apple's iPad. For more information and to order, you can jump over to Amazon.

Tibetans set themselves on fire

Four Tibetans set themselves on fire Wednesday to protest Chinese rule ahead, hours before a key gathering of Communist Party’s leaders in Beijing.