John Galliano invited to return to fashion two years after anti-Semitic rant

John Galliano has been invited to return to fashion for the first time since an anti-Semitic rant at a Paris cafe was captured on video.

Oscar de la Renta invited Galliano to spend time in his studio over the next three weeks, according to a statement released Friday by de la Renta's company.

Galliano was dismissed as creative director of Christian Dior and left his own label two years ago after his rant went viral. A French court also convicted him on two other complaints of anti-Semitic behavior.

In a statement, Galliano said he is an alcoholic and has been in recovery for the past two years.

AP

John Galliano

"Several years prior to my sobriety, I descended into the madness of the disease. I said and did things which hurt others, especially members of the Jewish community. I have expressed my sorrow privately and publicly for the pain which I have caused and I continue to do so," he said. "I remain committed to making amends to those I have hurt."

De la Renta said he has known Galliano for years and is "a great admirer of his talent."

"He has worked long and hard on his recovery and I'm happy to give him the opportunity to reimmerse himself in the world of fashion and reacclimate in an environment where he has been so creative," de la Renta said in a statement.

The statement did not elaborate on what role if any Galliano might play in de la Renta's business. Galliano said he was grateful and humbled by the invitation.

The saga of Galliano's undoing began with run-ins at a Paris watering hole where fellow diners contended the designer showered them with a litany of racist and anti-Semitic insults. Video posted online showed an inebriated Galliano slurring "I love Hitler," among other incendiary remarks.

Although Galliano's remarks would not be punishable in the U.S., France has strict laws aimed at curbing anti-Semitic and racist language. The laws were enacted in the decades following the Holocaust.

Galliano's extravagant, theatrical collections drew inspiration from far-flung cultures like Kenya's Massai people and the geishas of Japan and his proud rooster-like post-fashion show strut had long been a thing of legend.

Galliano's own namesake label, now designed by Bill Gaytten, was presenting its menswear collection in Paris on Friday.

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Venture investments decline sharply in 2012

NEW YORK (AP) – A new study shows that funding for business startups declined in 2012, the first time that's happened in three years, as venture capitalists spent less money on fewer deals.

Capital intense sectors like clean technology and life sciences were among the hardest hit, according to the MoneyTree study released Friday. The study was conducted by PriceWaterHouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association, based on data from Thomson Reuters.

Startup investments fell 28 percent to $3.28 billion, compared with $4.57 billion a year earlier. There were 267 deals in all, a decline of more than 23 percent.

In Florida, the drop was much steeper. In 2012, investments fell 41 percent to $202.9 million, compared to $346.3 million in 2011. there were 34 deals in Florida in 2012, compared to 55 in 2011.

The trailing investments and declining number of deals continued into the final quarter.

San Francisco's SquareTrade Inc., which provides electronics warranties, snatched the biggest round of funding in 2012 – $238 million.

Nancy Dahlberg of the Miami Herald contributed to this report.

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Mayor Gimenez appoints new Miami-Dade fire chief

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez named a new county fire chief Thursday, the same day current chief William “Shorty” Bryson announced his retirement.

Dave Downey, an assistant fire chief in charge of operations, will take the helm of the largest fire department in the Southeast on Feb. 2. Bryson’s retirement, which was expected, takes effect Feb. 1.

Downey, 49, a Fort Lauderdale native who became a firefighter for the city of Sunrise in 1982, has been with the county’s fire rescue department since 1988.

“I’ve enjoyed my 30 years in the fire service, and I think this is a natural progression,” he said. But, he added, “This is not something I had planned for.”

Gimenez appointed Bryson, a longtime, trusted friend, shortly after he became mayor in August 2011, with an eye on looming union negotiations.

“We had a lot of battles,” Gimenez recalled at a news conference Thursday. “I wanted to get somebody that was going to help me.”

Two months later, the county reached a tentative contract agreement with the firefighters’ union that avoided the steep cuts other bargaining units faced while offering savings by reducing overtime.

The mayor, a former firefighter and fire chief for the city of Miami, lavished praise on Bryson, 61, whom he has known since the two joined the city’s fire department in 1975. Bryson was the fire chief when Gimenez was the city manager; when Gimenez was elected county mayor, he brought Bryson out of retirement to seek the union concessions and streamline the department, which has a budget of about $370 million and nearly 2,500 employees.

This time around, Gimenez said he wanted to elevate someone from inside the department to the chief’s job. He tasked Bryson to groom his successor.

The mayor touted Downey’s years of service, experience teaching public safety courses at local universities and involvement in the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s urban search-and-rescue program. Downey’s new salary has not yet been set. His current salary is about $164,000; Bryson’s salary was $185,000. Downey’s appointment must still be approved by the county commission.

Downey said he hopes to lower response times across the county and step up service, particularly in neighborhoods in northeastern, western and southern Miami-Dade.

“As our tax base increases, we still have a lot of areas of the county that are underserved,” he told The Miami Herald.

Rowan Taylor, president of the International Association of Firefighters Local 1403, gave high marks to Bryson, saying he was able to resolve union grievances. The number of new grievances filed has also gone down, Taylor said.

And the rank-and-file is pleased that the new chief is being promoted from within the department.

“He is someone who has worked his way through the ranks up to assistant chief and now fire chief,” he said. “We’ve had a good working relationship with him.”

Gimenez has yet to name a successor for former Miami-Dade Police Director James Loftus, who retired early last August. Gimenez acknowledged that it has taken him longer to make that decision, and said he had expected Loftus to stay longer.

“He kind of left a little bit before we thought he was going to leave,” he said.

The department is being overseen by assistant police directors Naim Erched and J.D. Patterson.

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AT&T Offers $100 Off HSPA+ Nexus 7 for a Limited Time

The Nexus 7, made by Asus in partnership with Google, was the first really successful Android tablet that wasn’t made by a bookseller. It brought the hundreds of thousands of games and apps on Google Play (formerly the Android Market) to a wide audience, and it did so at an unheard-of price point: Only $ 199, for a device packing a Tegra 3 processor which made it much more powerful (and better for gaming) than Amazon‘s Kindle Fire.

When the Nexus 7 launched, it was Wi-Fi only and had as little as 8 GB of storage space. Google and Asus have fixed both of those problems, and from now until Feb. 14, AT&T is offering $ 100 worth of credit towards your wireless bill with the purchase of a new Nexus 7 and the signing of a two-year wireless contract.

The tablet itself

The Nexus 7 isn’t designed as a book-reader, but is more of a competitor to the iPad Mini. It lacks exclusive Amazon services like Amazon Instant Video, and many of the best iPad games and apps either aren’t available for it or aren’t available yet. It has far more games and apps for it than the Kindle, though, and can actually read Kindle books and run games and apps that you previously bought for the Kindle.

Its Tegra 3 processor allows it to play “THD”-enhanced games, which are roughly comparable in graphics quality to modern iPad or Xbox games. Finally, the model that AT&T is offering a discount on has both HSPA+ (a slower version of 4G) wireless Internet and 32 GB of storage, a combination which costs $ 559 on a similarly palm-sized iPad Mini. The Nexus 7 is only $ 299, and that’s before the $ 100 credit.

AT&T’s plans

The cheapest plan available is the $ 10 Mobile Share plan, which allows you to add the tablet to a plan that you already have. The next cheapest is AT&T’s $ 15 plan, which offers only 250 MB per month — okay for occasional email and web surfing, but completely inadequate for streaming videos regularly. Its $ 30 plan offers 3 GB of data, which still won’t stand up to constant Netflix viewing but will hold up much better than the $ 15 one.

What else is there?

The iPad and iPad Mini are also available (and much more expensive) from AT&T, as is a new Lenovo IdeaTab. It’s available for $ 199 off-contract and $ 99 on a two-year contract, but it’s not as fast or powerful as the Nexus 7, can’t play the same games, and has much less storage space.

Finally, if you like the Nexus 7 but aren’t sure you’ll still want it in two years (especially since the hardware is half a year old already), AT&T offers month-to-month wireless plans, which can be canceled at any time without paying an early termination fee. You just won’t get the $ 100 discount unless you sign a two-year contract.

Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.

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1600 Penn Exclusive Clip

1600 Penn has already revealed how difficult mundane tasks become when you're The President's son, and in tonight's all-new episode, we learn just how difficult dating is for Skip.

RELATED - 6 Best New Shows of 2013

Although, it remains unclear how much of his romantic inability is because of who Skip's dad is and how much is because of who Skip is!

Check out ETonline's exclusive sneak peek of tonight's all-new 1600 Penn, airing at 9:30 p.m. on NBC.

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Good catch! Cops deliver baby at Yankee Stadium subway station

Richard Garcia

Cops and EMT personnel assist in the delivery of a baby at a transit district 11 police station near the Yankee Stadium train stop.

Special delivery!

Cops helped deliver a healthy baby boy this morning in a Bronx subway station, authorities said.

Tamika Snipe, 21, was on her way to the doctor when her water broke sometime after 10 a.m. near the Yankee Stadium stop on the 4-train, police said.

"She had some pain. The contractions got worse, so she got off the train. A woman came in and said the woman's water broke and she was in labor,” said NYPD Lt. Sylvia Mendoza, 32.

Chad Rachman

The officers brought the woman to the transit district 11 police station inside of the 161st station and called an ambulance, cops said.

"The mother said the baby was coming. She felt the head coming out. Two female officers assisted the mother, took off her pants and shoes and the baby was crowning," Mendoza said.

The lieutenant stayed on the line with EMS and relayed verbal directions to the delivering officers.

Baby Maxwell was born at 10:25 a.m. -- minutes before the ambulance arrived.

"I was very happy to see the baby cry. His color was perfect," said a relieved Mendoza.

Both mom and baby were taken to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in stable condition, police said.

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3 Florida Keys hotels make top 25 list

Three lodgings in the Florida Keys have been named among the nation’s top 25 small hotels for 2013 by TripAdvisor, the user-review website.

Marquesa Hotel in Key West came in No. 4. Island Bay Resort in Tavernier came in at No. 7, and Orchid Key Inn in Key West ranked No. 9.

Selections were based on millions of reviews and opinions covering more than 650,000 hotels and collected in a single year from travelers around the world, according to a TripAdvisor news release.

The top 10 in the best small hotels list were, in order:

1) Inn of the Five Graces, Santa Fe, New Mexico

2) Wentworth Mansion, Charleston, S.C.

3) Inn at the Black Olive, Baltimore, Md.

4) Marquesa Hote;, Key West

5) Old Ranch Inn, Palm Springs

6) Best Western Plus Post House Inn, Napa, Calif.

7) Island Bay Resort, Tavernier, Key Largo

8) City Loft Hotel, Beaufort, S.C.

9) Orchid Key Inn, Key West

10) Coast Cabins, Manzanita, Ore.

Jane Wooldridge

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Driver in Rickenbacker Causeway cyclist death to be sentenced

A motorist who killed cyclist Aaron Cohen in a hit-and-run crash on the Rickenbacker Causeway will learn his fate Wednesday.

A Miami-Dade judge on Wednesday afternoon will sentence Michele Traverso, 26, who earlier pleaded guilty for the crash that killed Cohen last February.

The fatality, and a similar hit-and-run wreck in 2010, has renewed calls for increased safety for cyclists and joggers on the popular causeway. Fellow cyclists staged a memorial ride and erected a billboard overlooking Interstate 95 in Cohen’s honor.

Members of Miami’s avid cycling community are expected to be on hand for the 1 p.m. sentencing.

Traverso, driving on a suspended license, struck Cohen and cycling partner Enda Walsh as the two rode in the northbound lanes near the crest of the bridge. Traverso surrendered to police 18 hours after the crash.

Though there were reports of Traverso drinking in Coconut Grove that night, investigators could not prove that his blood alcohol content level was above the legal limit because of the delay in turning himself in.

Traverso pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident involving a death, leaving the scene of an accident with great bodily harm, and driving with a suspended license. He also pleaded guilty to earlier cocaine possession charge.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge William Thomas could sentence him to as little as 22.8 months in prison, and as much as 35 years behind bars.

In May, Thomas told Cohen’s widow, Patricia Cohen, that he would be unlikely to deliver the maximum sentence, although he could consider “20 or 25 years” after hearing from her and Traverso’s own family at a possible sentencing.

The Cohen family is suing Traverso and his father, who owned the car.

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“GameStick” and NVIDIA “Project SHIELD” Consoles-in-a-Controller on Their Way

Both GameStick and NVIDIA’s Project Shield are upcoming game consoles the size of a game controller, which can hook up to a larger display. Both are powered by Android, Google‘s open-source operating system that’s normally used on smartphones and tablets. And both have working hardware prototypes already. But one is a $ 99 Kickstarter project by an indie group, while the other has the backing of two major companies in the PC gaming world — and will probably be a lot more expensive when it comes out.

Here’s a look at two upcoming TV game consoles that you’ll be able to fit in your pocket or handbag.

GameStick: Exactly what it sounds like

Imagine a tiny, rectangular game controller, sort of like a Wii Remote with more buttons and twin analog sticks. On one side is a plastic bump, that when you pull it off it becomes this gadget the size of a USB memory stick that plugs into a TV’s HDMI port. That’s GameStick, and with 19 days left to go in its Kickstarter fund-raiser it’s managed to raise more than three times the $ 100,000 its creators asked for.

GameStick will have 8 GB of flash memory, and a processor capable of handling modern AAA Android games like Shadowgun, plus 1080p video. If you don’t like the controller it comes with, you’ll be able to connect up to four of your own via Bluetooth, or even use your Android or iOS smartphone or tablet as a controller.

Project SHIELD: A controller that can stop bullets

Maybe it can’t literally serve as a shield. But at about the size of the original Xbox’s controller, the “portable” console NVIDIA showed off at this year’s CES sure looks like it can. It’s powered by a next-generation Tegra 4 processor, and features its own built-in 5-inch multitouch screen for gaming on the go. But it can also connect to a TV, and can even stream PC games via Steam’s Big Picture mode, which was designed for controller games.

A not-so-silver lining?

GameStick’s biggest weakness may be its developer support. Its Kickstarter page mentions the hundreds of thousands of Android games out there, but most of those are only on Google Play, which (unlike most of the rest of Android) is proprietary to Google. Time will tell whether its creators can get enough developers to write games for the platform by the time of its planned April launch, or enough gamers to buy games they might already have on their tablets.

In contrast, between full support for the Google Play store and PC game streaming from Steam, Project SHIELD will have thousands and thousands of games, and there will be no need to repurchase titles you’ve already bought from either store. There’s no word from NVIDIA yet, though, on how much its game console will cost or even when it will launch.

Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.

Linux/Open Source News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Anderson Cooper Calls Lance Armstrong 'A Complete Jerk'

Reaction has been swift and harsh since news leaked that disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong confessed in a new interview with Oprah Winfrey that he used performance-enhancing drugs, despite vehement denials throughout his career. Anderson Cooper is the latest to offer an opinion, saying Armstrong's admission proves he behaved "as a complete jerk" for years.

Speaking Wednesday on his talk show Anderson Live, Cooper pointed out that Armstrong was long consistent in his denials despite the large amount of evidence that anti-doping officials had assembled over the years. "I've got to say he was a complete jerk about this for years and years and years," he said.

RELATED: Oprah Calls Lance Armstrong Confession 'Riveting'

"He wouldn't just deny this. He would go after and try to destroy the people who were telling the truth and people who were telling the truth would get anonymous death threats. Even the guy from the anti-doping agency got anonymous email death threats, it's not known who it's from," Cooper said.

He added that early reports about Oprah's interview seemed to indicate that Armstrong was just one of several people doping, while the investigation seems to contradict this. "This is the guy who was the star of the team. And if you read all the reports he pressured and bullied other team members into doping and to go along with him, and if they didn't go along with it they wouldn't be able to stay on the team."

RELATED: Lance Armstrong Agrees to Oprah Interview 

Oprah confirmed Tuesday that Armstrong reversed years of denials to reveal in a new interview to air on her OWN network over two nights beginning Thursday that he used performance-enhancing drugs.

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