DUST 514, Online Shooter Set in EVE Online Universe, Enters Open Beta

First announced in 2009, CCP Games’ online first-person shooter tie-in to its popular sci-fi MMO, EVE Online, was finally released as an open beta on Tuesday. Called DUST 514, it allows PlayStation 3 owners to play in the same world as EVE Online, fighting ground battles while EVE Online pilots contest star systems. The results of DUST 514 matches affect worlds and in-game corporations in EVE Online, and EVE Online players can even use starship weaponry to bombard the planets DUST 514 matches take place on.

Introducing New Eden

EVE Online and DUST 514 take place in a distant star cluster called New Eden. In a scenario sort of like ” Stargate” meets ” Star Trek: Voyager,” human space explorers found themselves trapped in New Eden, impossibly far from Earth, after using a one-way portal. Many thousands of years later, their descendants have formed completely new nations and ethnicities, and fight each other in space and on the ground over resources or ideology.

The most difficult MMO ever?

Widely regarded as very difficult — a popular infographic depicts EVE’s learning curve as a sheer cliff littered with stick figure bodies — EVE Online is also known for its byzantine politics, which take place completely between players. Player-run alliances sink years into building enormous spacecraft, which can vanish in a single battle or thanks to one person’s treachery.

A study in contrasts

DUST 514 is only available on the PlayStation 3 console, whereas EVE Online is for Windows PCs and Macs. DUST 514 is free to play and has no monthly fee, while EVE costs money to start and up to $ 14.95 per month (although there’s an expensive in-game item which can be used to offset this fee). But perhaps the biggest contrast is the level of commitment required. Instead of managing a whole spacecraft and needing to keep track of where it’s docked, DUST 514 players can just jump into instant battles, and are rewarded with experience and in-game currency each time.

Since the two games were linked together just a few weeks ago, however, EVE Online politics are beginning to affect DUST 514, and groups of players are getting drawn into its conflicts — or being sent by EVE in-game alliances to fight for them.

A work in progress

DUST 514 still bears the “beta” tag, and the end-user license agreement reminds players of this, even pointing out that CCP Games may choose to reset players’ gear and experience points at some time in the future. It has a very limited number of planet environments and only two styles of play, which basically amount to capture the flag and team deathmatch. CCP continues to develop DUST, however, promising that even more content will be available in the future.

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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Oprah's Next Chapter Cissy Houston Interview

As the one-year anniversary of Whitney Houston's untimely passing looms, Oprah sits down with the music icon's mother, Cissy Houston, for her first in-depth, sit-down interview since that tragic day.

"I was a wreck. I was just a wreck," says Cissy of first receiving the news that her daughter was dead on next Monday's Oprah's Next Chapter.

Pics: Remembering Whitney: A Life in Photos

In the interview held at Cissy's New Jersey home, she talks about raising a daughter whose voice became a national treasure, teaching Whitney about the music business -- and her biggest regrets. Oprah also talks to Cissy about when and what she knew about Whitney’s drug use, how she really felt about her daughter’s marriage to R&B singer Bobby Brown and the true nature of Whitney’s relationship with her high school best friend, Robyn Crawford.

Oprah also talks to Whitney's older brother, Michael Houston, for the first time since his sibling's death, and he emotionally reveals the origin of Whitney’s drug use.

Related: Whitney Houston Full Autopsy Report Released

Oprah's Next Chapter airs on Monday, January 28 at 10pm EST/PST on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network.

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2nd suspect arrested in Texas college shooting

HOUSTON — A man suspected in an argument that exploded into gunfire at a Houston-area college was arrested Friday some 250 miles away in a Dallas suburb, authorities said.

Trey Foster, 22, was taken into custody in Plano and has been returned to Houston for questioning, Harris County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Christina Garza said. Foster arrived at daybreak, handcuffed and shackled at the ankles, and was led into the sheriff's office by deputies.

Officials have said at least 10 shots were fired in the incident Tuesday at the Lone Star College campus in north Houston. Three men were wounded, including a maintenance worker who was caught in the crossfire.

Getty Images

Harris County Sheriff Officers work the scene at Lone Star Campus after a shooting occurred on January 22.

According to court documents, an argument broke out after 25-year-old Jody Neal bumped into Foster on campus. About 30 minutes later, Foster and his friend, 22-year-old Carlton Berry, spotted Neal near the doorway to the Academic Building and Foster fired at Neal, who was wounded in the abdomen and leg, the documents said. Neal ran into the campus library and collapsed.

According to the affidavit, Neal told investigators that Foster shot him. Berry, who was shot in the leg, was arrested at the scene, and a manhunt for Foster ensued. Bobby Cliburn, a 55-year-old maintenance worker who was standing nearby, was shot in the leg.

The affidavit does not say who shot Berry and Cliburn.

Both Berry and Foster are charged with two felony counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Investigators were trying to determine whether Berry fired the handgun that was used. He is under police supervision at a Houston hospital and is being held on a $60,000 bond. Berry is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday.

Court documents say Foster is being held on a $50,000 bond and will appear in court Monday.

Arriving at the sheriff's office Friday morning, Foster acknowledged to reporters that he knew Berry but ignored other questions.

Witnesses reported seeing one person flee on foot after the shooting, the affidavit said.

Berry had a Lone Star College ID but officials are still determining whether he or Foster were enrolled at the school. Neal was pursuing his GED. Authorities do not expect to file charges against Neal, the Harris County Sheriff's Office has said.

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Lennar design accommodates multigenerational families

In some cases, it may be Grandma moving in with the family. Other times, it may be a recent college graduate returning to the nest.

For all sorts of reasons — financial, medical, personal — a rising number of Americans are moving into extended family households.

Spotting a niche in the growing trend, Lennar Corp. has launched a new concept tailor-made for multigenerational family living.

It’s basically a house within a house: a smaller living unit next to the main home designed to provide independence but also access to the rest of the family household.

“People are really loving the whole concept,” said Carlos Gonzalez, president of the southeast Florida division of Lennar, a Miami-based home-building giant. “We adapted to the market from a design standpoint.”

In Miami-Dade County, Lennar is selling various versions of multigenerational homes in three new developments in Doral, Kendall and Homestead.

Louis Moreno of Kendall and his wife, Danilza Velez, signed a contract for a large NextGen home in The Vineyards development in Homestead last October — even before the models had been built.

“We loved it,” said Moreno, a 45-year-old engineer.

Moreno said his mother-in-law will be able to use the new suite when she visits, as will his family members who frequently come to town from Puerto Rico. “This will provide them with more comfortable space and more privacy,” he said. He also plans to use it as a game room and entertainment area.

The two-story Zinfandel home Moreno picked has three bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms in the main home with a family room and two-car garage. In addition, it has an ample 789-square-foot suite with two bedrooms, a bathroom and a kitchenette. The suite has its own garage, a separate front entrance and an internal door connecting to the main home.

The Zinfandel, which has 2,249 square feet of air-conditioned space in the main house, starts at $283,990 in the Homestead community at 128 SE 28th Ter., but a similar home in Kendall would run about $100,000 more, primarily because of higher land costs, Fernandez said. (In Doral, there is a NextGen home priced at $677,990.)

Some multigenerational models have suites as small as 489 square feet, but all have a separate entrance, a bedroom, a bathroom and some sort of kitchen space.

The idea takes various shapes. One option at the Kendall Square development at 16950 SW 90th St. is a Granny unit above a detached garage.

“Independence is the key word,” said Frank Fernandez, director of sales and marketing for the southeast Florida division.

Depending on local zoning rules, some homes can have full kitchens, others are restricted to kitchenettes with a microwave but no stove. Similarly, some municipalities permit the space to be used as a rental, others prohibit it.

The choice is proving popular. Fernandez said in The Vineyards development in Homestead, 10 of the 14 homes sold to date are NextGen. At Kendall Square, 35 of 107 sales are multigenerational, and at the Isles at Grand Bay development at 11301 NW 74th Street in Doral, five of 48 houses are.

Adapting homes for special needs, such as wheelchairs and safety railings, is done at cost, Fernandez said: “That is company policy.”

As one of the nation’s largest home builders, Lennar has been rebounding strongly from the housing crash. Last week, the builder, whose shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange, posted better than expected earnings for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended Nov. 30, 2012.

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Jury deliberating fate of caretaker in Rilya Wilson murder case

Jurors on Thursday morning began deliberating in the Rilya Wilson murder case.

Twelve jurors will decide whether caretaker Geralyn Graham is guilty of killing the 4-year-old foster child, then telling a slew of lies to cover-up the child’s demise.

Graham, 67, is charged with aggravated child abuse, kidnapping and first degree murder. She faces life in prison. Jurors retired to begin deliberating at 10:45 a.m.

Defense lawyer Michael Matters, in his final argument Wednesday, ripped the state’s key witness, Robin Lunceford, a convicted armed robber who testified that Graham confessed in jail to smothering the girl with a pillow.

“Every bit of the story she concocted about my client is absolutely unbelievable,” Matters told jurors. “She graduated from prison life with a master in manipulation and a doctorate in deceit.”

Lunceford, an eccentric con who was doing life in prison, testified in exchange for a 10-year plea deal on armed robbery case.

The body of Rilya, whose disappearance sparked turmoil at the Florida Department of Children and Families, has never been found.

Miami-Dade prosecutor Sally Weintraub said Lunceford learned intimate details known only to a few people. That included an episode — backed up by other witness testimony — in which Graham grew angry because Rilya wanted to dress as Cleopatra, not an angel, for Halloween.

“Robin Lunceford is big, loud, aggressive, obscene, in-your-face, unpleasant. The kind of person you might just write off,” Weintraub told jurors. “How you feel about her is not what you have to consider … what the testimony is, the defendant’s words, that’s what you must consider.”

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Taylor Swift Keds Commercial

Taylor Swift is known for her brave outlook when it comes to standing strong in the face of adversity, and now the Grammy-winning songstress is teaming up with Keds to deliver a strong social message to young women – be yourself, experiment, have fun, and embrace being different. Get an exclusive first look at the Keds Bravehearts commercial, and hear Taylor talk about one of the great risks she took in her own life!

Pics: Taylor Swift Channels Rapunzel For Disney Ad

"Time to dip your toe into the deep end. Try things. Say hi already. Laugh a lot. Mess up. Apologize. Mess up again. Hug people. Take chances. Trust yourself. Lose things. Get over it. Hold your friends close," says Taylor in the brand-new ad in which she shares fun times alongside five girls. "Be brave and you'll have the time of your life."

Taylor's new Keds campaign is anchored by Bravehearts.com, a new online destination for all things "brave girls" and Taylor Swift. It's full of exclusive lifestyle and fashion content where girls can be inspired to live fearlessly, define their individual style, showcase moments of bravery, and learn about Taylor's personal story. The girls featured alongside Taylor in the commercial are also featured on the site, sharing their individual stories of strength.

Related: Taylor Swift: 'Part of Me Just Wants To Be Alone'

Taylor herself will also be designing a line of nine styles of Keds to debut in April, and she says, "Style can be something that becomes an artistic expression, and the cool thing about it is you can go through so many phases. … It's such a personal thing. It's your way to be an individual."

Stay tuned to ET for more with Taylor Swift!

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Crazed thief chomps staffer's hand while trying to make off with Jimmy Choos

They’re Jimmy Choos, not Jimmy chews!

A crazed shopper chomped down a store employee’s hand to maintain her grip on a pair of Jimmy Choo boots inside a East Village consignment shop and then bit a cop who tried to arrest her, records show.

Melissa Scott, 28, grabbed a pair of knee-high Jimmy Choos and two scarves and put them inside her red bag inside Cadillac’s Castle on Ninth Street around 12:45 p.m., Sunday, court papers state.

When a clerk spotted the $350 merchandise protruding from the bag and tried to Scott from leaving with the loot, the rabid shoe fanatic bit the employee, records show.

Scott, who has a lengthy rap sheet for theft and assault, bore down so hard that bystanders told cops they were unable to pry the pitbull off.

When cops responded and tried to arrest Scott, she ran until they caught her and then chomped on a cop’s hand, drawing blood, records state.

Scott was charged with possession of stolen property and assault. She also has pending cases in Brooklyn for theft and allegedly stabbing a woman during a dispute in 2009, records show.

kconley@nypost.com

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Miami Dolphins slam Norman Braman, Marlins Park deal

The Miami Dolphins ramped up their public campaign for a tax-funded stadium renovation this week, buying full-page ads against their top critic and trying to distance the plan from the unpopular Marlins deal.

The team bought an ad in Tuesday’s Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald knocking auto magnate Norman Braman’s criticism of the Sun Life Stadium deal, which would have Florida and Miami-Dade split the costs with owner Stephen Ross for a $400 million renovation. The Dolphins would pay at least $201 million, with taxpayers using state funds and a higher Miami-Dade hotel tax to pay $199 million.

In a fact sheet sent to media Tuesday morning, the Dolphins listed ways their deal differs from the 2009 Marlins deal. First: Ross, a billionaire real estate developer, would use private dollars to fund at least 51 percent of the Sun Life effort, compared to less than 25 percent from Marlins owner Jeff Loria. Second, Sun Life helps the economy more than the Marlins park does.

“Just because the Marlins did a bad deal doesn’t mean we should oppose a good deal where at least a majority of the cost is paid from private sources and more than 4,000 local jobs are created during construction alone,” the fact sheet states. And while the Dolphins’ Miami Gardens stadium has hosted two Super Bowls since 2007 and is in the running for the 2016 game, “Marlins Stadium does not generate the ability to attract world-class sports events -- other than a World Series from time to time depending on the success of the team.”

NFL teams play eight home games a year if they don’t make the playoffs, while baseball teams have 81.

Miami and Miami-Dade built the Marlins a $640 million stadium at the site of the Dolphins’ old home at the Orange Bowl in Little Havana. The Marlins contributed about $120 million and agreed to pay between $2.5 million and $4.9 million a year for 35 years to pay back $35 million of debt the county borrowed for the stadium. As a publicly owned stadium, the Marlins ballpark pays no property taxes. Most of the public money came from Miami-Dade hotel taxes, along with $50 million of debt tied to the county’s general fund.

Sun Life is privately owned and pays $3 million a year in property taxes to Miami-Dade. It currently receives $2 million a year from Florida’ s stadium program, a subsidy tied to converting the football venue to baseball in the 1990s when the Marlins played there. The Dolphins also paid for a second full-page ad with quotes from leading hoteliers in Miami-Dade endorsing the stadium plan. Among them: Donald Trump, whose company recently purchased the Doral golf resort. “Steve Ross’ commitment to modernize Sun Life Stadium -- while covering most of the construction costs -- is the right thing for Miami-Dade,’’ the ad quotes Trump as saying.

Also on Tuesday, Ross and team CEO Mike Dee sent a letter to Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and county commissioners requesting negotiations over the stadium deal. The letter said the deal Ross unveiled last week is a “baseline for debate” and asked for talks. The letter also urged the commission to adopt a resolution proposed by Commissioner Barbara Jordan endorsing the state bill that would allow taxes for Sun Life. The resolution is on the agenda for Wednesday’s commission meeting.

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Gov. Scott's teacher pay raises would cost $480 million

TALLAHASSEE --
Gov. Rick Scott says his proposed across-the-board pay raise for all full-time Florida teachers would cost nearly half a billion dollars next year. That would consume all of a tentative projected budget surplus of $437 million.

Scott said his plan would cost $480 million statewide. He declined to say what the percentage pay hike he’s recommending until he unveils the details at a Wednesday afternoon appearance at Ocoee Middle School near Orlando.

"I’ve traveled the state and I’ve talked to teachers," Scott told reporters. "They’re working tirelessly to make sure our students have achievement. I’m very appreciative of what our teachers do."

Scott said he remains supportive of a merit pay plan tied to student progress on standardized test scores. Merit pay became law two years ago but the state has provided no money for it and teachers are challenging it in court.

The governor’s call for an across-the-board pay increase for teachers will be a recommendation to the state Legislature, which writes the annual state budget.

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Three reasons to root for RIM

I have expressed skepticism that RIM (RIMM) will really be able to pull off an epic comeback and reestablish BlackBerry as a legitimate contender with the iPhone and the barrage of Android smartphones that get released every year. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want it to happen. Quite the contrary, I’m hoping that RIM proves all us nasty skeptics wrong, defies the odds and produces a big hit with the BlackBerry Z10 that’s set to be released over the next couple of months.

[More from BGR: As data gets cheaper for Verizon to transmit, customers are paying more]

So why am I rooting for RIM even if I’m dubious of its prospects for success? Three specific reasons come to mind.

[More from BGR: Success with BlackBerry ‘diehards’ isn’t the key to BlackBerry 10′s future]

First, I think the mobile market will benefit from having a third option besides iOS and Android, and it doesn’t look as though Microsoft (MSFT) is up to the task just yet. Sure, Windows Phone devices have started to make some progress in Europe, but in North America the platform’s market share has remained largely flat despite the large piles of money Microsoft is spending to promote it. This gives RIM an opportunity to elbow itself into the discussion in the United States and Canada as a legitimate contender for consumers who have moved on to iOS or Android but who still miss their BlackBerry phones of old.

Second, I think CEO Thorsten Heins has some interesting and ambitious ideas for where he’d like to take the company in the future. Sure, there are times when I can’t tell whether he really has a plan to boldly remake BlackBerry or is just insane, but when I hear him talk about integrating BlackBerry 10 into cars, I am intrigued. Heins is also easy to root for when you consider how well he’s played the thoroughly lousy hand he was dealt when he took over as RIM CEO last year — the fact that he’s generated significant support from both carriers and app developers at a time when it looked like the company could collapse at any moment has been impressive.

And finally, I’ve come to really love RIM’s crazy fans over the past year, even if they don’t like me all that much. Every time I’ve written a post critical of RIM or BlackBerry, they were there to immediately pounce on me, declare me a hopeless “iSheep” and tell me how stupid I’ll feel when RIM emerges triumphant and stomps all over the iPhone and Android. I’m not sure such dedication to a product is emotionally healthy, but it is something I have to respect and I hope that BlackBerry 10 will, at the very least, make RIM’s loyal and long-suffering fans happy.

So now’s the time, RIM. Next week will be your chance to make me look like a fool for ever doubting the power of BlackBerry 10. And for all the reasons I listed above, I hope you take it.

This article was originally published on BGR.com

Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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