Police investigating ‘suspicious’ death of elderly woman in Miami home

Police are investigating details surrounding the death of an elderly woman found inside her home near midtown Miami.

Shortly after 4 p.m. Friday, Miami Police officers went to the home of Carmen Diaz, 78, whose adult son decided to visit her after not hearing from her in a few days, according to a news release. When he arrived, he found Diaz dead inside her home of 50 years at 120 NW 34 St.

Miami Police spokeswoman Kenia Reyes said although the death appeared “somewhat suspicious,” the department isn’t releasing details until the county medical examiner determines the cause of death.

WSVN-Channel 7 reported that the adult son found Diaz’s house ransacked and her body wrapped in a blanket in her bathroom.

Police confirmed the house was in disarray, but wouldn’t say if there had been a burglary.

The Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner is currently investigating the scene.

This article will be updated as more information becomes available.

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Twitter, Washington Post targeted by hackers

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Social media giant Twitter is among the latest U.S. companies to acknowledge that it is among a growing list of victims of Internet security attacks, saying that hackers may have gained access to information on 250,000 of its more than 200 million active users. And now, The Washington Post is joining the chorus, saying that it discovered that it was the target of a sophisticated cyberattack in 2011.

Twitter said a blog post on Friday it detected attempts to gain access to its user data earlier in the week. It shut down one attack moments after it was detected.

But Twitter discovered that the attackers may have stolen user names, email addresses and encrypted passwords belonging to 250,000 users they describe as ‘a very small percentage of our users.”

Nonetheless, the company reset the pilfered passwords and sent emails advising the affected users.

The online attack comes on the heels of recent hacks into the computer systems of U.S. media and technology companies, including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Both American newspapers reported this week that their computer systems had been infiltrated by China-based hackers, likely to monitor media coverage the Chinese government deems important.

On Friday, The Washington Post disclosed in an article published on its website that it was the target of a sophisticated cyberattack, which was discovered in 2011. The company’s spokeswoman, Kris Coratti, didn’t offer any details including the duration of the attack or the origins. But according to sources that the paper quoted, who it said spoke on condition of anonymity, the intruders gained access as early as 2008 or 2009.

The cyberattack was first reported by an independent cybersecurity blog on Friday.

“Like other companies in the news recently, we face cybersecurity threats,” Coratti was quoted as saying. “We have a number of security measures in place to guard against cyberattacks on an ongoing basis.”

According to Coratti’s comments made to the newspaper, the company worked with security company Mandiant to “detect, investigate and remediate the situation promptly at the end of 2011.”

Coratti couldn’t be reached immediately for comment by The Associated Press.

China has been accused of mounting a widespread, aggressive cyber-spying campaign for several years, trying to steal classified information and corporate secrets and to intimidate critics. The Chinese foreign ministry could not be reached for comment Saturday, but the Chinese government has said those accusations are baseless and that China itself is a victim of cyber-attacks.

“Chinese law forbids hacking and any other actions that damage Internet security,” the Chinese Defense Ministry recently said. “The Chinese military has never supported any hacking activities.”

Twitter’s director of information security, Bob Lord, said in the blog that the attack “was not the work of amateurs, and we do not believe it was an isolated incident.”

“The attackers were extremely sophisticated, and we believe other companies and organizations have also been recently similarly attacked,” Lord said. “For that reason we felt that it was important to publicize this attack while we still gather information, and we are helping government and federal law enforcement in their effort to find and prosecute these attackers to make the Internet safer for all users.”

One expert said that the Twitter hack probably happened after an employee’s home or work computer was compromised through vulnerabilities in Java, a commonly used computing language whose weaknesses have been well publicized.

Ashkan Soltani, an independent privacy and security researcher, said such a move would give attackers “a toehold” in Twitter’s internal network, potentially allowing them either to sniff out user information as it traveled across the company’s system or break into specific areas, such as the authentication servers that process users’ passwords.

The relatively small number of users affected suggested either that attackers weren’t on the network long or that they were only able to compromise a subset of the company’s servers, Soltani said.

Twitter is generally used to broadcast messages to the public, so the hacking might not immediately have yielded any important secrets. But the stolen credentials could be used to eavesdrop on private messages or track which Internet address a user is posting from.

That might be useful, for example, for an authoritarian regime trying to keep tabs on a journalist’s movements.

“More realistically, someone could use that as an entry point into another service,” Soltani said, noting that since few people bother using different passwords for different services, a password stolen from Twitter might be just as handy for reading a journalist’s emails.

___

AP reporters Anne D’Innocenzio in New York, Raphael Satter in London and Didi Tang in Beijing contributed to this report.

Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Buzzmakers: SAG Winners Pics and Nicole Kidman Explains Jimmy Kimmel Lap Dance

What had ET readers buzzing this week?

1. PICS: SAG Winners with their Statues!

Some of Hollywood's biggest stars gathered Sunday night to honor acting achievements at the 2013 Screen Actors Guild Awards. Anne Hathaway -- winner of the award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role for Les Misérables -- kicks off our gallery of the stars accepting their handsome statuettes!

Click here for all the pics!

2. Nicole Kidman on Her Lap Dance for Jimmy Kimmel

Nicole Kidman raised eyebrows during Matt Damon's Jimmy Kimmel Live! takeover when she greeted Kimmel -- who was strapped to a chair -- with a lap dance. On the SAG Awards red carpet, the Oscar winner explained the move to Nancy O'Dell.

Kidman described the dance as "impromptu," saying that she was just following the lead of another one of the night's guests.

"Robin Williams had done it before, so I thought, 'Well, why not?'" Kidman explained.

For years Kimmel has had a running joke where he ends every episode by apologizing to Matt Damon for running out of time for him. On last week's special episode of the late-night show -- nine years in the making -- Damon recruited some friends (which included Andy Garcia, Sheryl Crow, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, Robert DeNiro, Sarah Silverman, Demi Moore and Oprah Winfrey.

3. Top-Earning 'American Idol' Alums

American Idol is in the business of making music stars, and in turn, has made lots of money for some of their contestants. Forbes released their list of the top-earning Idol alums of 2012 a few names on this list are sure to surprise you.

Click here for the entire list!

4. Jennifer Lawrence Suffers Wardrobe Malfunction

It seemed like disaster for Jennifer Lawrence when her dress came apart just as she was called up to accept the award for Best Actress during the 2013 SAG Awards.

The Silver Linings Playbook star's apparent wardrobe malfunction caught the eye of both Marion Cotillard and Nicole Kidman, whose reaction to the getup coming apart at the seams was caught on camera. No disaster, here, though -- it turns out the dress was designed that way! A source close to designer Dior told ET that the dress did not rip -- that it was made with different layers of tulle and satin.

This minor outfit hitch comes after it was announced that Lawrence, 22, has walking pneumonia, making this one of the best and worst weeks for the award-winning actress.

5. Kris Jenner Lands Talk Show

Are you ready for a daily dose of Kris Jenner?

The TV personality will test the talk show waters this summer when Fox premieres a preview episode of Kris, a one-hour entertainment talk show. "This is something I have wanted to do all my life so it's definitely a dream come true," Jenner said in a statement! "I can't wait for this new adventure to begin and look forward to working alongside Twentieth Television and the Fox Television Stations."

Kris will be rolled out in a similar fashion to how Bethenny Frankel's talk show was last summer, with the network testing the waters to see if there's an audience appetite for more of this famous family. According to a press release, the show will "offer daytime viewers a daily jolt of celebrity guests, fashion & beauty trends; plus a mix of lifestyle topics -- all through the distinctive and unpredictable perspective of Kris Jenner. Filmed in Los Angeles, CA, the pop culture driven talk show will bring a cool blast of fun and high energy to summer television."

The trial run of Kris will launch this summer, with the program available on select Fox-owned stations in markets, including New York and Los Angeles.

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Thousands mourn death of George W. Bush's dog Barney on Facebook

DALLAS — Thousands have offered their condolences via Facebook over the death of Barney, President George W. Bush's beloved black Scottish terrier.

Bush and his wife, Laura, released a statement Friday saying their famous 12-year-old pooch had died after suffering from lymphatic cancer.

"Barney was by my side during our eight years in the White House," Bush said. "He never discussed politics and was always a faithful friend. Laura and I will miss our pal."

The statement was reposted on the former president's Facebook page and had drawn more than 31,000 comments by Saturday morning, all expressing sympathy for the family's loss. The Facebook page also shared a 64-photo gallery of Barney, including George W. Bush's oil painting of the dog. That post had garnered another 8,600 comments.

REUTERS

George W. Bush and Barney in 2003

Barney became an Internet sensation in 2002, when a tiny video camera on his collar offered viewers a dog-level holiday tour of the White House — shuffling from room to room and menacing the Christmas tree. The video drew 24 million online tourists the first day.

Public access to the White House was more restricted in the aftermath of Sept. 11, so first lady Laura Bush sent Barney out to prowl the building with the camera. Barney Cam's 4.5-minute video tour of the mansion decorations was such a hit that his movies became an annual feature for the rest of Bush's presidency.

Later videos later included Miss Beazley, the Bush family's other Scottish terrier, and high-profile cameos by country singer Alan Jackson and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

A burial is planned at the former president's ranch in Central Texas, where Bush says Barney, "a fierce armadillo hunter," loved to accompany him while fishing for bass.

Barney politely greeted heads of state, queens and prime ministers but "guarded the South Lawn entrance of the White House as if he were a Secret Service agent," Bush added.

Barney was the continuation of a Bush family tradition of presidential dogs begun by Millie, the springer spaniel brought to the White House by President George H.W. Bush and his first lady Barbara Bush.

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Miami Beach hotels seek more political clout

When Miami Beach wanted local hotels to scale-back their popular rooftop parties and bars, Alexander Tachmes fought back.

An attorney who has represented Beach hotels on a myriad of issues, he “cobbled” together a group of his hotelier clients and went before the city commission to ask them to curb the proposed rules.

The hotels won.

It was a learning experience, said Tachmes, who came to believe that the Beach needed a permanent group of industry heavyweights to take political action in the face of restrictive city policies.

With that in mind, Miami Beach’s hotel industry is taking on a decidedly political tone by reviving a previously-formed electioneering organization, just in time for election season on the sandbar.

The group is called Hospitality for a Better Miami Beach, and as an Electioneering Communication Organization (ECO), it can raise unlimited money to run ads, send fliers and make telephone calls about political issues. They’ve also created Miami Beach Hospitality Coalition, which Tachmes said will soon be registered as a non-profit.

Behind the organizations are Tachmes and big-name hoteliers Mike Palma, Executive Vice President of Hospitality for Brio Investment Group (which owns the Clevelander) and the Perry South Beach Hotel General Manager Tim Nardi.

“Political clout is something that will help to further the goals of the industry,” Tachmes said.

Hotels already have their interests represented by the Greater Miami and the Beaches Hotel Association and the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. But the association is tax-funded and the visitor’s bureau is tax-exempt, so neither can raise or spend money for political purposes.

Stuart Blumberg, who headed the hotel association for 15 years, thinks the industry has enough clout without having to wade into politics.

“You’re getting a group of hoteliers who’ve decided they want a voice in government. And that’s dangerous,” he said of the ECO.

An outspoken leader, Blumberg often took political stances and faced elected officials — and he often found success.

Blumberg led the charge to exempt pool decks and outdoor patios from a constitutional amendment banning smoking, and pushed to delay the start of the school year so that Florida teens could continue working at local hotels. At a farewell gathering after Blumberg announced his retirement, he didn’t hesitate to take a shot at then-Gov. Charlie Crist, calling him out on a proposed tax increase on car rentals.

“We were able to accomplish a lot of things because we weren’t tarnished by, ‘Yeah, I supported that guy or that guy,’” Blumberg said. “You stand and fall on the merits of an issue.”

Citing the huge impact the tourism industry has on Florida, he added: “We don’t need to spend money to win influence.”

According to state figures, the tourism industry has a $67.3 billion economic impact on Florida.

In Miami-Dade, the accommodation industry accounts for 3 percent of the county’s 1 million non-farm jobs, or about 27,000 positions. The industry also contributes about $1 billion in income a year in Miami-Dade, or about 2 percent of total wages.

With a November election in Miami Beach — in which a majority of the city’s commission seats up for grabs — now is the time to translate economic importance into political prominence, said Palma.

In a city where resident-activists are vocal and plentiful, and where residents are often at odds with party-seeking tourists, Palma said city leaders lately have tilted more in favor of residents rather than businesses

Added Tachmes: “The residents of the city benefit by having a thriving hotel industry...all we want is a seat at the table.”

The electioneering committee was registered last year and is currently not active, according to state records.

Tachmes said the group is in the process of recruiting members — whom he would not name — and creating a board, at which time the group will be re-opened. Members are planning to interview candidates to decide who to support in the upcoming elections.

Wendy Kallergis, president and CEO of the hotel association, pointed out that many of the ECO members are also members of her organization. She doesn’t think the new group will be a competitor.

“We’re not able to do some of the things they can do,” she said. “I think it’s going to strengthen the voice on the Beach.”

Miami Herald staff writer Douglas Hanks contributed to this report.

Follow @Cveiga on Twitter.

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National Urban League to hold 2015 conference in Fort Lauderdale

The National Urban League announced today that Fort Lauderdale edged out nine other cities to attract its 2015 conference.

“There were some strong cities and affiliates,” Rhonda Spears Bell, the senior vice president for the National urban League said Friday during a news conference held at the Urban League of Broward County’s headquarters. “But everything seemed to line up for Fort Lauderdale.”

The organization currently holds a mid-winter conference in Fort Lauderdale every year.

“It’s time to bring the big game,” Bell said.

In the past, the national conference has attracted well known guests such as Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.

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This Week’s Social Media Power Rankings: The Return of Swatch

The social media sphere is an increasingly noisy place, especially for brands. But hiding somewhere in the static are strong signals from companies reaching their customers in innovative ways. The Social Business Index from the Dachis Group provides a (free) real-time ranking of more than 30,000 global brands based on their social performance. Every week we’re taking a tally of who’s getting heard, what they’re saying, and why it matters.

RELATED: This Week’s Social Media Power Rankings: Cisco Has a Warrior

As you can see, there wasn’t much movement in the top 10. But if you look at number 17, you’ll see Diageo had the biggest jump this week. If that name doesn’t sound familiar, it’s the company that owns more familiar brands like Guiness, Johnnie Walker and Ketel One. So props to them and our livers—now let’s look at what happened outside the top 20:

RELATED: This Week’s Social Media Power Rankings: Cheers to Heineken

“Cisco’s rise in the Social Business Index this week was supported by the social efforts behind ‘the world’s largest classroom.’” Lizzie Steen of the Dachis Group told us. What she’s referring to is the  The Cisco Networking Academy— a public/private program that provides technology and career education to more than four million students across 10,000 academies in 165 countries.  And that sounds serious, but as Steen points out, part of its success is there’s an emphasis on fun. Steen writes: 

Two engineers, Ian and Dan, set up two servers and decorated them with flower lights while studying for their certification from Cisco. The photo received more than 1,200 likes and 186 shares from the the site’s 460 thousand fans.  Overall, the CNA page has balanced a dense subject matter with a collaborative and fun posts, making the learning process more global and human.

Swatch proved that it’s never too early to start prepping for Valentine’s Day.  As the Dachis Group’s Joe Pinaire points out, their very popular True Love (has nothing to hide) campaign and its new A la Folie watch contributed to Swatch’s boost this week. “From Taiwan to Chile, the brand has leveraged countless regional Facebook presences to let their fans know the clock is ticking on the seasonal special,” Pinaire told us. “And fans have taken to this messaging, as the brand’s bevy of original and creative photo content has garnered love from around the globe,” he added. That photo content was specified and regionalized for their fans,  featuring pictures of a Spanish store floor redesign promoting the watch and the watch thriving in the hustle of Vienna city-life and the new O’Hare airport store. “Swatch also launched a Twitter contest using their global handle (@swatch), encouraging Belgian, Dutch, English, Spanish, and Swiss fans to declare their #TrueLove (because it has nothing to hide–right?) in exchange for a chance to win the seasonal watch and a travel voucher.” And if there’s something people love more than Valentine’s Day, it’s a free contest.

So, no cheating, but do you know how many Facebook fans Intel and its Ultrabooks have? Over 16.5 million. That also means a lot of social media juice. “Last week, the Ultrabook took in the sights in New York City and Paris. In New York, an Ultrabook posed within view of the inimitable Empire State Building with the caption, ‘Empire State of Mind’, showing off its amazing form factor and the Intel i7 chip that powers it,” the Dachis Group’s Charles Lim told us.  The photo generated more than 130 thousand likes, 1,600 comments and six thousand shares—it’s a photo of a computer people.  Lim explains:

Like car lovers, electronics enthusiasts react positively to photos of gear that they already own or would like to own. This is because electronics, like cars, are aspirational and functional and inspire lust and passion.  It also helped that the photo was a shout-out to the cultural hub of America.  …

These posts are well tuned to a global brand campaign that appeals the traveler, gets local voices involved, inspires contests and instills the notion that the Ultrabook can go anywhere you go.

Methodology: A project of the Dachis Group, a social business professional services group, the Social Business Index analyzes the conversations on social platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and others. The index, which currently covers approximately 25,0000 companies and 27,000 brands, detects behaviors and activities exhibited by these companies and analyzes their execution and effectiveness at driving outcomes such as brand awareness, brand love, mind share, and advocacy. The Atlantic Wire takes a snapshot of the rankings at the end of the day on Sundays.

Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Revenge Sacrifice Sneak Peek Clip

The second season of Revenge has been building towards The Amanda sinking and claiming at least one life -- and when the sudsy ABC series returns on February 10, the doomed voyage commences.

RELATED - 2012's Best Shows

This morning, I received a Shamu-cam straight from "Nolan Ross" and it contained a very exciting video file labeled "Confidential: For Your Eyes Only." But I've decided to risk Emily's wrath by sharing the sneak peek with you right now!

PHOTOS - Revenge Cast Glams It Up in Elle Magazine

Accompanying the flashdrive was a note on NOLCORP stationary. It read:

Ems -

Or should I start referring to you as The Thorne Identity? (ed note: YES!)

Watch this. It's the whale cam video file that goes KA-BOOM! Literally. It self destructs after you watch it. Be extremely careful when activating, and whatever you do, DO NOT let it fall into the wrong hands.

Yours in Revenge,

N

I can trust you, right?

Revenge airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on ABC.

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Energy Secretary Chu steps down after Solyndra scandal

WASHINGTON — Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who won a Nobel Prize in physics but came under questioning for his handling of a solar energy loan, is stepping down.

Chu offered his resignation to President Barack Obama in a letter Friday. He said he will stay on at least until the end of February and may stay until a successor is confirmed.

Chu's departure had been widely expected and follows announcements by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson and Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, that they are leaving.

The White House said no decisions have been made on replacements for any of the environment and energy jobs but said Obama's priorities will remain unchanged. Potential replacements for Chu include former North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan, former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and former Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire.

Obama said in a statement Friday that Chu brought a "unique understanding of both the urgent challenge presented by climate change and the tremendous opportunity that clean energy represents for our economy."

During his tenure, Chu helped move the country toward energy independence, Obama said, citing Energy Department programs to boost renewable energy such as wind and solar power.

"Thanks to Steve, we also expanded support for our brightest engineers and entrepreneurs as they pursue groundbreaking innovations that could transform our energy future," Obama said.

Chu, a former director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, had little political experience before taking the energy post in 2009.

He drew fire from congressional Republicans who criticized his handling of a $528 million federal loan to solar panel maker Solyndra, which later went bankrupt, laying off its 1,100 workers. Republicans said Chu and other Energy Department officials missed many warning signs about problems at Solyndra and compounded them by approving a restructuring of the loan even after problems were discovered.

Solyndra was the first renewable-energy company to receive a loan guarantee under the 2009 stimulus law, and the Obama administration frequently promoted the company as a model for its clean energy program. Chu attended a 2009 groundbreaking when the loan was announced, and Obama visited the company's Fremont, Calif., headquarters the next year.

The company's implosion in 2011 and revelations that the administration hurried a review of the loan in time for the groundbreaking become an embarrassment for Chu and Obama and a rallying cry for GOP critics of the administration's green energy program.

Lawmakers also criticized Chu for approving the plan to restructure Solyndra's debt so that two private investors moved ahead of taxpayers for repayment in case of default.

Chu defended the Solyndra loan during a sometimes testy hearing in late 2011. While calling the ultimate outcome "regrettable," Chu said the loan was subject to "proper, rigorous scrutiny and healthy debate" before it was approved in 2009.

"While we are disappointed in the outcome of this particular loan, we support Congress' mandate to finance the deployment of innovative technologies and believe that our portfolio of loans does so responsibly," Chu said.

The White House said Chu retained Obama's confidence, but Chu was widely expected to leave following Obama's re-election last fall.

In a letter to Energy Department employees, Chu said he was proud of his tenure and cited dozens of accomplishments, including doubling the production of renewable energy from wind and solar power. Installations of small solar electric, or photovoltaic, systems have nearly doubled in each of the last three years, he said, while fully 42 percent of new energy capacity in the U.S. last year was from wind —more than any other energy source, Chu said.

"I came with dreams and am leaving with a set of accomplishments that we should all be proud of," he said.

One of his accomplishments was something that Chu rarely talked about: Obama repeatedly credits Chu with helping to plug the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Chu and a team of engineers helped devised an interim solution before a replacement well permanently plugged the leak, which spewed more than 200 million gallons of oil in the worst offshore oil disaster in the country's history.

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Mompreneur jumps into the ‘Shark Tank’

It all started with a 4 a.m. email nearly a year ago: “Do you think a baby bib could change the world? I do...”

Then Susie Taylor included a link to her website, bibbitec.com, and off it went to Shark Tank, the popular ABC television show where entrepreneurs pitch their companies to investors on the show — and by extension, 7 million viewers.

Four months later, as the “mompreneur” was leaving her Biscayne Park home to pick up her kids from school, she got a call from the show asking her to pitch on the spot. Driving with her phone on her shoulder, she told the Bibbitec story.

Shark Tank bit. After a few more back and forths, her segment was filmed last summer.

Friday night, Taylor is scheduled to be on the show pitching Bibbitec’s main product, “The Ultimate Bib,” a patented generously sized, stain-resistant and fast-drying child’s bib made in the USA — Hialeah, to be exact. Bibbitec’s $30 bib can be a burp cloth, changing pad, breast feeding shield, full body bib, place mat, art smock and more, Taylor says.

We won’t be getting any details on what happens Friday night when she and her husband, Stephen Taylor, get into the tank with Daymond John, Mark Cuban and the other celebrity sharks; Taylor has been contractually sworn to secrecy. But whatever the outcome, she believes it will be worth it for the marketing pop.

Taylor was inspired to create her bib after a long and very messy plane ride with her two young sons and started Bibbitec in 2008. She and her team — her husband is CFO, her sister, Heather McCabe, handles sales and marketing, her uncle, Richard Page, is in charge of production, and her aunt, Marcia Kreitman, advises on design — have expanded the line to include The Ultimate Smock for older children and the Ultimate Mini for babies. Coming soon: a smock for adults.

Taylor already got a taste of what a national TV show appearance can do for sales. In September, Bibbitec’s sales jumped 40 percent after she was on an ABC World News "Made in America" segment. “Within 30 seconds, we started getting sales from all over the country and they didn’t even mention our name on the air,” Taylor says. She said that confirmed her belief that a Shark Tank appearance would be worth it.

Plus, Taylor has been hooked on Shark Tank since the first time she watched it in 2008 as she was developing her product. Trained in theater, she admits she didn’t know much about business and learned from the show. She would practice how she would answer the questions.

“I’m all about empowering women who are sitting on the couch watching, because that’s what I was four years ago,” says Taylor. “All I wanted to do was to be on Shark Tank because I believed if I got on Shark Tank the world will see what I am trying to do and that’s all I need. I know it’s a great product.”

Will that theater training come in handy Friday night? Stay tuned. Shark Tank airs at 9 p.m. on ABC and Taylor hopes viewers will join in on Twitter using the hashtag #sharkbib.

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