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IN THE NEWS: ELLEN SETS RETWEET RECORD DURING OSCARS TELECAST
LOS ANGELES (AP) — To say the selfie Ellen DeGeneres took during the Oscars ceremony went viral is like saying the flu — is a slight case of the sniffles. During one of her bits as Oscars host last night, DeGeneres asked Bradley Cooper to take a picture with her and several other stars, including Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Spacey, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. DeGeneres said she wanted to set a record — and she managed to do that even before the telecast ended. Twitter confirms the Oscars selfie had been re-tweeted more than one million times. That broke a record set by President Barack Obama with a picture of him hugging First Lady Michelle Obama after his re-election in 2012. All the tweets and re-tweets crippled Twitter for more than 20 minutes; the site sent out an apology for the delay.
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Sound:
<<CUT *014 (03/03/14)>> 00:10 "no lean in"
Ellen DeGeneres, taking a selfie
Host Ellen DeGeneres taking a selfie with stars in the Oscar audience. COURTESY: A.M.P.A.S. ((mandatory on-air credit))
IN THE NEWS: TOKYO BITCOIN EXCHANGE FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY
TOKYO (AP) — The Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange in Tokyo has filed for bankruptcy protection. And the company's chief executive says 850,000 bitcoins have gone missing. The exchange's CEO, Mark Karpeles bowed deeply as he appeared before Japanese TV news cameras — saying a flaw in the Mt. Gox system caused it to lose 750,000 bitcoins from users and 100,000 of the company's own bitcoins. With recent prices, the losses from the unaccounted for bitcoins would amount to about $425 million. The bitcoin seller shut down last week amid accusations it had suffered a catastrophic theft. The case has drawn attention to a currency created in 2009 as a way to make transactions across borders without third parties such as banks.
ON THE WEB: OSCAR RESULTS
CYBERSPACE (AP) — A big night for "12 Years a Slave" and "Gravity." A shutout for "American Hustle." But what about the films, actors, actresses and directors in between — not to mention the makeup artists, sound editors and musicians behind last year's top movies? The Oscars Web site has a complete list of winners, as well as clips from the ceremony last night and backstage video. And, yes, a list of all the winners.
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Online:
Academy Awards site: http://www.oscar.com
IN STORES: SELFIES EXPECTED TO BE SHARPER
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Want selfies that look more like real photos than, say, selfies? This might be the year you'd want to invest in a new smartphone. Samsung has rolled out a much better camera in its Galaxy S5 smartphone. The camera is due out in April — and includes more intelligent camera software. That means the images that they take will be closer in quality to those taken by the more bulky — and expensive — digital single-lens reflex cameras. Selfies have become one of the main ways people share images on sites like Facebook and Twitter. But because the cameras that face the front of the camera aren't as advanced as those that face away from the user, those images are often grainier and not suitable for anything more than selfies. Aside from Samsung, both Sony and Nokia are stepping up their game when it comes to their front-facing cameras.
by Oscar Wells Gabriel II
Oscar Gabriel can be reached at ogabriel@ap.org.
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