At Microsoft, Sinofsky Seen as Smart but Abrasive

On a warm night in late October, Steven Sinofsky stood on a platform in New York’s Times Square, smiling as a huge crowd roared at the unveiling of a Microsoft retail store, where Windows 8 and the company’s new Surface tablet were about to go on sale. Less than three weeks later, Mr. Sinofsky — who, as the head of Windows, was arguably the second-most important leader at Microsoft — suddenly...

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Alzheimer’s Precursors Founds at Earlier Age

Scientists studying Alzheimer’s disease are increasingly finding clues that the brain begins to deteriorate years before a person shows symptoms of dementia. Now, research on a large extended family of 5,000 people in Colombia with a genetically driven form of Alzheimer’s has found evidence that the precursors of the disease begin even earlier than previously thought, and that this early...

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Afghan Warlord Ismail Khan’s Call to Arms Rattles Kabul

Bryan Denton for The New York TimesSupporters of Ismail Khan gathered outside Herat city on Nov. 1. HERAT, Afghanistan — One of the most powerful mujahedeen commanders in Afghanistan, Ismail Khan, is calling on his followers to reorganize and defend the country against the Taliban as Western militaries withdraw, in a public demonstration of faltering confidence in the national government and the Western-built...

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Ads are Invading Gadgets and Apps that You Already Paid For

Most of us are used to seeing ads on stuff that we get for free, like smartphone and tablet apps or online news websites. But you’re probably also used to being able to pay to remove ads, whether by getting the premium version of an app or even upgrading to a new computer that doesn’t have so much garbage on it.As it turns out, this strategy doesn’t work...

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Lakers intrigued by chance to play for D'Antoni

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) — Pau Gasol got home from the game and read about it on Twitter, while Dwight Howard got a midnight message on his BlackBerry. They shared most Los Angeles Lakers fans' mix of surprise, trepidation and anticipation.Just when everybody thought the Lakers were getting back together with Phil Jackson, they switched course in the middle of the night and went with Mike D'Antoni.What...

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False Posts on Facebook Undermine Its Credibility

SAN FRANCISCO — The Facebook page for Gaston Memorial Hospital, in Gastonia, N.C., offers a chicken salad recipe to encourage healthy eating, tips on avoiding injuries at Zumba class, and pictures of staff members dressed up at Halloween. Typical stuff for a hospital in a small town. But in October, another Facebook page for the hospital popped up. This one posted denunciations of President...

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Well: Quitting Smoking for Good

Few smokers would claim that it’s easy to quit. The addiction to nicotine is strong and repeatedly reinforced by circumstances that prompt smokers to light up.Yet the millions who have successfully quit are proof that a smoke-free life is achievable, even by those who have been regular, even heavy, smokers for decades.Today, 19 percent of American adults smoke, down from more than 42 percent half...

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The New Islamists: Tunisia Battles Over Pulpits and a Revolution’s Legacy

Moises Saman for The New York TimesFemale students at the Grand Mosque in Kairouan, Tunisia, a site of anti-Western sermons. KAIROUAN, Tunisia — On the Friday after Tunisia’s president fell, Mohamed al-Khelif mounted the pulpit of this city’s historic Grand Mosque to deliver a full-throttle attack on the country’s corrupt culture, to condemn its close ties with the West and to demand that a new constitution...

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Texans knock out Cutler, beat Bears 13-6

CHICAGO (AP) — The Houston Texans kept taking the ball away from the Chicago Bears. Then, they took their quarterback out of the game.Arian Foster finished with 102 yards rushing and a touchdown catch, and the Houston Texans intercepted Jay Cutler twice before knocking him out of the game with a concussion on their way to a 13-6 victory over the Chicago Bears on Sunday night.In a showdown between...

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Some Parents, Shouldering Student Loans, Fall on Tough Times

Gretchen Ertl for The New York Times“Jenni feels the guilt and I feel the burden.” Michele Fitzgerald, in debt for the loans she took out for her daughter Jenni’s college education. When Michele Fitzgerald and her daughter, Jenni, go out for dinner, Jenni pays. When they get haircuts, Jenni pays. When they buy groceries, Jenni pays. It has been six years since Ms. Fitzgerald — broke, unemployed...

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