UK's O2 apologizes for smartphone problems

The head of mobile phone operator O2 has apologized to customers in the British capital who were unable to make calls after the group's network was swamped by people using smartphones.

In an interview published in the Financial Times newspaper on Tuesday, O2 Chief Executive Robert Dunne said some customers in London had periodically not been able to make or receive calls or transmit data because of pressure on the network from smartphones such as the iPhone.

The network problems in the second half of the year were blamed on increased use of applications by customers with smartphones that repeatedly pull data off the Internet at short intervals.

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Baby talk gets the word out, scientists find

WASHINGTON All that baby talk adults use with infants isn't justsilly cooing - scientists say it appears to be vital in helpingbabies' brains absorb key building blocks of language.

And this high-pitched, drawn-out speech is universal, whetherparents are speaking in English, Swedish or Russian.

University of Washington neuroscientist Patricia Kuhl saysparents unconsciously exaggerate the vowel sounds that every infant -no matter what language he or she ultimately will speak - needs tomaster the phonetic elements of speech.

Kuhl's tape-recordings show mothers speaking in a singsong thatstresses and stretches the vowels. Take the word "bead." People cansay …

Swiss skier Cuche posts fastest time in training

BEAVER CREEK, Colorado (AP) — Didier Cuche of Switzerland has turned in the fastest time in a World Cup downhill training session on the demanding Birds of Prey course.

Cuche finished Tuesday's run in 1 minute, 47.80 seconds, more than a half-second quicker than Adrien Theaux of France. The challenging Beaver Creek course seems to …

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Win tickets for grand prix

Competition The FIM British Speedway Grand Prix at theMillennium Stadium in Cardiff has become one of the biggest eventsin the British motorsport calendar.

And this year's event promises to be more exciting and spectacular than ever before.

The 16 best riders in the world, including Britain's ScottNicholls, Chris Harris and Edward Kennett, will line up in front ofmore than 40,000 fans as they go full throttle to contest the WorldChampionship. It will be a night of top-class sporting action andhigh drama, a night not to miss with 500cc bikes, no brakes andacceleration quicker than an F1 car, racing wheel to wheel - and youcan be there to relish the …

Long-time Parkview Home administrator will be missed

Markham, Ont.

Several hundred people gathered at Rouge Valley Mennonite Church in Markham on Jan. 11 to grieve the sudden death of Joe Nighswander and to celebrate a life well lived. He lived his span of 82 years fully engaged with his family, church and broader community until he passed away in his sleep in the early hours of Jan. 7 at home with his wife Elsie.

Nighswander's active involvement with others was reflected in the comments made by those attending his funeral. Some had sung with him in the choir at Parkview Village the afternoon before his death, others recalled phone conversations and e-mail exchanges. Church members remembered his playful participation in the …

US consumer prices fall again in December

A record plunge in gasoline prices pushed overall U.S. consumer prices down for the third straight month in December, closing out a year in which the change in inflation was the smallest in more than a half-century.

Concerns remain low about possible deflation, but represent a marked change from just six months ago when soaring energy prices threatened to trigger a widening inflation problem that many analysts believed the Federal Reserve would have to fight by raising interest rates.

The Labor Department said Friday that consumer prices dropped by 0.7 percent in December, slightly smaller than the 0.9 percent drop economists expected.

For the …