The Daily News mobile app surges in popularity and onto New Yorkers' phones

The Daily News app rockets into the top 20 free apps on iTunes after just two days on the market. More than 80,000 users have downloaded the app to be kept in the know on the go.

By News Staff Report / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

The sleek new Daily News app offers more than news, it also features info on and deals for local hot spots.

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Samsung unveils new Galaxy S4 smartphone with touch-free control, 13-megapixel rear camera and dual-shot photo capabilities

Following up the success of the Galaxy S3, the S4 features include the ability to maneuver apps by simply hovering a finger over them, and the power to 'erase' background objects and people from photo. Samsung has not yet revealed the price of the new smartphone, which will be available in 155 countries at the end

By Adam Edelman AND Robert Dominguez / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Thursday, March 14, 2013,

James Keivom/New York Daily News

J.K. Shin, president of Samsung, shows off the new Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone.

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Boeing announces changes to Dreamliner battery system

 

(CNN) -- Boeing spent more than 60,000 hours testing changes to the lithium-ion battery system for the 787 Dreamliner, which has been grounded in the wake of incidents on two planes, the chief project engineer for the project said Friday.

At a news conference in Tokyo, Mike Sinnett said the company "may never get to the single root cause" of the battery issues, which included a small fire on the front of the battery box of a plane that was on the tarmac at Boston's Logan International Airport. He believes improvements to the system will prevent problems.

ground the batteries, which Sinnett said will prevent fires. He said engineers also minimized potential combustion sources in the batteries, and if there were a release of gas from the batteries, the enclosure would keep it from the rest of the airplane and vent it.

There are 50 grounded Dreamliners worldwide, and Boeing has orders for several hundred more.

When the plane returns to the skies, "I plan to fly on the very first flight," Boeing President and CEO Ray Conner said.

The Federal Aviation Administration will evaluate the redesign and must approve it before the Dreamliner can fly again.

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Samsung unveils the Galaxy S IV

 

Hands-on with the Samsung Galaxy S IV

 NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Samsung's Galaxy S IV is here. As expected, it's built to vie for the position of best smartphone in 2013.

How it will compare with Apple's (AAPL, Fortune 500) next iPhone or Google's (GOOG, Fortune 500) future Nexus flagship phone remains to be seen. But after a few minutes playing around with the the Galaxy S IV, it's easy to see how this smartphone could end up in the same conversation.

Here's everything you need to know.
The Guts: The Galaxy S IV sports a five-inch screen with incredibly high resolution. The 1920x1080 pixel display is as good as you're going to find on any smartphone right now (HTC, LG, and Sony (SNE) all have similar displays as well).
But it doesn't feel overly big. The Galaxy S IV's bezel occupies so little space, the smartphone isn't much bigger than its predecessor, the 4.8-inch Galaxy S III.
The quality and design of the Galaxy S IV is definitely a step above its plasticky predecessor. But it's still not on the same level of a phone like the solidly constructed HTC One. One benefit of the Galaxy S IV's plastic shell, however, is that it allows for the phone to be lighter. At 130 grams, Samsung's new device is lighter than many smaller Android phones.

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Federal Reserve approves most bank capital plans

The US central bank has said that most major US banks have strong enough balance sheets to proceed with their plans for payouts to shareholders.

The Federal Reserve signed off the plans of 16 of 18 banks, but rejected the plans of BB&T and government-controlled Ally Financial.
It also asked Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase to modify their plans.
Following the announcement, banks including Bank of America announced share buybacks and dividend payouts.
This follows on from the Fed's annual "stress tests" of the banks' financial health, which it said that all the 18 biggest US lenders had passed except for Ally, the government-controlled rescued former finance arm of carmaker General Motors.
"Now in its third year, the Federal Reserve's review of capital plans provides a regular, structured, and comparative way to promote and assess the capacity of large bank holding companies to understand and manage their capital positions, with particular emphasis on risk-measurement practices," Federal Reserve governor Daniel Tarullo said.
"The Federal Reserve did not object to the capital plans for Goldman Sachs Group and JP Morgan Chase, but required the two institutions to submit new capital plans by the end of the third quarter to address weaknesses in their capital planning processes."
Ally and BB&T though will have to obtain prior written approval from the Fed to make any payouts to shareholders.
The Fed said that JP Morgan and Goldman had been given permission to start raising dividends or share buybacks - but that this would be withdrawn if they didn't submit new capital plans that satisfied the Fed.
Citigroup plans to buy back $1.2bn in stock, while JP Morgan plans $6bn, and Bank of America is to buy back $5bn.

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Facebook buys advertising firm from Microsoft

 

Facebook agreed Thursday to buy Atlas Advertiser Suite from Microsoft as part of an effort to boost ad revenues at the massive social network.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
"Atlas is a leader in campaign management and measurement for marketers and agencies. We believe this acquisition will benefit both marketers and users," Facebook's Brian Boland said in a blog post.
Atlas was part of the aQuantive group acquired by Microsoft, which ended up in a writedown and loss for Microsoft last year.
Microsoft's Dave O'Hara said the deal "will strengthen our existing partnership" with Facebook "for the benefit of both companies and their respective long-term visions."
Facebook has become the world's biggest social network with more than one billion users, but its stock has been hit by concerns about its ability to boost revenues and profitability.
The California group has been working on a number of advertising initiatives for both desktop and mobile Facebook applications.
Facebook shares rose 1.4 percent to end Thursday at $27.25.

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Italy's election leaves country -- and eurozone -- on financial high-wire

Editor's note: Louise Cooper is a financial blogger and commentator who regularly appears on television, radio and in print. She started her career at Goldman Sachs as a European equity institutional sales person and then become a financial and business journalist. She now writes CooperCity.

London (CNN) -- Brilliant minds across the financial world are still trying to work out the implications of the Italian election result.

For the time being, the best answer is that it is probably too soon to tell. After Tuesday's falls, a little stability has returned to markets, possibly because everyone is still trying to work out what to think.

Credit ratings agency Moody's has warned the election result is negative for Italy -- and also negative for other indebted eurozone states. It fears political uncertainty will continue and warns of a "deterioration in the

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