President Barack Obama Seeks Greater Power To Shrink The Federal Government

President Barack Obama addresses a campaign event at the University of Illinois at Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, on January 11, 2012
 
President Barack Obama will ask Congress on Friday for greater power to shrink the federal government, and his first idea is merging six sprawling trade and commerce agencies whose overlapping programs can [...]

Did Steve Jobs kill Adobe Flash?

Apple’s Steve Jobs made no secret of his loathing for Adobe Flash Player, banning it from devices like the iPad.

Steve Jobs hated Flash. Hated it. And not just a little bit.
"Flash is a spaghetti-ball piece of technology that has lousy performance and really bad security problems," he said, according to biographer Walter Isaacson [...]

Foreclosures on the rise again

 
The number of foreclosures climbed in October, as mortgage lenders started to work through the paperwork problems that had delayed new filings for much of the last year.
Foreclosure filings were reported on 230,678 properties nationwide in October, a 7% increase from September, reported RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosed properties. [...]

Foreigners’ Sweetener: Buy House, Get a Visa

 
The reeling housing market has come to this: To shore it up, two Senators are preparing to introduce a bipartisan bill Thursday that would give residence visas to foreigners who spend at least $500,000 to buy houses in the U.S.
The provision is part of a larger package of immigration measures, co-authored [...]

Home remodeling hits record in August

Home remodeling is big these days, even in a sour economy. Or maybe because of it.
The BuildFax Remodeling Index released this week showed that August had the highest amount of remodeling since the index started in 2004, and it was the 22nd consecutive month with an increase.
BuildFax estimates that more than 3.3 million [...]

Postage prices go up … again

Snail mail is about to get a little more expensive.
The price of a first class stamp is going up by one cent starting next year, the United States Postal Service said Tuesday.
Forever stamps — also called first class stamps — will now cost 45 cents, a one cent bump. The change will go into [...]

Key West authorized to offer flights to Cuba

Add Key West International Airport to the list of  U.S. airports authorized to offer flights to Cuba.
But because it’s small, Key West only can send planes with 10 passengers or less to Cuban airports, U.S. officials said.
Larger airports such as Fort Lauderdale offer charters to Cuba on jets sometimes with 150 passengers or more.
For years, just three U.S. airports [...]