4 smartphones with standout features

These days, smartphones are almost all drawing from the same bag of tricks, and it can be hard to tell one from the next. If the average smartphone will do all the basic things you want it to, what does it take to be special? Here are four smartphones with unusual features that really make them stand out.

Nokia Lumia 920

Rating: 4 stars out of 5 (Excellent)

The good: This phone forges new Windows Phone ground with wireless-charging support and a highly sensitive screen you can use with gloves. Moreover, Nokia helps fill in Windows Phone OS gaps with a few missing features.

The bad: A thick, heavy build and slippery finish for some colors make the Lumia 920 harder to hold and carry, and the phone’s overhyped camera doesn’t have enough settings.

The cost: $99.99

The bottom line: Nokia’s Lumia 920 is heavy and thick, but if you want the most powerful, feature-rich Windows Phone smartphone available, this is it.

Samsung Galaxy Note 2

Rating: 4 stars out of 5 (Excellent)

The good: Oodles of screen real estate make this terrific for videos, games, and reading, and its improved stylus aids productivity. A blazing quad-core processor, a great camera and strong battery life round out the advantages of this Android 4.1 phone.

The bad: The huge display makes it unwieldy to carry, and hiccups in the S Pen stylus and apps can slow you down. The pricey Note 2 isn’t a suitable tablet replacement across all categories.

The cost: $149.99 to $309.99

The bottom line: Samsung delivers a powerful, boundary-pushing device that gets a lot right. Yet its complicated features and high price raise questions about its purpose.

Motorola Droid Razr Maxx HD

Rating: 4 stars out of 5 (Excellent)

The good: This Droid (Verizon) offers fast performance, a big, eye-popping screen and luxurious design. It also has great call quality, lots of storage, 4G data speeds, and unbeatable battery life.

The bad: The major weakness is a camera that produces subpar images. The phone is filled with Verizon bloatware as well.

The cost: $149.99 to $299.99

The bottom line: Motorola’s fast, stylish Droid Razr Maxx HD offers outstanding battery life, but its camera captures unimpressive images.

Samsung Galaxy Beam

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5 (Very good)

The good: An integrated pico projector, as well as a dual-core processor, 720p video capture and a 4-inch Super AMOLED screen.

The bad: The projection software needs some work, the 5-megapixel camera sometimes blurs indoor shots, and the Beam is thicker and heavier than many phones.

The cost: $474.49 to $839.99

The bottom line: Despite weak software, the Galaxy Beam’s bright projector pushes boundaries, and strong smartphone features make it a worthy standalone device.

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Scott Israel is sworn in as Broward sheriff

As several thousand people looked on inside the Faith Center of Sunrise, new Broward Sheriff Scott Israel was introduced at Tuesday’s swearing-in ceremony to a standing ovation.

It’s one of the most powerful elected post in the county, overseeing about 5,500 employees and a $670 million budget.

The BSO Honor Guard and a pipe and drum corps led the procession on stage. Israel’s triplets, 16-year-old Blair, Blake and Brett, led the “Pledge of Allegiance.’’

Israel, a Democrat, takes the reins from form Sheriff Al Lamberti, a Republican, who served in the post since first being appointed by then-Gov. Charlie Crist in 2007. Lambert won over challenger Israel in 2008, but in the most recent election, Israel handily ousted the incumbent. Lamberti has not said what his future plans include.

Even before taking office, Israel set to work changing things at BSO. In December, his transition team sent emails to 28 high-ranking employees telling them they would be out once Israel took over. Many top officials had already announced they would be leaving, including BSO spokesman Jim Leljedal, attorney Judith Levine and Undersheriff Tom Wheeler. Emails from Israel’s transition team to BSO show that Israel has sought information about every aspect of the agency, including budget forecasts, contracts for everything from garbage collection to lobbying, statistics about the race of employees and even about the protocol for military casket arrivals.

Beyond staff changes, it is not yet clear how Israel, a 56-year-old former Fort Lauderdale police captain and North Bay Village police chief — will change BSO.

But Israel’s senior command staff includes many who played key roles in his campaign, including his new general counsel, Ron Gunzburger, son of County Commissioner Sue Gunzburger, and Lisa Castillo, who worked on Israel’s campaign. The name of her husband, Pembroke Pines Commissioner Angelo Castillo, is also being bandied about as having a role in the Israel administration.

Israel, his wife Susan and their teenage triplets live in Parkland.

Miami Herald staff writer Amy Sherman contributed to this report.

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Target to match some rivals’ online prices year-round

(Reuters) – Target Corp said on Tuesday it will match on a year-round basis the prices found on the websites of key rivals Amazon.com Inc, Best Buy Co Inc, Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Toys R Us, its latest tactic to hold onto shoppers focused on price.

The move extends an online price-matching program that Target introduced over the holiday season and which was supposed to last only from November 1 to December 16. It also comes after Target last week reported flat sales growth in December at stores open at least a year.

In November Chief Executive Gregg Steinhafel said the retailer was not seeing a lot of price-match activity in its stores.

While shopping online has grown rapidly in recent years, it still represents a small fraction of overall shopping in the United States. Target’s policy of matching online prices differs from policies at several chains, which match only printed advertised prices for items sold at stores.

Target said that throughout the year it will match the price when a customer buys an eligible item at one of its stores and finds the same item at a lower price in the following week’s Target circular or in a local competitor’s printed ad. It will also match the price if the customer finds the same item at a lower price within a week on Target’s website or the websites of Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy and Toys R Us.

Amazon says it offers competitive prices and does not offer price matching when an item’s price drops after a customer buys it, with the exception of televisions. Walmart matches the prices of print ads from competitors. Walmart also says it checks the prices of 30,000 items at competing chains each week to make sure it has the lowest prices.

Best Buy matches the price from a local competitor’s store, a local Best Buy store or its own web site. Toys R Us matches in-store prices and certain online prices.

(Reporting By Jessica Wohl in Chicago and Phil Wahba in New York; Editing by Alden Bentley and John Wallace)

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Ben Affleck Nominated for Highest Director's Honor

Warner Bros.

The nominations for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2012 have been announced by the Director's Guild of America, and Argo helmer Ben Affleck has found himself amid some very distinguished company. Read on to see who else was nominated…

Video: Ben Affleck Calls the Success of 'Argo' a 'Dream'

In addition to Affleck's first-ever DGA affirmation for his third directorial outing, Steven Spielberg was nominated for Lincoln (his eleventh nomination; he won the DGA Award three times for Saving Private Ryan (1998), Schindler's List (1993) and 1985's The Color Purple), Kathryn Bigelow was nominated for Zero Dark Thirty (her second nom; she won in 2009 for The Hurt Locker), Tom Hooper was nominated for Les Misérables (also his second nom; he won for The King's Speech in 2010), and Ang Lee earned his fourth nom for Life of Pi (he in 2005 for Brokeback Mountain and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2000).

Of the nominations, Guild President Taylor Hackford said, "DGA members have chosen an incredibly rich and varied group of filmmakers to nominate for this year's Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film Award. These directors represent the highest standard of filmmaking, and their films are a testament to artistic achievement, innovative storytelling and the passion that filmmakers share with their audiences. Being nominated by their peers is what makes this award particularly meaningful for directors, and I congratulate all of the nominees for their outstanding work."

Pics: A Closer Look at Spielberg's 'Lincoln'

The top director will be named at the 65th Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Saturday, February 2, 2013 at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland in Los Angeles.

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Off-duty corrections officer opens fire on man in East Flatbush

An off-duty corrections officer opened fire on a man in East Flatbush, police sources said.

Detectives are investigating the shooting at the corner of Utica Avenue and Clarendon Road around 1:10 p.m., today.

The unidentified victim, who is in his mid-30s, was struck in the left side of his chest and rushed to Kings County Hospital, sources said. His condition was not immediately known.

It was not clear what made the 32-year-old correction officer fire his weapon, source said.

kconley@nypost.com

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Jobs grow, wages dip

Wages in South Florida took a dip last summer, despite a spike in hiring.

New federal data show that while employment continues to grow in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, the average weekly wage dropped during the second quarter of 2012. In Broward, the weekly wage dropped .7 percent to $830 and in Miami-Dade it inched down .5 percent to $876, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The shift is tiny, and bucks an overall trend of rising wages in South Florida since the end of the 2007-09 recession. But the statistics also show South Florida underperforming most of the nation as the recovery gains traction. Of the ten largest counties in the country, only Miami-Dade saw wages decrease between the second quarter of 2011 and the second quarter of 2012.

Taking the broader pool of the 329 largest counties in the United States, Broward have 276th worse record in terms of wage gains for the second quarter of 2012, and Miami-Dade the 269th.

Both counties fared far better in terms of adding jobs, with employment up 2 percent in Broward and 2.3 percent in Miami-Dade. That put Broward in 122nd place in terms of employment growth among the large counties, and Miami-Dade in 98th place.

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Live at the BCS: Crashes delaying I-95 traffic in Broward; rain chance 20 percent for game

THE WEATHER: Now that Big Game Day is here, will the weather cooperate? Forecasters think so. Rain chance is 20 percent chance Monday night, with partly cloudy skies and a possibility of isolated showers, according to the National Weather Service. Highs of 80 during the day will cool to 72 at night. Kickoff for the BCS championship is 8:30 p.m. at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens. The forecast will be similar through the workweek, with highs in the low-80s and lows in the low-70s. Winds will pick up Tuesday night, with gusts 18-25 mph.

THE TRAFFIC: Several crashes are delaying traffic in Broward County. Delays are reported on the northbound I-95 ramp to Sunrise Boulevard, and the southbound ramp at Sample Road. In Miami-Dade, a crash is reported on eastbound State Road 112 at Northwest 22nd Avenue.

THE STORES: Fans are hungry. And they’re doing something about it. A Publix north of downtown Miami was packed during the lunch hour with Alabama and Notre Dame fans buying sandwiches, chips and beer for their tailgating pleasure. It wasn’t hard to spot them: Alabama fans wore red, Notre Dame fans were in blue.

THE ALABAMA BAR: Mike “Dawg” Arnold, general manager at Alabama Jacks near the Keys, said not much of the staff is from Alabama, but the original owner of the restaurant was. His nickname was "Alabama Jack." Said Arnold: “It’s been a blast. I think [the Alabama fans are] coming here for good luck. In the last three days, I’ll say it’s been for every one Irish fan, we had 100 Alabama fans. We’ve had a blast with it. All the fans have had a great time." The bar won't be hosting a watch party because the hours are 11 to 7 p.m. The games starts at 8:30. Instead, there will be a party offsite for the staff.

This article will be updated as more information is available.

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Kuwait sentences second man to jail for insulting emir: lawyer

DUBAI (Reuters) – A Kuwaiti court sentenced a man to two years in prison on Monday for insulting the country’s ruler on Twitter, his lawyer said, the second to be jailed for the offence in as many days.

The U.S.-allied Gulf Arab state has clamped down in recent months on political activists who have been using social media websites to criticize the government and the ruling family.

Kuwait has seen a series of protests, including one on Sunday night, organized by the opposition since the ruling emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, used emergency powers in October to change the voting system.

The court sentenced Ayyad al-Harbi, who has more than 13,000 followers on Twitter, to the prison term two months after his arrest and release on bail.

Harbi used his Twitter account to criticize the Kuwait government and the emir. He tweeted on Sunday: “Tomorrow morning is my trial’s verdict on charges of slander against the emir, spreading of false news.”

His lawyer, Mohammed al-Humidi, said Harbi would appeal against the verdict. “We’ve been taken by surprise because Kuwait has always been known internationally and in the Arab world as a democracy-loving country,” Humidi told Reuters by telephone. “People are used to democracy, but suddenly we see the constitution being undermined.”

On Sunday, Rashid Saleh al-Anzi was given two years in prison over a tweet that “stabbed the rights and powers of the emir”, according to the online newspaper Alaan. Anzi, who has 5,700 Twitter followers, was expected to appeal.

Kuwait, a U.S. ally and major oil producer, has been taking a firmer line on politically sensitive comments aired on the Internet.

In June 2012, a man was sentenced to 10 years in prison after he was convicted of endangering state security by insulting the Prophet Mohammad and the Sunni Muslim rulers of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain on social media.

Two months later, authorities detained Sheikh Meshaal al-Malik Al-Sabah, a member of the ruling family, over remarks on Twitter in which he accused authorities of corruption and called for political reform, a rights activist said.

Public demonstrations about local issues are common in a state that allows the most dissent in the Gulf, and Kuwait has avoided Arab Spring-style mass unrest that has ousted four veteran Arab dictators in the past two years.

But tensions have risen between Kuwait’s hand-picked government, in which ruling family members hold the top posts, and the elected parliament and opposition groups.

(Reporting by Mahmoud Habboush; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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Benedict Cumberbatch Goes to War

From his hugely popular take on Sherlock Holmes to his dastardly turns in Star Trek Into Darkness and The Hobbit trilogy (as the voice of Smaug the dragon), Benedict Cumberbatch is quickly becoming a household name on this side of the pond, and HBO is capitalizing on that name recognition by importing the compelling U.K. miniseries Parade's End to the States in February. Watch the haunting teaser trailer…

Video: Meet the New 'Trek' Villain: Benedict Cumberbatch

Already a veteran of World War I thanks to his part in Steven Spielberg's War Horse, Cumberbatch returns to the embattled era as Christopher Tietjens, a married English aristocrat who feels compelled to join the fight in France, leaving behind a complicated set of circumstances involving unrequited passion for an entrancing young woman (played by Adelaide Clemens) and loyalty obligations with his wife (played by Rebecca Hall). Returning home shell-shocked, he struggles to hold onto his sanity as he faces vicious rumors and familial rejection amid the torrid love triangle.

Related: Benedict Cumberbatch Talks 'Sherlock'

A five-part miniseries event, Parade's End begins airing on HBO on February 26th at 9 p.m.

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Bloomberg 'pushed' hoops star during Spurs v. Knicks after Jackson tripped on waitress

Paul J. Bereswill

Mayor Bloomberg attended Thursday's Knicks game - and may have unwittingly contributed to New York's victory.

Just call him the Knicks' sixth man.

It turns out that Mayor Bloomberg had physical contact with the San Antonio Spurs forward Stephen Jackson before he had to leave a Knicks game last Thursday with a sprained ankle.

The Knicks ended up winning easily, 100-83.

Eyewitnesses reported that Jackson tripped on a waitress, who was crouched on the sidelines with her back to the Madison Square Garden court while serving a drink to the mayor.

"He didn't fall on her," Bloomberg revealed today during a press conference in The Bronx dealing with schools.

"He came close and I just pushed him a little bit."

The mayor acknowledged it would be "great for New York" if the Knicks and the Nets made it into the playoffs.

But he insisted his encounter with Jackson was an instinctive defensive move and not part of a secret strategy.

"I wasn't helping 'em" he said of the Knicks.

No one at the press conference thought to ask if the Nets would now be inviting the mayor to sit in the front row of their games.

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