With today’s updates to its flagship iPad and iPhone apps, The New York Times is adapting to a world of always-on but slower-than-you’d-like data networks. The new versions, just approved by Apple and in the App Store, feature two key improvements. First, it turns on automatic downloading of all the Times’ content overnight as you sleep — meaning you’ll be able to avoid the frustrating experience of launching the app only to have it spend precious seconds fetching the latest news from Times servers. (The previous version updated some top stories overnight, but not the full paper’s worth of content.) And second, it lets you save a little bandwidth (a concern these days) by declaring entire sections uninteresting. Never read the Times’ Fashion & Style ... Continue reading →

New York authorities are investigating the claims of a man who has told investigators that he had a role in the 1979 disappearance of Etan Patz, the 6-year-old boy who vanished in SoHo on his way to school and is believed to have been murdered, officials said on Thursday.Patz Imaging“An individual now in custody has made statements to N.Y.P.D. detectives implicating himself in the disappearance and death of Etan Patz 33 years ago,” Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said in a statement issued early Thursday. “We expect to provide further details later today.”The man, identified by one law enforcement official as Pedro Hernandez, was taken into custody late Wednesday in New Jersey and was taken to the office of the Manhattan District Attorney, Cyrus R. ... Continue reading →

New York authorities are investigating the claims of a man who has told investigators that he had a role in the 1979 disappearance of Etan Patz, the 6-year-old boy who vanished in SoHo on his way to school and is believed to have been murdered, officials said on Thursday.Patz Imaging“An individual now in custody has made statements to N.Y.P.D. detectives implicating himself in the disappearance and death of Etan Patz 33 years ago,” Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said in a statement issued early Thursday. “We expect to provide further details later today.”The man, identified by one law enforcement official as Pedro Hernandez, was taken into custody late Wednesday in New Jersey and was taken to the office of the Manhattan District Attorney, Cyrus R. ... Continue reading →

My audiobook listening takes place during my morning exercise, which means I spend a good seven hours a week listening to books — far more of them, in fact, than I read in print these days. If you’d encountered me on the street recently, you might have seen me trotting along, laughing aloud to David Sedaris’s “Barrel Fever” or Tina Fey’s “Bossypants,” or crying — yes, real tears and grimaces, I have to admit — to the ending of “The Mill on the Floss.” My neighbors either don’t notice or are too kind to mention my seeming emotional instability. But if somebody’s going to spend 10 or 20 hours in my ears, turning me into a local jogging spectacle, I’d better enjoy the experience. That ... Continue reading →

Ryan Collerd for The New York Times A CPAP device is used to treat sleep apnea.Two new studies have found that people with sleep apnea, a common disorder that causes snoring, fatigue and dangerous pauses in breathing at night, have a higher risk of cancer. The new research marks the first time that sleep apnea has been linked to cancer in humans.About 28 million Americans have some form of sleep apnea, though many cases go undiagnosed. For sleep doctors, the condition is a top concern because it deprives the body of oxygen at night and often coincides with cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes.“This is really big news,” said Dr. Joseph Golish, a professor of sleep medicine with the MetroHealth System in Cleveland who was not ... Continue reading →

At least that is how the system is supposed to work. But lately social scientists have come up against an exception that is, true to its name, huge. It is “big data,” the vast sets of information gathered by researchers at companies like Facebook, Google and Microsoft from patterns of cellphone calls, text messages and Internet clicks by millions of users around the world. Companies often refuse to make such information public, sometimes for competitive reasons and sometimes to protect customers’ privacy. But to many scientists, the practice is an invitation to bad science, secrecy and even potential fraud. The issue came to a boil last month at a scientific conference in Lyon, France, when three scientists from Google and the University of Cambridge declined ... Continue reading →

PHILADELPHIA — Two more Roman Catholic priests from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia have been found unsuitable for ministry after sexually abusing children. Matt Rourke/Associated Press Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of the Philadelphia Archdiocese, which barred from ministry two priests linked to child abuse. The archdiocese said Sunday that it had substantiated allegations of sexual abuse of a minor against Msgr. George J. Mazzotta, 73, and Msgr. Hugh P. Campbell, 77, who were ordained in the 1960s and held a series of positions in Philadelphia-area parishes and hospitals. Monsignor Mazzotta has not been permitted to work or present himself as a priest since May 2010, when the archdiocese received the abuse allegation against him and reported it to law enforcement. Monsignor Campbell has been on administrative ... Continue reading →

In an effort to show a unified front in their campaign against the birth control mandate, 43 Roman Catholic dioceses, schools, social service agencies and other institutions filed lawsuits in 12 federal courts on Monday challenging the Obama administration’s rule that their employees receive coverage for contraception in their health insurance policies. The nation’s Catholic bishops, unable to reverse the ruling by prevailing on the White House or Congress, have now turned to the courts, as they warned they would. The bishops say that the requirement is an unprecedented attack on religious liberty because it compels Catholic employers to provide access to services that are contrary to their religious beliefs. The mandate is part of the Obama administration’s overhaul of the health care system, which ... Continue reading →

And even as his fame grew, Mr. Lucas earned his neighbors’ respect through his discretion. Marin, one of America’s richest counties, liked it that way. But after spending years and millions of dollars, Mr. Lucas abruptly canceled plans recently for the third, and most likely last, major expansion, citing community opposition. An emotional statement posted online said Lucasfilm would build instead in a place “that sees us as a creative asset, not as an evil empire.” If the announcement took Marin by surprise, it was nothing compared with what came next. Mr. Lucas said he would sell the land to a developer to bring “low income housing” here. “It’s inciting class warfare,” said Carolyn Lenert, head of the North San Rafael Coalition of Residents. Mr. ... Continue reading →