Top Comments: Mashable Readers React to Instagram’s Terms of Service

Monday, Dec. 17: Instagram Updates TOSReaders had varying reactions to Instagram‘s updates. Some felt that they were fair: If you don’t like the terms of service, argued some users, you have the option not to use the service. Others were far more outraged.Click here to view this gallery.[More from Mashable: Why xkcd Is Wrong About Instagram]This week, the top comments on Mashable brought into focus...

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Former President George H.W. Bush remains hospitalized

(Reuters) – Former President George H.W. Bush, who has been hospitalized for a month undergoing treatment for bronchitis, may not be released from a Houston hospital in time to celebrate Christmas at home as doctors had hoped.Bush, 88, remained in stable condition and doctors were optimistic he would make a full recovery, George Kovacik, a spokesman at Methodist Hospital, said in an emailed statement...

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Norway minister’s EU exit warning

23 December 2012 Last updated at 09:08 ETNorway’s foreign minister has urged the UK to assess the advantages of staying in the European Union, rather than consider leaving.Norway is not in the EU but has access to the single market. UK Eurosceptics use it as a model for how the UK could relate to the EU from outside.But Foreign Minister Espen Eide said Oslo had “limited scope for influence”.“We are...

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Syria jets kill tens as international envoy visits

BEIRUT (AP) — A government airstrike on a bakery in a rebel-held town in central Syria killed more than 60 people on Sunday, activists said, casting a pall over a visit by the international envoy charged with negotiating an end to the country’s civil war.The strike on the town of Halfaya left scattered bodies and debris up and down a street, and more than a dozen dead and wounded were trapped in tangled...

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Massive PC, Console Game Discounts Ring in Holiday Season

Black Friday, the day right after Thanksgiving, is normally the day associated with electronics sales. And while the proponents of “Cyber Monday” and “Small Business Saturday” have tried to get in on the action, it’s still common knowledge that Thanksgiving weekend is the best time to upgrade your PC or console game arsenal. Right?Not according to online game retailers. Discounts of up to 80 percent...

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U.S. teen smoking declines to record low in 2012: study

(Reuters) – Cigarette smoking among American teenagers dropped to a record low in 2012, a decline that may have been partly driven by a sharp hike in the federal tobacco tax, researchers said on Wednesday.An annual survey of about 45,000 students in the eighth, 10th and 12th grades found that the overall proportion of those saying they had smoked in the prior 30 days fell by just over a percentage...

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Working-class neighborhood in Madrid wins “El Gordo” lottery

MADRID (Reuters) – Unemployed Spaniards in a highly indebted commuter town in the outskirts of Madrid celebrated with joy after sharing the top prize in “El Gordo“, the world’s biggest lottery.The 200-year-old Christmas draw doled out more than 2.5 billion euros ($ 3.3 billion) in prizes, with a top individual prize of 4 million euros. The smallest ticket, known as a “decimo” wins a tenth of the prize...

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Canada spending growth sluggish in November, Mastercard says

(Reuters) – Canada‘s holiday shopping season got off to a slow start in November with retail sales rising only 1.3 percent from the previous year, compared with 4.2 percent growth a year earlier, according to data released by MasterCard on Thursday.Still, the shopping season was still young in November. MasterCard Advisors, the payment company’s research and consulting division, found that in recent...

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RIM shares dive as fee changes catch market off guard

(Reuters) – Shares of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd dropped 20 percent on Friday on fears that a new fee structure for its high-margin services segment could put pressure on the business that has set the company apart from its competitors.The shares were still more than 80 percent above the year’s low, which was hit in September. They started to rally in November as investors began to bet...

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Halozyme inks drug development deal with Pfizer

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Halozyme Therapeutics Inc. said Friday it has reached an agreement with Pfizer to develop injectable versions of the drugmaker’s biotech drugs.Halozyme specializes in a recombinant hyaluronidase enzyme technology, which is designed to temporarily break down a substance in the body that forms a barrier between cells so drugs can be absorbed faster. That would allow some drugs to be...

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