iPhone 5 likely to launch today, needs to dazzle

The new iPhone 5 has to be more than just another smartphone as it carries the weight of Apple's future on its slim frame.

Five years after the first iPhone upended the mobile industry, analysts say Apple is looking increasingly defensive as Samsung Electronics and other rivals have been first to market with phones that sport bigger screens or run on faster wireless networks.

Apple will try to close that gap on Wednesday with the unveiling of the newest iPhone, which is widely expected to offer 4G wireless technology for the first time, and a 4-inch display, up from the current 3.5 inches.

But it remains to be seen if Chief Executive Tim Cook has any surprises up his sleeve, and if he will show off any technological breakthroughs that can put the iPhone 5 head and shoulders above the competition.

"They have been in the crosshairs of a lot of companies for a long, long time," Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu said.

Jeremy Lin, a celebration

 

Much is wrong in the world today. Primaries. Scandals. Economic turmoil. War. General discord. It is all deeply serious, and we will have to go back to talking about it soon enough.

But first, let’s take a moment to acknowledge one truth on which everyone can agree: Jeremy Lin is amazing.
This is an incontestable fact. Jeremy Lin is the best story these days, in sports or out of it.