By Gilbert Falso :: 2:59 PM
Update 3:10 PM: Two explosions have been reported. A third device may have been found, undetonated.
Update: 3:12 PM: The Red Cross has announced that it has a disaster rescue center in operation at the scene.
Update: 3:14 PM: Widespread reports of injuries, even deaths.
I saw people’s legs blown off. Horrific. Two explosions. Runners were coming in and saw unspeakable horror.
— Jackie Bruno (@JackieBrunoNECN) April 15, 2013
Bomb at #Boston #marathon finish. twitter.com/brm90/status/3…
— Bruce Mendelsohn (@brm90) April 15, 2013
Video of actual explosion:
Reports of an explosion on the Boston Marathon route are coming in via social media accounts of bystanders at the scene.
The pictures below were taken at Copley Square. Details are forthcoming.
Photo above taken by Twitter user @Boston_to_a_T
Photo above by Twitter user: @theoriginalwak
Paul Thomson :: 1:36 PM
A high speed police chase in the Dallas metro area has ended, as the shooting suspect the police were pursuing ditched the vehicle and ran into a house in a residential neighborhood.
The shooting occurred around Noon (Eastern time) in the Hamilton Park neighborhood of North Dallas. A pregnant woman was shot and wounded – her unborn baby did not survive the attack.
The suspect in the shooting was spotted nearby shortly afterward, and police chased him in a silver sedan on Interstate 30 until he exited the Interstate and and the chase continued on surface streets through the Lake Highlands area of Dallas.
Currently, the suspect has taken refuge in a house in the Greenville Ave. area of the city. The photo, above, shows the suspect exiting the vehicle and running towards a house.
In addition to the woman who was shot, a police officer was also injured by gunfire. Current reports claim the officer is in the hospital, and is in stable condition. The shots hit the officer in an area on his body that was covered with protective gear.
Below: House where suspect is currently barricaded.
By Paul Thomson :: 9:06 AM
Today is April 15th – tax day in the U.S. Paperwork must be in, and taxes paid by midnight tonight, if you don’t want to incur the wrath of the IRS.
In the run-up to the tax deadline this year, people are taking to the Internet and social media to vent, commiserate, and complain about their tax situations, and to look for help with their 1040’s.
On Twitter, “taxes” was a popular Tweet word this month, peaking with 36,670 mentions on April 10th, and then coming up quite high again yesterday with 34,319 mentions. Nothing like a little procrastination!
On Google, the number of people looking for tax help and advice was pretty even through March and this month until last Monday, when searches on the topic trended upward.
Some popular Google search terms related to taxes this month:
- tax extension
- taxes deadline 2013
- taxes due
- taxes due 2013
- deadline for taxes
- taxes due date
- federal taxes online
- taxes deadline
- estimated taxes
- pay taxes online
While today is the official deadline for taxpayers, those in a bind can file an extension with the IRS. Contrary to popular belief, filing for an extension on your taxes isn’t a bad thing, and is fairly easy.
Over 10 million Americans will seek an extension on their taxes this year. By filing Form 4868, and providing a few details, taxpayers can extend their tax due date by six months, until October 15. This is only an extension of time to file your taxes, however, not of time to pay.
If you owe money to the IRS this year, filing an extension will not help you. The IRS still expects you to pay what you owe by April 15.
What if you can’t pay your taxes?
If you don’t have the money to send that check off to Uncle Sam today, you may have a few options. The IRS is pretty picky about getting paid, so if you can put the amount on your credit card, or scrape together the money out of a home equity line of credit or personal loan, that might be your best option.
However, the IRS does have a tax payment plan option for people in a bind. If you have a good history of filing and paying your taxes on time, and if you owe less than $10,000, you can enter into an installment plan with the IRS. Monthly payments can be set up, but you must be able to pay off the due tax within three years.
To enter into a payment plan agreement for your taxes, submit  Form 9465, the Installment Agreement Request, to the front of your tax return.
Remember, all tax documents and payments must be postmarked by 11:59 pm tonight, April 15. Good luck!
By Gilbert Falso :: 1:14 PM
Facebook’s Home application for Android phones was designed to make the social network the focal point of your mobile experience. The Home application replaces the launch screen and integrates Facebook messaging and status updates into your Android OS. Facebook announced the app earlier this month, and launched it in the Google Play store on Friday.
Now, two days post launch, the reviews and ratings have come in, and they don’t look good. With just over 3,500 ratings, the app only scores an average of 2.4 stars. In fact, 1,638 reviewers (47%) only rated it as a one star. See above for chart with distribution of stars, as of Noon today.
“Not an intuitive app. Made my phone so frustratingly complicated to use that I uninstalled after just four or five hours. Unless major changes are made including an easy way to get to my home screen I will not reinstall,” commented Google Play user Victoria Wiley.
Wiley’s review is close to the reception that the application has been receiving across the Internet this weekend. Many die-hard Facebook users installed the app on Friday and Saturday, and have been quickly switching away from it as they find it difficult to use, or that the focus on Facebook is too much for them to bear.
“I tried it ,and to be honest, it just was too much. I would like it better if it was just the lock screen, but it gets annoying,” said Nathan Watrous on the Google Play review pages.
Another common complaint is that with such a strong Facebook presence with the application, other apps, functions, and widgets on the phone are hidden and difficult to find. “Cool way to use Facebook, but with no support for my other widgets, it limits my phone,” explained reviewer Lee Milstein.
Many who commented on the app are using a variety of different Android phones. Facebook worked with HTC to develop the application, and the HTC First handset apparently offers additional functionality and a more streamlined experience with the application than some other Android devices.
By Cynthia Herbert :: 12:49 PM
While in Europe on tour, young pop star Justin Bieber stopped by the Anne Frank House and Museum in Amsterdam yesterday, to take a private tour of the home where Anne and her family hid from the Nazis for several years during the holocaust.
Frank and her family were eventually found by the Nazis and taken to concentration camps where most of them died. The Frank home has been turned into a museum, and Bieber and his entourage were given a private tour.
After the tour, Bieber signed the museum’s guest book with this inscription: “Truly inspiring to be able to come here. Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a belieber.” The museum copied his inscription and posted it on their Facebook page, where it has received much attention and comments.
The majority of the comments on the Facebook page about Bieber’s remarks have been negative. Many are pointing out that Bieber took the solemn occasion of visiting the house to make the event more about him than about honoring Frank her family’s history.
“Glad he went,but, the last sentence is VERY self serving. he missed the lessons of Anne totally,” said Facebook commenter Anastasia Finnigan-De Graeve.
“She would’ve been a WHAT? That little idiot is way too full of himself. She’s an important historical figure so show some respect,” commented Kevin GarcÃa León.
“Unbelievable…agreed very self-serving and completely missed the lesson in front of him. Shows his complete LACK of Maturity,” says Robin Bolles Anikas.
When a BBC reporter contacted the museum for their reaction to Bieber’s comments and the associated flap that ensued on their Facebook page, the museum’s spokesperson told them, “he’s 19, it’s a strange life he’s living, it wasn’t very sensible, but he didn’t mean bad.”
Below, screenshot of Anne Frank House’s Facebook page post:
