Elise Hu

Why Buy A House When You Can Buy A Mountain?

Elise Hu — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 07:05:00 +0000

It's not your everyday real estate deal. A team of young entrepreneurs persuaded about 50 deep-pocketed investors to help them purchase a mountain. The deal just closed in April, and development on Utah's nearly 10,000-acre Powder Mountain is now underway.

"When we made those first phone calls, everybody's like, what?

Illinois Pension Crisis: This Is What Rock Bottom Looks Like

Elise Hu — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 11:03:00 +0000

Lawmakers in Illinois are headed back to work next week to address the state's $100 billion pension crisis, the worst unfunded pension liability in the nation. While almost all states faced pension funding issues during the recession, none of them are looking at a predicament as severe as in Illinois. Every day it doesn't get fixed, the burden on taxpayers grows larger.

"They are in the most dire situation of all the states," says David Draine, a senior researcher at the Pew Center on the States. "Illinois is facing a growing bill that it hasn't figured out how to pay for.

Rick Perry's War On The Blue States

Elise Hu — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 13:35:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1izHVRxv7Y

What You Need To Know About Changes Coming From Apple

Elise Hu — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 21:22:00 +0000

If you opt for the upgrade, changes are coming to your iPhone experience this fall. And if you want to shell out some cash right away, the latest line of MacBook Air computers boasts a lot more power and battery life, and the machines are available to ship today.

Apple chiefs announced their latest products and improvements Monday as part of the keynote at the company's annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.

We kept an eye on the two-hour presentation so you didn't have to.

A Day In The Life Of The Relentlessly Tracked

Elise Hu — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 17:45:00 +0000

Controversy is raging over a court order allowing the FBI and the National Security Agency to seize aggregate information of millions of Verizon customer phone calls.

What Happens To Spelling Bee Kids? Years Later, The Prize Is Perspective

Elise Hu — Tue, 28 May 2013 19:34:00 +0000

For an academic contest pitting young spellers against the dictionary, the Scripps National Spelling Bee has taken on the intensity of the fiercest athletic events. Feeling the warmth of television lights — not to mention nerves and distractions — all while sports commentators are analyzing your "style" and approach is something only a select club of young word-nerdy Americans gets to experience.

Yahoo's Other Billion Dollar Bets: Where Are They Now?

Elise Hu — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:29:00 +0000

Yahoo's $1.1 billion purchase of Tumblr could be considered a bargain compared with its other big-dollar bets. The company's history is dotted with pricey purchases of once-hot Web properties that had more promise than eventual purpose. A look back:

GeoCities, 1999: $3.7 Billion

When Yahoo!

A Mile-High Hack: An App That Could Remotely Hijack Planes

Elise Hu — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 20:18:00 +0000

The Federal Aviation Administration continues work on its multibillion-dollar upgrade to the nation's air traffic control system, but it may not be enough to stop hackers from taking control of airplanes with a smartphone.

That's the warning from pilot and IT consultant Hugo Teso, who demonstrated how easy it would be to exploit traffic control systems at the Hack In The Box security conference in Amsterdam this week.

Mom Says: "Learn Chinese"

Elise Hu — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 14:14:07 +0000

My earliest memory of code switching is at Pizza Hut, back when Pizza Huts were sit-down restaurants with salad bars and garlic bread. (Like any daughter of immigrants, most of my memories involve food.) My mom and dad would speak with the waiters in English, ordering our pan-crust pizzas and Pepsi products, but we used Mandarin at the table. Our Mandarin was our secret code.

It was only at restaurants, malls or school events that I ever heard my mother use English. My mom spoke to my brother and me exclusively in Mandarin since we were born, even though we were born in suburban St. Louis.

100 Hours On The Supreme Court's Sidewalk: Camping Out For A Seat To History

Elise Hu — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 18:58:00 +0000

Overnight temperatures are dipping below freezing and the forecast calls for snow, but cold, boredom and discomfort haven't stopped more than 30 Supreme Court die-hards from camping out for a seat to history.

"I just really wanted to be part of this moment, so I had been planning to come down for months," said Darienn Powers, a college student who came to Washington from New York.