Business Highlights
Advocates like Neil Young and major record labels say the format that's the high end of what's known as "high-resolution" audio restores textures, nuances and tones that listeners sacrifice when opting for the convenience of music compressed into formats like MP3s or Apple's AAC.
[...] some recording-technology experts say this super high-res format — known by its 192 kHz, 24-bit technical specs — is pricy digital overkill, an oversized "bit bucket" that contains sounds only dogs or dolphins can truly enjoy.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — One Royal Dutch Shell offshore drill rig is headed to Alaska and a second is poised to leave, despite lacking final federal permits that would allow exploratory drilling and possible confirmation of rich oil reserves under the Chukchi Sea.
[...] an attorney for Oceana, one of dozens of groups objecting to Arctic offshore drilling, said seeing Shell's flotilla sail north puts pressure on federal agencies to sign off on the permits.
DETROIT (AP) — U.S. safety regulators are investigating complaints that the power brake assist can fail on some Ford F-150 pickup trucks.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says the probe covers about 250,000 pickups from the 2011 and 2012 model years with 3.5-liter six-cylinder turbocharged engines.
The agency says in documents posted on its website Friday that it has 32 complaints alleging that electric vacuum assist pumps can fail, causing loss of power brakes and increased braking effort in traffic.
HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong police charged a prominent figure in Macau's casino junket industry with laundering 1.8 billion Hong Kong dollars ($231 million) through bank accounts in the southern Chinese city.
Police in Hong Kong, an hour's ferry ride from Macau, have been investigating him since November, when they were granted a court order freezing his assets under the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance.
Firing back at Univ