Danny Puff

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Clean and green Singapore is going even greener this Chinese New Year, recycling S$2 bills for red packets of money alongside the printing of new ones.

Giving out the little packets, or "lai see", with crisp new notes during the Lunar New Year, which falls on February 10 this year, is a long-standing tradition. Adults typically give them to children, older relatives and unmarried siblings to wish them good luck for the coming year.

As well as printing millions of brand new $2 notes as it has done in the past, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the wealthy Southeast Asian city-state's central bank, said it will issue older notes that look as good as new and encourage the public to use them.

"The accumulation of excess $2 polymer notes and their destruction before the end of their lifespan is a waste of precious resources and is not environmentally friendly," the MAS said.

Singapore only needs around 50 million $2 notes in circulation. Printing the excess notes just for the Lunar New Year consumes 10 metric tons (11.023 tons) of ink and uses enough electricity to power an entire apartment block for six months, it added.

Most of the notes find their way back into the banks soon after the New Year festivities anyway, as people put them in their savings.

(Reporting by Kevin Lim; Editing by Nick Macfie)

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LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Three of the top U.S. cellphone carriers signaled this week that they would support Research In Motion's BlackBerry 10 products, the first of which are due to be unveiled Jan 30, offering a hopeful sign for RIM's comeback effort.

Executives at Verizon Communications , AT&T Inc and T-Mobile USA all said they are looking forward to the devices, which will be crucial for RIM's chances of regaining lost ground from rivals such as Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics .

"We're hopeful its going to be a good device," Lowell McAdam, chief executive of Verizon Communications, majority owner of the biggest U.S. mobile service Verizon Wireless.

"We'll carry it," McAdam said in an interview at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

BlackBerry 10 is RIM's next-generation mobile operating platform and it is preparing to launch new smartphones later this month. Word that major carriers will offer the devices is good news for RIM.

RIM, which once commanded the lead in the smartphone market, has rapidly lost ground to Apple's iPhone and Samsung's line of Galaxy products, especially in North American and European markets, as customers abandon its aging BlackBerry devices.

It has been testing the new BlackBerry 10 devices with carriers so they can assess their compatibility with networks.

No. 4 U.S. mobile provider T-Mobile USA, a unit of Deutsche Telekom , also plans to carry the new BlackBerry 10.

"We're extremely optimistic that it's going to be a successful product and our business customers are extremely interested in it," Chief Executive John Legere said.

AT&T has promised to support the BlackBerry 10 platform, according to Chief Marketing Officer David Christopher, but he would not discuss specific devices.

However, AT&T handset executive Jeff Bradley made it clear that the No. 2 U.S. mobile operator would carry the phone.

"It's logical to expect our current (BlackBerry) customers will have the best BlackBerry devices to choose from in the future," Bradley said.

(Reporting By Sinead Carew; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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LAS VEGAS (AP) Some of the weirdest gadgets at the International CES show are designed to solve problems you never knew you had. Are you eating too fast? A digital fork will let you know. Is your toddler having trouble sitting still on the potty? Let the iPotty come to the rescue. Are you bored driving to work in a four-wheeled vehicle? Climb inside a 1,600-pound mechanical spider for your morning commute.

Of course, not all of the prototypes introduced at the annual gadget show will succeed in the marketplace. But the innovators who shop their wares here are fearless when it comes to pitching new gizmos, be they flashy, catchy or just plain odd.

A search for this year's strangest (and perhaps least useful) electronic devices yielded an extra-loud pair of headphones from a metal band, an eye-sensing TV that didn't work as intended and more. Take a look:

MOTORHEADPHONES

Bass-heavy headphones that borrow the names of hip-hop luminaries like Dr. Dre have become extremely popular. Rock fans have been left out of the party until now. British metal band Motorhead, famous for playing gut-punchingly loud, is endorsing a line of headphones that "go to eleven" and are hitting U.S. stores now.

Says lead singer and bassist Lemmy Kilmister, explaining his creative input: "I just said make them louder than everybody else's. So that's the only criteria, and that it should reflect every part of the sound, not just the bass."

The Motorheadphone line consists of three over-the-ear headphones and six in-ear models. The initiative came from a Swedish music-industry veteran, and distribution and marketing is handled by a Swedish company, Krusell International AB.

WHO IT'S FOR: People who don't care about their hearing or of the sanity of person sitting next to them on the subway. According to Kilmister, the headphones are ideal for Motorhead fans. "Their hearing is already damaged, they better buy these."

PRICE: Prices range from $50 to $130.

EYE-SENSING TV

A prototype of an eye-sensing TV from Haier didn't quite meet viewers eye-to-eye. An on-screen cursor is supposed to appear where the viewer looks to help, say, select a show to watch. Blinking while controlling the cursor is supposed to result in a click. In our brief time with the TV, we observed may quirks and comic difficulties.

For one, the company's demonstrator Hongzhao Guo said the system doesn't work that well when viewers wear eyeglasses. (That kind of defeats the purpose of TV, no?) But it turns out, one bespectacled reporter was able to make it work. But the cursor appeared a couple inches below where the viewer was looking. This resulted in Guo snapping his fingers to attract the reporter's eye to certain spots. The reporter dutifully looked, but the cursor was always a bit low. Looking down to see the cursor only resulted in it moving further down the TV screen.

WHO IT'S FOR: People too lazy to move their arms.

"It's easy to do," Guo said, taking the reporter's place at the demonstration. He later said the device needs to be recalibrated for each person. It worked fine for him, but the TV is definitely not ready for prime-time.

PARROT FLOWER POWER

A company named after a bird wants to make life easier for your plants. A plant sensor called Flower Power from Paris-based Parrot is designed to update your mobile device with a wealth of information about the health of your plant and the environment it lives in. Just stick the y-shaped sensor in your plant's soil, download the accompanying app and hopefully watch your plant thrive.

"It basically is a Bluetooth smart low-energy sensor. It senses light, sunlight, temperature, moisture and soil as well as fertilizer in the soil. You can use it either indoors or outdoors," said Peter George, vice president of sales and marketing for the Americas at Parrot. The device will be available sometime this year, the company said.

WHOT IT'S FOR: 'Brown-thumbed' folk and plants with a will to live.

PRICE: Unknown.

HAPIFORK

If you don't watch what you put in your mouth, this fork will or at least try to. Called HAPIfork, it's a fork with a fat handle containing electronics and a battery. A motion sensor knows when you are lifting the fork to your mouth. If you're eating too fast, the fork will vibrate as a warning. The company behind it, HapiLabs, believes that using the fork 60 to 75 times during meals that last 20 to 30 minutes is ideal.

But the fork won't know how healthy or how big each bite you take will be, so shoveling a plate of arugula will likely be judged as less healthy than slowly putting away a pile of bacon. No word on spoons, yet, or chopsticks.

WHO IT'S FOR? People who eat too fast. Those who want company for their "smart" refrigerator and other kitchen gadgets.

PRICE: HapiLabs is launching a fundraising campaign for the fork in March on the group-fundraising site Kickstarter.com. Participants need to pay $99 to get a fork, which is expected to ship around April or May.

IPOTTY

Toilet training a toddler is no picnic, but iPotty from CTA Digital seeks to make it a little easier by letting parents attach an iPad to it. This way, junior can gape and paw at the iPad while taking care of business in the old-fashioned part of the plastic potty. IPotty will go on sale in March, first on Amazon.com.

There are potty training apps out there that'll reward toddlers for accomplishing the deed. The company is also examining whether the potty's attachment can be adapted for other types of tablets, beyond the iPad.

"It's novel to a lot of people but we've gotten great feedback from parents who think it'd be great for training," said CTA product specialist Camilo Gallardo.

WHO IT'S FOR: Parents at their wit's end.

PRICE: $39.99

MONDO SPIDER, TITANBOA

A pair of giant hydraulic and lithium polymer battery controlled beasts from Canadian art organization eatART caught some eyes at the show. A rideable 8-legged creature, Mondo Spider weighs 1,600 pounds and can crawl forward at about 5 miles per hour on battery power for roughly an hour. The 1,200-pound Titanoboa slithers along the ground at an as yet unmeasured speed.

Computer maker Lenovo sponsored the group to show off the inventions at CES.

Hugh Patterson, an engineer who volunteers his time to making the gizmos, said they were made in part to learn more about energy use. One lesson from the snake is that "side winding," in which the snake corkscrews its way along the ground, is one of the most efficient ways of moving along soft ground, like sand.

Titanoboa was made to match the size of a 50-foot long reptile whose fossilized remains were dated 50 million years ago, when the world was 5 to 6 degrees warmer. The creature was built "to provoke discussion about climate change," Patterson said.

The original version of Mondo Spider, meanwhile, first appeared at the Burning Man arts gathering in Nevada in 2006.

WHO IT'S FOR: Your inner child, Burning Man participants, people with extra-large living rooms.

PRICE: The spider's parts cost $26,000. The Titanoboa costs $70,000. Engineers provided their time for free and both took "thousands of hours" to build, Patterson said.

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Ortutay contributed from New York. AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson and Luke Sheridan from AP Television contributed to this story from Las Vegas.

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SEATTLE (AP) A company that teamed up with Starbucks Corp. to bid for the Tully's Coffee chain filed an objection Wednesday challenging the winning offer made by "Grey's Anatomy" star Patrick Dempsey.

AgriNurture Inc. said it's still willing to proceed with its combined bid with Starbucks of about $10.6 million. The bid from Dempsey's company, Global Baristas LLC, was for $9.2 million.

The proposed sale goes before a bankruptcy judge in Seattle on Friday.

Starbucks has said it wants to convert some of Tully's cafes to its own brand. AgriNurture, based in the Philippines, would run the rest under the Tully's name.

Cliff Burrows, who heads Starbucks' Americas business, said he's confident the company put forth the best bid with its companion bidder to give shareholders the most value.

Dempsey said he's confident the court will decide that Global Baristas submitted "the highest and best bid."

AgriNurture, which also does business in the U.S. as Earthright Holdings Inc., already operates Tully's franchises in Asia.

Another bidder has also filed an objection to the sale, saying the rules changed in the middle of the auction.

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ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - A python hunting competition starting on Saturday is drawing hundreds of amateurs armed with clubs, machetes and guns to the Florida Everglades, where captured Burmese pythons have exceeded the length of minivans and weighed as much as grown men.

Python Challenge 2013, a month-long event sponsored by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, is open to hunters and non-hunters alike.

But the idea of luring weapon-wielding amateurs into the harsh environment of the Everglades has raised some alarms.

"I just thought it was as exciting as could be. It's a once- in-a-lifetime opportunity," said contestant Ron Polster, a retired salesman from Ohio whose closest encounter with the swamp has been from the highway heading south for the winter.

Participants pay a $25 entry fee and take an online training course, which consists mostly of looking at photographs of both the targeted pythons and protected native snakes to learn the difference.

The state wildlife agency is offering prizes of $1,500 for the most pythons captured and $1,000 for the longest python.

A Burmese python found in Florida last year set records as the largest ever captured in the state at 17-feet, 7-inches (5.4 meters). The snake weighed nearly 165 pounds (75 kg).

FWC spokeswoman Carli Segelson said the number of registered contestants reached about 500 this week and was growing, with people coming from 32 states.

The stated goal of the competition is to raise awareness of the threat Burmese pythons pose to the Everglades ecosystem. The snakes are native to Southeast Asia and have no known predators in Florida.

The contest also serves as a pilot program to determine whether regular hunting competitions can cull the growing population of the invasive species, said Frank Mazzotti, a wildlife expert from the University of Florida who helped create the competition.

Python Challenge rules require contestants to kill specimens on the spot in a humane fashion, recommending shooting the snakes precisely through the brain.

"I was hoping there would be a lot of machetes and not a lot of guns," said Polster, the retired salesman. He said he worries "these idiots will be firing all over the place."

Shawn Heflick, star of the National Geographic "Wild" television show "Python Hunters," told Reuters that despite the formidable size of the snakes, he expects the swamp itself, with its alligators, crocodiles and venomous snakes, to pose a greater threat to the contestants.

"You get these people going down there, they'll get lost, they'll get dehydrated, they'll get sucked dry by mosquitoes," Heflick said.

Segelson said the wildlife agency will provide training on the use of GPS devices and on identifying venomous snakes at the kick-off event. In the meantime, she said, contestants should be familiarizing themselves with the Everglades environment, just as they should before entering any other strange territory.

Heflick said most of the contestants likely were drawn to the Python Challenge by the romantic mystique of bagging a giant predator. He expects few will last long in the hunt.

"The vast majority of them will never see a python. The vast majority of them will probably curtail their hunting very quickly when they figure out there's a lot of mosquitoes, it's hot, it's rather boring sometimes - most of the time really, and I think a lot of them will go home," Heflick said.

(Editing by Tom Brown and Dan Grebler)

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LOS ANGELES (AP) Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are ready to crack each other up at the Golden Globe Awards.

The two multi-hyphenate talents offered a taste of their quick-witted banter on a conference call with reporters Wednesday, during which Fey promised, "We're going to sing the whole show."

"The whole show is going to be sung front to back and Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine have written it," Fey deadpanned.

"We just called up Sondy," Poehler said. "He just said, 'Jackpot.'"

Fey, 42, and Poehler, 41, take over for three-time Globes host Ricky Gervais, who sometimes created a prickly atmosphere with his pointed barbs at individual stars and films.

"It was originally going to be the car from 'Transformers,'" Fey cracked about the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's first choice for a show host this year.

The Emmy winner said she doesn't expect to "change the face of comedy" at the show.

"Because it's such a fun, kind of sloppy night, it's not really about the host giving any big comedy performance," Fey said. "We feel like our job is to keep things moving and also to try to help get the movie stars more liquored up so, hopefully, someone's boob will fall out of a dress. That's our main role."

Alcohol really does play a role in the show, with drinks at every table, Poehler said. "So it doesn't take much, you know?"

"And Somehow, no matter what time you get there, you always just missed the food," Fey said. "So you get there and there's just booze on the table and a box of candy and that's it. And the women haven't eaten for days, so they have a half a glass of wine and they're gone."

The two hosts are also competing against each other as nominees for actress in a TV comedy for starring in the shows they write and produce. Fey is up for "30 Rock," while Poehler got the nod for "Parks and Recreation."

Poehler said they have been too busy to consider acceptance speeches.

"I know that I don't need one," Fey said.

"If either one of us does win, we'll already have been talking at that point for a while anyways so people will be sick of our faces, so I'm sure we'll keep it short and sweet," Poehler said. "Or screw it. Since we're hosting, we could just go as long as we wanted and cut into other people's time."

Considering their dresses for the black-tie affair, Fey said she planned to pay sartorial tribute to the night's honorees.

"I'm going to wear one costume from each of the nominated films," she said, "beginning with 'Django' and ending with a different character from 'Django.'"

Given the Globes' boozy atmosphere, will the hostesses imbibe?

"I'm going to pub-crawl it all the way to the venue," Poehler said. "Then I'm going to try and take like a two-hour blackout nap before we start, and as soon as the show's over, I'm going to go on a 10-day juice cleanse."

Added Fey: "I'm going to start a really aggressive awards-season workout routine in the middle of the show."

The 70th annual Golden Globe Awards will be presented Sunday at the Beverly Hilton Hotel and broadcast live on NBC.

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AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen is on Twitter: www.twitter.com/APSandy .

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Online:

www.goldenglobes.org

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CHICAGO (Reuters) - The body of a Chicago man who died of cyanide poisoning less than two months after winning $1 million in the Illinois Lottery will be exhumed for further examination in two to four weeks, according to the Cook County medical examiner.

An affidavit to exhume the body of Urooj Khan, 46, will be filed Friday with the Cook County Circuit Court, Mary Paleologos, a spokeswoman for the county, said on Wednesday. Once a judge approves the request, which should take one to two weeks, it will probably take another one to two weeks to arrange the exhumation with the cemetery, Paleologos said.

Khan's death on July 20 was at first determined to be caused by heart disease. No autopsy was performed, since there was no trauma present and the death appeared natural. Toxicology results indicated no drugs or carbon monoxide present.

But several days after the body was released for burial, an unidentified family member contacted the doctor in the case and asked that the medical examiner revisit it.

The medical examiner's office ordered comprehensive toxicological testing. On November 23, final test results confirmed a lethal level of cyanide in the blood, according to the medical examiner, and the death was ruled a homicide.

The medical examiner's office said exhumation of the body "is necessary to complete an investigation" into Khan's death.

Chicago Police would say only that they are investigating the case as a murder and are working closely with the medical examiner's office.

Khan had presented the ticket claiming his winnings to Illinois Lottery offices on May 31, according to Lottery spokesman Mike Lang. Khan had decided to take the lump-sum payment, which amounted to about $424,500 after taxes. A check was sent from Springfield, Illinois to Khan July 19 or July 20 -- so it is unlikely Khan ever saw it, Lang said.

The check was paid August 15, Lang said. He said it is common that when winners die before receiving their winnings, the money is paid to the estate.

Khan's estate is in Cook County probate court. The next status date in the case is January 24.

Steven Kozicki, an attorney for Khan's wife Shabana Ansari, was not immediately available for comment Wednesday. Kozicki told the Chicago Tribune that Ansari had been interviewed by Chicago police detectives and had nothing to hide.

(Reporting By Mary Wisniewski; Editing by Greg McCune and Nick Zieminski)

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NEW YORK (AP) The gig is almost up for one of the eight Monopoly tokens. But which will it be? Iron? Thimble? Top Hat?

Or another of their board game buddies?

Hasbro is holding a Facebook contest to eliminate one of the eight tokens that identify the players and introduce a new one. Possible new tokens include a cat, diamond ring, guitar, toy robot and helicopter

It's the latest effort by the toymaker to jazz up the game which debuted almost eight decades ago.

In recent years Hasbro introduced a version that replaces paper money with an electronic bank and another that incorporates an iPad. There is an app-only version of the game for smartphones and tablets.

Monopoly's tokens have actually changed quite a lot over the years. The original version also included a lantern, purse, cannon and a rocking horse. A horse and rider token was used in the 1950s. During World War II, metal tokens were replaced by wooden ones.

But this time, users have a say.

So if you are tired of the iron token and would rather be represented by a robot, here's your chance to make those wishes known. Beginning Tuesday, Facebook fans of monopoly can vote on which piece to eliminate and which one to add. The voting ends Feb. 5.

Up for elimination: all eight current tokens including a battleship, iron, racecar, Scottie dog, shoe, thimble, top hat and wheelbarrow. Most tokens were introduced with the first Parker Brothers iteration of the game in 1935, and the Scottie dog and wheelbarrow were added in the early 1950s.

Eric Nyman, global brand leader for Hasbro gaming, said the impetus for the contest came from chatter on Facebook, where Monopoly has over 10 million fans.

"We're constantly interacting with those fans and we're always getting suggestions from fans about what tokens they would love to see," Nyman said. They took five of the top suggestions from Facebook for the contest.

A special $17.99 limited edition of the game called Golden Ticket will be available in Target stores beginning Feb. 15 with golden versions of both the old and new tokens. It will be the last time all of the classic tokens will be available with the game.

Versions of Monopoly with the new token will come out later this year.

Monopoly's iconic tokens originated when game creator Charles Darrow's niece suggested using charms from a charm bracelet for tokens.

On the Web: Facebook.com/monopoly

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LAS VEGAS (AP) LG unveiled a 55-inch TV that sports "ultrahigh-definition" resolution with four times the sharpness of regular HD television sets, kicking off what is likely to be a mini-obsession with the latest super-clear format at the annual International CES gadget show.

The model announced Monday is the smallest in a 2013 lineup that includes 65-inch and 84-inch versions. But the smaller size and smaller price tag begins the parade of TV makers that are seeking to bring ultrahigh definition to the masses.

Also known as "4K," ultrahigh-definition screens are 3,840 pixels wide and 2,160 pixels tall, or more than 8 million in all. The higher resolution will let TV screens get larger without degrading picture quality, though initially the price tag will limit those sets to technology's early adopters.

LG said the 55-inch and 65-inch versions will be available later this year in the U.S. No price was announced, but it will be less than $10,000. The 84-inch version that went on sale late last year cost $20,000.

For a few years, though, there won't likely be a mainstream standard for getting native ultra-HD movies and TV shows to the screen either by disc or broadcast.

LG Electronics Inc. said these new TVs will have upscaling technology that takes images of lesser quality and renders them in high detail. The Korean electronics maker also said it has formed an ultra-HD content agreement with Korea's top broadcaster, KBS, and is seeking out deals with other global content providers. The company offered no specifics.

LG said that with an ultra-HD TV, it will be possible to play phone games with very sharp resolution and in 3-D. The company said it has been possible to hook up smartphones to the TV to play games with current sets, but the resolution isn't good.

Along with the lineup of higher-resolution TVs, LG unveiled a new Magic Remote, which acts like a wand that is sensitive to motion and is used to navigate on-screen menus. LG said the new model responds better to natural speech and can be controlled with a single finger rather than "very tiring arm gestures." It also lets you change the channels by writing numbers in the air.

The company also touted the ability to tap different devices so they can share data. With that capability, you'd be able to see what's inside your refrigerator while shopping, and you'd be able to monitor how clean your house is getting with cameras on a robotic vacuum. Washing machines will also have such capabilities.

Also at the gadget show, rival Sharp Corp. introduced two super-clear TVs and one ultra-HD computer monitor. The 32-inch monitor uses Sharp's IGZO technology, based on a semiconductor material called indium gallium zinc oxide. The monitor, planned for launch in February, responds to 10 points of contact at once one for each finger.

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LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics, the global leader in consumer smartphones, is planning two major thrusts in 2013: bulking up mobile content and moving faster into the corporate market dominated by Research in Motion.

The South Korean electronics company is investing in devices that enterprise users like corporations will endorse, with a higher level of security and reliability than general users need. In doing so, Samsung is capitalizing on doubts about the longevity of the BlackBerry as its Canadian maker struggles to revive growth.

Samsung's corporate market ambitions have advanced as the Galaxy SIII, its popular flagship smartphone, won the requisite security certifications from companies, said Kevin Packingham, chief product officer for Samsung Mobile USA.

As RIM prepares to launch its next-generation BlackBerry 10 this quarter, the company's future remains shaky. Corporate technology officers have begun to explore other smartphones, such as those by Apple Inc or Samsung.

"The enterprise space has suddenly become wide open. The RIM problems certainly fueled a lot of what the CIOs are going through, which is they want to get away from a lot of the proprietary solutions," Packingham said in an interview at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. "They want something that integrates what they are doing with their IT systems. Samsung is investing in that area."

"It's been a focus for a long time but the products have evolved now that we can really take advantage of that," he added. "We knew we had to build more tech devices to successfully enter the enterprise market. What really turned that needle was that we had the power of the GS3."

Samsung in 2012 overtook Apple as the world's largest maker of smartphones, with a vastly larger selection of cellphones that attacked different price points and proved popular in emerging markets.

German business software maker SAP provides employees with Samsung's Galaxy S III, the larger Galaxy Note and the Galaxy Tab, SAP Chief Information Officer Oliver Bussmann said in an interview.

"The one clear trend in enterprise is the shift away from one device to multiple devices," said Bussman, who makes 10 devices available to SAP employees for official use. The list includes Apple's iPhone and iPad, Nokia Lumia and RIM's Blackberry.

"Because of the fragmentation of the Android software, we decided to go with just one Android company and we went with Samsung," he added.

Now, the Korean hardware specialist is beefing up its software - an area in which it has lagged arch-enemy Apple, which revolutionized the mobile phone from 2007 with its content-rich, developer-led iPhone ecosystem.

Packingham sees an area ripe for innovation - combining the mobile phone with Samsung's strength, the TV, which has barely evolved in the past decade.

Still, the U.S.-based executive remained cagey about Samsung's plans for content and enterprise.

"You are going to see from content services, we'll start to integrate what's happening on the big screen, what's happening on the tablet," he said.

"We know now that people like to explore content that they are watching on TV while they have a tablet in their lap, and that's going to be a big theme for this year."

(Editing by Richard Chang)

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