Yes, We can Change

Japan documented more deaths Friday as Prime Minister Naoto Kan sought to reassure a nation reeling from disaster, saying that he is committed to taking firm control of a "grave" situation. Japanese paused at the one-week mark following the monster earthquake and ensuing tsunami as the death toll continued its steady climb to 6,911, the National Police Agency reported. Another 10,316 people are missing. Kan said the disaster has been a "great test for all of the people of Japan," but he was confident of the resolve of his people. Amid a raised crisis level at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant from a 4 to 5 -- putting it on par with the 1979 incident at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island -- Kan told his compatriots to bury their pessimism. "With a tsunami and earthquake we don't have any room to be pessimistic," he said. "We are going to create Japan again from scratch. We should face this challenge together." Kan acknowledged the situatio...

A tsunami warning has been issued for at least 20 countries and numerous Pacific islands, including Japan, coastal Russia and the Marcus Islands, the Northern Marianas, Wake Island, Taiwan and Guam after a massive earthquake struck off the coast of Japan. People along coastal areas are urged to evacuate, emergency officials warned. The tsunami could cause damage "along coastlines of all islands in the state of Hawaii," warned the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in a bulletin issued at 9:31 p.m. Thursday local Hawaiian time. "Urgent action should be taken to protect lives and property." Waves are expected to hit Hawaii around 3 a.m. Friday local time. Tsunamis are a series of long ocean waves that can last five to 15 minutes and cause extensive flooding in coastal areas. A succession of waves can hit -- often the highest not being the first, said CNN International meteorologist Ivan Cabrera. A tsunami is sweeping across the Pacific Ocean after an...

The iPad 2 is off to a great start. It hasn’t even shipped yet and it’s getting rave reviews — applauded as “ phenomenal ” and clearly outpacing the competition . Yours truly just declared the iPad 2 a “winner.” Yet, as always, there have been voices from the other side of the fence. A common theme among critics is that the iPad 2 does not sport enough new features — that it is too much of an “incremental” upgrade. It needed to do better to compete with other tablets. A CNET News column took the the iPad 2 to task for its lack of a Retina Display, SD card slot, Near Field Communications technology, and more. TMO’s John Martellero , while recognizing the ultimate success of the iPad 2, concluded that its specs were a “disappointment.” Even my own prior column noted that “I expected more…By themselves, features such as slightly thinner and lighter don’t make a compelling case for why you should trade-in your old iPad for a new one.” How does one respond to such criticism...