Review

You just got your new iPhone 5 and the thought of losing it is far from your mind. But statistics show that a lot of people lose their iPhones or or get it stolen as more thieves eye the popular device. You can take steps right now that can help you quickly recover your smartphone if you were ever to misplace it or someone makes off with it. First, set up a passcode for your iPhone. It can be inconvenient but it can also help your chances of recovering your phone. And make sure "location services" is turned on. You can find that in "Settings," and then at the top of "Privacy.

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department began a criminal investigation Tuesday into overzealous scrutiny by the IRS of applications for tax exemptions by conservative groups, an improper targeting that an inspector general's report blamed on a confused staff and lax oversight. The improper activities "were not influenced by any individual or organization outside the IRS," the auditors said they were told by Internal Revenue Service officials. Instead, the report painted a picture of an IRS unit based in Cincinnati that used "inappropriate criteria" for deciding which applications to examine, without any review by senior managers.

I'm an 84-year-old man on Social Security with original Medicare and Mutual of Omaha gap insurance. My insurance premium was raised from $262 to $363 a month, a 39% jump. After all my monthly expenses, I have just $240 left. What can I do in the event of another increase in my premiums? If you've had your current Medicare supplement plan for years, it's not surprising that you've seen your costs steadily rise, says Steve Zaleznick, senior Medicare advisor at PlanPrescriber, a Maynard, Mass.-based online provider of Medicare education and plan comparison tools.

President Obama was asked about the metastasizing Benghazi scandal in a joint news conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday. Referring to the Americans who died in Benghazi, the president said, "We dishonor them when we turn things like this into a political circus. " He added that "the whole issue of talking points, throughout this process, frankly, has been a sideshow.… There's no there there. " He's half right. The talking points drafted by the State Department, the CIA and the White House and given to congressional Republicans and, most famously, to U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice are not the center of this story.

Superstorms that slammed the East Coast prompted many Southern Californians to take a hard look at their own emergency preparedness plans, including how to keep cellphones charged when the power goes out. With a flurry of battery-boosting devices landing on the market, I tested eight of the latest and most novel designs on a recent ski trip to Colorado, reasoning that besides a storm, earthquake or blackout, the last place you'd want to be stranded with...

Whether perusing the beauty and personal care products at Target or Whole Foods or shopping online at Sephora, consumers are increasingly encountering the phrase "paraben-free. " What exactly does paraben-free mean, and why might it matter? We take a closer look — including sussing out pretty makeup products that are paraben-free. What are parabens? Parabens are the most widely used preservatives in cosmetics and personal care products such as soap, moisturizers, shaving cream and underarm deodorant, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

As part of a settlement with federal regulators, 13 lenders this week are starting to pay out $3.6 billion to more than 4 million troubled borrowers whose homes were in foreclosure proceedings in 2009 and 2010. A chart released Tuesday by the regulators showed that most of the borrowers would receive $300, the minimum allowed under the settlement terms. The maximum of $125,000 would go to 1,135 borrowers whose homes were seized while they were serving in the military or who were current on their payments.

When news broke a week ago of the death of film critic Roger Ebert, his last published review at the time was a lukewarm notice of sci-fi film "The Host. " It seemed more fitting when a review of "To the Wonder," opening Friday, was published posthumously. Ebert had long supported the work of filmmaker Terrence Malick. "To the Wonder," with a love triangle storyline said to be drawn partly from Malick's own life, is a mystic-minded meditation on romantic love and religious faith.

At the headquarters of Boston Medical Group in Costa Mesa, six salesmen were working the toll-free appointment line on a recent afternoon, fielding calls from men around the country enticed by newspaper and radio ads promising a "proven" solution to erectile dysfunction in "one office visit. " The results are visible "right there in the office," one sales representative told a caller. "It's amazing. " Following a script, he answered a few questions and offered to schedule a $195 consultation at one of the company's 21 U.S. clinics.

Back when "CSI" helped launch a new breed of forensic science dramas on television, prosecutors complained that real-life cases were being unduly influenced: Jurors walked into courtrooms expecting to see conclusive scientific evidence for every crime. A similar dynamic has become the talk of the NFL playoffs. A Green Bay Packers receiver fumbles — or doesn't fumble — as he falls to the turf. A San Francisco 49ers returner ventures dangerously close to a bouncing punt. A Baltimore Ravens receiver appears to catch a game-winning touchdown pass, only to have it slapped from his hands a moment later.

SAN FRANCISCO - The U.S. Interior Department violated federal law by failing to conduct an environmental review before ordering a Northern California oyster farmer to shutter his operation, attorneys for the farmer told a federal appeals court panel here Tuesday. In a case that has become a cause celebre across the political spectrum, oysterman Kevin Lunny had been ordered to close the farm late last year when his lease to operate within Point Reyes National Seashore expired. Closing Lunny's Drakes Bay Oyster Co. would make way for the first marine wilderness area on the West Coast at Drakes Estero, an environmentally sensitive area home to a large population of harbor seals.

Angelini Osteria is almost everyone's favorite Italian restaurant in midtown: an informal room with well-designed trattoria cooking, a place to settle into for a plate of bombolotti or a Sunday saltimbocca, where whatever diet you happen to be on at the time will be accommodated without a fuss. Some nights, it feels as if everybody in the room knows one another, but you're in on the party too. You drink well, you eat well and you go home. A lot of chefs have come out of that kitchen, including Ori Menashe of Bestia.

Re "Needing help with Yelp," Column, April 23, and "Take a critical look at Yelp," Column, April 20 Sandy Banks' columns rehash claims that Yelp manipulates consumer reviews to reward advertisers and punish non-advertisers. We don't. This view can stem from Yelp's efforts to protect the usefulness of content on our site. We employ automated software to filter the millions of user-submitted reviews to showcase the most reliable and helpful ones. The need for and effectiveness of our system were demonstrated when it was noted by Businessweek that only Yelp filtered out 200 fake reviews submitted to various review sites by a business owner seeking to boost his rating.

WASHINGTON - The CIA and departments of Justice and Homeland Security have begun a high-level internal review of whether intelligence was mishandled prior to the Boston Marathon bombings, though President Obama and his top advisors said they had seen nothing to suggest counter-terrorism agencies did anything wrong. Obama said at a White House news conference that the review would seek to answer whether "additional things … could have been done" that "might have prevented" the two bombings that killed three people and injured more than 260 others on April 15. "We want to go back and we want to review every step that was taken," Obama said.

In the wake of Christopher Dorner's claim that his firing from the Los Angeles Police Department was a result of corruption and bias, more than three dozen other fired LAPD cops want department officials to review their cases. The 40 requests, which were tallied by the union that represents rank-and-file officers, have come in the two months since Dorner sought revenge for his 2009 firing by targeting police officers and their families in a killing rampage that left four dead and others injured.

WASHINGTON - Barbara Boxer has long been one of the Senate's environmental champions, racking up perfect scores for each of the last five years on the League of Conservation Voters' report card on key votes. But the Californian now finds herself on the opposite side of an issue from her usual environmental allies and some of her fellow Democrats. Environmentalists are upset because she is pushing legislation that would impose deadlines for environmental reviews of water projects, a move they see as "tilting the scales" toward rushed approvals.

"The Flowers of War" has broken new ground for China's movie industry: It's among the first domestically financed films to star a high-profile Hollywood actor (Christian Bale), and its reported budget of close to $100 million makes it the country's priciest production to date. But when it comes to storytelling, Zhang Yimou's 19th feature is decidedly backward-looking: A lavish period weepie set against the atrocities of the Nanking Massacre, "Flowers" abounds with well-worn movie archetypes and slathers on schmaltz.

Writer-director Tanya Hamilton is interested in the way you can find yourself in a mess and then spend a lifetime working your way out. That is the hand she has dealt Marcus, "The Hurt Locker's" Anthony Mackie, in "Night Catches Us," her first feature film, which is now generating buyer interest after Sundance audiences embraced it over the weekend. Set in Philadelphia circa 1976, Marcus has come home for his father's funeral. As things unfold we learn he came of age during the Black Panther movement and essentially, he's returning home a marked man finally ready to face his past.

Can a value-hunting traveler truly be loyal to loyalty programs? Name : CooBoutique.com What it does: Rewards you with cash back for booking luxury hotels through its website and rewards points for sharing with your social network. What's hot: Cash is hot. I liked seeing how much cash other users were getting for their bookings as I was searching for hotels in the U.S. And when I looked up the member page (free), I saw that I could earn as much as 4% on my bookings.