Chloe’s Soft Serve steps up to (Dylan’s) bar

Dylan’s Candy Bar has partnered with Chloe’s Soft Serve Fruit Co.

The frozen fruity treat will replace frozen yogurt in the café in Dylan’s flagship Upper East Side store.

“It’s a healthier alternative to frozen yogurt,” Dylan Lauren told Side Dish. “Dylan’s is all about enjoying treats in moderation. We are all for candy, sweets and ice cream but we also like having options for people who are into sugar free and low allergen products.”

Lauren tells Side Dish she is so focused on its Los Angeles opening and future Miami opening, along with the re-vamp of their Houston store, that they will not be opening a large pop-up shop in Bryant Park for the holidays like they did last year.

However, she is looking at opening other stores in major cosmopolitan areas like San Francisco, Washington, DC, Chicago, Toronto and Montreal.

“We want to conquer the world with candy,” Lauren quipped.

Chloe Epstein co-founded Chloe’s Soft Serve Fruit two years ago. She has two stand-alone stores in Manhattan — on the Upper East Side and her Union Square flagship — along with partnership deals where other stores sell her product, from Dylan’s to the Golden Pear Cafe in Southampton, LI.

The product is just fruit, water and organic cane sugar, making it-fat-free, allergen-free, gluten free and dairy-free.

“That is what distinguishes us from frozen yogurt and ice cream,” said Epstein, a former fro-yo fan who wanted to create a healthier alternative when she became pregnant and got concerned about what chemicals she was feeding herself and her baby.

***

WE HEAR . . . That Mihoko’s 21 Grams in the Flatiron district opened its new lounge, The French Room.

Owner Mihoko Kiyokawa is a classically trained ballerina and a former costume designer for the Tokyo opera, as well as an art collector and philanthropist.

She partnered with designer Bruno Borrione, a longtime collaborator of Philippe Starck.

jkeil@nypost.com

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Shifting tides of Panama real estate echo Miami trends

PANAMA CITY, Panama — As a real estate agent shows off a model apartment — white leather sectional, stainless steel appliances, open concept, ocean views — in the 59-story Yacht Club Tower, and touts its fitness center and pool deck designed to mimic a ship floating on the sea, he makes a telling statement:

“We tried to emulate the Miami style in this building.”

Approaching this Central American capital from the air, the first thing a traveler notices is a skyline on steroids — gleaming towers jutting skyward like so many pickets on a fence. There’s even a Trump high-rise here — the sail-shaped 72-story Trump Ocean Club International Hotel & Tower. And it’s not uncommon for those active in Miami real estate and development circles to try their luck in Panama or move back and forth between the markets.

Although Miami is nearly 1,200 miles from Panama City, the real estate markets of the two cities share certain similarities. Both went through booms and overbuilding and then had way too many empty condominiums. Wealthy Latin American buyers were a salvation in both cities when traditional segments of the market fell off.

“Now that things are starting to pick up in the States, they are picking up here too. Now that there’s not as much economic uncertainty in the United States, people feel more confident about Panama too,’’ said Morris Hafeitz, general manger of Emporium Developers. He used to work in Miami as a project manager for Odebrecht, the Brazilian conglomerate.

Now Hafeitz is trying to sell Allure at the Park, a 50-story building Emporium developed in Panama City’s Bella Vista neighborhood. The building is chock full of amenities — gym, teenage game room, adult lounge, toddler playroom, pool, squash court and even miniature golf on the roof — but one of its main selling points is that it overlooks a park and two low-rise historic buildings. “In the heart of the city without the hassles of the city,’’ said Hafeitz.

During the boom, many buildings in central Panama City went up practically on top of each other. “In the beginning of the boom there were no regulations on density,’’ said Mauricio Saba, a project manager at Zoom Development in Panama City and another Miami real estate alum. “I have a friend who said he could watch his neighbor’s TV from his balcony.’’

Margarita Sanclemente, a Miami real estate broker with offices in Panama City and New York, has seen it all — the boom, the irrational building and the slowdown — and has stuck with the Panamanian market.

She first ventured into Panama in 2005. The Panamanian real estate market, which had been sluggish for more than a decade, was undergoing a rebirth and Americans, lured by low prices and the low cost of living, were snapping up properties.

The sweet spot was the 1,000 to 1,500-square-foot apartment, sans maid’s quarters, which appealed to retirees from Canada and the United States, she said.

That was back when Americans still believed you couldn’t go wrong with real estate. “Some of the buyers didn’t even see the units. We sold them by phone,’’ Sanclemente said. Condo prices at new buildings such as Destiny averaged $98 to $120 per square foot. She herself bought a 1,000 square foot, one bedroom condo for $123,000 back in 2005.

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A decade after little girl vanished, Rilya Wilson’s foster mom faces trial

For Rilya Wilson’s birthday on Sept. 29, 2005, members of the Joseph Caleb Center’s Head Start program shared a sheet cake with white frosting and pink flowers in an auditorium filled with pink balloons. They blew out nine candles — one for every year that had passed since the pigtailed girl’s birth.

A year later, the date passed with no celebration. The hostess of the unusual parties, then-Florida state Sen. Frederica S. Wilson, had reached the same conclusion as Miami prosecutors: Rilya, the chubby-cheeked foster child who vanished in late 2000 or early 2001, was almost certainly dead.

“That’s when I stopped having birthday parties,” Wilson, now a U.S. congresswoman, said. “I guess I had been hoping so hard.”

Beginning Monday, a Miami-Dade jury will be asked to write the final chapter in a saga that shocked South Florida and raised haunting questions: How did a small child, in the care of a court-appointed guardian, simply disappear? And how could the state’s long-troubled child welfare system not notice?

In a trial that Wilson vows to attend, at least in part, jurors will be asked to decide whether caretaker Geralyn Graham abused and murdered the child over a decade ago.

Uproar and firings

Rilya’s disappearance — her body has never been found — sparked massive upheaval and reform at the Department of Children & Families, leading to a series of unbridled public hearings, a scathing report, legislative changes and a Miami visit by then-Gov. Jeb Bush.

Several DCF employees were fired, the top Miami administrator resigned and Secretary Kathleen Kearney left the agency months later. Rilya’s disappearance prompted cries for agency “transparency” more than any tragedy before it — cries that echo today.

It led to a criminal probe that will culminate Monday with opening statements in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.

Graham, 66, is charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and multiple counts of child abuse with great bodily harm. She faces life in prison if convicted. Graham, confined in the Miami-Dade jail since October 2002, has long maintained her innocence.

The trial, in front of Circuit Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez, is expected to last longer than a month.

Without a body, forensic evidence, eyewitnesses or confessions, the state faces unusual challenges. The prosecution’s thrust will likely focus on Graham’s inconsistent accounts of Rilya’s whereabouts — and a jailhouse informant who claims the woman confessed to smothering the child.

Rilya was born to a crack-addicted mother, and by 2000, was living with Graham and her domestic partner, Pamela Graham, under DCF supervision.

Her name was an acronym: Remember I Love You Always.

The agency did not realize the girl had disappeared until April 2002, more than one year after she was last seen. The reason: Her case worker, whose job was to check on the girl regularly, had not bothered to do so — and instead falsified numerous reports.

Changing stories

During a Christmas 2000 get-together at the Graham home, friends wondered about Rilya’s whereabouts. Graham claimed a “Spanish” friend had taken the little girl on a road trip.

When DCF finally became aware that the child wasn’t in the home, Graham claimed that an unidentified worker with the agency — “a tall, heavy-set, light-skinned woman with an accent” — came to pick up Rilya. A second woman came later to retrieve toys and clothes, Graham said.

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15 Cheesy Christmas Music Videos on YouTube

1. “Last Christmas” – Wham!

What would a cheesy Christmas music video roundup be without George Michael — and his mullet, covered by a furry, snow-covered hood? If you like this video, just wait until you see the a cappella Norwegian version.

Click here to view this gallery.

[More from Mashable: 10 Adorable Animals Feeding Other Animals [VIDEOS]]

Now that the turkey has been picked apart and you’ve survived another Black Friday, it is now officially acceptable to listen to Christmas music. If you’ve been secretly listening to “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” since early November, crank it up!

One of the best — or worst, depending on your perspective — parts about the holidays is how we embrace corniness. The lyrics are cheesy, the wardrobe is tacky and some traditions are silly.

[More from Mashable: Rebecca Black Shows Off Hidden Talent in New Music Video]

To kick off the season, here are the 15 cheesiest holiday music videos we could find on YouTube. Which is your favorite? Share your pick in the comments below.

Image courtesy of Flickr, ronnie44052

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Larry Hagman Dies

Larry Hagman, best known for playing Dallas villain J.R. Ewing, died Friday morning from complications stemming from his recent battle with cancer.

He was 81 years old.

Video: Larry Hagman Talks 'Dallas', Cancer and Veganism

"Larry was back in his beloved Dallas, re-enacting the iconic role he loved most," his family said in a statement via The Dallas Morning News. "When he passed, he was surrounded by loved ones. It was a peaceful passing, just as he had wished for. The family requests privacy at this time."

Hagman's rep says the late actor will be cremated.

His Dallas co-stars Linda Gray (who played his wife Sue Ellen) and Patrick Duffy (who played his brother Bobby) were reportedly at his bedside when he died, The Sun is reporting.

"Larry Hagman was my best friend for 35 years. He was the Pied Piper of life and brought joy to everyone he knew," Gray told ET in a statement. "He was creative, generous, funny, loving and talented, and I will miss him enormously. He was an original and lived life to the fullest ... The world was a brighter place because of Larry Hagman."

"Friday I lost one of the greatest friends ever to grace my life. The loneliness is only what is difficult, as Larry's peace and comfort is always what is important to me, now as when he was here," Duffy said in a statement. "He was a fighter in the gentlest way, against his obstacles and for his friends. I wear his friendship with honor."

Victoria Principal, who played Pamela Barnes Ewing, added, "Larry was bigger than life ... on screen and off. He is unforgettable, and irreplaceable, to millions of fans around the world, and in the hearts of each of us, who was lucky enough to know and love him. Look out God ... Larry's leading the parade."

Video: J.R. Menaces in New 'Dallas'

Hagman, who also starred as Air Force Captain Anthony Nelson in I Dream of Jeannie, was last seen on television in TNT's Dallas reboot, where he returned to play his most well-known character.

"Larry Hagman was a giant, a larger-than-life personality whose iconic performance as J.R. Ewing will endure as one of the most indelible in entertainment history," Warner Bros., Dallas executive producers Cynthia Cidre and Michael M. Robin, and the show's cast and crew said in a statement. "He truly loved portraying this globally recognized character, and he leaves a legacy of entertainment, generosity and grace. Everyone at Warner Bros. and in the Dallas family is deeply saddened by Larry's passing, and our thoughts are with his family and dear friends during this difficult time."

"It was truly an honor to share the screen with Mr. Larry Hagman," Dallas reboot star Jesse Metcalfe, who plays Christopher Ewing, said in a statement. "With piercing wit and undeniable charm he brought to life one of the most legendary television characters of all time. But to know the man, however briefly, was to know a passion and dedication for life and acting that was profoundly inspirational."

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Holiday cheer for retailers

If retailers’ Black Friday success is any indication, cash registers will jingle all the way to Christmas — in what may well be the biggest shopping season in years, analysts said yesterday.

Bargain hunters jammed stores and malls right after their Thanksgiving meals, it seemed.

“It was huge,” said Britt Beemer, chairman of America’s Research Group, which giddily reported that this Black Friday’s sales roared past those of 2011.

Retailers saw a 20 percent jump in traffic over last year — with 60.4 percent of the nation’s 100 million families reportedly represented in malls or stores, up from 50.2 percent in 2011.

“The spending levels are up about 4 percent,” Beemer said.

Shoppers surprisingly snapped up practical gifts. Furniture and mattress retailers found sales rising by as much as 60 percent.

“People were looking at things . . . they could use [at] home . . . essentials like furniture, mattresses, computers and televisions,” Beemer noted.

Target, Walmart, Macy’s and other stores opened on Thanksgiving night — and the risk paid off as droves of people decided to shop earlier than ever before.

Macy’s Herald Square opened at midnight to find more than 11,000 shoppers waiting, up from 9,000 last year. It took 15 minutes just for all of them to stream in.

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Is the electric car dying again?

A second administration of President Barack Obama will be forced to revisit the issue of subsidies for renewable energy and, with it, those for electric vehicles. Despite the millions of dollars spent on government incentives, marketing and promotion, sales of fully electric cars are well below projected targets. Investment in vehicle charging infrastructure also has fallen victim to budget cutbacks, limited usage and concern over the return on money spent.

Indeed, only last month, a leading automotive battery manufacturer, A123 Systems, was forced to declare bankruptcy. And the founder and CEO of Better Place, Shai Agassi, whose company (in which I was employed) promotes all-electric vehicles with batteries that can be both charged and replaced, was himself replaced due to low sales figures and high capital expenses arising from the deployment of battery-switching stations.

As a result, the question is now being raised: Are we again bearing witness to the death of the electric car?

Any such conclusion over the longer term may be premature. With declining costs and gradually improving technologies that can extend battery range beyond its current limitations, the electric car continues to hold promise. Rising gasoline prices and potential disruptions in oil supply favor alternative sources of energy.

To achieve mass market adoption, however, cars running on electricity — or any other alternative energy source — must satisfy the three “C’s”: cost, convenience and connectivity.

Few buyers are able or willing to pay more for a car running on clean energy unless the upfront cost of the car roughly equals or is below its carbon-powered alternative. Advertised savings over time in powering a car using alternative “fuels” so far have failed to persuade the average driver to buy. And while government subsidies play a role in reducing initial costs to consumers, such incentives so far have not been sufficient to attract large numbers of drivers to switch to electric vehicles.

Cars driven solely or partially by electricity or other alternative energies also must be at least as convenient as those powered exclusively by internal combustion engines. Drivers appear unwilling to sacrifice the expected hundreds of miles in driving range between refuelings. Likewise, drivers demand refueling times equal to what they are accustomed — about five minutes at the gasoline station.

Further, there must be adequate infrastructure in place to enable large numbers of drivers to connect to an alternative energy source before that source can be widely adopted. While a scattering of drivers simultaneously connecting to a power grid may not have much impact, large numbers of drivers doing so can cause major power outages that escalate absent the real-time balancing of energy loads across the network. Moreover, the environmental impact of the connected cycle between car and infrastructure, often referred to as the “well-to-wheel” balance, has to result in less pollution overall for alternative energy vehicles to achieve significant market traction.

Until the fully electric car can satisfy all three C’s, any assessment of projected vehicle sales must reflect a variety of energy sourcing options, both traditional and alternative, all competing for market share.

Gasoline and diesel likely will remain the predominant source of energy in the foreseeable future for new car buyers, with hybrid vehicles that run on both petroleum and alternative energy sources taking an increasingly larger share of the market. Although more costly than pure gasoline-driven cars, hybrids do offer a more environmentally friendly solution and provide the driving range demanded by car buyers.

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West Miami-Dade hit-and-run driver convicted, awaiting sentencing

Almost four years after a hit-and-run driver killed her 11-year-old daughter, Adonay Rosete will enter the holiday season with some semblance of closure.

That’s because a jury this month convicted the driver of two felonies in the death of 11-year-old Ashley Nicole Valdes, who was struck in January 2009 in West Kendall after a bus driver dropped her off on the wrong side of the street.

The driver, Harvey Abraham, 37, was convicted of leaving the scene of an accident involving death and tampering with evidence.

He will be sentenced early next year, and faces from two to 35 years in prison.

“The trial was just very hard because it took me back to that moment of her death. He took two lives that day. The dead are dead, but the living are the ones who stay behind suffering,” Rosete said this week. “But after three years, it’s closure.”

Ashley’s death spurred Miami-Dade County to implement an “Ashley Alert” text-message system for which county residents can sign up to receive alerts on crime and traffic issues. The alerts are intended to spread the word on crimes such as hit-and-run accidents like the one that killed Ashley.

In March 2009 — in a ceremony featuring dozens of the girl’s classmates — county officials also renamed the portion of Southwest 80th Street where Ashley died after her.

Ashley had just started sixth grade at Howard Doolin Middle School in West Kendall. Her mother also cares for her younger daughter, Amanda Batista, who suffers from Angelman Syndrome, a condition similar to cerebral palsy.

Ashley was killed Jan. 8, 2009, when a substitute school bus driver dropped her off on the wrong side of the Southwest 80th Street in West Kendall. She was crossing 80th Street when a Ford F-150 plowed into her, hurling her body 80 feet. Her family later received a settlement from the Miami-Dade school district.

Two school-age sisters in a nearby car witnessed the accident.

At the time, Abraham — a father of two daughters — worked as an administrative assistant at an accounting firm. He took his truck to a body shop, and even filed an insurance claim, saying he was the victim, prosecutor Suzanne Von Paulus told jurors at his trial.

As Miami-Dade traffic homicide detectives searched for the truck and fielded more than 70 tips, Allstate insurance inspected the vehicle and mailed a check to Harvey for the damage.

While the partially disassembled truck sat outside a South Miami auto body shop, a citizen — who heard about the case through the news media — called police. The shop’s owner, working with police, called Abraham to the shop under the pretense that he needed to sign more paperwork for the repair job.

Detectives arrested Abraham, who claimed he thought he had struck a dog. Jurors took 25 minutes to convict him.

“The whole thing is tragic. There was nothing he could have done to avoid this accident,” said his defense attorney, David Donet. “From the beginning he said he never realized what he hit. But he is really devastated by what happened to Ashley and is very remorseful.”

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Research In Motion shares climb

TORONTO (AP) — Shares of Research in Motion Ltd. Jumped nearly 14 percent Friday as investors seemingly grew more optimistic about a February launch of the Canadian company’s much-delayed BlackBerry 10 smartphones.

RIM will release the latest version of its smartphone “not too long” after a Jan. 30 launch event, Kristian Tear, the company’s chief operating officer, has said.

The new phones are seen as critical to RIM’s survival as the smartphone pioneer struggles in North America to hold on to customers who are abandoning BlackBerrys for flashier iPhones and Android phones.

The Waterloo, Ontario, company seems to be preparing for a February global launch, a month earlier than many analysts were expecting, according to an analyst with National Bank Financial, a Canadian bank. Kris Thompson raised his shipments forecast for RIM for fiscal 2014 in a research note from Wednesday.

Thompson also increased his price target for the BlackBerry maker to $ 15 from $ 12.

RIM shares on the Nasdaq closed up $ 1.41, or nearly 14 percent, to $ 11.67 Friday in an abbreviated trading session on Wall Street.

The spike in the BlackBerry maker’s shares came after a week of steady gains amid more positive sentiment.

On Wednesday, shares in Research In Motion gained almost 5 percent on the Toronto Stock Exchange even though it was reported that the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board had dropped the BlackBerry maker in favor of Apple’s iPhone 5.

Thompson, the National Bank Financial analyst, was bolstered by RIM’s new management team, which he said is maintaining the BlackBerry smartphone subscriber base, managing costs and cash, and seemingly readying a February 2013 BB10 global product release, a month earlier than expected.

He said certification of the new BlackBerrys by wireless carriers is the key risk to his prediction and estimate of BlackBerry shipments. Carrier certification, which tests the new devices, can take time.

The new BlackBerry 10 system is designed for the touch screen, Internet browsing and apps experience that customers now expect. RIM’s current software is still focused on email and messaging and is less user-friendly, agile and robust than iPhone or Android.

Earlier this week, a prominent tech analyst gave RIM’s new operating system a small but improved chance of success. Analyst Peter Misek of New York-based Jefferies & Company said he’s still giving the BlackBerry 10 operating system only a 20 to 30 percent probability of success.

RIM was once Canada‘s most valuable company with a market value of more than $ 80 billion in 2008, but the stock has plummeted since, from over $ 140 per share. Its decline evokes memories of Nortel, another former Canadian tech giant, which declared bankruptcy in 2009.

Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Apollo hits the books

Private-equity firm Apollo Global Management in the next few days will be announcing a deal to buy McGraw-Hill’s education business, The Post has learned.

The price is expected to be between $2 billion and $3 billion, sources said.

McGraw-Hill in December 2011 said it was splitting its business in two — one focused on financial markets, including Standard & Poor’s, and the other focusing on education business, including textbooks that it was planning to spin out to shareholders.

The Post reported exclusively in July that McGraw was also quietly seeing if it could sell the education business and was working with Evercore Partners and Goldman Sachs.

While Apollo for weeks has been in exclusive talks it has only recently become clear that McGraw will indeed sell the business and not spin it out.

One banker thinks Apollo, despite working with former McGraw-Hill Education President Peter Davis, may end up getting schooled.

“Think about textbooks and government budgets getting crushed,” the banker said, believing it is a very risky space.

McGraw-Hill Education reported that its third quarter revenue fell by 11 percent.

John Paulson and Guggenheim Partners in 2010 invested in rival Houghton Mifflin only to be “obliterated” when the textbook publisher this year went bankrupt, the banker said.

A McGraw-Hill Education growth area is K-12 testing in reading and math.

Apollo and McGraw-Hill both declined to comment.

jkosman@nypost.com

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