Obama Announces Hiring Bonus
On January 29, 2010, President Obama announced a proposal to give companies
a $5,000 credit for each new worker they hire in 2010.
That's great news for you Marvin if you are looking for a job or looking to change jobs.
The first step to getting hired is being qualified for the job.
Request an education and training package on any of these hot Lima careers
and get qualified. Michael Jackson's doctor Conrad Murray denied allegations on him stating he gave MJ excessive painkillers and said he administered a CPR following weak pulse.
Dr. Conrad Murray
Prosecutors will file a criminal complaint against Dr. Conrad Murray, who practices in Houston, instead of taking the case before a grand jury, which is done in private, the official said.
The person is not authorized to speak publicly about the case and only spoke on condition of anonymity.
The complaint would be the prelude to a public hearing in which a judge would weigh testimony from witnesses to decide if there is probable cause to try him on an involuntary manslaughter charge.
Jackson died June 25 from an anesthetic overdose. Murray maintains nothing he gave Jackson should have killed him.
Murray arrived in Los Angeles last weekend in anticipation of a charging decision from the district attorney's office, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.
"Dr. Murray is in Los Angeles for a dual purpose — on family business and to be available for law enforcement," said spokeswoman Miranda Sevcik. "We're trying to be as cooperative as we can."
There is no official word on when an announcement about any charges might come. David Walgren, the deputy Los Angeles County district attorney handling the case, declined to comment Tuesday.
The district attorney's office has for weeks been working closely with Los Angeles Police Department investigators to build a case against Murray.
Jackson, 50, hired Murray to be his personal physician as he prepared for a strenuous series of comeback performances in London. He died in Los Angeles after Murray administered the powerful general anesthetic propofol and two other sedatives to get the chronic insomniac to sleep, according to the Los Angeles County coroner's office, which ruled the death a homicide.
Murray has denied any criminal wrongdoing.
"We continue to maintain that Dr. Murray neither prescribed nor administered anything that should have killed Michael Jackson," Sevcik said.
The world's biggest software maker said on Thursday that net profit came to $6.7 billion, or 74 cents per share, for its fiscal second quarter, versus $4.2 billion, or 47 cents per share, a year ago.
Analysts were expecting 59 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Microsoft's stock rose 1 percent in after-hours trading, a relatively muted reaction that analysts attributed in part to a run-up in the stock following the launch of the Windows 7 operating system in October.
"Make no mistake, these were very good results out of Microsoft. Expectations were heightened ever the last few weeks, given Q4 PC shipments and good numbers from Intel," said Andy Miedler, analyst at Edward Jones.
Others also pointed to confusion over the earnings numbers because Microsoft included the effects of deferred revenue from pre-sales of Windows 7 to PC makers and retailers, and its free upgrade program.
Excluding that revenue, profit was 60 cents per share.
"It was a pretty clean, blowout beat," said Sid Parakh, an analyst at McAdams Wright Ragen. "All the Street models should have reflected that deferred revenue because it's not a surprise."
Microsoft stopped making specific profit or revenue forecasts in January 2009, citing market volatility.
"We didn't see enterprise spending growth in our fiscal second quarter just ended," Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein told Reuters.
"However, our general view is a recovery will occur starting this calendar year and gradually over the next several years," he added.
Windows 7 has proved to be Microsoft's strongest-selling operating system to date after the disappointing Vista. PC sales grew 15.2 percent last quarter.
Microsoft's revenue rose 14 percent to $19.02 billion, including $1.71 billion of deferred revenue from the Windows 7 launch in October. Excluding that, sales were $17.31 billion.
Microsoft shares rose to $29.42 in after-hours trading from their Nasdaq close of $29.16. At the close, The stock has risen 62 percent over the past 12 months, outstripping a 40 percent gain in the Nasdaq.
"Last year the stock was a big outperformer. A lot of people think the stock has already had its run," said Jane Snorek, technology analyst at First American Funds. "But I think with PCs doing this well and a new Office coming in June, that the stock can still outperform. I think Office can be a big hit."
Rivals International Business Machines Corp, Google Inc and Apple Inc have all beaten average Wall Street estimates this quarter, but saw their stocks fall or gain only slightly afterward. Haiti’s Earthquake May Have Revealed Oil Resources
The earthquake occurred along a fault line that may have cracked nearby rock formations, allowing gas or oil to seep to the surface. Stephen Pierce, a geologist who has long worked in the region, told Bloomberg as much in a phone interview on Monday:
A geologist, callous as it may seem, tracing that fault zone from Port-au-Prince to the border looking for gas and oil seeps, may find a structure that hasn’t been drilled. A discovery could significantly improve the country’s economy and stimulate further exploration.
The exploration of oil and gas in Haiti is far less developed than its immediate neighbor, the Dominican Republic, with which it shares the island of Hispaniola. There are an estimated 3 million barrels of oil offshore, as well as a possible 1 trillion cubic feet of gas trapped near the earthquake fault.
Currently Haiti, and more specifically, Port-au-Prince, is in a state of emergency, with over 150,000 dead and more than 600,000 without shelter. The main priority for the small island nation is relief and recovery for the survivors. Looking beyond the initial devastation, however, Haiti will need “massive support” for a “colossal” reconstruction, said Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive.
The Greater Antilles, which includes Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico, collectively boast even bigger possibilities. With likely offshore reserves nearing 142 million barrels of oil and 159 billion cubic feet of gas, this new discovery could be just the thing Haiti needs to jumpstart its economy and fund its long process of rebuilding. Microsoft patches Internet Explorer.
This security update is rated Critical for all supported releases of Internet Explorer: Internet Explorer 5.01, Internet Explorer 6, Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1, Internet Explorer 7, and Internet Explorer 8 (except Internet Explorer 6 for supported editions of Windows Server 2003). For Internet Explorer 6 for supported editions of Windows Server 2003 as listed, this update is rated Moderate. For more information, see the subsection, Affected and Non-Affected Software, in this section.
The security update addresses these vulnerabilities by modifying the way that Internet Explorer handles objects in memory, validates input parameters, and filters HTML attributes. For more information about the vulnerabilities, see the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) subsection under the next section, Vulnerability Information.
This security update also addresses the vulnerability first described in Microsoft Security Advisory 979352.
Recommendation. The majority of customers have automatic updating enabled and will not need to take any action because this security update will be downloaded and installed automatically. Customers who have not enabled automatic updating need to check for updates and install this update manually. For information about specific configuration options in automatic updating, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 294871.
For administrators and enterprise installations, or end users who want to install this security update manually, Microsoft recommends that customers apply the update immediately using update management software, or by checking for updates using the Microsoft Update service.
See also the section, Detection and Deployment Tools and Guidance, later in this bulletin.>
EURweb has learned that original Chi-Lites member Robert “Squirrel” Lester has died.
The artist, who sang on such Chi-Lites hits as “Have You Seen Her” and “Oh Girl,” passed away at 12:05 this morning in his hometown of Chicago, according to the group’s lead singer Marshall Thompson.
“Today I am mourning the loss of my dear partner and friend, Robert “Squirrel” Lester,” Thompson wrote in a statement. “He and I have been performing together for the past 50 years and now I am facing the reality that my friend has left me behind.
“I pray for peace to his family, friends and to each of you. I also ask that you include me in your prayers as I attempt to accept his passing, knowing that after a short illness, he is no longer suffering and has made his final journey. He will remain in my heart and can never be replaced.”
Lester once sang with The Chanteurs, a band which included Eugene Record and Clarence Johnson. The three men later formed the Hi-Lites with Marshall Thompson and Creadel “Red” Jones. By the mid-’60s, Johnson left the group, and they were renamed the Chi-Lites, in a nod to their hometown.
Funeral arrangements were pending at press time.
Below, the Chi-Lites perform “Oh Girl” on “Soul Train”
On January 29, 2010, President Obama announced a proposal to give companies
a $5,000 credit for each new worker they hire in 2010.
That's great news for you Marvin if you are looking for a job or looking to change jobs.
The first step to getting hired is being qualified for the job.
Request an education and training package on any of these hot Lima careers
and get qualified. Michael Jackson's doctor Conrad Murray denied allegations on him stating he gave MJ excessive painkillers and said he administered a CPR following weak pulse.
Dr. Conrad Murray
Prosecutors will file a criminal complaint against Dr. Conrad Murray, who practices in Houston, instead of taking the case before a grand jury, which is done in private, the official said.
The person is not authorized to speak publicly about the case and only spoke on condition of anonymity.
The complaint would be the prelude to a public hearing in which a judge would weigh testimony from witnesses to decide if there is probable cause to try him on an involuntary manslaughter charge.
Jackson died June 25 from an anesthetic overdose. Murray maintains nothing he gave Jackson should have killed him.
Murray arrived in Los Angeles last weekend in anticipation of a charging decision from the district attorney's office, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.
"Dr. Murray is in Los Angeles for a dual purpose — on family business and to be available for law enforcement," said spokeswoman Miranda Sevcik. "We're trying to be as cooperative as we can."
There is no official word on when an announcement about any charges might come. David Walgren, the deputy Los Angeles County district attorney handling the case, declined to comment Tuesday.
The district attorney's office has for weeks been working closely with Los Angeles Police Department investigators to build a case against Murray.
Jackson, 50, hired Murray to be his personal physician as he prepared for a strenuous series of comeback performances in London. He died in Los Angeles after Murray administered the powerful general anesthetic propofol and two other sedatives to get the chronic insomniac to sleep, according to the Los Angeles County coroner's office, which ruled the death a homicide.
Murray has denied any criminal wrongdoing.
"We continue to maintain that Dr. Murray neither prescribed nor administered anything that should have killed Michael Jackson," Sevcik said.
The world's biggest software maker said on Thursday that net profit came to $6.7 billion, or 74 cents per share, for its fiscal second quarter, versus $4.2 billion, or 47 cents per share, a year ago.
Analysts were expecting 59 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Microsoft's stock rose 1 percent in after-hours trading, a relatively muted reaction that analysts attributed in part to a run-up in the stock following the launch of the Windows 7 operating system in October.
"Make no mistake, these were very good results out of Microsoft. Expectations were heightened ever the last few weeks, given Q4 PC shipments and good numbers from Intel," said Andy Miedler, analyst at Edward Jones.
Others also pointed to confusion over the earnings numbers because Microsoft included the effects of deferred revenue from pre-sales of Windows 7 to PC makers and retailers, and its free upgrade program.
Excluding that revenue, profit was 60 cents per share.
"It was a pretty clean, blowout beat," said Sid Parakh, an analyst at McAdams Wright Ragen. "All the Street models should have reflected that deferred revenue because it's not a surprise."
Microsoft stopped making specific profit or revenue forecasts in January 2009, citing market volatility.
"We didn't see enterprise spending growth in our fiscal second quarter just ended," Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein told Reuters.
"However, our general view is a recovery will occur starting this calendar year and gradually over the next several years," he added.
Windows 7 has proved to be Microsoft's strongest-selling operating system to date after the disappointing Vista. PC sales grew 15.2 percent last quarter.
Microsoft's revenue rose 14 percent to $19.02 billion, including $1.71 billion of deferred revenue from the Windows 7 launch in October. Excluding that, sales were $17.31 billion.
Microsoft shares rose to $29.42 in after-hours trading from their Nasdaq close of $29.16. At the close, The stock has risen 62 percent over the past 12 months, outstripping a 40 percent gain in the Nasdaq.
"Last year the stock was a big outperformer. A lot of people think the stock has already had its run," said Jane Snorek, technology analyst at First American Funds. "But I think with PCs doing this well and a new Office coming in June, that the stock can still outperform. I think Office can be a big hit."
Rivals International Business Machines Corp, Google Inc and Apple Inc have all beaten average Wall Street estimates this quarter, but saw their stocks fall or gain only slightly afterward. Haiti’s Earthquake May Have Revealed Oil Resources
The earthquake occurred along a fault line that may have cracked nearby rock formations, allowing gas or oil to seep to the surface. Stephen Pierce, a geologist who has long worked in the region, told Bloomberg as much in a phone interview on Monday:
A geologist, callous as it may seem, tracing that fault zone from Port-au-Prince to the border looking for gas and oil seeps, may find a structure that hasn’t been drilled. A discovery could significantly improve the country’s economy and stimulate further exploration.
The exploration of oil and gas in Haiti is far less developed than its immediate neighbor, the Dominican Republic, with which it shares the island of Hispaniola. There are an estimated 3 million barrels of oil offshore, as well as a possible 1 trillion cubic feet of gas trapped near the earthquake fault.
Currently Haiti, and more specifically, Port-au-Prince, is in a state of emergency, with over 150,000 dead and more than 600,000 without shelter. The main priority for the small island nation is relief and recovery for the survivors. Looking beyond the initial devastation, however, Haiti will need “massive support” for a “colossal” reconstruction, said Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive.
The Greater Antilles, which includes Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico, collectively boast even bigger possibilities. With likely offshore reserves nearing 142 million barrels of oil and 159 billion cubic feet of gas, this new discovery could be just the thing Haiti needs to jumpstart its economy and fund its long process of rebuilding. Microsoft patches Internet Explorer.
This security update is rated Critical for all supported releases of Internet Explorer: Internet Explorer 5.01, Internet Explorer 6, Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1, Internet Explorer 7, and Internet Explorer 8 (except Internet Explorer 6 for supported editions of Windows Server 2003). For Internet Explorer 6 for supported editions of Windows Server 2003 as listed, this update is rated Moderate. For more information, see the subsection, Affected and Non-Affected Software, in this section.
The security update addresses these vulnerabilities by modifying the way that Internet Explorer handles objects in memory, validates input parameters, and filters HTML attributes. For more information about the vulnerabilities, see the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) subsection under the next section, Vulnerability Information.
This security update also addresses the vulnerability first described in Microsoft Security Advisory 979352.
Recommendation. The majority of customers have automatic updating enabled and will not need to take any action because this security update will be downloaded and installed automatically. Customers who have not enabled automatic updating need to check for updates and install this update manually. For information about specific configuration options in automatic updating, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 294871.
For administrators and enterprise installations, or end users who want to install this security update manually, Microsoft recommends that customers apply the update immediately using update management software, or by checking for updates using the Microsoft Update service.
See also the section, Detection and Deployment Tools and Guidance, later in this bulletin.>
EURweb has learned that original Chi-Lites member Robert “Squirrel” Lester has died.
The artist, who sang on such Chi-Lites hits as “Have You Seen Her” and “Oh Girl,” passed away at 12:05 this morning in his hometown of Chicago, according to the group’s lead singer Marshall Thompson.
“Today I am mourning the loss of my dear partner and friend, Robert “Squirrel” Lester,” Thompson wrote in a statement. “He and I have been performing together for the past 50 years and now I am facing the reality that my friend has left me behind.
“I pray for peace to his family, friends and to each of you. I also ask that you include me in your prayers as I attempt to accept his passing, knowing that after a short illness, he is no longer suffering and has made his final journey. He will remain in my heart and can never be replaced.”
Lester once sang with The Chanteurs, a band which included Eugene Record and Clarence Johnson. The three men later formed the Hi-Lites with Marshall Thompson and Creadel “Red” Jones. By the mid-’60s, Johnson left the group, and they were renamed the Chi-Lites, in a nod to their hometown.
Funeral arrangements were pending at press time.
Below, the Chi-Lites perform “Oh Girl” on “Soul Train”
North Korea May Be Behind Wave of Cyber Attacks
Wednesday, August 30, 2009
By Marvin Fredlaw
July 8: An employee of Korea Internet Security Center works at a monitoring room in Seoul, South Korea.
July 8: An employee of Korea Internet Security Center works at a monitoring room in Seoul, South Korea.
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean intelligence officials believe North Korea or pro-Pyongyang forces committed cyber attacks that paralyzed major South Korean and U.S. government Web sites, aides to two lawmakers said Wednesday.
The sites of 11 South Korean organizations, including the presidential Blue House and the Defense Ministry, went down or had access problems since late Tuesday, according to the state-run Korea Information Security Agency. Agency spokeswoman Ahn Jeong-eun said 11 U.S. sites suffered similar problems.
She said the agency is investigating the case with police and prosecutors.
In the U.S., the Treasury Department, Secret Service, Federal Trade Commission and Transportation Department Web sites were all down at varying points over the July 4 holiday weekend and into this week, according to American officials inside and outside the government.
Others familiar with the U.S. outage, which is called a denial of service attack, said that the fact that the government Web sites were still being affected three days after it began signaled an unusually lengthy and sophisticated attack. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the matter.
The Korea Information Security Agency also attributed the attacks to denial of service.
Yang Moo-jin, a professor at Seoul's University of North Korean Studies, said he doubts whether the impoverished North has the capability to knock down the Web sites.
But Hong Hyun-ik, an analyst at the Sejong Institute think tank, said the attack could have been done by either North Korea or China, saying he "heard North Korea has been working hard to hack into" South Korean networks.
On Wednesday, the National Intelligence Service told a group of South Korean lawmakers it believes that North Korea or North Korean sympathizers "were behind" the attacks, according to an aide to one of lawmakers who was briefed on the information.
An aide to another lawmaker who was briefed also said the NIS suspects North Korea or its followers were responsible.
The aides spoke on condition of anonymity and refused to allow the names of the lawmakers they work for to be published, citing the classified nature of the information.
Both aides said the information was delivered in writing to lawmakers who serve on the National Assembly's intelligence committee.
The National Intelligence Service — South Korea's main spy agency — declined to confirm the information.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency said military intelligence officers were looking at the possibility that the attack may have been committed by North Korean hackers and pro-North Korea forces in South Korea. South Korea's Defense Ministry said it could not confirm the report.
Earlier Wednesday, the NIS said in a statement that 12,000 computers in South Korea and 8,000 computers overseas had been infected and used for the cyber attack.
The agency said it believed the attack was "thoroughly" prepared and committed by hackers "at the level of a certain organization or state." It said it was cooperating with the American investigators to examine the case.
South Korean media reported in May that North Korea was running a cyber warfare unit that tries to hack into U.S. and South Korean military networks to gather confidential information and disrupt service.
An initial investigation in South Korea found that many personal computers were infected with a virus program ordering them to visit major official Web sites in South Korea and the U.S. at the same time, Korean information agency official Shin Hwa-su said. There has been no immediate reports of similar cyber attack in other Asian countries.
Yonhap said that prosecutors have found some of the cyber attacks on the South Korean sites were accessed from overseas. Yonhap, citing an unnamed prosecution official, said the cyber attack used a method common to Chinese hackers.
Prosecutors were not immediately available for comment.
Shin, the Information Security Agency official, said the initial probe had not yet uncovered evidence about where the cyber outages originated. Police also said they had not discovered where the outages originated. Police officer Jeong Seok-hwa said that could take several days.
Some of the South Korean sites remained unstable or inaccessible Wednesday. The site of the presidential Blue House could be accessed, but those for the Defense Ministry, the ruling Grand National Party and the National Assembly could not.
Ahn said there were no immediate reports of financial damage or leaking of confidential national information. The alleged attacks appeared aimed only at paralyzing Web sites, she said.
South Korea's Defense Ministry and Blue House said that there has been no leak of any documents.
Contractor Seeks 'Cyber Warriors' to Help Defend U.S.
By Marvin Fredlaw
Want to be a "cyber warrior" defending your country? If so, there are plenty of well-paid jobs available.
Leading defense contractor Raytheon is looking for a few good men and women — a couple of hundred of them, in fact — to patrol the front lines of America's cybersecurity.
"We're aggressively recruiting," Raytheon Vice President of Information Security Solutions Steve Hawkins told FOXNews.com.
Applicants need to be a bit aggressive as well, according to the solicitation Raytheon put online seeking applicants for more than 30 different job descriptions.
"Our Raytheon cyber warriors play offense and defense, and know how the adversary thinks and can adopt their perspective," says the Web page, which lists positions ranging from "network and security engineers" to "data modeling engineers" to "media sanitation specialists."
Asked what that last job entails, Hawkins laughed.
"That's where you erase or destroy devices that would have sensitive data on them," he explained. "You try to find individuals who've been trained in doing that. But I'm afraid those positions have mostly been filled."
Nevertheless, Hawkins says the company's made about 50 to 60 hires so far this year, and wants to take on 150 more new cyber warriors by December.
National cybersecurity is a hugely growing field, with the crude but effective shutdown of U.S. and South Korean government Web sites over July 4 weekend coming as the latest example of our weaknesses.
A report released just this past Wednesday found that the federal government is woefully behind in cybersecurity, with the lack of trained personnel the biggest proble
For the Raytheon jobs, all you need are very strong computer skills — a college degree in computer science, math or engineering is preferred, but not necessary — strong ethical standards, and, for most positions, the ability to pass government security clearances, which entails U.S. citizenship.
And while some security companies hire ex-hackers, Hawkins said such formerly shady characters need not apply in this case.
"We certainly love ex-hackers' skills, but you have to get ethical people," he said. "There are very extensive background investigations, and you don't usually find criminals making it through that process."
Even former teenage hackers who haven't been convicted of any crime but are suspected of a few would not be considered.
"That would be a very negative thing," Hawkins says. "We would rather take engineers with basic skills and train them from scratch."
Hawkins wouldn't get specific about compensation but said that it's a "typical engineering pay scale, which varies widely based on level of experience."
A quick online survey shows that systems analysts generally make in the high five figures.
Hawkins added that for those applicants who pass the most stringent security clearances, "which limits the available talent," there's "premium compensation ... I'd say they make 10 to 15 percent more."
While the list of jobs looks pretty intimidating, Hawkins stressed that applicants would be better off if they weren't too specialized.
"We're looking for those individuals who understand the inner workings of computer systems and software, who understand the interaction between hardware and software down to the nitty-gritty," he said. "Not people who've specialized in high-level computer languages."
In other words, Raytheon doesn't need programmers trained in the most modern, efficient techniques, which automate many routine processes, but rather those who know how to get closer to what the computers are actually doing.
It's a bit like the difference between driving a car with automatic transmission and one with a stick shift, where you have more of a sense of what the engine's up to.
While many private computer firms favor younger applicants over older ones, Hawkins says that's not the case here.
"We're perfectly willing to take mid-career applicants, especially those who've had full military careers," he says. "It really comes down to the thought process they have, the skills they have."
New graduates fresh out of college are welcome, too, as well as recently laid-off Wall Street quantitative analysts.
"If they don't have the skills we need, then we'll sent them to our version of boot camp training," he adds.
In a difficult job market, with so many people looking for work, why does Raytheon need to advertise?
"In the past three to four years, the number of graduates in the fields we're looking at has really plateaued," said Hawkins. "The citizenship requirements mean there's a limited supply for a growing field."
"Kids these days tend to lose interest in math sometime in middle school," he added. "We've got a program for schoolkids called 'MathMovesU.' We've reached 700,000 kids and teachers this way in the past few years."
Locations for the jobs are in Garland, Texas (near Dallas), Melbourne, Fla., and as might be expected, two areas near Washington, D.C.: northern Virginia, home of the Pentagon and CIA, and Linthicum and Fort Meade, Md., where the National Security Agency is.
That doesn't mean people working in the latter two would be directly placed in the NSA or Pentagon, Hawkins explained.
"We do support all the major federal customers," he said. "We're not limited by proximity."
"Mona Lisa" comes to life in high-tech art exhibit
For centuries, Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" and her enigmatic smile have inspired as much speculation as admiration. Now she's ready to answer questions -- in Mandarin.
A digital, interactive version of the renowned 16th century painting is one of 61 high-tech replicas breathing life into classical and ancient art works in the "World Classic Interactive Arts Exhibition" which opened in Beijing last week.
These recreations of works by old masters and renowned modern painters were crafted by a South Korean gallery. Exhibition organizer Wang Hui said it took two years of preparation and a hefty investment to bring the works to China.
"What's special about this is that it's the first time the 3D technology, holographic technology, and voice recognition technology is fused together in one exhibit," Wang told Reuters.
As is the case with the original painting in the Louvre in Paris, the digital Mona Lisa is the star attraction. She talks and waves to visitors, who ask her age and about her life.
"Hello, I am the Mona Lisa. It's nice to meet you," she says in Mandarin.
"The Last Supper" is another da Vinci painting digitally brought to life, and in which Jesus talks to the apostles and moves across the plasma canvas.
The exhibit also includes a multimedia play by life-size replicas of ancient statues of Greek and Roman gods and goddess, who brag about their virtues and beauty while striking poses.
"I studied fine arts in college. In studios they're all stationary, but here they are alive and moving around. It's surprising and vivid," said exhibit visitor Zhao Yuanzhi.
As the exhibit tries to reveal art in a new light, it also attempts to answer one of the most enduring questions in the world -- what's behind the Mona Lisa's smile.
When asked, the digital portrait is programed to talk about how she became pregnant after the death of a child and about the sorrow and happiness in her life.
She also acknowledges that many people find her smile mysterious .Yahoo wins U.S. court ruling over webcasting fees
* By MARVIN fREDLAW- Fri Aug 23, 2009 10:42PM EDT
* Will antitrust probe keep Microsoft, Yahoo apart? (AP)
* Apple denies 'rejecting' Google Voice for iPhone (AP)
* Online radio service wins ruling over license fees (AP)
* Movie theaters cut print show times as Web gains (AP)
* Jordan Palmer helping players develop iPhone apps (AP)
* Panasonic leans on `Avatar' movie for 3-D PR blitz (AP)
* Outed blogger who trashed model is angry at Google (AP)
* Apple says Google Voice app alters iPhone (Reuters)
* Cell Phone Snap Shots Can Help Find Missing Children (Dear Abby)
* Sean Kingston album gets fans online with karaoke (Reuters)
* Blizzard Confirms World of Warcraft 'Cataclysm' Expansion (PC World)
* Smartphones drive language learning innovation (AFP)
* Apple tells FCC jury still out on Google Voice (AFP)
* IBD's Top 10 - Friday (Investor's Business Daily)
* Accused credit card hacker lived large in Miami (AP)
* Microsoft offers open source link for PHP, .Net (InfoWorld)
* AT&T Says it Didn't Block Google Voice (PC World)
NEW YORK (Reuters) -
A federal appeals court in New York ruled that a Yahoo Inc Internet radio service is not required to pay fees to copyright holders of songs it plays, a defeat for Sony Corp's BMG Music.
In a case closely watched by the recording industry, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 2007 jury verdict that Launchcast, a webcasting service run by Yahoo's Launch Media Inc unit, did not give listeners enough control to be an "interactive service" that would require the fees.
The three-judge panel said the service is required only to pay licensing fees set by SoundExchange, a nonprofit that collects royalties on sound recordings. It was the first federal appeals court to decide the issue.
Friday's ruling is a setback for record producers that have struggled with slumping sales as customers increasingly obtain music online or through other means.
"It's an immediate loss for the recording industry," said Rey Sanchez, chairman of the department of music, media and industry at the University of Miami and a voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
"If the service had been deemed interactive, Yahoo would have to negotiate fees with every record label to use their songs. Instead, it only has to pay licensing fees."
He added that the dispute "signals a shift in the culture of how people access music, and how to monetize that access."
A Sony representative declined to comment. A lawyer for the recording companies did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Yahoo spokeswoman Kim Rubey said the Sunnyvale, California-based company is pleased with the ruling and looks forward to providing "the best online music experiences" to customers.
Other recording companies involved in the case included Capitol Records Inc, Motown Records Co and Virgin Records America Inc, among others, court papers show.
NOT ENOUGH CONTROL
Launchcast lets users create individualized "radio stations" that play songs in a particular genre, or which are similar to their favorite artists or songs.
Sony, whose labels also include Arista, Bad Boy, and Zomba, sued Launch Media in a 2001 for copyright infringement, saying it failed to obtain licenses to play its songs.
The law at issue defines an interactive service as a service "that enables a member of the public to receive a transmission of a program specially created for the recipient, or on request, a transmission of a particular sound recording ... which is selected by or on behalf of the recipient."
In his 42-page opinion for the appeals court, Judge Richard Wesley said the U.S. Congress enacted the law because previous laws did not do enough to protect sound recording copyright holders from falling record sales.
Yet he found that Launchcast "does not provide sufficient control" to convince listeners to choose to listen to music on the Internet, instead of buying music.
"The user has control over the genre of songs to be played for 5,000 songs," the judge wrote, "but this degree of control is no different from a traditional radio listener expressing a preference for a country music station over a classic rock station."
Sanchez, the professor, explained: "The record labels argued that the ability of listeners to skip songs they don't like made the service interactive. The court disagreed."
Mac or a Netbook? Students Chose the Latter
Retrevo says Macs are at the bottom of student wish lists this year. While 49 percent of students will buy full-sized Windows laptops, 34 percent will purchase netbooks. Bringing up the rear is Mac with only 17 percent of students saying they intend to buy one, the study shows.
The most affordable new Apple laptop I could find sells for $949 (white MacBook). Compare that to the 18 percent of survey participants who say they won't spend a dime over $1000 for a laptop and Apple doesn't look to be the big man on campus this year. A majority of penny-pinching students, 58 percent of them, said they plan on spending less than $750 on their back-to-school laptop.
Apple has been targeting the education market this year with a special promotion offering a free iPod Touch with every MacBook sold. Judging from Retrevo's study the lure is not that effective. Apple's promotion ends on September 8.
Cheap netbooks, some even under $200, may just be good enough for students tight on cash and already saddled with credit card and tuition debt. With long battery life, a variety of designs, these affordable mini-laptops give students more for their tight budgets.
While netbook sales are strong, Apple has been reluctant to enter the cheap ultraportable computer war. Speculation about such a device has been floating around for over a year now, but Apple execs blasted the idea of an Apple netbook back in March.
But Apple could have something else in mind for the education market. The Cupertino company is rumored to launch a tablet-sized device either this year or in early 2010, which could have broad applications for the education sector as well.
We might want to take the Retrevo study with a grain of salt considering it only polled 300 site visitors. And, personally, I'm not terribly surprised by its findings. Since when has Apple ever been the big man on campus when it comes to computer operating systems? If 17 percent of college-bound students actually do what they told Retrevo and buy a Mac, that's actually pretty good news for Apple. Market research firm Gartner points out the Mac market share here in the United States is a paltry 8.7 percent. Plus, according to market research from NPD, Apple has its own bragging rights. It owns 90 percent of the over-$1000 PC market.
Hey, maybe Microsoft's laptop hunter ad campaign is working? Next we'll find out college students prefer Bing to Google. Can we hide from assimilation?
Whether you are part of the Borg or not, you still might want to check the latest Top 10 Netbooks and get some shopping tips on how to buy a netbook.
Users should be aware that Windows 7, including the "upgrade" versions, cannot be installed over an existing Windows Vista system. "A complete new installation of the operating system is required," says Niels Held from Germany's Chip magazine. Microsoft requires that step to meet the legal requirements placed upon it to ship Windows 7 packages without Internet Explorer pre-installed. Users are advised to back up their data before installation.
Held sees no good reason to wait to make the switch. "The operating system has been subjected to long and extensive testing," he says. Windows 7 also offers firm benefits over its predecessor. The system runs significantly quicker than Windows Vista. It is also much better equipped with features and security functions.
Windows 7 is also less demanding in terms of hardware than its predecessor. "The new Windows runs without problems on devices a year or two old, faster than Windows Vista no less," Held says.
Microsoft is offering owners of older systems an affordable update program, as well: starting on July 15 and running through mid August, the Windows 7 Home Premium E operating system can be ordered for about 49 dollars - as long as supplies last. Those supplies were indeed run through quickly for many online dealers.
Consumers unable to reel in a copy from online dealers can still try to find a reduced price copy of Windows 7 at a bricks-and-mortar dealer.
Microsoft has indicated that it will be offering discounted versions of its new operating system even after the promotion ends. Between October 22 and December 31, the full product will be offered at the price normally associated with upgrades.
Windows 7 Home Premium is priced at nearly 120 dollars, while the Professional version can be had from 285 dollars. The Ultimate edition costs 299 dollars. Just how much the operating system will cost after January 2010 is not yet clear.
Internet: http://www.microsoft.com/germany/windows/buy/offers/upgrade.aspx.
Copyright, respective author or news agency
Attack unravels the social Web
By Marvin Fredlaw
Posted: Friday, Aug. 10, 2009
Protect privacy on Facebook
Somebody blasted Twitter out of its tree Thursday morning.
The furious “tweeting” of the social media site, which has grown louder and louder this year, was suddenly silenced for more than two hours due to an Internet spam attack. Service remained spotty with problems continuing late Thursday.
A similar cyber attack also hit Facebook, hobbling the larger social media site, and causing perhaps the biggest social media meltdown since the two sites have surged in popularity. What on earth would millions of social media users do?
“I got some laundry done,” joked Charlottean Addie Rising, who uses both sites for work.
Twitter, where snippet-snapping users send messages of up to 140 characters, has 45 million users.
The number of unique visitors to the micro-blogging site has more than tripled since January. And the site has perched atop pop culture, as actor Ashton Kutcher has famously amassed 3 million followers, and everyone from Shaquille O'Neal and Oprah Winfrey to the president have joined in the craze. Twitter also played a large role in the protest over corruption in the Iranian elections, giving protesters a way to voice dissent.
Facebook is four times the size of Twitter and has more than doubled in the past year. It now boasts a quarter of a billion users. About 450,000 on Facebook identify themselves as living within 50 miles of Charlotte. Twitter does not keep geographic statistics.
A pioneer of social networking said Thursday that the shutdown – while hardly a serious calamity – revealed to many how reliant upon social media we have become.
“It's when your lights go out that you realize how dependent you are on the electrical grid. Now that we've experienced the lights going out at Twitter and Facebook, many people are beginning to face our dependency on online social network services,” said Howard Rheingold, who helped invent social media in the mid-'80s and teaches social networking for both Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley.
Some users in Charlotte were inconvenienced by the shutdown.
“It killed us,” said Charlotte's Michael Hernandez, whose business, weskill.com, uses both sites daily. An online sales training site, Hernandez' firm was unable to begin a teaching program with a new client because he could not send messages on the two sites.
The brief loss of the sites made many feel disconnected.
“It just felt sort of weird to not be able to send out a tweet,” said Chad Bordeaux, a Lake Wylie CPA. “I was going to contact people about a poker game.”
The “denial of service” attacks, which did not threaten private information, overwhelmed servers with spam, shutting out real users.
“Now and then there's this kind of technological attack,” Craig Newmark, the founder of Craigslist, told the Observer.
Mashable, a social-media blog, reported Thursday night the attacks were deliberate and simultaneous.
One expert told The New York Times that he believed – and this points out the weird world of the Internet – that they were linked to the Russia-Georgia conflict. Bill Woodcock, of the Packet Clearing House, a nonprofit technical organization that tracks Internet traffic, told the Times he thought “one side put up propaganda, the other side figured this out and is attacking them.” Woodcock also said LiveJournal, a blogging site, and YouTube were affected.
Other experts speculated the attacks could be linked to viruses that have hit Facebook before.
A Facebook spokeswoman told the Observer that the two companies were working together to investigate the attack, and also seeking help from Google. Assistance from the Web's traffic giant indicates leaders are taking the attack seriously.
Twitter, which remains a small company despite its popularity, with fewer than 100 employees, was an unreliable site in its early days. It has regularly been temporarily overwhelmed by users.
A social media meltdown was meaningless to some, welcomed by others. “Twitter was down? Who cares?” someone posted on charlotteobserver.com.
Another poster wrote: “I went for a walk, got some writing done, baked a cake, and had a rather nice time.”
Jeff Elder writes about how we connect online. Contact him on Twitter @jeffelder. You can find his blog at http://atcharlotte.blogspot.com.
Western Digital is the first company out of the gate with a 2.5-inch hard drive featuring a full terabyte of capacity. The price: $250 as a naked laptop drive intended for internal use in a PC. If your storage needs are more modest, a 750GB version is available for $190.
External versions of both drives are also set to be available in the very near future -- $300 for the terabyte drive in a USB-connectable package and $200 for the 750GB drive.
Such a beast naturally invites criticism from those who feel a terabyte portable drive might be overkill. But I'd argue it's the perfect size for myriad applications. With a terabyte portable, you can ferry it to four computers, each with (relatively common) 250GB hard drives, and perform a complete backup on each one. A terabyte gives you room for over 150 DVD movies -- or about 40 high-definition titles -- not to mention the possibility to hold a couple hundred thousand MP3s. No need for a fancy media server if you just load up one of these drives and attach it directly to your receiver, many of which now feature USB connections.
Of course, the terabyte drive would also work well for general storage needs -- and chances are, some day you'll probably need all that space whether you believe it or not. It's a well-known law not just of computing but of life: Storage capacity, be it a hard drive or a closet, will eventually become filled no matter how large the available space is. If you don't believe me, go look in your own bedroom closet, or check out the free space on your hard drive right now. A little extra space always helps.
I want one!
People concerned about their careers should be extra careful about what they post on the Internet during a recession, career counselors say.
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs and other venues present numerous opportunities to sabotage your hunt for a job or promotion at a time when employers can afford to be picky.
"With social media, you can be vapid, boring and annoying with alarming frequency," Patricia Vaccarino, owner of a Seattle public relations firm, warned clients in a newsletter.
Vaccarino said many of her Facebook friends have posted "in great detail about their colonoscopies, dead teeth pulled, dead dogs, flatulence, adult acne, marital breakups, battles with mental illnesses and drinking problems."
If this information can make friends cringe, she added, imagine the impression it would make on a potential employer.
Kurt Weyerhauser, an executive recruiter at Kensington Stone in Los Angeles, said one human resources department "found a picture online of a candidate smoking what appeared to be pot, and in another case a company found a few severely off-color jokes that a candidate had posted dealing with race and gender."
He said the blunders can be roadblocks to being hired, regardless of the candidate's ability to perform the basic functions of the job.
Hiring people with that kind of public record online may even put a company in legal jeopardy.
"If there is ever a problem with drug use or the harassment of coworkers the company could be liable," he told Reuters.
In some U.S. states, hiring or promoting people who have exhibited drug use or racist or sexist attitudes "could constitute negligent hiring or negligent retention," according to Weyerhauser.
Even innocuous postings can cause problems.
He cited the example of the single mother raising four children who posts about her day-to-day life, which might convince an employer that she is too tired and overburdened to be considered for a promotion that might require more time and energy.
Weyerhauser had one final tip. He urges job hunters to think about their email address.
"Nothing gives one more cause for pause than receiving a resume from an email address like 'BigGoofyRuthie@xxxxxx.com'," he said.
AT&T and Apple’s iPhone
AT&T and Apple’s iPhone Need an Open Marriage
This suggestion is nothing new, but the need for multiple iPhone carriers in the U.S. is taking on greater urgency as frustration with AT&T grows. The same day that AT&T announced MMS availability, a story appeared in The New York Times , which was basically one big complaint-fest from AT&T iPhone customers. Dropped calls, spotty service, and slow data connections made up the majority of the complaints in the Times story, and comments from iPhone customers on blogs and other sites around the Web echoed the Times report. Discussing the iPhone situation with the Times, AT&T’s chief technology officer, John Donovan said, “It’s been a challenging year for us.” Challenging? More like a “P.R. nightmare” as one analyst told the Times.
With a second -- or even third -- carrier, iPhone customers would be able to choose their own network, and the current load on AT&T’s infrastructure would be reduced. This could improve service for iPhone customers who stick with AT&T, as well as those who migrate to other networks. Multiple carriers would not be an ideal situation for AT&T, of course, since the company could lose a big chunk of revenue if there was a mass exodus of iPhone customers to other carriers. But with a reportedly questionable service record and a little over two years of iPhone exclusivity, perhaps AT&T has had long enough to prove its worthiness as the only iPhone carrier in the U.S?
The problems with AT&T and the iPhone were apparent earlier this year during Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference. There were howls of derision coming from the WWDC audience when it was revealed that many international carriers would support two new features in iPhone OS 3.0 -- MMS and tethering -- when the new operating system launched, but AT&T would not.
MMS will finally make an appearance later this month on AT&T, but the carrier is reportedly delaying support for the iPhone’s tethering feature even though other AT&T handsets have this capability already.
An Open Marriage Would Be Profitable…for Apple
Besides customer choice and potential service improvements, another incentive for Apple to go with multiple U.S. networks can be found in a recent research note from Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, according to a Barron’s report. Munster says the iPhone enjoys a much higher market share in countries where the iPhone is available on multiple cellular networks. In other words, more carriers equal more iPhone owners. Since Apple knows exactly how many iPhones the company has sold throughout the world, Munster’s conclusion likely doesn’t come as a shock to Cupertino. But if that’s the case, my only question is, “What’s the holdup, Apple?”
AT&T has spent years raking in huge customer fees from the iPhone, and according to a wide variety of reports, U.S. iPhone owners aren’t happy with the service they get in return. Apple needs to open the field up for the iPhone before angry customers march on -- or send MMSes to -- Washington asking for a government-style intervention to bring about iPhone carrier plurality for all.
SAN FRANCISCO -
Facebook is buying a Web service called FriendFeed that gives users a view of what their friends are doing on all sorts of social media sites, including Facebook's rivals.
In an interview, FriendFeed co-founder Bret Taylor said the two services will eventually merge, though FriendFeed will operate separately for now. He said FriendFeed was drawn to Facebook's much larger base of 250 million users.
"Facebook has a really unique opportunity for our team to reach a significant percentage of the world, and that was an opportunity I think everyone on our team was extremely excited about," he said.
Facebook said all 12 employees of Mountain View, Calif.-based FriendFeed will work for Facebook, whose headquarters is nearby in Palo Alto. FriendFeed's four founders — Taylor, Paul Buchheit, Jim Norris and Sanjeev Singh — will take on senior positions on the engineering and product teams at Facebook.
It's unclear what exactly Facebook plans to do with FriendFeed, which centers around the idea of instantaneously aggregating information from online destinations like short-messaging site Twitter, review site Yelp and photo-sharing site Flickr.
Gartner Inc. analyst Ray Valdes said the FriendFeed acquisition should help Facebook open up its site and boost features that show users more information in real time.
"They needed to do something to meet the Twitter challenge," he said, referring to the messaging site that has shown the type of buzz Facebook once enjoyed.
Chris Cox, Facebook's vice president of products, said the companies had been talking about a combination for some time, as they're both working on solving the same problems: how to help people connect with one another over time, how to make these connections work on various devices and how to filter information through friends.
"I think both companies start with the premise that the most valuable information in the world is the one that comes from the people you care about," he said. "Building technologies that leverage those relationships everywhere you go is where we're both starting from."
Cox would not say if Facebook plans to incorporate FriendFeed's real-time search capability into its site. He said Facebook has already been testing real-time search and that FriendFeed has done a great job with its own search.
Tell me again how long we've been using Windows XP, now?
- It was the year that Apple introduced the first iPod.
- The West Wing was the hot show on television.
- The first Harry Potter movie was released (the sixth one came out this summer).
- The Rocky Mountain News and The Seattle Post-Intelligencer still existed.
Just a little perspective. It goes to show you how artificial these technology upgrade cycles are for one thing.
This suggestion is nothing new, but the need for multiple iPhone carriers in the U.S. is taking on greater urgency as frustration with AT&T grows. The same day that AT&T announced MMS availability, a story appeared in The New York Times , which was basically one big complaint-fest from AT&T iPhone customers. Dropped calls, spotty service, and slow data connections made up the majority of the complaints in the Times story, and comments from iPhone customers on blogs and other sites around the Web echoed the Times report. Discussing the iPhone situation with the Times, AT&T’s chief technology officer, John Donovan said, “It’s been a challenging year for us.” Challenging? More like a “P.R. nightmare” as one analyst told the Times.
With a second -- or even third -- carrier, iPhone customers would be able to choose their own network, and the current load on AT&T’s infrastructure would be reduced. This could improve service for iPhone customers who stick with AT&T, as well as those who migrate to other networks. Multiple carriers would not be an ideal situation for AT&T, of course, since the company could lose a big chunk of revenue if there was a mass exodus of iPhone customers to other carriers. But with a reportedly questionable service record and a little over two years of iPhone exclusivity, perhaps AT&T has had long enough to prove its worthiness as the only iPhone carrier in the U.S?
The problems with AT&T and the iPhone were apparent earlier this year during Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference. There were howls of derision coming from the WWDC audience when it was revealed that many international carriers would support two new features in iPhone OS 3.0 -- MMS and tethering -- when the new operating system launched, but AT&T would not.
MMS will finally make an appearance later this month on AT&T, but the carrier is reportedly delaying support for the iPhone’s tethering feature even though other AT&T handsets have this capability already.
An Open Marriage Would Be Profitable…for Apple
Besides customer choice and potential service improvements, another incentive for Apple to go with multiple U.S. networks can be found in a recent research note from Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, according to a Barron’s report. Munster says the iPhone enjoys a much higher market share in countries where the iPhone is available on multiple cellular networks. In other words, more carriers equal more iPhone owners. Since Apple knows exactly how many iPhones the company has sold throughout the world, Munster’s conclusion likely doesn’t come as a shock to Cupertino. But if that’s the case, my only question is, “What’s the holdup, Apple?”
AT&T has spent years raking in huge customer fees from the iPhone, and according to a wide variety of reports, U.S. iPhone owners aren’t happy with the service they get in return. Apple needs to open the field up for the iPhone before angry customers march on -- or send MMSes to -- Washington asking for a government-style intervention to bring about iPhone carrier plurality for all.
SAN FRANCISCO -
Facebook is buying a Web service called FriendFeed that gives users a view of what their friends are doing on all sorts of social media sites, including Facebook's rivals.
In an interview, FriendFeed co-founder Bret Taylor said the two services will eventually merge, though FriendFeed will operate separately for now. He said FriendFeed was drawn to Facebook's much larger base of 250 million users.
"Facebook has a really unique opportunity for our team to reach a significant percentage of the world, and that was an opportunity I think everyone on our team was extremely excited about," he said.
Facebook said all 12 employees of Mountain View, Calif.-based FriendFeed will work for Facebook, whose headquarters is nearby in Palo Alto. FriendFeed's four founders — Taylor, Paul Buchheit, Jim Norris and Sanjeev Singh — will take on senior positions on the engineering and product teams at Facebook.
It's unclear what exactly Facebook plans to do with FriendFeed, which centers around the idea of instantaneously aggregating information from online destinations like short-messaging site Twitter, review site Yelp and photo-sharing site Flickr.
Gartner Inc. analyst Ray Valdes said the FriendFeed acquisition should help Facebook open up its site and boost features that show users more information in real time.
"They needed to do something to meet the Twitter challenge," he said, referring to the messaging site that has shown the type of buzz Facebook once enjoyed.
Chris Cox, Facebook's vice president of products, said the companies had been talking about a combination for some time, as they're both working on solving the same problems: how to help people connect with one another over time, how to make these connections work on various devices and how to filter information through friends.
"I think both companies start with the premise that the most valuable information in the world is the one that comes from the people you care about," he said. "Building technologies that leverage those relationships everywhere you go is where we're both starting from."
Cox would not say if Facebook plans to incorporate FriendFeed's real-time search capability into its site. He said Facebook has already been testing real-time search and that FriendFeed has done a great job with its own search.
Tell me again how long we've been using Windows XP, now?
- It was the year that Apple introduced the first iPod.
- The West Wing was the hot show on television.
- The first Harry Potter movie was released (the sixth one came out this summer).
- The Rocky Mountain News and The Seattle Post-Intelligencer still existed.
Just a little perspective. It goes to show you how artificial these technology upgrade cycles are for one thing.
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Judge orders Eagle Rock dispensary to stop selling medical marijuana
Judge James C. Chalfant's decision applies only to Hemp Factory V, a small outlet on Colorado Boulevard near the Glendale border, but could have enormous ramifications.
Hundreds of collectives in Los Angeles and throughout the state operate in the same way, selling marijuana to anyone who shows up with a doctor's recommendation and signs a form to become a member. Although the state's courts have ruled repeatedly on medical marijuana issues, they have never directly addressed whether this widespread practice is legal.
Chalfant concluded that state law does not authorize collectives to sell marijuana, but only to grow it and recoup reasonable costs. "A retail store that sells marijuana to its members simply does not satisfy the requirement of a collective to cultivate marijuana," he wrote in his decision.
Anthony Malecki, the attorney for Hemp Factory and its operator, Gevork Berberyan, did not challenge Chalfant's conclusions in the courtroom. He said he would consult with Berberyan before deciding whether to appeal the injunction. Chalfant's decision came in the preliminary phase of the city's lawsuit against the dispensary. The case is likely to go to trial.
The city's attorney, Asha Greenberg, noted that the decision was only a trial court ruling, but said it should be a warning to other medical marijuana collectives. "I think the analysis and the reasoning are very important, and they should pay attention to it," she said.
Chalfant's decision endorses the opinion of Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich, who has become one of the most outspoken opponents of medical marijuana sales in the state. He sued Hemp Factory V in his first attempt to use the courts to close a dispensary in Los Angeles, which has seen hundreds open while city officials failed to enforce a moratorium on dispensaries.
California's 1996 medical marijuana initiative and a state law in 2003 allow patients and their caregivers to form collectives to cultivate marijuana. They do not explicitly allow marijuana to be sold, although the practice is now commonplace. Prosecutors and law enforcement officials have increasingly argued that the law allows patients to work together to cultivate marijuana, but not to sell it over the counter to anyone who signs a form.
Dispensary operators, including Berberyan, argue that they do not sell marijuana, but ask for voluntary donations that are intended to repay the costs for growing marijuana. Many, including Berberyan, also say they give the drug free to poor patients.
The debate, rooted in the law's murky language, was one of the main reasons Los Angeles took many months to draft an ordinance. City Council members struggled with whether to explicitly outlaw sales, as Trutanich and Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley insisted. In the end, the council finessed the issue, adopting language saying dispensaries must follow state law.
Chalfant's injunction could embolden Trutanich and prosecutors who have threatened to pursue dispensaries for selling marijuana. Officials with the city attorney's office have suggested that they are prepared to bring additional cases, but decline to discuss their plans.
In addition to maintaining that sales are illegal, Trutanich has also pressed the novel argument that the Sherman Law, the state's food and drug safety law, applies to sales of medical marijuana. He reached the conclusion after he had samples of marijuana from dispensaries, including Hemp Factory V, tested and found they contained pesticides, including some banned ones.
Chalfant agreed today that sales of marijuana would trigger the Sherman Law's requirements to properly label drugs and ensure they do not contain poisonous substances.
"No one who advocates in favor of medical marijuana dispensaries could reasonably contend that marijuana that contains banned pesticides should be sold in a retail store or handed out to members of a collective," he wrote in his 16-page decision.
He noted, however, that the law would not apply to collectives that did not sell marijuana. In his order, Chalfant also barred Hemp Factory V from selling marijuana with pesticides.
Shootings in South L.A. leave four dead The Los Angeles Police Department’s Southwest Division is investigating a string of killings after three apparently unrelated shootings early Sunday.
[Updated 7:52 p.m. A fourth fatal shooting was reported in South Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon. Two male suspects approached the victim, Ruben Analoc, 18, of Los Angeles, in the 4100 block of Compton Avenue near the Ross Snyder Recreation Center and opened fire, officials said. Analoc was hit in the head. No further details were available on the incident, which occurred about 1 p.m.]
The first occurred shortly after midnight when a 19-year-old man was shot to death as he stood in front of a residence on the 4500 block of South 3rd Avenue in the Hyde Park neighborhood of South Los Angeles. Police had no information about the suspect, but investigators believed it was gang-related, LAPD Officer Karen Rayner said.
The second shooting occurred at 3:50 a.m. near Abourne Road and Santo Tomas Drive in the Crenshaw neighborhood of South L.A. The slain victim was a man in his 30s who was seated in a sports utility vehicle when an unknown assailant shot him once in the head, Rayner said.
The third killing was believed to be gang-related and occurred at 4:30 a.m. near West 23rd Street and Cimarron Street in the Jefferson Park neighborhood of South Los Angeles. Two brothers were standing on the sidewalk when two female assailants and two male assailants shot them multiple times.
One brother was killed and the other was in critical condition at a hospital this morning, Rayner said. Obama wants to repeal tax on company cell phones
Join the club, but don't worry. President Barack Obama will propose repealing the widely ignored requirement as part of his 2011 budget plan, a Treasury Department official said Saturday.
The administration made a similar proposal in June, and it was well received in Congress. Lawmakers, however, became preoccupied by the health care debate for much of the year and a lot of their work on tax law was delayed.
Obama is scheduled to release his proposed tax and spending plan on Monday. If the cell phone tax is repealed this year, taxpayers would be off the hook for all of 2010, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the budget had not yet been released.
A 1989 law says that personal use of a company cell phone should be taxed like other fringe benefits, such as a company car. The law, however, was passed when cell phones were referred to as car phones and were considered a luxury. Today, workers increasingly use company-issued mobile devices for texting, e-mailing and browsing the Internet — sometimes for work, sometimes for personal use.
Last summer, the Internal Revenue Service issued a request for comments on ways to improve compliance with the tax, and there was such a backlash that the administration proposed repealing it.
At the time, IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said the tax was "poorly understood by taxpayers" and acknowledged it was difficult to enforce consistently.
Some employers have faced big tax bills after failing to comply with the law.
In 2008, the IRS audited two University of California branches, in Los Angeles and San Diego. As part of a settlement, UCLA paid a tax assessment of $238,474 and San Diego paid $186,471. Haiti Earthquake May Have Exposed Gas, Aiding Economy (Update1)
The Jan. 12 earthquake was on a fault line that passes near potential gas reserves, said Stephen Pierce, a geologist who worked in the region for 30 years for companies including the former Mobil Corp. The quake may have cracked rock formations along the fault, allowing gas or oil to temporarily seep toward the surface, he said yesterday in a telephone interview.
“A geologist, callous as it may seem, tracing that fault zone from Port-au-Prince to the border looking for gas and oil seeps, may find a structure that hasn’t been drilled,” said Pierce, exploration manager at Zion Oil & Gas Inc., a Dallas- based company that’s drilling in Israel. “A discovery could significantly improve the country’s economy and stimulate further exploration.”
Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive met yesterday in Montreal with diplomats, including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to discuss redevelopment initiatives. Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said wind power may play a role in rebuilding the Caribbean nation, where forests have been denuded for lack of fuel, the Canadian Press reported.
“Haiti, from the standpoint of oil and gas exploration, is a lot less developed than the Dominican Republic,” Pierce said. “One could do a lot more work there.”
Abraham Lincoln’s Consul
The Dominican Republic shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. It may have 3 million barrels of oil in a shallow offshore formation that’s probably also shared by Haiti, Pierce said.
“One of the main reasons for the dearth of information on reserves in Haiti is that the Dominican Republic has numerous surface-hydrocarbon seeps while Haiti had very, very few,” he said.
Abraham Lincoln’s consul to the Dominican Republic reported oil seeps there in 1862. Neither nation produces oil or gas. As much as 1 trillion cubic feet of gas may be trapped in a border formation near the earthquake fault, Pierce said.
Pierce hasn’t worked in Hispaniola since joining Zion in February 2005. He said he’s unaware of any petroleum geologists conducting fieldwork in Haiti. There has been exploration of Ocoa Bay, the largest potential oil deposit in the Dominican Republic, he said.
600,000 Without Shelter
“All basins cross the border,” said Paul Mann, co-author of a 1991 paper in the Journal of Petroleum Geology on Hispaniola’s petroleum potential. The paper concluded that “existing seismic data indentify undrilled prospects.”
More than 600,000 people are without shelter in the Port- au-Prince area, the United Nations said Jan. 22. The 7.0- magnitude quake destroyed about one-third of the buildings in Port-au-Prince. It also knocked out the capital’s seaport and water and sewage systems.
“Relief and recovery for the survivors is the priority now,” Mark Fried, a spokesman for British charity Oxfam, said in a statement. “Hundreds of thousands who lost everything but their lives” need water, shelter and toilets to stop the spread of disease, he said.
‘Colossal’ Reconstruction
Haiti will need “massive support” for a “colossal” reconstruction from the earthquake, Bellerive said at the meeting yesterday in Montreal.
The Greater Antilles, which includes Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and their offshore waters, probably hold at least 142 million barrels of oil and 159 billion cubic feet of gas, according to a 2000 report by the U.S. Geological Survey. Undiscovered amounts may be as high as 941 million barrels of oil and 1.2 trillion cubic feet of gas, according to the report.
Among nations in the northern Caribbean, Cuba and Jamaica have awarded offshore leases for oil and gas development. Trinidad and Tobago, South American islands off the coast of Venezuela, account for most Caribbean oil production, according to the U.S. Energy Department.
Bloomberg to Sharpton: Stay Out of the Way in Haiti
“The military has plenty on their hands,” the mayor said. “The airport can’t handle the amount of relief efforts that we’re trying to get in there.”
Sharpton said he’d wholeheartedly agree if he was heading to Haiti for a photo op – but he’s not: It’s a humanitarian mission, he insisted.
“We only would go to bring doctors and bring in equipment. Otherwise you are in the way. He’s absolutely right,” Sharpton told the Daily News. “Our mission is to bring in doctors that are willing to stay.”
Sharpton said he’s also planning to bring about 80,000 gallons of water on the trip, slated for later this week.
If you cut away the niceties, Bloomberg was telling Sharpton not to go down there for a photo-op. No matter how you feel about Sharpton’s politics, is it fair to assume his interests in helping the Haitian people are not genuine?
What do you think? Photo-op or legitimate help? Scott Baio Gets Death Threats Over Michelle Obama Joke
The vocal Republican, who had been tweeting relentlessly about Republican Scott Brown winning the US Senate seat in Massachusetts, tweeted about Mrs. Obama: “WOW He wakes up to this every morning,” along with the photo below.
Many of his followers took offense and began calling him racist
“I’m NOT racist for posting a pic of M.O. My WIFE’S BEST FRD IS BLACK,HELLO” he tweeted.
And: “Do I look like I’m racist? This is Renee’s BEST frd. STOP USING THE RACE CARD!!!” Baio tweeted the following picture of himself with said black person (below, left):
Scott Baio and his wife's "black best friend"
Baio tweeted that his following had swelled to 5000 because “people love to hate.” He warns that the FBI is after all “death threaters” and this: “For New followers: I POST A LOT OF JOKES WITH PICS. They are JUST that, a joke. NOT targeting anyone. Laughter IS the best medicine.” Obama tells Senate not to 'jam' through healthcare plan
Mr Obama told ABC News any vote should wait until Scott Brown had taken up his seat, and lawmakers should seek to "coalesce" around parts they agreed on.
Mr Brown will be Massachusetts' first Republican senator since 1972.
His victory means the Republicans now have enough votes in the Senate to block the Democrats' healthcare plans.
The BBC's Paul Adams, in Boston, says it is a humiliating defeat for the Democrats, robbing them of their filibuster-proof 60-seat majority, and a deeply unwelcome anniversary present for President Obama exactly one year after his inauguration.
I never said I was going to do everything I can to stop healthcare
Scott Brown
Massachusetts senator-elect
THe correspondent adds that it is one of the biggest political upsets in years - in a seat held for almost half a century by Edward Kennedy, a Democratic Party colossus, who died last year.
Senator-elect Brown, 50, told journalists his victory sent the message that "people are tired of business as usual in Washington politics", and vowed to get to work as soon as possible.
He said he would go to Washington on Thursday with the hope of taking up his seat.
Frustration
Earlier Mr Brown told NBC's Today show he did not think the vote was a referendum on President Obama's first year in power.
MARDELL'S AMERICA
Mark Mardell
After last night's beating at the hands of the people of Massachusetts President Obama is keeping his head down
Mark Mardell
Mark Mardell's America
And he denied he was intent on derailing the reforms.
"I never said I was going to do everything I can to stop healthcare," he said.
"I believe everybody should have healthcare, it's just a question of how we do it."
Asked for his assessment of the Republican victory a year after taking office, President Obama told ABC: "The same thing that swept Scott Brown into office swept me into office."
"People are angry and they are frustrated. Not just because what has happened in the last year or two years, but what's happened over the last eight years."
Scott Brown: "The main thing they want is good government back"
Mr Obama said he wanted to make clear that any plans by Democrats for a Senate vote on the reform plan before Mr Scott took up his seat were "off the table".
"The Senate certainly shouldn't try to jam anything through until Scott Brown is seated," he added.
"The people of Massachusetts spoke. He has got to be part of that process."
The president said it was important for Americans to understand that core elements of the bill such as cost containment and insurance reform were vital.
"I would advise that we try to move quickly to coalesce around those elements of the package that people agree on," he said.
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said after a meeting with colleagues that legislators would take a few days to look at their options.
"We're not going to rush into anything," Reuters news agency quoted him as saying.
WHAT NEXT FOR OBAMA AGENDA?
Obama's bid to reform healthcare and pass climate bill now in doubt
On healthcare, Democrats in House could pass bill already passed by Senate
Or rush a compromise bill through before Brown can take his seat
But that could spark a political backlash on Democrats, even if both houses could agree it so soon
On climate, cap-and-trade bill passed by the House faces even more difficulties in Senate
Q&A: Effect on Obama's agenda
Q&A: US healthcare reform
"There are many different things that we can do to move forward on healthcare, but we're not making any of those decisions now."
However, the Republican party chairman, Michael Steele, said Americans were breathing a "sigh of relief" over healthcare.
"People across the country are saying: 'Slow it down,'" he said, quoted by the Associated Press.
Dubbed Senator Beefcake in the US media, Mr Brown is a lawyer and former model who posed almost naked for Cosmopolitan magazine in the 1980s while in law school.
Correspondents say the vote does not bode well for the Democrats ahead of November's congressional elections.
The result comes amid opinion polls showing nearly half of Americans think President Obama is not delivering on his major campaign promises.
It was the third major loss for Democrats in state-wide elections since he became president: Republicans won governors' seats in Virginia and New Jersey in November.
Wednesday to Bring "Horrendous" Storm
Wednesday's onslaught is expected to be the worst storm yet, bringing a stronger, colder storm to the Los Angeles area.
Authorities have already ordered evacuations for more than 200 homes mudslide-prone foothill area around Tujunga and neighboring cities, and may be issuing even more.
"With the first two storms, we got lucky," said Bill Patzert, a climatologist for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge. "Wednesday could be horrendous. Monday we got the right jab. Tuesday we got the left jab. Wednesday we could get the haymaker to the chin."
On Tuesday, the second in a series of powerful storms to hit Southern California spawned at least one tornado, four water spouts and winds of up to 80 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
A thunderstorm cell with fierce, rotating winds came ashore Tuesday afternoon from the Pacific and rapidly moved southeast from Los Angeles into Orange and San Diego counties.
Winds flipped an unoccupied SUV on its side in Seal Beach, smashed plate glass windows in homes and businesses and blew off a 25-foot stretch of roof in Irvine.
KTLA helicopter showed numerous scenes of damaged boats and severe flooding in many coastal areas.
Today's storm also left many streets in San Pedro and Long Beach under as much as 3 feet of water.
Fire officials said cars were stuck in the middle of flooded and muddy streets.
At one house on Fourth Street in San Pedro, a river of water was draining out of the front door.
Los Angeles Fire Department Assistant Chief Robert Franco said a large storm cell moved in quickly about 1 p.m., dumping "a large amount of rain in a short amount of time."
12 adults and four children have been displaced from their homes due to flooding of homes in the San Pedro area.
An evacuation center for anyone affected by the storm has been set up at a senior center at 828 S. Mesa St.
Earlier today, a tornado warning was issued for the Long Beach and South Los Angeles area as well as Orange, San Diego and Riverside Counties.
The storm was the second of four fast-moving systems expected to move across Southern California this week.
The NWS has issued a flash flood watch -- indicating the potential for conditions that could trigger flash flooding -- through this evening in areas of Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties afflicted by wildfires in 2008 and last year.
In Los Angeles County, those areas include the sites of the Station and Morris fires.
The strongest of this week's storms is expected Wednesday afternoon into Thursday, forecasters said. Isolated thunderstorms could enhance the intensity of Wednesday's rainfall.
Meantime, the first storm system on Monday caused some damage across the region and forced evacuations.
Residents located within La Crescenta, La Canada Flintridge, Acton, and the foothill area of Southern Tujunga, including the communities of Alpine Village, Seven Hills, Blanchard Canyon Road, Tujunga, and Riverwood are very strongly urged to be evacuated by 9:00 a.m. Wednesday morning in anticipation for especially heavy rainstorms due in the area Wednesday afternoon.
Affected residents will be notified through Alert LA County and by door-to-door notification by LA County Sheriff's Deputies.
The evacuations were ordered by the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Fire Department Tuesday night.
The third in the week-long storm series was forecast to roll into Southern California Wednesday afternoon, bringing with it downpours, high winds and heavy snow at the higher elevations. It is expected to be one of the most significant storms to hit the area in several years.
Significant amounts of debris and mudslides are feared in areas located in the Station and Morris Fire burn areas.
The evacuations were ordered to ensure the safety of the community and emergency responders following predictions of up to eight inches of additional rain and intensities of more than one inch per hour during the next two days, according to a statement released by the LAPD and LAFD working in unified command.
Emergency personnel will continue to assess the potential for safe re-entry after the storm danger has passed. Residents should be prepared to be away from their homes potentially until Monday, January 25.
At 8:00 a.m. Wednesday, evacuation centers will be established for all relocated residents at the Sunland Recreation Center, located at 8651 Foothill Blvd, Sunland CA, 91040 as well as La Canada Flintridge High School, 4463 Oak Grove Drive, La Canada, and at the Marie Kerr Recreation Center, 2723 West Rancho Vista Blvd., Palmdale.
Animals can be sheltered at the following locations: For Acton - LA County Animal Care and Control Shelter, 31044 N. Charlie Canyon Rd., Castaic, (661) 257-3191; for La Canada Flintridge Pasadena Humane Society, 361 S. Raymond, Pasadena (626) 792-7151; and for La Crescenta Baldwin Park Shelter, 4275 N. Elton, Baldwin Park (626) 962-3577.
Small animals from the Tujunga area can be evacuated to the Northeast Animal Shelter located at 15321 Brand Blvd, Mission Hills, CA 91345, (818) 837-2609 or (818) 756-9323.
Evacuated large animals from the Tujunga area can be taken to Pierce College located at 6201 Winnetka Avenue, Woodland Hills, CA, 91371, (818) 347-0551.
Anyone with questions about the evacuation orders or when residents can safely be allowed to return to their homes can call a hotline set up by the Los Angeles Fire Department at 323-881-2411.
Detailed evacuation and safety information is available at the Department of Public Works C.A.R.E. website as well as
Court asked to allow prosecution for "sexting"
The ACLU also said the Wyoming County prosecutor erred when he threatened 16 teenagers with the felony charges unless they agreed to a participate in a "re-education" course on why sexting was wrong.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals was considering a March 2009 court ruling that said the pictures, in which teenagers sent sexually suggestive pictures of themselves to their friends by cellphones or the Internet, fall under the U.S. Constitution's free speech protections.
Officials of the Tunkhannock School District in rural northeastern Pennsylvania contacted the county prosecutor's office in January 2008 after finding pictures on the cell phones of the 16 students.
Most of their families agreed to undertake a "re-education" program called for by the prosecutor, but three refused. Prosecutors were seeking to press charges against one of the three girls.
Pictures showed two of the girls wearing white bras and another standing topless outside a shower with a towel wrapped around her waist, the ACLU said. The pictures did not show any sexual activity.
MaryJo Miller said outside the appeals court on Friday that the picture of her daughter, who was wearing a bra, was originally taken in 2006 when she was 12 years old and attending a slumber party.
When she saw the picture, she thought the girls were "goofballs," Miller told reporters. "It was a training bra. You are going to see more provocative photos in a Victoria's Secret catalog."
But the county argued that the pictures were pornographic because they were disseminated for the purposes of sexual stimulation and so would be of great interest to child molesters.
Appellate Judge Thomas Ambro said prosecutors are not entitled to try to "re-educate" minors. "I don't know of anything that allows the district attorney's office to play the role of teacher," he said.
The court is expected to rule within 90 days. Beloved Soul Star Teddy Pendergrass Dead at 59. The world of R&B has lost yet another musical icon. Singer/performer Teddy Pendergrass
Pendergrass started out with Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, another Philadelphia International act. He began as the group’s drummer, but soon became its lead singer and the voice of classic hits like “Bad Luck,” “If You Don’t Know Me By Now,” and “Wake Up Everybody.” By 1977, Pendergrass split from the Blue Notes to pursue a solo career. His self-titled debut included the hits “I Don’t Love You Anymore” and “The Whole Town’s Laughing At Me.”
His subsequent releases, including a dynamic live CD, propelled him into superstardom and made him a sex symbol around the world. Among sultry, old-school, soulful singers, "Teddy” was always in the mix, along with Luther, Smokey, Marvin – the singers who needed no last name when it came time to set the mood.
Tall, slim and fine, with a perfectly trimmed beard and armed with a gorgeous smile, Pendergrass set a standard for romance with his infamous “Ladies Only” concerts. Women throwing flowers, phone numbers and panties on the stage during his concerts became standard fare. The sexy shows sent his female fans into such frenzy that one woman was shot in the audience after a struggle over the head scarf he'd thrown out to them.
"He really was the last of a breed. There hasn't been a real raw, gospel-influenced, deep-voiced adult black male star since Teddy's peak,” said cultural critic, filmmaker, author and former Billboard R&B editor Nelson George in a Facebook conversation.
“Prince and Michael Jackson became the new standard, while Teddy defined grown ass man singing,” George said. “Teddy wasn't really for girls. His fans were women and his songs were about adult relationships. The sexiest moment in stage I've ever seen was Teddy and Stephanie Mills doing ‘Feel The Fire’ at Madison Square Garden You could feel the sex in the air. I'm not being gross - I'm being real. There were wet panties in the world's most famous arena. So that's what I remember."
"Teddy Pendergrass was a soul icon and the standard for what we know today as a rythym and blues sex symbol and heartthrob. Bobby Brown, Usher Raymond, D'Angelo, and new jacks like Trey Songz all stand on his shoulders in regards to being the guy who really captivates female audiences. His voice coupled with those classic Sound of Philadelphia grooves are timeless. He will be missed," said Mister Mann Frisby, a California-based writer originally from Philadelphia.
“I remember him most because of a conversation we had about how he, Diana Ross, and I all share the same birthday and how that made us all stubborn Aries,” Frisby said.
On March 18, 1982, Pendergrass’ career was derailed when he was involved in a controversial car accident in Philadelphia. The brakes failed on his Rolls Royce on a particularly challenging, winding road, and as a result, he became a quadriplegic. Depressed, Pendergrass thought about suicide, but rallied after some time recovering.
Though his voice never returned to its former power, Pendergrass started recording a year after the accident, eventually recording a total of six albums, starting with 1984’s “Love Language.” In 1985, he recorded the duet, “Hold Me,” with a promising new artist who would become a legend herself - Whitney Houston. In July of that year, he made a triumphant comeback to the stage at the Live Aid concert in Philadelphia, singing with Ashford and Simpson. Pendergrass went on to star in the touring company of “Your Arms Too Short to Box With God” with Stephanie Mills and released an autobiography, “Truly Blessed,” in 1988.
In 2005, Pendergrass announced an official retirement from the music industry, but returned to raise money for charity at his “Teddy 25: A Celebration of Life, Hope & Possibilities” benefit and tribute in 2007. The event raised money for his newly-formed foundation, the Teddy Pendergrass Alliance, which raised funds and awareness for people suffering from spinal cord injuries.
Actor/singer Tyrese Gibson is attached as the star of an upcoming biopic about Pendergrass' life. Gibson spent the night at the hospital with Pendergrass during his illness and got to know him as they researched the film, along with longtime Will Smith associate and producer Charles “Charlie Mack” Alston.
“Teddy was a very, extremely strong man. This man flatlined a few times and just refused to go,” says Alston, a producer on the upcoming film, with Gibson and the Pendergrass family. “His mind was all there; his body just broke down. He was just a fighter. He wasn’t a pity case at all. The memorial will be a celebration because he wasn’t a sad case. From the moment I met him to the day he passed, he was a proud and strong man. Even though he was bound in the chair, he was very much a man. He lived a long, successful life.”
Radio and TV personality Dyana Williams knew Pendergrass for over 30 years.
“We have not seen the likes of a Teddy Pendergrass before nor will we again,” she says. “There will only be one Teddy Pendergrass, always. He was the singularly strongest person I’ve ever met. He was a very vibrant, alive person, full life prior to the accident. There was a period where he didn’t want to be here anymore, but that changed, and he decided to use his situation to help people with spinal cord injuries. He lobbied in Congress and raised money through his Teddy Pendergrass Alliance.”
Pendergrass is survived by his wife, Joan, his mother, Ida Pendergrass, and three children. There will be a public viewing – the date and time will be announced soon – at Philadelphia’s Enon Baptist Church.
They will use of of your friends email address to send it to you, so it will appear to be a card sent to you from one of your friends. If you receive an email with this anywhere in it
DO NOT OPEN IT! SHUT DOWN YOUR COMPUTER!
This virus will destroy your hard drive.
The anti virus companies are not equipped to handle this virus, BEWARE of this and tell your friends.
FLOYD MAYWEATHER....... NOW WHAT? GILBERT ARENAS SUSPENDED INDEFINITELY
So umm … about that fight …
The on-again, off-again fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao is dead (for now).
After lawsuits, mediation and allegations of performance enhancing drugs, the two sides aren’t able to come to an agreement for drug testing.
Call it Floyd trying to find a way out or Pacquiao actually having something to hide, the fight’s not happening March 13.
Does this mean the fight won’t happen in the future?
Absolutely not.
There’s too much money for this fight not to happen eventually.
Until it does, Mayweather will continue to run his mouth.
Floyd released a statement on Thursday that said, “First and foremost, not only do I want to fight Manny Pacquiao, I want to whip his punk ass.”
Shut up, Floyd.
You had your chance to whip his punk ass.
Just shut up.
NBA commissioner David Stern released the following statement:
The possession of firearms by an NBA player in an NBA arena is a matter of the utmost concern to us. I initially thought it prudent to refrain from taking immediate action because of the pendency of a criminal investigation involving the office of the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia and the Metropolitan Police Department, and the consideration of this matter by a grand jury sitting in the District of Columbia. For the same reason, I directed the Wizards to refrain from taking any action. Wizards personnel continue to be interviewed by law enforcement authorities, some are scheduled for appearance before the grand jury and the investigation is proceeding with the intensity that one would expect for such a serious incident.
Maybe pretending to shoot your teammates before Tuesday’s game against Philadelphia wasn’t a good idea, Gilbert.
Or the nightly Twitter rants (please feel free to Tweet though) that make absolutely no sense.
Or calling Stern a “mean dude.”
I wouldn’t be surprised if Arenas has played his last game as a member of the Washington Wizards.
Bang-bang.
Google 'may quit China'
Internet search giant Google has said it may shut down its China operations in protest against government censorship of its search results.
The announcement, which represents a major shift in policy by the company, follows a recent hacking incident that appeared to target the accounts of activists using its electronic mail system, Gmail.
Google has previously said it would obey Chinese internet laws requiring politically- and socially-sensitive issues to be blocked from search results, but now says that policy will be dropped.
In a statement on Tuesday Google officials said they planned to talk to the Chinese government about finding a way it can still provide unfiltered search results in the country, failing which it will leave China four years after opening an office there.
"The decision to review our business operations in China has been incredibly hard, and we know that it will have potentially far-reaching consequences," David Drummond, Google's top lawyer, wrote in a blog posting on Tuesday.
'Bold step'
Google's announcement has drawn positive reaction from free-speech and human rights groups who hope that the move will spur more companies to take a similar stand.
Analysts project Google's China revenue to total $600m this year [Reuters]
"Google has taken a bold and difficult step for internet freedom in support of fundamental human rights," Leslie Harris, the president of the Centre for Democracy & Technology, a civil-liberties group in Washington, told the Associated Press.
"No company should be forced to operate under government threat to its core values or to the rights and safety of its users."
Danny O'Brien, the international outreach coordinator at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an Internet rights group in San Francisco, told the Associated Press that it was "an incredibly significant move".
"This changes the game because the question won't be 'How can we work in China?' but 'How can we create services that Chinese people can use, from outside of China?'"
Google's new stance on China was triggered by a sophisticated computer attack recently orchestrated from within the country, which it said targeted the company and at least 20 other major companies from the internet, financial services, technology, media and chemical industries.
'Don't be evil'
Google's previous pledge to obey Chinese censorship laws had outraged free-speech advocates and even some shareholders, who argued Google's cooperation with China violated the company's "don't be evil" motto.
The California-based company discussed the attacks with the US State Department prior to its announcement.
Google said its Chinese operations accounted for an "immaterial" amount of its roughly $22bn in annual revenue but some analysts say leaving the country could crimp its growth.
The internet audience in China has soared from 10 million to nearly 340 million in the past decade and analysts have forecast Google's China revenue to total about $600m this year.
Phishing
As part of its investigation into the cyber attack, the company said it stumbled onto another more successful scam, in which dozens of activists in the US, Europe and China fighting the Chinese government's policies fell prey to ruses commonly known as "phishing" or malware.
Matt Furman, a Google spokesman, declined to say whether the company suspected the involvement of the Chinese government in the attacks.
"Phishing" involves malicious emails urging the recipients to open an attachment or visit a link that they're duped into believing comes from a friend or legitimate company.
Clicking on such a link installs malware, or malicious software, on to computers, which can be used as a surveillance tool to steal passwords and unlock email accounts.
But a media watchdog group said even with Google's unfettered search results the Chinese government could still control accessibility to information by using its own filtering tools.
"The Chinese government is one of the most efficient in terms of censoring the Web," Clothilde Le Coz, the Washington director for Reporters Without Borders, told the Associated Press.
The blocking technology has proven so effective that it has become known as the "Great Firewall of China".
The company plans to double the fee to $360 from the $179 it currently charges customers for canceling their service early, according to reports. The new fee would apply to new customers who sign up for service on or after January 17. And it would only apply when customers cancel service before their two-year service contract ends.
News of the fee hike was first reported by the blog DSL Reports.The Philadelphia Inquirer confirmed the change with documents it obtained from the company. A Verizon spokesman declined to comment for CNET's story.
"We don't have anything to announce on this front right now," a spokeswoman said in an e-mail.
The Inquirer reported that the new $360 Verizon fee will be prorated, decreasing over the life of the 24-month contract. This means that subscribers canceling their service in the middle of their contract would pay less than those canceling at the beginning of their contract.
For example, a Fios subscriber who signs a two-year contract and cancels within three months of his contract, would pay $330, according to Verizon documents. If the customer cancels after 16 months, the fee would be $135, the Inquirer reports.
The new early termination fee would take effect for new customers starting January 17. And there will be no grace period. Previously, Verizon has offered customers the option of trying out the service for 15 days. And if they cancel the service before the 15 day period is over, they are not charged the early termination fee.
News of Verizon's increased early termination fee comes at a time when the Federal Communications Commission is looking into a similar early termination fee hike instituted late last year by Verizon Wireless. In November, the company, which is jointly owned by Verizon Communications and Vodafone, announced it was increasing its $175 early termination fee to a whopping $350 for "advanced devices," such as smartphones. Verizon is also prorating this fee, which decreases by $10 for every month of service over the life of the two-year contract.
In early December, the FCC sent a letter to Verizon asking the company to explain why the new fee is necessary and how it will be implemented. Verizon has provided some preliminary answers. The FCC hasn't made any official comments on Verizon's answers, but early indications suggest the FCC isn't satisfied with Verizon's initial answers.
"Verizon's response to the FCC [on early termination fees] has raised more questions than it has answered," FCC chairman Julius Genachowski said last week during a press briefing at the 2010 CES trade show in Las Vegas. "What strikes me is that there is a very real level of consumer confusion around these fees."
While the FCC and Congress have each questioned the wireless and paid TV industries about their early termination fees, the practice persists. Not only does it make it more difficult for consumers to switch service, but it also makes it more difficult for competitors who are offering to pay those early termination fees to get consumers to switch.
The Inquirer reports that Comcast, Verizon's chief competitor in many parts of the country, has been stealing back Fios TV and Internet customers by offering big discounts and rebates on the Fios early termination fees for customers who switch to Comcast's services before their contracts with Verizon end.
With a higher fee, Comcast would undoubtedly have a more difficult time offering to pay a rebate to customers willing to break their contracts and switch to Comcast.
Whether the early termination fee is being paid by a competitor or the consumer, one thing is clear, it is meant to keep customers locked into a service. The FCC has not asked Verizon specifically about its cable and TV early termination fees. It will be interesting to see whether, if and when this fee is increased, the FCC will expand its inquiry to include it as well as the fees on smartphones.
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Many obstacles to choosing a site for 9/11 trials
Legally, the Justice Department could choose a variety of locations in which to bring an indictment. There is no requirement that the trials of professed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and others be held in the places where the most victims died, experts said.
Politically, though, the administration faces a bigger challenge.
Though the Justice Department has yet to publicly back down from its plan to try the suspects in New York City, officials have acknowledged that other sites are under consideration. But a growing number of lawmakers in the president's own party say they would rather not have the proceedings in their states.
Opponents include Democrats such as Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, who was among five lawmakers last week who urged Attorney General Eric Holder to reverse his decision to try Mohammed and other conspirators in civilian courts, and U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, who said a local trial would be too disruptive, whether in Manhattan or upstate.
The same held true for top Democrats in Pennsylvania, talked about by some as a potential site because of the crash of hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 near Shanksville, Pa.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg "has given good reasons why the trial should not be held in New York City and that same reasoning would apply for Pennsylvania as well," said U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter. Bloomberg has cited the costs of securing the Manhattan courthouse as an impediment to hosting the trial.
A congressional aide said Saturday that the Obama administration is proposing a $200 million fund to help pay for security costs in cities hosting the trials, to be included in the president's budget being released Monday. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because the budget hasn't been announced.
A spokesman for Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell said Saturday that the proposed $200 million would help assuage some of the governor's concerns about cost, but not safety.
Other likely candidates include Alexandria, Va., which hosted the 2006 sentencing trial of 9/11 plotter Zacarias Moussaoui, or a new high-security courthouse in an industrial area in Newport News, Va., not far from a major naval station.
Alexandria city officials remained opposed Saturday to hosting a terror trial, citing worries over security and inconveniences for the thousands of people who live and work around the federal courthouse.
"Even with any special funding, we're still opposed to it," city spokesman Tony Castrilli said.
Michael Tigar, a Duke Law School professor who represented Terry Nichols in the trial of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, said if prosecutors charge suspects like Mohammed with being part of a conspiracy to attack the U.S., they could bring the case anywhere the hijackers traveled as they hatched their plan.
That includes Florida, where they trained to fly airplanes; Boston, where some boarded a jet; San Diego, where several of them lived; or the attack targets.
"The government has extensive choices of venues within the United States," Tigar said.
There is no rule that trials have to be held in a courthouse, either, rather than some other building such as a prison or a military base, he said.
Republicans have argued that any trials should be conducted by military commission and be held outside the U.S., preferably at the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
In some ways, the federal courthouse complex in downtown Manhattan seemed a natural choice. Security there is already tight. The prison and courthouse stand side by side and are connected by a tunnel in a complex that is already mostly closed off to vehicle traffic. The district includes some of the country's most seasoned terrorism prosecutors.
Plans to hold the trial there, however, began unraveling after New York's police commissioner, Ray Kelly, said the trial would mean a big expansion of the iron circle around the courthouse.
His plan was both extraordinarily expensive — Bloomberg pegged it at $200 million per year — and disruptive enough that local businesses and residents revolted.
By backpedaling, the administration might have made it more difficult to follow through with relocating the trials, said Patrick Rowan, once the top counterterrorism official in President George W. Bush's Justice Department.
"If it's too risky to hold a major terrorism trial in downtown Manhattan, then they're going to face the same argument from civic leaders in other metropolitan areas," Rowan said. Conan O'Brien Paid $45 Million to Go Away
NBC confirmed the deal on Thursday, which is worth $45 million.
An official with the network said O'Brien will get more than $32 million and his staff will get $12 million in severance.
The deal comes seven months after O'Brien took the "Tonight" hosting gig, and more than a week after he rejected a proposal by the network to push "Tonight" back by 30 minutes to accommodate Jay Leno's return to late-night.
NBC wanted to move "The Jay Leno Show" out of prime-time and to the 11:35 p.m. EST daily slot, bumping "Tonight" to 12:05 p.m. EST.
In a statement Jan. 12, O'Brien insisted the move would "seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting."
People of Earth:
In the last few days, I've been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I've been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I've been absurdly lucky. That said, I've been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision.
Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over The Tonight Show in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.
But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my Tonight Show in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.
Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35. For 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn't the Tonight Show. Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the Late Night show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy.
So it has come to this: I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of The Tonight Show. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet a time slot doesn't matter. But with the Tonight Show, I believe nothing could matter more.
There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work.
Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it's always been that way.
Yours,
Conan
O'Brien's last "Tonight" show is on Friday and Leno will return to the show he hosted for 17 years on March 1.
"In the end, Conan was appreciative of the steps NBC made to take care of his staff and crew, and decided to supplement the severance they were getting out of his own pocket," his manager, Gavin Polone, told The Wall Street Journal. "Now he just wants to get back on the air as quickly as possible." U2 and Jay-Z record Haiti track
The Edge, Bono and Jay-Z, along with Rihanna, are due to appear in London for "a group performance" as part of Friday's Hope For Haiti telethon.
George Clooney's two-hour benefit show will be aired on MTV in the UK.
The Edge told 2FM DJ Dave Fanning over the weekend: "Bono got a call from a producer, Swizz. He and Jay-Z wanted to do something for Haiti.
"So Bono came up with the phrase on the phone and last night we were here, we wrote a song, finished, recorded, and sent it back to them.
"So, that might be the next thing you hear from us."
'Something amazing'
Swizz Beatz also confirmed the project on his Twitter page, saying: "Me, Bono, Hova [Jay-Z's nickname] have something to say about Haiti. Stay tuned.
"I told you I was working on something amazing for Haiti. They need us!"
It is not clear when the single will be released, or whether the artists plan to premiere the song during Friday's telethon
Jay-Z has played with the Irish rock group before, popping up for a handful of dates on last year's 360 tour, and adding a rap to their hit single Sunday Bloody Sunday during the 2009 MTV Europe Awards.
George Clooney is organising the Hope For Haiti event
George Clooney has been organising the Hope For Haiti telethon
Meanwhile, more acts have been added to the bill for the Haiti telethon including Coldplay, who will play at "a London location" alongside Jay-Z.
Kid Rock, Sheryl Crow and Keith Urban will appear in Los Angeles while Haitian-born Fugees star Wyclef Jean, Sting, Mary J Blige, Shakira and Bruce Springsteen will be among performers in New York.
Funds raised will go to Oxfam America, Red Cross, Unicef, Partners in Health and the Yele Haiti Foundation.
The telethon will be screened live in the UK from 0100 GMT on Saturday 23 January.
In the US, the telethon is being screened live without commercials on a number of channels including NBC, ABC and CBS. Verizon, AT&T cut fees, expand price war
Verizon Wireless, the biggest U.S. mobile service, said it would cut prices 30 percent for voice customers. It was followed by similar price cuts from its main rival, AT&T Inc.
Shares of AT&T and Verizon Wireless owners Verizon Communications Inc and Vodafone Group Plc ended lower, as did the broader market.
Verizon Wireless said on Friday that it was replacing a $99.99 voice plan with a $69.99 plan that includes unlimited phone calls and an $89.99 plan that also includes text messages, while it also required more customers to pay for data services.
AT&T said it would offer unlimited voice and data for $99.99, equating to a roughly $30 price reduction.
Verizon said it was ending a data service plan for $19.99 a month for 75 megabytes of data downloads such as Web surfing. Instead it is adding a $30 unlimited service plan for cheaper multimedia phones and offering a $9.99 per month plan for 25 megabytes of downloads.
The news comes a year after smaller carriers like Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile USA and Sprint Nextel unit Boost Mobile introduced lower-cost plans, sparking concerns of a price war.
Analysts at the time had said AT&T and Verizon may be able to sidestep a margin-denting price war because their customers are willing to pay a premium for the latest phones, faster data services and general reputation for more reliable networks.
Some experts still believe the impact is limited. Pacific Crest Securities analyst Steve Clement said only about a million customers use Verizon's $99.99 a month unlimited voice service today.
"Any time a market leader changes prices it causes concern, but they're really cutting prices at the high end of voice. That's a small portion of the market," he said.
Clement also said service fees at smaller competitors such as Leap Wireless International Inc and MetroPCS Communications Inc are still much cheaper than Verizon's new offering.
CUTTING CANCELLATIONS
Verizon's Chief Financial Officer John Killian told analysts on a conference call that voice revenues would initially fall but that the changes would eventually help cut customer cancellations and increase revenue and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.
Lowell McAdam, the CEO of Verizon Wireless, also told analysts that the company would increase its focus on smartphones, like Motorola Inc's Droid and Palm Inc's Pre Plus, and already has plans to sell an additional 20 models this year.
However, the executive said the company would cut the overall number of phone models it sells from a current line-up of 80 phones to 50 models, and this number would come down even further over time.
Some investors took this news as a positive for smartphone makers like Palm, whose shares rose 5.6 percent on Friday, and bad news for makers of cheaper phones. LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics are big suppliers of cheaper phones for Verizon Wireless.
"It helps out the smartphone vendors. They'll clearly be pushing smartphones more." said Morgan Keegan analyst Tavis McCourt, "It hurts Samsung and LG."
The changes to data fees also come as cell providers look for ways to ease pressure on their data networks. Rising popularity of Web-capable phones has vastly increased data use.
AT&T's mobile chief said late last year that he was looking for ways to ease data usage but did not elaborate and the move on Friday did not appear to include any such moves.
Sprint said its service fees are still cheaper than Verizon Wireless.
Shares of Verizon ended down 2.1 percent on Friday, while Vodafone shares lost 1.5 percent in London. AT&T shares also ended down 1.5 percent.
Facebook said on Tuesday its 350 million users can download a free six-month trial of McAfee's Internet Security Suite, which protects computer users from viruses and other Internet threats.
Facebook and McAfee, the No. 2 maker of security software, have also co-developed a separate online tool that will scan and clean the computers of Facebook users which show signs of having fallen prey to an online attack.
Facebook said the scanning tool is being offered to its users at no charge. And it will not receive any revenue from McAfee if Facebook users purchase the McAfee Internet Security Suite software following the six-month trial.
Representatives of the two companies said in an interview that McAfee would advertise on Facebook as part of the partnership.
Facebook -- along with other social networking services such as Twitter and News Corp's MySpace -- are among the most popular targets for hackers and cybercriminals. Criminals prey upon a false sense of security among their users who believe that these "walled gardens" of the Internet are immune from attack.
The Koobface virus targets Facebook users, tricking them into clicking on links contained in spam messages and then takes over the victim's PC. Hackers seek to take control of infected PCs for identity theft, spamming and other mischief.
According to Facebook representatives, less than 1 percent of its users have been impacted by any kind of security issue.
"We feel like we've done a great job in protecting our network and accounts on Facebook, but we're always looking at ways we can do better," said Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt.
The new scanning tool is available immediately for English-language users of Facebook, with versions for other languages coming soon.
Facebook users in the United States, Britain, France and eight other countries have immediately access to the free version of McAfee Internet Security Suite, with additional countries to come through the first three months of the year.
Reuters
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Despite iPods, genetic sequencing, the Internet and Twitter, nearly a third of Americans said they thought there would be more technological advances by the year 2010.
Not everyone expected to be living like The Jetsons, the space age television cartoon series of the early 1960s, but the Zogby International survey of more than 3,000 adults in the United States showed many were less than enthusiastic about how far we have come by the dawn of a new decade.
"The age group most likely to be disappointed with the current level of technological advancement are 35 to 54-year-olds (36 percent)," Zogby, which conducted the survey commissioned by the website ScoopDaily, said in a statement.
About 21 percent of people believe we are more technologically advanced than they thought we would be by 2010, while 37 percent believed we are on target for their expectations.
About a third of people 70 years and older said they thought current technology was more advanced than they thought it would be.
"First Globals, those age 18-30, are much less likely than older generations to say the technological advancements up until now have exceeded their expectations," Zogby added.
Not surprisingly, men were more likely than women to say they thought there would have been greater advances by 2010 to the Jetson lifestyle with its flying saucer-like cars and robotic servants.
The online-savvy administration on Saturday switched to open-source code for http://www.whitehouse.gov — meaning the programming language is written in public view, available for public use and able for people to edit.
"We now have a technology platform to get more and more voices on the site," White House new media director Macon Phillips told The Associated Press hours before the new site went live on Saturday. "This is state-of-the-art technology and the government is a participant in it."
White House officials described the change as similar to rebuilding the foundation of a building without changing the street-level appearance of the facade. It was expected to make the White House site more secure — and the same could be true for other administration sites in the future.
"Security is fundamentally built into the development process because the community is made up of people from all across the world, and they look at the source code from the very start of the process until it's deployed and after," said Terri Molini of Open Source for America, an interest group that has pushed for more such programs.
Having the public write code may seem like a security risk, but it's just the opposite, experts inside and outside the government argued. Because programmers collaborate to find errors or opportunities to exploit Web code, the final product is therefore more secure.
For instance, instead of a dozen administration programmers trying to find errors, thousands of programmers online constantly are refining the programs and finding potential pitfalls.
It will be a much faster way to change the programming behind the Web site. When the model was owned solely by the government, federal contractors would have to work through the reams of code to troubleshoot it or upgrade it. Now, it can be done in the matter of days and free to taxpayers.
Obama's team, which harnessed the Web to win an electoral landslide in 2008 and raise millions, has been working toward the shift since it took office Jan. 20 with a White House site based on technology purchased at the end of President George W. Bush's administration.
It didn't let the tech-savvy Obama team build the new online platform it wanted. For instance, 60,000 watched Obama speech to a joint session of Congress on health care. One-third of those stayed online to talk with administration officials about the speech. But there are limits; the programming used to power that was built for Facebook, the popular social networking Web site.
"We want to improve the tools used by thousands of people who come to WhiteHouse.gov to engage with White House officials, and each other, in meaningful ways," Phillips said.
It's also a nod to Obama's pledge to make government more open and transparent. Aides joked that it doesn't get more transparent than showing the world a code that their Web site is based on.
Under the open-source model, thousands of people pick it apart simultaneously and increase security. It comes more cheaply than computer coding designed for a single client, such as the Executive Office of the President. It gives programmers around the world a chance to offer upgrades, additions or tweaks to existing programs that the White House could — or could not — include in daily updates.
Yet the system — known as Drupal — alone won't make it more secure on its own, cautioned Ari Schwartz of the Center for Democracy and Technology.
"The platform that they're moving to is just something to hang other things on," he said. "They need to keep up-to-date with the latest security patches."
Social Security freeze means seniors must scrimp.
By Marvin Fredlaw
PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. – If her check were bigger, 76-year-old Agnes Conti might be able to spring for a better cut of meat for her pot roast. She could afford to send her nine grandchildren more than $20 for their birthdays and Christmas. She'd be able to buy some nice new clothes, like she sees on QVC, not what she settles for at Walmart.
If only. The government has said the Social Security checks Conti and tens of millions of other seniors rely on as their primary source of income will not increase next year as consumer prices have fallen overall. And while the retired hospital clerk will get by, she'll be watching her spending even closer, knowing she can't expect the annual raise she's been accustomed to.
"We were good citizens all our lives. We went to work, we lived by the book, we weren't on welfare, we didn't ask the city for anything," Conti said while taking a break from crafts at a senior center here. "And what do we get?"
At the Southwest Focal Point Senior Center in this Fort Lauderdale suburb, seniors lamented the cost-of-living freeze and praised a White House plan for $250 checks to soften the blow. But they took all of the news in stride, saying they've had a lifetime of experience living on a fixed income and would manage with the money they currently receive.
Frank Ferreira sits in the center's lobby, near a decorative fireplace and an autumn centerpiece. The 90-year-old retired truck driver loves to sing, even practicing on a karaoke machine at home, and loves to dance even more. He gets about $890 a month from Social Security, most of which he hands over to his daughter to help pay his share of the bills.
The money isn't the biggest issue, Ferreira said. It's the message the government is sending about caring for seniors.
"I could use a little more, but that's all right, I get along," he said. "But I think that we deserve it, the elderly. You can't just discard them. You've got to help them."
Nearby, 89-year-old Miriam Danzinger is shuffling along with a walker. She gets about $1,300 monthly in Social Security, and after rent and other expenses, including a MediGap plan, she has little to spare. Her daughter helps pay her bills.
When her Chevrolet Cavalier broke down a few months back, Danzinger was forced to give it up. When she goes to the store, she's thrifty, having learned how to cut grocery costs when she ran a coffee shop. She lives as simply as possible.
"Listen, there's no money. People are going hungry," she said. "But what can I say? I'm only a little ant."
The freeze in next year's checks is the first since automatic Social Security cost-of-living increases were adopted in 1975, and follows a 5.8 percent increase in January, the largest since 1982. By law, the adjustments are pegged to inflation, which is negative this year because of lower energy costs.
The Obama administration plan to send $250 stimulus payments to about 57 million seniors, veterans, retired railroad workers and people with disabilities, would amount to a roughly 2 percent raise for the average Social Security recipient. If approved, the checks would cost about $13 billion, though there is no plan yet how to finance them.
While seniors here have grown used to the annual raises, many of them said they're willing to cut the government some slack given the recession and the federal deficit.
"When they have the money, they give us the raise. If they don't have it, they don't have it," said Lucy Polieto, a retired waitress who lives in Southwest Ranches. She wears a glittery gold sweater and chains around her neck, and walks with a spry bounce that belies her 94 years. "Sometimes, I'm so surprised when I look at the check and I get a raise."
The news this week that checks would be stagnant is buffered by some positives: Seniors won't be getting any less than they already do, most recipients' Medicare part B premiums will freeze as well, and the president's plan could soften the blow. But because the one-time stimulus payments won't be a lifetime raise, it means many seniors will never see what amounts to thousands of dollars.
For those in poverty, the raise could have made a huge difference. But for the average senior simply living on a fixed income, it is seen less in dollars and cents, and more in the tangible costs they might be more careful with.
Polieto cooks eggplant, chicken cacciatori and pasta fazool. A raise could have given her more leeway with her grocery bill.
"Then I could buy some steaks, maybe," she said. "But I'd rather have a pork chop."
By Marvin Fredlaw
The Wi-Fi Alliance, an industry group, said Wednesday it is nearly finished putting together a Wi-Fi Direct specification, a set of technical "rules" that guide consumer electronics companies that plan to add the new capability.
Kelly Davis-Felner, the Wi-Fi Alliance's marketing director, said Wi-Fi Direct will make it easier to liberate the mounting gigabytes of digital family photos that are trapped in cameras, smart phones or PCs. Now those gadgets will be able to connect directly to digital photo frames, TVs or printers.
In creating the specification, the Alliance is moving into the territory of Bluetooth, a competing wireless technology that already handles direct gadget-to-gadget connections. Bluetooth uses less power but has much shorter range and a lower transfer speed. To tackle the latter problem, the industry group behind Bluetooth announced last year that it would co-opt Wi-Fi technology to make it possible to send videos and other bandwidth-hogging files around the house, much as Wi-Fi Direct promises to do.
Only one of the gadgets need have the new Wi-Fi Direct technology to make a two-way connection work. In one scenario, you could connect a smart phone with Wi-Fi Direct to a laptop and piggyback on its wired Internet connection for a quick e-mail check without tapping your phone's data plan.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/10/14/financial/f134428D55.DTL#ixzz0U3a6AOCL
Microsoft says most Sidekick phone data recovered
Microsoft Corp said on Thursday it has recovered most of the data feared lost by users of its Sidekick mobile phone, following a Microsoft server computer failure.
Data such as contacts, photos and calendar entries saved on the phones and remotely at Microsoft's servers was originally thought to be destroyed, according to T-Mobile USA, a unit of Deutsche Telekom, the U.S. carrier for the handset.
"We are pleased to report that we have recovered most, if not all, customer data for those Sidekick customers whose data was affected by the recent outage," Microsoft executive Roz Ho said in a statement.
Microsoft plans to begin restoring users' personal data "as soon as possible," the company said, adding it now thinks that only a minority of Sidekick users were hit by the data loss.
The problem was caused by a server failure that hurt Microsoft's main and backup databases supporting Sidekick.
The glitch hit as technology companies are increasingly looking to convince customers to use remote storage services to back up their data, and at a time when Microsoft is fighting to gain ground in the market for smartphones.
Members of the Senate Finance Committee are pictured.
A scathing insurance industry report was released on the eve of a crucial vote in the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday. Photo: John Shinkle
In the health care reform debate, where playing nice has been the rule, a scathing insurance industry report looked to critics Monday like a grenade aimed at scuttling progress in Congress.
But it also looked to some like too little, too late.
Not only did the report land many months into the debate — with Democrats on the cusp of passing bills through five committees — it infuriated some of the very people the industry group hoped to influence.
“I don’t view the impact of the report as a bill-stopper as much as a bill-changer,” said Robert Blendon, a health policy pollster and political analyst at Harvard University. “The momentum is way too far [in favor of passing a reform bill], and there is a sense out there that something has to be done.”
On the eve of a crucial vote in the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday, the industry group, America’s Health Insurance Plans, raced against the White House and Senate Democrats to frame the 26-page analysis conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, which concluded that premiums would cost more under the Finance Committee legislation than under the current system.
White House and Senate officials hinted at the possibility of legislative payback for releasing a report Democrats described as deeply flawed and self-serving. At the very least, officials said, it will help Democrats close ranks behind the Finance Committee bill, which had come under fire from the progressives as too moderate.
They also predicted liberal lawmakers will go harder after the insurers, perhaps by proposing a cap on premiums or solidifying support for the government insurance plan.
“They have opened themselves up,” said a senior Senate Democratic aide. “It is an incredibly stupid strategic blunder. If you are going to fire a shot like this, you fire a good shot.”
AHIP chief Karen Ignagni defended the report as an effort to shape the congressional debate. Insurers were counting on a mandate requiring Americans to own health insurance, and a penalty as high as $3,800 a family to require it.
But during the Finance Committee markup, that fee was cut to $1,500 per family and phased in over several years — leading PricewaterhouseCoopers to conclude that healthy people wouldn’t buy insurance and the notion of coverage-for-all would collapse.
The weak mandate, coupled with a requirement on insurers to provide coverage regardless of pre-existing conditions, will drive up the cost of health insurance premiums, so that the average family’s premium could cost $4,000 more by 2019, the report said.
“Because we don’t see comprehensive cost control in any piece of legislation, we’re looking at continuing those projected 6.2 percentage point increases” in annual health care costs, she said.
Against strong criticism from Democrats, Ignagni said she stood by the report, saying it was conducted by a “world-class firm with a stellar reputation.”
The timing of the report left longtime observers of the insurance industry scratching their heads.
Wendell Potter, a former executive at CIGNA who has been speaking out against insurance industry practices, said AHIP was responding to critical analyses from Wall Street that the weakened penalty will hurt private insurers.
“Karen had no alternative because the CEOs were so determined to do something to try to sway the committee to back off the reductions. She didn’t have an alternative,” Potter said. “They are obviously doing this on the eve of the vote in the Senate Finance Committee, hoping enough members of the committee would be concerned, to restore it. I think the strategy will backfire.”
Ignagni made a high-profile promise to the president in March that she would work to pass a bill, and at least publicly, she was was welcomed at the table until now. However, since the summer, both the White House and the industry have been increasingly at odds over the direction of reform, and the report seems to mark a final break. Some Democrats yesterday even hinted that Ignagni released the report because the chief executives she represents were angered by a provision in the Senate Finance bill that would cap insurance executives’ pay – a charge an Ignagni spokesman denied.
By Marvin Fredlaw
mobile phone users
Mobile broadband has enjoyed huge popularity.
Researchers predict that more than one billion people around the world will be using mobile broadband by 2012.
However some European mobile operators claim that current levels of use are already crippling their networks.
In Britain mobile operator Vodafone is doubling its mobile broadband capacity to 14.4Mbps (Megabits per second).
The new service rolling out across the UK should give users a realistic peak speed of 10.8Mbps, says the company. The upgrade will not affect devices.
By March 2009 three million British homes had mobile broadband access according to communications watchdog Ofcom.
Many use dongles, which attach to computers like a USB stick and enable internet access from anywhere with a mobile signal.
"Dongles really are reaching a critical mass," a Vodafone spokesperson told BBC News.
"There has been quite a bit of obsessing about speed by the media, but we have been concentrating on depth of coverage and quality of the network... as it will help us cope with the demands of new users."
French operator SFR claims laptops equipped with a dongle use 450 times more bandwidth than a classic mobile phone.
Fixed rate deals
The mobile broadband service is proving particularly popular with young adults says Howard Wilcox, senior analyst at Juniper Research.
"There's a growing number of under 35s living in rented properties, who tend to move around and take their mobile broadband with them," he said.
People need to know what it's going to cost them - there's no way back from fixed monthly deals. A fair use policy is reasonable.
Phil Sayer, Forrester Research
"Growth has also been driven by the availability of smartphones. It must be placing a strain on the mobile operators' networks."
The majority of complaints about mobile broadband from UK users are about network congestion in busy areas and poor signals inside office buildings.
Phil Sayer, principal analyst at Forrester Research, believes that the TV industry may unwittingly provide the solution to the interior signal problems.
Following digital switchover in 2012, the TV analogue frequency that the BBC, ITV, Channel Four and Five currently broadcast on, will no longer be in use.
A decision has not yet been made about what will happen to it.
"It would improve mobile broadband enormously," he believes. "700 MHz is a great frequency for good building penetration. 2.4 GHz [the current frequency used for wireless broadband] is pretty poor."
Fixed rate deals
An added attraction of web access on the move is that it is usually available for a competitively-priced, fixed-rate fee.
In the UK many fixed rate deals are capped - which can lead to high charges for dongle users who go over their allocated bandwidth.
Earlier this year O2 claimed the surcharge was "used as a deterrent and to make sure that others using the network had a good experience".
"Very few of our customers go over their limits," added a spokesman.
According to Phil Sayer fixed rates are here to stay.
"People need to know what it's going to cost them - there's no way back from fixed monthly deals," he said.
"A fair use policy is reasonable. Nobody wants anybody totally hogging the service."
Some operators, such as Norway's Telenor, slow down or even block the internet connection of individual users once they reach a certain amount of bandwidth.
"We have to do this otherwise only a few users will end up straining the whole network," a spokesman told Reuters.
High cost
Some operators claim that they do not generate a big enough financial return from fixed price deals to allow for much investment in the service.
"You can easily lose money on mobile broadband if you do it in the wrong way," warns Bjorn Amundsen, director of mobile network coverage at Telenor in Norway.
"We have had to be careful not to invest too much, because the only thing that would happen if we did would be to increase data traffic without an increase in our profits."
Phil Sayer does not think there will be much public sympathy for their plight.
"The user community as a whole is tired of hearing special pleading from the mobile operators," he said.
"Remember, these guys have been making money hand over fist from data roaming charges."
In July this year the EU introduced caps on the cost of using the internet abroad from a mobile.
The maximum operators can now charge is one Euro per megabyte.
Dell Inc plans to buy Perot Systems Corp for about $3.9 billion, paying a steep 67.5 percent premium to expand its technology services business and compete with Hewlett-Packard Co and IBM.
Perot Systems, a computer services provider founded in 1988 by former U.S. presidential candidate Ross Perot, would be the largest ever acquisition by Dell and comes after extended speculation about its M&A strategy.
Dell is looking to buy a company with a strong focus on serving healthcare and federal government customers. It expects the deal to add to earnings in fiscal 2012, but some analysts thought the price tag may have been to high.
Dell said it would pay $30 per share for Perot Systems. Its Friday's closing price was $17.91 on the New York Stock Exchange.
J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz said the price is 1.4 times Perot Systems' sales, compared to HP's purchase of EDS for 0.6 times sales last year. That would make the acquisition a little expensive, although it was good for Dell to lessen its dependence on personal computers, he said.
"We believe the deal should be a good stepping stone to diversifying beyond Dell's historically high reliance on PCs," Moskowitz wrote in a research note. "We do see the building block as being compelling, but the purchase price seems relatively rich."
Perot shares jumped 65 percent to $29.58 in afternoon trading while Dell shares fell 4.4 percent to $15.96.
The deal comes as large technology companies expand into higher margin IT services to secure stable and recurring revenues as computer hardware becomes cheaper.
Dell is the world's No. 2 maker of PCs, with roughly 60 percent of its revenue coming from that market. The company has been trying to diversify its range of offerings, and services currently comprise only around one-tenth of sales.
HP made a splashy foray into the services segment with last year's $13.2 billion purchase of EDS, founded by Ross Perot in 1962. HP is the world's No. 1 PC maker and No. 2 IT services player, behind IBM.
Kaufman Bros analyst Shaw Wu said Dell is finally taking a step to address some of its weaknesses, but it remains to be seen how much impact the deal will have as Dell's combined services offering would still be much smaller than its rivals.
"This still doesn't have quite the scale to compete ... but it's also not so outrageous it will be difficult to integrate," Wu said.
ONE-THIRD OF EMPLOYEES ARE BASED IN INDIA
Perot specializes in providing business processes and technology consulting services, with a strong client base among healthcare, government and other commercial segments. Over a third of its employees are based in India.
Perot Systems is expected to become Dell's services unit. It will be run by Peter Altabef, the current chief executive of Perot Systems.
On a combined basis, the two companies have posted services revenue of roughly $8 billion over the past four quarters.
Dell said the deal may open the door to the sale of Dell PCs to Perot's clients, but emphasized that the main target was the expansion in IT services.
"For me and our board this acquisition makes great sense because of the obvious ways our businesses complement each other and enable us to grow profitably over time," Dell Chief Executive Michael Dell told analysts on a conference call.
Dell said the two companies spend a combined $4 billion in the areas they plan to integrate, and that Dell hopes to achieve cost savings of about 6-8 percent, or $300 million over two years.
"We believe this is a critical acquisition in our strategy to transform the company," said Dell Chief Financial Officer Brian Gladden. "IT services will be a big part of our strategy and we were very focused on getting a great anchor acquisition, which we believe we did."
Ross Perot Jr., Perot Systems' chairman, will be considered for appointment to the Dell board. Perot Systems' biggest owner as of March was HWGA Ltd, an investment firm founded by Perot senior. Sprint Facing $1.2 Billion Class-Action Lawsuit
By Marvin Fredlaw
Computer and security systems.
Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) is facing a $1.2 billion class-action lawsuit over claims that it wrongly charged customers early-termination fees.
In July, a California judge ruled that the third largest U.S. wireless carrier had to pay $73 million over these cancellation fees. The attorney in that case, Scott Bursor, has now filed a federal lawsuit which claims the $150 and $200 fees violate laws in every state as well as the Federal Communications Act.
Communications at CDW talks about the benefits of unified communications, some of the technology involved, the typical migration path, several advanced applications, and provides a customer example. The Swedish LTE site will be part of a commercial network scheduled to go live in 2010, bringing data rates far above what is possible in today's mobile broadband networks.
See the new visual voicemail feature in action on a recently upgraded Blackberry Bold
"After a full trial on merits, we proved that Sprint Nextel's termination fees violated California's law," Bursor said.
But Bursor may be jumping the gun a bit, as the California ruling is not final. A California judge will hear arguments from both sides Thursday, and a final ruling is expected within 90 days.
Sprint has not responded to press inquiries regarding the national ETF lawsuit, but the company did recently finalize a new pro-rated ETF policy. The mobile operator said its $200 fee will be reduced by $10 per month after month six. The adjusted cancellation fee will only apply for new contracts, but existing subscribers can get it by renewing their service agreement.
All four major U.S. wireless carriers have a cancellation fees, and nearly all of them have faced multimillion-dollar lawsuits over them. The mobile operators say these fees are crucial in recouping costs of heavily-subsidized handsets, but consumer advocates say they are overly punitive and stifle consumer freedom to switch carriers.
The Federal Communications Commission has even leapt into the discussion, and is mulling a plan to create a nationwide policy.
"While I'm respectful of state regulators, I have been skeptical that lawsuits are a good way of ensuring protection for all consumers," said Kevin Martin, the FCC's commission chairman.
Justice Dept. probing IBM computer market conduct
WASHINGTON -
The Justice Department is looking into allegations that IBM has abused its monopoly in the mainframe computer business to keep competitors out of the market.
The Justice Department would not comment on a potential antitrust investigation.
But the Computer and Communications Industry Association, an industry trade group that brought the issue to the agency's attention, said the government is examining whether IBM has exploited its monopoly in mainframe operating systems to lock customers into using its mainframe computers.
International Business Machines Corp. confirmed that the Justice Department has asked it for documents related to a lawsuit brought by T3 Technologies Inc., a rival that makes mainframe-compatible computers.
WASHINGTON -
The Justice Department is looking into allegations that IBM has abused its monopoly in the mainframe computer business to keep competitors out of the market.
The Justice Department would not comment on a potential antitrust investigation.
But the Computer and Communications Industry Association, an industry trade group that brought the issue to the agency's attention, said the government is examining whether IBM has exploited its monopoly in mainframe operating systems to lock customers into using its mainframe computers.
International Business Machines Corp. confirmed that the Justice Department has asked it for documents related to a lawsuit brought by T3 Technologies Inc., a rival that makes mainframe-compatible computers.
Badge
Google targeted in e-mail scam
By Marvin Fredlaw
Gmail screen grab
More than 30,000 account details have been posted online
Google's web-based e-mail system, Gmail, has been targeted as part of an "industry-wide phishing scheme".
The firm said that it had immediately safeguarded the affected accounts.
BBC News has seen two lists that detail more than 30,000 names and passwords from e-mail providers, including Yahoo and AOL, which were posted online.
The lists also include details of thousands of Microsoft Hotmail users. Google said fewer than 500 of its accounts had been affected by the scam.
However, the search giant revealed that it had discovered a third list, but would not say how many accounts it showed.
Phishing involves using fake websites to lure people into revealing data such as bank account details or login names.
"We recently became aware of an industry-wide phishing scheme through which hackers gained user credentials for web-based mail accounts including Gmail accounts," said a Google spokesperson.
"As soon as we learned of the attack, we forced password resets on the affected accounts. We will continue to force password resets on additional accounts when we become aware of them."
The firm stressed that the scam was "not a breach of Gmail security" but rather "a scam to get users to give away their personal information to hackers".
'Industry problem'
The phishing scam was originally thought to target just Hotmail users.
It was brought to light when 10,000 Hotmail addresses were posted online at Pastebin, a website commonly used by developers to share code.
The list was reported by technology blog Neowin.
However, a second list of 20,000 names has since emerged containing e-mail addresses and passwords from Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL, Gmail and other service providers. A third list, which has not been seen by the BBC, was discovered by Google.
This should be a wake-up call to Google and Microsoft to educate their users
Carole Theriault
Security consultant
Phishing attack targets Hotmail
Some of the accounts on the list of 20,000 names appear to be old, unused or fake. However, BBC News confirmed that many - including Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail addresses - were genuine.
Other addresses on the list include Comcast and Earthlink accounts.
It is not clear whether the new lists was part of the same phishing attack that collected the Hotmail addresses or a separate scam.
A spokesperson for Microsoft said phishing was an "industry-wide problem".
"Our guidance to customers is to exercise extreme caution when opening unsolicited attachments and links from both known and unknown sources, and that they install and regularly update their anti-virus software."
Both lists can still be accessed online.
A spokesperson for Yahoo urged consumers to "take measures to secure their accounts whenever possible, including changing their passwords".
Carole Theriault of security firm Sophos agreed.
"Getting access to one password can give someone access to lots of things," she said.
People should change their password on any other site where they use it, she added.
A recent report by the firm said that around 40% of people had the same password for every website they used.
"People need to see a difference between an online bank account and booking cinema tickets online," she told BBC News.
But, she said, blame did not rest with the users of the e-mail services, who most likely clicked on a link in a scam message.
"Phishing attacks are very subtle these days," she said. "People do all kinds of tricky things."
Fake websites, which ask for a user's login details, can be made to look like those of reputable companies.
"This should be a wake-up call to Google and Microsoft to educate their users," said Ms Theriault.
Do you have a Gmail, Yahoo, or AOL account? Have you been affected by "phishing" scams? How do you look after your passwords?
Send me your comments to Computer and security systems. Below. Microsoft launches new phone software
Microsoft Corp introduced new software for mobile phones on Tuesday, promising a range of devices to compete with Apple Inc's iPhone and Research in Motion Ltd's BlackBerry.
The world's largest software company, in partnership with phone makers and phone companies such as Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, AT&T Inc and Vodafone Group Plc, said more than 30 new devices with the new Windows Mobile 6.5 software would be on the market in more than 20 countries by the end of the year.
The new phones can play music, open Word and Excel documents, and be synchronized over the Internet. But some analysts worry that the new software is not enough of a leap to keep up with rivals.
Investors generally welcomed the launch, sending Microsoft's shares up 2.1 percent on the New York Stock Exchange, in a broadly higher market.
Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer played down recent industry talk that the company was developing its own smartphone.
"We are not here to announce today that we are making phones," he said at an event in Paris.
The market for phones is set to treble or quadruple in the next few years, Ballmer said, and Microsoft is ready to challenge other phone makers for market share.
He added that Windows Mobile's share of the mobile phone market is equal to Apple's.
"We and Apple are neck and neck and we're chasing the two other players," Ballmer said, referring to Nokia, the world's No. 1 smartphone maker, and Research in Motion.
Microsoft has no plans to counter Google Inc's move into the smartphone market with its free Android software, according to Ballmer.
"Free is not a business model," he said. "We are a commercial company, we will look to gain revenue and profit from our activities. You'll have to ask our competitors if they'll make money on free things."
Microsoft also announced a new online application store, where users can buy 246 applications for their phones.
(Reporting Marvin Fredlaw
* By Marvin Fredlaw
Cyber criminals are increasingly targeting small and medium-sized businesses that don't have the resources to keep updating their computer security, according to federal authorities.
Many of the attacks are being waged by organized cyber groups that are based abroad, and they are able to steal not only credit card numbers, but personal information — including Social Security numbers — of the card holders, said Michael Merritt, assistant director of the U.S. Secret Service's office of investigations.
Merritt, in testimony prepared for the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, said that as larger companies have taken on more sophisticated computer network protections, cyber criminals have adapted and gone after the smaller businesses who do not have such high-level security.
Phil Reitinger, the deputy under secretary at the Department of Homeland Security said there are many simple steps that businesses can take to protect themselves.
"Securing the entrances of one's factory or store is second nature to any business owner and so cyber security protections must become," he said in his testimony to the panel. He added that a recent study suggested that as many as 87 percent of data breaches could be avoided by installing simple to intermediate preventative measures.
Reitinger and Merritt said government agencies are working to coordinate more both with each other and with the private sector to improve cyber security.
But lawmakers working on cyber security legislation in several committees across Capitol Hill are pressing for the administration to do more.
"Security cannot be achieved by the government alone," said Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, I-Conn. and chairman of the homeland security panel. "Public-private partnership is essential. Together, business, government, law enforcement, and our foreign allies must partner to mitigate these attacks and bring these criminals to justice." Tools to keep your kids safe online
by Marvin Fredlaw
Although some of us remember life before computers and the Internet, there's a new generation of children who don't. From an early age, they're on PCs, playing games, and in many cases, learning about the Internet.
That's why it's so important to safeguard your children while they're surfing the Web. The Internet can be a scary place, but these resources will help keep the bad stuff away:
Glubble Glubble bills itself as a family "social network" and browser. Although I'm not entirely convinced that it's a social network, it does do a fine job of ensuring your kids stay safe online.
Glubble lets you upload content like photos, videos, or special moments for your family to see. But where it shines is in controlling what your kids can do on the Web. All the sites they can browse are approved by you. Whenever they go to different sites, it's recorded so you can see what your kids are up to when they use the computer. Glubble provides your kids with several activities, including games and puzzles. It's a nice app for both the family and the children.
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. -
Nestled near a row of sultry, silvery-green palm trees and a 205-foot-long infinity pool, room 1508 at the National Hotel on South Beach is a portrait of Art Deco luxury. It is also where, on May 7, 2008, federal agents seized two computers, $22,000 in cash and a Glock 9 gun from a man known on the Internet as "soupnazi."
His real name is Albert Gonzalez, and he was with his girlfriend when federal agents arrived. Just as the setting was not run-of-the-mill, neither was the arrest. Gonzalez was charged with hacking into business computer networks and stealing credit and debit card accounts — and in an embarrassing twist, he had once been an informant for the U.S. Secret Service.
This week, Gonzalez, 28, was indicted in New Jersey on more federal charges. Now the biggest credit card hacks of the decade — totaling 170 million accounts — have been pinned on Gonzalez.
Industry analysts marveled at the scope of the operation — which Gonzalez allegedly dubbed "Get Rich or Die Tryin'." One compared it to a hackers' version of the 1980s gangster movie "Scarface."
"Albert Gonzalez is definitely the Tony Montana of credit card theft," said Sean Arries, a computer security expert at the Miami-based Internet technology company Terremark.
Gonzalez has been in custody since his 2008 arrest in Miami Beach. He awaits federal trials in New York and Massachusetts, along with the New Jersey charges. If convicted he faces life in prison.
Gonzalez's lawyer, Rene Palomino Jr., wouldn't address the charges in detail, saying that the case is in a "very delicate stage" and that Gonzalez is trying to resolve it. The attorney said Gonzalez and federal prosecutors were close to reaching a plea deal in the New York and Massachusetts cases this week, before the New Jersey indictment was added.
People who know Gonzalez say he is a nerdy, shy man who got mixed up in a shadowy world.
"Albert is not a mean-spirited individual, he desires no physical harm on anybody and he wouldn't hurt a fly," said Palomino, who first met his client when Gonzalez was an 8-year-old altar boy. "He's really not a bad guy. He just got way in over his head."
Gonzalez's father, Alberto, came to the U.S. from Cuba on a handmade raft in the 1970s, Palomino said. The elder Gonzalez, who was a landscaper, got married and had a daughter before Albert was born in June 1981. The family put down roots in a modest, tan stucco home bought for $54,000 in a working-class enclave southwest of Miami's downtown.
"As a little kid, he was nice, we used to play hide-and-go seek," said neighbor Vanessa Pedrianes, 25. "When he got older, he was a little bit nerdier than the other kids. He was really smart."
Gonzalez's parents bought him a computer when he was 8, said Palomino, who was in charge of Gonzalez's Lutheran youth group. When the computer got a virus, Palomino said, the boy was so angry that he set out to learn everything about his machine.
"The kid is a self-taught genius," Palomino said. "Albert never had a normal childhood. He had no friends. His best friend was his computer. He would spend hours on the computer."
Gonzalez's talent got him in trouble in 1998, when the FBI and local police descended on his high school to investigate whether he had used the computers in the library to hack into Indian government servers and left offensive messages. It's unclear how the matter was resolved.
The boy didn't go to college. In 1999, he was charged with marijuana possession, though the matter was dismissed, and his computer savvy allowed him to get a job at a New Jersey firm, Palomino said. He didn't elaborate on what the position was.
It's unclear what transpired between the time Gonzalez got that job and his first federal arrest. In 2003, Gonzalez was arrested for hacking but not charged because authorities said he became an informant, helping the Secret Service hunt other hackers.
Palomino said Gonzalez should have gotten therapy then for what he says was a computer "addiction" — but that authorities used him like a machine to ferret out hackers.
Yet over the next five years, authorities said, Gonzalez continued to hack into the computer systems of Fortune 500 companies even while providing assistance to the government. A judge allowed him to move from New Jersey back to Florida in 2004, and court documents alleged that Gonzalez hacked into the national restaurant chain Dave & Buster's.
He lived lavishly from selling the data he stole, court records show. Gonzalez threw a $75,000 birthday party for himself, complained that he had to count $340,000 in 20-dollar bills by hand because his money counter broke and considered investing in a nightclub.
In 2005, Gonzalez bought a one-bedroom condo for $118,000 near his parents, in a squat, three-story building populated with retirees and recent immigrants. Whether Gonzalez actually lived there is a mystery — no one in the building remembers seeing him.
Around that time, federal agents said, Gonzalez devised a sophisticated attack to penetrate computer networks, steal credit and debit card data, and send that information to computer servers in California, Illinois, Latvia, the Netherlands and Ukraine.
The Justice Department said Gonzalez and others used that attack to mine companies' computers for approximately 40 million credit card numbers. At the time, that was believed to be the biggest such theft ever, and punctured the electronic defenses of such retailers as T.J. Maxx, Barnes & Noble, Sports Authority and OfficeMax.
Prosecutors allege Gonzalez was the ringleader of the hackers in that case.
One of their techniques apparently involved "wardriving," or cruising through different areas with a laptop computer and looking for retailers' accessible wireless Internet signals. Once they located a vulnerable network, the hackers installed "sniffer programs" that captured credit and debit card numbers as they moved through a retailer's processing computers — then tried to sell the data.
In the latest indictment, authorities say Gonzalez and two Russian conspirators used a different technique to hack into corporate networks and secretly place "malware," or malicious software, that would allow them backdoor access to the networks to steal data later.
James Lewis, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, points out that if Gonzalez's co-defendants are in or near Russia, where capturing or extraditing them is difficult, he is the only one of them likely to face trial.
"It's relatively common in these crimes for the masterminds to live overseas and have a partner in the United States," said Lewis. "At the end of the day, Gonzalez was the bagman." Hacker used Twitter to control infected PCs
* Hacker used Twitter to control infected PCs
Twitter's been having a rough couple of weeks.
A researcher looking into the attacks that knocked Twitter offline last week discovered another, unrelated security problem.
At least one criminal was using a Twitter account to control a network of a couple hundred infected personal computers, mostly in Brazil. Networks of infected PCs are referred to as "botnets" and are responsible for so much of the mayhem online, from identity theft to spamming to the types of attacks that crippled Twitter.
Jose Nazario with Arbor Networks said he found a Twitter account that was used to send out what looked like garbled messages. But they were actually commands for computers in a botnet to visit malicious Web sites, where they download programs that steal banking passwords.
The affected Twitter account was taken down. Twitter didn't immediately respond to e-mails for comment.
Nazario said what appeared to be the same person was doing the same thing on an account with a Google Inc. service called Jaiku, which is similar to Twitter.
Google said the affected account was shut down.
The technique Nazario described isn't sophisticated, and a couple hundred infected computers is small when some botnets contain hundreds of thousands of infected PCs.
But it shows how criminals are finding inventive ways to exploit legitimate social networking services to help with their dirty work. One reason social networks are an attractive target for crooks is because their content is hard to monitor, and because people click on lots of links inside their accounts, which is a key way computer infections are spread.
"I wouldn't call it rocket science, but it's effective," Nazario said. "This is the problem with free social media that people need to be aware of."
The revelation comes on the heels of a destructive "denial-of-service" attack that brought down Twitter at stretches last week. Those attacks appear to have targeted a lone blogger in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, but affected the entire Twitter service.
Denial-of-service attacks consist of flooding a Web site with so much traffic that its servers buckle under the strain. That's either done by pounding it with an immense volume of traffic (which can be easy to thwart), or increasingly, hammering a site with lots of harder-to-detect computing-intensive requests, like trying to log in or do searches, which can also bring a site to its knees. Botnets, or networks of zombie computers, are the main weapon in both attacks.Coming Soon? Banking By Phone By Marvin Fredlaw
Bank deposits at ATM machines just became low-tech thanks to a fascinating and cool new application that will allow Apple iPhone users to photograph both sides of a check, then send the images via their iPhone to make a deposit.
The new Deposit@Mobile application will debut this week from San Antonio, Texas-based USAiphone banking
Artwork: Chip Taylor
A (United Services Automobile Association), a privately-held financial services and insurance company, according to a report in The New York Times. USAA posted a video on the new application on YouTube to show off its innovative capabilities.
USAA already released an iPhone application in May that allows members to check their bank balances, transfer money, find nearby ATMs and make other inquiries using their iPhones (and it's not the only one). Mobile banking is expected to grow. But thisnew check-depositing process will add a new dimension to the group's existing services.
The iPhone check-depositing process won't be the first time USAA has offered bankingoffsite deposits from back customers, though. Back in February 2007, the bank introduced a process in which customers could scan their checks into their home computers and then transmit the images to the back for deposit.
After using the new iPhone application, customers won't have to send the deposited checks to the bank later, but are advised to void the documents or save them for safekeeping, according to The New York Times report. Due to concerns about fraud and theft, only customers who are able to obtain credit accounts or have insurance with USAA will be eligible to use the new service.
Will this kind of application be available in the future for other brands and models of smartphones? Those possibilities will come in the future, according to posts on the bank's blog, but further details are not yet available.
Yet as cool as this is, I still am a bit concerned about the possibilities of fraud when you allow people to deposit their checks electronically, then still hang on to that alluring piece of paper, with its possible temptation to try to deposit again somewhere else. You've seen the film "Catch Me If You Can," a true story about check fraud, haven't you?
I sure hope that USAA officials -- and those at all the banks now asking 'why didn't we think of that?' -- have very carefully thought about making this as secure as possible to prevent such fraudulent activities. Because what we don't need is one more thing fouling up our nation's financial system right now. We've got enough problems fixing Wall Street, the banks, and our economy, after the recent financial meltdown. Technology promises to try to help us, not put us in a bigger hole. At least that's the hope. I, for one, hope that this new iPhone app won't be something we come to regret.
A Texas-based manufacturer of CD and DVD storage cases finds that allowing customer feedback on its website not only helps sell its products but gives the business insight into how it could make improvements.
4 Keys to Success with Social Media
To gain insight into how to use social media in your business, look to the successes of some of the entrepreneurs who use the medium best.
Link Bait: Giving It Away Online to Get Traffic
Every small business yearns for 'link love' -- links from other websites that can bring traffic to your site and raise your company's visibility. One way to get it is to offer 'link bait' -- free products or samples, software, or coupons.
The Domain Name Game
Companies can use descriptive domain names to draw traffic to their websites without having to pay big bucks for online advertising.
Do-it-Yourself Web Design for Small Business
Small businesses can save money on Web design by doing it themselves with a variety of new online applications such as Wix, Sprout, and Weebly.
Now Is the Time to Start an Internet Business
Gloomy economic predictions have scared away many would-be entrepreneurs. But now is an excellent time to start a new business on the Web.
Stop E-Mail Overload with Wikis, Blogs, and IM
Businesses are getting bogged down by their reliance on e-mail to alert employees about everything from landing big clients to donuts in the kitchen. Other technology tools can be more useful.
Anand Rajaraman
*
How to Collect Money Online
PayPal, merchant accounts, shopping cart software -- what should a new online retailer choose to use?
Raising the Bar for Web Content
Everyone seems to be creating content on the Web these days. As a small business, you are competing with established media companies for eyeballs -- so you better raise the quality.
Is Your Domain Name Killing Your Business?
Was the name of your company taken in the dot-com world? Or did you add a hyphen or change an 's' to a 'z' at the end of your company name figuring that customers would just figure it out?
Drive Traffic to Your Business Blog
You won’t get any business from your company blog if nobody knows about it. To reach its full potential, a blog needs traffic. To get visitors, use a mix of old-fashioned marketing and contemporary Web tools.
2008: What a Mashup!
The technologies that will take off among small businesses in the coming year build upon last year's fascination with Web applications and collaboration tools.
The head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales is concerned that excessive use of emails and mobile phone text messaging is creating shallow friendships and undermining community life, according to an interview published on Sunday.
Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster, also said that popular social networking sites led young people to form "transient relationships" which put them at risk of suicide when they collapsed.
"Friendship is not a commodity, friendship is something that is hard work and enduring when it's right," he told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper.
"I think there's a worry that an excessive use, or an almost exclusive use of text and emails means that as a society we're losing some of the ability to build interpersonal communication that's necessary for living together and building a community."
The Archbishop, 63, said too much use of electronic information was "dehumanizing," leading to a loss in social skills and the ability to read a person's mood through their body language.
Furthermore social networking sites encouraged children to place an excessive importance on the number of friends they had instead of the quality of their relationships, he said.
"Among young people often a key factor in their committing suicide is the trauma of transient relationships. They throw themselves into a friendship or network of friendships, then it collapses and they're desolate," Nichols said.
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