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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 13 Issue 28
Volume 13, Issue 28 Atari Online News, Etc. July 15, 2011
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2011
All Rights Reserved
Atari Online News, Etc.
A-ONE Online Magazine
Dana P. Jacobson, Publisher/Managing Editor
Joseph Mirando, Managing Editor
Rob Mahlert, Associate Editor
Atari Online News, Etc. Staff
Dana P. Jacobson -- Editor
Joe Mirando -- "People Are Talking"
Michael Burkley -- "Unabashed Atariophile"
Albert Dayes -- "CC: Classic Chips"
Rob Mahlert -- Web site
Thomas J. Andrews -- "Keeper of the Flame"
With Contributions by:
Fred Horvat
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=~=~=~=
A-ONE #1328 07/15/11
~ Amazon: Get A Tax Vote ~ People Are Talking! ~ ACEC 2011 Probable!
~ Huge Cyber Scam Bust! ~ Assange Extradition? ~ eBay and Trademarks!
~ EA To Buy PopCap Games ~ Amazon Tablet in Fall! ~ Mozilla's BrowserID!
~ Special Cables A No-Go ~ ~ Twitter Turns 5!
-* Pentagon 'Operation Domain'! *-
-* Cyber Theft Is A Security Challenge *-
-* Violent Video Games May Not Desensitize Kids *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
So many possible topics to talk about, and so little time to really get
into any of them! Obama versus the GOP - a nightmare for the American
public, guaranteed. The Whitey Bulger/Catherine Greig melodrama is
still an everyday soap opera! Rupert Murdochs's tabloids woes (no loss
there!). And there's plenty of more major headlines these days. Even
our own Joe Mirando is still fighting an undiagnosed ailment that has
him way out of sorts for the past few weeks! Who knows what tomorrow
will bring?! Anyway, I'm not going to dive into any of these topics,
or anything else this week - just no time and energy left to do any of
them any real justice. So, why not sit back and relax, and enjoy
another uneditorialized issue this week!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE User Group Notes! - Meetings, Shows, and Info!
"""""""""""""""""""""""
Announcing:
ATARI COMPUTER ENTHUSIASTS
**PROBABLE** 2011 Vintage Computer and Video Game Swap Meet
Saturday September 10th 2011
9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. EDT
Oakland Park Community Center
980 Lenore St.
***SPECIAL 2011 NOTE: ACEC has presented these annual swaps since 1996
(at least). This year, the Community Center has changed policy and
cannot be scheduled for more than 1 month in advance. We regret this
uncertainty but **must** urge you to contact or visit the web site in
late August / early September to make certain the tradition will be
continuing.
This is where I say "From 71N in Columbus, use E.N. Broadway or Cooke
Rd. Exits; East"
But aw, heck! Just pull out your GPS, cell phone, or Google Earth! Or
if you're really retro, Mapquest it. Or if you're like me, find a map
somewhere .... (I can mail you one if you want it and can accept <HTML>)
. All vintage computing and game platforms, etc. and of course
Atari!! are invited
. Free for all! (vendors and shoppers!) Vendors, please contact
us to reserve tables.
Further info: colonelatari@hotmail.com Charles
(614) 447-9789
http://www.angelfire.com/oh4/acec/acec.html
Please feel free to copy and disseminate. Be certain to check the web
page for other active swaps & meetings such as CCAG, Cols. Retro Gaming,
etc.
If you try to contact me by "Reply To", please note that I work in the
programming biz . i.e. I turn on my home computer about one time per two
weeks.
Best,
Wayne
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - Violent Video Games May Not Desensitize Kids!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" EA To Buy PopCap Games!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Violent Video Games May Not Desensitize Kids
A long-standing concern among parents and researchers has been that young
people who are exposed to violent video games may become desensitized to
violent acts and images, but a new study suggests that may not be the
case.
Canadian researchers comparing gamers to non-gamers found that in the long
run, gamers were just as likely to recall negative images in memory tests
and to report the same levels of emotion in reaction to the pictures as
the non-gamers.
"People who play video games didn't differ in memory, and physical arousal
wasn't different between gamers and non-gamers. And there was no
difference in how each group felt after seeing negative or violent
pictures," said study author Holly Bowen, a doctoral candidate in the
department of psychology at Ryerson University in Toronto.
The findings were published in the January issue of Applied Cognitive
Psychology.
Video game violence differs from violence in television or the movies
because people playing the games are actively involved in the aggression,
and in some games, receive rewards and incentives for committing virtual
violent acts, according to background information in the study.
Previous studies have suggested that violent video games may lead to more
aggressive behavior and irritability, in addition to greater
desensitization to violence, the current study reports.
Much of the research on video games and violence, however, has tested
gamers soon after they played a game, and might not reflect long-term
effects, said Bowen.
To assess whether violent video games affected the brain long-term, Bowen
and her colleague, Julia Spaniol, recruited 122 undergraduate psychology
students to participate in their study on emotional memory.
"Emotional memory is a really important part of your cognitive functioning.
If you don't remember negative or harmful situations, you can't learn from
them and avoid them in the future," said Bowen.
Ninety-six of the study volunteers were female, and the average age was 19
years old. Forty-five people in the group had played video games during
the previous six months. The remaining 77 had no video game exposure.
Both male and female players reported playing Grand Theft Auto, Final
Fantasy and NHL (National Hockey League) games. Males also listed the
fighting games Call of Duty and Tekken in their top five. Females preferred
playing Guitar Hero and Rock Band or the go-kart game Mario Kart to the
violent videos, according to the study.
The researchers showed 150 images - positive, neutral and negative - to
the study volunteers. Bowen said some of the images were violent and
disturbing, such as a picture of a man holding gun to a woman's head.
An hour later, the researchers showed the study volunteers the images
again, but randomly mixed in additional pictures as distracters.
If video gamers' brains had been desensitized from playing video games, the
researchers theorized that they should be less able to recall the violent
images.
But they found no differences in recall between the two groups. And, the
gamers and non-gamers reported similar levels of physical arousal from the
images, and described similar feelings when viewing the photos.
Bowen said while this study can't definitively say that violent video games
aren't desensitizing people to violence, she said it does provide "another
piece of the puzzle, and perhaps, video games aren't having long-term
effects on cognition and memory."
She and her colleague noted, however, that a possible limitation to the
study was that the volunteers described their arousal to violent images
rather than being monitored for heart rate and other physiological
responses, and that more study was needed.
"The premise here is that we think people who are exposed to violent video
games might be desensitized to violence, and if they are, they should not
remember disturbing, violent pictures as much," explained Tracy Dennis, an
associate professor of psychology at Hunter College of the City University
of New York.
"And, while this is an important study, what they're asking people to
remember isn't necessarily linked to video game memories, so I think it's
important to draw only moderate conclusions," said Dennis.
"A lot more research needs to be done on video game violence," she said,
adding that in the meantime, parents should try to minimize their
children's exposure to such violence, particularly games that reward or
reinforce violence.
Dr. Eric Hollander, a psychiatrist from Montefiore Medical Center in New
York City, said that some teens may be more vulnerable to video game
violence. "Teens who don't get sufficient rewards or reinforcement from
other activities may be vulnerable to the rewards gained from risky
behaviors, such as video game or gambling addiction."
"With aggressive video games, teens are getting a high level of arousal and
reward that they may not get with other games, and they may start to
develop a more restrictive interest for one type of game," he explained,
adding that a red flag for parents is if they see their child becoming
less engaged in other activities that they used to enjoying doing, and
they're only playing a certain type of video game.
EA To Buy PopCap Games for $1.3 Billion
Electronic Arts (EA) announced today that it will acquire PopCap Games in
a deal that may reach as much as a total of $1.3 billion . Last month,
PopCap was rumored to have a mystery buyer that was offering somewhere
around $1 billion. Given EAs recent forays into social gaming, the deal
doesnt come as a huge surprise.
PopCap is behind popular games Plants vs. Zombies, Peggle, Zuma, and
Bejeweled. We picked EA because they have recast their culture around
making great digital games," CEO David Roberts said in a statement today.
"By working with EA, well scale our games and services to deliver more
social, mobile, casual fun to an even bigger, global audience."
The rise of social gaming has been good to PopCap, which integrates with
Facebook, RenRen, Google, as well as Android and iOS devices. And EA has
been keeping tabs on the industry: The developer has been traditionally
affiliated with console and PC gaming up until recently, when its made
several acquisitions to establish itself in the social gaming market. EA
acquired both Playfish and Angry Birds publisher Chillingo recently, as
well as signed a five year deal with Facebook in late 2010.
Adding PopCap Games to this list is another big step for EAs social gaming
division. Its becoming more and more of a serious competitor in the social
and casual gaming market, likely with intentions of challenging Zynga,
which continues to dominate. According to EAs investor statements, PopCap
will also help its presence with gamers in Asia, as well as via mobile
platforms.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Cyber Theft Illustrates Pentagon Security Challenge
A foreign intelligence service stole 24,000 files from a U.S. defense
contractor earlier this year, a dramatic illustration of the threat
confronting the Pentagon as it works to bolster military computer security,
a top defense official said on Thursday.
Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn revealed the theft as he unveiled a
new Pentagon cybersecurity strategy that designates cyberspace as an
"operational domain" like sea, air and land where U.S. forces will
practice, train and prepare to defend against attacks.
Lynn said the theft occurred in March and was believed to have been carried
out by a foreign intelligence service and targeted files at a defense
contractor developing weapons systems and defense equipment. He declined to
specify the country behind the attack, what company was hit or what the
files contained.
"It was 24,000 files, which is a lot," Lynn said. "But I don't think it's
the largest we've seen."
The theft was a dramatic illustration of the rising difficulties the
Pentagon faces in protecting military and defense-related networks critical
to U.S. security.
Defense Department employees operate more than 15,000 computer networks
and 7 million computers at hundreds of installations around the world. The
department's networks are probed millions of times a day and penetrations
have compromised huge amounts of data.
Lynn said a recent estimate pegged economic losses from theft of
intellectual property and information from government and commercial
computers at over $1 trillion.
In addition to calling for the Pentagon to treat cyberspace as an
"operational domain," Lynn said the new strategy includes four initiatives
aimed at bolstering network security by layering defenses and improving
cooperation with other network operators.
Lynn said as part of its active defenses, the Pentagon would introduce new
operating concepts and capabilities on its networks, such as sensors,
software and signatures to detect and stop malicious code before it affects
U.S. operations.
"Our strategy's overriding emphasis is on denying the benefit of an
attack," he said in a speech at the National Defense University. "If an
attack will not have its intended effect, those who wish us harm will have
less reason to target us through cyberspace in the first place."
The strategy also calls for greater U.S. military cooperation on
cybersecurity with other government agencies, defense contractors and U.S.
military allies abroad in order to take advantage of the open, interwoven
nature of the Internet.
Former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who now heads the
Chertoff Group risk management firm, praised the strategy as a "good first
step" but said the challenge would be filling in the details.
"It's not put your pencil down, work is done," he said. "It really just
sets the table for a lot of hard work thinking through the details of what
the plans are going to be, what the capabilities have to be and how we're
going to build the various layers of defense."
He cited the possibility of creating secure communities on the Internet for
some functions, finding ways to encourage individuals to practice computer
security and sharing security-related information more widely between
public and private sectors.
"These are going to be hard things to do because they are going to require
trade-offs," Chertoff said. "You're not going to eliminate the risk of
cyberattacks. What you have to do is minimize and manage those risks."
General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said
the Pentagon must shift its thinking on cybersecurity from focusing 90
percent of its energy on building better firewalls and only 10 percent on
preventing hackers from attacking U.S. systems.
"If your approach to the business is purely defensive in nature, that's
the Maginot line approach," he said, referring to the French fixed
defensive fortifications that were circumvented by the Nazis at the outset
of World War Two.
"If it's OK to attack me and I'm not going to do anything other than
improve my defenses every time you attack me, it's very difficult to come
up with a deterrent strategy," he said.
Cartwright said part of the answer was to build up the military's
offensive response capabilities.
"How do you build something that convinces a hacker that doing this is
going to be costing them and if he's going to do it, he better be willing
to pay the price and the price is going to escalate, rather than his price
stays the same and ours escalates," Cartwright said.
"We've got to change the calculus."
Pentagon To Treat Cyberspace as "Operational Domain"
The Defense Department unveiled a new strategy for protecting military
computer networks from hackers on Thursday, designating cyberspace as an
"operational domain" U.S. forces will be trained to defend.
Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn said the Pentagon wanted to avoid
militarizing cyberspace, but aimed to secure strategic networks with the
threat of retaliation, as well as by mounting a more robust defense.
"Our strategy's overriding emphasis is on denying the benefit of an
attack," Lynn said in a speech at the National Defense University. "If an
attack will not have its intended effect, those who wish us harm will
have less reason to target us through cyberspace in the first place."
Identifying intruders and responding to serious cyber attacks are part of
the strategy, he said. But the military now focuses its strongest
deterrent on other nation states, not transnational groups.
"Terrorist groups and rogue states must be considered separately," Lynn
said.
"They have few or no assets to hold at risk and a greater willingness to
provoke. They are thus harder to deter. If a terrorist group gains
disruptive or destructive cyber tools, we have to assume they will strike
with little hesitation."
Lynn said currently the most sophisticated attacks come from other
nations. Nation states are the most sophisticated intruders at this point
but can be deterred by the threat of military power, he said, whereas
transnationational groups have less fear of military retaliation.
"There will eventually be a marriage of capability and intent, where those
who mean us harm will gain the ability to launch damaging cyber attacks,"
Lynn said. "We need to develop stronger defenses before this occurs."
Protecting its systems has become increasingly critical and complicated
for the Pentagon. Defense Department employees operate more than 15,000
computer networks and 7 million computers at hundreds of installations
around the world. Defense Department networks are probed millions of times
a day and penetrations have caused the loss of thousands of files.
Lynn said in one intrusion in March, 24,000 files at a defense company
were accessed, and over the past decade terabytes of data have been taken
from military and defense company computers by foreign intruders.
He said a recent estimate pegged economic losses from cybertheft of
intellectual property, loss of competitiveness and damage to defense
industries at over $1 trillion.
The cybersecurity strategy calls for the Pentagon to treat cyberspace as
an "operational domain" - like air, land and sea - where the military
must organize, train and equip to take advantage of its full capabilities.
Lynn said as part of its active defenses, the Pentagon would introduce
new operating concepts and capabilities on its networks, such as sensors,
software and signatures to detect and stop malicious code before it
affects U.S. operations.
General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
said the Pentagon must shift its thinking on cybersecurity from focusing
90 percent of its energy on building better firewalls and only 10 percent
on preventing hackers from attacking U.S. systems.
"If your approach to the business is purely defensive in nature, that's
the Maginot line approach," he said, referring to the French fixed
defensive fortifications that were circumvented by the Nazis at the outset
of World War Two.
"If it's OK to attack me and I'm not going to do anything other than
improve my defenses every time you attack me, it's very difficult to come
up with a deterrent strategy," he said.
Cartwright said most viruses are only a couple hundred lines of computer
code, but the patches to fix the holes they exploit can run into millions
of lines of code.
"Every time somebody spends a couple hundred dollars to build a virus,
we've got to spend millions. So we're on the wrong side of that. We've
got to change that around," he said.
He said part of the answer was in building up the military's offensive
response capabilities.
"How do you build something that convinces a hacker that doing this is going
to be costing them and if he's going to do it, he better be willing to pay
the price and the price is going to escalate, rather than his price stays
the same and ours escalates," Cartwright said.
"We've got to change the calculus."
Amazon Wants Voters To Decide on Tax Collection
Amazon.com Inc. wants California voters to decide whether to overturn a
new law that forces online retailers to collect sales taxes there.
A petition for a referendum was filed Friday with the state Attorney
General's Office so that voters can decide on the requirement, which was
included in a state budget signed into law in late June.
The new law forces online retailers to collect California sales taxes by
expanding the definition of having a physical presence in the state. The
requirement now kicks in if an online retailer has a related company,
such as a marketing or product-development arm, or affiliates in the
state - individuals and companies that earn commissions by referring
visitors to Amazon from their websites.
Passage of the law, which is projected to help the state collect an
additional $200 million annually, adds California to a growing list of
states that have turned to such measures in hopes of bringing in more tax
revenue. Its legislature passed a similar law in 2009, but then-Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed it.
Billions of dollars are at stake as a growing number of states look for
ways to generate more revenue without violating a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court
ruling that prohibits them from forcing businesses to collect sales taxes
unless the business has a physical presence, such as a store, in that
state. When consumers order from out-of-state retailers, they're supposed
to pay the tax that is due, but they rarely do and it's difficult to
enforce.
States are trying to get around the Supreme Court restriction by passing
laws that broaden the definition of a physical presence. Online retailers,
meanwhile, are resisting being deputized as tax collectors.
Amazon had thousands of affiliates in California, which received fees
varying from 4 percent to 15 percent of each sale they brought to the
company. Amazon, which is based in Seattle, cut ties with them after the
law's passage.
Paul Misener, Amazon's vice president of public policy, said the referendum
supports "jobs and investment in California."
"At a time when businesses are leaving California, it is important to
enact policies that attract and encourage business, not drive it away,"
he said.
Overstock.com Inc. also has cut ties to California affiliates because of
the law.
According to the Performance Marketing Association, there are 200,000
affiliates across the country, 25,000 of which are located in California.
Amazon also has dropped affiliates in Arkansas, Connecticut and Illinois
after similar sales-tax collection laws were passed there. Overstock,
which is based in Salt Lake City, also has shuttered its affiliate
programs in several states due to the laws.
Amazon does collect sales taxes in North Dakota, Kansas, Kentucky and its
home state of Washington. It collects in New York, too, as it fights the
state over a 2008 law, the first to consider local affiliates enough of an
in-state presence to require sales tax collection.
WikiLeaks' Assange in UK Court To Fight Extradition
Lawyers for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange asked a court for a second
time on Tuesday to block his extradition from Britain to Sweden for
questioning over allegations of sexual misconduct, arguing the case was
legally flawed.
The 40-year-old Australian computer expert is in the High Court in London
for a two-day hearing after losing an initial challenge to the extradition
order in February.
The defense's argument centered on the fact that he had not been formally
accused of anything yet in Sweden. The defense said it had no access yet
to the full dossier detailing the allegations against him.
His defense lawyer Ben Emmerson told two judges the European arrest warrant
(EAW) on which he was being held was flawed because it failed to provide
"a fair, accurate and proper" description of his alleged sexual misconduct
in Sweden.
Swedish prosecutors want to question Assange about three allegations of
sexual assault and one of rape made by two women, both WikiLeaks
volunteers, in Sweden last August. Assange denies the allegations.
Emmerson said he did not dispute that the two women found Assange's
"sexual behavior in these encounters disreputable, discourteous,
disturbing or even pushing toward the boundaries of what they were
comfortable with."
But he reiterated the sexual activities that occurred had taken place with
consent and, unlike in Sweden, could not be criminalized under English
law.
The whistle-blowing website began publishing a cache of more than 250,000
secret U.S. diplomatic cables which angered the U.S. government and caused
a media sensation last year shortly before Assange was arrested.
Assange has said he believes the Swedish case is politically motivated.
The U.S. government is examining whether criminal charges can be brought
against Assange over the leaks. Assange fears extradition to Sweden could
be a stepping-stone to him being taken to the United States.
Assange, wearing a dark-blue suit, sat quietly in court, swapping notes with
his defense team and aides. He was freed on bail last December and has been
staying at a country house.
Fellow Australian and left-wing investigative journalist and author, John
Pilger, sat close by. He had earlier arrived at court to be greeted by a
small group of supporters some carrying banners reading: "Free Assange."
In a case which has drawn huge international interest, two judges are being
asked by Assange's legal team to rule that his sexual encounters with both
women were consensual and the alleged offences do not merit extradition.
A judge originally dismissed arguments by Assange's defense team that he
would not get a fair trial in Sweden and that it would ultimately violate
his human rights.
Even if the High Court upholds the extradition request, Assange could take
his battle to Britain's Supreme Court, the country's highest, though this
can only be done on a point of law considered to be of general public
interest.
A Supreme Court ruling would mark the end of the process.
Assange has hired a new legal team to represent him after his previous team,
which included prominent British attorney Mark Stephens, was seen as too
confrontational.
Replacing Stephens is prominent human rights lawyer Gareth Peirce.
She has represented accused militants in high-profile cases, including
former prisoners held by the United States at Guantanamo Bay, and the
"Guildford Four," a group of Irish citizens whose conviction in an alleged
IRA bomb plot was overturned after they had spent years in prison.
In an emailed statement prior to the appeal hearing her office said "it
would be highly unusual" for the High Court to pronounce a decision over
the appeal on the same day. "It is normal for a written judgment to be
given," it said.
EU Court Says eBay Should Protect Trademarks Better
Internet auction marketplace eBay may have to take more responsibility over
what is sold via its website or it could be sued for trademark abuse,
Europe's top court ruled on Tuesday.
The European Court of Justice said online market providers can be liable if
they play an active role in the use of trademarks. They could also be held
responsible for abuse if they were aware activity on their site was
unlawful.
The court also ruled EU governments are responsible for ensuring national
courts can order market operators to act on trademark infringements by
users of a marketplace such as eBay, as well as preventing further abuse.
The case relates to allegations of trademark infringement through the sale
of branded goods on eBay, lodged by L'Oreal - the world's largest cosmetics
maker - in courts in Belgium, France, Spain and Britain four years ago.
"EBay will be concerned by this decision, which means it could be forced to
prevent intellectual property infringements by its users," said
intellectual property lawyer Dominic Batchelor of London law firm Ashurst.
"The practical and cost implications could be extensive."
Responding to the ruling, eBay said it had made a significant effort to
curb the sale of counterfeit goods on its website in recent years and
expected little financial impact on its operations or its customers.
"We have updated our measures to the new reality. We started many years
ago. They are in place and I don't see what extra costs we would have ...
on the basis of this judgment," a senior eBay official in Europe, Stefan
Krawczyk, told Reuters.
"Consumers and sellers will bear no extra cost," he said.
EBay, which has used the slogan "whatever it is, you can get it on eBay,"
operates in more than 30 countries and had revenue of more than $9 billion
in 2010.
One of L'Oreal's complaints was over the sale on eBay of samples or
testers explicitly marked "not for sale."
The cosmetics giant also criticized the level of protection offered by
eBay against the sale of counterfeit goods, and the availability of goods
to consumers in the EU that were meant for other markets.
L'Oreal was happy with the ruling. "(It) is a step toward effectively
combating the sale of counterfeiting brands and products via the internet,"
it said in a statement.
The court ruled that EU trademark rules do apply to offers for the sale of
goods located outside the bloc, if it is clear that those offers target EU
consumers.
It said EU national courts should assess if any offer did target EU
markets, but that in some cases exemptions from liability offered by EU
laws might not apply.
This would be the case particularly when an online service provider, such
as eBay, "plays an active role" in managing information related to sale
offers.
"When the operator has played an 'active role' ... it cannot rely on the
exemption from liability which EU law confers, under certain conditions,
on online service providers such as operators of Internet marketplaces,"
the court said.
The court also ruled an online market provider could be liable if it had
enough information to judge an offer was unlawful and failed to prevent
buyers from accessing it.
Under current rules followed by eBay, the website blocks ongoing auctions
if it is notified about suspicious activity. Intellectual property lawyers
said this meant companies such as eBay will now have to be more vigilant
on how their services are used.
"This ruling will assist rights holders to force online service providers
to be more active in policing," said Iain Connor, partner at Pinsent
Masons.
Yet industry experts said online market providers will not be forced to
police their selling customers indiscriminately.
"If (eBay) is already monitoring (a seller) only then is the onus on it to
investigate further," said Theo Savvides of London law firm Osborne Clarke.
U.S., Romania Arrest More Than 100 for Cyber Scams
U.S. and Romanian police have arrested more than 100 people in a year-long
effort to stop Internet fraud schemes that have cost Americans more than
$100 million, the U.S. Justice Department said on Friday.
Romanian police carried out 117 raids on Friday, the Justice Department
said. They arrested 90 people in sweeps in nine cities, the BBC reported.
The schemes worked like this: Romanians posing as U.S. citizens would
advertise on Craigslist or eBay websites that they were selling a car or
boat or other expensive item, and offer delivery if the seller wired money
to them.
Once the money was sent, people called "arrows" would retrieve it, often
using faked identities.
"They would subsequently wire the funds overseas, typically to individuals
in Romania, minus a percentage kept for their commissions," the Justice
Department said.
Police have arrested "arrows" or money mules in Florida, Kentucky,
Missouri, Pennsylvania and Texas in the past 18 months.
Most are charged with wire fraud or related charges. Several have pleaded
guilty.
This type of fraud - failure to deliver promised merchandise in Internet
sales - was the most common form of Internet fraud last year, according to
FBI data in the 2010 Internet Crime Report.
Amazon Tablet Due in October
Yesterday some hardware orders from Amazon added some more flak to those
tablet rumors, which has all but been announced at this point. Today, the
Wall Street Journal says that the manufacturer will introduce a tablet
before October. Amazon will also launch two new version of the Kindle: One
with a touchscreen, one that is "an improved and cheaper adaptation of the
current Kindle."
Better yet, the WSJs insider offers some spec details. Previously we
heard that two different devices were on the way, codenamed Hollywood and
Coyote. Coyote, the less expensive of the two, was rumored to be based on
the NVIDIA Tegra 2 platform, while Hollywood would use the new Kal-El
quad-core processor.
While its uncertain if there are truly two tablets on the way from Amazon,
the source says at least one device will have a nine-inch screen, run
Android, and will not include a camera.
A tablet from Amazon continues to be touted as the best chance to challenge
the iPad, largely based on the fact that it has its own established digital
store and ecosystem. Despite the variety of tablets introduced to the market
over the last few years from legacy brands like Samsung, Motorola, and
BlackBerry, nothing has been quite able to steal the limelight from the
iPad. Will Amazon be the first?
Mini DisplayPort to HDMI Cables Must Be Withdrawn
HDMI Org has confirmed that manufacturers of Mini DisplayPort to HDMI
cables have been told that their product is unlicensed and should not be
sold.
TechRadar brought you the news last week that it was rumoured that hundreds
of thousands of Mini DisplayPort to HDMI cables are to be recalled because
HDMI Org has deemed the cable system to be out of HDMI spec.
The DisplayPort system is used primarily by Apple in its Mac range, but
there's a number of other manufacturers who use the port - including
Toshiba.
HDMI Org has exclusively contacted TechRadar about the situation and
confirmed that any cable that has a DP male connector on one end and an
HDMI male connector is unlicensed and should not be on sale.
HDMI Org explained to TechRadar that there were a number of reasons for
this. "The HDMI specification defines an HDMI cable as having only HDMI
connectors on the ends. Anything else is not a licensed use of the
specification and therefore, not allowed."
It also noted: "All HDMI products undergo compliance testing as defined by
the Compliance Testing Specification.
"The CTS clearly defines necessary tests for all products defined in the
HDMI Specification. Since this new cable product is undefined in the
Specification, there are no tests associated with this product. It cannot
be tested against the Specification."
The news will be a massive blow to the many companies who are making these
cables, but the HDMI does point out that those cables with a DisplayPort
socket on one side and an HDMI female receptacle on the other (essentially
a dongle) are okay. This is because a licensed HDMI lead can slot into
them.
There may also be a glimmer of hope, in that HDMI Org does understand that
there is a need for this type of cable:
"We do recognise that there may be a market need for a cable solution
rather than a dongle solution. However, at this time, there is no way to
produce these cable products in a licensed manner."
This will be little consolation, though, for the companies set to lose a
lot of money from the HDMI Org's decision.
Passwords Are Made Obsolete with Mozilla's BrowserID
Mozilla released information today about a project designed to put an end
to the password. BrowserID requires a user to verify that they are the
owner of an email address a single time. Once the email account is
verified, users can simply click the sign-in button at a site using
BrowserID and log into the site with the email address. This eliminates
the step of creating a password as well as clicking a confirmation email
link from each site. At this point, the user can make comments or use
other site functions that require an account. Mozilla is hosting a
BrowserID server for developers, but sites can implement the protocol
without the need for Mozillas server.
The technology uses a public key cryptography to verify a users email
between the browser and the site. This technology is known as "Verified
Email Protocol". There are plenty of alternatives such as OpenID and
Facebook Connect, but these present privacy and data concerns according
to Mozilla. The advantage of BrowserID is the lack of information traded
between the user and the site as well as securing user data from being
leaked to other servers.
Despite the somewhat misleading name, BrowserID isnt tied to Mozillas
Firefox browser. It works with Microsofts Internet Explorer, Google
Chrome and Apples Safari. It doesnt require direct support from email
providers, but they gain greater control if they do support BrowserID.
BrowserID also uses Gravatar to pull an avatar image that can be displayed
on the site similar to Facebook Connect.
Mozilla hopes to standardize the protocol by working with other identity
providers sure as Twitter, Google and Facebook. Developers and site
owners that want to experiment with this new technology can visit
browserid.org. A demonstration of the log-in procedure can be seen at
myfavoritebeer.org as well.
Twitter Marks Fifth Anniversary of Public Launch
Twitter marked the fifth anniversary of its public launch Friday with a
slew of statistics demonstrating the explosive growth of the real-time
blogging service.
"There were 224 Tweets sent on July 15, 2006. Today, users send that many
Tweets in less than a tenth of a second," Twitter said in a message on its
@TwitterGlobalPR account.
"Yesterday, we saw more than 600,000 signups. It took us more than 16
months to reach the first 600,000 Twitter accounts," Twitter said.
Twitter Engineering said it is delivering 350 billion tweets a day.
The San Francisco-based Twitter said last month that Twitter users are
sending 200 million messages a day, most of which have to be delivered to
multiple accounts.
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey fired off the first tweets on March 21,
2006 and the service opened to the public on July 15, 2006.
Twitter now has more than 200 million users.
According to a recent study by the Pew Research Center, 13 percent of
online US adults use Twitter, up from eight percent in November 2010.
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