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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 13 Issue 34
Volume 13, Issue 34 Atari Online News, Etc. August 26, 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 #1334 08/26/11
~ Facebook and Drug Use? ~ People Are Talking! ~ Sony's S1 Tablet!
~ China: Control Content ~ IBM Largest Drive Ever ~ Bomber's Tech Gaffe!
~ Missouri Teachers Sue! ~ Using Social Networks! ~ Dying in Video Games
~ Social Suicide Painless ~ Impact of Steve Jobs! ~ Atari Alienates Fans!
-* Facebook Re-Tackles Privacy! *-
-* Steve Jobs Resigns from Apple CEO! *-
-* Risk of Online Health Records Is Revealed! *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
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Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my!! Oops, wrong movie, but the sentiment
is nearly correct! It's been one terrible season after another, it seems!
Last winter we had record-setting snow storms. This past spring and now
the summer, we've had tornadoes, earthquakes - and now Hurricane Irene is
fast-approaching the east coast!!
They're still not 100% what path this hurricane will be taking, but at the
moment, it seems that it will go farther west than originally thought.
What that means for us here in New England is that coastal areas should
not feel the brunt of this storm. For "us", it will be more like a tropical
storm than a hurricane. Personally, I'm not too excited about the
possibility of either one of those scenarios! But, I've lived in New
England for most of my life - I'm used to the extraordinary weather that
we've become accustomed - even if that weather is few and far between!
So yes, we've started to get a little bit prepared. Most of what we'll do
will occur Saturday - we'll take in lawn furniture and various outdoor items
that could end up potential missiles; I'll re-secure our pool cover so it
doesn't blow off; put away trash barrels and other items so we don't lose
them; and whatever else we happen to notice needs securing. Batten down
the hatches, as they say!
I have to admit, I'm only a little bit concerned about this pending hurricane
or tropical storm - I'm not going to worry about it too much. A little
preparation and we'll just ride it out like everyone else. If you're in
the path of the storm as well, good luck!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - Sony Remodels PlayStation Home!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Elder Scrolls Skyrim Preview!
Atari Alienates/Persecutes Retro Fanbase!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
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Sony Remodels PlayStation Home
Sony is remodeling PlayStation Home to put games at center stage in a
virtual world that merges console-quality play with styles of social gaming
that are hits at venues such as Facebook.
Sony Computer Entertainment America on Tuesday announced that it is
remodeling Home, which is used by more than 23 million people worldwide, as
part of an evolution from a social network into a social gaming platform.
"We discovered that if you put a lot of gamers in a room together and tell
them to get to know each other, they don't necessarily do that,"
PlayStation Home director Jack Buser told AFP.
"We find if you put them together and give them a game, they play and get
to know each other," he added while discussing the inspiration for the
redesign to be unveiled in coming months.
Home launched in late 2008 as an online world in which PlayStation 3
videogame console users represented by animated figures referred to as
"avatars" could socialize and play.
"PlayStation Home's new core experience is a giant leap in the evolution of
the platform and its new model quickly deploys our users to many compelling
free-to-play games that fit their interests," Buser said.
The Home redesign includes the creation of a "hub" that integrates games,
quests, community events, user-generated content, shopping and more.
PlayStation users with be able to "transport" their animated characters to
game districts with themes such as action, sports, and adventure.
"Under the hood of all this we will be deploying a quest system that will
turn Home itself into a game," Buser said.
Home is at the heart of Sony's PlayStation Network that lets owners of PS3
consoles access games, films, and other entertainment.
Home has more than 230 titles available and has been incorporating
successful social game models such as free play supported by advertising
or sales of premium content.
Elder Scrolls Skyrim Preview
For awhile now, the game publisher has been talking about the size of The
Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, and comparing it to the last Elder Scrolls adventure,
Oblivion. In actuality, the size of the virtual worlds are the same, but
with the mountain region of the new game, the way players will navigate the
world will take longer (Oblivion offered flatter terrain for more direct
routes). But Skyrim has been designed to offer a larger adventure to gamers
in a scope that goes beyond square miles.
Skyrim will offer more dense quests for players to explore through its new
Radiant Story System. This technology will serve up random encounters,
quests and towns depending on each players actions in the game and where
they are. It should ensure that players will have a very different
experience when playing the game, and offer up replay value for those who
want to journey back to Skyrim.
Those who played Oblivion may have, on numerous occasions, tired of a quest
because the game literally broke the adventure. With so many quests built
into that game, once in awhile a quest would require the player to vanquish
the very person who sent them on the adventure, thus breaking the chain of
the quest. That will never happen in Skyrim.
In Skyrim, the new dynamic system will ensure that even if a merchant
originates a quest, which later develops into an adventure from the Dark
Brotherhood to kill said merchant, other virtual characters will take over
the quest-giver role. It could be a relative or a spouse that steps in so
that players can seamlessly finish the quest, rather than being left high
and dry after a lot of time invested in that particular journey. The
ability to talk to NPCs while looking around and taking in your
surroundings further envelopes the player within this universe.
This new mechanic should encourage more gamers to engage in more quests.
And Skyrim will come packed with them. In fact, thats partly where the
size and scope of the new game comes to play. While getting from point A
to point B might take a little bit longer because of the landscape, the
developer is also enticing players to experience engaging side quests that
should take up a lot of time.
Theres also the matter of dungeons. In Oblivion, dungeons were there for
those who wanted to grab some loot, but they didnt offer engagement. Part
of the reason was that artists created the dungeons in Oblivion. But for
Skyrim, each dungeon is being designed by level designers. The end result
should be unique experiences complete with back stories that the team hopes
will encourage more players to spend yet more time underground, exploring
for more than just loot.
One thing you can find in dungeons is ore, which can be used to create
custom weapons from scratch. The open world nature of Skyrim is also likely
going to make players lose track of time. Bethesda has showed off the depth
of this world, which includes the ability to go off and become a specialist
in any number of jobs. At E3, Bethesda showed off Riverwood, where players
could become a logger and earn virtual currency chopping wood. At Gamescom,
the developer talked about how everything in the game can be used to create
weapons, potions, and other items that take on an important purpose.
Getting back to that ore, players can use a pick axe to collect enough of
the raw materials to create a dagger or sword - once they find a weapons
forge. Kill an animal, find a tannery, and you have leather, as well as fur.
There are plenty of details to play through in this massive game.
Players can specialize in 18 different skills, including one and two-handed
swords, archery, enchantment, and heavy and light armor. The sky is
literally the limit, as constellations serve as perk trees for each
individual skill. There are over 280 perks in the game. Again, plenty to
get caught up with as you explore the world.
Getting around Skyrim will be a little bit easier thanks to horses.
Bethesda spent a lot of time creating believable animals, which opens up
all-new controls that handle a lot different than the on-foot portion of
the game. Shown from a third-person perspective, horses allow players to
more quickly navigate this huge area.
Built with the Creation Engine, Skyrim is really starting to show off its
polish. Anywhere players look in the game world, no matter how far in the
distance, is open for exploration. The games weather system adds more
realism to the world, while the real-time shadows brings minute details to
life as you explore both above ground and in the dungeons below.
Skyrim remains slated for a November 11 release date (11.11.11) on Xbox
360, PlayStation 3 and PC. Bethesda will also offer a $150 collectors
edition that includes a statue, art book and 'making of' DVD.
Why We Love Dying A Video Game Death
It's not just the fatally perilous adventure, says Maria Bustillos at
Kotaku, but the potential for rebirth that keeps us enthralled
What is it about "dying" as a video-game character that leaves us feeling
so invigorated, so alive? Winston Churchill - who never played a video game
in his life - may have left us a clue when he wrote in 1898, "Nothing in
life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result." It's this ability
to cheat death that attracts many of us to "the adrenaline-pumping
sensations provided by video games," says Maria Bustillos at Kotaku. And
don't forget about video games' "ecstasy of reincarnation. They bring us
through death, and to the other side." The best new video games, says
Bustillos, actually allow us to recreate the timeless thrill of near-mythic
immortality. Here, an excerpt:
GAME OVER used to be a much costlier affair. In the 8-bit days, death
meant losing all your character's attributes, all his jewels, coins,
weapons, and experiences. It was in some ways like real-life death (or
maybe the Buddhist version of it). You were forced to start over
absolutely, from nothing...
[T]oday's games keep you alive for a lot longer, and the cost of death in
general has become relatively slight. Your progress may entitle you to
reenter the world at a way advanced level; long investment in a role-playing
game is rewarded with a richly developed character that may persist for
months or years...
Maybe that's ultimately just what gaming is for, to give us the thrill
without the cost, to satisfy the urge to risk everything, anything, to
fall, to drown and burn, to kill and be killed, to explore the dark
corners of our own minds, to expiate the sins in our deepest and most
frightening part.
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE Gaming Online - Online Users Growl & Purr!
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Atari Is Demanding Domain Names from Its Own Fan Sites
In recent years the name Atari hasnt been at the forefront of video games
development, but Atari the company seem to be trying to turn that around,
albeit with updates and re-releases of some of its classic titles such as
the recent Greatest Hits volumes on the Nintendo DS.
In attempting to reinvigorate its brand, Atari have also decided to take
action that leaves a bad taste in our mouths: targeting retro Atari
development websites and demanding they hand over their domain names.
One relatively high-profile take down has been that of Atari2600.org. It
was a fan site and hobby development hub for Andrews Davey who has owned
the domain for 11 years. It used to contain his own 2600 games, extensive
tutorials of programming the 2600 hardware, as well as promoting the 2600
as a historical piece of hardware.
Unfortunately, all that content has now disappeared due to Ataris demands
that Davey is using its trademark and has to remove his content as well as
handing over ownership of the domain. Remember, this is a non-commercial
site that was promoting Ataris hardware, but that doesnt seem to matter.
The question is, why is Atari doing this now? The most obvious answer is
Atari has a number of new releases planned from its existing catalogue of
retro games on new platforms. It has therefore instructed lawyers to clean
up the web of any Atari domain names it doesnt own in anticipation. A
similar targeting of sites offering emulators and game ROMs is also
underway, but thats more understandable from a copyright infringement
viewpoint.
Hopefully someone high up at Atari will review this action and realize the
only thing it is achieving is to take some of the brands biggest fans
offline. These are die-hard Atari geeks, and they are having years of work
taken away by a threat from a brand they have supported through the most
lean of times. Theres just something not right about that.
My suggestion would be for Atari to instead work with these sites. Set them
up as official Atari domains, keep all the content, and let the
enthusiastic owners continue to promote what they love: Atari.
Atari Continues Efforts To Alienate and Persecute Retro Fanbase
Further to earlier reports of Atari targeting parts of the retro Atari
community, Atari have now turned their attention to atari2600.org, a
website that has been registered by Andrew Davie, since 2000.
The site has been used by Davie over the years to showcase his
non-commercial programming efforts for the ancient Atari 2600 console. The
receipt of a letter from Atari's SVP & General Counsel, Kristen Keller,
came as a surprise for the Atari enthusiast, who told Atari User he is
"disappointed" at Atari's approach and is considering his position.
Atari are demanding Davie begin arrangements to handover atari2600.org to
them as the domain name contains the Atari brand ("Atari"), in its entirety,
in the domain name.
Atari have also recently gone after Starsoft Berlin, a hobbyist site
dedicated to producing various demos for the Atari 8-bit computer platform
- again a completely non commercial fan site.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Steve Jobs Resigns from Apple, Cook Becomes CEO
Silicon Valley legend Steve Jobs on Wednesday resigned as chief executive
of Apple Inc in a stunning move that ended his 14-year reign at the
technology giant he co-founded in a garage.
Apple shares were suspended from trade before the announcement. They had
gained 0.7 percent to close at $376.18.
The pancreatic cancer survivor and industry icon, who has been on medical
leave for an undisclosed condition since January 17, will be replaced by
COO and longtime heir apparent Tim Cook.
"I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet
my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you
know. Unfortunately, that day has come," he said in a brief letter
announcing his resignation.
The 55-year-old CEO had briefly emerged from his medical leave in March to
unveil the latest version of the iPad and later to attend a dinner hosted
by President Barack Obama for technology leaders in Silicon Valley.
Jobs' often-gaunt appearance has sparked questions about his health and his
ability to continue at Apple.
"I will say to investors: don't panic and remain calm, it's the right thing
to do. Steve will be chairman and Cook is CEO," said BGC Financial analyst
Colin Gillis.
The Lesser-known Impact of Steve Jobs
Yesterday, Apple co-founder and tech icon Steve Jobs stepped down from his
post as CEO of the most successful tech company in the world. His
accomplishments are many, and as the boss of Apple he oversaw the launch of
hugely successful product lines like the Mac, iPod, iPhone, and most
recently the iPad. But while these top-selling gadgets have provided huge
bullet points for Jobs impressive resume, he has made an impact in other
ways that aren't often mentioned. Let's take a look back at some of the
lesser-known accomplishments of the now-former Apple CEO.
It's a primary input method that we all take for granted, but modern
computers owe the popularization of the mouse to Apple's original Macintosh
computer. Before the Mac, most computers were controlled simply by textual
commands typed in using a keyboard, but the flagship Macintosh 128K
changed that. Using a groundbreaking graphical user interface, Mac owners
were able to move a cursor around the screen and interact with the virtual
desktop. The mouse - which up until this point had been an obscure and
expensive accessory - was the perfect piece of hardware to make this new
concept work.
Steve Jobs introduced the computer in his first Mac keynote speech, and
with the help of the 1984 Apple commercial that aired during Super Bowl
XVIII, the company's debut Mac began to build an audience. It wasn't long
before Microsoft's Windows operating system arrived on the scene and
brought the mouse along for the ride. It's hard to imagine the computer
industry without the mouse rising to prominence, and we have Apple, Jobs,
and the Macintosh computer to thank for it.
The bane of so many office workers the world over, digital spreadsheets are
a crucial part of businesses the world over. These days, spreadsheet
programs are capable of a plethora of design and layout options, with more
menus that you can shake a mouse cord at. But that wasn't always the case,
and digital spreadsheets may very well owe their entire existence to the
Steve Jobs and the Apple II.
Before the Macintosh arrived on the scene, the Apple II was the company's
most successful computer. It launched in 1977 and featured a floppy disk
drive capable of running third party programs. Dan Fylstra, the head of one
aspiring applications publisher named Personal Software, began to promote
the Apple II to potential developers after receiving a special discount on
the development hardware from Steve Jobs.
Shortly thereafter, Personal Software released VisiCalc exclusively for
Apple's machine, and the digital spreadsheet was born. The early application
was extremely bare bones, and had only a handful of features to speak of,
but what it did, it did well. Businesses began to utilize the Apple II to
keep track of important information like payroll and expenses, making paper
spreadsheets obsolete. VisiCalc was later ported to IBM computers, and is
the undisputed forefather of modern day spreadsheet applications like Excel
and Numbers.
Steve Jobs didn't make all of his biggest moves with Apple, and the former
CEO is one of the main reasons why millions of children and adults around
the world are in love with animated films. In 1986, shortly after leaving
Apple for the first time, Jobs spent a cool $10 million on a tiny division
of production company Lucasfilm that specialized in computer graphics
hardware. Jobs paid half of the money directly to founder George Lucas,
and spent the other $5 million on the company itself. Jobs incorporated
the company, became CEO, and renamed his new project Pixar - after the
pricey computer imaging hardware the company produced.
After a lackluster run of devices, Jobs sold the hardware division of the
company and focused instead on software. Shortly thereafter, Jobs struck
a deal with Walt Disney Feature Animation to produce a trio of animated
films. The first of these features was Toy Story, which - from a budget of
just $30 million - took in over $350 million. After a series of several
more blockbuster films, Jobs sold Pixar to Disney for an estimated $7.4
billion in stock, making Jobs the largest single shareholder in the
company.
These days, the thought of an Apple operating system running on an HP or
IBM PC seems absolutely absurd, but in the early and mid 90s, it wasn't
odd at all. In 1985, Steve Jobs left Apple due to an internal power
struggle with then-CEO John Sculley, and during this hiatus the company
made some interesting decisions. One of which was introducing an official
Mac OS licensing program in 1995 that allowed other computer makers to run
Apple's software, much like the long list of manufacturers that sell their
machines with Microsoft's Windows.
They were known as "Macintosh clones," and while the program was initially
designed to broaden the market appeal of Apple's products, it enabled
competing computer makers to overshadow Apple's own hardware. By selling
Apple's OS 7 software on faster computers than Apple was currently
marketing, other companies began to dilute Apple's brand. When Steve Jobs
returned to the company in 1997, the clone program was one of the first
casualties. Jobs believed that the program would never work, and could only
serve to hurt the company. Shortly thereafter, Apple released OS 8, which
left clone licensees with an outdated product, effectively killing the
program. This kept the Apple brand as one cohesive unit, and allowed it to
act as an all-in-one company capable of creating world class hardware, as
well as the software that runs on it.
Facebook Tackles Privacy Controls, Again
Privacy issues continue to plague Facebook. Most recently it was
facial-recognition technology that landed the social-networking darling in
the hot seat with privacy advocates.
Still, Facebook is once again up at the plate, looking to hit a privacy
home run with watchdogs and consumers alike while still encouraging the
ever-important sharing that drives the social network.
On Thursday, Facebook will introduce yet another set of privacy changes
that aim to make it easier to share posts, tags and other content with the
people you want. Facebook is working to help people better understand,
visually, who can see what they post.
"The main change is moving most of your controls from a settings page to
being in-line, right next to the posts, photos and tags they affect," said
Chris Cox, vice president of product at Facebook. "Your profile should feel
like your home on the web - you should never feel like stuff appears there
that you don't want, and you should never wonder who sees what's there."
To that end, Facebook user profiles are getting some new tools that hope to
give members clearer, more consistent controls over how photos and posts
get added to it, and who can see everything that lives there.
For example, photos in which users are tagged now show up on their profile
as soon as they are tagged. Users can choose to use a new tool to approve
or reject any photo or post in which they are tagged before it's visible to
anyone else on their profile.
Facebook also is allowing an option to review and approve or reject any tag
someone tries to add to photos and posts. And a new "view profile as"
button lets users see how others see their profiles.
"In addition to the profile changes, it will now be more visually
straightforward to understand and control who can see your posts at the
time you share them," Cox said. "We're also broadening the functionality of
the sharing tool: Now if you want to make your posts more expressive, we've
made it simple to add location and tag the people you're with."
Will the changes appease the masses?
Brad Shimmin, a principal analyst at Current Analysis, said Facebook could
run into the same old problems it has faced in previous privacy change
rollouts As he sees it, Facebook is going about the privacy changes the
wrong way - again.
"Facebook is making everyone opt in, in order to make a change to their
privacy settings, rather than making these new rules standard and letting
people who don't want the changes opt out," Shimmin said. "People are
asking for more privacy, but with these changes you have to go in and
specify that you want to be less exposed."
There's another danger: Too many Facebook alerts. By opting for individual
alerts every time someone tags users in content, Facebook members may get
warning weary and shut off the alerts. In the end, they lose out on the
benefit of the privacy protection.
"I can see how this approach could be problematic in the long term with so
many alerts," Shimmin said. "Remember when Vista came out? When you opened
a web page you had to say yes to like four different questions. People
became so immune that they just turned them off because they were tired of
saying yes."
China Official Tells Web Firms To Control Content
A Communist Party leader has told China's Internet companies to tighten
control over material online as Beijing cracks down on dissent and tries
to block the rise of Middle East-style protests.
The party secretary for Beijing, Liu Qi, issued the warning following a
visit this week to Sina Corp., which operates a popular microblogging site,
according to the party-published newspaper Beijing Daily.
Internet companies should "strengthen management and firmly prevent the
spread of fake and harmful information," Liu was quoted as saying after the
visit Monday to Sina. He said companies should "resist fake and negative
information."
Communist authorities encourage Internet use for education and business but
are uneasy about its potential to spread dissent, especially after social
networking and other websites played a key role in protests that brought
down governments in Egypt and Tunisia.
Beijing is in the midst of one of its most sweeping crackdowns on dissent
in years and has detained or questioned hundreds of activists, lawyers and
others.
The government tries to block access to foreign websites deemed subversive
and Chinese operators of websites where the public can post comments are
required to watch the material and remove any that violates censorship
rules.
The government's censorship rules prompted Google Inc. to close its China
search engine last year. Mainland users can see Google's Chinese-language
search site in Hong Kong but access is slower and the company's China
market share has shrunk.
The report on Liu's warning gave no details of how Internet companies were
expected to change their management.
Employees who answered the phone at Sina referred questions to a
spokeswoman who did not answer her phone.
With Liu during the visit were Sina CEO Charles Chao and Kai-fu Lee, a
former boss of Google's China unit who runs a technology investment company,
according to the Beijing Daily.
Chao told Forbes magazine in March that Sina's microblogging site, Weibo,
has at least 100 employees monitoring content 24 hours a day. The company
said in May that the number of Weibo users had passed 140 million.
Also this week, the Beijing Internet Media Association, a
government-sanctioned industry group, called on its 104 member companies to
police Internet content, possibly prompted by Liu's order.
"Propaganda guidance to the public should be led toward a correct
direction," the appeal said, according to the Beijing Daily. "Online news
should be trustworthy and should not spread rumors or vulgar contents."
Liu, the party secretary, also visited the headquarters of Youku.com Inc.,
a video portal, and talked with CEO Victor Koo, the report said.
China has the world's biggest online population, with 485 million Internet
users as of June 30, according to the government-sanctioned China National
Internet Information Center.
Meanwhile, a major Chinese Internet commerce platform, Taobao, has told
merchants that use its service to stop selling virtual private network and
other software that allows Web surfers to avoid government filters.
Taobao, part of Alibaba Group, said it acted after finding VPNs were being
used to visit foreign websites illegally. A company spokesman said Tuesday
it took the action on its own without receiving government orders.
New Data Spill Shows Risk of Online Health Records
Until recently, medical files belonging to nearly 300,000 Californians sat
unsecured on the Internet for the entire world to see.
There were insurance forms, Social Security numbers and doctors' notes.
Among the files were summaries that spelled out, in painstaking detail, a
trucker's crushed fingers, a maintenance worker's broken ribs and one
man's bout with sexual dysfunction.
At a time of mounting computer hacking threats, the incident offers an
alarming glimpse at privacy risks as the nation moves steadily into an era
in which every American's sensitive medical information will be digitized.
Electronic records can lower costs, cut bureaucracy and ultimately save
lives. The government is offering bonuses to early adopters and threatening
penalties and cuts in payments to medical providers who refuse to change.
But there are not-so-hidden costs with modernization.
"When things go wrong, they can really go wrong," says Beth Givens,
director of the nonprofit Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, which tracks data
breaches. "Even the most well-designed systems are not safe. ... This case
is a good example of how the human element is the weakest link."
Southern California Medical-Legal Consultants, which represents doctors and
hospitals seeking payment from patients receiving workers' compensation,
put the records on a website that it believed only employees could use,
owner Joel Hecht says.
The personal data was discovered by Aaron Titus, a researcher with Identity
Finder who then alerted Hecht's firm and The Associated Press. He found it
through Internet searches, a common tactic for finding private information
posted on unsecured sites.
The data were "available to anyone in the world with half a brain and
access to Google," Titus says.
Titus says Hecht's company failed to use two basic techniques that could
have protected the data - requiring a password and instructing search
engines not to index the pages. He called the breach "likely a case of
felony stupidity."
One of the patients affected was Paul Thompson, who learned of the breach
from Titus.
The Sugarloaf, Calif., electrician blew out his shoulder four years ago on
a job wiring up a multiplex movie theater. His insurance company denied
his claim, which led to a protracted dispute. He eventually settled.
Thompson says his injury has been a "long, painful road."
Unable to afford surgery in the U.S. to fix his torn rotator cuff, he paid
a medical tourism company that was supposed to schedule a cheaper procedure
in Costa Rica. The company went bankrupt, however, and Thompson said he
lost nearly $7,300.
To have his personal information exposed on top of that was a final indignity.
"I'm totally disgusted about everything," he said, calling the breach
"another kick in the stomach."
Thomson is worried that hackers may have spotted his information online
and tagged him for future financial scams. He contacted his bank and set
up a fraud alert with the credit reporting agencies.
He says the prospect of all health records going electronic - which federal
law mandates should happen by 2014 - "scares the living hell out of me."
When mistakes occur, the fallout can be more severe than the typical
breach of email addresses or credit card numbers.
In the wrong hands, health records can be used for blackmail and public
humiliation. The information can also be used by insurance companies to
inflate rates, or by employers to deny job applicants.
Usually when personal data are exposed, it's the result of a network
break-in by a hacker or a theft of computer equipment. Sometimes, it can
be a simple case of someone mishandling the information.
Leaks are more likely the more data are passed around within the health
industry's increasingly interconnected networks.
Dozens of companies can be authorized to handle a single person's medical
records. The further away from the health care provider the records get,
the flimsier the enforcement mechanisms for ensuring the data are
protected.
That's exactly what happened at Hecht's company. "Our internal security
policies and procedures weren't followed," Hecht says. "When we were
notified, we took immediate steps to remediate the situation and took
long-term steps to make sure it never happened again."
The firm has since put the information behind a password, an approach that
has its own security risks.
Hecht declined to go into further detail about how the information ended
up online. He says many of the Social Security numbers and basic details
about people's injuries were part of a database his firm compiled from
information regularly sent by the state.
Patricia Ortiz, spokeswoman for the state Division of Workers'
Compensation, says doctor's notes and other documentation in such cases are
publicly available, but they have to be requested one by one.
The state stopped including Social Security numbers in those files in 2008;
the exposed data came from older files.
Ortiz said that once workers' compensation information leaves the state's
control, its security is the recipient's responsibility.
California, like most states, has a law requiring companies to notify
consumers when their information has been breached. Hecht did not return
calls from the AP seeking an update on how many patients had been notified.
Large-scale medical data breaches have been on the rise in recent years.
In one of the biggest, government health data was at risk in 2006 when a
laptop with data on 26.5 million veterans was stolen from a government
employee's home. The computer equipment was recovered, and the FBI said
the sensitive files weren't accessed.
This year, hard drives containing health histories, financial information
and Social Security numbers of 1.9 million Health Net insurance customers
disappeared from an office. State regulators launched investigations into
Health Net's security procedures.
The California company declined to comment, saying the incident was still
under investigation.
The latest incident is "an eye-opener, and we're going to get eye-opener
after eye-opener," says Jim Dempsey, a security and public policy expert
at the Center for Democracy & Technology.
As instances of data mishandling become more commonplace, government
officials may seek greater control over security policies of companies with
access to health care records that aren't currently regulated.
"It should be yet another warning bell for companies: You've got your
reputation on the line, and you're also facing enforcement action if you
don't pay attention to the security of the data you collect and process,"
Dempsey says.
The Collar Bomber's Explosive Tech Gaffe
The man who claimed to have attached a bomb collar to an Australian high
school student two weeks ago thought it would be a good idea to leave a
ransom note on a USB stick looped around her neck. What he probably
didn't realize is that he also left his name, hidden deep in the
device's memory.
Court documents unsealed Tuesday describe the harrowing Aug. 3 incident,
which began when a man broke into Madeline Pulver's bedroom wearing a
striped balaclava and wielding a black aluminum baseball bat. He told her
to sit down and chained a black box around her neck.
He also draped a purple lanyard over the terrified girl with a note saying
that the black box was a bomb. The note included ransom instructions for
Pulver's family, telling them to e-mail a Google address -
dirkstraun1840@gmail.com - for further instructions. Also on the lanyard
was a 4GB USB stick that contained a digital version of the note, saved as
a pdf file.
The next 10 hours were a gruelling ordeal for the girl before a Sydney
police bomb squad was able to determined that the threat was a hoax. But
a closer look at the USB drive turned up a couple of files that the
criminal thought he'd deleted. One of them, a version of the ransom note
written in Microsoft Word, contained metadata about the document's
author, including his name: "Paul P."
On Monday, U.S. authorities arrested Paul "Doug" Peters, 50, in La
Grange, Kentucky, seeking to extradite him to Australia to face
kidnapping and breaking-and-entering charges. It's not clear why Peters
attempted such a bizarre crime, but U.S. prosecutors say he once worked
for a company linked to Pulver's family. The girl's father, Bill Pulver,
is the CEO of voice recognition software company Appen Butler Hill.
Police collected footage from surveillance cameras in a library where a
computer was used to access the Gmail account. The footage, along with
the USB drive and circumstantial evidence, such as purchases made around
the time of the incident, link Peters to the crime, prosecutors say.
Even if the collar bomber had known his name was on the USB drive, it
would have been very hard to remove it, according to Frank McClain, an
independent computer forensics expert.
As computer geeks and investigators know, when users delete a file from
a computer the file isn't deleted immediately from the hard drive.
Instead, the computer takes note that the area of the disk where the
file is stored is now available to be written over. So investigators can
often recover at least snippets of data from files that are supposed to
have been deleted.
With flash drives things are more complex, thanks to mechanisms built
into the drives to prolong their lifespan. Because flash memory cells
stop working after they've been overwritten too many times, flash
devices use tricks called "wear leveling" to even out how the memory
cells are used. A side effect of wear levelling is that it is "almost
impossible" to completely erase data from a flash device, McClain said.
That can come in handy for people trying to recover photos or other
files they've accidentally deleted, and there are many tools
<http://www.diskinternals.com/uneraser/>, some of them free
<http://www.piriform.com/recuva>, to help recover their data.
The collar bomber's first mistake was thinking he could delete something
completely from his USB stick. But he also erred by not altering the
metadata in his Word document. When Word saves a document, it
automatically saves data, such as the user's login name, as part of the
file. Office 2007 users can see this metadata by hitting the Office
button, then "Prepare" and "Properties."
Survey Says Facebook Leads to Teen Drug Use
Video games often get blamed for violent behavior in children. But Facebook
is taking its share of the blame for kid troubles. The latest survey
connecting Facebook use with a negative results comes from the National
Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University.
According to the National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse
XVI: Teens and Parents, American teens ages 12 to 17 who spend any time on
social-networking sites in a typical day are at increased risk of smoking,
drinking and drug use.
"The relationship of social-networking site images of kids drunk, passed
out, or using drugs, and suggestive teen programming to increased risk of
substance abuse offers grotesque confirmation of the adage that a picture
is worth a thousand words," said Joseph A. Califano Jr., CASA's founder and
and former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare.
According to the survey, compared to teens who spend no time on
social-networking sites in a typical day, those who do are five times
likelier to use tobacco, three times likelier to use alcohol, and twice as
likely to use marijuana.
The survey also reveals that 40 percent of all teens surveyed have seen
pictures on Facebook, MySpace or other social-networking sites of kids
getting drunk, passed out, or using drugs. Half of teens who have seen
pictures of kids drunk, passed out, or using drugs on Facebook and other
social-networking sites first saw such pictures when they were 13 years old
or younger. And more than 90 percent first saw such pictures when they were
15 or younger.
Compared to teens that have never seen pictures of kids getting drunk,
passed out, or using drugs on social-networking sites, teens that have seen
these images are three times likelier to use alcohol, four times likelier
to use marijuana, four times likelier to be able to get marijuana, almost
three times likelier to be able to get controlled prescription drugs
without a prescription, more than twice as likely to be able to get alcohol
in a day or less, and much likelier to have friends and classmates who abuse
illegal and prescription drugs.
"The time has come for those who operate and profit from social-networking
sites like Facebook to deploy their technological expertise to curb such
images and to deny use of their sites to children and teens who post
pictures of themselves and their friends drunk, passed out, or using drugs,"
Califano said. "Continuing to provide the electronic vehicle for
transmitting such images constitutes electronic child abuse."
Eighty-seven percent of parents said they think spending time on
social-networking sites doesn't make it more likely their child will drink
alcohol, and 89 percent felt it would not make their child more likely to
use drugs. They may be right.
"The fact that teens who are using drugs are also using Facebook is not a
causation of the drug use, it's merely a correlation of the drug use.
That's a radical difference," said Brad Shimmin, a senior analyst at Current
Analysis. "These Facebook users may have other aspects of their lives that
contribute to this statistic. I seriously can't see this as statistically
saying that Facebook is causally associated with drug use."
Missouri Teachers' Union Sues Over Facebook "Friends" Law
Missouri teachers sued to repeal a law that bans them from "friending"
students in a case that may have national implications.
The Missouri State Teachers Association Friday said educators believe
proposed law is unconstitutional and too vague, and are seeking an
injunction against the law, which is set to take effect on August 28. Many
teachers complain the law will hurt their ability to keep in touch with
students for classroom purposes, personal problems or even emergencies.
"Teachers cannot know with confidence what conduct is permitted and what is
prohibited, and thereby 'chills' the exercise of first amendment rights of
speech, association, religion, collective bargaining and other
constitutional rights," the association said in its lawsuit, filed against
the state, governor and attorney general.
The law, approved earlier this month, prohibits teachers from adding
students as Facebook "friends" or otherwise privately communicating with
them on any social media site.
The social networking restrictions are part of a broader law created after
an investigation found 87 Missouri teachers between 2001 and 2005 lost
their licenses because of sexual misconduct. Some were fired because they
were exchanging explicit online messages with students.
Under the new law, teacher-student contact is allowed on sites visible to
parents, administrators or the public, such as open Facebook fan pages.
Teachers and students can also e-mail and text, just as long as they copy
another person on the message, said Missouri State Sen. Jane Cunningham,
one of the bill's co-sponsors.
But teachers in the state said most of their private communications with
students are education-related and helpful for students. Also, it noted
teachers regularly use non-work-related sites as an "important avenue" to
contact students during emergencies and to help students with problems
including bullying.
Missouri's law may reflect growing nationwide concern about young people
using Facebook and social media sites. While Facebook's official policy
states only people older than 13 years of age can use the site, more than
half of all children between the ages of 9 to 12 have used the social
networking site, and the numbers are climbing every year. This has led to
experts being concerned that pedophiles, bullies and other people who want
to harm children could target them through social media sites.
Meanwhile, teachers in Missouri say they are also concerned about youths'
online safety, but argue laws prohibiting them from communicating with
students take away a vital education tool and paint them all as potential
molesters.
As use of social media sites continues to grow with young people and adults
alike, more school districts may enact policies to outline acceptable
Internet use that will keep children safe and protect teachers from
accusations of wrongdoing. Until that happens, teachers are well advised to
take care to use social media sites when communicating with their students,
and parents may need to take more care monitoring their children's online
activities.
Details of Sony's S1 PlayStation Tablet Revealed
Technology blog Engadget has uncovered additional details about one of
Sonys forthcoming tablets, previously announced as the S1 tablet.
"The official name of the S1 is the Sony PlayStation Tablet S," revealed
Engadget, adding that Sony is "currently projected to bring its 9.4-inch
(1280x768) screen to market in the first two weeks of September."
In April Sony announced that its S1 tablet would run version 3.0 of
Googles Android operating system but Engadget believes the touchscreen
device will ship with the newer Android 3.1. Honeycomb OS "with an eye
towards upgrading to Ice Cream Sandwich once that's available."
The S1 is designed for media consumption with a 9.4-inch display, two
cameras and a curved-top, "off-center design" that is conducive to extended
viewing sessions.
Sony has previously said that the tablets will be able to "smoothly access
digital content including videos, games and books through Sony's premium
network services and more, on-the-go at any time."
Engadget provided further details about the S1s connectivity adding that
it will provide seamless access and control of all devices in the home
thanks to integrated WiFi, DLNA-compatibility and an IR blaster.
Both tablets will have access to Sonys existing Qriocity music and video
streaming service and readers will be able to download digital titles from
Sonys Reader Store.
Engadget did not provide any details about Sonys second book-like
dual-screen S2 tablet.
"What we don't know yet is [the Sony PlayStation Tablet Ss] final price -
we'd heard $599 previously - but there should be more to say about that
and the clamshell S2 tablet soon," wrote Engadget.
It will be interesting to see how Sony fares in the tablet war, considering
its tablets are not expected to be launched until mid-September 2011.
HP has already announced its intention to leave the tablet game after its
first WebOS-based TouchPad tablet failed to gain traction in the lucrative
tablet market against Apples second edition iPad and the onslaught of
Android-based rivals from LG, HTC, Motorola, Samsung, and Archos.
Interestingly, consumers have been clambering to get their hands on one of
the discontinued HP TouchPads since the prices dropped from $499.99 to
$99.99 in a so-called "fire sale."
IBM Building Largest Drive Ever
It wasn't that long ago that desktop and notebook computers came with just
enough hard drive space to get you by. These days, however, most new
systems come with ample storage space for the majority of the population,
but power users still might find their drives filling up quite quickly with
music, movies, and games. But fear not, media lovers, IBM can build you a
data drive with 120 petabytes of storage to hold every music, movie, and
picture you've ever seen - and all you need is a deep bank account and a
team of computer scientists to build it.
The ambitious project is currently underway at IBM, where researchers are
working with 200,000 individual hard drives to create the single largest
digital storage space known to man. When complete, the drive will have 120
million gigabytes of capacity, which is enough room to store roughly 24
million feature length HD movies. The epic drive also allows old or broken
components to be swapped out without losing any data or requiring costly
downtime.
IBM is crafting the custom storage center for an unnamed client that needs
to perform massive simulations. The company hasn't revealed the cost of the
project, but with IBM engineers taking on the task, you can bet it's not
being built for a home office.
Half of US Adults Using Social Networks
Half of US adults are using social networks such as Facebook, Myspace or
LinkedIn, according to a survey published Friday.
The survey by the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project
found that 65 percent of adult Internet users in the United States use
social networks.
That translates into 50 percent of the entire US adult population, Pew
said.
Just eight percent of Internet users used social networks in 2005,
according to the Washington-based Pew.
"Social networking sites continue to cement their place as a significant
part of mainstream online life," said Kathryn Zickuhr, a co-author of the
report.
The survey found that social networks are more popular among women with
69 percent of online women visiting social networks compared to 60 percent
of men.
Pew said social network use is most prevalent among the young but 33 percent
of adult Internet users aged 65 and older now use the sites, up from
26 percent a year ago.
"The graying of social networking sites continues, but the oldest users are
still far less likely to be making regular use of these tools," said Mary
Madden, a co-author of the report.
Pew said 83 percent of US Internet users between the ages of 18 and 29 use
social networks, 70 percent of 30 to 49 year olds, 51 percent of 50 to 64
year olds and 33 percent of those aged 65 and older.
Forty-three percent of online adults visit a social network on a typical
day, Pew said, making only email and using a search engine more frequent
daily online activities.
Sixty-one percent of adult Internet users use email on a typical day and
59 percent use a search engine.
The survey of 2,277 US adults was conducted between April 26 and May 22
and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.
Social Suicide is Painless
Have you had it with social networking? Are you tired, nay, exhausted, by
the endless streams of updates from people you hardly know on subjects you
couldn't care less about?
Have you had it up to here with Ashton Kutcher and lost all interest in
what the White House has to say in 140 characters or less?
Have you discovered that telling people where you are is a pointless task
because, in reality, all those people really only care about where they
are?
If that sounds like you, how about committing social suicide? Yep, there's
a Web app for that: The Web 2.0 Suicide Machine!
With just a few clicks the Suicide Machine will "Kevork" your accounts on
any or all of Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and LinkedIn!
The chaps who run the Suicide Machine claim that doing this yourself would
take something like nine and a half hours whereas they can do the same
thing in a mere 52 minutes! And they'll do it for free!
An interesting aspect of the Suicide Machine is that the service also
changes the passwords of your accounts to something you won't know so that
you can't attempt to use those accounts again! They save you from social
yourself!
Come on, you know you've had enough! How long can you stand it?! Commit
social suicide today!
=~=~=~=
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