Friday, October 22, 2010

Apple's New Even Slimmer MacBook Air Sports Latest Features

When you look at what Apple is putting in it's new MacBook Air it's sounds like a dream come true for Mac fans. From sporting a new even slimmer design partly made possible by using solid state flash storage rather than hard drives to the new operating system Apple is raising the bar. So as this article in newsfactor shows it should be a major hit in the market place.

Amplify’d from www.newsfactor.com
Apple Unveils iLife 11 and Slimmest MacBook Air


Jobs also said that the Mac, not to be outdone by its younger iPod and iPhone siblings, will soon have its own application store.

Apple will include its new iLife 11 with new Macs, including the new MacBook Air that CEO Steve Jobs introduced. Jobs also announced FaceTime for the Mac and said Mac OS X Lion will ship next year. Apple's iLife 11 includes new iPhoto features, easier iMovie editing, and new features in GarageBand. A Mac app store is also planned to open soon.


The new Air uses solid-state flash storage instead of a hard drive, which the company said lightens an already lightweight laptop Relevant Products/Services since solid state is as much as 90 percent smaller and lighter than a hard drive. At its thinnest point, the Air is 0.11 inches, and only 0.68 inches at its thickest.


The company also announced a public beta of FaceTime for Mac, which allows Mac users to video-call iPhone 4 and iPod touch users, or other Mac users. It automatically uses the Address Book contacts on the machine, so special buddy lists aren't needed, and it works with Macs' built-in cameras and mikes.


Apple provided a peek at the Lion. Mac OS X Lion is expected to ship in the summer of 2011, and the preview included LaunchPad for Mac apps, systemwide support for full-screen apps, Mission Control, and a look at the Mac Apps Store.


Jobs said Lion "brings many of the best ideas from iPad back to the Mac" and adds some new ones, such as Mission Control. Launchpad shows all available apps on the Mac, organized as desired. With Mission Control, a user can navigate through apps that are running.


As with an iPad, the Mac app store will allow users to find and download apps via an iTunes account. It will become available within 90 days for Macs running the Snow Leopard OS.
 



The newest Air is available in 11.6- and 13.3-inch display models, features instant-on bootup, and has a battery life of up to seven hours.

Read more at www.newsfactor.com
 

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Have Sports Fans Finally Woke Up and Decided Enough is Enough

After last years KU ticket scandal broke and the economy crash finally hit home KU finds it's self for the first time in a long time (147 consecutive sellouts) not selling out Allen Fieldhouse. A large part of that is the Lew Perkins mess that has many fans dropping season tickets to show their disgust. And the economy certainly has kept many things from selling as well this year not just basketball tickets. But maybe part of it is also that fans are beginning to decide that sporting tickets (especially college) are just getting too expensive when you count in all the cost. I know years ago I decided that going to WSU games as a season ticket holder was just getting too expensive so I stopped. I buy tickets to some if not all of the games but not season tickets. And that's because of the mandatory "contributions" required to the Shocker Athletic group. I don't think that when a donation is required it's a donation any more it's just an additional hidden cost for tickets. This all consuming grab for the money is what's fueled the whole college sports environment of today and it's hurting college sports. It's time that ticket prices were the price on the ticket and donations were raised without tying them to tickets. That's the only way to fairly let those of limited means still get tickets and to make the game about more than money.

Amplify’d from www.kansas.com

Kansas basketball tickets no longer impossible

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Two weeks before the start of Kansas basketball season, Allen Fieldhouse is not sold out. Which is to say that despite the same banners hanging from the rafters and the same chants
booming from wall to wall, it might not be the same Allen Fieldhouse this season.

The Jayhawks have played in front of 147 consecutive packed houses, dating to the beginning of the 2001-02 season. To be inside the old barn for a game meant that you had either gotten lucky, knew
someone important or cared enough about KU to spend a significant sum of money to watch 40 minutes of basketball. The place felt exclusive, which drove some KU folks crazy and led others in power to
take advantage of having access to the hottest ticket in town.

But for now, Allen Fieldhouse is not sold out. Jim Marchiony, KU's associate athletic director for external relations, said 400 to 500 reserved season tickets are still available to the public.

The reasons make sense: The economy is in the tank, forcing some ticket holders not to renew. Others chose not to pony up because of angst directed toward the Williams Educational Fund and former
Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins in the aftermath of the KU ticket scandal. And, of course, all of those tickets that slipped out the door illegally are now available to KU donors.

Add it all up, and it's a perfect storm that is threatening one of the constants of our region: sellout crowds at "The Phog."

True-blue Jayhawks take pride in that streak, so it was tough for a KU fan like Larry Tenopir to say no to his alma mater this year. He's had season tickets for 41 of the last 42 years, and as a Topeka
attorney, he has the money. Only, he's decided to drop his donation to the Williams Fund from $3,000 to $100 and spend the difference on a TV instead.

Because of donors refusing to renew for whatever reason and the newly available tickets that were being sold illegally in past years, many donors who decided to renew are being rewarded with improved
seats. The positive is that they are now getting what they deserve. The negative is that they were getting short-changed in the past.

"For me, it was Lew Perkins, completely," Tenopir said. "I had a lot of objections to him for years before the ticket scandal. The ticket scandal was the last straw. The only language they seem to
understand is money. I didn't want to pay part of his salary anymore."

KU season-ticket holder Bill Roy, a KU alum who began getting season tickets only last year, already moved a couple of sections closer to the action.

"I moved from section 10A to the inside of 9," Roy said.

Ever since Perkins in 2004 implemented a priority points system, which rewards donors who give the most money with the best seats, longtime KU fans have complained that they had been priced out of
Allen.

Now, non-Williams Fund members can buy season tickets and become members free of charge (it normally takes at least a $100 donation).

A full-season package is listed at $1,155 with a half-season costing $600. No, tickets are not exactly cheap, but at least they're available.

Read more at www.kansas.com
 

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Who else besides me finds it lame for Mark to say FaceBook didn't know about all the information gathered and sold by all the different apps on FaceBook. So now I'm suppose to believe that this boy genius and his crew are stupid. The fact that FaceBook apps captured and shared user information has been talked about for a very long time. It's only been how much and how it is used in question.So fess up Mark you've been caught in a fubar moment with both hands in the cookie jar. Either that or your whole team of programmers should be out looking for work tomorrow. Lets just cut thorough all the smoke and mirrors and admit that you run FaceBook as your own personal kingdom with little regard for the simple peasants that make it all possible. That's something your going to one day regret and maybe sooner than you might think. I just hope that your actions and total disregard for people and both their privacy and their security doesn't destroy the public's faith and trust in social http://amplify.com/u/da8q

FaceBook Plans Chages to Custom Pages and FBML

In looking back over notes of things I had down that I needed to do I ran across one I had forgotten about. It seems that for those of us who have custom Fan or Landing pages on FaceBook we've got some changes looming on the horizon.

The problem is summed up in FaceBooks press release of 8/19/2010:

"By the end of this year, we will no longer allow new FBML applications to be created, so all new canvas applications and Page tabs will have to be based on IFrames and our JavaScript SDK. "

The announcement goes on to say:

"We will, however, continue to support existing implementations of the older authentication mechanism as well as FBML on Page tabs and applications. "

So I guess soon I'll be trying to figure out how these changes will affect what I'm going to do to transition from FBML to IFrames and JavaScript SDK. That sure doesn't sound like a platform that will be as easy to work with so it may mean changing from a do-it-myself project to getting some help.

And as is typical on the FB platform, there seems to be more confusion than clarity among fanpage administrators as to the near-term future. With FaceBook one thing can be certain it won't happen right at the end of the year. FaceBook is as notorious as MS when it comes to being late in meeting projected dates for releases and changes.

Anyway I guess what I'm wondering is what any of you Ampers out there are planning on doing. If I read it right we could just leave what we have in place but would that really be a good idea? I'm sure there will be lots more features and things we can do under IFrames and Java than we can using FBML.

So any thoughts on the matter? Are custom pages even worth the trouble?
@swolfgang found you through #bumped into and liked your posts always nice to keep up with venture capital issues http://amplify.com/u/d9px
@CarlWeaver Hi Carl saw your page and comments using #bumped into liked your post so I've added you as a follow. Hope you get that Chocolate tasting job. http://amplify.com/u/d9pl

What's the Reason for all the Google Chrome Defections to FaceBook

Google has announced another major developer is leaving to join FaceBook. This makes the second major developer to leave Google's Chrome OS project and move to FaceBook. So what's going on? Sadly we don't know but it's an interesting development that not only are many leaving Google for FaceBook but they are coming largely from the Chrome OS team. And that's with Chrome OS's release rumored to be close at hand. You would think that the people on the project would be focused on those last few tweaks and changes. Anyway I'm sure we'll find out what Mark and the boys over at FaceBook are raiding Google for soon enough.

Amplify’d from techcrunch.com

I’d venture to say that I’m as excited about Chrome OS as anybody. 99.99 percent of my working day is currently spent in Chrome currently, and I’d be just fine with it being 100 percent if it gains a few features that Chrome OS is promising. But there’s a mildly worrisome trend occurring leading up to the launch of Google’s first operating system: defections. Also interesting: what does Facebook want with these guys?

Specifically, another Chrome OS engineer has decided to leave his job at Google to go work for Facebook. This time it’s not nearly as huge of a blow as Director of Engineering Matthew Papakipos, the man who created and led the Chrome OS team for Google, leaving for Facebook. But it’s still someone else leaving the team to join Facebook, the enemy.

David Garcia, a software engineer who has been at Google for nearly four years has left the company to accept a job at Facebook, we’ve confirmed. You don’t need to look any further than this page to see how involved with Chrome OS development Garcia has been over the past several months.

But I’m even more curious about what Facebook is doing with these people. If you add former Android Senior Product manager (who joined Facebook in May) into this mix, you’re starting to get quite the little collection of people with various OS experience from Google. Oh, and there is what ever project Joe Hewitt is currently working on.

Maybe these people are thinking about phones, maybe not. Maybe they’re thinking about Android, maybe not. Maybe they’re thinking about a browser, maybe not. Maybe something else. But the talent continues to pour into Facebook — and much of it from Google. Despite counter-measures.

Read more at techcrunch.com
 

New Article Discusses PayBox and How it Works

Going around the internet right now is a new company that's generating a lot of buzz and it's still in Beta. It's called PayBox and you many have hear of it. In this article you will see however that it's not a true payment site and those payments your getting are in PayBox bucks. The chances of them being worth anything are pretty slim and if I was a betting person I would bet that they never get out of beta. When people are building up large balances for basically doing nothing it's not easy to see how those "PayBox Bucks" could ever be worth much. So be careful if you join and treat it like the game it most likely is. And no matter what don't spend your real bucks for the play money that "PayBox Bucks" are!

Amplify’d from www.assetinvesting.com

Why PayBox Is A Scam

OK, well it’s probably NOT a scam, but there are a couple of features about this free program that you should know about before you start doing business with them. I’ve seen a lot of people promoting PayBox.me heavily everywhere online since Pay Box.me started its pre-launch on September 1st. Naturally, marketers want to get in as early as possible, but most of them won’t tell you exactly what you’re getting into with PayBox.me.

So What Is Pay Box?

PayBox is a website which offers you $50 to sign up, up to $20 per day and $5 for each referral. On the surface it seems like they a trying to develop a company similar to a “Paypal”. Offering services such as person-to-person transactions, currency exchanges, online stores and small and mid-size business integration and payment processing. The $20 a day that Pay Box is offering is like many GPT or “Get Paid To” sites that asks you to log into PayBox and complete tasks such as subscribing to their newsletter or completing surveys.

What’s The Problem With Paybox?

While there are no specific problems that should prevent you from signing up with them, there are somethings you should understand. When I gave you PayBox.me’s payment structure in the previous paragraph I bet you thought I gave you the amounts in U.S. dollars. I did not. PayBox plans to pay its members in what they call Pay Box currency. This PayBox currency, according to PayBox.me is “autonomous and independent of all nations and governments.”

Yes, we have all had programs which offer credits or vouchers or units just about everything under the sun. PayBox.me’s plan involves making their currency exchangeable with other currencies. I have been trading the forex markets for five years now and trust me, that is not as easy as it sounds. They are of course conflicts of interest with getting paid by the company controlling the value of the currency you are receiving. In addition, the PayBox.me currency may never become openly exchangeable.

OK, I Heard Of Systems Like PayBox Before, So?

However, This Is Not Unprecedented

This probably sounds like Paybox.me is embarking on a futile endeavor, however the strategy of creating a currency like PayBox.me is attempting to do has worked in the past. The most famous example is probably Disney, which created “Disney Dollars” way back in 1987. Yes, those little bills with cartoon characters, that you use to go on rides and buy cotton candy are an actual currency with an exchange rate against the U.S. dollar. Another, less famous, but more pertinent example would be ‘Linden Dollars’, the currency used in ‘Second Life’.

While getting in on the beginning of a new currency could mean massive profits for you, their is some work that you have to do. According to the Pay Box website you need to log in “frequently” or your PayBox account will be terminated for inactivity. You also need to participate in the online surveys and jobs they have for you once you log in to PayBox. Of course PayBox.me is still in pre-launch so I don’t know how much work they are going to require in order to keep an account active.

With These Potentially Negative Terms, Why Did I Join?

Well, even with all these complicated conditions and no guarantee of making money I still joined Pay Box for several reasons. First, the price was right. PayBox.me is completely free to join. Next, the information that Pay Box asks for isn’t enough to cause any damage to my privacy and PayBox hasn’t spammed me. In my opinion if you’re willing to do a little work, then PayBox is worth joining and it is possible the early subscribers will make a whole lot of money.

Please tell me your opinion of PayBox, these types of programs, this article or whatever is on your mind below in the comments section. I am constantly looking to expand on this article so any experiences you have with Pay Box as they start to expand, please post them here for myself and other marketers to read. Also, if you are already a Pay Box member fell free to leave your referral link as this page is getting some good traffic.

SCAM WARNING
There is new information about PayBox.me coming out daily see the updates in our PayBox.me ForumRead more at www.assetinvesting.com
 

Can Microsoft Stem the Rising Exodus of Executives

At a time Microsoft needs someone to keep the company focused on technology more than ever we are seeing executives leaving and being replaced by management types like Ballmer rather than tech types like former Chairman Bill Gates. At this rate Microsoft may just lose more key people than Yahoo this year.

So are we seeing Microsoft turn from tech innovator to just another software company? It would seem so!

Amplify’d from www.newsfactor.com
Ray Ozzie Will Join Executive Exodus from Microsoft
Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie will leave the software giant, joining an exodus of executive talent. Ozzie led Microsoft's move to the cloud and will focus on the troubled entertainment unit before he leaves. Many of Microsoft's personnel losses may be related to technologists being replaced by executives loyal to CEO Steve Ballmer.


"We have seen many Microsoft technologists leave recently. Robbie Bach and J. Allard's departures earlier this year, reportedly over clashes on technology direction, are now followed by Ray Ozzie's departure, again reportedly over clashes on technology direction," said Dora Vell, principal of Vell Executive Search.


"They are, however, significantly different, as Windows 7 did extremely well under Ray Ozzie, but the entertainment and mobile divisions led by the Bach-Allard team were suffering," she said. "On the other hand, there are rumors that Bach-Allard perhaps were not given as much full rein as they needed to win against Apple."


In the internal e-mail, Ballmer said Ozzie's work has stimulated thinking across the company and helped catalyze Microsoft's drive to the cloud over the past five years.


The fruit of Ozzie's leadership includes Windows Live, which now serves as a web-based services complement to both Windows and Office. SharePoint and Exchange are now also in the cloud. And then there's Windows Azure, which offers a foundation for more cloud-based innovations.


"With our progress in services and the cloud now full speed ahead in all aspects of our business, Ray and I are announcing today Ray's intention to step down from his role as chief software architect," Ballmer wrote. "He will remain with the company as he transitions the teams and ongoing strategic projects within his organization -- bringing the great innovations and great innovators he's assembled into the groups driving our business."


"We have tremendous opportunities in the entertainment space overall, and I'm excited about what we can accomplish. Beyond that, Ray has no plans at this time," Ballmer said. "While he'll continue to report to me during the transition, the CSA role was unique and I won't refill the role after Ray's departure. We have a strong planning process, strong technical leaders in each business group, and strong innovation heading to the market."


As Vell sees it, many of Microsoft's personnel losses stem from the departure of Gates himself. Deep thinkers in the space are now being replaced by operating executives who appear loyal to Ballmer. With Gates' departure, she added, many Microsoft employees seem to have lost their mojo.


"Microsoft execs are an extremely smart bunch. Without a supreme technical brain and reverence within Microsoft like Gates, no one can really rein them in and get to consensus technically," Vell said. "Ballmer is a very strong manager and perhaps needs an equal like Bill Gates to change his perspective and persuade him of an approach. Some execs in the space that know him have called him a bully, but then again this is perhaps required to rein in all these extremely bright executives on the business side."
 


Read more at www.newsfactor.com
 

Monday, October 18, 2010

Obama to Test ‘Death Ray’ on Science Show 'Mythbusters'President Barack Obama will appear next month on "Mythbusters," a television series that uses science to investigate popular myths.Obama's Dec. 8 appearance on the Discovery Channel show is part of a White House effort to highlight the importance of science education. It is one of several non-traditional media appearances by the president, who appeared at an MTV town hall last week and was interviewed on the daytime television talk show "The View" in July. http://amplify.com/u/d4on

Sunday, October 17, 2010

FaceBook Fails Again to Provide Security for Users

As this article shows FaceBook has again raised the ire of not only users but entire countries by failing to adequately protect users private information. And this time it isn't just a matter of privacy settings but of a major breach in security relating to data storage for users.

It's about time that FaceBook quit trying to feed us their same old story of "We take security seriously." and actually take security as more than an inconvenience to be dealt with only when someone complains or points out a failure.

Currently FaceBook follows the tactic of make everything totally open by default and only changing it just enough to get people to shut up and accept it.

Amplify’d from news.yahoo.com

German ministers slam Facebook for privacy glitch

BERLIN (AFP) – German ministers criticised social networking site Facebook on Sunday for failing to respect privacy, following a report of a serious flaw that allowed non-subscribers access to private data.


German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine reported that a glitch potentially allowed anyone access to the contact lists of subscribers.


New subscribers to Facebook are required to enter their email address. However, by entering the email address of an existing user, it was possible to view their full list of contacts, until they had responded to a security request.


The glitch shows "Facebook's lack of respect for the privacy of Internet users", she told the newspaper.


Facebook has become the world's most popular social network with around 500 million users, but it has been dogged by complaints about poor privacy protection.


Randi Zuckerberg, the sister of co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, told reporters at a forum in Dubai on Sunday that privacy was the company's top concern and it would continue to give people more controls.


Internet privacy is a particularly contentious issue in Germany, where the recent launch of Google's Street View service was delayed to allow residents the opportunity to block out their homes from public view.

Read more at news.yahoo.com
 

Virgin's Spacecraft has Successful Flight of VSS Enterprise

Well Virgin Galactic has had a first piloted test flight and claimed success for it's objectives. I may live to see tourist flights to space yet.

Amplify’d from www.eweek.com

Virgin Galactic Spacecraft Glides to Safety

Virgin Galactic, the U.S.
company developing the world's first commercial manned space flight system and
tourism business, announced the successful completion today of the first
piloted free flight of SpaceShipTwo, named the VSS Enterprise. The spaceship was
released from its mothership at an altitude of 45,000 feet, according to
company information, and glided to land at Mojave Air and Spaceport in California
on Sunday.

During its first flight, Pete Siebold, assisted by Mike Alsbury as co-pilot,
piloted the spaceship. According to Virgin, the two main goals of the flight
were to carry out a clean release of the spaceship from its mothership and for
the pilots to free fly and glide back and land at Mojave.

Other objectives of the flight were also completed, including verification
that all systems worked prior to and following the clean release of the Enterprise,
initial evaluation of handling and stall characteristics, qualitative
evaluation of stability and control of SS2 against predictions from design and
simulation work, verification of performance by evaluating the lift-to-drag
ratio of the spaceship during glide flight, and practice of a landing approach
at altitude and finally descend and land.

Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, was present during the first
successful flight. "This was one of the most exciting days in the whole
history of Virgin. For the first time since we seriously began the project in
2004, I watched the world's first manned commercial spaceship landing on the
runway at Mojave Air and Space Port,
and it was a great moment," he said. "Now, the sky is no longer the
limit, and we will begin the process of pushing beyond to the final frontier of
space itself over the next year."

Virgin Galactic said it is now well on the way to becoming the world's first
commercial space line, with 370 customer deposits totaling $50 million. Future
commercial operations will be at Spaceport America
in New Mexico, where final
preparations are taking place for a finished runway inauguration ceremony on
Oct 22. 2010, according to a company release.

Read more at www.eweek.com
 

Am I the only one who hates eWeeks continued move to slide shows from articles? I see a listing about eWeeks review of Sony's new TV that supports Google TV and go to check it out only to find it's a dumb slide show. (http://ht.ly/2UQNK) I hate those things for so many reasons. They are slow to watch, they are thrown together, and of course you can't clip them for use on sites like Amplify. So do any of you also hate these slide shows over articles? http://amplify.com/u/czrw

Saturday, October 16, 2010

New Tax Scam Circulating Online

There is a new scam making the rounds on line and like many today it's a phishing scam. It starts with an email showing the subject line: Your Federal Tax Payment ID: 010363124 has been rejected.

The body of the email may look something like this:

phishing scam.jpg

Or it may be just plain text like this:

Your Federal Tax Payment ID: 010375103 has been rejected.

Return Reason Code R21 – The identification number used in the Company Identification Field is not valid.

Please, check the information and refer to Code R21 to get details about your company payment in transaction contacts section:

http://eftps.gov/R21

In other way forward information to your accountant adviser.

EFTPS:

The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System

PLEASE NOTE: Your tax payment is due regardless of EFTPS online

availability. In case of an emergency, you can always make your tax

payment by calling the EFTPS.

So if you receive a message like this don't click any links or reply as it's totally fake and will only allow scammers a chance to download a spy program onto your machine to monitor your activities.

The most important thing to remember is that the IRS NEVER--I REPEAT NEVER contacts you by email about such issues. In the 20 years I've been doing taxes I've never received even one email besides newsletters from the IRS. They know that email isn't secure nor is it beyond being easily faked or misdirected. So anytime you receive such and email you can be assured it's FAKE.

So don't do fall for tricks like this. And by the way Yahoo nor the UN have lotteries so while that scam is floating around right now too don't believe it. Use some common sense and stay safe by checking out any unusual or suspicious emails before you reply to them.
Those who pursue truth know that while it will set you free it won't always make you happy. http://amplify.com/u/cvr3
Those who pursue truth know that while it will set you free it won't always make you happy. http://amplify.com/u/cvr3
Don't forget! @paypal donates $0.05 to #BeatCancer each time you mention #beatcancer in a tweet. Thanks & RT http://amplify.com/u/cvq8

The Future of Education in the 21st Century

I just happened on a great animate. I love those things as they always give you something different to think about. This one is on where we are at currently in education in this country and where we need to heading if education is to continue to succeed and work for our children.

For truly, as this animation points out, we live in a different world and face different choices and decisions than any generation before us! Those of us my age (60's>) have seen much and done much using the old models of work, education, and social structure as it has existed for the last few hundred years.

However the kids of today (<16) need a new model if change and improvement are to continue. It's a different world with different educational needs, social structures, and personal goals than at any time in the past. Somehow we must mold a new more dynamic model of education and our social institutions if we are to solve the problems of today while assimilating the technology and changes that surrounds us.

So take a minute, watch the animate, and lets talk about the future.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Always, Always, Have Checks and Balances In Place

As the tragic story Amplified here shows no one is immune from being duped out of their money. It seems now it's John Elway who has been taken in yet another Ponzi scheme. That is why you can trust those who you use to advice you in important business matters but don't let that trust go so far as to not have checks and balances in place.

John should have done as I've always advised clients to do and had at least notification in place on this so called trust fund account. Anytime a fund like this or any other fund containing money that others have access and control over is established you need to have monitoring and supervision in place on that account.

Set up right John could have verified that all the money went into the fund and be notified of any attempt to make withdraws or changes to the account. For failure to do that simple thing now he stands to lost millions.

So remember if your investment cost more than a Starbucks coffee have some protections in place that allow you to verify what's going on so you're not being stolen blind.

Amplify’d from sports.yahoo.com

Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway and a business partner invested $15 million with a hedge-fund manager who was recently arrested for running a Ponzi scheme.

The Denver Post reported that the two invested $15 million with Sean Mueller in March with the understanding that the money would be placed in a trust until a final decision was made about where it would be invested. 

About 65 people had invested $71 million with Mueller over the past decade. Yet in April, Mueller only had $9.5 million, according to a state investigator. He turned himself in to authorities on Wednesday on charges of racketeering, securities fraud and theft, and is being held in prison on $2 million bond.

Elway and his partner have asked that their claim be processed ahead of any other investors' because their $15 million was supposed to be placed in a trust, not pooled with the money of the rest of the hedge fund. According to an April filing, $12 million of Elway's money was placed into a Morgan Stanley trust account, as expected. The other $3 million has gone missing.

Read more at sports.yahoo.com
 

Will Government Quarantine Our Computers?

Contained in the article below is the suggestion by Microsoft's Scott Charney concerning new security regulations that Microsoft, other software companies, and many government agencies are now proposing. And this article is a must read for anyone who owns or uses a computer.

For with this article finally a major player with a major software company states publicly what has been talked about for a long time, quarantining privately owned computers that are determined to be infected by Malware, Botnets, and Viruses from the internet.

If Scot and all the others proposing this idea have their way all of our computers will be at risk of being blocked from the internet, being shut down, or both. All in the name of security they cry, “Let’s just keep those infected computers off the net and thus stop any problems they might cause”.

The problem with this approach however is multi-faceted.

First, Who can we trust to decide that our computer should be kept from being allowed to access the internet, or worse still deserves to be shut down? I would hope most would see that we can't trust government with that job. How would we ever be certain that any "check" of our computers would be only be a check for infections and not a quick look at our data. And even if it weren't that in the beginning how would we keep that from being the final goal of government. For if there is one thing that history has taught us it’s that governments never give up any powers they assume they only push to increase those powers. So any action to “protect us” soon turns into much more.

Second, How would such a system be implemented on what is an open worldwide network work like the internet? For to ever make any kind of quarantine truly have any effect it would have to be worldwide just as access to the internet is. I can only imagine how much countries like China and Iran would love to have a hand in deciding just what an “infected” dangerous computer does or contains that justifies blocking access to the internet.

Third, Why should we as users have to worry that then next piece of buggy software, errant update, or unusual action results in our mistakenly being blackballed from the internet? Current most of the problems we have with security are related to software and hardware weaknesses that are the result of poorly written software or social engineering. These problems should be addressed by writing better software and public education not trying to impose more controls.

Fourth, If the current software companies can’t provide security for the systems and programs they already have why I’m am I suppose to believe that more such systems will provide more security? As I see it the more complexity you add to a system the more areas for problems you introduce.

So Mr. Charney I will tell you that I’ll willingly allow you and all your software and government buddies to block or miss around with my computer about the time you allow me to access yours. And I would suggest that you and the rest of this bunch of control from the top advocates make your software, hardware, and networks safer by doing your jobs and fixing the problems you foster onto us that cause most of the problems in the first place.

Amplify’d from www.newsfactor.com
Microsoft Official Suggests Quarantining Infected PCs
Infected PCs should be quarantined by government action, Microsoft's Scott Charney told a security conference in Germany. Charney's quarantine recommendation is especially aimed at botnets. The Microsoft vice president said voluntary efforts are preferred, but then government should act while preserving privacy. Charney cited existing models.


Charney also made the recommendation on his blog and in a paper published by Microsoft. His recommendation is based on lessons from public health, where quarantining people can be an effective response to a virulent virus outbreak.


'Considerable Paralysis'


His solution is particularly directed at combating botnets, where organized cybercriminals control entire networks of computers.


On Microsoft's TechNet blog, Charney wrote that most computer-security experts believe "a persistent adversary will more often than not be successful in attacking systems," particularly if "raising defenses" is the only response.


Because of this, he argued, attention needs to be paid to deterring these attacks -- especially by government agencies, which have the power Relevant Products/Services to investigate criminal activity and utilize a wide range of tools and resources. But, he added, neither governments nor industries are "well-positioned" to respond to such a complex threat, and, as a result, "there is considerable paralysis."


The implementation of public-health models, Charney argued, could be the best approach. Firewalls, antivirus tools, and automatic updates for security patches can reduce risk, but many consumer computers still become unwitting participants in a botnet or malware hosts.


"To realize this vision," he wrote, "there are steps that can be taken by governments, the IT industry, Internet access providers, users and others to evaluate the health of consumer devices before granting them unfettered access to the Internet and other critical resources."


Privacy Measures


He wrote that voluntary efforts and market forces for such quarantining are preferred, but, "if those means fail, then governments should ensure these concepts are advanced." Charney added that privacy must be maintained, even in the event of a quarantine of computers. "Examining health is not the same as examining content," he wrote, adding that communication of health is separate from communicating identity, and privacy measures should be maintained.


Charney pointed to several existing models for industry and government action to improve the health of Internet-connected systems.


France's Signal Spam is a database used by public and private entities to help clean up the e-mail ecosystem. Japan's Cyber Clean Center is a core organization which works with Internet service providers to analyze the characteristics of botnets, clean infected computers, and prevent their re-infection.


The Finnish National Computer Emergency Response Team manages an aggregation service that automatically compiles information on malware and security incidents on Finnish networks and reports them to network owners, which can then choose to act. Charney also noted that enterprise Relevant Products/Services IT departments already often quarantine infected computers.
 


Read more at www.newsfactor.com
 

Sunday, October 10, 2010

How Manage Security on Your Google Accounts


Thursday, October 07, 2010




Gmail's Security Checklist


Gmail's support site has a security checklist that's useful if you want to make sure that your Gmail account is secure. There are some obvious tips like updating your operating system and your browser, but Google also posted some advanced tricks:

1. "Check the list of websites that are authorized to access your Google Account data. Make sure that the list of authorized websites are accurate and ones that you have chosen. If your Google Account has been compromised recently, it's possible that the bad guys could have authorized their own websites to access your account data." To edit the list of authorized websites, go to this page.

2. "Check your browser for plug-ins, extensions, and third-party programs/tools that require access to your Google Account credentials. Plug-ins and extensions are downloadable computer programs that work with your browser to perform specific tasks. For example, you may have downloaded a plug-in or extension that checks your Gmail inbox for new messages. Google can't guarantee the security of these third party services. If those services are compromised, so is your Gmail password."

3. "Confirm the accuracy of your mail settings to ensure that your mail stays and goes where you want it to. Sign in to your account and click on the Settings link at the top to check the following tabs:

* General: Check Signature, Vacation Responder, and/or canned responses for spammy content

* Accounts: Verify your Send Mail As, Get mail from other accounts, and Grant access to your account are all accurate.

* Filters: Check that no filters are sending your mail to Trash, Spam, or forwarding to an unknown account.

* Forwarding and POP/IMAP: Ensure your mail isn't sent to an unknown account or mail client."

4. "Check for any strange recent activity on your account. Click the Details link next to the 'Last Account Activity' entry at the bottom of your account to see the time, date, IP address and the associated location of recent access to your account."

5. "Use a secure connection to sign in. In your Gmail settings, select 'Always use HTTPS.' This setting protects your information from being stolen when you're signing in to Gmail on a public wireless network, like at a cafe or hotel."

Privacy, Social Media, and How We Define Ourselves

In an interesting series of articles Brian Solis has been exploring how privacy is changing and where it may be heading in the future. For the privacy we had in the past isn't what we have today and how it's going to change in future is an interesting conjecture. But when you realize that even your future job or credit score may well already depend on what is on you social media sites it starts to hit home. We can either understand that what we do and say on line becomes a profile used in may ways to judge as and so work to have it show us in the most favorable way or suffer the consequences. And to see that many children have emails and FaceBook pages set up by excited parents even BEFORE birth shows just how much this thing called social media has taken hold. So next time before you post that cool picture showing yourself passed out on the floor at a friends party remember who may be checking it out and not finding it cool at all.

Amplify’d from www.briansolis.com

A recent study by security company AVG and Research Now surveyed  2,200 mothers in North America (USA and Canada), the EU5 (UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain), Australia/New Zealand and Japan, and found that 81 percent of children under the age of two currently have some kind of digital profile or footprint, with images of them posted online. 92 percent of U.S. children have an online presence thrust upon them by the time they are 2 years old. In many cases, a digital presence is born before the child, with sonograms (23%) actively published and shared on social networks and blogs.

While innocent in nature, this behavior exhibits the simplicity of sharing first and the recognition of potential consequences later.

I believe that we are the last generation to know privacy as it was and from now on, it will have to be taught. We are entering a new era of publicness or publicy, where we are solely responsible for creating and defining our online persona. Some will learn the hard way. Others will learn to take the wheel of their personal brand and steer it in a direction that reveals meaningful opportunities and experiences.

Studies already show that as much as 64 percent of HR managers screen candidates by what they find on social networks. 88% of universities rate social media important in evaluating prospective students. Lenders are researching your social graph to assess your credit risk.

Read more at www.briansolis.com
 

Amazing Numbers to Better Understand FaceBook, Twitter, & Linkedlin

This article is the best I've seen at breaking down the numbers on FaceBook, Twitter, Linkedlin, and MySpace. If you look at the little sample of this article I've clipped here for you I know you'll want to read the whole thing. And it's very interesting to actually see the numbers behind the sites. Most amazing was the 23 minutes the average FaceBook user is on FaceBook per day. No site comes close but surprising to me is that MySpace is second ( 14:40) just ahead of Twitter (13:10).

Amplify’d from socialmediatoday.com

Social Media 3Q Update: Who Uses Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, & MySpace?

The third quarter 2010 demographics of Social Media users according to Google’s Adplanner services has a few surprises. Facebook actually dropped from 550 to 540 million users in the third quarter, and Facebook users over age 54 dropped from 16% to 10% in the last six months. Based on the data from the 2nd and 3rd quarters there is a significant slowing in the growth of the major Social Media tools.

Among the numbers are the interesting age group distributions of each of the networking sites. The data gives important clues of what each site is being used for in addition to who is using it.

Facebook’s Fire Cools
No one can dispute Facebook’s impact on the world. It is BIG, and with millions of posts and interactions each day, the influence of its users is the envy of every marketing professional. Traditional media professional and other old people will be tempted to look at the 3rd quarter data and declare that the Social Media ‘fad’ is over and on the decline. That would be a statement of ignorance.

Facebook’s growth could not continue indefinitely and its amazing growth in users from 2008 to the start of 2010 was being fueled by a viral exploration of a new media that allowed people to connect in a way they never had before. Now that exploration has calmed and I believe we are seeing the coming of age of Social Media.

The drop of 10 million users during the third quarter is only significant in that it shows a leveling off of the growth. The average time on the site is over 23 minutes, which is much longer than the other three major U.S. Social Media tools (MySpace 14:40 mins., Twitter 13:10 mins., LinkedIn 9:50 mins.) That is important as more time spent means more interaction and more influence by users and advertisers.

Read more at socialmediatoday.com
 

Just thinking... I've decided Columbus is my hero. When he left he didn't know where he was going. When he got here he didn't know where he was. When he got back he didn't know where he had been. And he did it all on somebody else's money. Shoot today we would send him to Congress! http://amplify.com/u/c74e

Saturday, October 09, 2010

Google and Cars that Drive Themselves Not Your Usual Match

It seems that Google's interests are even more far ranging that one would think. Now we find that they've been testing self driving cars for some time in California. Amazingly only one accident has occurred and that Google claims was caused by driver error in the other car. But the stakes are high for anyone who can get such a car system developed. Wonder if it runs on android bet that would really get to Microsoft? And I would sure bet they use Google maps to navigate and Google search to find things. But baring something stopping Google we should be riding in cars that drive themselves Google estimate in about 8 years.

Amplify’d from mashable.com

Google Is Testing Cars That Drive Themselves

Google announced today that it has developed cars that drive themselves automatically in traffic, and that it has been testing them on the streets of California for months. It might seem like an unusual project for Google, but it could actually have big benefits.

We’re not just talking about cars running Google Android. This is the stuff of science fiction. The only accident that has occurred so far: One of the cars was rear-ended by a driver at a stop light. Human error!

The vehicles have been tested on 140,000 miles of California road, from Silicon Valley to Santa Monica. Each car is manned during the tests. One person sits in the driver’s seat, ready to take control of the vehicle instantly by grabbing the wheel or touch the brake should something go wrong with the system. The person in the passenger’s seat is an engineer who monitors the software operations on a computer.

Google (Google) hired engineers who previously participated in competitions and races involving automated cars — important turning points in the development of the technology, which has been coming into its own since around 2005 according to The New York Times.

The most optimistic projections put this technology at least eight years away from market, though. Legal hassles are among the myriad problems; all of the current traffic laws assume that a human driver is present in the vehicle.

But the biggest benefit for Google would be the hour or so of daily commute time the car owner would save. Instead of driving, he or she could either be productive or entertained in the vehicle, doing work on a wireless Internet (Internet) connection or watching television. Google doesn’t say it explicitly, but TechCrunch was quick to note that this time could be spent using Google products and absorbing Google-run advertising.

If your first concern is one of safety, Google would argue that you’re going about it all wrong. Safety is one of the the project’s purposes. Google believes that the technology could nearly half the number of automobile-related deaths because computers are supposedly better at driving than humans in the right circumstances.

There are other hypothetical pluses, too. The vehicles’ instant reaction time and 360-degree awareness would allow them to drive closer together on the highway than humans can, reducing traffic congestion. They could be more careful when operating the gas, reducing fuel consumption.

Read more at mashable.com
 

IRS Planning on Requesting QuickBooks Files in Audits

Well other accountants are beginning to take note of what I've been telling clients for the last 5 or 6 months.

The IRS is in the process of training agents and acquiring QuickBooks software with the intent of requesting your QuickBooks company files as part of any audit they perform. So be aware, this is a good time to get someone to look over those files if you or someone else within your business is doing your books without the aid of a qualified accountant.

Many people just don't realize the risks of having the IRS go over those files. Even if all of your income and expenses are reported and the amounts are totally correct you can still be in trouble just because things aren't reported in the right categories or following the necessary accounting procedures.

The worst areas of compliance I see are in most often are in asset listing (and any accompanying depreciation records) and the proper accounting of the Owner Equity account.

Owner Equity is difficult to understand and tracking adjustments to it for any type of shared owner based tax entity (Partnership, LLC, Sub Chapter S Corp.) are especially difficult. So I see these accounts with incorrect entries quite often. And issues of not having this information correctly accounted for can affect your ability to claim loses especially against other income.

So as Shannon Tucker says in his article contained below this is going to change the whole nature of audits and not for the benefit of Small Business. Believe me the IRS isn’t buying from 1,500 to 2,000 copies of QuickBooks and training their agents in its use just for fun. They now have, or will have by next year, the tools and the training to do audits directly on QuickBooks files and not even have to leave their office to do so.

That leaves the ball in the court of the small business owner. I can only hope that they take heed and address any problems they may have in their accounting.

And feel free to write, call, or contact me if you have any questions or would like me to look things over for you. Best of all we will do a basic review of your books free of charge for those requesting it between now and the end of January 2011 just to help with this problem. And if it reveals any problems we’ll can help you decide what course of action is best for you resolve your problems.

ProServices of Kansas

a Full Service Accountancy & Business Consultant Practice

www.proservicesks.com

1-316-250-4474 (cell)

1-801-981-6929 (fax)

kstaxman@proservicesks.com

http://timepasseson.blogspot. com/

@kstaxman (Twitter & Amplify)

Amplify’d from blog.quickbooksusers.com

Getting Audited? They Might Want Your QuickBooks File

If you are contacted by the IRS about an audit, they may ask you to hand over your QuickBooks company data file. This comes from Revenue Procedure 98-25:

“All machine-sensible records retained by a taxpayer, whether retained under the provisions of a record retention limitation agreement or for other reasons, may be used for computer assisted auditing techniques…

There has been a lot of talk about this on some LinkedIn discussions and accounting blogs I follow. Reportedly, the IRS has purchased 1,500 – 2,000 QuickBooks licenses and is training auditors in its use.

There are a couple areas of concern for small businesses about this:

  • If your QuickBooks records are a mess, or don’t add up to what was reported on a tax return, that could spell trouble during the audit.
  • Most taxpayers don’t want auditors fishing around in years other than the targeted year. But with QuickBooks, there is no way to confine the file to one particular year.
  • A few ways you can help protect yourself in this scenario:

    1. Have clean books to begin with. Get a CPA or professional bookkeeper to review your books and help you make any course corrections. Your QuickBooks data should conform to good accounting principles. Do this before you file your next tax return.

    2. Run the QuickBooks Cleanup command on your data before you give it to the auditors, and specify an appropriate cleanup date. For example, if you are being audited for 2008, run the Cleanup through Dec. 31, 2007. That should at least close the door to the auditors having access to your transaction records before the 2008 audit period.

    3. Consult with a tax accountant if you get audited.

    Read more at blog.quickbooksusers.com