Czech capital on alert as floods sweep central Europe

Liberty Reserve digital money service forced offline

Liberty Reserve - a Costa Rican-based
digital currency service - has been shut down
after the reported arrest of its founder.

Authorities in the Central American country
said Arthur Budovsky had been taken into
custody in Spain on suspicion of money
laundering, following an investigation which
also involved the US.
They added that police had raided several of
Mr Budovsky's properties and seized his
computer servers.
The site went offline on Thursday.
Liberty Reserve had described itself as being
the internet's "oldest, safest and most
popular payment processor... serving millions
all around a world".
It had allowed users to open accounts and
transfer money, only requiring them to
provide a name, date of birth and an email
address.
Cash could be put into the service using a
credit card, bank wire, postal money order or
other money transfer service. It was then
"converted" into one of the firm's own
currencies - mirroring either the Euro or US
dollar - at which point it could be transferred
to another account holder who could then
extract the funds.
The service promised that payment transfers
were "instantaneous" and it charged a
maximum of $2.99 (£1.98) for each
transaction. It also offered a private
messaging facility which it said was "much
more private and secure than email or instant
messenger services".
Security expert Bryan Krebs said Liberty
Reserve's features had made it a popular
among cybercriminals who wanted to move
funds and make payments anonymously.
However, others said they had used the
service for legitimate means, viewing it as a
cheaper alternative to PayPal. They fear they
will now lose money still sitting in its
accounts.

Refused licence

Costa Rica state prosecutor Jose Pablo
Gonzalez announced news of the raids on
Saturday. He said that in addition to Mr
Budovsky's arrest, 10 other suspects were
being investigated in connection with
international money laundering.
Mr Gonzalez said that Costa Rica's financial
regulator, Sugef, had refused to issue a
licence to Liberty Reserve in 2011 after
raising concerns about how it was being
funded.
Although the company Liberty Reserve
subsequently closed and dismissed its
employees, the prosecutor said Mr Budovsky
had continued operating his money exchange
service by running it through five other Costa
Rican businesses.
The same year, he said, New York based
officials asked Costa Rica to investigate.
Mr Gonzalez said offices and houses linked
to Mr Budovsky had been raided last week,
and that documents and three vehicles -
including a Rolls Royce - were seized.
The US Department of Justice's website says
that in 2006 Mr Budovsky was found guilty of
operating a separate illegal money
transmittal business - GoldAge - from a
Brooklyn apartment when he used to live in
New York.
However, when asked about the latest arrest,
a spokeswoman said she could "not provide
any guidance" at this time.
The BBC has also asked the Spanish police
for more details.

Lost money

According to Mr Krebs' security blog, the
closure of Liberty Reserve has the potential
to "cause a major upheaval in the cybercrime
economy".
He said there had been "anxious discussions"
about the news on several internet forums
after fraudsters and malware sellers found
themselves unable to access their accounts.
But others say they used the service for
legitimate reasons, and are concerned about
the lack of information.
They include Mitver Holdings, the firm behind
a facility called ePay Cards. This allows
consumers outside the US to buy goods from
stores in the country as if they owned a
locally-issued Visa or Mastercard credit
card.
The company - which has offices in London
and Texas - used Liberty Reserve as a way
for its customers to charge up their "virtual
credit cards".
Co-founder Mitchell Rossetti said he had
about $28,000 sitting in his business's
Liberty Reserve account at the time the site
went offline.
"We used Liberty Reserve because it was
quick, efficient and secure," he told the BBC.
"Now, we - and thousands of others who
were dependent on it - have been left with
nothing to look at except a blank webpage,
and nothing more to go on than reports from
the Costa Rican press.
"We need to know if our assets have been
seized and what would be the requirements
to get the funds returned."


source:bbc

Boeing resumes deliveries of 787 Dreamliners

Boeing Co (BA.N ) resumed
deliveries of its high-tech 787
Dreamliner jet on Tuesday, ending a
period of nearly four months in which it
was unable to provide new planes to
customers because of safety concerns
about the battery system.
The delivery of the first jet with a redesigned
battery system marks a turning point in
Boeing's 787 crisis, allowing the jet maker to
book revenue for completed sales of the jet,
which costs $207 million at list prices.
Boeing shares rose 1.4 percent to close at
$96.11 on the New York Stock Exchange,
their highest levels since November 2007.
Resuming deliveries will lower Boeing's profit
margin in the near-term, though. The 787s
being delivered now are among the relatively
early jets that are more costly to make and
that were sold at steep discounts to attract
customers.
Boeing has never given a final cost estimate
for the 787's grounding and repairs, though it
absorbed nearly all of the impact in the first
quarter while still posting a rise in profit.
Some analysts have projected a final cost of
as much as $600 million.
The deliveries will improve Boeing's cash
flow this year, however, and will reduce its
inventory, something investors have been
anticipating as they bid up its stock.
Boeing said it delivered a new Dreamliner to
All Nippon Airways ( 9202.T ) on Tuesday, its
second delivery of the year. The first was
delivered before January 16, when regulators
grounded the worldwide Dreamliner fleet after
two lithium-ion batteries overheated and
smoked on two separate jets that month.
Boeing also reaffirmed Tuesday that it
expects to hit its target of delivering more
than 60 787s this year.
Analysts say the target should be easy to hit.
Boeing kept making Dreamliners while the
plane was grounded, so about 25 are parked
outside its factories waiting to be delivered to
customers, the company said.
Boeing also has sped up production. Last
week it rolled out the first 787 made at the
new rate of seven per month, up from five
per month previously. It aims to raise the
rate to 10 per month by year-end, with the
first delivery at the new rate in 2014.
BATTERY REDESIGN
After the two incidents in January, Boeing
redesigned the 787 battery system, adding a
steel enclosure and other safeguards to
prevent fire.
The Federal Aviation Administration approved
the redesigned system on April 19 and a few
days later cleared Boeing to begin installing
the $500,000 fix on the 50 delivered jets that
had been grounded, and those still at the
factory.
Ethiopian Airlines began carrying customers
on the new jet on April 27. The other seven
airlines that fly the jet have begun working
them into flight schedules, many with service
beginning later this month or in June. United
Airlines( UAL.N ), the first U.S. carrier with the
787, is due to resume service on May 31.
Boeing still faces potential problems with the
new plane, its first all-new jetliner in more
than a decade. [ID:nL2N0DE026] New planes
are typically glitch-prone, and the 787 is no
exception, logging a string of minor mishaps
in the months leading up to the grounding,
ranging from fuel line leaks to brake
problems and a cracked cockpit windscreen.
In addition, the U.S. National Transportation
Safety Board is still investigating what
caused a 787 battery to overheat and catch
fire on a parked Japan Airlines( 9201.T ) plane
in Boston. About a week later, another battery
overheated on an All Nippon flight in Japan,
prompting an emergency landing and
evacuation.
The NTSB investigation, which included
hearings in April, is expected result in
recommendations to the FAA that could alter
certification procedures for aircraft.



Source:reuters

Facebook Kills Social Roulette, The App With A 1/6 Chance Of Deleting Your Facebook Account

If you want a digital detox, you’re going to
have to pull the trigger yourself. Social
Roulette is an app that would delete one in six
users’ Facebook account data, but its founder
confirms it’s been blocked by Facebook so it
no longer functions. While there’s no specific
policy prohibiting apps from deleting your
data, Social Roulette is clearly counter to
Facebook’s mission and business model.
Social Roulette launched on Saturday as an
online version of Russian Roulette, the lethal
real-life game where a player places one bullet
in a six-chamber revolver pistol, spins the
cylinder, and fires the gun at their head. You
die, you lose. But on Social Roulette, it’s
implied that having your Facebook account
deleted means you won. If you’re hit that one
in six chance, the site explains “we can
completely remove all your posts, friends,
apps, likes, photos, and games before
completely deactivating it.” Otherwise, it just
posts to Facebook saying you survived the
game, and encouraging your friends to risk
their digital lives.
Social Roulette describes itself, saying
“Everyone thinks about deleting their account
at some point, it’s a completely normal
reaction to the overwhelming nature of digital
culture. Is it time to consider a new
development in your life? Are you looking for
the opportunity to start fresh? Or are you just
seeking cheap thrills at the expense of your
social network? Maybe it’s time for you to
play Social Roulette.” Co-founder Kyle
McDonald tells me he came up with the idea a
few weeks ago, but hacked it together in just
four hours with Jonas Lund and Jonas Jongeja
after Lund had an idea for how it could
actually work.
The app capitalizes on exhaustion with social
networks. The dizzying stream of information,
constant success theater, and perceived
“responsibility” to be contactable can grow
tiresome after a while. When I asked co-
founder McDonald about the philosophy behind
Social Roulette, he told me”Everyone talks
about deleting their Facebook account, but we
rarely take action. Sometimes we need a
simple game to help take the responsibility off
our shoulders, and provide a moment for
reflection. Social Roulette is more of a
provocation rather than a tool.”
Social Roulette seemed to be looking for a
fight, considering it’s selling t-shirts of its
logo, which rips off Facebook’s and sticks it
inside a chamber of a six-shooter pistol.
Facebook has aggressively pursued others
who’ve tried to coin off of its trademarks.
Facebook has also recently shut off API access
to apps it perceives as competitors like Vine,
as well as ones like Voxer that don’t share
much back to it.  Facebook has also blocked
apps without specifying a reason but that have
been accused of spamming like Path.
Now McDonald tells me, “It took us 4 hours to
create the project, and it took another 4
hours after the launch for Facebook to respond
by blocking the API key and restricting our
ability to create Facebook applications. The
app was flagged by an automated system for
‘creating a negative user experience.’ After
review, they decided they don’t like our
logo either. We tried to follow the branding
guidelines but we must have misunderstood
them.” You could say the shut down was a bit
murky as there’s not a specific platform policy
that the app’s data deletion function violates,
but Facebook typically enforces the spirit, not
the letter, of the law. It might end up adding a
specific provision banning apps that focus on
deleting your data.
Facebook tells me in an official statement,
“We take action against apps that violate our
platform policies as laid out here: https://
developers.facebook.com/policy/, in order to
maintain a trustworthy experience for users.” It
didn’t specify which policy, though. However,
the app did allow users to circumvent
Facebook’s account deactivation feature, which
is designed to let people turn off
their account but turn it back on later without
losing their content and connections. This
could be considered a violation of Facebook
Platform Policy I.3 that states “You must not
circumvent (or claim to circumvent) our
intended limitations on core Facebook features
and functionality.”
This brings up the larger issue of where
Facebook draws the line when determining
when something is too close to its native
functionality. Some developers believe the
Facebook Platform is unstable because of
Facebook’s power to pick and choose who can
do what.
Without API access, Social Roulette can’t let
people login with their Facebook account, or
delete content from their profile. Surprisingly,
McDonald is optimistic that Social Roulette
will win Facebook’s approval and live on to kill
another account. “We’re currently working to
address this and other issues and expect a
return to normal service some time this week.”
I wouldn’t hold my breath, though. Facebook’s
goal to connect the world and earn money
through advertising based on their personal
data is directly threatened by Social Roulette.
Facebook purposefully makes deleting your
account tough so you don’t do it in a
momentary fit of anger. Even if it receives
jeers for shutting down apps at will, it’s not
going to put that gun in any third-party
developer’s hands.


source:techcrunch

HP goes Android with x2 hybrid

Hewlett-Packard has a newfound affinity for
Android.
After announcing the Slate 7 in February, HP
announced Tuesday that it is adding a
second Android tablet, the SlateBook x2.
The SlateBook takes its well-received Envy
x2 design and loads Android 4.2.2 and
Nvidia's brand-new Tegra 4 chip inside a
sleek 10.1-inch tablet that can double as a
laptop.



source:cnet news

Is now the time to be short GBPUSD?

Sterling underwent a fall from grace since the
beginning of year, amounting to a 9.5%
decline against the dollar culminating in a
fairly brief foray below the 1.50 level in
March.

US indicators continue to look sharp and
financial markets are hoping that the stronger
US demand will have a positive impact on
other economies. This and the avoidance of
the triple dip recession have been paramount
to the recent sterling bounce.
The pound rallied back towards the 1.56 level
since 12 March trading in a bullish channel
but found the air rather thin above this level
(50% Fibonacci of the 1.6380/1.4830 move).
The breakdown of the long term uptrend from
the early 2009 lows in February of this year,
nevertheless suggests that further downside
might be inevitable for the pound. The breach
of the narrowing range at the 1.5660 area is
pivotal and is the key resistance to any real
GBP strength, barring a complete and utter
catastrophe in the Eurozone.
Over the past 2 days, this bullish channel has
given way and price action has declined
further and should the lows of 2012 at
1.5236 fail to hold the current trend looks set
to target the 23.6% Fib. retracement around
the 1.52 level.
Assuming the pair finds daily support at
these the 1.5236 levels, we cannot rule out a
retest of the 100 day moving average and
previous channel support at 1.5370/80. If we
examine the dollar index, we note that the
market is currently testing previous resistance
levels around the 83.50 level which if hold
would support this theory.
The incoming Bank of England governor,
Mark Carney has already intimated that
monetary policy under his guidance will likely
be ultra- easy with many Monetary Policy
members suggesting that inflation concerns
reside forefront as the UK economy gets back
on track.
Given that the ECB have recently cut rates
and the strong positive correlation between
EURUSD and GBPUSD one could expect that
the MPC will be even more determined to
advocate a weaker pound.
Given the fundamentals and the longer term
trend, I would presently look to short the
pound on the rallies.
A break higher to previous channel support at
1.5380/1.5400 might provide this opportunity
with a stop loss at 1.5490. Initial target
resides at the 1.5236 level and there may
well be opportunity to add to the trade should
this level fail.



source:forexnews

Facebook's iPhone Culture Builds An Overzealous Home On Android

Facebook didn’t realize just how important
widgets, docks, and app folders were to
Android users, and that leaving them out of
Home was a huge mistake. That’s because
some of the Facebookers who built and tested
Home normally carry iPhones, I’ve confirmed.
Lack of “droidfooding” has left Facebook
scrambling to add these features, whose
absence have led Home to just 1 million
downloads since launching a month ago.
As I wrote in November, Facebook has
been desperately trying to get more employees
“droidfooding” — carrying and testing Android
devices. You can see the posters encouraging
employees to pick up a droid below. The issue
was that Facebook handed out iPhones to
employees for years. Facebookers could
request an Android handset, but otherwise
would basically get an Apple phone by default.
That wasn’t as dangerous years ago when the
iPhone still had more marketshare and
Facebook users, but since then Android has
rocketed into the lead. If Facebook wants to
reach the largest audience, it needs employees
living and breathing Google’s mobile operating
system.
The lack of droidfooders didn’t have serious
consequences until Home, Facebook’s new
“apperating system”. It replaces the lock
screen, homescreen, and app launcher of
compatible Android phones with a Facebook-
centric experience. It offers Cover Feed, a big,
beautiful way to browser the news feed the
second you bring your phone out of sleep. It’s
missing the ability to build real-time
information widgets, put your most used apps
in a persistently visible dock, or organize your
collection of apps into folders.
When I first tried out Home, I admit I was
wooed by Cover Feed and Chat Heads, while
those absent Android personalizations didn’t
phase me. Why? Because I’m an iPhone user.
First off, the iPhone doesn’t offer widgets at
all, so I didn’t really know what I was missing.
Second, I was running Home on a brand new
loaner “Facebook Phone”, the HTC First. I
didn’t expect to be able to port my iOS dock
and folders to Android. I accepted that my
experience would be somewhat
unpersonalized. I was naive.
The real problem? Facebook’s developers were
just as naive. Employees I’ve talked to admit
that iPhone users testing Home made
Facebook fail to see how wrong it was to
overwrite people’s widgets, docks, and folders.
Unlike working on some standard app, sticking
a new Android device in an employee’s hand
to test Home wasn’t sufficient. It needed long-
time, diehard Android users — something
Facebook doesn’t have as many of internally
as it would like.
On Thursday at Facebook headquarters, VP of
Engineering Cory Ondrejka and Director of
Product Adam Mosseri admitted this is a
critical flaw in Home — one that’s dissuading
people from downloading or actively using
Home, and that’s inspiring the 1- and 2-star
reviews dragging down Home’s rating the
Google Play store. Those reviews, and people’s
unwillingness to trade their personalized
Android launcher for Home has caused
Facebook’s apperating system to slip far down
the charts. It’s dropped out of the top 100
apps according to several analytics providers,
as Sarah Perez detailed yesterday.
“There a lot of feedback that not having a
Dock on Home is an issue” said Ondrejka. So
instead of spending its first few monthly
updates enriching Home with a better status
composer or starting to monetize it with ads,
Facebook’s team is backtracking. Instead of
pitching Home as something that  ”replaces
the lock screen and home screen”, Facebook is
shaving it down into a thinner layer on top of
your existing phone.
To do that, first Facebook will offer a more in-
depth new user onboarding experience that
illustrates exactly how to access your other
apps. Next, it will introduce “Dock”, pictured on
the right. It’s a way for users to import their
old navigation bar of their four most frequently
used apps. Mosseri tells me Facebook doesn’t
want users to have to sacrifice the work they
did customizing their Android in order to use
Home. Eventually, expect Facebook to add an
app foldering system or folder importer to
Home, as well as a way to display widgets.
“We wanted to ease the transition from your
old launcher to your new launcher,” said
Moserri of the planned changes. Facebook
would have known to make that s priority
before Home launched, but its iPhone culture
meant there was no one to cry foul. Team
members didn’t have old launchers to
transition from.
Home has big potential. People who do get by
its shortcomings and settle into Home see a
25% increase in the time they spend on
Facebook. But it’s stuck at under 1 million
downloads and likely many fewer active users
because its overly aggressive invasion of
Android scares people away.
Never has it been more apparent. If Facebook
can’t get Androids in more pockets at 1
Hacker Way, it will continue to misstep in
mobile.



source:techcrunch.com