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

BBM Hitting iPhone and Android This Summer

Today(14) CEO Thorsten Heins announced that
BBM would be a multi-platform messaging
service.
The BBM messaging service will land on the
iPhone and Android this summer with the
messaging and groups features. BBM voice,
screen sharing, video and channels will be
rolled out later. The messaging service that’s
been the center of the BlackBerry universe for
so many years will be available on iPhone 6
and later and Android Ice Cream Sandwich
and later.
The move comes at a time when cross-
platform m essaging service and app
WhatsApp has been landing in the top 20
lists of free apps available for Android,
iPhone and BlackBerry. It’s also a shot
across the bow of Apple’s iMessages. The
service has been fraught with connection
issues since its launch in October 2011.
BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins told the
assembled audience at BlackBerry Live in
Florida, “it’s time, to bring BBM to a greater
audience.”
Good news if you’re a fan of secure cross-
platform messaging. Also good new for the
BlackBerry hold outs that have seen their
friends drop off the service as they moved to
other platforms. You are not alone anymore.


source:wired.com

Aussie Drops Below .9900 On Budget Statement

The Australian dollar dropped below .9900 for
the first time in 11 months on Tuesday, after
Australia’s government jumped on the
austerity bandwagon and unveiled a cost-
cutting budget that heightened the possibility
of further interest-rate cuts.

The news comes on the back of last week’s
rate cut, which surprised the markets, and
took the wind out of the Australian dollar’s
sails. The Aussie ended the U.S. session
down 0.64% against the dollar at .9889.
Meanwhile there was yet more disappointing
data coming out of the eurozone; firstly the
ZEW index of German economic sentiment
ticked up to 36.4 from 36.3 in April, well
below economists expectations of 38.3, and
the index of current conditions fell to 8.9
from 9.2 in April, indicating that the German
economy could struggle to recover from a
0.5% contraction in the fourth quarter.
It wasn’t all bad news for the euro however,
a separate report showed that eurozone
industrial production rose by a seasonally
adjusted 1% in March, more than double
expectations for a 0.4% increase. The
greenback ended the U.S. session up 0.28%
against the euro at 1.2939.

source:forexnews

Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy to prevent cancer likelihood

Angelina Jolie recently underwent a double
mastectomy after genetic tests determined the
actress faced a high probability of developing
breast cancer.
The Girl, Interrupted Oscar-winner revealed
the news in a New York Times column
published Tuesday titled “My Medical Choice,”
saying that she wanted to avoid the same fate
as her mother, who died at age 56 after
battling the ovarian cancer for nearly a
decade.
“I wanted to write this to tell other women
that the decision to have a mastectomy was
not easy. But it is one I am very happy that I
made,” Jolie wrote in the essay. “My chances
of developing breast cancer have dropped
from 87 percent to under 5 percent. I can tell
my children that they don’t need to fear they
will lose me to breast cancer.”
The 37-year-old actress has six children, and
said they have sometimes asked whether she
might also end up with the illness that took
their grandmother, Marcheline Bertrand, in
2007. “I have always told them not to worry,
but the truth is I carry a ‘faulty’ gene,
BRCA1, which sharply increases my risk of
developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer,”
Jolie wrote.
“Once I knew that this was my reality, I
decided to be proactive and to minimize the
risk as much I could,” she added. “I made a
decision to have a preventive double
mastectomy. I started with the breasts, as my
risk of breast cancer is higher than my risk of
ovarian cancer, and the surgery is more
complex.”
Astoundingly, one of the most watched human
beings on the planet was able to keep her
treatment completely secret through three
months of surgeries, despite being followed
by paparazzi seemingly everywhere she goes.
Her voluntary revelation now could raise an
astronomical amount of awareness —
potentially saving the lives others unfamiliar
with this kind of testing or preventative
measure.
In her column, Jolie said she decided to open
up about it “because there are many women
who do not know that they might be living
under the shadow of cancer. It is my hope
that they, too, will be able to get gene tested,
and that if they have a high risk they, too, will
know that they have strong options.”
She said a prime concern is helping middle-
and lower-income people. “The cost of
testing for BRCA1 and BRCA2, at more than
$3,000 in the United States, remains an
obstacle for many women.”
And coming from a celebrity often ranked as
one of the most beautiful women in the
world, Jolie could have a profound supportive
influence on those facing similar treatment —
since one of the most agonizing parts of the
decision is what it will do to the patient’s
appearance and sense of self.
She acknowledged those potential
psychological effects in her op-ed. “On a
personal note, I do not feel any less of a
woman,” she wrote. “I feel empowered that I
made a strong choice that in no way
diminishes my femininity.”
Jolie credited her partner, Brad Pitt, for
helping her through the arduous series of
procedures, which began on Feb. 2 and ended
on April 27. ”So to anyone who has a wife or
girlfriend going through this, know that you
are a very important part of the transition,”
Jolie wrote. “Brad was at the Pink Lotus
Breast Center , where I was treated, for every
minute of the surgeries. We managed to find
moments to laugh together. We knew this was
the right thing to do for our family and that it
would bring us closer. And it has.”
She said her regimen will eventually be made
public and posted on the Web site of the Pink
Lotus Breast Center, but Jolie also delved into
fairly specific detail in her essay, describing
the so-called “nipple delay” procedure
designed to save that part of the body, the
later surgery to remove her breast tissue, and
the subsequent reconstruction.
“You wake up with drain tubes and expanders
in your breasts. It does feel like a scene out
of a science-fiction film. But days after
surgery you can be back to a normal life,” she
said. “Nine weeks later, the final surgery is
completed with the reconstruction of the
breasts with an implant. There have been
many advances in this procedure in the last
few years, and the results can be beautiful.”
Though her children still ask questions, Jolie
says the answers now are more reassuring:
“They know that I love them and will do
anything to be with them as long as I can.”
Her reps had no immediate further comment.
Jolie’s next screen role will be as the title
character in Disney’s live-action Maleficient,
a retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story from
the perspective of the villain. It’s set to open
in July 2014.
The actress who made her directorial debut
with the 2011 Bosnian War drama In the Land
of Blood and Honey, is also planning to direct
her second feature. This would be an
adaptation of Lauren Hillebrand’s best-selling
non-fiction book Unbroken, about a former
Olympian who was captured by the Japanese
Navy while serving as an Air Force pilot in
World War II.


source:insidemovies

Appreciate Is A New Way To Find Quality Apps On Android

The Android marketplace, Google Play, may
now be catching up with the Apple App Store
in terms of sheer number of applications
available, but finding the better-quality apps
outside of the big names is still something of
a challenge. Today, an app discovery service
called Appreciate has launched on the Android
app store to address this problem.

The company was founded two years ago by
CEO Amir Maor and CTO Yaron Segalov, both
who have previous experience in the mobile
industry and with big data. As they developed
the concept which has become today’s new
Appreciate application, earlier prototypes
released into the Android marketplace gained
tens, and even hundreds of thousands of
installs, indicating demand for the service
they’ve been building
Maor notes that the first version of the app
reached over half a million installs, even
though it was more prototype than finished
release. The private beta launched around a
month ago has already gained 10,000 users.
While backend of these apps has evolved over
the years, the version of Appreciate launching
today would be unrecognizable to any of the
company’s previous users.
It’s not just the overall look-and-feel that’s
changed, it’s the entire way the new app
discovery service has been set up, the way it
works, the navigation, the personalized
recommendations it delivers, and more.
Like many startup founders, Maor cites a
personal need as the inspiration for building
Appreciate, originally. “As the number of apps
grew, we found it harder to find good content
for our mobile phones,” he says. “It started
with just finding quality apps, and that
improved over time. But then, even though we
could find quality apps, it got harder to find
those that were more suited to what we were
interested in.”
Maor says that though it has become easy
enough to find the Android app blockbusters,
sifting through a narrower category, like chess
games or arcade games (his personal favorite)
is difficult.
With Appreciate, while the user interface is
attractive, the power in this service is the
algorithms on the backend. Appreciate not
only understands which apps are quality apps
– a metric it understands by analyzing a
variety of specific signals – it also matches
those apps to a user’s unique personal tastes.
Appreciate doesn’t determine an app’s
“quality” based on ratings or reviews, however,
which Maor explains can be less than reliable.
Instead, its secret sauce looks for other
indicators – like whether or not users have
installed the app then rapidly uninstalled it, for
example – a sure signal that it may have left
something to be desired. Apps with a good
install base across your social network may
also be recommended, as are those other
Appreciate users have indicated are good, too.
Appreciate works better for those who sign in
using Facebook, however it already knows a
little about users’ tastes from the apps
installed on their own devices. Within the app,
users are encouraged to follow other “experts”
who are also interested in the same types of
apps, which also gives Appreciate a social
network feel, to some extent.
In addition to expert recommendations, users
also get personalized feeds showing app
recommendations, apps trending across
favorite categories, friend notifications, and a
personalized app search engine which shows
results indicating which apps are used by
friends.
For example, if Appreciate knows you love
wildlife, a search for “birds” might return an
app about actual birds, not the Angry kind.
Appreciate is available now in Google Play,
and the plan is to bring the service to the
iPhone in the future. However, Maor admits
that he, like many developers today, doesn’t
really understand Apple’s new clauses around
its ban on app discovery service. “It won’t be
just mimicking an app store,” he says. “We
hope everything will work well and they’ll
actually approve it.”
Time will tell.
Based in Israel, the ten-person company has
several million in seed and Series A funding by
Magma Ventures, and many undisclosed angel
investors.

source:techcrunch.com

Five Things You Should Know About the Future Of Mobile

recent Inbound Marketing Summit , mobile
was the belle of the ball – the trend
considered most likely to fundamentally
shape marketing in the coming years. At
the conference, I caught up with my fellow
speaker Tim Hayden, SVP of Mobile
Strategy for Edelman Digital. Here are five
tips he shared about the future of mobile,
and what you need to know to stay ahead
of the curve.

Understand the person, not the technology.

The value of mobile isn’t about its
technological bells and whistles, says
Hayden. Instead, “it’s understanding the
utility the device brings and how someone’s
life is made easier. It’s more efficient in
terms of finding a place to drop off my dry
cleaning, or the best place to get a burger
in Boston. You have to understand the
person before you understand the
technology.” Too many companies and
agencies still think of mobile as a tactical
add-on. But that won’t get you far, says
Hayden: “Mobile now transcends
everything, and you have to take into
account that behavior – how it disrupts
things or can be leveraged.”

Your phone is more important than your
tablet.

The tablet battleground is fierce, and
getting plenty of ink lately thanks to
Apple’s introduction of the new iPad Mini .
But overall, cautions Hayden, it’s your
smartphone that will matter more: “The
phone goes with people to bed, they use it
as an alarm clock; it fits nicely in your
pocket or purse. It just doesn’t become
rational to carry around that larger device
[the tablet] on your person, rather than the
phone.” Indeed, cellphones already have
massive penetration, with more than 80%
of Americans owning one – and more than
half of those are Internet-linked
smartphones.

Read more:mobileleadersalliance.com

Six tips for Windows 8

Most new Windows 8 users have used
earlier versions of Windows. Moving
around in Windows 8 will be very familiar
to most of you, however, there are a few
things that might leave you scratching your
head and wondering. The following tips
might help answer some pressing
questions:

Where did the Start button go?

The Windows 8 desktop lacks a Start
button but otherwise looks identical to
Windows 7.

Where did My Documents go?

Windows 8 places your My Documents
folder inside your Documents library.
Makes more sense than in the Pictures
library!

Is there a difference between wallpaper
and the screen background?

Many people refer to the background
simply as wallpaper.

What's that icon all about?

If you plug a digital camcorder, cell phone,
or other device into your PC, the Windows
Explorer window will often sprout a new
icon representing your device.

Why is the taskbar way down there?

To move the taskbar from the desktop’s
bottom edge, try dragging it to your
screen’s side. If it doesn’t move, right-
click the taskbar and click Lock the
Taskbar to remove the check mark by that
option.

How can you burn CDs and DVDs quickly?

For quick CD or DVD burning, put a
shortcut to your disc drive on your
desktop. Burning files to disc becomes as
simple as dragging and dropping them
onto the new shortcut.

source:dummies.com

Google Quietly Shutters SMS Search, Irks Users

Google apparently shut down its SMS
Search function last week without
warning, but the news barely made a
splash outside of its niche group of
feature phone owners.
Starting Thursday, a handful of users
turned to the Google Product Forums to
commiserate over the loss of their free,
text message-based search.
The function allowed non-smartphone
owners to text Google (466453) with a
question — directions, weather, sports
scores, movie times — and receive results
sans hyperlinks via SMS. As TechCrunch
pointed out , it was mainly intended for
feature phones without data connections.
It could, however, be utilized on any
smartphone, as well.
Those who attempted to use SMS Search
as of May 9 began receiving the following
message: "SMS search has been
shutdown. You can continue to search the
web at google.com on any device."
The "SMS Search" link on the Google SMS
applications page , meanwhile, currently
goes to a dead link. Google's other SMS-
based products — calendar, Blogger,
Gmail, and SMS messages via Google Voice
— appear to still be working.
Google did not immediately respond to
PCMag's request for comment, but in a
Friday forum post, Googler Jessica S. said
"closing products always involves tough
choices, but we do think very hard about
each decision and its implications for our
users. Streamlining our services enables
us to focus on creating beautiful
technology that will improve people's
lives."
But that wasn't enough to satisfy some
loyal customers.
"Some users only have voice + sms
enabled (no data plan)," Greg Meboe
wrote on the forum on Friday. "Google
SMS search was my link to information on
the go. Please consider restoring this
service."
"I am so disgusted by this change,
especially without notifying the customers
who used this as a daily and integral part
of their lives," user Dyerra wrote last
week. "I was quite dismayed to find that a
service that had worked only yesterday
no longer worked today. ... This seriously
makes me want to not use Google for
anything anymore. I used to feel very
positively about Google's business
practices and ethics, but this has tainted
my viewpoint."
It's no surprise that companies are
shifting their focus from low-end devices
to smartphones and tablets. As of the first
quarter of 2013, smartphones officially
outsold feature phones for the first time,
in what IDC called a "seasonally slow"
three months.
This isn't the first time Google has irked
users with plans for a product shutdown,
either. In March, the company announced
that it will shutter Google Reader as of
July 1, prompting outrage (and online
petitions ).


source:pcmag

Rooney requests transfer, as United eye Everton duo

Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney
has handed in a transfer request at the
club. The England international has
enjoyed a poor campaign for the
champions, despite scoring 16 goals this
season. Rooney’s future at United has
been in doubt, even prior to him handing
in his transfer request.
The likes of French club PSG, German
champions Bayern and Premier League
rivals Chelsea are all looking to sign the
striker. Retiring Manchester United boss
Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that the
club have refused to accept the request
and hopes that he will re-think his
decision.
Meanwhile with Everton boss David
Moyes arriving at Old Trafford this
summer United could make a double
swoop on the Merseyside. Marouane
Fellaini and Leighton Baines are the
players believed to be top of David
Moyes shopping list.
Both players have been in outstanding
form this season. Baines had been the
target of interest from Manchester
United in previous summers, but Everton
have managed to hold onto their highly-
rated. However, this summer could be
different with Moyes now at Old
Trafford.
According to media reports, United could
launch a double bid of £40million for the
pair. With money tight at Goodison and
the incoming Everton boss needing funds
to strengthen the squad the bid may
prove too good to refuse.

source:football-transfers

LG to invest 120 bln won in environmental safety

LG Electronics Inc., the world's third-largest smartphone maker, said Monday that it plans to spend 120 billion won (US$107.8 million) to beef up its environmental safety program,
including chemical spill prevention, by 2015.
LG also said it will expand the number of
chemical experts and improve its fire
protection system as part of the plans.
The investment plan came after a highly
poisonous hydrofluoric acid leak at Samsung
Electronics Corporation's main chip plant
took place on Thursday in the South Korean
city of Hwaseong.

For the second time in just three months, a
small amount of diluted hydrofluoric acid, a
colorless acute poison that can damage the
lungs and bones and even affect the nervous
system, leaked at Samsung's semiconductor
plant in Hwaseong, 60 kilometers south of
Seoul, injuring three subcontract workers.


source:yonhapnews

Samsung to offer 5G service by 2020

Samsung Electronics Co. said Sunday that it
successfully developed a core technology of
the fifth-generation network (5G) for the first
time, aiming to enable users to access faster
data services by 2020.
The new wireless technology will enable
customers to access a stream of data faster
than the current fourth-generation network
and download an entire movie in less than a
second, the world's largest smartphone
maker said.
Under the new platform, users can
download and upload data at speeds of up to
tens of gigabits per second (Gbps), compared
to 75 megabits per second (Mbps) posted by
the fourth-generation long-term evolution
(LTE) service.
Samsung Electronics said it has
successfully tested the platform using the 28
Gigahertz (GHz) waveband to transmit data
at a speed of 1 Gbps, which earlier had been
considered as a conundrum by global
industry players.
The tech giant said it used 64 antenna
elements to overcome the issue, which
allowed the device to exchange real-time
signals under the platform. Samsung plans to
make the service available to consumers by
2020, it added.
Market watchers said Samsung's
development will add vitality to global
development of the 5G network and its
commercialization, as well as help in making
an international standard for the platform.
Advanced countries have been vying to
pre-empt the 5G market, with China and the
European Union injecting large sums of cash
into development of the new communication
platform.

Source:yonhapnews image-hobotraveler.com

Box Office: ‘Gatsby’ Jazzy with Nearly $60 Million Projected Bow; ‘Iron Man’ Still No. 1

It’s all about glitz and iron this weekend
at the domestic box office as “Iron Man
3″ in its soph sesh and opener “The
Great Gatsby” lead the pack with $19.8
million and $19.4 million from Friday,
respectively.

Though it’s neck-and-neck now, the gap
between the two is expected to widen
significantly by Sunday, with Disney-
Marvel’s threequel leading by about $10
million in the high $60 million range.
That said, Warner Bros.’ “Gatsby” is
wildly outperforming pre-weekend
expectations that had “Iron Man 3″
pummeling it into the $30 million range
through Sunday. It will exceed that
estimate by about $20 million. For a film
surrounded by tentpoles (Paramount
bows “Star Trek Into Darkness” next
week), and with a $100 million budget
after incentives to recoup, this frame is a
very good start.
“Iron Man 3″ will fall about 60% from its
opening weekend. Actioner has cumed
$232.2 million through Friday, bringing
its worldwide total to more than $795.6
million.
In fourth place, after Par’s “Pain and
Gain,” Lionsgate bowed Tyler Perry’s
“Peeples” Friday to $1.2 million. The
laffer, which was supported by a targeted
marketing effort aimed at African
American women for Mother’s Day, was
expected to earn an opening in the high
single digits, but it’s now looking closer
to about $4 million in three days.



Source:variety.com

Cybercriminals 'drained ATMs' in $45m world bank heist

A gang of cybercriminals stole $45m
(£29m) by hacking into a database of
prepaid debit cards and draining cash
machines around the world, US prosecutors
say.
Seven people have been charged in New York
over the heist, which allegedly stretched
across 26 countries.
An eighth suspect is thought to have been
murdered in April.
The network used fake cards to target banks
in the United Arab Emirates and Oman, court
documents said.
Prosecutors said law enforcement agencies in
Japan, Canada, the UK, Romania and 12
other countries were involved in the
investigation.
Arrests had been made in other countries,
they said, although details were not released.

'Laptops not guns'

"The defendants and their co-conspirators
participated in a massive 21st Century bank
heist that reached across the internet and
stretched around the globe," Loretta Lynch,
US Attorney for the Eastern District of New
York, said in a statement.
"In the place of guns and masks, this
cybercrime organisation used laptops and the
internet."
Members of the scheme allegedly hacked
computer systems to steal data on prepaid
debit cards. The cards are pre-loaded with
funds rather than being linked to a bank
account or a line of credit.
They cancelled withdrawal limits and
distributed information to accomplices
referred to as "cashers" around the world.
The cashers then loaded other magnetic
stripe cards, such as gift cards or old hotel
keys, with the stolen data and used them to
withdraw huge sums.
The first alleged raid took place at the
Rakbank in the UAE in December. Criminals
were able to conduct 4,500 transactions
worth $5m across about 20 countries.
Prosecutors believe the group broke into the
Bank of Muscat based in Oman in February.
In the space of 10 hours, casher cells
withdrew $40m in 36,000 transactions from
ATMs in 24 countries.
According to the indictment of the New York
defendants, they quickly moved to launder
their cash, opening a Miami bank account
and pouring money into cars, including a
Porsche and a Mercedes, and Rolex watches.
Seven people have been arrested and face
charges of conspiracy to commit access
device fraud and money laundering.
The accused ringleader of the cell was
reportedly murdered in the Dominican
Republic just weeks earlier, prosecutors said.
"Our message is clear. Law enforcement
should not stand by as cybercriminals target
our global financial system for their own
ends," Ms Lynch told reporters.
She added that the attack was the "largest
theft of this type that we have yet seen".


Source:bbc

Censoring Facebook: Social network's violent video dilemma

Facebook's decision to remove videos
showing people being decapitated leaves the
firm in a quandary: should or shouldn't it
impose a wider censorship policy?

Originally the social network rejected calls
from users to delete the clips saying that it
wanted to "preserve people's rights to
describe, depict and comment on the world".
But after the BBC revealed that one of its
own safety advisers - the head of the Family
Online Safety Institute - had criticised its
decision, the firm announced a U-turn, saying
it would remove clips showing beheadings
while it re-evaluated its rules.

That potentially opens a can of worms.

Since publishing the article , readers have
contacted the BBC to complain about other
videos, including:

✧one that shows killings which do not involve
   beheadings
✧clips involving cruelty to dogs and other
     animals
✧a smartphone recording of a schoolgirl being
   punched to the ground by another pupil

In all cases they said the network had
refused their requests to remove the material.
A spokeswoman for Facebook confirmed its
policy had only been amended in regard to
decapitations.

But imposing stricter controls would open the
firm up to other criticism.

Before his death, internet freedom
campaigner Aaron Swartz warned of the
dangers of privately owned parts of the net
limiting what was posted onto their sites. He
called this "corporate tyranny" and named
Facebook as a specific concern.

The social network could not provide a date
for when its review would be complete. The
following range of opinions suggest it will
struggle to please everyone.

Richard Allan, Facebook

More than a billion people express
themselves and comment on the world in
which we live through Facebook and most of
the time this is entirely without problem.

On occasions, there are concerns about some
of the content that is being shared and we
have put in place a reporting system so that
people can tell us about this.

The reported content is evaluated against our
community standards and appropriate action
is taken where our rules have been breached.

When drawing up and enforcing our approach
to acceptable behaviour and content on
Facebook, we aim to strike the right balance
between enabling people to share
information, news and content - and
protecting the community as a whole.

This is a complex challenge as Facebook is a
large, diverse community and we are
continually presented with novel situations.
While we freely admit that we do not always
get it right, the trouble-free daily experience
of the vast majority of Facebook users
demonstrates that our systems are working
well in all but the most exceptional cases and
that they are improving over time.

As we said last week, we are reviewing our
rules related to content showing graphic
violence.

In doing so we are clear that there are
situations where it is important for people to
be able to share content through Facebook
even if this can at times be quite shocking.
For example, people caught up in violent
incidents such as the recent Boston
bombings or the ongoing conflict in Syria
want to be able to report on their experiences
and may use quite graphic content to do this.
This illustrates the kind of challenge that our
highly experienced team deals with on a daily
basis as we strive to offer a space for
sharing that is mindful of everyone's
expectations.

Celia Mellow, petition organiser

As a person who holds a strong sense of
justice, I had no hesitation in setting up a
petition for the removal of the sickening
decapitation video I was shocked to find on
my Facebook news feed.

What shocked me even more was the fact
that I had to actually make a petition in any
hope for the video to be removed.

No matter how many times my friends and I
reported it, we all received the same
message, stating that "it doesn't violate
Facebook's community standard on graphic
violence, which includes depicting harm to
someone or something".

How does a video of an innocent woman
being brutally murdered not "violate" this? I
can only hope that there is a criminal
investigation that will bring her justice.

As a loyal Facebook fan, I understand that
Facebook is only allowing people to have
freedom of speech. However, I think it is
about time they drew a line between what is
and isn't appropriate for the public.

Facebook's audience starts from children
aged 13 - what I feared the most was that my
younger sister could easily have witnessed
that disgusting video.

No-one should be exposed to such graphic
horror. Sadly, that video isn't the only
inappropriate content to have wandered onto
Facebook recently. I have heard of others
showing extreme violence and cruelty to both
humans and animals.

It's time that new stricter regulations are
made by Facebook in order to remove these
vile videos for good so that it might return to
being the safe social network it used to be.

Jeremie Zimmermann, La Quadrature du Net

Any intervention by Facebook to remove or
block access to content beyond what a court
might order - while respecting basic
fundamental rights and the principle of
proportionality - would in practice amount to
privatised censorship, and nobody has an
interest in going there.

A dominant, centralised actor such as
Facebook would be incentivised to spend as
little money as possible determining which
content would be lawful or not, suitable or
not, etc.

This would raise the question of what criteria
would be used. Opening such a breach would
ensure that any government could pressure
Facebook to consider their own criteria,
whether for political, religious or other
reasons.

Under such conditions we can be sure that
the fundamental right to freedom of speech
or the right to a fair trial would not be
respected.

As surely as we cannot trust giant centralised
corporations to defend our fundamental
freedoms, we cannot ask them to become the
judges and enforcers of what information
should be shared online.

Protecting children on the net is a
responsibility of their parents in the first
place. It cannot be outsourced to Facebook.
It is a matter of educating them about the
difference between the "circle of trust" offered
by their own private relationships with friends
and family, and the public nature of this
communication system.

Since Facebook collects and stores so much
information it should be able to determine
when one of its members is a minor and is
about to be exposed to content that has been
reported as unsuitable, and display a warning
message.

Users would then be free to choose to take
that advice, or make a conscious choice to
access the content.

Stephen Balkam, Family Online Safety Institute (Fosi)

Facebook, and most other social media sites,
have explicit terms of service about what is
and what is not acceptable to be hosted on
their websites.

Some go further and have created what are
known as community standards.
These more clearly state the rules about
what kinds of content will be removed.
Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have robust
reporting mechanisms so that ordinary users
can flag inappropriate or abusive content for
review.

What is challenging for these companies is
how and where to draw the line.
This will help them determine when to invoke
the "public interest" principle in keeping
material - such as images from the Boston
Marathon bombing - up on their site, even
though they depict graphic violence.
This is new territory for us all as we navigate
the rules, ethics and standards of user-
generated content sites.

Andrew McDiarmid, Center for Democracy &
Technology

The controversy over Facebook's treatment of
shocking videos of beheadings is the latest
illustration of the enormous complexity at
work when it comes to promoting the
exercise of human rights online.

Billions of people rely on internet platforms
to speak and access information in the
networked public sphere, but the platforms
are controlled by private companies, whose
terms of service in large part determine the
contours of free expression.

In one sense, platform operators are
themselves speakers that have the right to
determine their own policies. At the same
time, these "digital sovereigns" - to borrow a
phrase from Rebecca MacKinnon - effectively
govern their users' exercise of free expression
rights.

Platforms have a responsibility, particularly
as they grow to Facebook-scale, to consider
the human rights impact of their policies and
to minimise restrictions on free expression.
This is especially true with respect to
government restrictions. It would be troubling
indeed if government pressure precipitated
the video's removal in this case.

A key step in carrying out this responsibility
is ensuring that content policies are clearly
communicated and fairly applied.

The horrific beheading video and Facebook's
reported reaction demonstrate the challenges
that arise when trying to develop and apply
clear, consistent standards in the complex
and multi-faceted realm of online
communication.

Context matters a great deal. Different
companies might draw the line in different
places, and just because something is
offensive or disturbing does not mean it
necessarily violates a particular term. And it
certainly does not make it illegal.

Because of this complexity, systems for
assessing content require constant
refinement to ensure that free expression is
protected.

Advocates, too, must remain vigilant that the
private players that provide so much public
value online are meeting their responsibilities
to users.

Is it complicated and prone to mistakes and
close calls? Yes, but the alternative -
mandated content policies and individual
governments vying for control over the global
internet - is untenable and fraught with risk
for free expression.

Dr Lynne Jordan, British Psychological
Society

The main concern, as an experienced
psychologist, in working with the effects of
actual and vicarious violence is a lack of
awareness of violation of choice.

Material is posted on news feeds and "liked"
indiscriminately without thought as to the
rights of under-aged youngsters and others
who may view it.

People, whether young or old, can be
negatively affected by witnessing violence
either on screen or in reality.

Effects include trauma responses such as
replaying the images, feeling scared and
vulnerable, ashamed, invaded or violated and
confused, as well as angry and helpless,
which is reinforced via the news feed as
these things pop up uninvited.

Ethical codes are there for safety and to
preserve the right to choose what is viewed
when users are considered of age or able to
understand the implications. Social media
sites are mostly not obliged to adhere to
such codes which creates a problem,
particularly if they issue their own vague
inadequate guidelines.

Social networks' news feeds allow material to
arrive on people's pages that might never be
sought by choice.

Extensive "friendship lists" develop with
people who may not be actual friends but
through casual contact get "befriended",
perhaps out of obligation or a need to fit in,
be liked etc.

The material is often posted supposedly to
prevent the spread of violent crime or other
violations, but in fact it can inadvertently
escalate it by sidestepping the consent of the
people accessing the feeds.

This is reminiscent of the "ban smoking in
public places" debate with the concern of
whose rights we are protecting.

In that debate it was largely about public
physical health. This debate concerns public
mental health and wellbeing.

Source:bbc

YouTube launches pay-to- watch subscription channels

YouTube has launched a trial scheme for
paid channels on its website.

Under the pilot programme, a small number
of content makers will offer the channels for
subscriptions starting at $0.99 (£0.64) a
month.

Each channel will offer a free 14-day trial
and many will have discounted annual rates.

Although the initial 53-channel line-up is
fairly niche, one expert suggested the move
might ultimately squeeze some smaller rivals
out of the market.

YouTube, which is owned by Google, said the
launch was part of an effort to enable
"content creators to earn revenue for their
creativity".

For example, the children's television
favourite, Sesame Street will offer full
episodes on its pay channel when it
launches.

Subscribers can pay using either their credit
cards or through Google's own Wallet service.

The paid channels involved in the pilot are
diverse.

They include National Geographic Kids, Acorn
- which provides episodes from several
British TV series -and Fix My Hog Premium,
which is aimed at Harley Davidson
motorcycle enthusiasts.

"This is just the beginning", YouTube said on
its blog.

"We'll be rolling paid channels out more
broadly in the coming weeks as a self-
service feature for qualifying partners.
"And as new channels appear, we'll be
making sure you can discover them."

Traditional TV turn-off?

The advent of paid channels on YouTube
means Google joins Netflix, Hulu and
Amazon in offering subscription-based
alternatives to traditional pay-TV.

"The wider picture here is that the internet
and TV worlds are colliding," Ian Maude, an
online media expert at consultants Enders
Analysis told the BBC.

"The YouTube move will make it much harder
for smaller standalone online subscription-
based platforms because Google has the
infrastructure to make it easy for content to
be hosted, delivered and billed for.

"But it was always inevitable that Google was
going to do this."

One billion viewers

Google bought YouTube in 2006 for $1.65bn.
The service is believed to generate a small
amount of revenue from advertising, but the
vast majority of its content has been free-to-
watch.

To make itself more attractive to potential
advertisers, YouTube has gradually added
professional content, such as full-length
films and TV shows, to its vast library of
amateur videos.

YouTube says a billion people around the
world use the service every month.

"If YouTube were a country, we'd be the third
largest in the world after China and India,"
the company said in March.

Source:bbc

Sony reports first annual profit in five years

Sony has reported an annual profit for the
first time in five years, boosted by asset
sales and a weakening yen.

Net profit was 43bn yen ($436m; £280m) in
the year to 31 March, compared with a
457bn loss a year earlier.

Sony said the yen's recent fall, which makes
its goods cheaper for foreign buyers, boosted
sales. A weak yen also lifts profits when
firms repatriate their foreign earnings back
home.

But some analysts said gains from asset
sales had skewed the latest numbers.
The firm said it expected its profits to rise to
50bn yen in the current financial year, with
the yen forecast to remain weak.

The Japanese currency has fallen more than
20% against the US dollar since November
last year, after policymakers unveiled a
series of aggressive measures aimed at
spurring growth in the economy.

Restructuring process

Sony, which was once a market leader in
various product categories, has seen its
fortunes plummet over the past few years.

Increased competition, falling prices and
narrowing profit margins have hurt its
business, especially in the TV segment which
has been making a loss for the past eight
years.

As a result, Sony has been trying to
restructure its business model and reduce its
costs.

As part of the restructuring process, the firm
has sold key assets over the past few
months, including its US headquarters in New
York and some of its shares in M3, a
medical research and marketing firm.
The firm has also offloaded its "Sony City
Osaki" building in Tokyo.

Sony said the sale of all these assets had
resulted in gains of nearly $2.5bn during the
last financial year - and the figure
contributed to the rise in its earnings during
the period.

Analysts said that given the impact these
sales have had on its profit - the numbers
were not a true reflection of the firm's
success.

Gerhard Fasol of Eurotechnology Japan said
that these gains "really need to be subtracted
from the results, to understand the regular
operating results".

Mr Fasol pointed out that the firm's results
indicated that its electronics division
continued to struggle and that the unit had
not been turned around yet.



Source:bbc

Sun's blood pressure benefits 'may outdo cancer risks'

The health benefits of exposing skin to
sunlight may far outweigh the risk of
developing skin cancer, according to
scientists.

Edinburgh University research suggests
sunlight helps reduce blood pressure, cutting
heart attack and stroke risks and even
prolonging life.

UV rays were found to release a compound
that lowers blood pressure.

Researchers said more studies would be
carried out to determine if it is time to
reconsider advice on skin exposure.

Heart disease and stroke linked to high blood
pressure are estimated to lead to about 80
times more deaths than those from skin
cancer in the UK.

Production of the pressure-reducing
compound, nitric oxide, is separate from the
body's manufacture of vitamin D, which rises
after exposure to sunshine.

Researchers said that until now vitamin D
production had been considered the sole
benefit of the sun to human health.

During the research, dermatologists studied
the blood pressure of 24 volunteers under UV
and heat lamps.

In one session, the volunteers were exposed
to both UV rays and the heat of the lamps.
In the other, the UV rays were blocked so
that only the heat affected the skin.

The results showed that blood pressure
dropped significantly for an hour after
exposure to UV rays, but not after the heat-
only sessions.

Scientists said that this suggested it was the
sun's UV rays that brought health benefits.
The volunteers' vitamin D levels remained
unaffected in both sessions.

'Reconsider our advice'

Dr Richard Weller, a senior lecturer in
dermatology at Edinburgh University, said:
"We suspect that the benefits to heart health
of sunlight will outweigh the risk of skin
cancer.

"The work we have done provides a
mechanism that might account for this, and
also explains why dietary vitamin D
supplements alone will not be able to
compensate for lack of sunlight.

"We now plan to look at the relative risks of
heart disease and skin cancer in people who
have received different amounts of sun
exposure.

"If this confirms that sunlight reduces the
death rate from all causes, we will need to
reconsider our advice on sun exposure."

The study will be presented on Friday in
Edinburgh at the world's largest gathering of
skin experts. The International Investigative
Dermatology conference starts on Wednesday
and runs until Saturday.


Source:bbc

Brazil in talks to hire 6,000 Cuban doctors

Brazil has begun negotiations to hire at least
6,000 Cuban doctors to work in rural areas,
Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota
says.

Both countries are consulting the Pan
American Health Organization to allow Cuban
doctors to practise in Brazil.

Most Brazilian doctors are concentrated in
the country's bigger cities, leaving remote
areas badly covered.

Cuba has already sent tens of thousands of
doctors to work in Venezuela, which in turn
provides Havana with cheap oil.

There was no deadline yet for the doctors'
arrival in Brazil, Mr Patriota told reporters
after meeting his Cuban counterpart, Bruno
Rodriguez, in the Cuban capital.

A Brazilian doctors' organisation, the Federal
Medical Council, said the proposal was
"irresponsible" because of questions
surrounding medical qualifications. It
condemned the step as a "politico-electoral"
programme.

'Pharmaceuticals'

The talks with Cuba were initiated by
President Dilma Rousseff in January last
year, during her visit to Havana.

At the time, Ms Rousseff also spoke about
joint production of medicine, another topic
mentioned by Mr Patriota on Monday.

"Cuba is very proficient in the areas of
medicine, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology
and Brazil is considering receiving around
6,000 Cubans doctors or a little more," said
the Brazilian Foreign minister.

Both countries also discussed infrastructure
projects in Cuba "such as the Mariel port,
and also the refurbishment of the airports in
Havana and Santiago, which will also be
financed by Brazil," Mr Patriota said.

Brazil is expected to loan $176m (£113m)
from its development bank BNDES for work
at Cuban airports, Reuters reported.

Cuban authorities say Brazil is its sixth
biggest trading partner and main food
supplier.

Bilateral trade between the two countries
reached a record $661m last year, up 6% on
2011.


Source:bbc

Toshiba kirabook

The Toshiba Kirabook is about as direct a
frontal assault as a company could make on
Apple's MacBook Air. It's got a featherweight
(2.9-pound), slim, 0.7-inch-thin magnesium
frame with tapered edges that make it seem
even thinner. It's even got an L-shaped hinge
and backlit keys like Apple's laptops do.

In fact, it's pretty easy to mistake the
Kirabook for a 13-inch MacBook Air when
you first look at it, or even when you first
pick it up. This isn't necessarily a bad thing,
as the MacBook Air has ideal design and
construction. Really, it's a bit surprising that
there aren't more imitators out there. There
are plenty of ultrabooks , but until the
Kirabook came along, the Samsung Series 9
was the closest thing you could get to the
form and function of a MacBook Air.

But while the Kirabook may look and feel like
a MacBook Air, it sports the spec sheet of the
more powerful 13-inch MacBook Pro with
Retina display . The Kirabook's 2560 x 1440
display rivals the pixel density of Apple's
2560 x 1600 Retina screen (honestly, though,
at a certain point the pixels are so small that
the differences are imperceptible), yet
Toshiba's machine comes with an optional
touchscreen as well. Ditch the touchscreen
and the weight falls to 2.6 pounds. Kirabook
also can be outfitted with either a 2.7-GHz
Intel Core i5 chip or a blisteringly fast 3.1-
GHz i7. In short, this is a ludicrously
powerful Windows 8 laptop in a compact,
lightweight, sturdy frame.

We've spent a weekend with an i7 Kirabook
and found it to be one of the better Windows
laptops out there. Battery life was admirable;
Toshiba claims 6 hours on a charge, which is
slightly less than Apple claims for its 13-inch
MacBook Air. The Kirabook is surprisingly
light and easy to carry around, even for
someone used to toting a MacBook Air,
because the Kirabook is actually a smaller
package than Apple's featherweight
computer.

The reason the Kirabook can still have a
13.3-inch screen is that Toshiba's screen has
a thinner bezel. However, that thin bezel has
some drawbacks on a Win 8 touchscreen
device. Touchscreen navigation on Windows
8 requires swipe-ins from all sides, and the
Kirabook's thin bezel gives scant real estate
at the edges. Also, the Kirabook's capacitive
display is a bit heftier than the thin screen on
Apple's MacBooks. The overall weight of the
Kirabook is low, and the weight distribution
still favors the keyboard, at least enough to
keep the device from tipping backward. But
the keyboard section is light enough and the
display heavy enough to make opening the
thing a bit awkward.

Even the screen's unbelievably high
resolution has its drawbacks. Menu items,
fonts, and icons are tiny and unreadable at
Windows' native scale. We suggest a trip into
the Control Panel to blow up the point sizes
and scale of pretty much every UI element.

And then there's the price: A baseline i5
Kirabook with no touchscreen starts at $1600
—that's $200 more than the priciest
MacBook Air. And a top-tier i7 Kirabook with
touchscreen costs $2000—a $100 premium
over a MacBook Pro with Retina outfitted
with an i7 processor.

That kind of price premium over the
computers Toshiba is aiming to compete
against is going to be a problem. Which is a
shame, because, performance-wise, the
Kirabook is a stunner. It can handle video
editing with ease—it ships with copies of
Adobe Premier Elements 11 and Photoshop
Elements 11—and it handles games and
tasks like video encode/decode with no
hiccups. Aside from the small caveats
mentioned above about display weight and
bezel size, the Kirabook is a genuine pleasure
to use. The keyboard is comfortable; the
frame is sturdy and high-quality. The port
configuration is useful and generous for a
machine of this size, including three USB 3.0
ports, an SD card reader, and a full-size
HDMI port. And did we mention how
stunningly sharp the screen is? It's worth
mentioning again.

Were it not for the price, this would be a
totally reasonable alternative to Apple's
premium lineup. But here's our advice to
anyone looking for a high-quality option that
isn't an Apple laptop: Wait out Toshiba on
this one. When the company drops the prices
on Kirabooks by 10 percent, snatch one up.

Source:popularmechanics

Fast & Furious 6

                              Agent Luke Hobbs enlists Dominic Toretto and his team to bring down former Special Ops soldier Owen Shaw, leader of a unit specializing in vehicular warfare.

Runtime:130min

Release Date:The premiere of Fast & Furious 6 took

place on May 7, 2013, at the Empire

cinema in Leicester Square, London. 

The film is scheduled for wide

release in the United Kingdom on May

17, 2013, followed by a North American

release on May 24. 

Director:Justin Lin

Writers:Chris Morgan (screenplay), Gary

Scott Thompson (characters)

Cast:

Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto : A street racer and fugitive. 

Paul Walker as Brian O'Conner: A former FBI agent turned criminal. He is in a relationship with Mia Toretto.

Dwayne Johnson as Luke Hobbs: A Diplomatic Security Service agent. 

Jordana Brewster as Mia Toretto: Dominic's sister and the girlfriend of Brian O'Conner. 

Tyrese Gibson as Roman Pearce: Brian's childhood friend.

Michelle Rodriguez as Letty Ortiz: Dominic's former girlfriend who was believed to be dead. 

Sung Kang as Han Seoul-Oh: A street racer and member of Dominic's crew.

Chris Bridges as Tej Parker: Brian's and Roman's friend.

Luke Evans as Owen Shaw: A former SAS Major now leading a heist gang. 

Gina Carano as Riley: A member of Hobbs' team.

Gal Gadot as Gisele Yashar: A former Mossad agent turned professional criminal. 

Joe Taslim as Jah: A cold blooded killer who fights using martial arts and parkour. 

Clara Paget as Vegh: The character is described as a gun-slinging action woman. 

Elsa Pataky as Elena Neves. 

Rita Ora portrays the head girl of a London racing crew. 

Jin Au-Yeung as Jimmy.

Storyline:

Since Dom (Diesel) and Brian's (Walker) Rio

heist toppled a kingpin's empire and left their

crew with $100 million, our heroes have

scattered across the globe. But their inability

to return home and living forever on the lam

have left their lives incomplete. Meanwhile,

Hobbs (Johnson) has been tracking an

organization of lethally skilled mercenary

drivers across 12 countries, whose

mastermind (Evans) is aided by a ruthless

second-in-command revealed to be the love

Dom thought was dead, Letty (Rodriguez).

The only way to stop the criminal outfit is to

outmatch them at street level, so Hobbs asks

Dom to assemble his elite team in London.

Payment? Full pardons for all of them so

they can return home and make their families

whole again.

Official Trailer

Source: imdb and wikipedia