Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Reuters: Technology News



Panel to review split ruling in Apple, Samsung patent fight
Posted: 29 May 2013 08:18 AM PDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A trade panel that specializes in patent cases will reconsider a split decision made by one of its judges in a long-running patent battle between Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Apple Inc.
Posted: 29 May 2013 07:26 AM PDT
(Reuters) - Facebook Inc said its systems to remove hate speech haven't worked as well as the company had hoped, amid reports that advertisers are pulling their brands off the social network in the face of a backlash from women's groups.
Posted: 29 May 2013 07:03 AM PDT
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc agreed to pay to license retailer ratings from online rating service STELLAService as the world's largest Internet search company steps up competition with e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc.


Posted: 29 May 2013 06:39 AM PDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors have filed an indictment against the operators of digital currency exchange Liberty Reserve, accusing the Costa Rica-based company of helping criminals around the world launder more than $6 billion in illicit funds linked to everything from child pornography to software for hacking into banks.
Posted: 29 May 2013 06:07 AM PDT
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc said on Wednesday that it will make five original TV series, having used viewer feedback to pick the shows out of a group of 14 pilots filmed by the world's largest Internet retailer earlier this year.
Posted: 29 May 2013 03:30 AM PDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors have filed an indictment against the operators of digital currency exchange Liberty Reserve, accusing the Costa Rica-based company of helping criminals around the world launder more than $6 billion in illicit funds linked to everything from child pornography to software for hacking into banks.


Posted: 28 May 2013 10:54 PM PDT
RANCHOS PALOS VERDES, Calif./SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook defended the company's record of innovation under his stewardship, saying he expected it would release "several more game changers" and hinting that wearable computers could be among them.
Posted: 28 May 2013 08:44 PM PDT
WASHINGTON/TOKYO (Reuters) - Sprint Nextel Corp and Japan's SoftBank Corp have reached an agreement with U.S. authorities on the national security aspects of the Japanese firm's pending $20.1 billion deal to win control of the U.S. wireless carrier, people familiar with the matter said.
Posted: 28 May 2013 06:40 PM PDT
(Reuters) - New York's top financial regulator has asked some of the largest U.S. insurance companies to disclose details on their preparedness for cyber attacks, following a similar request to major banks earlier this year.
Posted: 28 May 2013 04:14 PM PDT
(Reuters) - Sprint Nextel Corp and Japan's SoftBank Corp reached an agreement in principle with the U.S. government to address any national security concerns arising from the Japanese company getting control of the U.S. telecom carrier, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources.
Posted: 28 May 2013 03:28 PM PDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors have filed an indictment against the operators of digital currency exchange Liberty Reserve, accusing the Costa Rica-based company of helping criminals around the world launder more than $6 billion in illicit funds linked to everything from child pornography to software for hacking into banks.


Posted: 28 May 2013 03:21 PM PDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors have filed an indictment against the operators of digital currency exchange Liberty Reserve, accusing the Costa Rica-based company of helping criminals around the world launder more than $6 billion in illicit funds linked to everything from child pornography to software for hacking into banks.


Posted: 28 May 2013 02:13 PM PDT
PARIS/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - ST-Ericsson, a money-losing joint venture being wound down by owners STMicroelectronics and Ericsson, has sold its GPS mobile business to Intel.
Posted: 28 May 2013 12:13 PM PDT
ON BOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will discuss cybersecurity with Chinese President Xi Jinping when the two leaders meet in California next week, White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Tuesday.
Posted: 28 May 2013 11:40 AM PDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Older versions of the website for Liberty Reserve, a company U.S. authorities claim was a money transfer hub for criminal gangs trafficking in drugs and child pornography, expressly said the firm "will not do business with anyone suspected of, or directly involved in money laundering."
Posted: 28 May 2013 10:11 AM PDT
HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba will begin offering broader Internet access next month through 118 outlets around the country, according to a decree in the government's Official Gazette on Tuesday, in a step long awaited by many Cubans.
Posted: 28 May 2013 09:55 AM PDT
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Global personal computer shipments face a deeper-than-expected 7.8 percent slump this year as tablets overtake laptops for the first time, according to a report from market research company IDC.
Posted: 28 May 2013 09:48 AM PDT
ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Gulf telecom operator Etisalat has secured shareholder approval for the financing package to back its bid for Vivendi's 53 percent stake in Maroc Telecom, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Posted: 28 May 2013 09:00 AM PDT
TORONTO (Reuters) - Shoppers walking into a clothing store in New York City's SoHo neighborhood should not be surprised if a smartphone app, rather than a salesperson, greets them at the door.

The pilot census taking: Some answers and lingering questions



The pilot census taking: Some answers and lingering questions
Posted: 29 May 2013 01:27 AM PDT

The pilot census taking, conducted in 20 village tracts in the country's 7 states and 7 regions on 29 March, has come and gone.

The good thing about it is that handouts explaining about how census commission/committees are organized, the regulations they have to follow and how census is to be taken were distributed, which just came into our eager hands. Understandably, we lost no time hungrily wolfing them away.


Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund with Ministe of Immigration and Population U Khin Yi on 29 August 2012 (Photo: UNFPA)

One good news is that citizens who are residing abroad will also be taken into account without having to return home in order to stand and be counted on 29 March-11 April 2013 when the actual count will be done. (Informed sources coming from Burma however say while exiles who have relatives in urban areas may not need to go back, those coming from the rural areas, especially those who don't even have household registers, may need to go back.)

The household where you come from will answer on your behalf: your name, gender, the year you went abroad, the name of your host country and how you are related to the family.

The following details are also stated as necessary:

  • Age
  • Marital status
  • Religious faith
  • Race
  • Category of card (pink, blue, green, three-fold, white, Foreign Registration Card (FRC), passport)
  • Health and disability
  • Reason for translocation
  • Education
  • Children
  • Occupation/ work force

These are of course very proper and vital for a government that will have to draw plans and implement them for the good of its people:

  • How many schools/ hospitals are needed
  • Water supply system
  • Amount of electricity needed
  • Roads/ bridges to be built
  • Jobs to be created
  • Regional security requirements
  • Socio-economic conditions
  • Care needed for the disabled, elderly, women and children

Of course, as plans go, there might be a joker in it, especially when the people were not consulted before hand.

Among the handouts received by SHAN was an article written by "Myan Pyi Tha" (son of Myanmarland) once again asserting that there are 135 races in the country, when the count by experts is only around 50, give or take.

For instance, it claims there are 12 races in Kachin State:

Kachin
Tro
Dalao
Jingphaw
Gauri
Khakhu
Duren
Maru
Rawang
Lashi
Atzi
Lisu

However, experts have found that Kachin is not a separate race but a collective designation for its 6 main races: Jingphaw, Maru, Rawang, Lashi, Atzi and Lisu, while the remaining 5 are but clan names.

The same is true for other states, according to Gamanii, a Thai-based researcher.
So we hope no more such mistakes, either deliberate or dumb, are made in the upcoming 2014 census taking.

If the military is really needed to keep the country together, it must be based on hard facts, not false allegations.

Top Stories - Google News

Top Stories - Google News


Joe Bogus Account Said to Show Liberty Reserve's Evasive Design - Businessweek

Posted: 28 May 2013 10:29 PM PDT


Boston Globe

Joe Bogus Account Said to Show Liberty Reserve's Evasive Design
Businessweek
Liberty Reserve SA, whose operators are charged with running a scheme that masked more than $6 billion of criminal proceeds, was designed to help users evade scrutiny, U.S. prosecutors said. The digital currency company, unlike traditional banks or ...
7 charged in $6B online money laundering caseWall Street Journal
Feds in NY: Costa Rica money biz a hub for crooksPost-Bulletin
Liberty Reserve indicted on digital currency money-laundering chargesLos Angeles Times
Irish Times -New York Times -Washington Post
all 508 news articles »

Mothers now top earners in 4 in 10 US households - Houston Chronicle

Posted: 29 May 2013 12:10 AM PDT


Dallas Morning News

Mothers now top earners in 4 in 10 US households
Houston Chronicle
WASHINGTON (AP) — America's working mothers are now the primary breadwinners in a record 40 percent of households with children — a milestone in the changing face of modern families, up from just 11 percent in 1960. The findings by the Pew ...
More US women than ever are breadwinners, Pew study findsLos Angeles Times
Nearly 40 percent of mothers are now the family breadwinners, report saysWashington Post
Moms are primary breadwinners in 40% of US householdsUSA TODAY
Huffington Post -Pew Social and Demographic Trends -Bloomberg
all 13 news articles »

Drone Strike Kills at Least 4 in Pakistan - New York Times

Posted: 28 May 2013 11:08 PM PDT


Montreal Gazette

Drone Strike Kills at Least 4 in Pakistan
New York Times
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — At least four people were killed and four others injured in a drone attack on a house near the Pakistani-Afghan border early Wednesday, residents in the region said. World Twitter Logo.
Officials: US drone kills 4 militants in PakistanUSA TODAY
US launches first drone strike in Pakistan since electionReuters
US Drone Strike Kills 4 in PakistanVoice of America
Pentagon Post
all 41 news articles »

Train derails in Rosedale area - Baltimore Sun

Posted: 28 May 2013 03:39 PM PDT


NPR

Train derails in Rosedale area
Baltimore Sun
A freight train smacked into a truck carrying garbage and careened off the tracks in Rosedale Tuesday afternoon, triggering an explosion felt throughout the region and sending up a plume of black smoke visible for miles. Authorities identified the driver of the ...
Tractor trailer, cargo train collide outside BaltimoreCBS News
15 Freight Train Cars Derail in Maryland, 1 Person InjuredABC News
Train derails near Baltimore, 1 hurt; blast rattles homes but fire officials say ...Washington Post
USA TODAY -CNN
all 221 news articles »

Disneyland's Toontown evacuated after explosion - Los Angeles Times

Posted: 28 May 2013 10:41 PM PDT


The Guardian

Disneyland's Toontown evacuated after explosion
Los Angeles Times
A small explosion from an apparent dry ice "bomb" at Disneyland's Toontown on Tuesday afternoon forced officials to evacuate people from the popular area, law enforcement authorities said. No injuries were reported from the blast, which rocked the theme ...
Section of Disneyland evacuated after trash can explosionCNN International
UPDATE 1-Dry ice likely led to evacuation at California's DisneylandReuters
No injuries in apparent dry-ice Disneyland blastCBS News
NBC Southern California -The Guardian
all 50 news articles »

2 US officials shot in Caracas strip club - CNN

Posted: 28 May 2013 08:39 PM PDT


New York Daily News

2 US officials shot in Caracas strip club
CNN
Caracas, Venezuela (CNN) -- Two U.S. embassy officials were wounded Tuesday in a shooting, apparently at a strip club, in Caracas, Venezuela. The U.S. State Department said two members of the embassy suffered non-life-threatening injuries but did not ...
2 US embassy officials injured in Venezuelan strip clubFox News
US confirms 2 embassy members injured in VenezuelaXinhua
2 US officials shot in Caracas nightclub, hospital saysCNN International
GlobalPost -KOSU
all 46 news articles »

Apple CEO Tim Cook Confirms Jony Ive's Design Influence On iOS 7 - AppAdvice

Posted: 28 May 2013 11:58 PM PDT


Times of India

Apple CEO Tim Cook Confirms Jony Ive's Design Influence On iOS 7
AppAdvice
As expected, Apple CEO Tim Cook granted an interview at D11, this year's D: All Things Digital conference hosted by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher. The interview was decidedly wide-ranging, and one of the talking points touched upon was Apple's ...
Apple CEO sees more 'gamechangers'; hints at wearable devicesReuters
Apple CEO Cook mum on new products, says 'we have more game changers in us'USA TODAY
Tim Cook: Apple has not lost its touchTelegraph.co.uk
Los Angeles Times -Wall Street Journal -NASDAQ
all 192 news articles »

Man arrested over soldier knife attack in Paris - BBC News

Posted: 28 May 2013 11:49 PM PDT


The Guardian

Man arrested over soldier knife attack in Paris
BBC News
French police have arrested a 22-year-old man in connection with a knife attack on a soldier near Paris on Saturday, officials say. The suspect was detained on Wednesday morning in Yvelines, 45km (28 miles) southwest of the capital, Interior Minister Manuel ...
Man arrested over attack on French soldierThe Guardian
French police arrest suspect in soldier stabbingUSA TODAY
French police arrest suspect in soldier's stabbingCNN
Wall Street Journal -Reuters UK
all 17 news articles »

Anthony Weiner surges into 2nd place in NYC race for Democratic nomination ... - SILive.com

Posted: 28 May 2013 11:14 AM PDT


Politico

Anthony Weiner surges into 2nd place in NYC race for Democratic nomination ...
SILive.com
New York City mayoral hopeful Anthony Weiner rides the subway to a radio appearance on the first day of his campaign, Thursday. (Associated Press). Print · Ken Paulsen/Staten Island Advance By Ken Paulsen/Staten Island Advance Staten Island Advance ...
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love WeinerThe New Republic

all 58 news articles »