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http://www.salon.com/news/2010/01/28/as_china_google_knockoff_sites/index.html?source=newsletter
Thursday, Jan 28, 2010 08:17 EST
Two sites tempt censors, copyright lawyers by offering blocked access
By CARA ANNA, Associated Press
Imitation Web sites of both Google and YouTube have emerged in China as the country faces off against the real Google over its local operations.
YouTubecn.com offers videos from the real YouTube, which is blocked in China. The Google imitation is called Goojje and includes a plea for the U.S.-based Web giant not to leave China, after it threatened this month to do so in a dispute over Web censorship and cyberattacks.
The separate projects went up within a day of each other in mid-January, just after Google's threat to leave.
"This should be an issue with Google's intellectual property, also with China censorship," said Xiao Qiang, director of the Berkeley China Internet Project at the University of California-Berkeley. "I cannot see how these sites can survive very long without facing these two issues."
Both sites were still working Thursday. It wasn't clear what Chinese authorities would do with them, if anything.
China's National Copyright Administration has been cracking down on illegally run Web sites and this month issued a code of ethics, but no statement was posted on its Web site Thursday about the Google and YouTube imitations.
Google had little comment. "The only comment I can give you right now is just to confirm that we're not affiliated," spokeswoman Jessica Powell said in an e-mail.
China is famous for its fake products, but this is the first time such prominent sites have been copied in this way, Xiao said.
The creators of the two sites could not be reached Thursday.
"I did this as a public service," the founder of the YouTube knockoff, Li Senhe, told The Christian Science Monitor in an instant message conversation. Videos on social unrest in China can be found on the site, which is in English.
The real YouTube was blocked in China in 2008 after videos related to Tibetan unrest were posted there.
Some Chinese quickly welcomed the knockoff YouTube site. "I don't know if it will last long," wrote blogger Jia Zhengjing, who has written posts against censorship.
The other site, Goojje, is a working search engine that looks like a combination of Google and its top China competitor, Baidu.
"Exactly speaking, Goojje is not a search engine but a platform for finding friends," one of the founders, Xiao Xuan, told the Henan Business Daily on Wednesday.
Xiao said the site didn't have the level of sensitive material of the copycat YouTube site and that it probably was based on the Google China site instead of the version used in the United States.
"It's quite clean by Chinese censorship standards," he said.
He guessed that based on the amount of time and work needed to build such a site on top of Google's data, Goojje had already been ready before the Google-China showdown started -- and that the founder or founders chose the name "Goojje" to get attention.
The names are a play on words. The second syllable of "Google" sounds like "older brother," and the second syllable of "Goojje" sounds like "older sister" in Mandarin.
Copycat companies are nothing new in China. "Baidu included," Xiao said of China's most popular search engine. "The whole idea is following Google."
Xiao said if another copycat site like these emerges, it probably would be of Facebook -- which is also blocked in China.
------
Associated Press researcher Zhao Liang contributed to this report.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Obama's banking proposals: The impact on Europe
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8475217.stm
By Richard Anderson
Business reporter, BBC news
Deutsche Bank headquarters in Frankfurt
European banks may be affected less than US banks
After months of posturing, mud-slinging and veiled threats, the gloves are finally off.
Perhaps stung by criticism that, after one year in office, he has failed to live up to his pre-election hype, US President Barack Obama is finally taking on the might of Wall Street.
"If these folks want a fight, it's a fight I'm ready to have," Mr Obama vowed on Thursday.
The president's opening salvo, designed to stop banks taking too many risks in the future, is a four-punch combination:
* To limit the overall size of banks
* To ban banks from buying and selling assets with their own money, a practice known as proprietary trading
* To ban them from dealing in hedge funds
* To ban private equity trading, or buying and selling whole companies.
But these wide-ranging activities are undertaken by big banks across the world, and not just in the US.
European banking giants such as Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, Barclays, UBS, HSBC and, to some extent, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) are all heavily involved in these practices.
International co-operation
Indeed, bank share prices across Europe have slumped following Mr Obama's decision to confront Wall Street.
There is no groundswell of opinion in Europe to break up the banks - there just isn't the same political pressure [as in the UK and the US]
Simon Maughan, co-head of equity research, MF Global
In the UK, RBS shares fell 7.7% in Friday morning trading before bouncing back to end the day down 1.8%, while Barclays lost 6.6% before recovering slightly to close the session down 4.1%.
And UK politicians have been quick to back Mr Obama's plans, with City Minister Lord Myners saying the US proposals were "very much in accordance with the direction we have been setting".
Subject to international co-operation, shadow chancellor George Osborne said the Conservatives would impose an identical dismantling of UK banks, while the Liberal Democrats urged the government to "get on with breaking up the banks".
In Europe, Deutsche Bank shares were down 5.8% in morning trading before recovering marginally to end the week down 4.2%, while UBS closed down 3%.
But the impact of Mr Obama's proposed reforms would have less impact on European banks than on US banks, analysts say.
While proprietary trading covers a wide range of activities, the part of it that could realistically be targeted by regulation accounts for just 1%-2% of a European bank's overall revenues, says Simon Maughan, co-head of equity research at MF Global.
Equally, he argues, European banks have been winding down their private equity functions and trading less in hedge funds.
"Such reforms would be a lot less ugly for European banks than for the likes of [US banks] JP Morgan and Bank of America," he says.
European dissent
There is, however, the more fundamental question of whether similar rules will actually be introduced in Europe.
Indeed, the reaction to the US plans by European governments could be rather more subdued than that of the UK.
There has been much deeper navel-gazing in the UK and in the US than in Europe
Jan Randolph, head of sovereign risk, IHS Global Insight
Although the French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde described the US proposals as "a very, very good step forward", it is unclear whether Europe will follow the US's lead.
"The Europeans won't do it," says Mr Maughan.
"There is no groundswell of opinion in Europe to break up the banks - there just isn't the same political pressure [as in the UK and the US]. Banks in Europe are national institutions there to support industry."
He points out there was no Glass-Steagall Act in Europe, a piece of legislation introduced in the US in the aftermath of the Great Depression to separate retail and investment banking, which was abolished by President Bill Clinton in 1999.
European banks have always integrated commercial and investment operations.
"There has been much deeper navel-gazing in the UK and in the US than in Europe," agrees Jan Randolph, head of sovereign risk at IHS Global Insight.
He highlights the fact that German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently talked of vindication for the social market economy in the light of the global financial crisis that many in Europe have blamed on rampant Anglo-Saxon capitalism.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has made similar noises.
If the US and the UK do go ahead with Mr Obama's proposals and Europe does not, then European banks stand to gain an enormous competitive advantage, analysts say.
Proprietary trading will simply move to European financial centres such as Geneva and Zurich, according to Mr Randolph.
And if UK banks in particular are broken up, they could be sitting ducks for continental rivals.
"European banks will simply gobble them up," says Mr Maughan.
By Richard Anderson
Business reporter, BBC news
Deutsche Bank headquarters in Frankfurt
European banks may be affected less than US banks
After months of posturing, mud-slinging and veiled threats, the gloves are finally off.
Perhaps stung by criticism that, after one year in office, he has failed to live up to his pre-election hype, US President Barack Obama is finally taking on the might of Wall Street.
"If these folks want a fight, it's a fight I'm ready to have," Mr Obama vowed on Thursday.
The president's opening salvo, designed to stop banks taking too many risks in the future, is a four-punch combination:
* To limit the overall size of banks
* To ban banks from buying and selling assets with their own money, a practice known as proprietary trading
* To ban them from dealing in hedge funds
* To ban private equity trading, or buying and selling whole companies.
But these wide-ranging activities are undertaken by big banks across the world, and not just in the US.
European banking giants such as Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, Barclays, UBS, HSBC and, to some extent, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) are all heavily involved in these practices.
International co-operation
Indeed, bank share prices across Europe have slumped following Mr Obama's decision to confront Wall Street.
There is no groundswell of opinion in Europe to break up the banks - there just isn't the same political pressure [as in the UK and the US]
Simon Maughan, co-head of equity research, MF Global
In the UK, RBS shares fell 7.7% in Friday morning trading before bouncing back to end the day down 1.8%, while Barclays lost 6.6% before recovering slightly to close the session down 4.1%.
And UK politicians have been quick to back Mr Obama's plans, with City Minister Lord Myners saying the US proposals were "very much in accordance with the direction we have been setting".
Subject to international co-operation, shadow chancellor George Osborne said the Conservatives would impose an identical dismantling of UK banks, while the Liberal Democrats urged the government to "get on with breaking up the banks".
In Europe, Deutsche Bank shares were down 5.8% in morning trading before recovering marginally to end the week down 4.2%, while UBS closed down 3%.
But the impact of Mr Obama's proposed reforms would have less impact on European banks than on US banks, analysts say.
While proprietary trading covers a wide range of activities, the part of it that could realistically be targeted by regulation accounts for just 1%-2% of a European bank's overall revenues, says Simon Maughan, co-head of equity research at MF Global.
Equally, he argues, European banks have been winding down their private equity functions and trading less in hedge funds.
"Such reforms would be a lot less ugly for European banks than for the likes of [US banks] JP Morgan and Bank of America," he says.
European dissent
There is, however, the more fundamental question of whether similar rules will actually be introduced in Europe.
Indeed, the reaction to the US plans by European governments could be rather more subdued than that of the UK.
There has been much deeper navel-gazing in the UK and in the US than in Europe
Jan Randolph, head of sovereign risk, IHS Global Insight
Although the French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde described the US proposals as "a very, very good step forward", it is unclear whether Europe will follow the US's lead.
"The Europeans won't do it," says Mr Maughan.
"There is no groundswell of opinion in Europe to break up the banks - there just isn't the same political pressure [as in the UK and the US]. Banks in Europe are national institutions there to support industry."
He points out there was no Glass-Steagall Act in Europe, a piece of legislation introduced in the US in the aftermath of the Great Depression to separate retail and investment banking, which was abolished by President Bill Clinton in 1999.
European banks have always integrated commercial and investment operations.
"There has been much deeper navel-gazing in the UK and in the US than in Europe," agrees Jan Randolph, head of sovereign risk at IHS Global Insight.
He highlights the fact that German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently talked of vindication for the social market economy in the light of the global financial crisis that many in Europe have blamed on rampant Anglo-Saxon capitalism.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has made similar noises.
If the US and the UK do go ahead with Mr Obama's proposals and Europe does not, then European banks stand to gain an enormous competitive advantage, analysts say.
Proprietary trading will simply move to European financial centres such as Geneva and Zurich, according to Mr Randolph.
And if UK banks in particular are broken up, they could be sitting ducks for continental rivals.
"European banks will simply gobble them up," says Mr Maughan.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Neuron breakthrough offers hope on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/medicine/article7005401.ece
Hannah Devlin
From The Times
January 28, 2010
Neurons have been created directly from skin cells for the first time, in a remarkable study that suggests that our biological makeup is far more versatile than previously thought.
If confirmed, the discovery that one tissue type can be genetically reprogrammed to become another, could revolutionise treatments for conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s, opening up the possibility of turning a patient’s own skin cells into the neurons that they need.
The study by scientists from Stanford University, California, also suggests that skin cells could be reprogrammed to provide a limitless supply of blood or bone marrow for personalised transfusions.
Until now, the consensus was that only master cells from embryos, or adult cells that have been ‘rewound’ into an embryo-like state — a process that takes several weeks — have the ability to form all the different types of tissue in the body.
Related Links
The latest study, carried out in mice, reveals that while cells choose and maintain their speciality during the earliest phase of development, they retain an underlying flexibility. Provided that the correct genes are turned on or off they could potentially be turned into any other variety of tissue in the body.
The work has been hailed as a huge conceptual leap forward in fundamental biology. “The possibility that cells could be directly reprogrammed is something that people had thought about, but to see it in black and white is still slightly shocking,” said Professor Jack Price, a neurobiologist at King’s College London. “This suggests that there are no great rules — you can reprogramme anything into anything else.”
The finding will address some of the ethical objections of groups who oppose embryonic stem-cell research, in which the embryo is destroyed. And the new process is much quicker than the alternative method, where adult cells are “rewound” to create versatile master cells, known as induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells.
In the study, published in the journal Nature, skin cells were infected with a genetically modified virus that inserted genes into the cells’ DNA. The researchers began by introducing 19 genes that are known to be switched on when mice stem cells first differentiate into neurons during embryonic development.
Using a mix-and-match approach, the researchers found that of the 19 genes initially tested, only three were truly necessary to get the skin cells to develop into neurons. When these three genes were switched on, 20 per cent of the skin cells had turned into fully functioning neurons in less than a week. The neurons were able to make connections with and signal to other nerve cells — critical functions if the cells are eventually to be used as therapy for Parkinson’s disease or other disorders.
“We were very surprised by both the timing and the efficiency,” said Irving Weissman, a stem cell expert at Stanford University in California, who led the research. "This is much more straightforward than going through iPS cells, and it’s likely to be a very viable alternative.”
In terms of clinical applications, a further advantage of skipping out the intermediate iPS state is that it is known that iPS cells promote cancers. Many researchers believe it would be difficult to obtain a license for the use of cells that are grown from iPS cells.
“People have been saying that iPS cells could be used therapeutically in the near future, but frankly they’ve been lying,” said Professor Price. “These cells don’t go through a tumourigenic phase, which means it would be much easier to get a licence to use them.”
The Stanford group are now working to reproduce the finding using human cells, but say that there is no reason to expect it should not apply to most species.
A further question is why, if cells retain an underlying versatility, they don’t switch between cell types throughout our life. One possible explanation is that genes interact via “see-saw” mechanisms, whereby when one set of genes are switched on, they automatically keep other genes switched off unless an artificial intervention is made.
Hannah Devlin
From The Times
January 28, 2010
Neurons have been created directly from skin cells for the first time, in a remarkable study that suggests that our biological makeup is far more versatile than previously thought.
If confirmed, the discovery that one tissue type can be genetically reprogrammed to become another, could revolutionise treatments for conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s, opening up the possibility of turning a patient’s own skin cells into the neurons that they need.
The study by scientists from Stanford University, California, also suggests that skin cells could be reprogrammed to provide a limitless supply of blood or bone marrow for personalised transfusions.
Until now, the consensus was that only master cells from embryos, or adult cells that have been ‘rewound’ into an embryo-like state — a process that takes several weeks — have the ability to form all the different types of tissue in the body.
Related Links
The latest study, carried out in mice, reveals that while cells choose and maintain their speciality during the earliest phase of development, they retain an underlying flexibility. Provided that the correct genes are turned on or off they could potentially be turned into any other variety of tissue in the body.
The work has been hailed as a huge conceptual leap forward in fundamental biology. “The possibility that cells could be directly reprogrammed is something that people had thought about, but to see it in black and white is still slightly shocking,” said Professor Jack Price, a neurobiologist at King’s College London. “This suggests that there are no great rules — you can reprogramme anything into anything else.”
The finding will address some of the ethical objections of groups who oppose embryonic stem-cell research, in which the embryo is destroyed. And the new process is much quicker than the alternative method, where adult cells are “rewound” to create versatile master cells, known as induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells.
In the study, published in the journal Nature, skin cells were infected with a genetically modified virus that inserted genes into the cells’ DNA. The researchers began by introducing 19 genes that are known to be switched on when mice stem cells first differentiate into neurons during embryonic development.
Using a mix-and-match approach, the researchers found that of the 19 genes initially tested, only three were truly necessary to get the skin cells to develop into neurons. When these three genes were switched on, 20 per cent of the skin cells had turned into fully functioning neurons in less than a week. The neurons were able to make connections with and signal to other nerve cells — critical functions if the cells are eventually to be used as therapy for Parkinson’s disease or other disorders.
“We were very surprised by both the timing and the efficiency,” said Irving Weissman, a stem cell expert at Stanford University in California, who led the research. "This is much more straightforward than going through iPS cells, and it’s likely to be a very viable alternative.”
In terms of clinical applications, a further advantage of skipping out the intermediate iPS state is that it is known that iPS cells promote cancers. Many researchers believe it would be difficult to obtain a license for the use of cells that are grown from iPS cells.
“People have been saying that iPS cells could be used therapeutically in the near future, but frankly they’ve been lying,” said Professor Price. “These cells don’t go through a tumourigenic phase, which means it would be much easier to get a licence to use them.”
The Stanford group are now working to reproduce the finding using human cells, but say that there is no reason to expect it should not apply to most species.
A further question is why, if cells retain an underlying versatility, they don’t switch between cell types throughout our life. One possible explanation is that genes interact via “see-saw” mechanisms, whereby when one set of genes are switched on, they automatically keep other genes switched off unless an artificial intervention is made.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Apple profits increase 50%, boosted by iPhone sales in China, S. Korea
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8479912.stm
Apple has announced a 50% increase in profits after seeing a bumper Christmas period, in which sales of iPhones doubled from a year ago.
Net income rose to $3.38bn (£2.08bn) in the three months to 26 December, from the $2.26bn it made the previous year.
Apple said it sold 8.7 million iPhones in the quarter. Sales of Macs also rose 33%, although iPod sales fell by 8%.
But the results were boosted by a new accounting standard that records revenue at the point of sale.
Previously, revenue was deferred over the life of products.
On Wednesday, the firm will announce a new product, widely expected to be a touch-screen "tablet" computer.
The company has previously used January launches to unveil products including the iPhone and the MacBook Air.
Apple shares rose $5.33, or 2.7%, to close at $203.08 in New York before the results came out.
In extended trading the shares rose a further $1.28 to $204.36.
'Phenomenal sales'
Sales in the first quarter rose to $15.7bn from $11.9bn in the same period a year ago.
The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we're really excited about
Steve Jobs, Apple chief executive
Sales of the iPhone were boosted by its roll-out in China, the world's biggest mobile phone market.
Mac sales rose to 3.36 million during the quarter while sales of iPods fell to 21 million.
Analysts were impressed with the results.
"It was a very good quarter, as expected. It's a continued sign that Apple has great products that consumers want despite this recession," commented Daniel Ernst from Hudson Square Research.
"Mac sales were phenomenal as well... Macs continue to gain share and what's interesting is that it only has 3.6% share globally so there's a lot of headroom."
Apple forecast sales for the current quarter of between $11bn and $11.4bn.
"The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we're really excited about," said Apple chief executive Steve Jobs.
Earlier this month, Microsoft and HP unveiled a touchscreen slate computer, ahead of Apple's much rumoured device launch.
Apple planning release of a 22-Inch Touchscreen iMac according to a report from from Taiwan's China Times.
http://www.macrumors.com/2010/01/18/apple-planning-22-inch-touchscreen-imac-for-later-this-year/
Apple has announced a 50% increase in profits after seeing a bumper Christmas period, in which sales of iPhones doubled from a year ago.
Net income rose to $3.38bn (£2.08bn) in the three months to 26 December, from the $2.26bn it made the previous year.
Apple said it sold 8.7 million iPhones in the quarter. Sales of Macs also rose 33%, although iPod sales fell by 8%.
But the results were boosted by a new accounting standard that records revenue at the point of sale.
Previously, revenue was deferred over the life of products.
On Wednesday, the firm will announce a new product, widely expected to be a touch-screen "tablet" computer.
The company has previously used January launches to unveil products including the iPhone and the MacBook Air.
Apple shares rose $5.33, or 2.7%, to close at $203.08 in New York before the results came out.
In extended trading the shares rose a further $1.28 to $204.36.
'Phenomenal sales'
Sales in the first quarter rose to $15.7bn from $11.9bn in the same period a year ago.
The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we're really excited about
Steve Jobs, Apple chief executive
Sales of the iPhone were boosted by its roll-out in China, the world's biggest mobile phone market.
Mac sales rose to 3.36 million during the quarter while sales of iPods fell to 21 million.
Analysts were impressed with the results.
"It was a very good quarter, as expected. It's a continued sign that Apple has great products that consumers want despite this recession," commented Daniel Ernst from Hudson Square Research.
"Mac sales were phenomenal as well... Macs continue to gain share and what's interesting is that it only has 3.6% share globally so there's a lot of headroom."
Apple forecast sales for the current quarter of between $11bn and $11.4bn.
"The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we're really excited about," said Apple chief executive Steve Jobs.
Earlier this month, Microsoft and HP unveiled a touchscreen slate computer, ahead of Apple's much rumoured device launch.
Apple planning release of a 22-Inch Touchscreen iMac according to a report from from Taiwan's China Times.
http://www.macrumors.com/2010/01/18/apple-planning-22-inch-touchscreen-imac-for-later-this-year/
Chinese supplier of Apple's iPhone touchscreen faces violent employee strike
Monday, January 18, 2010
By Katie Marsal
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/01/18/apples_iphone_touchscreen_supplier_faces_violent_employee_strike.html
More than 2,000 workers at a Wintek Corp. factory in Suzhou, China, have gone on strike and destroyed equipment at their factory, potentially straining the supply of parts for Apple's iPhone.
According to China Daily, factory workers last week damaged equipment and vehicles in response to a number of alleged deaths from overexposure to toxic chemicals. Employees said they did not accept the local government's investigation into the matter. Bloomberg reported that the factory is a component supplier for the iPhone.
On Friday, workers gathered in the morning and caused damage at the Suzhou Industrial Park. They also blocked off a road and threw rocks at police, though no casualties were reported.
Various reports said that the workers were reacting to rumors of a canceled 2009 bonus, but one worker told China Daily the matter was not solely about money.
"What we feel angry about is the company authorities' apathy to our workers' health," said a worker named Zhu. He also added that employees have been overworked and underpaid.
Employees said there was a strong smell at the factory that they believe caused the deaths of four workers. One man, Li Liang, was found to have died of congenital heart disease -- a diagnosis his co-workers do not believe.
The employees believe the deaths are attributed to an overexposure to hexane, a toxic chemical used to clean touchscreen panels at the factory. Hexane can cause nervous system failure in humans.
Apple's overseas manufacturing partners have been the subject of much scrutiny over the years. Last July, an audit of Apple's partners in mainland China found that 45 of 83 factories that built iPhones and iPods in 2008 weren't paying valid overtime rates for those workers that qualified. In addition, 23 of those factories weren't even paying some of their workers China's minimum wage.
Last summer, Apple and manufacturing partner Foxconn made headlines after an alleged prototype 4G iPhone went missing from one of the company's factories. After an employee was questioned about the matter, he reportedly committed suicide.
In 2006, Apple audited Foxconn over the working conditions at its Chinese factories, after reports surfaced in a British newspaper about poor working conditions. The Cupertino, Calif., company issued a report on iPod manufacturing, which found no instances of forced overtime, but did find that some employees worked longer than the 60-hour weekly maximum.
By Katie Marsal
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/01/18/apples_iphone_touchscreen_supplier_faces_violent_employee_strike.html
More than 2,000 workers at a Wintek Corp. factory in Suzhou, China, have gone on strike and destroyed equipment at their factory, potentially straining the supply of parts for Apple's iPhone.
According to China Daily, factory workers last week damaged equipment and vehicles in response to a number of alleged deaths from overexposure to toxic chemicals. Employees said they did not accept the local government's investigation into the matter. Bloomberg reported that the factory is a component supplier for the iPhone.
On Friday, workers gathered in the morning and caused damage at the Suzhou Industrial Park. They also blocked off a road and threw rocks at police, though no casualties were reported.
Various reports said that the workers were reacting to rumors of a canceled 2009 bonus, but one worker told China Daily the matter was not solely about money.
"What we feel angry about is the company authorities' apathy to our workers' health," said a worker named Zhu. He also added that employees have been overworked and underpaid.
Employees said there was a strong smell at the factory that they believe caused the deaths of four workers. One man, Li Liang, was found to have died of congenital heart disease -- a diagnosis his co-workers do not believe.
The employees believe the deaths are attributed to an overexposure to hexane, a toxic chemical used to clean touchscreen panels at the factory. Hexane can cause nervous system failure in humans.
Apple's overseas manufacturing partners have been the subject of much scrutiny over the years. Last July, an audit of Apple's partners in mainland China found that 45 of 83 factories that built iPhones and iPods in 2008 weren't paying valid overtime rates for those workers that qualified. In addition, 23 of those factories weren't even paying some of their workers China's minimum wage.
Last summer, Apple and manufacturing partner Foxconn made headlines after an alleged prototype 4G iPhone went missing from one of the company's factories. After an employee was questioned about the matter, he reportedly committed suicide.
In 2006, Apple audited Foxconn over the working conditions at its Chinese factories, after reports surfaced in a British newspaper about poor working conditions. The Cupertino, Calif., company issued a report on iPod manufacturing, which found no instances of forced overtime, but did find that some employees worked longer than the 60-hour weekly maximum.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Researchers Claim "Effectively Perfect" Spam Blocking Discovery
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20527446.000-to-beat-spam-turn-its-own-weapons-against-it.html
To beat spam, turn its own weapons against it
January 2010 by Jim Giles
SPAMMERS' own trickery has been used to develop an "effectively perfect" method for blocking the most common kind of spam, a team of computer scientists claims.
Most of the billions of spam messages sent each day originate in networks of compromised computers, called botnets. Unbeknown to their owners, the machines quietly run malicious software in the background that pumps out spam.
Researchers have now come up with a system that deciphers the templates a botnet is using to create spam. These templates are then used to teach spam filters what to look for.
The system, developed by a team at the International Computer Science Institute in Berkeley, California, and the University of California, San Diego, works by exploiting a trick that spammers use to defeat email filters. As spam is churned out, subtle changes are typically incorporated into the messages to confound spam filters. Each message is generated from a template that specifies the message content and how it should be varied. The team reasoned that analysing such messages could reveal the template that created them. And since the spam template describes the entire range of the emails a bot will send, possessing it might provide a watertight method of blocking spam from that bot.
To test their idea, the team installed a previously captured software bot onto a machine. After analysing 1000 emails generated by this compromised machine - less than 10 minutes' work for most bots - the researchers were able to reverse-engineer the template. Knowledge of that template then enabled filters to block further spam from that bot with 100 per cent accuracy.
Knowledge of the spam template enabled filters to block further spam with 100 per cent accuracy
High accuracy can be achieved by existing spam filters, but sometimes at the cost of blocking legitimate mail. The new system did not produce a single false positive when tested against more than a million genuine messages, says Andreas Pitsillidis, one of the team: "The biggest advantage is this false positive rate."
"This is an interesting approach which really differs by using the bots themselves as the oracles for producing the filters," says Michael O'Reirdan, chairman of the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group, a coalition of technology companies. But he adds that botnets have grown so large that even a 1-minute delay in cracking the template would be "long enough for a very substantial spam campaign".
The research will be presented in March at the Network and Distributed System Security Symposium in San Diego.
To beat spam, turn its own weapons against it
January 2010 by Jim Giles
SPAMMERS' own trickery has been used to develop an "effectively perfect" method for blocking the most common kind of spam, a team of computer scientists claims.
Most of the billions of spam messages sent each day originate in networks of compromised computers, called botnets. Unbeknown to their owners, the machines quietly run malicious software in the background that pumps out spam.
Researchers have now come up with a system that deciphers the templates a botnet is using to create spam. These templates are then used to teach spam filters what to look for.
The system, developed by a team at the International Computer Science Institute in Berkeley, California, and the University of California, San Diego, works by exploiting a trick that spammers use to defeat email filters. As spam is churned out, subtle changes are typically incorporated into the messages to confound spam filters. Each message is generated from a template that specifies the message content and how it should be varied. The team reasoned that analysing such messages could reveal the template that created them. And since the spam template describes the entire range of the emails a bot will send, possessing it might provide a watertight method of blocking spam from that bot.
To test their idea, the team installed a previously captured software bot onto a machine. After analysing 1000 emails generated by this compromised machine - less than 10 minutes' work for most bots - the researchers were able to reverse-engineer the template. Knowledge of that template then enabled filters to block further spam from that bot with 100 per cent accuracy.
Knowledge of the spam template enabled filters to block further spam with 100 per cent accuracy
High accuracy can be achieved by existing spam filters, but sometimes at the cost of blocking legitimate mail. The new system did not produce a single false positive when tested against more than a million genuine messages, says Andreas Pitsillidis, one of the team: "The biggest advantage is this false positive rate."
"This is an interesting approach which really differs by using the bots themselves as the oracles for producing the filters," says Michael O'Reirdan, chairman of the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group, a coalition of technology companies. But he adds that botnets have grown so large that even a 1-minute delay in cracking the template would be "long enough for a very substantial spam campaign".
The research will be presented in March at the Network and Distributed System Security Symposium in San Diego.
Environmental think tank warns economic growth obstacle to climate change
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8478770.stm
Continuing global economic growth "is not possible" if nations are to tackle climate change, a report by an environmental think-tank has warned.
The New Economics Foundation (Nef) said "unprecedented and probably impossible" carbon reductions would be needed to hold temperature rises below 2C (3.6F).
Scientists say exceeding this limit could lead to dangerous global warming.
"We urgently need to change our economy to live within its environmental budget," said Nef's policy director.
Andrew Simms added: "There is no global, environmental central bank to bail us out if we become ecologically bankrupt."
None of the existing models or policies could "square the circle" of economic growth with climate safety, Nef added.
'No magic bullets'
In the report, Growth Isn't Possible, the authors looked at the main models for climate change and energy use in the global economy.
Magic bullets - such as carbon capture and storage, nuclear or even geo-engineering - are potentially dangerous distractions
Dr Victoria Johnson,
Report's co-author
They then considered whether economic growth could be maintained while "retaining a good likelihood" of limiting the global average temperature to within 2C of pre-industrial levels.
The report concluded that a growth rate of just 3%, the "carbon intensity" of the global economy would need to fall by 95% by 2050 from 2002 levels. This would require an average annual reduction of 6.5%.
However, the authors said that the world's carbon intensity had "flatlined" between 2000 and 2007.
"For each year the target was missed, the necessary improvements would grow higher still," they observed.
The findings also suggested that there was no proven technological advance that would allow "business as usual" to continue.
"Magic bullets - such as carbon capture and storage, nuclear or even geo-engineering - are potentially dangerous distractions from more human-scale solutions," said co-author Victoria Johnson, Nef's lead researcher for the climate change and energy programme.
She added that there was growing support for community-scale projects, such as decentralised energy systems, but support from governments was needed.
"At the moment, magic bullets... are getting much of the funding and political attention, but are missing the targets," Dr Johnson said.
"Our research shows that to prevent runaway climate change, this needs to change."
The report concluded that an economy that respected environmental thresholds, which include biodiversity and the finite availability of natural resources, would be better placed to deliver human well-being in the long run.
Tom Clougherty, executive director of the Adam Smith Institute, a free-market think-thank, said Nef's report exhibited "a complete lack of understanding of economics and, indeed, human development".
"It is precisely this economic growth which will lift the poor out of poverty and improve the environmental standards that really matter to people - like clean air and water - in the process, as it has done throughout human history," he told BBC News.
"There's only one good thing I can say for the Nef's report, and that's that it is honest. Its authors admit that they want us to be poorer and to lead more restricted lives for the sake of their faddish beliefs."
Continuing global economic growth "is not possible" if nations are to tackle climate change, a report by an environmental think-tank has warned.
The New Economics Foundation (Nef) said "unprecedented and probably impossible" carbon reductions would be needed to hold temperature rises below 2C (3.6F).
Scientists say exceeding this limit could lead to dangerous global warming.
"We urgently need to change our economy to live within its environmental budget," said Nef's policy director.
Andrew Simms added: "There is no global, environmental central bank to bail us out if we become ecologically bankrupt."
None of the existing models or policies could "square the circle" of economic growth with climate safety, Nef added.
'No magic bullets'
In the report, Growth Isn't Possible, the authors looked at the main models for climate change and energy use in the global economy.
Magic bullets - such as carbon capture and storage, nuclear or even geo-engineering - are potentially dangerous distractions
Dr Victoria Johnson,
Report's co-author
They then considered whether economic growth could be maintained while "retaining a good likelihood" of limiting the global average temperature to within 2C of pre-industrial levels.
The report concluded that a growth rate of just 3%, the "carbon intensity" of the global economy would need to fall by 95% by 2050 from 2002 levels. This would require an average annual reduction of 6.5%.
However, the authors said that the world's carbon intensity had "flatlined" between 2000 and 2007.
"For each year the target was missed, the necessary improvements would grow higher still," they observed.
The findings also suggested that there was no proven technological advance that would allow "business as usual" to continue.
"Magic bullets - such as carbon capture and storage, nuclear or even geo-engineering - are potentially dangerous distractions from more human-scale solutions," said co-author Victoria Johnson, Nef's lead researcher for the climate change and energy programme.
She added that there was growing support for community-scale projects, such as decentralised energy systems, but support from governments was needed.
"At the moment, magic bullets... are getting much of the funding and political attention, but are missing the targets," Dr Johnson said.
"Our research shows that to prevent runaway climate change, this needs to change."
The report concluded that an economy that respected environmental thresholds, which include biodiversity and the finite availability of natural resources, would be better placed to deliver human well-being in the long run.
Tom Clougherty, executive director of the Adam Smith Institute, a free-market think-thank, said Nef's report exhibited "a complete lack of understanding of economics and, indeed, human development".
"It is precisely this economic growth which will lift the poor out of poverty and improve the environmental standards that really matter to people - like clean air and water - in the process, as it has done throughout human history," he told BBC News.
"There's only one good thing I can say for the Nef's report, and that's that it is honest. Its authors admit that they want us to be poorer and to lead more restricted lives for the sake of their faddish beliefs."
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