Ken Garen, CPA, Co-Founder and President, UBCC

Judge Orders Kan. Newspaper To Reveal Name Of Commenter October 31, 2012 2:28 PM TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A northeast Kansas newspaper has been ordered to identify a person who posted a comment on its website about a story on a murder trial for which that commenter was serving as a juror. Shawnee County District Judge Steven Ebberts last week denied a request by The Topeka Capital-Journal to quash a district attorney’s subpoena seeking the name, address and Internet Protocol address of a poster who goes by the pseudonym “BePrepared.” That person is believed to have been a juror in the first-degree murder trial of Anceo D. Stovall, 27, who was being tried on 11 charges that included the shooting death of Natalie Gibson and the wounding of her partner, Lori Allison, on July 21, 2011, during a robbery. The Capital-Journal reported that court records indicate BePrepared accessed a news story posted July 19 while the person and other jurors were deliberating Stovall’s fate tw...

iOS Designer Forstall Pushed Out At Apple Scott Forstall, responsible for Apple's iOS platform, has been shoved out the door following the iOS 6 Maps flap. By Eric Zeman InformationWeek October 30, 2012 09:30 AM Apple may have hoped Hurricane Sandy would drown out some bad news that the company announced Monday evening. Apple has reorganized some of its senior executives. Two men are out, and several others gain new responsibilities as Apple CEO Tim Cook shakes things up. The biggest piece of news surrounds Scott Forstall, who's headed iOS since its inception. Forstall has been with Apple since it scooped up NeXTStep in the 90s. He's had a hand in both iOS and OS X ever since. In the press release issued by Apple, it says that Forstall will remain an advisor to CEO Tim Cook through early 2013. iOS has been an unparalleled success since its 2007 debut. Apple has sold more than 400 million iOS devices in the last five years in iPhones, iPads and iPod T...

France 'hits Google with €1 billion claim' in content row LATEST UPDATE: 31/10/2012   French tax authorities have filed a €1 billion claim against Google to pressure the search engine to pay a portion of its advertising revenue for access to French media websites, a Paris-based newspaper reported on Wednesday. By News Wires French tax authorities have made a billion-euro ($1.3 billion) claim against Google to pressure it in a dispute over compensation to media websites, a French newspaper reported, a claim denied by the US Internet giant's local arm. The weekly Canard Enchaine said in its edition to hit news-stands on Wednesday that the tax claim concerns the transfer prices set between Google's Irish holding company and the French unit for four tax years, without disclosing its sources. French tax authorities told AFP they do not comment on specific cases due to taxpayer privacy. Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A...

31 October 2012 Last updated at 08:45 ET Google loses Australia 'gangland' defamation lawsuit The jury indicated that Google should have removed the content after it received Mr Trkulja's complaint A jury in Australia has found Google liable for damages after a complaint that its search results had linked a local man to gangland crime. Milorad Trkulja had alleged that the US firm's image and web results had caused harm to his reputation. The 62-year-old had said the site had refused to remove the material when asked. He had previously won a related case against Yahoo. Google has not commented on the verdict and might still appeal. The judge is expected to set the level of damages owed within a fortnight. 'False innuendos' Mr Trkulja moved to Australia in the early 1970s after leaving Yugoslavia. He subsequently became a prominent member of the migrant community, hosting the Yugoslav-themed "Micky's Folkfest" te...

IBM moving to replace silicon with carbon nanotubes in computer chips The company said it has greatly increased the number of carbon nanotubes that can be accurately placed on a single chip By Jay Alabaster October 29, 2012 02:16 AM ET IDG News Service - IBM has hit a milestone in its quest to come up with a successor to silicon computer chips. The company said Sunday its research into semiconductors based on carbon nanotubes, or CNTs, has yielded a new method to accurately place them on wafers in large numbers. The technology is viewed as one way to keep shrinking chip sizes once current silicon-based technology hits its limit. IBM said it has developed a way to place over 10,000 transistors made from CNTs on a single chip, two magnitudes higher than previously possible. While still far below the density of commercial silicon-based chips -- current models in desktop computers can have over a billion transistors -- the company hailed it as a breakthrough on the ...

  Google chief to meet French president amid pay row 27 OCTOBER 2012 - 16H37  AFP - Google's executive chairman Eric Schmidt will meet with French President Francois Hollande on Monday as the Internet giant wrangles with Paris over a bill that would force search engines to pay for content, a government source said. Schmidt's meeting with the president will be preceded by one with Communication and Culture Minister Aurelie Filippetti, the source said on condition of anonymity. Google has warned that it would exclude French media sites from its search results if France adopts a bill that will force search engines to pay for content. A letter sent by Google to several French ministerial offices this month said it "cannot accept" such a move and the company "as a consequence would be required to no longer reference French sites," according to a copy obtained by AFP. Google said a law which would require it to make payments to media s...

3.6 million Social Security numbers hacked in S.C. Tax returns, personal data compromised in ‘massive’ breach Friday, Oct. 26, 2012 MASSIVE BREACH By NOELLE PHILLIPS - nophillips@thestate.com The U.S. Secret Service detected a security breach at the S.C. Department of Revenue on Oct. 10, but it took state officials 10 days to close the attacker’s access and another six days to inform the public that 3.6 million Social Security numbers had been compromised. The attack also exposed 387,000 credit and debit card numbers. The stolen data included other information people file with their tax returns such as names and addresses. Businesses’ taxpayer identification numbers also potentially have been comprised in the attack that is being described as one of the nation’s largest against a state agency. The attack affects tax returns as far back as 1998, the Revenue Department said. But not all of the department’s data – so not every taxpayer – was affected, it sai...

Google Is Testing Same-Day Delivery for Shoppers OCTOBER 26, 2012, 5:32 PM By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER Google is now in the same-day delivery business. In San Francisco, some people affiliated with Google can buy a product, using their phones or computers, and have it delivered to their homes in a matter of hours. Plans for the new service have been under way for more than a year. But it recently went live for some Google employees and their friends, according to two people briefed on the service who were not authorized to discuss it because Google has not yet publicly introduced it. At least one national apparel chain is involved, one of these people said. A Google spokesman, Nate Tyler, declined to comment. Google is just one company tackling same-day delivery. So are Wal-Mart Stores, Amazon.com, eBay and the United States Postal Service. Though the service propels Google into commerce, the company does not intend to operate warehouses or a shipping service but to...

Top court to hear arguments over government spying By Terry Baynes | Reuters – 10 hours ago (Reuters) - A debate over how freely the U.S. government can eavesdrop on international communications reaches a climax on Monday in the country's highest court. At issue is a law passed by Congress in 2008 allowing the government to monitor the overseas communications of individuals without obtaining a warrant for each target. The government has said it needs flexible surveillance power to help prevent strikes by foreign militants such as the attacks of September 11, 2001. But a group of attorneys, journalists and human rights organizations has challenged the law, saying thousands or even millions of innocent Americans are likely being monitored merely because they are communicating with people overseas. In oral arguments on Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether the challengers have the right to bring a suit against the law. The government argues...

The Great Internet Firewall of China By Dexter Roberts on October 26, 2012  This time it’s the New York Times that has Chinese Internet censors raising the digital gates. Shortly after the publication of a lengthy article on Nov. 26 asserting that Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s family members “have controlled assets worth at least $2.7 billion,” the media company’s English and Chinese websites were blocked within China. Then came the official government condemnation. “Some reports smear China and have ulterior motives,” foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a regular press briefing when asked about the censorship of the story. China’s Internet is managed “in accordance with laws,” the spokesman said. This follows an earlier online clampdown on Bloomberg LP, which owns this website and Bloomberg Businessweek magazine. Both its website and that of Bloomberg Businessweek have been blocked since Bloomberg News published a report on June 29 detailing how the extended fam...

Barnes & Noble: Bugs Planted In Credit Card Readers At 63 Stores Nationwide Nation's Largest Bookseller Implores Customers To Check Their Statements October 24, 2012 7:41 PM NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Barnes & Noble is warning its customers to check their credit and debit card statements for unauthorized transactions after discovering someone tampered with its card readers in 63 stores across the country, including several in the Tri-State Area. Only one device was tampered with in each store, affecting fewer than 1 percent of card readers in Barnes & Noble stores, the company said in a news release on Wednesday. The company disconnected all of the devices at its nearly 700 stores after detecting the tampering on Sept. 14. The FBI asked Barnes & Noble not to disclose the breach last month, for fear of compromising the investigation, WCBS 880′s Marla Diamond reported. The criminals apparently planted bugs in the devices to get customers’ cred...

FCC takes up text message spam by Dave Nyczepir / Oct 25 2012 The legality of text message spam depends on who you ask. The mobile industry’s at war over cellular privacy—or free speech—depending on how you look at it. The Federal Communications Commission said Tuesday that it’s accepting comments on a petition that seeks to have Internet-to-phone text messaging declared a type of autodialing. The technology, which collects cell numbers without consent and then messages them via created email addresses, isn’t currently covered under the Technology Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), and some consider it a loophole for those who want to spam your cellphone.  Scott Goodstein, founder of the mobile firm Revolution Messaging, filed the petition back in January of this year, but it wasn’t until this week that the FCC offered any signal it may move on the request. Goodstein says he’s out to protect the privacy of mobile users and put a stop to spammers. A recent examp...

Here's Why Google Could Disappear in Five Years: Pro Published: Friday, 19 Oct 2012 | 12:25 PM ET By: Cadie Thompson Technology Editor, CNBC.com Google may be on its way out as the dominant player in search, according to one analyst — and could even "disappear" in as little as five to eight years if the competitive pressures that ultimately claimed other search giants start to take root. In the wake of a surprisingly weak earnings report, Eric Jackson, Ironfire capital founder and managing member, said Google could easily find itself fending off the woes that eventually took hold at embattled Yahoo!. "They could disappear in five to eight years and disappear in the sense that Yahoo used to be the king of search. Now, for all intents and purposes, Yahoo has disappeared," Jackson said Thursday on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street". The primary reason Google may lose its search dominance is because the company is facing the same mobil...

Danes develop eye-control software for phones, tablets 24 OCTOBER 2012 - 19H44   AFP - A Danish company hopes to clinch deals with major mobile phone and tablet makers after developing software that enables users to control their devices by moving their eyes, it said Wednesday. "You can use it for basic control, such as turning to the next page in an e-book, and playing games with your eyes," chief executive and co-founder of The Eye Tribe, Sune Alstrup Johansen, told AFP. The software uses infrared light reflected from the pupil of the eye, which is recorded by the device's camera, enabling users to scroll or click on their screens with their eyes. When you are reading an e-book and get to the bottom of the page, the software will know to turn to the next page, or if you look away from the screen it will dim it. The Eye Tribe is made up of four PhD students who founded the company a year ago. They received $800,000 (615,000 euros) in funding in ...

Foxconn says underage workers used in China plant Reuters – 10/10/2012 TAIPEI (Reuters) - Foxconn Technology Group, the world's largest contract electronics maker, has acknowledged hiring teenagers as young as 14 in a Chinese factory, in breach of national law, in a case that raises further questions over its student intern program. Labor rights activists in China have accused Foxconn and other big employers in China of using student interns as a cheap source of labor for production lines where it is more difficult to attract young adult workers to lower paid jobs. Foxconn, the trading name of Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry, said it had found some interns at a plant in Yantai, in northeastern Shandong province, were under the legal working age of 16. It did not say how many were underage. "Our investigation has shown that the interns in question, who ranged in age from 14 to 16, had worked in that campus for approximately three weeks," it said...

Guardian 'seriously discussing' end to print edition The publisher of the Guardian and Observer newspapers is close to axing the print editions of the newspapers, despite the hopes of its editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger to keep them running for several years. By Katherine Rushton, Media, telecoms and technology editor1:46PM BST 17 Oct 2012 Senior figures at Guardian News & Media are seriously discussing the move to an entirely online operation, it has been claimed, leaving Mr Rusbridger increasingly isolated. The longstanding Guardian chief wants to develop the Guardian’s digital-only US operation before pulling the plug on the print edition, in the hope that it will provide a useful blueprint for the online business in Britain. However, trustees of the Scott Trust, GNM’s ultimate owner, fear it does not have enough cash on its books to sustain the newspapers for that long, according to More About Advertising, the website run by former Marketing Week e...

  Twitter may face legal action over anti-Semitic tweets LATEST UPDATE: 17/10/2012  Following a wave of anti-Semitic posts on Twitter, anti-racism groups in France say they were looking at all legal options to target the authors of thousands of offensive tweets - and possibly Twitter itself. By Tony Todd  French anti-racist groups on Tuesday said they were launching wide-ranging legal action following a wave of anti-Semitic posts on microblogging site Twitter. The move follows an explosion last week in the use of the Twitter hashtag #unbonjuif - meaning “a good Jew” - to spread anti-Semitic jokes online. By October 10, the hashtag was trending third in France (meaning it was the third most popular tagged subject on the site in the country) and a deluge of offensive posts -- as well as tweets decrying the racist tone of many of the comments -- continued for days. And with anti-Semitic hate crimes on the rise in France, organisations like SO...