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

Transfer a secret audio message by poking someone with your finger TECHNOLOGY 13 SEPTEMBER 13  by OLIVIA SOLON Disney Research Disney researchers have developed a microphone that lets a user record a voice message and then relay that message to another person simply by touching them with a finger. The microphone converts the voice message into an inaudible signal which is transmitted to the body of the person holding the microphone as an inaudible signal. It can then be transmitted from that person's body to another person's body through touch. The recorded sound only becomes audible when touching someone else's ear. Their ear canal acts as a sort of speaker, allowing them to listen to a secret finger-transmitted message. The sound can't be heard by anyone else but the person being touched. The system uses a Shure Super 55 microphone connected to a computer's sound card. The microphone records as soon as it hears a sound over a certain threshold...

Retailers Cut iPhone Price Wal-Mart, T-Mobile US to Offer Discounts Wal-Mart and T-Mobile US plan to offer discounts on the iPhone 5C in a sign that Apple's ability to command premium prices is weakening. By Ian Sherr, Drew FitzGerald, Thomas Gryta Apple Inc.’s new entry-level iPhone is getting a price cut. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and T-Mobile US Inc. said they plan to offer discounts on the iPhone 5C in a sign that Apple’s ability to command premium prices is weakening. Apple offers the 5C for $99 with a two-year service contract, or $549 without. Wal-Mart said it would offer that model for $79, a discount of $20, while T-Mobile said it plans to offer the device for $528 through its financing plan. Other re-sellers, including carriers Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc., are expected to match Apple’s pricing. Such discounts, while not unprecedented, tend to undermine the Cupertino, Calif., company’s status as a luxury brand. Eli Portnoy, head of the branding...

David Pogue: 10 top time-saving tech tips http://www.ted.com/talks/david_pogue_10_top_time_saving_tech_tips.html?source=facebook#.UYa9YKwAdKN.facebook

Yahoo CEO Mayer: we faced jail if we revealed NSA surveillance secrets Mark Zuckerberg joins Mayer in hitting back at critics of tech companies, saying US government did 'bad job' of balancing people's privacy and duty to protect theguardian.com, Wednesday 11 September 2013 20.18 EDT Marissa Mayer, the CEO of Yahoo, and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook struck back on Wednesday at critics who have charged tech companies with doing too little to fight off NSA surveillance. Mayer said executives faced jail if they revealed government secrets. Yahoo and Facebook, along with other tech firms, are pushing for the right to be allowed to publish the number of requests they receive from the spy agency. Companies are forbidden by law to disclose how much data they provide. During an interview at the Techcrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco, Mayer was asked why tech companies had not simply decided to tell the public more about what the US surveillance industry w...

NSA Phone-Records Spying Said to Violate Rules for Years By Chris Strohm - Sep 10, 2013 9:00 PM PT The U.S. National Security Agency violated rules on surveillance of telephone records for almost three years and misled a secret court, raising fresh concerns that spy programs lack adequate controls to protect Americans’ privacy. The latest revelations show NSA spying was broader, violated restrictions on domestic surveillance more often, and may have targeted innocent Americans to a greater degree than previously known. They are contained in documents released yesterday by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper in response to privacy groups’ lawsuits. The agency ran a select list of phone numbers against databases of millions of call records between May 2006 and January 2009 without having reason to suspect some of the numbers’ owners of terrorist ties, according to the records. “The court entrusted NSA with extraordinary authority, and with it came the highe...

Google loses appeal in Street View privacy case Reuters – 9 hours ago By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) - A federal appeals court rejected Google Inc's bid to dismiss a lawsuit accusing it of violating federal wiretap law when its accidentally collected emails and other personal data while building its popular Street View program. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to exempt Google from liability under the federal Wiretap Act for having inadvertently intercepted emails, user names, passwords and other data from private Wi-Fi networks to create Street View, which provides panoramic views of city streets. "It's a landmark decision that affirms the privacy of electronic communications for wireless networks," said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, D.C. "Many Internet users depend on wireless networks to connect devices in their homes, such as printers and laptops, and companies...

China renews push for control of internet China's leaders have accelerated a renewed push for control of the internet with draconian new regulations that allow them to impose lengthy jail terms on those convicted of spreading online rumours or using social media to provoke unrest. By Tom Phillips, Shanghai9:18AM BST 10 Sep 2013 Micro-bloggers who peddle "false information" or "slanderous comments" will face up to three years in prison, according to a judicial interpretation issued by China's top court which came into force on Tuesday. Meanwhile, those found guilty of using "false online information" to provoke "serious public disorder", could face jail terms of up to 10 years, the state-run China Daily reported. Charges would be brought if "defamatory" comments were "viewed by at least 5,000 internet users or re-tweeted 500 or more times", according to China's official news agency Xinhua. S...