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A Publication of
Catholic Concern for Animals
Selections From The Ark Number 202 - Spring 2006
No apologies need to be made for including articles in this publication which concern the environment, rather than animal welfare directly. This beautiful, complex planet is the environment for all living creatures – so that what affects one species, affects all. As the species responsible for most of the damage to this planet, we owe it to the animals to do all in our power to reverse the destruction and restore the delicate balance on which all of life depends. Some disasters, like earthquakes, are entirely natural, whilst others, like warfare, entirely human. Yet others, such as floods and storms of unprecedented severity, can be partially the consequence of global warming – which it is in our power to control, if we take radical and life-changing steps now. Without some intervention, whole species will disappear from the earth, forever, by failing to adapt to changing climate conditions.
While it is important to think of the long-term consequences, immediate relief is demanded for present disasters – and this issue provides inspiring examples of animals being both rescued and helping in rescues. Battle-torn Darfur, earthquake-shattered Pakistan and hurricane-flooded New Orleans provide examples of the interconnectedness of human and animal relief campaigns – while El Arca in Spain describes the on-going rescue work needed for animals subject to human brutality and neglect. Let us give praise to God for the people who work tirelessly for the good of animals everywhere.
Over one hundred and twenty years ago a famous Oxford professor resigned his Chair because the University was introducing vivisection. Today, the construction has resumed on a new animal research laboratory in Oxford. How much moral progress have we made in the intervening years? Where does society look today for moral leadership, if not the Church? If the Church is silent on the cruelty to animals involved in much of factory farming, scientific research, trade and transport, field sports and racing, fur farming and a thousand other activities – what message does that give to the secular world around us? If only, Ark readers sigh, church leaders would say something – yet even documents and speeches are not enough. As Mary Colwell says in her article, good words are fine, but need to be turned into action and taken into the heart of the worldwide Church. Then the billions of Catholics around the world will make a real difference.
To borrow the words of Blake's poem – we shall not cease from mental strife ... till we have built a Jerusalem for all God's creatures 'on England's green and pleasant land' and that of all the world.
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For a sample copy of The Ark and all membership details, and for questions, comments and submissions, please contact:
Deborah Jones at Catholic Concern for Animals email@example.com
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European Shag
Category: Nature
Photo and caption by Mika Linho
Me and my friend had one of the best photography trips this year. We went to small island called Hornøya at Barents sea and stayed there for two nights. It was amazing place to visti. One of the best shots I had was this European Shag who is posing for me like a super model. "Is my hair OK?"
Location: Hornøya, Finnmark, Norway
More Nature Entries »
By Brenda Stevens
By Gian Luigi Fornari Lanzetti
By Chris Fries

subset: commoncrawl


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Shows > Music World
We Went To A Month-long Rave On The Southern Coast Of Ukraine
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A few years back we visited the Republic of Kazantip, an annual month-long rave/orgy on the southern coast of the Ukraine. Ravers are called citizens, visas are required for entry, and there is even a Minister of Foreign Affairs. The whole scene is trapped somewhere in the 90s with its platform shoes, pink dreadlocks, and energy drinks. Join VICE as we head to the Black Sea coast for the closing party and make friends with the luminaries of Russian criminal society.
More From This Show
Exposing the myth behind the man behind the myth
Punk Rock vs Sharia Law
Outlawed by Sharia law, we traveled to Indonesia to find the last punks in Aceh.
Heavy Metal Churches of Colombia
On a busy side street an hour from the center of Bogota, Colombia, the Communidad Pantokrator meets every Saturday to rock out in the name of Jesus Christ.
We Went To A Month-long Rave On The Southern Coast Of Ukraine
We visited the Black Sea rave republic of Kazantip for some seriously out-of-time partying.


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.357 mag AA#7
View Single Post
January 13, 2013, 11:31 PM
Sure Shot Mc Gee
Senior Member
Join Date: January 2, 2012
Posts: 2,767
CAUTION: The following post includes loading data beyond currently published maximums for this cartridge. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. Neither the writer, The Firing Line, nor the staff of TFL assume any liability for any damage or injury resulting from use of this information.
Have a Accurate hand loaders booklet 5th edition. For 357 rifle usage the lightest bullet weight recommended is no smaller than 140 gr.
Although in there 3rd and 4th editions. It states the 125 gr. bullet can be used for rifle.
The info below is from Accurate Powders 4th edition Loading Booklet:
Suggested cartridge brass & primer are >Winchester.
No. #7 min 10.8 =1513 fps.
No. #7 Max 12.0= 1680 fps.
Please consider. The current reloading Accurate booklets do not list nor suggest the 125-gr. jacketed bullet weight be used in rifle applications.
"Do not follow where the path leads, rather go where there is no path and leave a trail for others to follow."
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Academy of Couture Art designers are back in the atelier for a few major runway events. Designers Angela CHUY WU, Katherine ENYART, Sarah KIM, Rachel NOURMAND, Margaret ROBERTS, Mariana ROMERO TEJEDA, and Raquel VAN DAALEN WETTERS are in atelier in honor of Grace Kelly and a collection in presentation at the 7th Monaco Charity Film Festival in France this May.
This collection will make its U.S. debut at the Academy of Couture Art and Couture Guild International gala, Le Rêve, in June 2012. Le Rêve is in loving memory of Monsieur François Lesage, Maître d'art who was a influential friend of the ACA community.
The event includes haute couture looks from 12 graduate students. From the 2012 Academy of Couture Art Collide fashion show we saw amazing support from the community including the awarding of HRH Princess Theodora of Greece and Denmark for her outstanding role model to the next generation of designers. She is also in attendance for Le Rêve in continued support of the fit, elegance, and creativity that is haute couture and how that can transform fashion industry production as we know it. We will also see special looks from mentorship programs with Parisian couturiers such as the notable Guillaume Cardoso de Sousa.
You are invited to join the movement as the Academy of Couture Art shares the celebration in an afternoon show. For more information and a peak at what the designers are doing for Le Rêve, visit www.CoutureShows.com.


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As Nuclear Concerns Rise, Japan Delays Energy Plan
The Japanese government has delayed a planned announcement on the country's long-term energy strategy amid signs of rising public concern about a return to nuclear power.
"We are hoping to proceed as soon as possible, but we have received about 19,000 public comments," said industry minister Toshimitsu Motegi on Tuesday in a regular post-Cabinet meeting press conference. "We shouldn't decide on it too hastily," he said.
The draft of the new energy plan, disclosed in early December, calls nuclear power a way to "stabilize Japan's energy supply-demand structure." The pro-nuclear stance overturns a plan by the previous government to phase out nuclear power, a decision taken after the 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
The plan under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration was due to be announced in mid-January.
Mr. Motegi didn't specify what kind of opinions the government had received from the public, but he said it is necessary to add more detail on non-nuclear initiatives including an increase in the use of cheaper natural gas, boosting the efficiency of coal-generated power and how to expand the use of renewable energy.
"We also have to think more about nuclear waste," Mr. Motegi said, touching on one of the concerns among anti-nuclear activists over what Japan will do with its growing stockpile of spent nuclear fuel. He also said the strategy will not discuss the issue of whether Japan should build any new nuclear plants.
Despite the continued popularity of the pro-nuclear Mr. Abe, polls show a majority of the nation remains against the use of nuclear power. In a poll conducted Jan. 4-5 by major broadcaster Fuji television, 52% of 1,000 respondents said they support Mr. Abe's cabinet, but 60% of them said they oppose restarting any of Japan's 50 currently idled nuclear reactors.
The anti-nuclear forces have also found a new ally in the form of former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa, who says he will run for the post of Tokyo governor in a special election. He specifically cites nuclear power as one of his issues for the campaign, even though the Tokyo region hosts no nuclear plants of its own.
The nuclear debate has also started to have an impact on the economy. With the reactors off-line, utilities must import virtually all the energy they need to produce electrical power. That in turn has pushed up Japan's trade deficits and threatens to take away the financial cushioning that comes from Japan being a trade surplus nation, a status it has long enjoyed.


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This is an excerpt from EERE Network News, a weekly electronic newsletter.
August 28, 2013
Renewable Energy Provided Nearly 50% of 2012 U.S. Added Capacity
Renewable energy sources in the United States accounted for nearly 50% of U.S. electric capacity added in 2012, according to a new report. Wind deployment added a record 13,124 megawatts (MW) of capacity, and solar added 3,313 MW of capacity, according to the latest edition of the Ernst & Young report on U.S. renewable energy attractiveness indices. The report highlights trends in U.S. renewable investment and ranks the states in terms of their attractiveness for clean technology investment. The indices provide scores for state renewable energy markets, renewable energy infrastructures, and their suitability for individual technologies, and are updated on a biannual basis.
California led the nation in the report's measure of all renewable energy attractiveness, followed by Hawaii, Texas, Colorado, and Nevada. Texas was the leader in the actual installed wind base. See the Ernst & Young press release and the latest indices report.


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News & Headlines
Three Rivers Music Department presents "Messiah" sing-a-long, recitals in April
The Three Rivers College Music Department will present a program of free recitals and musical events for the public in April. Featured events include a sing-along of Handel's "Messiah," a guitar recital by adjunct instructor Jay Shepard, and a recital by the Three Rivers Brass Ensemble.
"All of these events provide a wonderful opportunity to experience music, right here in Poplar Bluff," said William "Buddy" White, Instructor of Music at Three Rivers. "We have all types of musical works being performed, from some of the most beloved choral music in the world, to themes from video games. There's something for everyone."
Programs for the month will kick off on Tuesday, April 15, with a recital featuring several Three Rivers student musicians at 7 p.m. in the Tinnin Fine Arts Center on the Poplar Bluff Campus. The event is free of charge and will give student musicians an opportunity to display a wide variety of instruments and musical styles.
Community members are invited to come and join the music with a sing-along version of Handel's "Messiah" on Saturday, April 19 at 7 p.m. in the Tinnin Fine Arts Center. "Messiah" is one of the most famous and most frequently performed pieces of choral music in the world and is best known for its "Hallelujah" chorus. Audience members will have the opportunity to purchase a score and participate in the music. The performance will feature soloists from Kennett, Poplar Bluff, and Williamsville, accompanied by an orchestra comprised of accomplished musicians from across the nation.
Featured events continue with a performance by music instructor Jay Shepherd on Tuesday, April 22 at 7 p.m. in the Tinnin Fine Arts Center. Shepherd is a master of classical guitar and will play pieces from Mignone, Bach, and selections from the music of "Final Fantasy" by Nobuo Uematsu. Admission is free.
On Sunday, April 27, the Three Rivers College Brass Ensemble will hold a recital at 3 p.m. at First United Methodist Church (500 N. Main, Poplar Bluff). The Brass Ensemble, which consists entirely of Three Rivers students, will play a selection of classical and modern pieces. Admission is free.
The Music Department will cap off the month with a student recital on Wednesday, April 30, at noon in Tinnin Center room 215. Admission is free.


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MONTICELLO — Police said a Bloomington man was arrested Thursday after several weeks of investigation into narcotics sales around Kingston.
Donald Tochterman, 39, was charged. Kingston police's Special Investigation Unit executed a search warrant at Tochterman's home, recovering "a large quantity of suspected cocaine," drug paraphernalia and cash, officials said.
He was charged with two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substances, a felony, and two counts of criminally using drug paraphernalia, a misdemeanor.
Location, ST | website.com


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Pardon our lack of visual delights. It's complicated. *SIGH…
There is an organization in our small rural town dedicated to helping people and changing lives. It is South East Nebraska Community Action–or SENCA, for short. One of the programs sponsored by SENCA is an annual Woman of Distinction event, honoring the amazing women of Johnson County, Nebraska.
It is costly to present this affair so to raise funds to defray the costs a Potato Bake was put on so the public could make a freewill offering, have a great meal, and have a really good time.
The SENCA office location was host for the evening. Their Advisory Board, made up of 7 people in the community who are just average folks in the community did the planning, cooking, serving and of course, clean up.
They baked a LOT of potatoes; they set out an array of toppings that were mouth watering and pretty. The offerings included butter, sour cream, grated cheese, broccoli, creamed corn, bacon bits, chopped ham and well seasoned chunks of chicken. Beverages were iced tea and water.
SIDEBAR: Other items were considered but to minimize cost these were omitted: onions, chives, chili, salsa, red/green peppers, chopped lettuce and olives. END SIDEBAR.
The plates were colored to match SENCA's theme colors: red and blue; the flatware was delivered to their door by one of the Advisory Board members who happens to be a minister. The kitchen at his church was missing all its flatware that evening! (Every piece is in its proper home this morning!)
The potatoes that did not get consumed were toted to a sister agency in a nearby town. The leftover veg was stowed in the SENCA fridge and some of the meat went into the freezer for use by the SENCA cook. There was not a shred of waste!
I mention all this because it got me thinking how easy it is to make up fixin's for baked potatoes for a hungry family. The cook might spend an evening or a day off afternoon chopping whatever veggies the family favors and keep them in the fridge til they are needed. Well scrubbed potatoes will cook nicely in the crock pot til it's time for the evening meal. Various toppings could be set out for each diner to decorate his potato to his own liking and no one would be put upon after a tiring day of work. And the food budget would still be intact!
SIDEBAR: IF you have a dishwasher, loading potatoes into it is a slick and simple way to get a lot of taters clean in a hurry! That's how the SENCA bunch pre-cooked theirs! When those taters came out of the dishwasher they were checked for spots, oiled and placed on baking sheets to slide into the ovens! END SIDEBAR.
Users of EBT cards from WIC or SNAP might find this idea useful, if not new. If you or someone you know uses food from food commodities or a food pantry, this is just one more way to make life a wee bit easier. Maybe you have things from a food drop or church food pantry…dressing up the humble potato is a wonderful way to add fiber, nutrition, flavor and oomph to what might otherwise be a boring tater!
As you who are Members of this humble Cooking Club know, we dedicate this piece of cyberspace to those who depend on public assistance for their food budgets. We intend for it to be a helpful asset. We also hope you will share your stories and experiences with us. If you like, you may write to us at email@example.com. WE LOVE HEARING FROM OUR MEMBERS!
We also hope you are getting benefit from the little series of cooking tips we send along to new members.
The FTC wants you to know there might be links on this page. Should they be clicked, resulting in sales, your humble blogger would be fairly compensated. Please do your due diligence when conducting affairs online or offline. Always do business with those you trust implicitly.


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Koh Tao Goodtime Beach Hostel
South Sairee Beach
注意 :表示する写真の正確さに関する責任はホテル チェーンや各施設にあります。Travellerspoint は写真の正確さについての責任を負いません。
Dear guests, please, be aware that we are located in the heart of Sairee Beach, which s popular for it's bustling nightlife! Our hostel is perfect for young people that love to laze on the beach during the day & dance the night away. If you are looking for a quiet family holiday, we would recommend that you look for another location (such as Chalok Bay)
The South Sairee area maintains a number of bars and restaurants within easy walking distance, not to mention convenience stores, pharmacy's and clothing shops. The beach itself has some large granite rocks making an amazing backdrop to the sunsets with a wide beach area perfect for sunbathing, swimming, snorkling or throwing a frisbee.
The Goodtime Beach Hostel is easy to access with the hostel reception right on the beach side walking road opposite to a 7/11. The building itself has a number of rooms on the first floor catering to mid range and budget travelers. The spacious dorm rooms all have AC and an internal bathroom along with individual lockers and a power point for each bed.
Our spacious Deluxe private rooms all have AC, hot water, Wifi - all this at an incredibly low price! Sea View rooms (Double and Quad) both have a huge private balcony with a splendid seaview, sunset view in the evening and yes, there is the best fire show in Koh Tao every evening - just under your balcony!
Out Standart Twin and Deluxe Double rooms have same ammenities as Deluxe Sea View Doubles apart of balcony and there is a nice Jungle view instead. In location is Goodtime Adventures, Koh Tao's premier adventure company offering diving (PADI and SSI courses), rock climbing, half and full day multi adventures (abseiling, hiking and cliff jumping) along with wakeboarding and watersports. The is also a beachaside cafe offering Western and Thai food with weekly BBQs and specials. Blue Immersion Freediving school and a second bar are also in the same location, providing a one stop shop for island fun goodtimes!
宿泊したことがありますか? レビューを書く
注意 :表示する写真の正確さに関する責任はホテル チェーンや各施設にあります。Travellerspoint は写真の正確さについての責任を負いません。


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Lenovo is now offering options to add wireless broadband
connectivity rate plans on ThinkPad T60 notebooks over EDGE and
BroadbandConnect networks.
Lenovo ThinkPad T60's will be available, though we're not sure when, with the
option to add wireless WAN connectivity with Cingular
Data Connect plans starting at $59.99 a month. The configuration
page for the T60, however, only shows the Verizon Wireless V620 Wireless
WAN Card option with no mention of Cingular.
If you remember anything from 2005, Lenovo got together with Verizon Wireless
to integrate
Verizon's Wireless WAN connectivity over the EV-DO network in some of its
notebooks. Until now it looked like an exclusive contract between the two but
the T60 product page currently shows different. Could this be the end of
Verizon+Lenovo for now or the beginning of a new triangle of wireless broadband
quote: Because some people want a sub-3lbs notebook without stuff hanging off of it. Thinkpad X60s with EVDO comes in under 3lbs with dual core. Take it anywhere & everywhere with no things dangling off of it, and hardware supported by Lenovo.


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Tue, 31 Jan 12
New Email Spec Aims to Tangle Phishing Lines
Fifteen leading email service providers and tech companies have announced a joint effort to fight phishers. Google, Facebook, PayPal, Yahoo and Agari are among the companies behind the Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance spec. DMARC is a technical specification that standardizes how email receivers perform email authentication using well-known mechanisms. "The inspiration behind DMARC was PayPal's and Google's attempt to stop phishing together, but they quickly realized the model they were pursuing could not scale," said Agari's Daniel Raskin.
Tue, 31 Jan 12
Nintendo Greases Wii U Wheels
Nintendo's Wii U will be out in time for the 2012 holiday season and will feature NFC technology, according to the company. The next-generation Nintendo Wii will have a handheld controller with a touchscreen that can interact with what's showing on the TV screen. The new device will also come equipped with NFC technology, allowing users to create cards and figurines that would allow users to connect to other users and the system in new ways. In addition, the technology could allow players to buy in-game items or apps without having to enter credit card information.
Tue, 31 Jan 12
FBI Looking to 'Friend' Terrorists
Social networks are popular with lots of folks, including terrorists. That's why the FBI is looking for a contractor that will design an "early warning system" for it based on monitoring chatter on the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Google+. To identify potential "bad actors," the agency will be looking for terrorist keywords like "gangs," "small pox," "leak," "recall" and "2600," a hacker magazine that dates back to the days of phone phreaker Captain Crunch.
Tue, 31 Jan 12
Ubuntu's New 'HUD' Factor: A Step Forward or Back?
Some of us here in the Linux blogosphere may have hoped for a quieter 2012 than 2011 turned out to be, but so far at least, it doesn't look like we're getting our wish. January appears to have started the year off with a bang. Do we get a little break now that it's the end of the month? No, we don't, thanks to the arrival of Ubuntu's "HUD." What in the world is HUD, you ask? Well for those who missed it, it's Head-Up Display, a new interface planned for Ubuntu 12.04 "Precise Pangolin" that will eventually replace menus in Unity applications and recognize voice commands.
Tue, 31 Jan 12
Apple's Textbooks Improve Everything but the Text
After Apple announced that it had "reinvented" textbooks at its education media event in New York earlier in the month, I knew I had to take one for a spin myself. I downloaded the new iBooks 2 iPad app and launched it to get to the refreshed iBooks Store. I tapped the big "Introducing Textbooks" graphic and started looking. There were eight titles available, covering topics like Algebra, Geometry and Physics. Seven of them cost $14.99, which seems like a steal, but I'm not personally interested in learning Algebra 1 all over again, for example.
Tue, 31 Jan 12
Microsoft's Misunderstood 'Avoid-Ghetto' Tech
Earlier this month, Microsoft applied for a patent related to a technology that would highlight areas of high crime and route people around them. Folks seemed to get upset because areas like this tend to struggling due to a lack of revenue, and this would route people who might otherwise shop there to other safer and likely more lucrative areas. While true, I think it comes down to choice. Would you like to have the choice of whether to take a risk, or would you like someone else to make this choice for you, for the good of the folks selling products in those areas?
Sun, 29 Jan 12
Apple Does the Money Dance
pple's first fiscal quarter is usually a big one. The way its financial calendar works out, what it considers Q1 ends on Dec. 31, meaning it covers the entire holiday period, as well as maybe a little back-to-school action. But the numbers Apple posted about its most recent Q1 were in an entirely different class than the usual money bender it wakes up from this time of year. One of the biggest drivers for Apple's money train was the iPhone. It sold 37 million units over the last three months of 2011 -- easily a record.
Sat, 28 Jan 12
Twitter Builds a Better Gagger
Twitter announced on Thursday that it can now withhold content from users country by country on demand, while still making that content available to the rest of the world. The news sparked widespread anger as critics accused the microblogging service of censorship and warned that the policy might impede popular anti-government movements such as those seen during the Arab Spring, which toppled several dictatorial governments in the Middle East last year. "This does appear to constitute censorship," Yasha Heidari, managing partner at the Heidari Power Law Group, told TechNewsWorld.
Sat, 28 Jan 12
FBI's Most Wanted: A Social Media Monitoring Tool
The FBI wants to keep its eye on social media users, according to a job post that invites software developers to submit applications capable of mining through sites such as Twitter and Facebook to identify possible threats. The post can be found on FedBizOpps.gov. The bureau has a detailed list of requirements for the app, which it says would only sift through "publicly available" material. The app would have a variety of targets, including cybercrime and terrorism.
Sat, 28 Jan 12
Scientists Close In on Invisibility Cloak
That invisibility cloak Harry Potter throws around himself to hide in plain sight soon may be fact, rather than fiction. Researchers at the University of Texas in Austin have demonstrated one -- sort of. The researchers hid an 18 cm cylindrical tube from microwaves by putting it in a shell of plasmonic metamaterial. Metamaterials are artificial materials engineered to have properties that may not occur in nature. Plasmonic metamaterials are negative index metamaterials, meaning they are, in essence, invisible at a certain frequency range.
Sat, 28 Jan 12
Vignette Lets Android Photogs Get Their Art On
Vignette differentiates itself from other Android-based camera apps by adding cross-process, tilt-shift, double exposure and other sophisticated effects like infrared, as opposed to the general toy camera and retro effects commonly found. The paid version of Vignette adds full resolution to the mix. I had been using the free version for some months and loved the app, but was disappointed with the resolution delivered, when I discovered that you had to buy the full version to utilize the full resolution of your phone. The full version has exceeded my expectations.
Fri, 27 Jan 12
Symantec Tells Customers to Pull the Plug on pcAnywhere Following Code Theft
Symantec is sounding the alarm for users of its pcAnywhere remote access software following threats from a hacker. In some cases, said the security software maker, they might want to turn off and disable the application entirely. The hacker, who goes by the handle "YamaTough," might be a member of the hacker collective Anonymous. The hacker claimed last week to have released pcAnywhere source code to the wild, where it could be exploited by malicious hackers.
Fri, 27 Jan 12
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Slinging
Slingbox lets you watch your television remotely. The Slingbox hardware device captures the source image and audio at your home and squirts it into the Internet. Proprietary software is used to replicate a television-like experience on laptops or other devices like smartphones. Hardware-based infrared transmitters create remote control commands and viewing can take place within the home's network, or globally across the Internet, including mobile data networks.
Fri, 27 Jan 12
Rumor Mill Buzzes With Shape - and Size - of iPhones to Come
The iPhone 5 is headed toward production for a summer debut, according a recent report. The information comes from an anonymous source: apparently the same Foxconn employee who last fall accurately disclosed that Apple was planning a revamped iPhone 4, the 4S, rather than the iPhone 5. This time around, the employee said that a few versions of the new handset have been considered, so it's difficult to know exactly what the design will look like. Many of the design updates the smartphones had in common were similar to the rumors that preceded the iPhone 4S.
Fri, 27 Jan 12
FOSS' Factious Gender Divide
There's no denying that the FOSS community has many virtues, but gender equality doesn't seem to be one of them. Gender-related issues and tensions have plagued the FOSS world for as long as many of us can remember, and the problem has already been picked apart on these pages time, time and time again. Well guess what? It's still a problem. That can hardly be denied. Linux bloggers varied widely, however, in their opinions as to what should be done.
Fri, 27 Jan 12
iOS and OS X: Time for Some Real Convergence
Lately I've found myself more frequently irritated and dissatisfied with my Mac than ever before. This is a weird feeling, made all the more powerful by the fact that Mac OS X Lion is the most useful operating system ever. With a simple two-fingered swipe on my Magic Mouse, I can flick my entire screen to a whole new desktop view, and with a swipe in the other direction, go back. This feature alone is freakishly powerful for people who have a lot of different kinds of content on their Macs.
Thu, 26 Jan 12
Privacy Advocates Fiercely Furrow Brows at Google
Google will consolidate about 60 of its privacy policies across its products in March, creating one overarching policy and leaving only about another 10 unchanged for legal and other reasons. The company is also changing its terms of service. It may combine information on Google account holders across all the company's services the account holder uses. This will provide a simpler, more intuitive Google experience and also let the company serve users better, it claims.
Thu, 26 Jan 12
Assange to Test His Charm on Russian TV
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has plans to host a new TV show called "The World Tomorrow." The half-hour weekly episodes are scheduled to begin airing in mid-March on Russia's English-language RT channel. It will reach some 60 million global viewers. Assange sees the series as a vehicle to discuss the issues of the day with the people who are shaping the future "in a deeper and clearer way than has been done before." It can be assumed, though, that Assange and Wikileaks have goals that go beyond discussions of pressing issues.
Thu, 26 Jan 12
Take the 5th? Not With Encrypted Hard Drives, Says Fed Judge
Encrypting data on your computer may protect you from hackers and thieves, but it won't protect you from crime investigators. That was the finding of a federal district court in Colorado Monday in a case involving a woman who refused to decrypt the files on her laptop for government prosecutors. The woman, Romona Fricosu, of Peyton, Colo., denied prosecutors' demand to decrypt the files on the grounds that doing so would violate her Fifth Amendment rights. She argued that forcing her to use her password to decrypt the files was tantamount to self-incrimination, which is prohibited by the constitution.
Thu, 26 Jan 12
Big Data's Big Challenges for Content Management
As many know, content is getting bigger -- way bigger -- and this is scary to many technologists. At the same time, it's also getting smarter. Applications are growing more complex, challenging IT pros as never before. How will these changes impact content management technologies? It's difficult to predict exactly, but there are insights to be found and used to plan for the future. If there's one topic that keeps cropping up when it comes to content management, it's the runaway growth of data and content.
Thu, 26 Jan 12
Fotowall Has a Sharp Eye for Sweet Collages
Eye candy can be a great user experience sweetener, but tastes vary widely as to how much is just enough, and it's one differentiator among Linux desktops. Fotowall is a handy app that can spice up your desktop as well as create personalized print and wallpaper displays. Fotowall is a really clever collage-making tool of sorts. Its simple point-and-click interface is actually fun to use. But it comes with no on-board help file. The home page support is practically nonexistent.
Wed, 25 Jan 12
The Pirate Bay and 3D Printing: Big Booty?
Peer-to-peer sharing site The Pirate Bay has set up a page hosting digital 3D mockups -- digital 3D files -- for visitors to download and print out on 3D printers. Physical objects, or "physibles," as Pirate Bay calls them, will constitute the next step in copying, according to the site. In the future, consumers will be able to print out spare parts for their vehicles and, in 20 years, they'll download and print out sneakers, The Pirate Bay contends. These will be created on 3D printers.
Wed, 25 Jan 12
Rival Social Nets Scold Google With 'Don't Be Evil' Bookmarklet
Engineers from Facebook, Twitter and MySpace have released a bookmarklet called "Don't Be Evil" for the Google Chrome browser. A bookmarklet is a bit of code that runs in a Web browser and temporarily enables added functionality. This one adds more social search results to Google's new Search Plus Your World feature. DBE uses Google's own relevance measure to determine the additional social content that its developers say should appear in the areas where Google+ results are currently hardcoded. Clicking on it reorders search results to include information from other social networks.
Wed, 25 Jan 12
SC Rules Cops Need Warrant to Slap GPS on Cars
The U.S. Supreme Court decided Monday that law enforcement officials need a court-approved warrant before using a GPS device to track a suspect. Justices offered different opinions regarding how Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures apply to the balance between law enforcement and privacy. However, the court decided unanimously on the need for a warrant. The decision was based on the case of Washington, D.C., nightclub owner Antonine Jones.
Wed, 25 Jan 12
A Strategy for Post-Virtualization Security
Virtualization has been one of the most rapidly and widely adopted technologies in recent memory. It's huge, and it's here to stay. And as security professionals know, setting up a virtual environment securely isn't easy. Significant effort goes into tasks like evaluating off-premise service providers, ensuring regulatory compliance, and standing up technical controls like monitoring and encryption. But in the excitement to stand up the new environment and get security to an acceptable "target state," organizations sometimes don't address security hygiene long-term.
Wed, 25 Jan 12
CyanogenMod May Start Selling Forbidden Android Fruit
CyanogenMod, which offers aftermarket firmware for Android mobile devices, is apparently planning to sell apps that have been banned from the official Android Market. Koushik Dutta, who writes apps for CyanogenMod, has put up a screenshot of what seems to be the landing page for the app market. The market's offerings will include root apps, as well as tether apps and Visual Voicemail apps, according to Dutta. The market for root apps "is there, it's talked about in techie circles, but it's not really in the general market," said ABI's Michael Morgan.
Tue, 24 Jan 12
Anonymous Lashes Out in Wake of Megaupload Shutdown
The hacker group Anonymous has reportedly launched a series of attacks that shut down major websites in retaliation against the U.S. Department of Justice's actions against the site Megaupload. The attacks have been ongoing since Thursday, and various Web users who clicked on certain links may have been tricked into becoming accomplices. The group reportedly began issuing distributed denial of service attacks Thursday almost immediately after U.S. federal authorities announced they'd arrested several Megaupload executives on charges of racketeering, money laundering and copyright infringement.
Tue, 24 Jan 12
Revamped Signup Process Shoves New Gmail Users Into Google+
Google is incorporating its social network, Google+, in just about every part of its online empire -- including, most recently, its Gmail system. Now, new users who want a Gmail account must also sign up for Google+. It's not necessarily a novel move for Google. The company has been integrating its products for years, from Picasa to YouTube to Blogger to perhaps its most popular productivity tool, Gmail. However, its efforts to increase its Google+ user base via Gmail might prove grating to some users who are particularly sensitive about privacy.
Tue, 24 Jan 12
SOPA Backpedaling Has InfoSec Boffins Breathing Easier
As far as SOPA's critics are concerned, "if something works, break it" seemed to be the motto of the U.S. Congress last week as it rushed to pass a controversial bill that security experts maintained could throw a bomb into the gearbox of the Internet. The Stop Online Piracy Act, filed in the U.S. House of Representatives, and its Senate counterpart, the Protect IP Act, propose Internet Service Providers be called on to block the DNS addresses of websites suspected of violating the rights of copyright holders.
Tue, 24 Jan 12
Windows 8 Secure Boot - or How Microsoft Is Riling Up the Linux Masses
What a difference a week makes. It was just the other day that Linux bloggers were celebrating the news from researcher Net Applications that desktop Linux had surged in popularity in recent months. Now, the mood in the blogosphere has plummeted once again as a result of the latest developments on the Windows 8 front. Secure Boot, that is -- a topic astute readers may remember from last fall but that lately seems to have taken a turn for the worse.
Tue, 24 Jan 12
Numberlys: A Top-Shelf App for Kids, Though a Bit Overhyped
I must admit, I felt a bit duped by the description of the Numberlys app after I bought, downloaded and launched the app. I was expecting something bigger and longer that would appeal more to adults. Something gorgeous, imaginative, and slightly dystopian with an uplifting ending. What I got was something gorgeous, imaginative, and slightly dystopian with an uplifting ending. Just not something huge. In order to be fair in this review, I have to juggle the expectations set up by the description with my personal expectations and connect that to what you actually ge.
Tue, 24 Jan 12
In Search of the App That Could Save the World
I'm a moderate Republican, which means that if I actually think about platforms, Obama, as a moderate Democrat, is closer to where I am than any of the folks running in my own party. What absolutely flabbergasts me is that these candidates don't seem to realize there is something called "the Internet," which points out with incredible glee every instance when they don't tell the truth or punt on a question they don't know the answer to. Or that the result will likely then become a gag on the Jon Stewart show, which is a guilty pleasure for most of us.
Sun, 22 Jan 12
McAfee Supplies Antidote for Tainted SaaS Security
Security vendor McAfee, which is now owned by Intel, is rolling out a patch for three flaws in its Endpoint Protection Software as a Service offering. All three flaws are in ActiveX controls. One tricks the control into executing commands supplied by an attacker, the second lets attackers write to files on disk and the third lets attackers execute code with user privileges, McAfee said. The first two flaws were patched back in August, and it's the third that created headlines earlier this week when it was found it let attackers essentially hijack victims' PCs and use them to relay spam.
Sun, 22 Jan 12
SOPA Shellacked, PIPA Plastered
The Stop Online Piracy Act, otherwise known as "SOPA," is losing friends fast, and now it looks like there's a good chance it'll lose the support it needs to make it out of Congress alive, much less the White House. SOPA and its Senate bill cousin PIPA, the Protect IP Act, have been controversial from the beginning, but a recent round of protests have made them almost toxic. High-profile websites like Reddit and Wikipedia went dark last Wednesday to give visitors a taste of what SOPA and PIPA opponents say the whole Internet could look like if they become law.
Sat, 21 Jan 12
Quantum Tech Could Secure the Cloud Through 'Blind' Data Processing
Researchers led by the University of Vienna's Stefanie Barz have demonstrated the possibility of using quantum computing to unconditionally secure cloud computing. The scientists' work, written up in the journal Science, essentially demonstrates double-blind cryptography. It consists of an optical implementation of blind quantum computing, Barz told TechNewsWorld. The researchers used lasers, optical fibers, lenses, crystals, mirrors and polarization analyzers to conduct the demo.
Sat, 21 Jan 12
Facebook Gets App-Happy
Do you like to garden? Share coupons? How about bike riding? If so, there's an app for that -- on Facebook, that is -- or soon will be. As promised at last year's f8 developer conference, Facebook rolled out about 60 new apps to be used on its site this week. They are designed for users to express more precisely how they are interacting with content on Facebook by introducing new verbs to join Facebook's "Like" button. What this means is that a Facebook user who previously could only "Like" the book The Help, now can proclaim having "Read" it.
Sat, 21 Jan 12
Nike+ FuelBand Offers New Way to Measure the Burn
Nike has rolled out another product aimed at digital device-loving athletes. Called Nike+ FuelBand, it is a digitized wristband with a built-in three-axis accelerometer that tracks a user's movements. That's any movement -- from running or dancing to swimming or fiddling at your desk. Users can also set personal goals for a variety of activities using the water-resistant device. The FuelBand has a battery life of four days and an internal USB. It captures and displays four different metrics: time, calories, steps and NikeFuel -- Nike's proprietary metric.
Sat, 21 Jan 12
Middle-East Cyberbattle Escalates as Arab Banks Take a Pounding
Unrest between Israelis and Arabs on the cybersecurity front is escalating, with Israeli hackers having reportedly taken down the websites of the Saudi and Abu Dhabi stock exchanges. The Israeli hackers, who call themselves "IDF-Team," paralyzed the Saudi stock exchange site and caused significant delays to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, according to a report. They warned of more retaliatory attacks if Arab hackers continue their activities.
Sat, 21 Jan 12
Ultrabooks, Tablets and the Space Between
The stage is set for a new battle of mobile form factors. The winner could set a new non-desktop standard for consumers and office workers looking for a better alternative to bulky laptops. Lighter, thinner and more powerful are the key factors guiding the designs of tablets, convertibles, hybrids and Ultrabooks. All four form factors challenge the range of sizes found in traditional notebook computers. The netbook is perhaps a casualty of the last round of form factor skirmishing.
Sat, 21 Jan 12
New Apple Offerings Could Retool Education
Apple's release of some new tools for the education market has the potential to transform both the teaching and learning experiences in the nation's schools, according to William Rankin, an academic at the forefront of bringing technology to the college campus. At a press conference held Thursday at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City, Apple announced a new iBooks 2 app for buying electronic textbooks for $15 or less, a tool for creating textbooks called "iBooks Author," and a new app for its iTunes U offering.
Fri, 20 Jan 12
Alienware Packs Big Gaming Power Into Little Box
Dell's gaming computer brand, Alienware, has released a new desktop computer that -- while not quite in keeping with the trend toward mobile gaming -- is compact, powerful and sleek. The X51 is unobtrusive enough to be placed near a television. It is powered by a range of graphics cards and several Intel Core processors. It is powered by a range of graphics cards and several Core processors. Pricing starts at $699 and goes to $1,149, depending on how the device is configured.
Fri, 20 Jan 12
Amazon Spins Up DynamoDB Database as a Service
Amazon.com has launched its DynamoDB fully managed NoSQL database service, targeting businesses that need to deal with large amounts of data. The service will use the company's traditional pay-as-you-go model, and Amazon will take care of the administrative side of things, such as hardware provisioning and configuration, replication and partitioning. DynamoDB is based on provisioned throughput, meaning that customers will state how much read/write throughput they need when they create database tables using the service.
Fri, 20 Jan 12
Tapping Your Smartphone's Processing Power for Classic Photography
The stumbling-block to using a phone as an all-in-one solution for photography is basically that the lenses aren't as good as those on any dedicated camera. While you would expect a DSLR camera to sport a better lens, even the most basic, sub-hundred-dollar point-and-shoots have higher quality glass than the best phones. Manual adjustments for exposure and other settings like white balance are also missing on many smartphones, as is an optical zoom that provides higher quality close-ups than a processor-driven zoom.
Fri, 20 Jan 12
SOPA Support Goes Sour
The Stop Online Piracy Act appears to be reeling in the face of growing opposition. Internet heavyweights like Wikipedia, Google and Facebook have demonstrated their opposition to the proposed legislation, in some cases protesting by temporarily blocking users from accessing content. A broad swathe of organizations from both the left and right sides of the political spectrum have come out against SOPA, and antipathy to the legislation appears to be growing. Meanwhile, some members of congress have reportedly begun pulling their support for the bill.
Fri, 20 Jan 12
All Hail Debian, King of the Web Server World
There's nothing like a popularity contest to elicit a wide array of opinions -- particularly those of the opposing kind -- but recently an example appeared in the Linux blogosphere that seems to be something of an exception. "Debian is now the most popular Linux distribution on web servers," proclaimed W3Techs in a blog post from earlier this month. A few mildly divergent comments were expressed, to be sure, but for the most part, Linux geeks appeared to be largely in agreement. Could this be a historic first?
Thu, 19 Jan 12
AMD Aims to Shimmy Into Ultrabook Turf With Ultrathins
Thin is all the rage in electronics these days, and nowhere is that more evident than in the notebook computer realm, where Intel has created a deafening buzz with its Ultrabook platform. However, Intel's archrival, AMD, isn't sitting on its silicon when it comes to thin computers. It has a version of its upcoming Trinity chip designed for super slim notebooks, and it expects to enter the "ultra" fray with a so-called ultrathin line of laptops around the middle of this year.
Thu, 19 Jan 12
Facebook on Mission to Wipe Koobface Off Face of the Web
Facebook eradicated the Koobface virus from its site about nine months ago. However, the social network says it is on a mission to vanquish it completely. It intends to share what it has learned in three years of battling the malware with law enforcement and the larger security community. The language Facebook uses in its post -- "the full force of law brought to bear against those who have made millions in ill-gotten gains" and "to rid the Web of this virus forever" evoke images of Captain Ahab and his white whale.
Thu, 19 Jan 12
Website Scaling, Part 2: The Metrics of Measuring
Measuring Web scalability is a critical component of website scaling. The way you do this in a testing environment is, of course, called "load testing." But what you might not know about load testing is how it relates to Little's Law: "The average number of things in the system is the product of the average rate at which things leave the system and the average time each one spends in the system. (And if there is a gross flow balance of things entering and leaving, the exit rate is also the entry rate.)"
Thu, 19 Jan 12
LiVES: A Rich Video Editor With Layer Upon Layer of Features
LiVES is an advanced video editor that can double as a video jockey tool. It is surprisingly powerful. But its interface makes it rather simple to learn. In fact, it has so many feature levels that this app would be right at home as the video editor of choice in any professional film editing studio. I had almost no trouble putting LiVES to work on a current project before I even finished my initial shakedown of this application. This trial-by-fire test run proved highly successful.
Wed, 18 Jan 12
Microsoft Rejiggers File System for Windows Server 8
Move over, NTFS -- Microsoft has announced a newly engineered file system, ReFS, for Windows Server 8. ReFS, or Resilient File System, builds on NTFS, including many of its features but leaving out others. It will be introduced only as part of Windows Server 8, in line with Microsoft's standard approach for putting out new file systems. ReFS will verify and auto-correct data, optimize for extreme scale and provide a full end-to-end resiliency architecture when used in conjunction with Storage Spaces.
Wed, 18 Jan 12
Website Scaling, Part 1: What It Means and How to Get There
The stories of websites that fell over and died when they got unexpected traffic are legion. A recent example of what not to do would be Target's introduction of a low-priced Missoni collection. The site attracted so much traffic that Target.com was swamped for several hours on Sept. 13, 2011, leading would-be shoppers to face a cute but frustrating site-down page. If you want to make your own website fall over for publicity reasons, that's easy. Keeping it running during an onslaught of traffic to, you know, take orders and make money, is much harder.
Wed, 18 Jan 12
Galaxy Nexus: A Dazzling Phone With an Enormous Appetite
OK, Greenpeace, arrest me now as an eco-criminal. I must have single-handedly deforested a good tract of the Amazon rain forest over the last few days. In mitigation, I plead that this was because of the requirements of my job. I was testing the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. The device is sleek and sexy, has a great UI and nice features, but its appetite for power is incredible. I had the phone on for one hour 45 minutes, during which time I made six calls, all of less than one minute's duration, and searched the Web for about 10 minutes.
Wed, 18 Jan 12
US Cautions on 'Boot Up' Cyberthreat
The routine is almost universal. Every day, millions of workers turn on their computers, take a second or two for a sip of coffee as their desktop or laptop "boots up," and then get to work. In those few seconds, the basic input-output system, or BIOS, of the computer loads the protocols that actually run the PC -- in effect, acting the same as the shot of coffee that helps the worker wake up and start functioning. Pretty simple. Only when it's not.
Tue, 17 Jan 12
'Nightmare' Hackers Take Swipe at Israeli Stock Exchange, Airline
Hackers believed to belong to the pro-Palestinian group "Nightmare" struck at the websites of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and Israeli airline El Al on Monday in what appears to be an escalation of cyberbattles between Israelis and pro-Palestinian hackers. Three Israeli banks were also attacked. The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange reportedly stated its site was slowed down by the attacks, while El Al reportedly took down its site as a precaution. The attacks constitute the latest round of cyberbattles between Israel and Palestinians.
Tue, 17 Jan 12
gTLD Security Threat Less Than Meets the Eye
Despite the pleas of some regulators and the advertising industry, the overlords of the Internet -- the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers -- plunged forward last week with its plan to drastically expand the number of generic top level domains on the Net. Generic Top Level Domains are what come after the dot in an Internet address -- .com, .net, .org, .gov and so forth. Under the new ICANN scheme, anyone can have anything they want after that dot -- as long as they have the cash to do it.
Tue, 17 Jan 12
Can Apple Outdo Itself With iPad 3?
The latest rumor in the flood of speculation about the next version of Apple's tablet, the iPad 3, is that it will be equipped with a high-definition screen, a faster processor, and the ability to work with next-generation wireless networks. A quad-core chip reportedly will allow users to quickly toggle back and forth between applications. The iPad 3 is definitely slated for a March debut, the sources said, with production ramping up to full capacity at its supplier factories in Asia.
Tue, 17 Jan 12
The Future According to CES
One of the things that unfortunately doesn't happen much since Bill Gates stepped down is a quintessential talk on what the future will look like, and I find I miss that. So, to fill my own need for such a talk, this week's column will focus on the interesting products I saw come out at CES and the future they represent. If you looked in on the Nvidia booth, the future it envisions includes massive 17-inch displays in cars for entertainment, navigation and communication.
Tue, 17 Jan 12
The Surprisingly Juicy Desktop Linux Market Share Report
There's no doubt the Linux world has seen its share of good news over the past year or so, but every once in a while a tidbit comes along that calls for a little extra fanfare. Case in point: Recent data from research firm Net Applications suggests that desktop Linux's market share has jumped considerably over the past few months. Want specifics? Here goes: The company's NetMarketShare service just recently reported that Linux's market share on the desktop has steadily increased since the summer, going from 0.97 percent in July to a new high of 1.41 percent last month.
Tue, 17 Jan 12
Snapseed for Mac OS X Makes Your Photos Pop
The app that won Apple's coveted iPad App of the Year award, Snapseed by Nik Software, has made it to the Mac App Store and therefore, Mac OS X. Not only is this cool for photography-loving Mac users, it's cool because it brings some awesome filter and editing effects to the masses. As near as I can tell, Nik Software has been around since 1995 and has pretty much focused on photo pros or prosumer sorts of customers -- I never heard of them until Snapseed hit the Apple App Store. Fast forward to 2012, and Snapseed has me rethinking how I handle my photos.
Sun, 15 Jan 12
Google's Nettlesome Search Gambit
Google has tuned up its search engine once again, but this time instead of shaving a couple of precious microseconds off its response time, it's decided to adjust some back-end systems in a way that changes the kinds of results people get, depending on who they are. Google users who are signed onto a Google account -- that is, a Gmail account, a Google+ profile, etc. -- will see search results culled not only from the Web at large, but also from information contained in their personal Google profiles, as well as info their friends on sites like Google+ have decided to make public.
Sun, 15 Jan 12
Google Asks Android App Devs to Design by the Book
It's well known that Android is fragmented or, as Google CEO Eric Schmidt contends, "differentiated." In a bid to codify design principles for the operating system's look and feel, Google unveiled Android Design at CES on Thursday. This website seeks to help appdevs create apps with a more uniform look and feel for its latest version, Ice Cream Sandwich. "[Google] definitely wants to have a uniform look. They never have provided a style guide before," said Melissa Skrbic-Huss, creative lead at Amadeus Consulting.
Sat, 14 Jan 12
IBM Discovers How to Store Data in a Dozen Atoms
Researchers at IBM's Almaden Labs have created a 12-atom magnetic memory bit, in a continuation of work on atomic-level memory storage first posited in 1959 by American physicist Richard Feynman. Disk drives currently use about 1 million atoms to store a single bit of information, according to IBM. The scientists used antiferromagnetism to achieve their result. They stored the ASCII code for the word "Think" on 96 iron atoms using this approach.
Sat, 14 Jan 12
New FB Feature Lets Friends Rock Out to the Same Tune
Facebook is enhancing its music listening options by launching Listening With Friends, a feature that will let Facebook friends listen to music together via chat. As the feature rolls out to all of Facebook's 800 million users over the next few weeks, a music note will appear next to a user's name in the chat list if he or she is listening to a song. If other users want to listen in, they can hover over the other user's name and click a 'Listen With' button. Then, that user will be taken to the music server that's playing the song.
Sat, 14 Jan 12
WinPho Struts Its Stuff at CES
After a difficult year spent at the lower depths of the global smartphone market, Microsoft's Windows Phone devices roared out of oblivion at CES 2012. Analysts and the media outlets are raving about the Nokia Lumia 900 and the HTC Titan II, which are displayed at the event. "Once people get over the fact that these are not iPhones or Androids, they'll be pleased," Ramon Llamas, a senior analyst at IDC, told TechNewsWorld. "These devices feel good, they look really good, they're solid and they have nice big screens," Llamas added.
Sat, 14 Jan 12
Can Apple School the Academic World?
Apple, in its typical cryptic way, announced Wednesday that it was holding a press event next week on "education." It's anyone's guess what Apple will be announcing at the event scheduled for Jan. 19 at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City. But if a recent report is accurate, Apple will be pulling the wraps off a new initiative into digital textbooks. If that's the case, Apple's choosing a good time to focus on that market, according to Rob Enderle, president and principal analyst with the Enderle Group.
Sat, 14 Jan 12
Quickoffice Pro: Strong Cloud Connections, Dreary Look
Many Android devices ship with stripped-down office suite apps that offer limited functionality loosely based on the kind you'd get with Microsoft Office on your desktop. Having had a discussion recently with someone who now regularly travels without a laptop, depending solely on his Apple iPad for office functions, I was keen to see just how far these Office-like tools could go. Many of the free apps don't allow document creation -- only reading. What would you get if you actually handed over some money?
Fri, 13 Jan 12
This Is Your Brain Online
Too many hours of Internet use might actually change your brain. Researchers in China have concluded that those who are addicted to the Internet may experience changes in the brain that are similar to those seen in individuals hooked on drugs or alcohol. A research team lead by Hao Lei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences used magnetic resonance imaging to scan the brains of 35 male and female adolescents. Seventeen members of the group were classified as having Internet addiction disorder, based on interviews about their behavior.
Fri, 13 Jan 12
Lenovo Yoga Gives Notebook, Tablet Concepts a New Twist
Lenovo unveiled its IdeaPad Yoga recently at CES, showing off a notebook with a 360-degree hinge designed to be used in a variety of ways in addition to the conventional laptop style. The Ultrabook, which will run on Windows 8, can be opened and folded back on itself to be used as a tablet or e-reader with touchscreen capabilities. It can also be propped up like a tent for a better video watching experience, for example, or used as a traditional laptop.
Fri, 13 Jan 12
Updating the ROM in Your Mobile Device
Remember this: The phone or tablet you purchased is yours. It does not belong to the carrier that you bought it from despite the fact that the device is emblazoned with its corporate identity, logo or splash screen. This outright ownership you have in the device means that you can do whatever you like with it once you've walked out of the store, assuming you don't mess with the radio hardware and cause interference to your fellow users.
Fri, 13 Jan 12
Mint With Cinnamon: A New Sweet Spot for Desktop Linux?
Well CES is nearing its conclusion for another year, winding down an event that may well have brought Linux more mainstream attention than any other in the show's four-decades-long history. Much of that heightened focus has been due to the widely trumpeted Ubuntu TV debut, of course. There's no doubt Ubuntu has had its share of the limelight this past week, but it's another Linux distro entirely that's captured many bloggers' attention. Linux Mint, that is -- and its tantalizing new desktop environment, Cinnamon.
Thu, 12 Jan 12
With Razer's Fiona Project, Tablet Gaming Could Go Hardcore
Gaming equipment maker Razer has shown a prototype hybrid PC/tablet gaming device design at the Consumer Electronics Show. The device, presently dubbed "Project Fiona," will be a way to combine control and touch elements to create a unique gaming experience, according to the company. The prototype is designed to be able to play hardcore PC games and give users the same control and visual experience that they would have while playing on a full-sized computer or console. Project Fiona has integrated dual game controllers as well as a touchscreen.
Thu, 12 Jan 12
Google's Schmidt Does the Android Definition Boogie
As Android smartphones sell like hot cakes -- 3.7 million were reportedly activated on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day -- concerns about the fragmentation of the operating system are increasing, and Google Chairman Eric Schmidt sought to allay those fears while speaking at a panel at the Consumer Electronics Show Tuesday. Schmidt reportedly stated that Android is not fragmented, but rather "differentiated." Further, Google wants to have all Android users employ Android 4.0 aka "Ice Cream Sandwich," Schmidt reportedly stated.
Thu, 12 Jan 12
Facebook Riding Shotgun in New Mercedes Models
Facebook will be among the Internet services that can be accessed in new car models from Mercedes Benz. Facebook access is just one of the new features in the second generation telematics system, called "Mbrace2," which will begin appearing in new Mercedes models this spring. Introduced at CES 2012 in Las Vegas Tuesday, Mbrace2 will connect to the Internet through any 3G network and runs apps tailored for it by the car maker. In addition to a Mercedes flavor of Facebook, Mbrace2 offers access to Google and Yelp, as well as the viewing of information like stock prices and news.
Thu, 12 Jan 12
The Nitty Gritty of the Virtualized Data Center
In 2012, we will see the rise of the data center fabric. Within the year, multiple Ethernet fabric technologies will mature into shipping products. This is very timely because server virtualization is now giving rise to a whole new set of data center challenges that traditional switching technologies were not equipped to address. Fabrics will address these challenges with a faster, simpler, more agile infrastructure that will help IT managers virtualize more applications and deliver greater application performance at less cost.
Thu, 12 Jan 12
Music Management Takes Flight With Songbird
Asking a seasoned Linux user what music player you should use is akin to bringing up questions about religion or politics with your drinking buddies. A much safer strategy is, don't ask and don't tell. But if you insist, let me throw a suggestion into the fray. Uncage Songbird. You might be pleasantly surprised at the melodious results. I'm not saying that Songbird is a near-perfect song collection organizer and player. It has a lot to offer, though. Songbird is unlike so many other music players on the various Linux desktop environments.
Wed, 11 Jan 12
With Sony's New Crystal LED Display, Color - and Costs - Go to 11
Sony demoed a 55-inch prototype model of a next-generation television that it calls a "crystal LED display" at CES on Tuesday. It's claimed to be the first 55-inch full HD self-emitting display using LEDs as the light source. Sony claims the display offers better contrast, more color and faster video image response times than its existing LCD displays. The company is "trying to address the life cycle problem with OLEDs, which have had a horrid service life in TVs, typically dropping to about half their original capability within 12 months," said analyst Rob Enderle.
Wed, 11 Jan 12
Google Makes Search Really, Really Personal
Google has expanded its search engine to include personal results, profiles and Google+ pages related to a given search. The new search capability, called "Search Plus Your World," was announced Tuesday. A search can now turn up relevant Google+ posts and photos from the searcher's friends as well as the searcher's own private photos. It can bring up the profile of the person being searched for and take the searcher to communities of people discussing that topic on Google+. Everything's encrypted with the Secure Sockets Layer protocol, which Google recently began using to encrypt Gmail.
Wed, 11 Jan 12
Intel Explores New Modes of Communication for Stephen Hawking
World-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking's physical condition is further deteriorating, and Intel wants to help the famous scientist continue to share his ideas with the world. Hawking, who at 21 was diagnosed with a motor neurone disease, has been confined to a wheelchair for much of his adult life. However, he has been able to communicate with others -- and produce intellectual feats such as breakthrough theories about time and gravity, as well as bestsellers including A Brief History of Time -- through adaptive speech and computing technologies.
Wed, 11 Jan 12
Washington Does the Security Watusi
With the apparent resurgence of hacker community Anonymous, as well as concerns that cybercriminals may have recently penetrated the networks of a number of small utilities, two United States federal government initiatives to improve cybersecurity were launched this past week. As of Jan. 6, companies awarded contracts and orders by the U.S. General Services Administration that include IT supplies, services and systems with security requirements will have 30 days to submit an IT security plan to the contracting officer or the officer's representative.
Wed, 11 Jan 12
Lenovo Unwraps Android 4.0 'Ice Cream Sandwich' Smart TV
At the Consumer Electronics Show on Sunday, Lenovo unveiled a smart TV it says is the world's first to run Android 4.0, or Ice Cream Sandwich. Powered by a QualComm 8060 Snapdragon dual core CPU, the smart device -- called the "K91" -- features a 55-inch screen, a gamepad, and a user interface that combines Video On Demand, Internet applications and traditional TV programs. Thirty console-quality games will come bundled with the TV, with many more apps available in the Android Market and the Lenovo App Shop.
The K91 is now available in China, but information on pricing and availability elsewhere was not provided.
Wed, 11 Jan 12
Google Translate's No Babel Fish, but It's Cheaper Than a Personal Interpreter
Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide book series solved the problem of interplanetary language barriers with a Babel fish -- a little telepathic alien leech-like animal you stick in your ear that instantly translates any spoken language via pure brain waves. In the real world, about the closest we can get to that are online tools like Google Translate, which have made all corners of the Internet accessible to nearly everyone, regardless of language. They're no substitute for actually learning a language, but they come in handy.
Tue, 10 Jan 12
Vizio Knocks on PC Market's Door
Vizio will roll out five new PCs at CES 2012. Together with the company's HDTVs, these will constitute an attack on the multiscreen home entertainment market, which Apple dominates at the high end. Vizio's plans are "part of the battle for the living room, where you've got all your devices able to share information and talk to each other, making them a tech ecosystem," Andrew Eisner, director of community and content at Retrevo, told TechNewsWorld. "[Vizio] was the first to tie their tablet to their TV as a direct accessory," remarked Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.
Tue, 10 Jan 12
Symantec Source Code Scattered to the Winds
Source code for two security applications from Symantec has been stolen and posted on the Web. The hackers claiming responsibility, who call themselves the "Lords of Dharmaraja," say they obtained code for the Norton Antivirus application. However, it appears they actually got their hands on code for two enterprise products, Symantec End Point 11 and Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition 10.2 instead, Symantec spokesperson Cris Paden said. The code is "four and five years old," and SEP 11 has since evolved into SEP 12.0 and 12.1, while SAV 10.2 has been discontinued.
Tue, 10 Jan 12
The Rebirth of the Hybrid Laptop: AMD's Opportunity
Last week, an announcement from Lenovo got me thinking of Rory Read, AMD's new CEO, who made some cryptic remarks about AMD going into ARM and no longer chasing Intel. Now, there are a number of hybrid or crossover products that will be coming out this year, with the most interesting being a cross between a notebook and tablet. This design will likely be the showcase for Windows 8. Another potential showcase could emerge as well -- a product that instead of using ARM or x86 might use both, and it occurred to me that AMD may be in the best position to provide that alternative.
Tue, 10 Jan 12
All Eyes on Ubuntu as CES Draws Near
"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious," a very wise man once said, and that's surely as true in the tech world as it is in the rest of life. Maybe that's why so many have been so intrigued by Canonical's cryptic announcement last week about its plans for this week's CES event. "Canonical will have a presence at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas," wrote Canonical blogger John Bernard. "On display will be the latest in Desktop, Cloud and demonstrations on Ubuntu One, plus an exclusive Ubuntu concept design which will be announced during the show."
Tue, 10 Jan 12
Action Movie FX: Have Fun Blowing Up the Neighborhood
A free and unassuming little video effects app tapped into my practical joker personality this holiday season, and I just have to share it: Action Movie FX by Bad Robot Interactive. What does it do? It lets you film a short scene and then apply big-action Hollywood movie special effects to it. For example, you can film your best friend's car, then apply the "Missile Attack!" scene to it, which then generates a short video clip showing a streaming rocket entering the scene and exploding the car in a ball of flame and debris.
Sun, 8 Jan 12
Corning to Debut Cutting-Edge Gorilla Glass at CES
Corning will be at CES next week, but unlike most of the exhibitors there, it won't be debuting a sexy new gadget. Corning will be showing off Gorilla Glass 2 alongside the newest smartphones, tablets and other miracles in computing. Corning is not revealing much about the updated product other than to say it will address emerging trends in technology such as increased functionality in smaller form factors, touch technology, connected devices, and sleek, durable large-format design aesthetics.
Sun, 8 Jan 12
Barnes & Noble's Nook: Life Preserver or Dead Weight?
The arrival of the Amazon Kindle Fire gave Apple reason to worry, but it may have given Barnes & Noble a reason to completely freak out. Its Nook Tablet Android device arrived about a month after the Kindle Fire was announced, and the Nook may be in a much more vulnerable position than the iPad. iPad still owns the top end of the tablet market, but down in the sub-$300 realm, the Nook has to fight with a cheaper Kindle Fire that just happens to be hooked up to Amazon's giant ocean of digital content.
Sat, 7 Jan 12
Wireless Data Hogs Only Getting Hungrier
It's well-known that iPhone owners use lots of cellular bandwidth, but it seems that the iPhone 4S has taken bandwidth consumption to new heights. Owners of the iPhone 4S use twice as much data as iPhone 4 users and nearly three times as much data as iPhone 3G users, according to an Arieso report. However, owners of the HTC Desire S upload more than three times as much data as their iPhone 3G counterparts, beating out iPhone 4S owners by a hair. Users' hunger for data will grow with the introduction of increasingly sophisticated devices and growing consumer demand, Arieso warned.
Sat, 7 Jan 12
What Just Happened? Researchers Demo Time Cloaking
Researchers at Cornell University's School of Applied and Engineering Physics have demonstrated a way to cloak, or hide, an event in time. The phenomenon is similar to what happens when you remove frames from a film by cutting and splicing, except that instead of losing data about an event, you hide that information. "We've split a [light] beam, slowing down the back end and speeding up the front end, so you get a gap in time," Alexander Gaeta, a professor at the school, told TechNewsWorld. "If there's any information or any data on the beam, we won't interfere with it," Gaeta said.
Sat, 7 Jan 12
AVG Anti-Virus Pro Rolls Heavy Artillery Onto Deserted Battlefield
I've always been a fan of antivirus maker AVG. That's primarily because of the intense pain I felt when renewing staple Norton Symantec AntiVirus subscriptions back in the day, when the PC was our sole method of connectivity and Norton was our sole method of antivirus protection. AVG came along in due course, and provided a free, PC-based solution that seemed to work just as well as Norton -- or just as poorly, depending on whether you'd just been attacked by an easy-to-remove virus or a mega-death-sentence type virus that required a total hard-drive format anyway.
Fri, 6 Jan 12
Preaching the Gospel of Kopimism, Over and Over Again
Sweden has recognized a new religion. This might not be headline news for the open-minded Swedes, save for the belief system's atypical focus: Kopimism is devoted to technology in general and free online file-sharing in particular. The church was registered by the Swedish governmental agency Kammarkollegiet, shortly before the Christmas holiday. With Sweden's official recognition under its belt, the church now hopes to spread the word, said spiritual leader Isak Gerson. "We want to gather people who believe in same values and same faith and possibly evolve our religious practices and theology."
Fri, 6 Jan 12
Analyst: Zynga's Plunge Into Puzzles a Smart Move
Zynga is plowing new ground with "Hidden Chronicles," a game it has launched on Facebook. Zynga is touting it as its first social hidden object game, and indeed, it is a departure from the 'Ville model that made the company famous. It invites players to uncover hidden objects, solve puzzles, and unlock mysteries. There is a heavy emphasis on the social element, with players able to help friends advance and challenge each other by finding as many objects as possible in 60 seconds. As players progress through the game, they rack up completed quests and earn coins, thus unlocking new scenes.
Fri, 6 Jan 12
Making VoIP Calls With Your Android Phone
If you live or work in an area with marginal cell service and want to use your Android smartphone to make and receive voice calls, you can. The key is to piggyback on an Internet connection at your location using the Internet bandwidth there to carry your voice traffic. This method of calling works using VoIP technology -- a form of calling over computer networks without traditional telephone copper wire. You are abandoning your lackluster cellphone signal and routing your voice traffic over a WiFi router, and down into the depths of the Internet pipe.
Fri, 6 Jan 12
Going All-FOSS With a New Computer
Linux bloggers' New Year's resolutions tend to be many and varied in any given year, but one most can surely agree upon is the desire to outfit a new PC with nothing but free software. That sentiment, indeed, is just the one that was anticipated over at Computeractive UK, which published a compelling little story along those lines back in December. "I want to use only free software on my new PC. Where do I start?" the piece began. Of course, as any good Linux geek knows, there's a wide world of FOSS out there.
Thu, 5 Jan 12
Supersized AMOLED TV Will Likely Be a Wallet Walloper
Korean electronics giant LG will unveil the world's largest OLED TV, with a 55-inch screen, at the Consumer Electronics Show next week in Las Vegas. This will offer natural, accurate colors using technology developed by Kodak. It will have a narrow bezel, weigh 16.5 pounds, and measure just 4mm, or less than 0.2 inches, thick. "This 55-inch AMOLED TV is a world record," Jennifer Colegrove, a research vice president at NPD DisplaySearch, told TechNewsWorld. "We've never even seen a 55-inch demo OLED TV before.
Thu, 5 Jan 12
Microsoft Dances on IE6's Grave
Microsoft celebrated the demise of Internet Explorer 6 on Tuesday after usage estimates put the Web browser's marketshare at under 1 percent in the U.S. Microsoft was as happy as anyone to see the browser go. The company has been running a kill campaign for IE6 for years, with Microsoft executive Amy Bazdukas stating in 2009 that "friends don't let friends use IE6," and launching a deathwatch website for the browser last March. A blog post Tuesday announcing the browser's death ran with picture of a cake that read, "Goodbye, IE6!"
Thu, 5 Jan 12
Wendy Deng and Twitter's Tenuous Hold on the Truth
Wendi Deng, wife of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, started out the year by discovering that her name had been hijacked by a spoofer on Twitter. Twitter had apparently verified the account, "Wendi_Deng," as genuine, but after being informed it was a hoax, quickly removed it and apologized to Deng. There have been other such incidents in the past -- notably in 2010, when a spoofer sent out mocking tweets under BP's name, @BPGlobalPR, during the height of the oil spill crisis in the Gulf of Mexico.
Thu, 5 Jan 12
Skynet: Hackers Dream Up Censor-Proof Satellite Internet Grid
A group of computer enthusiasts have begun working on creating a satellite network that could be used to thwart censorship on the Internet. Called the "Hackerspace Global Grid," the network could provide a way for activists to access the Net when a repressive regime suppresses access within its borders. The network would be based on a number of low orbiting "cube" satellites that would be networked in a way similar to the Internet. If one satellite were to be disabled, for example, its functions could be rerouted to others in the network.
Thu, 5 Jan 12
One Year Later: MS Exchange Practices Most Companies Should Still Shun
Over a year ago, we presented a list of the top 10 worst practices that you should avoid if you want to maintain the performance and uptime of your Microsoft Exchange email system. Since then, some things have changed, while others have not. So here's a revised Top 10 List of "Don'ts" to point out which practices still hold true and which do not. First, let's look at what has not changed. Storage strategies have changed very little. The use of JBOD is not a one-size-fits-all strategy, so when considering this approach, be sure to weigh all of the risks and costs.
Thu, 5 Jan 12
Minitube Puts More You in YouTube
YouTube is a great source for watching an eclectic collection of videos on music, human stupidity and worldly comedy. But I find it much too easy to go far afield as I click on "also watched" videos when viewing a particular topic line. Minitube solves that problem for me. Not only does Minitube better filter the flow of videos I take in, but it also creates a more pleasant viewing experience that resembles a high-def TV environment. And it does this without Adobe Flash Player or a Web browser just to get them to play.
Wed, 4 Jan 12
CES Will Be Thick With Thin Ultrabooks
Ultrabooks are set to make a large showing at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, to be held in Las Vegas Jan. 10-13, with Intel and several computer vendor partners demoing products. "The new category is already gaining momentum, with many Ultrabooks powered by second-generation Intel Core processors in the market today, and more than 60 designs already under way for 2012," Intel spokesperson Becky Emmett told TechNewsWorld. "[Ultrabooks] are an attractive product and very portable," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.
Wed, 4 Jan 12
No Shelter From a Cybercrime Storm
The Anonymous hacker collective has run riot this holiday season, and security experts predict more pain from cybercriminals at large for the coming year. Anonymous announced earlier that it had also cracked the systems of gear vendor SpecialForces.com. As a follow-up to its breach of private think tank Stratfor's systems last week, the hacker collective, or its stepchild Antisec, dumped all the information stolen from the Stratfor break-in on the Web on Friday.
Wed, 4 Jan 12
Will iPad 3 Sport a Sharper Image?
What will the iPad 3 look like? According to current speculation, it will have a sharper screen, a better camera and longer battery life. Apple will quadruple the resolution of the display of the new generation of iPad over the current model, according to a recent report. The 9.7-inch Retina panel will have QXGA resolution of 2,048 by 1,536 pixels. What's more, dual LED lights will be added to improve the brightness of the screen, which reportedly will be made primarily by Sharp, with some additional units made by Samsung and LG Electronics.
Wed, 4 Jan 12
2012 Plans and Dreams From the Linux Blogs and Beyond
Well 2012 has arrived at last, and not a moment too soon! Not only can we finally dispense with all the holiday festivities, but we can also say goodbye to a year that was far too tempestuous for comfort. Here's hoping that 2012 will be a lot less exciting here in the technology world! Of course, one last obligation still to be fulfilled on this cusp of the new year is the making of resolutions. Linux Girl's is to get up close and personal with more of the distros out there, beyond just Ubuntu and Mint; she's also hoping to dust off and photograph her world-class collection of plastic toy penguins.
Tue, 3 Jan 12
Will 2012 See the Last Big, Bold CES?
This month begins the march to 2012 technology with the Consumer Electronics Show just around the corner. Vendors have already started prebriefings for what will likely be a cascade of announcements all happening in the same one-week time frame. This will be the last year that Microsoft keynotes or has a major presence at this show. Like Apple, Microsoft is moving to an event-driven, rather than show-driven, schedule. This makes me wonder if we are having a Comdex moment and this could be the beginning of the end for CES and other massive shows of its type.


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The man charged with shooting another twice in the face at a Stroudsburg gas station last October was sentenced Monday to 7 to 14 years in prison.
Roberto Gonzalez, 30, of East Stroudsburg, pleaded no contest to aggravated assault back in May.
Terrance Tyson, 34, of Stroudsburg, was shot Oct. 4, 2011, at the Sunoco gas station on Park Avenue in south Stroudsburg.
A Stroud Area Regional Police investigation led to charges against Gonzalez, who was arrested later that month in Altamonte Springs, Fla., and brought back to the Poconos. Police said it appeared the two men had met prior to the shooting, but had no close relationship to each other.
Gonzalez said he shot Tyson in self-defense when Tyson came at him with a gun.
For more on this story, check back at PoconoRecord.com and read Tuesday's Pocono Record.
Location, ST | website.com


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Happy Thursday, everyone. Friday's right around the corner and that means the weekend is almost here! But for now, we're chugging along to give you the tech news you need to know. First out of the gate today - Comcast boosts data cap to 300GB, adds tiered plans. And speaking of data, let's go to mobile news - T-Mobile announced contract-free data passes. And in other major mobile news, the HTC Evo 4G LTE is set for a May 23 release.
Featured: So for a lot of gamers, there is only one thing on their minds right now - E3. The biggest video game trade show in the world happens in just a few weeks and the hype is at a fever pitch. That's the show where every company will try to prove it has the hottest game of the year. But we already know - Why Halo 4 is the most anticipated game of 2012.
Patents, Diablo III, & T-Mobile: In our miscellaneous grouping of other stories that made news today, we have a lot of corporate restructuring, damage control, and legal stuff. Fun! Like this - Apple and HTC ordered to discuss pattent settlement in August. And this - Diablo III error apology is sues by Blizzard. And finally, more news from the company that isn't part of AT&T - T-Mobile details restructuring, 900 jobs cut, 550 new hires.


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There's been several colour variations of these Vivienne Westwood jelly shoes, but I think these salmon pink ones are my favourites. Love them too? They're available here for £120. Bit pricier than the cheap jelly shoes we all remember from our youth, but worth splurging on them if you know you'll get your wear out of them....
I can't say I've had a sniff of this one, but how cute is this peacock-inspired Anna Sui perfume?
Anna Sui Night of Fancy (50ml) is just £17.50 from The Fragrance Shop. That's apparently £18.50 off the RRP! Featuring notes of Living Blueberry, Grapefruit Leaves and Wild Strawberries, it's a "sensual, fresh and fruity fragrance."
Vera Wang Princess Night (30ml) is £33.50, also from Fragrances Direct. Plus, you'll get a free Vera Wang Princess Tote Bag with your purchase!
Love all things natural? This gift set from Spieza Organics will be right up your street, £34.95 online.
Purchase this and you'll also receive a Receive a free 'Soft Touch' mini gift set - just add the 'Soft Touch' to your basket.
And one for the boys...
These cute cufflink sets can be bought online from Sonia Spencer. Just make sure you place your order by close of play today (Friday) for delivery in time for Valentine's Day.
|Doughnut of Desire Cufflinks, £29.95
|Guess Who Cufflinks, £25.95
A Valentine's gift guide wouldn't be a Valentine's gift guide without red Roses. And seeing as I work as a copywriter for two flower companies - Flowers Direct and Flying Flowers I thought it was well worth mentioning the companies' great value Valentine's bouquets....
This Flowers Direct bouquet contains 12 red Roses and Gypsophila - just £19.99!
Or the beautiful Little Kisses is just £19.99 and includes FREE delivery over at Flying Flowers.
Or why not opt for a rose on a ring? This pretty floral statement piece from Coco Rose is £22. The website also stocks a great range of fold up shoes, perfect if your chap is taking you dancing on V Day.
|Red Rose Ring, £22, Coco Rose
x x x


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10 tips for simple XBRL tagging compliance
Most companies--or their consultants in many cases--are in the thick of their XBRL tagging efforts. Most would agree that the year 2 requirements are much more onerous than the initial requirements. Rule 405 of Regulation S-T requires a deeper level of tagging. Specifically, you must tag the so-called "detailed footnotes." Here are 10 tips from EDGAR Online:
1. Plan ahead.
Give yourself a generous window of time in which to meet filing requirements. Also, now is the time to plan for year three: The expiration of the legal liability exemption. Keep in mind that the turnaround time for third-party service providers will also increase.
2. Eat the DFN creation "elephant" by looking at it as many bite-sized pieces.
Rather than looking at DFN creation as one big task, approach it as a lot of little tasks. Each piece of the notes is actually smaller than any one of the primary financial statements.
3. Your primary financial statements and detailed disclosures are connected.
There is a connection between many of your detailed disclosures and your primary financial statement line items. These connections must be expressed correctly using the XBRL medium.
4. Recognize that XBRL is simply a different way of expressing the same financial information.
The SEC, HTML and XBRL filing formats are two different mediums for expressing exactly the same information. With the XBRL format, however, you can use automated computer processes to check that information ticks and ties correctly.
5. Cultivate in-house expertise.
XBRL is here for the long term, so it pays to establish a base of in-house XBRL expertise. XBRL is made up of only eight fundamental building blocks: Network, table, axis, domain, member, line items, concept and fact. Learn these, and your XBRL life will be significantly easier.
6. Make the most of any third-party XBRL support you have engaged.
Determine what role your external auditors will play in your SEC XBRL financial filing process. Leverage what your external auditors bring to the table, but don't spend resources training them. They should already be knowledgeable.
7. Follow best practices.
If you don't understand best practices because you have not yet cultivated in-house expertise, let your third-party providers help you and learn from those filers who have come before you.
8. Prepare all internal stakeholders for the additional effort required by DFN creation.
An internal communication plan gives your internal stakeholders information to help them realize the differences between the year one primary financial statements and block text tagging and the additional effort require for DFN tagging.
9. Leverage automated computer processes.
DFN filings contain a lot of details, but throwing more manual labor at the process just increases costs and potential errors. Use automated computer processes where you can.
10. Balance internal and external resources, short-term realities and long-term needs.
There is no one "right" method for creating SEC XBRL financial filings correctly. Identify the best mix of internal and external resources for your needs, and focus on the short-term task of completing your filing. Then you can tackle minimizing risk and keeping process costs in check.


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Chelsea's Frank Lampard, left, shoots the ball past West Bromwich Albion's Steven Reid, center, and Jonas Olsson to score during their English Premier League soccer match at the Hawthorns stadium, West Bromwich, England, Saturday, April 16, 2011. (AP Photo/Simon Dawson) NO INTERNET/MOBILE USAGE WITHOUT FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION PREMIER LEAGUE (FAPL) LICENCE. CALL +44 (0) 20 7864 9121 or EMAIL email@example.com FOR DETAILS


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This is what an indoor
security camera should be.
See your home 24/7.
In super clear 1080p HD.
Watch the video
See your home 24/7.
In super clear 1080p HD.
Watch the video
- Watch your Dropcam video on the Nest or Dropcam app.
- Get 24/7 Dropcam support >
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Is everything OK at home?
What if someone breaks in?
What's the dog getting into?
The Nest Cam Indoor security camera is designed to help you look after your home and family – even when you're away.
With 24/7 live streaming, a versatile magnetic stand, more intelligent alerts with Nest Aware and one app for all your Nest products, Nest Cam Indoor helps you keep an eye on what matters. From anywhere.
Your home on your phone.
You can't always be around to see what's happening at home. With Nest Cam Indoor, you don't have to be. Just plug it in and watch the action live in 1080p HD – you'll get a 130° wide-angle view and advanced Night Vision, and you can zoom in for a closer look. Sign up for Nest Aware, and you can go back and see everything you missed.
Actual Nest Cam video
Switch to nighttime.
Switch to daytime.
Nest Cam in the real world
Tells you if something's up.
You can't always be watching your video feed. So Nest Cam Indoor looks for activity and sends an alert to your phone if it sees something.
It's also a good listener. Nest Cam ignores background noise, like the sound of traffic. But will alert you if it hears something that stands out, like a boom, a crash or the voice of an intruder. Learn more >
More intelligent alerts.
Light, shadows and branches cause false alerts. All the time. That's because most cameras can't tell the difference between that and someone trying to break in. So when you sign up for Nest Aware, Nest Cam won't just send motion alerts. Advanced cloud algorithms will kick in to give you more accurate alerts. With Activity Zones, you can also get personalized alerts in areas you care about. Learn more >
Lets you talk and listen.
Hear what's happening at home. Or tell your dog to get off the couch.
Don't miss a thing with Nest Aware.
Every Nest Cam comes with a free trial. Subscribe to Nest Aware and you can use the cloud to see more and do more with Nest Cam.
Actual Nest Cam video
Nest Cam records up to 30 days of video history, not just snippets.
If something happens, you can quickly scan through your video history to find it. Nest Aware highlights moments when there's motion or sound and shows you what happened.
Get alerts when something happens in specific areas you care about.
Mark where you want your clip to start and end. Then save it to the cloud or download it to share with friends, neighbors or the police.
Create a timelapse clip and Nest Cam will speed it up into a short film.
Set it up.
Put it anywhere.
- Cable clip
Set it up.
Put it anywhere.
Nest Cam takes only a few minutes to install. Literally.
Just plug it in and set it up from your phone.
Nest Cam Indoor's stand works in all kinds of homes,
on all types of surfaces. See how it works:
Nest Cam takes only a few minutes to install. Literally.
Just plug it in and set it up from your phone.
Nest Cam Indoor's stand works in all kinds of homes,
on all types of surfaces. See how it works:
Set it down on something flat, like a table or shelf.
Nest Cam has a built-in magnet. So you can stick it to something metallic.
Use the removable wall plate to attach Nest Cam to a wall. Clip the cord to the back of the stand to keep it in place.
Screw Nest Cam directly onto standard mounts or tripods (not included).
A Nest home.
When you add more Nest products to your home, they can automatically work together. And you can control them all from one place: the Nest app.
When you set your Nest Thermostat to Away, Nest Cam can automatically turn on. Switch your thermostat to Home, and Nest Cam will turn off again.
If your Nest Protect senses smoke, Nest Cam will automatically record a clip so you can go back and see what happened.
Click to see what works with Nest Cam