RICHARD'S BLOG
Prison in America
By Richard Branson - Jun 05, 2012
A New York Times op-ed drew our attention to a remarkable piece of journalism from the Times-Picayune, the big paper in the American state of Louisiana. The eight-part series chronicles how Louisiana became the prison capital of America, and therefore of the world.
Prison in America has shockingly come to echo the days of slave plantations. Like cotton and sugarcane operations, prisons now make profits by taking away people’s liberty. In Louisiana, the series says, three drug convictions can land someone in prison for life, two car robberies can earn 24 years. Each of those prisoners is a long-term cash cow for the owners of private prisons (many of whom are also local sheriffs according to the series). Rehabilitation leading to release would just take away the per-prisoner revenue. So “inmates subsist in bare-bones conditions with few programs to give them a better shot at becoming productive citizens.”
No wonder “Louisiana's incarceration rate is nearly triple Iran's, seven times China's and 10 times Germany's” - in most societies, locking people up is costly. In America, it’s profitable. It is perverse, dehumanising and devastating communities. If we want to do some good through privatisation, why not privatise rehabilitation with bonuses for successful reintegration of inmates who don’t re-offend? Then private sector creativity would be channeled to help rather than bleed society.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
A new Firefox release and this...Check it out
The Mozilla
BLOG
News, notes and ramblings from the Mozilla project
Introducing “Mozilla Webmaker:” helping the world make the web
May 22nd, 2012 · Press Releases, Uncategorized
Today, we’re proud to launch “Mozilla Webmaker,” a new program to help people everywhere make, learn and play using the open building blocks of the web.
The goal: help millions of people move from using the web to making the web. With new tools to use, projects to create, and events to join, we want to help the world increase their understanding of the web and take greater control of their online lives.
And we’d like you to join us.
Building a generation of webmakers
Concretely, Mozilla Webmaker will offer:
1) Tools. Authoring tools and software, designed and built with our community. From supercharging web video with Popcorn, to remixing with Hackasaurus, to making your own web pages with Thimble.
2) Projects. Practical starter projects, how-tos and recipes, designed to help people at all levels make something amazing with the web. From tweaking your blog template to building apps that change the world.
3) Community. Bringing people with diverse skills and backgrounds together. Teachers, filmmakers, journalists, youth. From web ninjas to newbies. All making and learning together at events, meet-ups and hack jams everywhere.
A global invitation to make and learn this summer
We’re kicking off Mozilla Webmaker with something special: a massive summer learning campaign. It’s called the Summer Code Party, will run all summer long, and kicks off June 23.
We’re inviting everyone to join or volunteer at free local events and teach-ins around the world. With new Webmaker tools, event kits and starter projects designed to make it easy, social and fun. We’ll end with a big wrap-up September 23.
We’re not doing this alone. We want to build a big tent for everyone who shares our goal of a more web literate planet. Amazing partners are joining the party, from Tumblr, Creative Commons and Code for America to SoundCloud, the San Francisco Public Library, the London Zoo, and dozens of others. Plus special events with Boing Boing’s Cory Doctorow, OK GO’s Damian Kulash, and more.
What types of programs can participate? Summer camps, day camps, summer schools, public libraries, recreation centers, neighborhood groups, your kitchen table — anyone with a willingness to make, learn and engage using the open building blocks of the web.
Creating a web literate planet
Mozilla’s Executive Director, Mark Surman, says Webmaker is the product of Mozilla’s growing commitment to learning, and the culmination of experiments it began with the Mozilla Drumbeat project.
“The web is becoming the world’s second language, and a vital 21st century skill — as important as reading, writing and arithmetic,” says Surman. “It’s crucial that we give people the skills they need to understand, shape and actively participate in that world, instead of just passively consuming it. That maker spirit and open ethos is vital to Mozilla, our partners, and the web.”
The new Mozilla Webmaker web site launches June 6. In the mean time, check out the new Summer Code Party site to find an event near you, sign up for updates, and get a sneak peek at Mozilla Webmaker tools and projects.
Get involved:
Learn more about Mozilla Webmaker.
Find a Summer Code Party event near you.
Create your own Summer Code Party event. This handy starter kit has everything you need to get started.
Stay in touch. Sign up for Summer Code Party updates. Or tweet using the Summer Code Party hashtag: #mozparty.
Help spread the word. Share the new Mozilla Webmaker video through You Tube or other formats. Find suggested copy for use in blog posts and tweets. Or download a poster and postcard kit to promote your event.
Apple to use Liquidmetal on their products
RPON
Upcoming Apple Products Will Use Liquidmetal Technology, Confirms CEO [VIDEO]
By Ben Reid | June 5th, 2012
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Exciting news for those who like their gadgets to be as sturdy as technology will allow; Liquidmetal Technologies CEO Tom Steipp has come out and confirmed that Apple has licensed the metallic glass composition for future use in its range of devices, and although he hasn’t stated the Cupertino company is yet working on a product specific product featuring Liquidmetal, the comments certainly suggest Liquidmetal Apple products could be making their way to market in the not-so-distant future.
It’s good to see Steipp making such comments, for we’d be pretty hard pushed to see Apple making any such revelations, and he stated Apple took a license on Liquidmetal back in August 2010, adding “Apple along with us are commercializing Liquidmetal in the consumer electronic space.”
The SIM ejector tool, which is extremely thin yet surprisingly robust, is the only Apple product to feature Liquidmetal, although once it begins to take a more significant role in the iDevice spectrum, expect to see some very exciting results.
The iPhone, for example, could be engineered to continue Apple’s thinner and lighter ethos, yet also be stronger than any of its predecessors thanks to the metallic glass substance. It consists of differing levels of zirconium, titanium, nickel and copper among others, and its slick, smooth finish is where the “liquid” moniker is born. Twice the strength of titanium – often considered to be a premium metal when it comes to product design, it would certainly change the game, and with Apple having exclusivity over it, the iPhone, iPad et al would have a significant advantage over rivals.
There were reports that the next iPhone would feature Liquidmetal, which have since been quashed, and with Atakan Peker, a Liquidmetal inventor, stating commercial shipments of Apple products based on metallic glass area few years away due to lack of maturity in the technology.
Still, with immense strength, glass-esque finish and the moldability of plastic, Liquidmetal is certainly something to be excited about, and it is thought Apple will initially begin using the technology for casings before heading down more complex routes.
Steipp also added that when Apple uses the technology to bring a truly innovative, unique product to market, it will be extremely difficult to imitate or replicate due to the nature of Liquidmetal, which is just as well, given Apple often accuses Samsung and others of flagrantly stealing ideas.
Upcoming Apple Products Will Use Liquidmetal Technology, Confirms CEO [VIDEO]
By Ben Reid | June 5th, 2012
Advertisements
Exciting news for those who like their gadgets to be as sturdy as technology will allow; Liquidmetal Technologies CEO Tom Steipp has come out and confirmed that Apple has licensed the metallic glass composition for future use in its range of devices, and although he hasn’t stated the Cupertino company is yet working on a product specific product featuring Liquidmetal, the comments certainly suggest Liquidmetal Apple products could be making their way to market in the not-so-distant future.
It’s good to see Steipp making such comments, for we’d be pretty hard pushed to see Apple making any such revelations, and he stated Apple took a license on Liquidmetal back in August 2010, adding “Apple along with us are commercializing Liquidmetal in the consumer electronic space.”
The SIM ejector tool, which is extremely thin yet surprisingly robust, is the only Apple product to feature Liquidmetal, although once it begins to take a more significant role in the iDevice spectrum, expect to see some very exciting results.
The iPhone, for example, could be engineered to continue Apple’s thinner and lighter ethos, yet also be stronger than any of its predecessors thanks to the metallic glass substance. It consists of differing levels of zirconium, titanium, nickel and copper among others, and its slick, smooth finish is where the “liquid” moniker is born. Twice the strength of titanium – often considered to be a premium metal when it comes to product design, it would certainly change the game, and with Apple having exclusivity over it, the iPhone, iPad et al would have a significant advantage over rivals.
There were reports that the next iPhone would feature Liquidmetal, which have since been quashed, and with Atakan Peker, a Liquidmetal inventor, stating commercial shipments of Apple products based on metallic glass area few years away due to lack of maturity in the technology.
Still, with immense strength, glass-esque finish and the moldability of plastic, Liquidmetal is certainly something to be excited about, and it is thought Apple will initially begin using the technology for casings before heading down more complex routes.
Steipp also added that when Apple uses the technology to bring a truly innovative, unique product to market, it will be extremely difficult to imitate or replicate due to the nature of Liquidmetal, which is just as well, given Apple often accuses Samsung and others of flagrantly stealing ideas.
Google purchases Quick office
Insights from Googlers into our products, technology and the Google culture
Google + Quickoffice = get more done anytime, anywhere
June 5, 2012 at 9:00 AM
We're happy to announce that we have acquired Quickoffice, a leader in office productivity solutions.
Today, consumers, businesses and schools use Google Apps to get stuff done from anywhere, with anyone and on any device. Quickoffice has an established track record of enabling seamless interoperability with popular file formats, and we'll be working on bringing their powerful technology to our Apps product suite.
Quickoffice has a strong base of users, and we look forward to supporting them while we work on an even more seamless, intuitive and integrated experience.
We're excited to welcome the Quickoffice team and their users to Google.
Posted by Alan Warren, Engineering Director, Google
Labels: acquisition apps
Google + Quickoffice = get more done anytime, anywhere
June 5, 2012 at 9:00 AM
We're happy to announce that we have acquired Quickoffice, a leader in office productivity solutions.
Today, consumers, businesses and schools use Google Apps to get stuff done from anywhere, with anyone and on any device. Quickoffice has an established track record of enabling seamless interoperability with popular file formats, and we'll be working on bringing their powerful technology to our Apps product suite.
Quickoffice has a strong base of users, and we look forward to supporting them while we work on an even more seamless, intuitive and integrated experience.
We're excited to welcome the Quickoffice team and their users to Google.
Posted by Alan Warren, Engineering Director, Google
Labels: acquisition apps
Monday, June 4, 2012
Sony in decline?
Sony Share Price Falls Below 1,000 Yen For 1st Time Since 1980
CP
Comments (45)
TOKYO - Sony's stock price fell below 1,000 yen Monday for the first time since 1980 as global markets slide but also a symptom of its decline since huge success with the Walkman three decades ago.
Battered by competition from Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., Sony has lost money for four straight years — and for eight years in its core television business.
A strong yen, which erodes overseas income, and natural disasters at home and in Thailand, a key manufacturing hub, have added to its woes.
Sony's shares dipped to 990 yen before recovering slightly in trading Monday on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The Nikkei 225 stock average was down 2 per cent after U.S. hiring slowed sharply in May.
The company said it was first time that its stock price had traded below 1,000 yen since August 1980 — the year after it introduced the iconic Walkman portable cassette player to the world in 1979.
The stock had peaked at 16,950 yen in March 2000.
Sony, whose businesses run from digital cameras and personal computers to PlayStation game consoles and movies such as "Bad Teacher," last month reported a record annual loss of 457 billion yen ($5.7 billion) for the year through March 2012.
The company is aiming for a comeback under Kazuo Hirai, appointed president earlier this year, who has headed the gaming division and built his career in the U.S. Sony forecast a return to profit for the fiscal year through March 2013 at 30 billion yen ($375 million), banking on the growing smartphone and tablet businesses.
Sony also plans to cut 10,000 jobs, or about 6 per cent of its global work force.
Widely admired in the 1980s as an innovative power, Sony fell behind when digital music players and flat TVs became hits. Its gadgets have lost popularity as consumers flock to products from Apple such as the iPhone and iPod.
It's also lost out in the TV market to South Korea's Samsung and other Asian competitors. Despite losses in that division, Hirai remains committed to TVs, and promised to cut costs to turn a profit in the division in the next two years.
Sony also plans to seek new growth in emerging markets such as India and Mexico.
CP
Comments (45)
TOKYO - Sony's stock price fell below 1,000 yen Monday for the first time since 1980 as global markets slide but also a symptom of its decline since huge success with the Walkman three decades ago.
Battered by competition from Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., Sony has lost money for four straight years — and for eight years in its core television business.
A strong yen, which erodes overseas income, and natural disasters at home and in Thailand, a key manufacturing hub, have added to its woes.
Sony's shares dipped to 990 yen before recovering slightly in trading Monday on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The Nikkei 225 stock average was down 2 per cent after U.S. hiring slowed sharply in May.
The company said it was first time that its stock price had traded below 1,000 yen since August 1980 — the year after it introduced the iconic Walkman portable cassette player to the world in 1979.
The stock had peaked at 16,950 yen in March 2000.
Sony, whose businesses run from digital cameras and personal computers to PlayStation game consoles and movies such as "Bad Teacher," last month reported a record annual loss of 457 billion yen ($5.7 billion) for the year through March 2012.
The company is aiming for a comeback under Kazuo Hirai, appointed president earlier this year, who has headed the gaming division and built his career in the U.S. Sony forecast a return to profit for the fiscal year through March 2013 at 30 billion yen ($375 million), banking on the growing smartphone and tablet businesses.
Sony also plans to cut 10,000 jobs, or about 6 per cent of its global work force.
Widely admired in the 1980s as an innovative power, Sony fell behind when digital music players and flat TVs became hits. Its gadgets have lost popularity as consumers flock to products from Apple such as the iPhone and iPod.
It's also lost out in the TV market to South Korea's Samsung and other Asian competitors. Despite losses in that division, Hirai remains committed to TVs, and promised to cut costs to turn a profit in the division in the next two years.
Sony also plans to seek new growth in emerging markets such as India and Mexico.
Starbucks newest aquisition
Starbucks to Buy Bay Bread
Starbucks Corp. (SBUX), the world’s largest coffee-shop operator, agreed to buy Bay Bread LLC for $100 million in cash, adding to its expanding portfolio of non-coffee businesses.
The acquisition of San Francisco-based Bay Bread and its La Boulange brand will decrease full-year profit by 2 cents a share, the Seattle-based company said in a statement today. The French-themed bakery sells homemade granola, flank steak sandwiches and organic bread, according to its website.
“We are deeply committed to building a national brand” with bakery items, Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz said during a conference call. Starbucks may also sell La Boulange products in grocery stores where it already sells coffee and tea, he said.
Since returning as CEO in 2008, Schultz has introduced Via instant coffee, wrested control of packaged goods distribution from Kraft Foods Inc. (KFT) and bought a juicemaker to cash in on the health and wellness trend. The purchase of a bakery extends the company’s reach further beyond its coffee-shop roots.
“It will be higher quality food,” said Peter Saleh, an analyst at Telsey Advisory Group in New York. Starbucks customers “care about the quality of the item” and are “definitely brand-conscious people.”
Starbucks fell 2.2 percent to $52.74 in extended trading. The stock rose 3.4 percent to $53.90 at the close in New York. The shares have gained 17 percent this year.
‘Critical Component’
La Boulange bakery operates 19 retail stores in the San Francisco area and sells its products in restaurants, hotels and grocery stores, according to the statement. Besides selling the bakery’s food in Starbucks cafes, Starbucks will expand La Boulange locations nationwide.
“Food is a critical component of the core Starbucks business,” Chief Financial Officer Troy Alstead said in a telephone interview. Food, including fruit salads, chicken lettuce wraps and blueberry scones, makes up about 19 percent of sales at Starbucks U.S. stores, he said.
The transaction is expected to close in Starbucks’ fiscal fourth quarter, Alstead said. Pascal Rigo, who opened the first La Boulange store in 1999, will become senior vice president and general manager of La Boulange bakery at Starbucks when the deal is finalized.
The coffee-chain operator will need to explain how much more capital it will deploy as it rolls out Bay Bread products in its stores and expands La Boulange’s network, Saleh said.
Energy Drinks
Starbucks revenue rose 6.3 percent to $8.04 billion in the U.S. in the year ended Oct. 2. The company’s domestic segment made up 69 percent of revenue last year.
Last year, Starbucks paid $30 million for Evolution Fresh Inc. and has since opened one cafe to sell the flash-pasteurized juice, which it also plans to put in grocery stores. In March, Starbucks said it would sell 60-calorie, green-coffee extract energy drinks called Refreshers. It also owns the Tazo tea and Ethos water brands.
The cloud flare hack and what it entailed
The Four Critical Security Flaws that Resulted in Last Friday's Hack
A core value CloudFlare is that security information should be shared between organizations to make the entire Internet safer. That is how CloudFlare's systems work: if one site is attacked, data about that attack is immediately shared with the rest of the network so other sites can be safe. We believe that same core value should apply when we are the victim of the attack. That is why we immediately posted an incident report and have continue to update it as we learn more.
Writing that report wasn't fun, but I believe it is important to share the details of the event so others who may be affected can learn from the events that transpired last Friday. This is not the usual way for the security industry, but we believe it's the way the security industry should be. To that end, here's what we know about the hack.
The Four Key Security Flaws
There were four key security flaws that allowed the hack to happen:
AT&T was tricked into redirecting my voicemail to a fraudulent voicemail box;
Google's account recovery process was tricked by the fraudulent voicemail box and left an account recovery PIN code that allowed my personal Gmail account to be reset;
A flaw in Google's Enterprise Apps account recovery process allowed the hacker to bypass two-factor authentication on my CloudFlare.com address; and
CloudFlare BCCing transactional emails to some administrative accounts allowed the hacker to reset the password of a customer once the hacker had gained access to the administrative email account.
Patching the Holes
We are following up with AT&T to understand more about how the voicemail was redirected. That remains unsettling, but it is not surprising that a phone company's voicemail security procedures are lax. It is also unsettling that Gmail's account recovery process appears to still be vulnerable to the voicemail hack. That is troubling since it means if a hacker knows your phone number then your Gmail account may, at best, only be as secure as your voicemail PIN.
You can mitigate these risk if you are a user by enabling two-factor authentication, ideally relying on Google's Authenticator App rather than anything that passes through the phone company's network. While Google is advising otherwise, I have removed my phone number from all my Google accounts.
Google has publicly stated that the flaw in the Google Enterprise App account recovery process has been patched and you can no longer use it get around two-factor authentication. Again, since any security system is only as strong as its weakest link, we would recommend using an out-of-band authentication that doesn't rely on the phone company's network (e.g., Google Authenticator App, not SMS or voice verification).
Finally, CloudFlare has stopped BCCing password reset and other transactional messages to administrative accounts, closing that attack vector if an administrator's email account is compromised in the future. If you're doing that at your company, and a troubling number of companies do use email as a poor man's logs, you should stop. This incident is why.
Timeline
The event, from start to finish, lasted less than 2 hours. The hackers were in my personal Gmail account for about 1 hour 35 minutes. They were in CloudFlare's email accounts for about 28 minutes, although likely interrupted several times as our ops team reset passwords and sessions. To better understand the hack, we put together the visual timeline (full size image here) below which is our best understanding of the events as they transpired. As we learn more, we'll update the information here and on the official incident report.
A core value CloudFlare is that security information should be shared between organizations to make the entire Internet safer. That is how CloudFlare's systems work: if one site is attacked, data about that attack is immediately shared with the rest of the network so other sites can be safe. We believe that same core value should apply when we are the victim of the attack. That is why we immediately posted an incident report and have continue to update it as we learn more.
Writing that report wasn't fun, but I believe it is important to share the details of the event so others who may be affected can learn from the events that transpired last Friday. This is not the usual way for the security industry, but we believe it's the way the security industry should be. To that end, here's what we know about the hack.
The Four Key Security Flaws
There were four key security flaws that allowed the hack to happen:
AT&T was tricked into redirecting my voicemail to a fraudulent voicemail box;
Google's account recovery process was tricked by the fraudulent voicemail box and left an account recovery PIN code that allowed my personal Gmail account to be reset;
A flaw in Google's Enterprise Apps account recovery process allowed the hacker to bypass two-factor authentication on my CloudFlare.com address; and
CloudFlare BCCing transactional emails to some administrative accounts allowed the hacker to reset the password of a customer once the hacker had gained access to the administrative email account.
Patching the Holes
We are following up with AT&T to understand more about how the voicemail was redirected. That remains unsettling, but it is not surprising that a phone company's voicemail security procedures are lax. It is also unsettling that Gmail's account recovery process appears to still be vulnerable to the voicemail hack. That is troubling since it means if a hacker knows your phone number then your Gmail account may, at best, only be as secure as your voicemail PIN.
You can mitigate these risk if you are a user by enabling two-factor authentication, ideally relying on Google's Authenticator App rather than anything that passes through the phone company's network. While Google is advising otherwise, I have removed my phone number from all my Google accounts.
Google has publicly stated that the flaw in the Google Enterprise App account recovery process has been patched and you can no longer use it get around two-factor authentication. Again, since any security system is only as strong as its weakest link, we would recommend using an out-of-band authentication that doesn't rely on the phone company's network (e.g., Google Authenticator App, not SMS or voice verification).
Finally, CloudFlare has stopped BCCing password reset and other transactional messages to administrative accounts, closing that attack vector if an administrator's email account is compromised in the future. If you're doing that at your company, and a troubling number of companies do use email as a poor man's logs, you should stop. This incident is why.
Timeline
The event, from start to finish, lasted less than 2 hours. The hackers were in my personal Gmail account for about 1 hour 35 minutes. They were in CloudFlare's email accounts for about 28 minutes, although likely interrupted several times as our ops team reset passwords and sessions. To better understand the hack, we put together the visual timeline (full size image here) below which is our best understanding of the events as they transpired. As we learn more, we'll update the information here and on the official incident report.
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