Target Co was victim of hacker Albert Gonzalez | Reuters

Reuters

Wed Dec 30, 2009 Dec 29 2009 BOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Target Co said it was among the victims of computer hacker Albert Gonzalez, mastermind of the biggest identity theft in U.S. history.

The 28-year-old college dropout pleaded guilty on Tuesday to charges that he stole more than 170 million payment card numbers by breaking into corporate computer systems from businesses including Target.

Gonzalez, under the plea agreement, faces 17 years to 25 years in prison when he is sentenced in March.

Target spokeswoman Amy Reilly said her company was among the victims, having had an "extremely limited" number of payment card numbers stolen by Gonzalez about two years ago.

She declined to say how many card numbers had been stolen, and described the term of the exposure as brief.

"A previously planned security enhancement was already under way at the time the criminal activity against Target occurred," Reilly said. "We believe that, at most, only a tiny fraction of guest credit and debit card data used at our stores may have been involved."

She said that Target had notified the card issuers, leaving them to tell their customers.

Prosecutors previously identified other victims in the case as payment card processor Heartland Payment Systems, 7-Eleven Inc, the Hannaford chain of New England grocery stores and another unidentified firm.

Gonzalez pleaded guilty in September to computer break-ins at retailers TJX Cos Inc, BJ's Wholesale Club Inc and Barnes & Noble, in a separate case before U.S. District Judge Patti Saris.

Gonzalez, who appeared in court on Tuesday wearing a beige prison uniform, told U.S. District Judge Douglas Woodlock that he had abused alcohol and illegal drugs for years. He said he had used marijuana, cocaine, LSD, ketamine and hallucinogenic mushrooms.

"It's one of the reasons to explain why a young man in his 20s did these things," his lawyer, Martin Weinberg, told reporters.

DAY IN COURT

Gonzalez made the formal plea in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts in Boston on Tuesday, reiterating the terms of an agreement he had signed with prosecutors.

"You face a considerable amount of time in jail as a result of your plea," Judge Woodlock told Gonzalez. "All aspects of your life are to be affected."

A psychiatrist hired by Gonzalez said in court papers that the hacker's criminal behavior "was consistent with the description of the Asperger's disorder."

Prosecutors have petitioned the court to perform their own psychiatric evaluation of Gonzalez, but Weinberg sought to block that request.

"He's admitted responsibility. He is remorseful," Weinberg told reporters.

At the same courthouse last week, one of Gonzalez's conspirators, Stephen Watt of New York, was sentenced to two years in prison for developing the software used to capture payment card data. He was also ordered to pay $171.5 million in restitution.

The cases are: U.S. v Albert Gonzalez in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts No. 10223 and No. 10382. (Reporting by Jim Finkle; Editing by Richard Chang, Leslie Gevirtz)

Billionaires wonder if money can buy love | Reuters

Reuters

Wed Dec 23, 2009 BEIJING (Reuters) - Lonely this Christmas? Spare a thought for Beijing's billionaires.The country's economic boom over the last three decades may have generated a clutch of super-wealthy Chinese, but it has not guaranteed all of them love.

Last Sunday, a privileged group of 21 single billionaires and 22 single women attended what state media called one of the Chinese capital's most expensive parties ever -- a match-making ball with tickets costing 100,000 yuan ($14,650) a head.

The 21 billionaires were all registered members of Golden Bachelors, a Shanghai-based match-making agency dedicated to helping wealthy Chinese men and women find their potential better half, which also organized the event.

"It's very hard for billionaires to meet women they want to marry because they have been so career-oriented during the earlier stages of their lives," Golden Bachelor media director Xiao Pu told Reuters.

"They use our agency to filter through suitable partners according to their physical appearance, personality, level of education, level of income and family background," she added.

Some of the 22 ladies hoping to meet the billionaire of their dreams were also registered with the agency, while a lucky few were scouted to attend for free by the agency's "love hunters," or won tickets at beauty pageants sponsored by the agency.

"Every girl has the right to pursue happiness," a 22-year-old surnamed Dai who is studying at a Nanjing arts university told the China Daily.

"I just want to avoid the problems I may be forced to face before falling in love."

The newspaper said that the bachelorettes, dressed in exquisite ball gowns, sang, danced and even cooked their way into the lonely men's hearts during a talent show at the ball.

China's number of known dollar billionaire has now reached 130, higher than any other country bar the United States, according to the 2009 Hurun report.

Similar high-end match-making agencies and parties have also sprung up in other Chinese boomtown cities such as Shenzhen and Shanghai.

Xiao said she was delighted with the success of the event, adding that 80 percent of the couples who attended the inaugural ball went on agency-organized dates to Beijing restaurants and cultural sites the following day.

"Many couples even took their own initiatives to fit in a few extra-special dates outside of the itineraries we planned for them," she said.

Aussies say no thanks to 20 million gifts...

Reuters

Mon Dec 28, 2009 SYDNEY (Reuters) - How many unwanted gifts did you get under the Christmas tree? If you're Australian, the number is likely to be more than one, amounting to a nationwide total of 20 million "useless" presents, according to a survey.

The survey, commissioned by online marketplace eBay, found that although Australians spent A$8.5 billion ($7.5 billion) buying gifts this Christmas, at least A$1 billion worth of these presents will either be left to gather dust in a cupboard, binned, regifted, exchanged or sold.

Examples of unwanted gifts ranged from underwear, socks, bath products and inappropriately sexual items to a tandoori spice rub for chicken given to a vegetarian and a dog bowl for a dogless recipient, a brick and cellulite cream, an eBay statement said.

The eBay survey of more than 1,200 people also found that more women than men received unwanted gifts this year, while youth aged between 18 and 24 years got the most unwanted presents, which they were likely to throw out or hide away.

An earlier survey showed that more than 825,000 gifts will go straight into the garbage bin in Australia this Christmas because their recipients just hated them.

With Australia's economy still battling to shake off the effects of the global financial crisis, more than a third of Australians had planned to spend less on Christmas gifts this year, compared with the previous year, according to a recent survey by the Melbourne Institute and Westpac Bank.

Man jailed for eating rare tiger | Reuters

Reuters

BEIJING Tue Dec 22, 2009. BEIJING (Reuters) - A man who killed and ate what may have been the last wild Indochinese tiger in China was sentenced to 12 years in jail, local media reported on Tuesday.

Kang Wannian, a villager from Mengla, Yunnan Province, met the tiger in February while gathering freshwater clams in a nature reserve near China's border with Laos. He claimed to have killed it in self-defense.

The only known wild Indochinese tiger in China, photographed in 2007 at the same reserve, has not been seen since Kang's meal, the Yunnan-based newspaper Life News reported earlier this month.

The paper quoted the provincial Forestry Bureau as saying there was no evidence the tiger was the last one in China.

A local court sentenced Kang to 10 years for killing a rare animal plus two years for illegal possession of firearms, the local web portal Yunnan.cn reported. Prosecutors said Kang did not need a gun to gather clams.
Four villagers who helped Kang dismember the tiger and ate its meat were also sentenced from three to four years for "covering up and concealing criminal gains," the report said.

Kang was also fined 480,000 yuan ($70,000).

The Indochinese tiger is on the brink of extinction, with fewer than 1,000 left in the forests of Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar.

Star Trek the most-pirated film of 2009...

Reuters Eriq Gardner

Thu Dec 24, 2009 LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Paramount's worst fears are confirmed: "Star Trek" was the most pirated film of 2009, according to a new report. An interesting snippet from Hollywood is that they have finished 2009 with a $10 billion office.

In October, the studio told the Federal Communications Commission that "Star Trek" had become a hot commodity in piracy circles. Illegal file-sharing had advanced from "geek to sleek," Frederick Huntsberry, the studio's chief operating officer, told officials.

Now, according to data from TorrentFreak, "Star Trek" was downloaded nearly 11 million times this past year, just edging "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" (10.6 million). The films were among the biggest of the year at the box office.

At the other end of the box-office scale, "Sherlock Holmes" director Guy Ritchie's "RocknRolla" ranked No. 3. It grossed less than $26 million worldwide.

Interestingly, for all the fuss about the "Wolverine" leak, the film came in at No. 9 with 7.2 million. The FBI earlier this month charged a man with violation of federal copyright law, alleging he uploaded the film to the Web last spring.

The list was rounded out by "The Hangover" (No. 4), "Twilight" (No. 5), "District 9" (No. 6), "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (No. 7), "State of Play" (No. 8), and "Knowing" (No. 10).

Heavy teens at risk for sleep apnea | Reuters

Reuters By Joene Hendry

Tue, Oct 25 2009 NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Being overweight or obese boosts a teenager's risk of developing the nighttime breathing disorder obstructive sleep apnea, new study findings hint.

Health

Obstructive sleep apnea, or OSA, occurs when airway passages become blocked during sleep, cutting off breathing for brief but frequent periods. It is often accompanied by heavy snoring.

OSA is increasingly being recognized in children and the sleep disturbances caused by OSA can lead to daytime learning and behavior problems in children, as well as more serious health problems, such as high blood pressure.

In the new study, researchers found that the risk of OSA among a group of white adolescents aged 12 and older increased 3.5-fold with each upward increase in body weight classification.

The risk of OSA did not increase significantly with increasing body weight among younger children aged 2 to 11 years old. This was "a little surprising to us initially, as obesity is generally considered to increase the risk of sleep apnea amongst all children," principal investigator Dr. Mark J. Kohler, research fellow at the Children's Research Center at the University of Adelaide in Australia, noted in a prepared statement.

"Previous results have been inconsistent, however, and appear to be confounded by using mixed ethnic populations and different ages of children," he added.

In the study, a total of 234 children aged 2 to 18 years underwent overnight sleep studies after their parents reported that each snored at least one night a week. None of the kids had medical conditions that might cause them to snore or stop breathing during sleep.

The risk of OSA alone was not found to be greater among adolescents compared with younger children. When considering only children who had OSA (that is, at least one bout of interrupted breathing per hour of sleep), there was a clear increase in the proportion of kids who were overweight and obese with increasing age.

However, after allowing for social and economic status, body weight, and differences in sleep study evaluations, there was no link between being overweight or obese and OSA in children younger than 12 years, even though about 30 to 40 percent of this group was overweight or obese.

By contrast, nearly all of the overweight (13 percent) and obese (nearly 53 percent) 12- to 18-year-old children had OSA; being heavy or obese was clearly associated with the condition in this age group, the researchers say.

In a report in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, the researchers emphasize that they evaluated only white children. "Studies amongst different ethnic groups are necessary before these results can be generalized across races and applied clinically," Kohler commented in an email to Reuters Health.

SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, December 15, 2009

Health

Microsoft loses Word appeal, will adjust program...

Reuters

Wed. Dec 23, 2009. SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp said on Tuesday it will tweak its Word application to remove a feature judged to be a breach of patent, ensuring that it will be able to continue selling one of its most widely used programs.

Technology

The world's largest software company made the announcement shortly after a U.S. court of appeals upheld a $290 million jury verdict against it for infringing a patent held by a small Canadian software firm.

The court also affirmed an injunction that prevents Microsoft from selling versions of its Word program which contain the offending software, set to take effect January 11, 2010. Older versions of Word are not affected.

Microsoft said it is taking steps to remove the feature from Microsoft Word 2007 and Microsoft Office 2007 put on sale from that date.

The disputed patent feature relates to the use of XML, or extensible markup language, used for manipulating text, in the 2007 versions of Word. Microsoft described it on Tuesday as a "little-used feature".

However, Microsoft did not rule out further appeals.

"While we are moving quickly to address the injunction issue, we are also considering our legal options," said Kevin Kutz, a Microsoft spokesman. He said that could include a request for a rehearing by a full panel of judges at the appeals court, or a request for a review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

I4i, the Toronto-based software company which owns the infringed patent, welcomed Tuesday's ruling.

"I4i is especially pleased with the court's decision to uphold the injunction, an important step in protecting the property rights of small inventors," said Michel Vulpe, founder and co-inventor of i4i, in a statement.

END OF CASE IN SIGHT

The ruling -- by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which handles many patent and trademark cases -- may signal the end-game of a long-running dispute between Microsoft and Toronto-based i4i Ltd.

On August 12, a jury in a federal U.S. district court in Texas ruled in favor of i4i against Microsoft, for infringing the XML patent in the 2003 and 2007 versions of Word.

The jury slapped more than $290 million in damages on Microsoft and the court granted i4i's motion for an injunction preventing Microsoft from selling versions of Word that contain the disputed patent technology.

That injunction was stayed while Microsoft appealed the case with the Court of Appeals, but will now go into effect on January 11.

Microsoft shares were up 0.9 percent at $30.79 on Nasdaq.

The case is: i4i Limited Partnership and Infrastructures for Information Inc v. Microsoft Corp, an appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in case no. 07-CV-113.

(Reporting by Bill Rigby, editing by Matthew Lewis and Gerald E. McCormick)

Toilet humour big for Beijing diner...

Reuters.com

There's something wrong with redheads?

Reuters

Wed Dec 16, 2009 12:36pm EST LONDON (Reuters) - An ad for a TV dating show has been banned for suggesting that redheads are unattractive, Britain's advertising watchdog said on Wednesday.

Virgin Media's newspaper advert for the program "Dating in the Dark" included the text: "How do you spot a ginger in the dark?"

Virgin said the premise of the show was to challenge people's perception of attractiveness and to encourage decisions based on personality as well as looks.

However the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) agreed with three complainants that the ad was likely to cause serious offence and should not be used again.

"We considered the text was likely to be interpreted ... as a statement that reflected a choice between looks and personality ... being a suggestion that people with ginger hair were unattractive," the ASA said in a statement.

"We considered the ad was unlikely to be interpreted to be light-hearted in tone and was instead likely to be seen as prejudicial against people with ginger hair."

Other adverts in the series used to promote the show had included the tagline: "When the lights come on I just hope I haven't been kissing Shrek."

On Tuesday, Britain's biggest retailer Tesco apologized and said it had withdrawn a Christmas card which showed a child with red hair sitting on the lap of Santa Claus under the banner: "Santa loves all kids. Even ginger ones."

(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Steve Addison)

Telstra - Media Centre - Announcement...

Telstra to trial FTTP in Point Cook

Sydney 18 December, 2009. Telstra today announced a trial in Point Cook, Victoria, to upgrade part of its access network with fibre to the premise (FTTP) technology.

The upgrade will mean around 1,500 residential customers in the area will have the opportunity to be one of the first in Australia to have Telstra replace their copper access with fibre, bringing their broadband speeds into line with some of the fastest residential services in the world.

Telstra has invited the NBN Co to act as an observer on the project, which could provide NBN Co important insights into the network deployment and customer migration aspects of its planned National Broadband Network (NBN) project.

Executive Director of Telstra Network & Technology Michael Lawrey said Point Cook was an ideal location for the trial because the area's rapid residential growth in recent years meant demand for broadband had outstripped the capacity of the copper network.

"Demand for broadband in areas of Point Cook is very high. In improving the capacity of broadband in these areas we had a choice of upgrading the copper infrastructure, which might shortly be overbuilt by the NBN, or using fibre," Mr Lawrey said.

"Rolling out fibre is in line with the Government's vision to get fibre to as many Australian homes as quickly as possible and could provide valuable lessons for the NBN."

The FTTP build will commence immediately and is expected to be completed by May 2010. On completion, residents in the trial area will be able to take up a fibre service or retain their existing copper line.

Once the deployment is completed, Telstra will trial an interim wholesale offering over the fibre, with the detail of both retail and wholesale offerings to be released closer to the build's completion.

Media Contact:
Andrew Butcher

Reference Number: 424/2009

42 needles found in Brazilian boy...

Telstra BigPond News

Friday, December 18, 2009 Surgeons are hopeful they can remove most of the metal sewing needles inserted into a two-year-old Brazilian boy in a suspected black magic ritual.

A former stepfather of the boy is being held by police having told officers he inserted 42 needles into the boy with the help of two unidentified women.

The police inspector in charge of the case said a black magic ritual involving the boy was among the motives police were looking into.

'All of our officers are focused on this case, gathering information,' he said.

The youngster is in intensive care in hospital in the northeastern city of Barreiras and is to be transferred to a specialist heart unit because two of the needles are close to his heart.

Dr. Luiz Cesar Soltoski, who is treating the boy, said surgeons hope to remove most of the needles - some as long as two inches - but those in the lungs will have to wait until the child's breathing improves.

The doctor said he believed the needles were stuck into the child's body one by one.

'We think it could have only been by penetration because we found needles in the lung, the left leg and in different parts of the thorax. It couldn't have been by ingestion,' Soltoski said.

The boy's mother, a maid, took him to a hospital in the small city of Ibotirama saying he was complaining of pain.

Three days later, after X-rays revealed many of the needles, doctors moved him to a larger hospital in the nearby city of Barreiras.

The boy's father, Gessivaldo Alves, said he believed his son could have been a victim of a black magic ritual.

Alves reportedly said he visited the home where the boy was living and found unspecified items that could be used for black magic.

Teens ignore laws against texting while driving...

Reuters Dan Whitcomb

Fri, Dec 11 2009 LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Karen Cordova, a 17-year-old high school student and part-time supermarket cashier, admits she sometimes texts friends while driving home from work late at night, lonely and bored.

The Arizona teenager knows it's illegal in Phoenix and dangerous. She once almost drifted into oncoming traffic while looking at her phone.

But would a nationwide ban stop Cordova and her friends from texting in their cars? No way, she said.

"Nobody is going to listen," Cordova said.

With momentum building in Washington for all 50 U.S. states to outlaw text messaging behind the wheel, there is evidence that the key demographic targeted by such legislation, teen drivers, will not pay much attention.

At least one major study has found that, with mobile devices now central to their lives, young people often ignore laws against using cell phones or texting in the car.

The number of text messages is up tenfold in the past three years and Americans sent an estimated 1 trillion in 2009.

Some police agencies, while strongly in favor of such mandates, say its tough for officers to enforce them.

The California Highway Patrol has handed out nearly 163,000 tickets to drivers talking on hand-held phones since mid-2008. But it has issued only 1,400 texting citations since January in a state of 23 million drivers -- not for lack of trying.

"The handheld cell phone is relatively easy for us to spot, we can see when somebody has their phone up to their ear," CHP spokeswoman Fran Clader said.

"But with the texting it's a little bit more of a challenge to catch them in the act, because we have to see it and if they are holding it down in their lap it's going to be harder for us to see."

Already 19 states and the District of Columbia ban texting by all drivers, while 9 others prohibit it by young drivers.

TEXTING CAUSES ACCIDENTS

In July, Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer, citing a study that found texting drivers were 23 times more likely to be in an accident, introduced a bill requiring states to prohibit the practice or risk losing federal highway funds.

Since then, Senator Jay Rockefeller has offered his own bill that would achieve the ban through grants to states.

In October, during a three-day conference in Washington on distracted driving, President Barack Obama signed an executive order barring federal employees from texting behind the wheel.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said he would seek to expand that rule to bus drivers and truckers who cross state lines and called the conference "probably the most important meeting in the history of the Department of Transportation."

But a much-cited study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that usage of cell phones for calls and texting in North Carolina actually ticked up slightly after the state banned them for drivers under the age of 18.

A study by the Automobile Club of Southern California found that texting by drivers dropped after the state's law took effect, but it did not break down the data by age.

"What I would say is that texting and cell phone devices have become such a component of life for teens and for young people that it's hard for them to differentiate between doing something normal and doing something wrong," said Steven Bloch, senior research associate for the Automobile Club.

The problem is not unique to the United States. In Britain, a public service announcement on texting while driving drew worldwide attention for its extremely graphic imagery.

The spot shows three texting teen girls in a horrific head-on collision with another car, and lingers on shots of their bloodied faces shattering the windshield as a child whose parents have been killed cries for her dead mother to wake up.

In 2007, Phoenix became one of the first U.S. cities to ban texting while driving, although Arizona still has no statewide law.

Out of a group of four high school students interviewed by Reuters in Phoenix, three admitted texting while driving and a fourth said he had stopped only after his cousin caused a serious traffic accident while sending a message.

Cordova's classmate, 17-year-old Anna Hauer, says she often texts her boyfriend when she drives and doubts she or her friends would stop because of new legislation.

"By the time they pull you over, the chances are you are going to be done with your text anyway so they can't exactly prove that you were texting," she said.

(Additional reporting by Tim Gaynor in Phoenix and Sinead Carew in New York; editing by Mohammad Zargham)

Dead drunk policeman stripped of martyrdom

Wed Dec 16, 2009 12:35pm BEIJING (Reuters) - The Chinese police captain who named his subordinate a "martyr" after he died from a drinking binge has been suspended, the Shenzhen Public Security Authority said on Tuesday.

Traffic officer Chen Lusheng of the southern city of Shenzhen was off-duty when he attended a banquet with officials from Mabu village in late October. After repeated toasts, he vomited and passed out on a couch, where he suffocated, state media said.

His captain, Xie Feiyong, attempted to declare Chen a martyr, in order to get higher compensation for his family and possibly to avert any investigation into his death. He was suspended from duty on Tuesday, the Xinhua news agency said, citing the police.

The Shenzhen government information office did not immediately answer a query on the matter.

Shenzhen police told local media the policeman was a victim of China's infamous Chinese business banquet ganbei or "bottoms up" culture, where diners attempt to out-drink each other to gain concessions. They did not explain why Chen was attending the banquet in the first place.

Forced drinking is so widespread that workplace injuries regulations in the southwestern city of Chongqing were recently amended to classify deaths caused by drinking as "workplace accidents" bosses send staff out drinking for business.

Xie argued that Chen died in a work-related incident and that there was nothing wrong in wanting to leave behind a glorious legacy for his colleague.

The application for the posthumous honor was denied by the District Brigade, on grounds that Chen died neither in the line of duty nor during work hours.

Chen's family, who are demanding 4.8 million yuan ($703,200) in compensation, had camped out in the police station and set up a mourning hall there.

Black nativity angers Italy's "White Xmas" party

Mon Dec 14, 2009 1:03pm ROME (Reuters) - A nativity scene featuring a dark-skinned Jesus, Mary and Joseph that has gone on display in a Verona courthouse has created heated debate in a city with strong links to Italy's anti-immigration Northern League party.

The nativity's appearance coincides with the League's controversial operation "White Christmas," a two-month sweep ending on Christmas Day to ferret out foreigners without proper permits in Coccaglio, a small League-led town east of Milan.

The Christmas scene -- featuring a dark-skinned baby Jesus dressed in a red shirt and lying in a manger -- was the idea of Mario Giulio Schinaia, the chief Public Prosecutor in Verona.

"History teaches us that baby Jesus and his parents were very probably dark-skinned," Schinaia told Reuters. "This nativity belongs to a universal Christmas tradition that brings together the whole of Christianity in celebration."

The nativity has caused heated reactions in the rich northern town, where resentment toward foreigners has spread as the number of immigrants, particularly from north Africa and eastern Europe, continues to rise.

"It is a useless act of provocation, just like the suggestion not to have a nativity scene at all, in order not to offend Muslims," Northern League farm minister Luca Zaia told one paper, referring to proposals in recent years that town halls and stores should no longer sponsor Christmas scenes.

"Magistrates have other problems to deal with: I hope they spend as much time thinking about lawsuits and trials," he said.

The Northern League, an ally of conservative Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi with key cabinet posts including the interior ministry, has used its growing political clout to secure tough new laws including making illegal immigration a crime.

League proposals have ranged from separate buses and trains for immigrants to banning new mosques and forbidding the serving of Chinese food and kebabs in towns under its control.

Schinaia defended his black nativity scene, saying it was not intended to be polemical but to encourage debate.

"There shouldn't be a white or black Christmas, only a merry Christmas for everyone, of every skin color, ethnic background and nationality."

(Reporting by Ella Ide; Editing by Stephen Brown)

Rotating house puts family in a spin...

Reuters

SYDNEY Friday 11 Dec. 2009(Reuters) - An Australian family is turning heads with a rotating house that can guarantee a different view every time they wake up.

The Everinghams have been in a spin since they moved into their dream home in the countryside north of Sydney three years ago. They can turn the house to follow the sun without having to leave the comfort of their armchairs.

"When you wake up you do wonder where you'll be facing," said Luke Everingham, a sound-engineer who came up with the idea with his wife, Deb, after chatting with neighbors.

The neighbors wished they had built their home 15 degrees further to the north to capture more sunlight.

The octagonal-shaped house sits on a turntable powered by a small electric motor and controlled by a computer, which allows it move on demand.

The house cost about A$700,000 ($641,000) to build and can complete a full rotation in about 30 minutes, according to the Everinghams' own Web site (www.everinghamrotatinghouse.com.au).

(Reporting by Amy Pyett; Editing by Miral Fahmy

Elin to stand by Tiger....

Golf - Fox Sports By Annette Witheridge and David Gardner

Elin Nordegren to stay with Tiger Woods for the sake of their children

December 11, 2009 .The wife of Tiger Woods will stick with her cheating husband for the sake of their two young children.

Friends of Elin Nordegren, 29, said she was devastated and heartbroken by the extent of his alleged infidelities but plans to stay married.

The couple, who wed in 2004, have a daughter Sam, 2, and son Charlie, 10 months.

"She is a child of divorce and that's not something she's likely going to want to do to Sam and Charlie," an unnamed friend told US magazine People. "She really believes in the importance of parents staying together."

The friend said Tiger Woods, 33, had finally come clean and told Elin, a former nanny, the full extent of his alleged womanising. They are believed to be in negotiations to alter their prenuptial agreement, which could allow her to walk away with $US55 million ($A60 million) if she remains married for another two years.

So far, 11 women have claimed affairs with the golfer and other revelations, including a fling with a British TV presenter, are expected.

The friend said Elin heard whispers about Woods's active sex life before they married - but he promised to reform.

"Elin had talked to other golfers and their wives about Tiger's wild parties. When she asked Tiger about it, he said he would stop doing it. And she believed him. But he never did," one friend said.

Friends said they had been having problems for two years and have had public arguments in Stockholm, where they own an apartment.

Their marital woes exploded into headlines two weeks ago when Elin, whose Swedish parents divorced when she was six, chased Woods from their Orlando home and allegedly attacked his car with a golf club. He crashed into a fire hydrant and a tree.

Since then, the scandal has erupted and placed the billionaire golfer's lucrative sponsorship deals in doubt - he gets an estimated 90 per cent of his income from endorsements.

The 15 TV advertisements now featuring him have vanished.

Public relations guru Howard Rubenstein sees little hope, saying: "He is beyond PR redemption."
Racy texts have now emerged, appearing to show Woods flirting with 24-year-old cocktail waitress Jaimee Grubbs.

Grubbs, alleged mistress number three was the first to publicly apologise to Elin.

"I couldn't describe how remorseful that I am to have hurt her family," the cocktail waitress told US showbiz news program Extra.

Then there is the alleged email exchange between alleged mistress Rachel Uchitel and Woods.

"I know it's brutal on you that you can't be with me all the time," the golfer texted her, said In Touch magazine. "I finally found someone I connect with."

Porn star Holly Sampson, 26, added her own touch with a video clip, recorded in May, boasting how she and Woods met at a party and became bedmates. "He picked me to go into the room," she said.

Ashley Samson, the source for the National Enquirer's story on Uchitel, said Woods's management offered her $US200,000 ($A218,000) to shut up. "I turned them down flat, saying I would not lie for Tiger because the truth is the truth," she said.

Woods has laid low since the storm erupted but it is now claimed the reason is because Elin broke his tooth in their row before the crash.

Star magazine in the US reported that Elin threw a mobile phone at him after she caught him texting Uchitel.

Groom creates viral storm twittering from altar....

Reuters Basil Katz

Wed, Nov 18 2009. NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Maryland groom has created an viral story storm after he interrupted his wedding last month to update his Facebook and Twitter accounts from the altar.

Dana Hanna, who works for a pet website, also posted a short video of the ceremony on the Internet. It showed him reaching into his pocket for his phone as the minister was about to pronounce the couple husband and wife.

The video has had more than 350,000 views.

"Oh, Dana is updating his relationship status on Facebook," the minister said as the audience at the wedding laughed.

After Hanna finished twittering he continued the ceremony.

"As I was saying, I now pronounce you husband and wife. It's now official on Facebook. It's official in my book. Dana you may kiss your bride."

Hanna, who lists his profession on the networking site LinkedIn as chief architect at Next Day Pets, described his reaction to the ceremony on his YouTube account the day after the ceremony.

"I surprised not only my guests, but also Tracy (his wife) by pulling out my phone and posting on Facebook and Twitter from the altar during out wedding," he said.

Though users have sent marriage proposals over the micro-blogging site Twitter, interrupting a wedding ceremony to update social networking site Facebook and send out a Tweet on Twitter about it appears to be a first.

"I had her phone ready in my pocket, so when she asked for it I could hand it to her. No one knew about this except the minister and myself." he said on YouTube.

The Twitter post, which has garnered Hanna instant online fame, is still up on his account.

"Standing at the altar with @TracyPage where just a second ago, she became my wife! Gotta go, time to kiss my bride. #weddingday 1:48 PM Nov 21st from Twittelator."

Yesterday, apparently overwhelmed by media attention, Hanna posted a new comment on his Twitter account.

"To all the criticizers of my video out there questioning my sanity: You don't get it. I was having fun at MY wedding! Loosen up, have fun!"

His new bride, apparently also surprised at the viral storm her husband launched, also posted on her Twitter account.

"Can't sleep, very anxious about this new fame. What will become of it?" she asked.

Geen haast bij tumor in prostaat...

Trouw News Paper Bij Sander Becker

7 December 2009.Geen haast bij tumor in prostaat. Behandeling is vaak onnodig.Veel mannen met prostaatkanker ondervinden meer hinder dan voordeel van de behandeling. ’Actief afwachten’ blijkt vaak verstandiger.

Ingrijpende behandelingen van prostaatkanker zijn vaak helemaal niet nodig, stelt Roderick van den Bergh, uroloog-in-opleiding in het Erasmus Medisch Centrum in Rotterdam. „Prostaattumoren groeien meestal heel traag. Daardoor zou de helft van de mannen na de diagnose nooit klachten hebben gekregen.”

Toch vragen de meeste patiënten zelf om een operatie of een bestraling, ook al kunnen ze daar incontinent en impotent van worden. „Het ligt erg gevoelig”, verklaart Van den Bergh. „De diagnose ’k’ komt toch als een schok. Dan kun je als arts wel uitleggen dat ze een heel klein tumortje hebben waar ze waarschijnlijk nooit klachten van krijgen. Maar de meesten kiezen toch voor behandeling.”

Dat terwijl een ’actief afwachtend beleid’ met af en toe een extra controle een zeer verantwoord alternatief kan zijn, bewijst Van den Bergh in zijn proefschrift, waarop hij woensdag promoveert. De arts bekeek ruim zeshonderd mannen met prostaatkanker, die hadden besloten zich niet te laten behandelen. Na tien jaar was geen van hen aan de tumor overleden; een kwart was wel aan iets anders gestorven. De patiënten werden op gezette tijden opnieuw onderzocht. Eventuele vertraging die dat opleverde voor de behandeling, bleek niet nadelig.

In Rotterdam zijn ze met nieuw onderzoek begonnen om te testen hoe zulk afwachtend beleid in de praktijk kan worden ingevoerd. „We hebben we nu een protocol ontwikkeld met strenge criteria. Als de tumor geen agressieve kenmerken vertoont, kan de patiënt kiezen voor afwachten plus extra controles.”

Van den Bergh schat dat een derde tot de helft van alle mannen met prostaatkanker in aanmerking komt voor afwachten. Dat zal veel nutteloze behandelingen schelen, al benadrukt hij dat ze soms ook nodig zijn: het is onomstotelijk bewezen dat de vroege opsporing van prostaatkanker in combinatie met ingrijpende behandelingen de sterfte aan prostaatkanker met 20 procent vermindert.

Steeds meer mannen krijgen te horen dat ze prostaatkanker hebben. Daar zijn ze grotendeels zelf voor verantwoordelijk. Ze lezen op internet iets over een ’PSA-test’ die de ziekte kan opsporen, vragen de huisarts om de test te laten uitvoeren, en zie daar: acht- tot negenduizend diagnoses per jaar. Slechts één op de vier zal aan die tumor overlijden. Nummer twee krijgt alleen milde klachten, en nummer drie en vier zullen nooit ergens last van krijgen.

© Trouw 2009, op dit artikel rust copyright.

Microsoft mucks up Windows 7 licensing...

By Woody Leonhard

3 December 2009. Windows 7 is a great product with relatively few foibles, but there's one major Win7 mess that has me seeing red.

The licensing terms for the new version of Windows are inconsistent, inaccurate, and downright inane — assuming you can wade through Microsoft's legalese in the first place.

If you're one of the millions of people considering a Win7 upgrade, you need to distinguish the upgrades you can do from the upgrades Microsoft's license wants you to do. The overlap between what's possible and what's "permissible" leaves a lot of gray area.

Unfortunately, there are no clear and simple answers to many important questions. These include the validity of dual-boot Win7 configurations, the use of upgrade discs to perform a clean install, and the ability to upgrade to Win7 a PC that's currently running a pirated copy of XP or Vista.

Here's the nutshell version of where things stand on these issues at present. (You'll find the official end-user license agreement for your version of Windows on Microsoft's Legal and Corporate Affairs page as a PDF download.)

Dual-booting Windows 7 may violate the license

You know about dual-booting, right? Since the dawn of time, Windows has allowed you to install more than one operating system on a PC and choose which OS to use at boot-up. Dual-booting is a good way to migrate from an older operating system to a newer one. I've used the technique for years whenever a new OS has come around.

For example, once you set a machine to dual-boot, you can use the new OS until you run into trouble — for example, you forget a password or can't remember an e-mail setting. You just boot into the old OS and use it long enough to jot down the missing information. Once you're sure you no longer need the old version, you delete it: safe, simple, and easy.

I first jumped down the Win7 licensing rabbit hole when I realized you aren't supposed to use an upgrade version of Windows 7 to create a dual-boot system. Er, well, more precisely, it's physically possible to use an upgrade version of Win7 to create a PC that will dual-boot Win7 with XP or Vista. But the licensing terms say you can't do so.

This is one of those areas where verbiage indicates you shouldn't, but the software and all of its supporting documentation show that you can. It's also one of the areas where the rules have changed. Dual-booting with an upgrade copy of XP was perfectly kosher. The licensing language changed with Windows 7. (Actually, it changed with Vista, but nobody seems to have noticed.)

The crux of the matter lies in the following sentence in Windows 7's EULA:
 "15. Upgrades. To use upgrade software, you must first be licensed for the software that is eligible for the upgrade. Upon upgrade, this agreement takes the place of the agreement for the software you upgraded from. After you upgrade, you may no longer use the software you upgraded from."
Yes, you read that correctly. As soon as you install the upgrade version of Windows 7, Microsoft claims that your license for the existing version of Windows goes kaput and you may no longer use the software you upgraded from. While you can create a dual-boot system — heck, it's easy to do so, using the upgrade DVD — under a strict reading of the EULA, you aren't supposed to boot it up.

The Windows 7 installer will automatically set up the entire dual-boot infrastructure, making it easy for you to dual-boot. But the license says you can't still use the previously purchased and installed operating system.

This leads to all sorts of craziness. For example, a friend of mine wanted to dual-boot the 32-bit version and the 64-bit version of Windows 7. This would allow him to test 64-bit drivers but fall back to 32-bit if he encountered a problem.

He bought the Windows 7 Upgrade Family Pack, whose license permits three installs. To dual-boot, he simply needed to install Win7 twice. But he was a bit, uh, disconcerted to discover that dual-booting with the 32-bit and 64-bit versions theoretically negates the license of whichever Win7 version was installed first.

I still can't believe that Microsoft made such a ridiculous rule. I'm amazed there hasn't been a mass uprising of Win7 users brandishing pitchforks and blazing torches as they threaten to ride the legal beagles out of Redmond on a rail. But no. In fact, I've hardly heard a peep about this matter in the trade press.

The simple fact is that a dual-boot system created using the upgrade version of Win7 works fine. Microsoft may say your license for the original software gets tossed into the bit bucket, but I've never heard of anybody failing a Windows Genuine Advantage check on an old XP or Vista system that's part of a Win7 dual-boot hookup.

I don't know how Microsoft could tell which old system you had. I don't know of any mechanism Microsoft could use to disable a running copy of Windows 7 or prevent it from receiving critical updates. In short, the rule's there, but it may in fact be legally unconscionable as well as unenforceable.

The install-over-itself trick skirts the rules

In his Feb. 1, 2007, Top Story, editorial director Brian Livingston described how to clean-install Windows Vista using only the upgrade CD. Thunder and lightning descended from a few outraged spokespersons who felt that such a trick shouldn't be widely publicized. After all, Microsoft has a right to charge the price it wants, and if it restricts the cheaper upgrade version to systems that already have a valid copy of Windows, it's Microsoft's decision, right?

Well, not exactly. Microsoft can say whatever it likes. But by the same token, Microsoft purposefully built the backdoor into Windows so it could be used. The Redmond company explained in its own published documents how to use the trick to install the upgrade edition on a new, bare hard drive. With Vista installed in this way, as Brian noted, the Vista EULA specifically lists Vista itself as a "qualifying operating system" that would pass validation tests by upgrading Vista over itself. This was all deliberately programmed in by Microsoft and retained as part of Service Pack 1.

Fast forward two and a half years and we find the same backdoor in Windows 7. Microsoft even enhanced the trick by adding a command line that eliminates the need to run setup twice.

As I explained in my Nov. 12 Top Story, you can use the Win7 upgrade DVD to clean-install Windows 7 in precisely the same way Brian demonstrated in 2007 for Vista.

Legions of 'Softies have known about the trick for years, and it still works. Microsoft didn't close the hole in Vista SP1, and it didn't close it in Windows 7. It doesn't look like a "trick" any more. The only possible conclusion is that the clean-install method is included by Microsoft so its tech-support people can resolve customers' setup problems quickly and cheaply.

Aside from the EULA, what does Microsoft tell Windows 7 buyers about installing the upgrade DVD on a clean hard drive? The company's official upgrade booklet — called "Welcome to Your PC, Simplified" — provides an answer at the bottom of page 6:
 "If your PC doesn't have an operating system currently installed, insert the Windows 7 installation disc before turning on your computer. Setup should start automatically."
That's very specific advice, and it carries no admonition whatsoever restricting the upgrade to any particular machine.

If this is a violation of the EULA, shouldn't Microsoft have removed by now the technique that the company created and documented so many years ago?

Microsoft doesn't do so because it doesn't want to.

No trick needed to upgrade a pirated OS to Win7

As part of my pursuit of truth, justice, and the American way, I tested a Windows 7 upgrade DVD on a PC that I knew had a pirated copy of Windows XP. This particularly sorry piece of hardware had never seen a licensed copy of Windows in its life. The PC might as well have been flying a skull-and-crossbones flag and displaying its "You may be the victim of software counterfeiting" notice like a badge of honor.

Since the machine didn't really have much of an OS to begin with, I decided to take Microsoft's advice for installing Win7 on a PC with no operating system at all. I booted the PC from a genuine, paid-for upgrade DVD. The Win7 installer kicked in with no problem. During installation, I typed in the activation key. Win7 activated immediately once I was connected to the Internet. Go figger.

It would be trivially easy for Microsoft to have the installer scan for "nongenuine" copies of Windows and scold the upgrader. But no — the upgrade proceeded as slick as could be.

Now that the formerly swashbuckling PC has a genuine copy of Windows 7, is there any indication that I broke any EULA provisions? More to the point, does anybody at Microsoft really care? There are millions of pirated copies of Windows out there. Isn't getting them qualified as genuine a good thing for everybody?

Seems like it is to me.

Transcript of Tiger Woods' statement...

washingtonpost.com By The Associated Press

Wednesday, December 2, 2009; 10:27 AM This is a transcript of the statement released Wednesday by golfer Tiger Woods on his Web site. It ran with the headline "Tiger comments on current events."

I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart. I have not been true to my values and the behavior my family deserves. I am not without faults and I am far short of perfect. I am dealing with my behavior and personal failings behind closed doors with my family. Those feelings should be shared by us alone.

Although I am a well-known person and have made my career as a professional athlete, I have been dismayed to realize the full extent of what tabloid scrutiny really means. For the last week, my family and I have been hounded to expose intimate details of our personal lives. The stories in particular that physical violence played any role in the car accident were utterly false and malicious. Elin has always done more to support our family and shown more grace than anyone could possibly expect.

But no matter how intense curiosity about public figures can be, there is an important and deep principle at stake which is the right to some simple, human measure of privacy. I realize there are some who don't share my view on that. But for me, the virtue of privacy is one that must be protected in matters that are intimate and within one's own family. Personal sins should not require press releases and problems within a family shouldn't have to mean public confessions.

Whatever regrets I have about letting my family down have been shared with and felt by us alone. I have given this a lot of reflection and thought and I believe that there is a point at which I must stick to that principle even though it's difficult.

I will strive to be a better person and the husband and father that my family deserves. For all of those who have supported me over the years, I offer my profound apology.

Florida Highway Patrol to issue Tiger Woods a careless driving citation...

washingtonpost.com By MIKE SCHNEIDER The Associated Press

A new fire hydrant, left, and the tree damaged by Tiger Woods, surrounded by plastic garbage cans, is seen in the front of Woods' home, left, in the Isleworth community in Windermere, Fla., Monday, Nov. 30, 2009. (AP Photo/John Raoux) (John Raoux - AP)

Tuesday, December 1, 2009. ORLANDO, Fla. -- Tiger Woods will be cited for careless driving in a car crash outside his Orlando-area mansion, but will not face criminal charges, the Florida Highway Patrol said Tuesday.

Woods faces a $164 fine and four points against his driver's license, not close to enough to have it suspended. The citation closes the investigation of last week's crash.

The patrol "is not pursuing criminal charges in this matter nor is there any testimony or other evidence to support any additional charges of any kind other than the charge of careless driving," Sgt. Kim Montes said.

According to an accident report, Woods crashed his SUV into a fire hydrant and a tree at 2:25 a.m. Friday. The airbags did not deploy and Woods' wife told Windermere police she used a golf club to smash the back windows to help him out.

Woods withdrew Monday from his own golf tournament, citing injuries from the crash.

Since the accident, tabloids and gossip Web sites have fueled speculation about the events leading up to it, including that there may have been a domestic dispute between Woods and his wife.

The crash came two days after The National Enquirer published a story alleging that Woods had been seeing a New York nightclub hostess, and that they recently were together in Melbourne, where Woods competed in the Australian Masters. The woman, Rachel Uchitel, denies the affair.

An attorney for the neighbors who dialed 911 after the crash said Woods did not appear to be driving under the influence and showed no signs of having been in a fight. Montes said there were no claims of domestic violence and insufficient evidence to subpoena any medical information.

"Despite the celebrity status of Mr. Woods, the Florida Highway Patrol has completed its investigation in the same professional manner it strives to complete each traffic investigation," Montes said.

Bill Sharpe, an attorney for the neighbors, said Woods' injuries were "consistent with a car wreck and inconsistent with him being beat up. The scratches on his face were consistent with someone who maybe was in a minor car accident and hit his head on the windshield. ... None of his injuries looked like he was beat up by his wife."

Sharpe said neighbor Linda Adams and her two adult sons went outside their home in the exclusive gated community of Isleworth after hearing the crash and Woods' wife, Elin Nordegren, asked them to call the 911 emergency number.

He said the neighbors found Nordegren kneeling beside her husband, upset about his injuries. Sharpe said Woods appeared woozy and had scratches on his face and that his wife was trying to console him. The Adamses wrapped Woods in a blanket and made sure he didn't move.

Tabloid speculation has focused on whether Woods and his wife were fighting before the accident.

"One thing we want to make clear is that Mrs. Woods' attitude was consistent with her being concerned about her injured husband," Sharpe said. "Mrs. Woods was trying to help him. Mrs. Woods was worried about her husband. She was concerned."

Sharpe said the Adams family did not see the crash and did not see Woods' wife with a golf club. He said he was hired to get the message out that the Adams family members have told investigators everything they know about the crash and aren't hiding anything.

By skipping his tournament, Woods will escape the TV cameras and a horde of media seeking more details. The tournament was to be the last of the year for Woods anyway, and he did not say when or where he would make his return next year.

When healthy, he has made his season debut at Torrey Pines every year since 2006. The San Diego Invitational this year is scheduled the week of Jan. 25. That could mean Woods avoids the media for 10 weeks.

Neighbors in the exclusive Isleworth community said Tuesday they did not know if Woods was home. There were no cars in his driveway as the highway patrol held its news conference, and there was little sign that any accident had taken place - the fire hydrant Woods struck had either been repaired or replaced. The grass was perfectly trimmed.

The complex's private security force patrolled the plush community in marked cars and golf carts, the primary source of transportation around Isleworth.

Associated Press Writer Antonio Gonzalez contributed to this report.