Land Rover inherits fleet’s style, power

Renowned for trekking the African Sahara, climbing the Scottish Highlands and working the acreage, Land Rover now easily tames city streets. Having driven and reviewed its big brothers, the LR4 and Range Rover Sport, I found the 2013 LR2 to be a handsome and pleasant sport 
utility vehicle to drive.

The baby of the Land ­Rover fleet, the LR2 slots in with other high-end SUVs such as the BMW X3, the Audi Q5 and the Infiniti JX35, sporting a new 2.0-liter 240-horsepower turbocharged engine, beautiful leather interior and panoramic sunroof. This fine handling all-wheel-drive shares the Terrain ­Response System of the fleet, allowing you to adjust the truck to a wide variety of preprogrammed settings for off-road, wet and snowy conditions with the push of a button. Traction, height and power distribution to the wheels make driving the LR2 on or off the road easy and fun.

All the highly engineered mechanicals lead to a great driving experience. Although it does not have the girth or brawn of the LR4, it is highly maneuverable and a breeze on the highway. The engine, which it shares with the Evoque, packs plenty of punch while averaging nearly 22 mpg in mixed driving. I did better than the estimated 24 highway mpg — pushing out nearly 26 despite driving in the Sport mode, one of three available.

Easy on the eyes with a lot of traditional curb appeal, the LR2 sticks with a classic truck-like styling that has subtle textures and allows for a bigger payload, particularly with the rear seats down.

The interior has been revamped for the 2013 and the top-of-the-line HSE. I really enjoyed the butter-soft leather seats, a leather wrapped steering wheel, soft touch surfaces and the chestnut wood trim pieces.

The cockpit is comfortable and the dash display an uncomplicated electronic readout. The infotainment center worked easily, and the 7-inch touchscreen made adjusting the navigation and stereo settings quick and effort­less. Phone pairing was a breeze.

The HSE upgrades, however, quickly run the reasonably priced base MSRP of $36,400 up to $48,050.

If you're looking for a proper English ride without breaking the bank then check out the LR2.

18.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Administrator opens probe of spill claims lawyer

NEW ORLEANS — For months, BP has complained that a Louisiana attorney who is administering its settlement with tens of thousands of Gulf Coast businesses and residents has made decisions that expose the company to what could be billions of dollars in fictitious claims arising from the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Now the court-appointed administrator himself is investigating allegations that could provide the London-based oil giant with fodder for its argument that it hasn't gotten a fair shake from the claims-processing team.

Lafayette-based lawyer Patrick Juneau confirmed Friday that he has opened an internal investigation of alleged misconduct by one of his staff attorneys, Lionel H. Sutton III.

Sutton resigned Friday morning, Juneau spokesman Nick Gagliano told The Associated Press.

A report outlining the allegations, a copy of which was obtained by the AP, accuses Sutton of "writing polices" that benefited himself and other plaintiffs' lawyers. It does not elaborate.

Prepared by Juneau's office, the report also says a "confidential source" who contacted Juneau's security chief accused Sutton of trying to influence a claim filed by a New Orleans-based law firm. The same firm allegedly paid Sutton a portion of settlement proceeds for claims he had referred to it before he went to work for Juneau.

Juneau provided the report to U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier during a meeting in his chambers Thursday. The administrator has pledged to thoroughly investigate the claims involving Sutton, who started working for his office in November 2012, according to the report.

Both BP and claimants "rightfully expect fairness and objectivity from this claims process," Juneau wrote.

"Our goal is to operate in an efficient, transparent and fair manner. All allegations are taken seriously and investigated thoroughly."

But in its own statement Friday, BP said only a "comprehensive and independent investigation will ensure the integrity of the claims process."

Sutton acknowledged in an email late Thursday that he had been told he was suspended "pending an investigation of an anonymous allegation against me."

"I have not been made aware of the substance of the allegation or the status of the investigation," Sutton wrote. "Once this is resolved, I would be happy to discuss it all with you."

According to the report, Sutton denied the allegations when Juneau discussed them with him.

"Sutton advised Juneau that he did not retain any interest in the claims or clients and the allegations were 100 percent incorrect," the report says.

But the report also cites passages from a string of email exchanges in which Sutton allegedly asks about his cut of nearly $500,000 in settlement payments to an individual who had filed several seafood-related claims.

In response to a lawyer who emailed him in January 2013 and asked him about his fee, Sutton allegedly responded, "They sent you the check for my fee. The total fee on (the claimant) was 10k (+ or -). They sent you 5 for me and kept the other 5."

Jonathan Andry, a lawyer at the firm that allegedly paid Sutton, didn't immediately respond to messages left at his office and with his answering service.

BP attorney Mark Holstein, in a letter to the judge Friday, said it's possible no further investigation into the matter would have happened had the company not pushed the issue with Juneau by requesting a meeting this week.

"It is undisputed that the CSSP first became aware of the Sutton allegations at the end of May 2013, yet it appears that Mr. Sutton's emails were not locked down, searched and reviewed for almost three weeks..." he wrote, referring to the Court Supervised Settlement Program.

Juneau's office determined that "the Andry Law Group/Andry Lerner L.L.C., had 675 claimants, businesses or individuals that had at least completed a claims form and/or registration form" with the claims database, the report said.

The report indicates that Juneau's security head, David Welker, notified the FBI's New Orleans division about the lawyer's alleged misconduct. Welker until recently was the special agent in charge of the FBI office in New Orleans.

An FBI spokeswoman in New Orleans declined to comment Thursday.

Before the allegations even surfaced, BP PLC had sued to block what could be billions of dollars in settlement payouts to businesses over the spill. The company has accused Juneau of trying to rewrite the terms of the deal and asserts that he has made decisions that expose the company to fictitious losses that were never contemplated in the settlement.

Barbier, who is overseeing the massive settlement, appointed Juneau last year and has upheld his decisions for calculating payments. BP has appealed, and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear the case in July.

It's unclear how much influence Sutton had over the process of evaluating and paying scores of claims spawned by the deadly Deepwater Horizon disaster, which killed 11 rig workers and led to the nation's offshore oil spill.

The report prepared by Juneau's office Thursday doesn't elaborate on the allegation from the confidential source that Sutton was "writing policies within the (settlement program) that ultimately may benefit his friends who are attorneys and himself."

But the revelation could strengthen BP's position as it forges ahead with a high-stakes challenge to Juneau's interpretation of the settlement terms.

"If I'm Judge Barbier, I've got to worry about this," said Howard Erichson, a Fordham University law professor specializing in complex litigation. "Any claims settlement relies on a reliable claims process. If the integrity of the claims process is challenged, the judge is going to take that very seriously."

The spill began in April 2010 after the BP-leased drilling rig Deepwater Horizon exploded off the Louisiana coast. Roughly 200 million gallons of crude oil were released from the Macondo well a mile under the Gulf surface. Marshes, fisheries and beaches from Louisiana to Florida were fouled by the oil until a cap was placed over the blown-out well in July 2010.

BP set up a compensation fund for individuals and businesses affected by the spill and committed $20 billion. The claims fund initially was handled by lawyer Kenneth Feinberg but Juneau took over the processing of claims after the settlement was reached last year.

Juneau's office announced in May that it has determined more than $3 billion in claims are eligible for payment through the settlement agreement. More than 162,000 claims were filed and more than $2 billion had been paid to claimants as of May 6.

18.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Voters in Mass. city weigh in on Wynn casino plan

EVERETT, Mass. — Voters in Everett will be deciding whether to give the green light to Steve Wynn's plan to build a $1.2 billion casino in the city.

Wynn, a Las Vegas casino operator, signed a host community agreement with city officials that calls for $30 million in advanced payments and more than $25 million in annual payments to Everett if the casino opens for business.

The vote on Saturday is the first binding referendum on a casino proposal since the 2011 passage of the state's expanded gambling law.

Voter approval of a host community agreement is required before a developer can seek a casino license from the state gambling commission.

Wynn has also agreed to other conditions including the clean-up of pollution on the proposed site along the Mystic River, which formerly housed a chemical plant.

18.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Snowden charged with espionage, theft in NSA case

WASHINGTON — Edward Snowden, the former government contractor who says he revealed that the National Security Agency collects Americans' phone records and Internet data from U.S. communication companies, now faces charges of espionage and theft of government property.

Snowden is believed to be in Hong Kong, which could complicate efforts to bring him to a U.S. federal court to answer charges that he engaged in unauthorized communication of national defense information and willful communication of classified communications intelligence information.

In addition to those charges, both brought under the Espionage Act, the government charged Snowden with theft of government property. Each crime carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

The one-page criminal complaint against Snowden was unsealed Friday in federal court in Alexandria, Va., part of the Eastern District of Virginia where his former employer, government contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, is headquartered, in McLean.

The complaint is dated June 14, five days after Snowden's name first surfaced as the person who had leaked to the news media that the NSA, in two highly classified surveillance programs, gathered telephone and Internet records to ferret out terror plots.

It was unclear Friday whether the U.S. had yet to begin an effort to extradite Snowden from Hong Kong. He could contest extradition on grounds of political persecution. In general, the extradition agreement between the U.S. and Hong Kong excepts political offenses from the obligation to turn over a person.

Hong Kong had no immediate reaction to word of the charges against Snowden.

The Espionage Act arguably is a political offense. The Obama administration has now used the act in seven criminal cases in an unprecedented effort to stem leaks. In one of them, Army Pfc. Bradley Manning acknowledged he sent more than 700,000 battlefield reports, diplomatic cables and other materials to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. His military trial is underway.

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, welcomed the charges against Snowden.

"I've always thought this was a treasonous act," he said in a statement. "I hope Hong Kong's government will take him into custody and extradite him to the U.S."

But the Government Accountability Project, a whistle-blower advocacy group, said Snowden should be shielded from prosecution by whistle-blower protection laws.

"He disclosed information about a secret program that he reasonably believed to be illegal, and his actions alone brought about the long-overdue national debate about the proper balance between privacy and civil liberties, on the one hand, and national security on the other," the group said in a statement.

Michael di Pretoro, a retired 30-year veteran with the FBI who served from 1990 to 1994 as the legal liaison officer at the American consulate in Hong Kong, said "relations between U.S. and Hong Kong law enforcement personnel are historically quite good."

"In my time, I felt the degree of cooperation was outstanding to the extent that I almost felt I was in an FBI field office," di Pretoro said.

The U.S. and Hong Kong have a standing agreement on the surrender of fugitives. However, Snowden's appeal rights could drag out any extradition proceeding.

The success or failure of any extradition proceeding depends on what the suspect is charged with under U.S. law and how it corresponds to Hong Kong law under the treaty. In order for Hong Kong officials to honor the extradition request, they have to have some applicable statute under their law that corresponds with a violation of U.S. law.

Hong Kong lawmakers said Saturday that the Chinese government should make the final decision on whether Snowden should be extradited to the United States.

Outspoken legislator Leung Kwok-hung said Beijing should instruct Hong Kong to protect Snowden from extradition before his case gets dragged through the court system.

Leung urged the people of Hong Kong to "take to the streets to protect Snowden."

In Iceland, a business executive said Friday that a private plane was on standby to transport Snowden from Hong Kong to Iceland, although Iceland's government says it has not received an asylum request from Snowden.

Business executive Olafur Vignir Sigurvinsson said he has been in contact with someone representing Snowden and has not spoken to the American himself. Private donations are being collected to pay for the flight, he said.

"There are a number of people that are interested in freedom of speech and recognize the importance of knowing who is spying on us," Sigurvinsson said. "We are people that care about privacy."

Disclosure of the criminal complaint came as President Barack Obama held his first meeting with a privacy and civil liberties board and as his intelligence chief sought ways to help Americans understand more about sweeping government surveillance efforts exposed by Snowden.

The five members of the little-known Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board met with Obama for an hour in the White House Situation Room, questioning the president on the two NSA programs that have stoked controversy.

One program collects billions of U.S. phone records. The second gathers audio, video, email, photographic and Internet search usage of foreign nationals overseas, and probably some Americans in the process, who use major Internet service providers, such as Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Yahoo.

___

Associated Press writer Jenna Gottlieb in Reykjavik, Iceland, contributed to this report.

18.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Burger King delivery service now in Boston

You no longer have to leave the couch or cubicle to get a Whopper and fries thanks to a new program rolling out over the next few weeks.

Burger King yesterday announced an expansion of its delivery service, BK Delivers, to Boston. The fast food restaurant at 100 Washington St. in Dorchester is the only store that is offering delivery right now, and it is limited to a few zip codes, including Dorchester, Roxbury, Ashmont and Dudley Square.

Ordering online was simple and easy, and each item could be customized. Just under 40 minutes later, the food arrived in Dorchester, piping hot and freezing cold where appropriate, along with napkins and condiments. The driver, Pedro Falcon, said the cold food goes in one bag and the hot food in another, and when the bags return to the Dorchester store, they are kept in the freezer and in a heated area.

"Everyone who sees the new service, they're excited," Falcon said.

Near the Franklin Park Zoo, a crowd formed when the food arrived, and many people said they would likely use the service.

"It's going to do great business," said Shantia Elston, 20, of Boston.

The fast-food chain plans to have the service ready to go in two more restaurants in the Boston area within a couple of weeks, and another two over the summer.

"Boston has some of our most loyal guests and the Burger King brand is excited to offer them the opportunity to enjoy the food they love, delivered to them in the comfort of their home, dorm or office," Petru Pusta, Burger King's director of retail innovation, said in a statement.

Burger King already offers delivery in several cities, including San Francisco, New York and Chicago.

"When I pass away, I'll know I was the first Burger King driver" in Massachusetts, Falcon said.

Customers can order online at BKDelivers.com or by calling 1-855-673-3725. A person who picked up the phone yesterday said the average delivery time is about 45 minutes. Delivery requires a minimum order of $10, and is available from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

18.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Apple chases rivals with reboot

Apple's soon-to-be-released new operating system for iPhone plays it safe — so safe it isn't likely to pose any threat to rival Android and Windows.

It's called iOS 7, and it's coming to mobile devices near you this fall. Right now it's in beta, or draft form, which I had a chance to review. And hopefully, there will be some improvements and additions before it's released to the public.

Because the changes aren't big enough. The ideas aren't bold enough. The innovations are largely limited to graphic design, and that just isn't going to win any business back.

First, the good news: You will finally be able to multitask on an iPhone, swiping through a carousel of "cards" that show open apps. A handy control center is accessed by swiping in from the bottom and it reveals easy access to a camera, a calculator, a flashlight, AirPlay, which lets you stream your music over Wi-Fi, and a cool new feature called Airdrop, which lets you transfer files to nearby iPhones.

Cooler still is the way photos and graphics now look. Colors and photos somehow seem more vibrant and real. Icons are no longer three-dimensional-looking. They're simple and clean.

The upcoming system includes more gesture controls. You can close an app by dragging it up and out of view. You can use drag down search mode from the middle of the screen, and more stuff like that, which we've seen in other smartphone brands, including Blackberry, for years.

Now, the bad news. And it's really bad news. What's most striking about iOS 7 — keeping in mind that this could change — is what it lacks. In a nutshell: something new. It doesn't have anything that Android and Windows phones don't already have.

The new Apple operating system — a similar version is expected to be released for iPad — seems to be about playing catch-up.

Siri, for example, is now probably as adept as Google Now at answering your questions.

But iOS 7 lags in how it organizes a user's contacts. The people hub concept, a fundamental innovation of both Android (think Google Plus) and Windows, organizes information from the many social networks we use. And that is now essential for smartphones.

Unless Apple goes back to the drawing board, it's unclear how iOS 7 is going to keep its high-end users — the ones willing to pay $400 for a 64 GB iPhone 5 — from moving to another platform within the next year. And it certainly isn't going to win back any of those who have already switched.

Apple still has the prettiest-looking icons and beautiful graphics. I guess we'll just have to see if that's enough for consumers.

18.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Tokyo court backs Apple against Samsung on patent

TOKYO — Apple Inc. has won a patent infringement lawsuit against Samsung Electronics Co. in a Japanese court, one of dozens of legal battles around the world between the technology giants.

The Tokyo District Court issued a partial verdict Friday in favor of Apple. Damages were not announced.

The court said in a summary that further examination is needed to determine if Samsung must pay compensation, and if so, how much. A final verdict is expected later.

Apple and Samsung are embroiled in similar battles in the U.S., South Korea, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Britain, France and Australia.

The latest was over "bounce-back" technology for scrolling on devices. Samsung was found to have infringed Apple's patent on previous models of the Galaxy phone and tablet series. Samsung has since changed its smartphone design to show a blue light, instead of bouncing back.

The two companies are competing fiercely in global markets, and accuse each other of illegally using various technologies.

Samsung said it will study the ruling before deciding whether to appeal.

18.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

New England better on primary care than most of US

PLAINFIELD, Vt. — Ronald Pitkin, 84, remembers the day in the early 1960s when his brother Belmont got a gash in his leg while the two were cutting firewood. They went to the office of the town physician, Dr. Frank Corson.

Corson worked alone, and Pitkin was drafted to be his assistant. "He told me 'You're going to have to scrub up.' I was the operating room nurse that day."

Now Pitkin gets his health care at The Health Center, sleek, modern clinic that houses primary care, dentistry, psychiatry and other specialties under one roof. It's one of eight facilities in small towns around Vermont that charge based on patients' ability to pay. They provide primary care to about 25 percent of the mostly rural state's residents, and experts say they're a key part of the reason why Vermont leads the country in primary care doctors per capita.

"This is a terrific health care center," Pitkin said recently as he waited for a checkup with the center's senior physician, Dr. John Matthew. "It's more care, and help in general, for less dollars than just about anywhere."

With Vermont leading the way, five of New England's six states rank in the top six for primary care doctors per capita, according to data from the Association of American Medical Colleges. The sixth, Connecticut, ranks 12th. As the national shortage of primary care doctors expected to increase after the federal Affordable Care Act takes full effect next year, some are looking to New England's states with an eye to what they've been doing right.

Several factors contribute to New England's relatively strong position. Among them: strong public health programs ensuring that high percentages of residents have health coverage, meaning fewer doctors deliver uncompensated care. Massachusetts, which enacted a universal health care program in 2006, has about 97 percent of its residents carrying health coverage. In Vermont it's about 94 percent.

The high rates of people already insured means "we will not experience the same (influx of newly insured patients) in Vermont as in other states that have very high rates of uninsured people or low Medicaid eligibility," said Mark Larson, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Health Access.

Medical schools in New England, including the University of Vermont College of Medicine and the University of Massachusetts Medical School, have increased their emphasis on educating doctors for primary care in recent years, officials said. Vermont and New Hampshire augment a federal program that offers partial loan forgiveness for doctors willing to work in under-served areas with a similar state program.

In rural northern New Hampshire, Edward Shanshala, executive director of Ammonoosuc Community Health Services, said he tries to use the lifestyle as a lure when recruiting new doctors. "If you like to hike, bike, ski, fish and things like that — great!" he said.

Doctors also have time to see more patients because physician's assistants and nurses deliver some basic care to patients, said Brian Rosman of the Boston-based consumer group Health Care for All.

"The goal is to have everybody working at the top of their license," Rosman said. "Doctors should do things that really need doctors."

Even in New England, though, the picture is "far from rosy," said Dr. Joseph Gravel, president of the Massachusetts Academy of Family Physicians. Starting family physicians at his Lawrence office make $130,000 a year; specialists can make three or four times that much, Gravel said. With many new doctors facing student loan debts in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, the incentives are clear.

A physician workforce study by the Massachusetts Medical Society reported that even a state ranking third in primary care doctors per capita had experienced a shortage for eight consecutive years. Half of all primary care physicians were not accepting new patients, with others reporting long wait times.

MMS spokesman Rick Gulla said the per-capita numbers may overstate access. "Many physicians in the state are teaching, doing research, or other activities. Some of those physicians only see patients a day a month, and this also affects patient access to care."

And the need for care is increasing, too, as the general population ages. Maine has the nation's highest median age; Vermont is second.

"It seems like not only is Maine's general population aging, but a significant percentage of primary care practitioners is also getting to an age of retirement," said Vanessa Santarelli, CEO of the Maine Primary Care Association, which promotes and supports 20 federally qualified health centers across the state.

And sometimes the hiking, skiing and fishing just aren't big enough attractions, Shanshala said. He described some of the lengths to which he's gone to recruit physicians. When doctors in training leave after brief stints, he invites them to return for the company picnic and tries to keep in touch in case they ever want to come back.

Still, the picture New England is better than elsewhere, Gravel said. He cited a 2007 report in the Journal of the American Medical Association saying that among new medical school graduates just beginning their residencies, just 3.3 percent nationwide were going into family practice.

Strong support from the community and from Vermont's political leadership were among the chief satisfactions of Matthew's 40-plus-year career, he said. Good primary care leads to good overall health, he said, noting Vermont has been ranked the healthiest state for several years running — six, according to the United Health Foundation.

"Vermont is a good society," Matthew said. "Everyone is concerned about the least amongst us."

____

AP writers Holly Ramer in Concord, N.H., and David Sharp in Portland, Maine, contributed to this report.

18.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Icing on cake: ’EEI brass back stunt

WEEI-FM's brass is standing by their hosts despite an X-rated stunt, saying the sports talk station won't discipline yakkers Mike "Mut" Mutnansky and Lou Merloni for sending a porn­ographic cake with the words "Welcome to Boston" to a Chicago sports talk station.

"There will be no discipline," Entercom Boston Vice President Jason Wolfe told the Herald about the controversial cake, which featured 'EEI's call letters within an image of female genitalia, and was covered in male and female genitalia-shaped candy.

"This was done all in good fun. It was a simple, humorous bit 
between two sports stations," Wolfe said.

It was all a big joke, "Mut" and Merloni insisted on their 
show yesterday.

"It was a prank, OK? We like to bring you in a locker room once in a while," one of the yakkers said. "We've been there before, we've done a lot of stupid pranks before, and we've brought you in a locker room before.

"Why does everybody want to take away our fun?" he continued. "The intention was to take you inside the locker room and have fun."

Mutnansky and Merloni sent the cake, containing the words "Go Bruins!" in addition to sexually suggestive terms, to talk show hosts Dan McNeil and Matt Spiegel at Chicago's WSCR 670 The Score, in an effort to taunt their counterparts in Chicago as the Boston Bruins battle the Chicago Blackhawks for the Stanley Cup.

The WEEI hosts then circulated photos of the cake over Facebook and Twitter, gushing to followers, "We just sent them this lovely cake welcoming them to Boston."

The WEEI cake was delivered just a week after Wolfe told his peers at a talk show industry conference that talk radio exists "to produce content that entertains and informs, and we do that to the best of our ability of a regular basis."

Images of the cake on Facebook ignited a social media firestorm among listeners who didn't 
appreciate the gutter humor.

"Really??? ...That's supposed to be funny??" one person posted.

"That's the most inappropriate thing I've seen in a long time," added another.

Talkers Magazine publisher Michael Harrison, a radio industry expert, said the raunchy stunt is an example of what needs to change in talk radio.

"The media certainly has to do a lot of soul searching and self-evaluation in dealing with matters of taste, morality and maintaining an image we can all be proud off," Harrison said. "I'm a big believer in the right to artistic expression, but I also believe in people's right to react."

18.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Cyber attacks costing businesses billions

Cyber attacks are a growing threat and are costing businesses billions of dollars each year, according to the head of a Cambridge company that delivers nearly a third of global Web traffic.

At the Xconomy summit on innovation, technology and entrepreneurship yesterday at Babson College, Tom Leighton, CEO of Akamai, said 74 percent of companies experienced one or more cyber attacks in the past year.

Nearly a third of those attacks resulted in service disruption, Leighton said, and each breach costs $8 million on average — but can cost as much as $1 billion.

"Security is a serious problem," he said. "There's new attacks coming every day. The bad guys are way ahead."

Cyber extortion, political "hactivists" such as the group Anonymous, and state-sponsored attacks such as those by the Chinese, all present formidable foes, Leighton said.

Their most common tactics include SQL injection, which puts rogue or malicious commands into the database behind the application being attacked, and denial of service, an attempt to make a website or Web application unavailable to its users, often by sending more traffic or requests for information than a site can handle.

In 2009, Akamai, which delivers between 15 and 30 percent of global Web traffic at any given time, had 14 customers who reported suspected distributed denial of service attacks, Leighton said. By last year, that number had soared to 768.

Collectively, U.S. corporations have lost as much as $1 trillion in intellectual property due to cyber attacks, pushing up the stock prices of Internet security firms such as Symantec and Qihoo.

"The average corporation has a team of people working on this. The question is: Are they given the resources they need to do their job?" said Robert D. Rodriguez, chairman of Security Innovation Network and a former special agent with the Secret Service for 22 years. "Startups can get away with not doing as much because they're not on the radar. They have less to lose."

18.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Ben Bernanke: Bond buys could end next year

The Federal Reserve ended weeks of speculation yesterday as it said there would be no immediate changes to the central bank's bond-buying program, but it left open the door for a future slowdown in the purchases that have helped keep interest rates low.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said if the economy continues to improve, the Fed's bond-buying program could be reduced later this year in "measured steps" and could end sometime next year.

In its updated economic forecast issued after the end of its two-day policy meeting, the Fed painted a moderately positive economic picture, including predicting a drop in the unemployment rate to 7.2 or 7.3 percent by the end of the year.

"The fundamentals look a little better to us," Bernanke said.

The Fed has been buying $85 million in bonds each month, and said it will continue to do so until the outlook for the job market improves substantially. When the Fed does pull back on the bond-buying program, Bernanke said it will be like a driver taking a foot off the gas, rather than slamming on the brakes.

Alan Clayton-Matthews, an economist at Northeastern University, said the news from the Fed was more of the same.

"It doesn't appear to be any different stance," he said. "It's neutral. It's steady as she goes."

Clayton-Matthews said ending the bond-buying program will be a tricky step to navigate.

"That's the whole point of Fed policy, to time it correctly," he said. "The main purpose of the statement was that financial markets would have some idea of what the Fed's policy would be. It plays down the chance of financial markets being surprised."

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 206 points yesterday, as investors sold off stocks and bonds.

But Clayton-Matthews warned that the effects of the Fed's policy statement would become clearer in 
the coming days.

"Wall Street can respond to this in any number of 
rational or irrational ways," he said.

18.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

AP buys stake in live video service Bambuser

NEW YORK — The Associated Press said Thursday that it has bought a minority stake in the live video service Bambuser, boosting its ability to acquire and distribute video collected by people who have witnessed news events.

Financial terms were not disclosed. As part of the deal, Sandy MacIntyre, AP's director of global video news, will join Bambuser's board as a director.

The deal caps a three-year relationship between the news agency and Bambuser. Last year, the AP signed a deal with Bambuser giving the agency exclusive syndication rights to user-generated content video posted on the service, meaning that if users want to share their video with a news agency, they do it only with the AP, MacIntyre said.

"This investment by the AP is a natural extension of our existing relationship with Bambuser and will ensure that we retain our dominant capability in gathering and verifying UGC video news," he said in a statement.

Bambuser, which was founded in 2007 in Stockholm, allows users to broadcast, watch and share live video through smartphones and computers. The AP said Bambuser's products are designed particularly to cater to the needs of the news industry.

The service is free for individuals and nonprofit groups. To broadcast live, users need to install an app on their smartphones or use a Web browser with Flash technology on regular computers. People can watch videos on Bambuser's website via computers and mobile devices.

Generally, neither AP nor Bambuser pays users to publish the content they post, MacIntyre said.

Access to user-generated content has become increasingly important for media companies like the AP, which has growing demand for live video from its broadcast and online customers.

"Working so closely with the AP over the last year has proven the huge demand for user-generated video content," said Hans Eriksson, executive chairman of Bambuser. "This equity investment is an important milestone in Bambuser's journey, as it not only brings our two organizations closer, but enables us to share our expertise to an even greater extent."

The AP said the deal with Bambuser gives it access to an established community of video contributors around the world. The service also is used by the news agency's own journalists in the field to send video to the AP.

The AP noted that it already uses verified user-generated content regularly, citing the civil war in Syria, the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings and recent storms in Oklahoma as examples of recent stories where such content played a role.

MacIntyre said that through its relationship with Bambuser over the past year, the AP has been able to access footage of breaking news it couldn't get any other way. He also noted that user-generated content is poised to grow in both importance and volume.

"Nearly a fifth of the world's population has a smartphone and that is a phenomenal eyewitness resource that Bambuser makes technologically possible," he said.

18.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

State considers offering computing center to businesses

Massachusetts is considering allowing small manufacturers to use computers at the Green High Performance Computing Center in Holyoke to help make parts for larger manufacturers, state officials said yesterday.

The plan, which is still in the conceptual stage, is part of a broader effort to help train workers and give them access to the hardware and software they need to make parts that large manufacturers increasingly are designing with computers, said Greg Bialecki, secretary of housing and economic development.

"We would like to see if we can get it up and running in the coming year," he said.

At a day-long Manufacturing Summit tomorrow at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Bialecki and Gov. Deval Patrick will meet with more than 400 people in the manufacturing industry to discuss ways to help Massachusetts' fifth-largest private sector, which accounts for some 7,500 companies and 250,000 jobs.

Since the beginning of 2010, 81 manufacturers have received tax credits for adding jobs in the state. But while small, local suppliers are often more reliable than out-of-state or overseas ones, Bialecki said, they don't always know what large companies need. So the state has sponsored a few "speed dating" events for manufacturers, he said, to match up small and large companies.

Another challenge the industry faces is its aging work force, which is projected to have 100,000 job openings by 2022. The state has provided grants to help train veterans in manufacturing,, said Ed Leyden, president of Ben Franklin Design and Manufacturing in Agawam and co-chairman of the Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative.

The collaborative also has been working with vocational school and community college leaders to better align their curriculum with companies' needs and to tout manufacturing careers through promotional campaigns like "AMP it up!"

"Manufacturing is very different from most people's perceptions," said Kathy Rentsch, dean for business and technology at Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester. "These are highly technical jobs and good career and salary pathways."

Manufacturing companies in Massachusetts pay an average of $27,000 per year for unskilled, entry-level workers and $52,000 per year for skilled production workers, according to Northeastern University Professor Barry Bluestone, who serves on the collaborative's board.

18.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dish won't submit revised bid for Sprint

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Satellite TV operator Dish Network Corp. said Tuesday it would not submit a revised bid for Sprint, leaving the path open for the wireless carrier to accept what it already considers a superior offer from Japan's Softbank.

Dish said that Sprint Nextel Corp.'s decision to cut Dish's due diligence process short, among other things, made it "impracticable" to submit a revised bid. It said it will continue to focus on its bid for Clearwire, a wireless network operator in which Sprint has a majority stake.

"We will consider our options with respect to Sprint, and focus our efforts and resources on completing the Clearwire tender offer," Dish said.

Sprint had given Dish until Tuesday to make its best and final offer. Sprint's demand came after Softbank last week boosted its bid for the carrier by $1.5 billion to $21.6 billion, which Sprint considers the best offer. While that's still short of Dish's $25.5 billion bid, Dish's proposal would add more to Sprint's debt load and is seen as more risky.

Sprint shares fell 11 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $7.21 in after-hours trading Tuesday. Dish shares were up 5 cents at $39.14 after-hours, while Clearwire shares rose 8 cents to $4.64.

Softbank in Tokyo welcomed Dish Network's decision.

"We look forward to the receipt of FCC and shareholders' approvals, which will allow us to close the deal in early July, and begin the hard work of building the new Sprint into a meaningful third competitor in the U.S. market," the company said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Sprint bolstered its defenses against Dish's grab for a stake in Clearwire.

Late Monday, Sprint filed a suit in the Delaware Court of Chancery asking the court to block Dish's $4.40-per-share offer for Clearwire, saying it cannot complete its offer without the approval of holders of at least 75 percent of Clearwire's shares.

Sprint, headquartered in Overland Park, Kan., also contends that the deal violates shareholder rights under Clearwire's charter and an equity holders' agreement.

Sprint had bid $3.40 per share for the shares in Clearwire which it doesn't already own.

Dish, based in Englewood, Colo., called the litigation a "transparent attempt" by Sprint to divert attention away from its failure to deal fairly with Clearwire shareholders. The satellite broadcaster said in a statement it was confident its offer will be upheld.

Clearwire Corp. said it doesn't comment on pending litigation. Clearwire is based in Bellevue, Wash.

Softbank, one of Japan's largest wireless phone operators, is seeking to expand its footprint overseas with the Sprint acquisition and says it can reap benefits like saving money on large-scale orders of handsets and equipment.

Dish, whose traditional business is providing pay TV services, is meanwhile trying to amass enough rights to the airwaves to diversify into the mobile phone and other businesses.

18.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Japan's trade deficit climbs to $10.5B in May

TOKYO — Japan's trade deficit rose nearly 10 percent in May to 993.9 billion yen (nearly $10.5 billion), highlighting the challenge Prime Minister Shinzo Abe faces in revitalizing manufacturing as industries increasingly shift production offshore.

Rising costs for imports due to the cheaper yen matched a 10 percent rebound in exports from a year earlier, the Finance Ministry reported Wednesday.

A weakening in the yen's value has pushed up costs for imports of crude oil, natural gas and other commodities for this resource-scarce nation, but the deficit in May was bigger than most economists' estimates.

Strong growth in exports to the U.S., China and the rest of Asia were offset by even stronger imports from the Middle East and China.

While robust imports suggest that demand inside Japan is recovering, growing deficits show that Japan's trade environment has changed for good, said Eiji Ogawa, an economist at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo.

"Just a while ago, Japan always enjoyed a surplus," Ogawa said at a conference Wednesday. "It's now clear the deficits are not temporary, but structural."

Japan's economy grew at a 4.1 percent annual rate in the first quarter of the year and is forecast to continue its recovery this year, boosted by government stimulus spending and aggressive monetary easing aimed at ending two decades of stagnation.

But sustained growth will depend on getting Japan's cash-rich corporations to do more hiring and spending at home — a tough sell given the rapid aging and shrinking of the Japanese population.

The May data show Japan's efforts to boost trade with the rest of Asia are yielding results, with exports rising 11 percent to 3.2 trillion yen ($33.7 billion), as imports climbed nearly 10 percent to 2.98 trillion yen ($31.4 billion).

Exports to China rose 8.3 percent in May from a year earlier to 1.05 trillion yen ($11 billion) while imports jumped 15 percent to 1.46 trillion yen ($15.4 billion), leaving a deficit of 410 billion yen ($4.3 billion).

Increasingly, Japanese companies are expanding their manufacturing in Southeast and South Asia, partly to tap new, faster growing markets and partly to hedge risks from their already huge commitments in China, given the threat of anti-Japanese moves due to a festering territorial dispute with Beijing.

Economists say Abe must move ahead with promised tax cuts and deregulation to spur investment and hiring by corporations that complain inflexible labor laws and high taxes and wages are hurting their competitiveness.

"Companies believe it's better to produce overseas and repatriate the profits," Ogawa said, adding that a weakening of the yen helps, but can only provide a temporary respite from what the Japanese call the "hollowing out" of their industrial base.

"Shifts in foreign exchange rates won't bring factories back to Japan," he said.

The yen has slid in value by more than 20 percent against the U.S. dollar and euro since late last year, in turn pushing up other currencies in relative value. Its decline is due to expectations among market speculators and also the monetary policies that are injecting huge sums of cash into the economy.

On Wednesday the dollar was trading at a level of about 94.5 yen.

Japan's trade surplus with the United States jumped 26 percent over the year before to 427.1 billion yen ($4.5 billion). Exports surged 16.3 percent year-on-year to 1.04 trillion yen ($10.9 billion) and imports rose 10 percent to 614 billion yen ($6.5 billion). But exports to the EU fell 5 percent, while imports jumped nearly 9 percent, boosting Japan's deficit by nearly 650 percent, to 88.7 billion yen ($933.7 million).

Overall, exports rose 10.1 percent in May over a year earlier to 5.77 trillion yen ($60.7 billion) while imports also surged 10 percent, to 6.76 trillion yen ($71.1 billion), according to the preliminary data from the Finance Ministry.

Japan's trade deficit in May 2012 was 907.93 billion yen, while its deficit in April was 879.9 billion yen.

Much of the deterioration in the trade balance is attributed to a surge in demand for oil and natural gas after most of Japan's nuclear power plants were closed following the March 2011 accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant. Mounting costs for imported fuel are buttressing the pro-nuclear government's case for restarting more plants.

In May, imports from the Middle East, primarily of crude oil and gas, jumped 11.5 percent from a year earlier to 1.23 trillion yen ($12.9 billion).

While many argue that Japan needs to just shift faster and more aggressively into renewable energy, others say that nuclear energy is essential for Abe's policies to succeed, since companies say high energy costs are a factor driving them offshore.

"Given Japan's limited natural resources ... it will be necessary to rely on nuclear power for at least some years," said Masayuki Kichikawa, an economist at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch in Tokyo.

"That is very important for keeping many companies in Japan," he said. "To ensure a stable source of energy is very important."

18.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

TripAdvisor purchases GateGuru for undisclosed sum

NEWTON — Online travel review company TripAdvisor has purchased GateGuru, a mobile app that provides flight and airport information.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

TripAdvisor Inc. co-founder and CEO Steve Kaufer said in a statement on Wednesday that the acquisition will add to its flight-related offerings. The Newton company currently provides a flight pricing and availability search on its namesake web site and offers seat maps and other options through SeatGuru.com.

GateGuru will continue to run out of New York and will report to Bryan Saltzburg, general manager new initiatives and leader of the TripAdvisor flights product and SeatGuru brand.

TripAdvisor shares finished at $63.85 on Tuesday. They have traded in a 52-week range of $28.63 last November to $65.41 at the end of May.

18.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Report: Slowdown in health care costs to continue

WASHINGTON — A new report suggests a recent slowdown in medical costs that was once considered just a pause may be developing into a trend.

That's seen as good news for most companies that provide health benefits for their employees.

Accounting and consulting giant PwC projects lower overall growth in medical costs for next year, even as the economy gains strength and millions of uninsured people receive coverage under President Barack Obama's health care law.

If the calculations are correct, cost spikes because of the new health care law should be contained within a relatively narrow market segment.

The report comes with a caveat: self-employed people and others who buy coverage individually could well see an increase in premiums in 2014.

The reasons have to do with requirements in the health care law like eliminating denials for pre-existing medical problems. Those patients cost more to cover.

18.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Thrifty says offer of free rental car was mistake

DALLAS — Thrifty Car Rental says it's sorry, but many customers who were offered a free one-day rental won't be getting that after all.

The company says the offer was intended for a select group of top customers but was sent accidentally to many other people.

"We're very sorry for any confusion our eagerness may have caused," the chain, which is owned by Hertz Global Holdings Inc., told customers by email.

Airlines, hotels and stores occasionally post incorrect prices. When they do, they must balance the cost of honoring the mistaken price against the potential to offend bargain-loving customers.

When the dollar difference is huge, "smart companies offer an apology with some sort of salve — 'Here's a gift certificate,' or 'Here's a 10 percent-off coupon' to demonstrate their remorse," said Mark Cohen, a longtime executive at Sears and other department stores who now teaches at Columbia University's business school.

Hertz spokeswoman Paula Rivera said the offer sent out Friday night was meant for "select" members of Thrifty's frequent-renter program, called Blue Chip. They were offered a free day after 16 days of paid rentals.

By mistake the offer went to other customers who had merely signed up to receive emails from the company, Rivera said.

"Unfortunately, this was a human error and as soon as we became aware of the mass email distribution, we took steps to correct the situation." including the follow-up email on Saturday, she said.

The company did not say how many customers received the offer in error, so it's impossible to estimate how much it would cost Thrifty to make good on the free rentals.

Customers who thought they were getting a nice freebie were disappointed by the reversal.

"I was kind of shocked that they rescinded the offer, even if it was a mistake," said Alison McCarthy of Brooklyn, N.Y., who works in digital marketing. "They should have honored it — it's just one day."

McCarthy said last year she lucked into a mistake airfare to Israel on El Al. The airline blamed a contractor for accidentally posting fares of less than $400 instead of the usual $1,000 to $1,600 per round trip but honored the lower price. "It was awesome, and it was positive PR (public relations) for them," she said.

Such airfare deals are less common now because the company that airlines use to publish fares has made it easier for the carriers to spot unusual prices before they're made public, said Gary Leff, a travel blogger and co-founder of Milepoint, an online forum for frequent fliers, who avidly swap tips on mistake fares. Hotels might be more fruitful hunting ground.

Leff said that a few years ago he jumped on a nightly rate of 66 cents for a beachfront villa at a Le Meridien resort in Thailand. The hotel company had loaded the price in Ugandan shillings instead of U.S. dollars. He said the hotel gave him the room for $33, "and that included tax and a free breakfast."

Leff's advice: If you see a deal that sounds too good to be true, go ahead and book it but don't be too disappointed if the company rescinds the offer.

___

Follow David Koenig at http://www.twitter.com/airlinewriter

18.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Chrysler expected to formally refuse Jeep recall

DETROIT — Chrysler is expected to file papers Tuesday explaining its refusal to recall 2.7 million older Jeep SUVs.

The U.S. government asked Chrysler earlier this month to recall Grand Cherokees and Libertys because the position of the fuel tank leaves it susceptible to rupture in a rear-end crash. The ruptured tank can spill gasoline, which can ignite if an ignition source is present.

The agency says 51 people have been killed in accidents involving the older Jeeps.

But on June 4, Chrysler publicly rejected the recall, saying the Jeeps are safe and the government is creating a new standard for gas tank strength.

Tuesday is the deadline for Chrysler to file its formal response to the government's request.

18.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Facebook CEO meets SKorean president

SEOUL, South Korea — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has met South Korean President Park Geun-hye in Seoul to discuss ways to stimulate entrepreneurship and venture firms in Asia's fourth-largest economy.

Park's office said Zuckerberg assured the South Korean leader that Facebook would continue to invest in the country, and he invited South Korean firms to jump on Facebook to reach global users.

Zuckerberg's visit is the latest in series of meetings between Park and high-profile U.S. technology pioneers. In April, Park met Microsoft Founder Bill Gates and Google CEO Larry Page in her office.

Park sees fostering startups and entrepreneurship crucial to raise South Korea's employment rate to 70 percent before the end of her five-year term.

Zuckerberg is meeting executives at Samsung Electronics Co. before leaving Seoul later Tuesday.

18.38 | 0 komentar | Read More