Nevada complaint seeks to require condoms in porn

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Uplifting digs in former factory

This stylish duplex loft is the largest unit in Porter 156, a former bra factory converted to 216 condos in 2005 that's in the up-and-coming Jeffries Point area of East Boston.

The current owners of Unit 408 have done a lot of upgrades, including adding a brick wall, storage and spice cabinets as well as a full-wall bookcase unit, surround sound and custom lighting with digital dimmers.

The 1,398-square-foot fourth-floor penthouse condo has bamboo floors, a living/dining area with 19-foot ceilings and a steel spiral staircase up to a second-level loft bedroom.

Off the unit's entry hallway is a custom-built mirrored shoe storage cabinet in addition to a coat closet. There are also a full bathroom with black ceramic tile floors, a mounted sink, a white-subway-tiled shower/tub and a recently added custom medicine cabinet.

The open kitchen/dining/living area features a kitchen recently upgraded with new lighting and a custom-built spice rack. There are cherrywood cabinets, stainless-steel counters and green glass-tile backsplash. A black granite-topped center island has more stainless-steel and back-lit frosted glass cabinets. Appliances include a Bosch gas stove and dishwasher and Frigidaire refrigerator.

The living/dining area features double-height 19-foot ceilings and transom windows on the second level. There's a custom bookcase wall unit and an entertainment center with a full 7.1 surround-sound system.

From here, you step down into a den/office area with a wall of tall windows with canvas curtains, overlooking a large East Boston park out front. Along one side the current owner added a beige river clay brick wall and a speakeasy-style chandelier overhead.

The spiral staircase winds up to the second-level loft bedroom. This room has mahogany floors, a wall of front windows and block dividers — but no railing — at the edge of the double height living/dining area. There's an en-suite bathroom with black ceramic tile floors, a mounted sink, a white subway tile walled shower/tub and a newly installed custom medicine cabinet.

An adjacent utility room holds a new LG combination washer/dryer, a water heater and the unit's gas-fired heating and central air-conditioning systems.

The unit comes with three deeded on-site parking spaces, two tandem spaces in the garage and one outside.

The Porter Lofts has a fifth-floor community room with a kitchen, library area, Wi-Fi and flat-screen TV. Across the hall is a common roof deck with panoramic views of downtown Boston, the Seaport and out over East Boston.

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Ex-Microsoft manager: 2 years for insider trading

SEATTLE — A former senior Microsoft manager who pleaded guilty to feeding inside information to a stock trader was sentenced Friday to two years in prison for insider trading.

The U.S. attorney's office says the two men made $415,000 from three trades.

Brian Jorgenson, 32, was a senior manager in Microsoft Corp.'s Treasury Group when he provided the information to his friend Sean Stokke, 28, of Seattle, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court. They were accused of trading on three corporate developments: two quarterly earnings reports and Microsoft's 2012 investment in Barnes & Noble Inc.

"I cheated," Jorgenson told the court Friday. "I tried to take a shortcut for my own financial gain ... I persuaded myself it was a gray area, when it clearly was black and white."

Jorgenson's codefendant, Stokke, was sentenced last month to 18 months in prison.

"Western Washington abounds in publicly traded companies with thousands of insiders who have daily access to market-moving information," U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan said. "The sentence in this case should serve as a warning to others who might be tempted to engage in this conduct."

The pair accumulated Barnes & Noble stock options in advance of Microsoft's announcement that it was investing in the company's digital book business, the FBI said. The announcement caused Barnes & Noble's stock to jump by nearly half, and the pair made $184,000.

They are also accused of trading on Microsoft's failure to meet earnings expectations in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013 and Microsoft's increased first-quarter profit in fiscal 2014.

Jorgenson, a married father of four from the north Seattle suburb of Lynnwood, joined Microsoft in January 2011.

When Jorgenson was charged last December, Microsoft said in a written statement that the company has no tolerance for insider trading. "We helped the government with its investigation and terminated the employee," the statement said.

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China's inflation stays at 2.3 percent in July

BEIJING — China's consumer price index rose 2.3 percent in July from a year earlier, well below the ruling Communist Party's 3.5 percent target for the year.

The latest inflation rate was unchanged from June, according to data released Saturday by the National Bureau of Statistics.

The rise in the index was driven largely by higher food prices, which increased by 3.6 percent. Prices for fruits and eggs rose the fastest.

Experts expect the inflation to stay stable this year, leaving room for interest rate cuts or other measures to stimulate the economy if necessary.

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We’re turning one... and best of Herald Radio is yet to come

From a cast of political stars to the cast of "Star Trek," Boston Herald Radio has attracted dozens of prominent guests, landed national news-making bombs and revealed major breaking news stories in its first year of live Web broadcasts that have become can't-miss radio for listeners and viewers across the nation.

On the very first day of Herald Radio's "Morning Meeting" show, then-Mayor Thomas M. Menino dropped by the studio at 70 Fargo St. to bring gifts and a near surprise endorsement to mayoral candidate Charlotte Golar Richie.

Herald Radio's launch was named to the prestigious Frontier Fifty list of outstanding talk media webcasts in the nation by industry bible Talkers Magazine.

With three daily shows — "Morning Meeting" with Hillary Chabot and Jaclyn Cashman, "Trending Now" with Adriana Cohen and me, and "Sports Town" with Chris Villani, and a live morning news hour at 8 a.m. — Herald Radio has given listeners and viewers a new place to go for the best talk radio in town.

In only one year, Herald Radio has made national news with top sports guests including Red Sox honcho Larry Lucchino and Boston Marathon winner Meb Keflezighi, and political guests including U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, Ann Romney, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly, former Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, Attorney General Martha Coakley and columnist Charles Krauthammer.

Herald Radio also gave voters the first major Democratic gubernatorial debate — streamed live on bostonherald.com — and exclusive Suffolk University/Boston Herald polling results revealed live on "Morning Meeting."

The Suffolk/Herald poll accurately predicted Mayor Martin J. Walsh's election victory and made headlines across the country with a recent poll showing former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney trouncing other potential GOP candidates in a 2016 New Hampshire primary matchup.

U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) also created national shock waves by predicting Obamacare would be a disaster for Democrats in the 2014 elections in a candid interview on "Trending Now."

But politics isn't the only thing gaining attention on Herald Radio. The Internet station has featured guests like William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy of "Star Trek," actors Gary Sinise and Sean Astin, Olympic gold medalist Kayla Harrison and local celebrities such as Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart and chef Lydia Shire.

Herald Radio also is the place to be for the "High Noon" show with Howie Carr and me, streamed live every Wednesday at noon, and the media criticism show "Press Party" hosted by Herald multimedia reporter Erica Moura every Friday at noon.

So tune into Herald Radio this morning. The best is yet to come.

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The Ticker

Lululemon founder to sell big stake

Lululemon Athletica founder Dennis "Chip" Wilson will sell half his stake in the company as part of a truce that averts a potentially messy battle at the maker of yoga apparel and other exercise gear.

Under the deal announced yesterday, Boston-based investment firm Advent International, a major investor in Lululemon before selling its stake in the company in 2009, will pay Wilson $845 million for 20.1 million shares. That will whittle Wilson's stake in Lululemon from nearly 28 percent to just under 14 percent.

Study: N.E. spends more on basics

New Englanders spent more on food, health care, gas to run their cars and electricity to heat and cool their homes in 2012 than most other Americans, according to statistics released yesterday by the federal government showing that spending has rebounded since the recession ended in 2009.

Spending per individual in the six New England states ranged from a low of $36,974 in Rhode Island, which has been hobbled by persistently high unemployment, to $47,308 in Massachusetts.

FRIDAY

 Labor Department releases second-quarter productivity data.

THE SHUFFLE

Liaison International, a Wakefield company that provides admissions management solutions, announced it has named Meghan VanSpriell as vice president of marketing. VanSpriell comes to Liaison with broad experience in higher education and technology.

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GM issues third recall on SUVs that can catch fire

General Motors' troubles with safety recalls have surfaced in another case, this time with the company recalling a group of SUVs for a third time to fix power window switches that can catch fire.

The problem, revealed in documents posted by federal safety regulators this week, is so serious that GM is telling customers to park the SUVs outdoors until they are repaired because they could catch fire when left unattended.

The vehicles will be left outside for a while. Parts won't be ready until October at the earliest, according to GM. The automaker also has ordered its dealers to stop selling the SUVs as used cars until they are fixed.

The recall covers about 189,000 vehicles in North America, mainly from the 2006 and 2007 model years. Models affected include the Chevrolet TrailBlazer, GMC Envoy, Buick Rainer, Isuzu Ascender and Saab 97-X. The recall was one of six announced by GM on June 30 that covered 7.6 million vehicles.

GM is in the midst of the biggest safety crisis in its history, touched off by the delayed recall of 2.6 million older small cars to fix faulty ignition switches. The company has issued a record 60 recalls this year covering nearly 29 million vehicles.

Before this year, GM had been reluctant to issue recalls, at times opting for lower-cost fixes for safety problems. It's been fined $35 million by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for lapses in reporting the ignition switch problems, which it blames for at least 13 deaths.

After the ignition switch debacle, GM did a companywide safety review, appointed a new global safety chief and pledged to recall cars quickly.

The SUV problem first appeared early in 2012 when NHTSA began investigating consumer complaints of fires in the driver's-door switches that control power windows.

At first, GM tried to address the issue with a "service campaign," where it sent letters to owners telling them that water can find its way into the switches, causing rust that can result in short circuits, overheating and possibly fires. The campaign, which wasn't a recall, extended the warranty and offered service only to vehicles that exhibited the problems. It was limited to 20 states and Washington, D.C., where salt is used to clear roads in the winter.

But in August of 2012, under government pressure, GM recalled 278,000 of the SUVs in the cold-weather states and offered extended warranties to the rest of the country. NHTSA kept investigating, and 10 months later, GM expanded the recall nationwide.

By then, NHTSA and GM had received 242 complaints, including 28 about fires. There were no injuries.

In one complaint filed with NHTSA from October of 2008, a woman reported that the alarm sounded while her 2006 TrailBlazer was parked in her driveway. When she looked outside, it was in flames. Firefighters put out the blaze and told her it started in the driver's door.

"The fire burned the entire driver's side of the vehicle, a portion of the front passenger seat and the roof," she wrote. People filing complaints are not identified by the agency.

The fix used by GM last year was to put a protective coating around the window switch circuit boards, which is less costly than replacing the switches. But starting this April, GM received complaints that the switches malfunctioned in SUVs that had been repaired. So in June, it decided to do the third recall and replace all of the switches.

"We are recalling them because the fix that we put in did not work," spokesman Alan Adler said Thursday. "We're taking care of it. We're doing the right thing."

Initially GM tried the service campaign because number of incidents was low, he said. It was limited to the cold-weather states because salty water made the switches corrode quickly and incidents were few in warmer states, Adler said.

Letters notifying owners about the SUV recall should be mailed soon. Owners will get a second letter sometime from October to December telling them when parts are available to fix the vehicles.

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Kim Kardashian and Kanye West buy big suburban mansion

We know we're a bit behind the 8-ball on this but a complicated computer snafu tied our digital hands for the last nearly 24 hours. However, in the interest of keeping up the celebrity real estate Joneses and just in case any of the children somehow missed it, celebrity gossip juggernaut TMZ swears that reality television supernova Kim Kardashian has somehow convinced her high-minded rapper husband Kanye West to drop twenty million bucks on a freshly constructed mansion in the same family friendly, equestrian oriented and guard gated Hidden Hills community where her momager Kris Jenner already lives is a large but much smaller mansion.

Don't none of ya'll misunderstand Your Mama as Hidden Hills naysayer, 'cause we're not. Just because it's not our particular cup of suburban real estate tea doesn't mean it's not a much touted, well-groomed and exceedingly affluent enclave long favored by the rich and/or famous. Should they choose, Mister and Missus Kardashian can invite neighbors who Jennifer Lopez, Drake, Leann Rimes and Eddie Cibrian, Nicolette Sheridan, and Jessica Simpson to their housewarming party and it will no doubt be a fine place to bring up their directionally named baby.

• BUYERS:Kim Kardashian and Kanye West
• LOCATION: Hidden Hills, CA
• PRICE: (reportedly) $20,000,000
• SIZE: 15,667 square feet, 8 bedrooms, 8 full and two half bathrooms.

The 3.01-acre spread, originally listed in April 2013 and last listed for $20,995,000, was previously owned by rock 'n' roll royal Lisa Marie Presley but her former mansion was torn down a few years ago to make way for a sprawling compound that includes a stone-faced manor house lovingly described in digital marketing materials as a "French Country masterpiece."

The unquestionably stately abode has 8 bedrooms, 8 full and 2 half bathrooms including a house-sized master suite with private retreat, dual bathrooms, extensive closets and dressing areas, fitness room and a private terrace with spa. Three of the mansion's eight fireplaces are in the formal living room, formal dining room and custom paneled library. Less formal family and entertainment spaces include a three island kitchen, family room, home theater with upholstered walls and a suede-walled game room with wet bar.

The fully landscaped estate has two swimming pools, two spas, two barbeque centers, two vineyards, three fountains, a sport court and rose garden, over an acre of lawn and a gated motor court bigger than a 7-11 parking lot. In addition to the main house there's a 1,050-square-foot entertainment pavilion as well as a secluded pool house/guest house with fireplace and bathroom.

Kanye still owns a minimalist apartment in lower Manhattan and a contemporary art-filled abode in the Hollywood Hills he's had on and off the market for years -- it's not currently listed on the open market -- while Kimmy sold her Bev Hills bachelorette pad in February 2013 for $3.9 million. So the scuttlebutt goes, once the full-scale and no-doubt supremely price renovations are complete, K-K intend to flip the mock-Med manse in the Bel Air Crest community they bought in January 2013 for $9 million.

(C) 2014 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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Everett cleanup report on hold

A report that would detail how a contaminated site in Everett would be cleaned for a $1.3 billion Wynn casino will not be available to the state Gaming Commission before it makes its Boston-area license decision, after the state Department of Environmental Protection granted a request to extend a deadline for a year.

The "Phase IV" report was due June 15, but The DeNunzio Group — which has an option agreement to sell the Mystic River land to Wynn for $35 million — petitioned DEP to extend the deadline to June of next year, saying cleanup plans "could vary" if the site is picked for a casino. DEP approved the delay June 9.

The report will detail how Wynn's $30 million cleanup plan will be implemented, including how dirty soil would be excavated, how dust will be monitored, and how contaminated material would be managed. Wynn Resorts said its environmental impact report filings address many of those questions.

"There's no mystery as to what would have been in their Phase IV," Wynn project manager Chris Gordon said of the site's owners, who could not be reached for comment. "I don't think that the commission is missing anything."

The commission votes Sept. 12 to award the license to Wynn or Mohegan Sun, which is eyeing a casino at Suffolk Downs in Revere.

Commission spokesman Hank Shafran said the panel is satisfied with the cleanup details filed to date and that "the entire process will be carried out under the watchful eye of a licensed site professional."

"The commission is confident that he or she, acting under extensive and comprehensive regulations — and with DEP's oversight — will assure that the cleanup is done carefully and properly," Shafran said. "The commission does not need to see the Phase IV plan to have that assurance."

But Cindy Brooks, an environmental cleanup expert and founder of Greenfield Environmental Trust Group, said the detail contained in a Phase IV report is important when weighing the feasibility of a development on tainted land.

"That is essentially a full cleanup plan," Brooks said. "If you're going to move ahead with a land-use development scenario, in a perfect world, you would have all of that information. From a public policy standpoint, I think it's best to know what you're signing up for, and what a quasi-public entity is authorizing."

DEP spokesman Joe Ferson said the agency granted the request because the site's owner "is in the midst of a real estate transaction which, to the best of our knowledge, could not be finalized until the deadline."

Wynn's site on the Mystic River contains arsenic and lead in soil and groundwater from its decades as a Monsanto chemical site.

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Asia stocks fall on Russia-Ukraine concerns

MUMBAI, India — Worries over Russian troops amassing near the Ukraine border sent most Asian stock markets lower Wednesday.

KEEPING SCORE: Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.1 percent to 15,154.65 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 0.6 percent to 24,498.32. The Kospi in Seoul shed 0.4 percent to 2,058.73 and China's Shanghai Composite gave up 0.5 percent to 2,313.78. Markets in Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Australia and India also lost ground.

UKRAINE JITTERS: Asian traders were following the lead of Wall Street, which dropped after news reports of a buildup of Russian troops on the Ukraine border and comments from a Polish politician who said Russia is poised to invade or militarily pressure Ukraine's eastern border. The developments come after the most recent round of sanctions imposed on Russia by the U.S. and Europe. Russia has reportedly called for a meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

ANALYST TAKE: Evan Lucas, market strategist at IG in Melbourne, Australia said if Russia increases its presence in eastern Ukraine, then "buyers of all things risk will disappear fast as this is an undefinable event with an undefinable outcome for markets." Energy stocks in particular have been hard hit and this will be the industry to "watch over the next few days as more information flows out of Europe around Russian military positioning."

EYES ON OIL: Benchmark U.S. crude for September delivery was up 20 cents to $97.50 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. With winter a few months away, Europe's recovering economy remains dependent on Russian natural gas for heat and electricity. Germany imports nearly all its natural gas from Russia, and France also gets a significant amount of its energy needs from Russia. "Europe's economy is far more exposed to Russia than the U.S.," said Randy Frederick, a managing director at Charles Schwab.

WALL STREET: The Dow lost 139.81 points, or 0.8 percent, to 16,429.47, the lowest level for the index since mid-May. The Standard & Poor's 500 lost 18.78 points, or 1 percent, to 1,920.21 and the Nasdaq composite fell 31.05 points, or 0.7 percent, to 4,352.84.

CURRENCIES: The dollar fell to 102.54 Japanese yen from 102.61 late Tuesday. The euro dipped to $1.3368 from $1.3371.

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German factory orders decrease in June

BERLIN — German factory orders were down in June compared to the previous month due to a decrease of large orders.

The Federal Statistics Office said Wednesday that industrial orders were 3.2 percent lower than in May, when they also fell by 1.6 percent.

Orders from inside Germany dropped 1.9 percent and those from countries outside the euro zone fell by 4.1 percent.

New orders from other countries in the 18-nation Eurozone fell by 10.4 percent.

The Federal Statistics Office said that geopolitical developments and risks were a likely cause for the decrease in new orders and that they expected only moderate development in the coming months.

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Samsung, Apple agree to drop lawsuits outside US

SEOUL, South Korea — Samsung and Apple Inc. have agreed to end all patent lawsuits between each other outside the U.S. in a step back from three years of legal hostilities between the world's two largest smartphone makers.

However, Samsung Electronics Co. said Wednesday that it and Apple will continue to pursue existing cases in U.S. courts. The two companies did not strike any cross-licensing deal.

"Samsung and Apple have agreed to drop all litigation between the two companies outside the United States," the South Korean company said in a statement. "This agreement does not involve any licensing arrangements, and the companies are continuing to pursue the existing cases in U.S. courts."

The announcement is a significant lessening of corporate hostilities after years of bitter patent disputes over the intellectual property rights for mobile designs and technology. The legal fights spanned about a dozen countries in Asia, North America and Europe.

Lawsuits and other legal actions by Samsung and Apple will come to an end in countries including Germany, England, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, South Korea, Japan and Australia.

The patent cases in the U.S. have come with bigger awards for damages than other countries. In May, a California jury awarded Apple $119 million in a patent battle with Samsung. The same jury also ordered Apple to pay $158,400 to Samsung finding that Apple had infringed one of Samsung's patents in creating the iPhone 4 and 5. In a separate 2012 jury verdict, Samsung was ordered to pay Apple $930 million. Samsung appealed.

Some analysts said the two companies would eventually bury the hatchet and sign a cross-licensing deal, following the usual pattern of patent cases in the technology industry. There were earlier signs that tensions had eased between two companies. The two agreed to drop their appeals at the U.S. International Trade Commission in June.

But at other times, it seemed the differences were too wide to be bridged. The chief executives of both companies reportedly met several times at the recommendation of a U.S. judge to discuss out of court settlements.

Not all outcomes from the patent actions were damaging to Samsung and Apple. While the two rivals faced damage claims and sales bans of old products here and there, Samsung vaulted to the leading position in the global smartphone market during the last three years.

The series of high-stake lawsuits over some of the world's most popular gadgets began in April, 2011 when Apple accused Samsung, the maker of Galaxy phones, of slavishly copying the iPhone. Samsung responded by charging Apple of stealing its mobile technology.

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Ousted Market Basket CEO Arthur T. Demoulas restates bid to return to work

With Market Basket's embattled management and its protesting employees facing a critical deadline today, ousted CEO Arthur T. Demoulas insisted last night he can get the beleaguered supermarket chain up and running immediately if they will agree to let him buy them out — while the board issued a statement encouraging its rival to "continue providing constructive proposals."

The co-CEOs hired by the Arthur S. Demoulas faction to replace Arthur T. have set today as the last day protesters can go back to work without penalty. They also have ordered managers to reorder and restock today, to draw customers back into the largely empty stores. The clash of wills is likely to be heightened today as supporters of ousted Arthur T. attempted last-ditch efforts to force his reinstatement by protesting at job fairs.

Arthur T. issued a statement at 7:28 p.m. yesterday, saying he was ready to return and bring back workers loyal to him as soon as midnight last night, if the board accepted his buyout offer.

"Arthur T. Demoulas and his side of the family have been working around the clock to pursue their offer to buy the 50.5 percent of shares in (Demoulas Super Markets) they do not own for a full and fair price," said the statement, issued through a spokeswoman. "As part of his proposal, Arthur T. has also offered to move immediately to return to work in advance of the completion of the stock purchase and work to bring back his full team to stabilize and begin to restore the business. He offered to do so starting as soon as midnight ...

"These steps are critical at this point and are in the best interests of associates, customers, vendors and shareholders," the statement continued. "Time is of the essence. Arthur T. is hopeful, but resolution depends on the response of the other shareholders in order for an agreement to be reached."

Market Basket's board said in its own statement issued just before 11 p.m. last night: "Demoulas Market Basket is considering strategic alternatives directly with parties in private conversations. We encourage the B shareholders, including Arthur T. Demoulas, to continue providing constructive proposals. Following the Board's evaluation of all of offers, it will convey its recommendations to the Company's shareholders who have the final decision as to which strategic alternative, if any, to accept. The Board fully supports the current management team in their efforts to ensure that Market Basket's normal business operations resume immediately for the benefit of its customers, associates, vendors and communities."

A job fair in Andover today seeks current employees for promotion to store manager and assistant store manager. In recent emails, co-CEO Felicia Thornton ordered managers to stock shelves today and order perishables "to our Market Basket standards."

Many protesters said they are prepared for the worst if Arthur T.'s offer is rejected. Deli clerk Gerard Hamner said, "They could do it right of out of spite, just take what they got and let the place fold. That could happen."

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USB may be port of entry for malware

Black Hat, the most controversial information security conference in the world, kicks off this week in Las Vegas with a topic that affects nearly every consumer: the security of USB devices.

USB — or Universal Serial Bus — is the ubiquitous port found on nearly every laptop and desktop. It's what you use to connect everything to your computer — cameras, smartphones and of course, USB keys. And now, two German-based researchers say it's a huge risk.

Karsten Nohl and Jacob Lell are scheduled to unveil their findings about the vulnerability of USB on Wednesday at Black Hat, and they've already begun insinuating that everyone should throw away their USB keys and fill their ports up with hot glue.

"No effective defenses from USB attacks are known," write Karsten Nohl and Jacob Lell in a blog post, later adding, "Once infected, computers and their USB peripherals can never be trusted again."

Nohl is credited with discovering a major flaw in 750 million SIM cards last year. This time, the pair says they have reverse-engineered a type of malware that can be installed on a USB device and travel to the device's computer. This malware, which they've dubbed BadUSB, is particularly nefarious because it can't be removed or detected. The pair contends the security problem is allegedly built into the core of USB — its firmware — and undetectable by virus screens.

But are they offering a veritable "how-to" for the bad guys? Or providing the good guys with the intel needed to ensure protective measures?

Whether or not the proof-of-concept for BadUSB pans out on Wednesday, the researchers will feel heat for digging up this discovery in the first place. They follow in a long line of Black Hat melodramas that have shaken the information security world. In past years, Black Hat has been host to the live-hacking of an ATM (to continually dispense money on stage), a diabetic security expert who reprogrammed his insulin pump and a demonstration in how to subvert digital hotel key systems.

There's a fine line between being a proactive information security expert and a hacker. This is the continuous debate about Black Hat. Information can always get into the wrong hands, so is it better to suppress the truth?

No. It's better to arm the good guys with information even if it means you're arming the bad guys, too. Consumers deserve to know when devices they rely upon may be vulnerable. Especially when it's as universal as USB.

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Stocks tempered by Argentina default, Portugal

BEIJING — World stock markets were mostly higher Monday after a sixth month of healthy employment growth in the U.S., but gains were tempered by jitters over Argentina's debt default and a Portuguese bank bailout.

KEEPING SCORE: In morning trading, France's CAC-40 rose 0.3 percent to 4,216.11 while Germany's DAX declined 0.1 percent to 9,201.09. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.1 percent to 6,688.28. Futures suggested a Wall Street rebound from last week's declines. The futures for the Standard & Poor's 500 and the Dow Jones industrial average were both up 0.2 percent.

ASIA'S DAY: China's Shanghai Composite Index jumped 1.7 percent to 2,223.33 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.3 percent to 24,600.08. Taiwan's Taiex gained 0.7 percent to 9,330.19 while South Korea's Kospi added 0.4 percent to 2,080.42. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 ended down 0.3 percent at 15,474.50 and Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.3 percent to 5,540.90. Southeast Asian markets were mostly higher.

US JOBS: July employment data on Friday showed the United States added more than 200,000 jobs for a sixth straight month. That was slightly below expectations but added to signs an economic recovery is gaining traction. At the same time, most economists don't think the pace of job growth is enough to cause the Federal Reserve to speed up its timetable for raising interest rates. Most still think the Fed will start raising rates to ward off inflation around mid-2015.

ARGENTINA'S DEFAULT: The International Swaps and Derivatives Association ruled on Friday that Argentina had defaulted on its bonds for the second time in 13 years. The ruling came in the midst of a high-profile court dispute with a handful of creditors that has complicated Argentina's repayment plan. The default triggers payments to holders of credit insurance.

ANALYST TAKE: As a result of Argentina's default, "we get skittish investors preferring to stay out of the market," said analyst Desmond Chua of CMC Markets in a report.

PORTUGESE BANK BAILOUT: Portugal's central bank announced late Sunday it will provide 4.9 billion euros ($6.6 billion) in an emergency rescue to prevent the collapse of ailing bank Banco Espirito Santo, one of the country's biggest financial institutions. Banco Espirito Santo's share price plunged by 75 percent last week after the bank reported a half-year loss of 3.6 billion euros following an audit that revealed previously undisclosed debts.

CURRENCIES, OIL: The dollar inched down to 102.57 yen from the previous session's 102.59 yen. The euro declined to $1.3426 from $1.3428. Benchmark U.S. crude for September delivery was up 22 cents at $98.10 per barrel.

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Wal-Mart's website to personalize shopping

NEW YORK — Wal-Mart, in its latest bid to compete with nemesis Amazon.com, is rebuilding its website to further personalize the online shopping experience of each customer.

Wal-Mart is rolling out a feature that will enable its website to show shoppers more products that they may like, based on their previous purchases. It also will customize Wal-Mart's home page for each shopper based on where that customer lives, showing local weather and events, as well as the customer's search and purchase histories.

So if a new mom just bought a stroller or crib on Walmart.com, the revamped website might recommend diapers and car seats, too. And if someone who lives in Dallas searches the website for sports jerseys, Walmart.com could suggest Rangers or Dallas Cowboy gear.

The increased personalization is part of a push by Wal-Mart to improve the online shopping experience of its customers, leading up to a complete re-launch of the site in early 2015. The retailer is looking to boost its business online at a time when its U.S. discount division has seen disappointing sales.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s e-commerce sales increased by 30 percent to over $10 billion in its fiscal year that ended Jan. 31. By comparison, Wal-Mart's U.S. discount division has had five straight quarters of sales declines at stores opened at least a year. Wal-Mart sees big growth opportunity in the online business: Online sales still are only a fraction of the $473 billion Wal-Mart generated in overall annual revenue, dwarfed by Amazon's $60.9 billion in annual sales.

The move to personalize websites for shoppers has become a top priority for traditional brick-and-mortar retailers like Wal-Mart as they play catch up with Amazon.com, the online king that pioneered customizing content for shoppers. Retailers increasingly are trying to use their reams of customer data they get from mobile devices and computers to personalize their websites and ultimately, boost sales.

Other retailers, including home-improvement chain Home Depot and office-supplies retailer Staples, have been working to personalize the online shopping experience. In fact, a quarter of customers who visit Home Depot's home page see product recommendations that are based on recent purchase or browser history, according to the company.

Retailers have seen benefits in personalizing their websites for customers, as well as other efforts to improve the online shopping experience. Overall, Forrester Research analyst Sucharita Mulpuru said that changes in customization can help lift a retailer's online sales in the mid-single digits.

Wal-Mart said that customers have responded well to improvements it has made to its website in the past two years, including quadrupling the assortment of items it offers online to 8 million. For example, when Wal-Mart updated its search tool, it saw a 20 percent increase in shoppers completing a purchase after searching for a product using the new search engine.

Among the other changes, Wal-Mart has redesigned the site to cater to tablets as well as other devices. That means that the content and images are now adjusted to the size of the screen. So shoppers will see more columns of products on bigger screens.

Shoppers will also see other improvements. Over the next couple of months, customers will see a quicker online checkout process: They'll view one page instead of six before clicking on the "buy" button. And the company will be able to update Web pages within minutes instead of days.

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Follow Anne D'Innocenzio at — http://www.Twitter.com/adinnocenzio

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US doctor with Ebola in Atlanta for treatment

ATLANTA — The first Ebola victim to be brought to the United States from Africa was safely escorted into a specialized isolation unit Saturday at one of the nation's best hospitals, where doctors said they are confident the deadly virus won't escape.

Fear that the outbreak killing more than 700 people in Africa could spread in the U.S. has generated considerable anxiety among some Americans. But infectious disease experts said the public faces zero risk as Emory University Hospital treats a critically ill missionary doctor and a charity worker who were infected in Liberia.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has received "nasty emails" and at least 100 calls from people saying "How dare you bring Ebola into the country!?" CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden told The Associated Press Saturday.

"I hope that our understandable fear of the unfamiliar does not trump our compassion when ill Americans return to the U.S. for care," Frieden said.

Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, who will arrive in several days, will be treated in Emory's isolation unit for infectious diseases, created 12 years ago to handle doctors who get sick at the CDC, just up the hill. It is one of about four in the country, equipped with everything necessary to test and treat people exposed to very dangerous viruses.

In 2005, it handled patients with SARS, which unlike Ebola can spread when an infected person coughs or sneezes.

In fact, the nature of Ebola — which is spread by close contact with bodily fluids and blood — means that any modern hospital using standard, rigorous, infection-control measures should be able to handle it.

Still, Emory won't be taking any chances.

"Nothing comes out of this unit until it is non-infectious," said Dr. Bruce Ribner, who will be treating the patients. "The bottom line is: We have an inordinate amount of safety associated with the care of this patient. And we do not believe that any health care worker, any other patient or any visitor to our facility is in any way at risk of acquiring this infection."

Brantly was flown from Africa to Dobbins Air Reserve base outside Atlanta in a small plane equipped to contain infectious diseases, and a small police escort followed his ambulance to the hospital. He climbed out dressed head to toe in white protective clothing, and another person in an identical hazardous materials suit held both of his gloved hands as they walked gingerly inside.

"It was a relief to welcome Kent home today. I spoke with him, and he is glad to be back in the U.S.," said his wife, Amber Brantly, who left Africa with their two young children for a wedding in the U.S. days before the doctor fell ill.

"I am thankful to God for his safe transport and for giving him the strength to walk into the hospital," her statement said.

Inside the unit, patients are sealed off from anyone who doesn't wear protective gear.

"Negative air pressure" means air flows in, but can't escape until filters scrub any germs from patients. All laboratory testing is conducted within the unit, and workers are highly trained in infection control. Glass walls enable staff outside to safely observe patients, and there's a vestibule where workers suit up before entering. Any gear is safely disposed of or decontaminated.

Family members will be kept outside for now.

The unit "has a plate glass window and communication system, so they'll be as close as 1-2 inches from each other," Ribner said.

Dr. Jay Varkey, an infectious disease specialist who will be treating Brantly and Writebol, gave no word Saturday about their condition. Both were described as critically ill after treating Ebola patients at a missionary hospital in Liberia, one of four West African countries hit by the largest outbreak of the virus in history.

There is no proven cure for the virus. It kills an estimated 60 percent to 80 percent of the people it infects, but American doctors in Africa say the mortality rate would be much lower in a functioning health care system.

The virus causes hemorrhagic fever, headaches and weakness that can escalate to vomiting, diarrhea and kidney and liver problems. Some patients bleed internally and externally.

There are experimental treatments, but Brantly had only enough for one person, and insisted that his colleague receive it. His best hope in Africa was the transfusion of blood he received including antibodies from one of his patients, a 14-year-old boy who survived thanks to the doctor.

There was also only room on the plane for one patient at a time. Writebol will follow in several days.

Dr. Philip Brachman, an Emory public health specialist who led the CDC's disease detectives program for many years, said Friday that since there is no cure, medical workers will try any modern therapy that can be done, such as better monitoring of fluids, electrolytes and vital signs.

"We depend on the body's defenses to control the virus," Dr. Ribner said. "We just have to keep the patient alive long enough in order for the body to control this infection."

Just down the street from the hospital, people dined, shopped and carried on with their lives Saturday. Several interviewed by the AP said the patients are coming to the right place.

"We've got the best facilities in the world to deal with this stuff," said Kevin Whalen, who lives in Decatur, Ga., and has no connection to Emory or the CDC. "With the resources we can throw at it, it's the best chance this guy has for survival. And it's probably also the best chance to develop treatments and cures and stuff that we can take back overseas so that it doesn't come back here."

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Medical Writers Mike Stobbe and Marilynn Marchione reported from New York and Milwaukee. Video journalists Ron Harris and Alex Sanz in Atlanta contributed to this report.

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Explorer’s odd symptoms point to torque converter

My 2000 Ford Explorer 4-liter Control-Trac 4WD has 120,000 miles on it. At 84,000 miles the O/D (overdrive) light began flashing randomly. The shop identified fault code P0741, indicating a potential issue with the transmission. I chose to keep driving the vehicle and the transmission has not failed yet, but I've noticed something peculiar. The light will begin flashing at specific locations on the routes I commonly take, and always where there is a power line overhead. It is also directional. The light will flash, for example, if I'm headed north but not if I'm headed south on the same road. Is there a sensor that could be sensitive to temperature and magnetic flux? Is the transmission failing?

Magnetic flux? Interesting thought, but highly unlikely. (I did have an early computerized fuel-injected vehicle — a beautiful '77 Cadillac Seville — that could be turned off by keying the microphone on a nearby handheld walkie-talkie. Took a while to figure what was shutting down the car as I drove out to a corner of the racetrack to observe my Skip Barber students! Apparently, the RF signal from the radio was interfering with the PCM and shutting down the engine.)

But as much as I'd like to believe that "magnetic flux" could be the culprit, the fact that the event only seems to trigger the O/D warning light rather than affecting any or all of the other computerized systems in your vehicle points to some more earthbound cause.

The P0174 code is triggered when the PCM detects excessive torque converter clutch (TCC) slippage under normal driving. Have you noticed whether the light comes on as you are driving slightly uphill? The extra load on the drivetrain may generate excess slippage in this location, but of course driving in the opposite direction on the same piece of road would be downhill, far less likely to generate TCC slippage.

TCC slippage does not mean impending transmission failure, but it does mean the TCC is worn, the transmission fluid is significantly contaminated and/or hydraulic pressure is somewhat low.

At the current mileage my suggestion is to add half a can of SeaFoam Trans-Tune to the transmission fluid and hope this reduces the symptoms, and continue to drive the vehicle until something catastrophic happens — then decide whether to repair or replace the vehicle.

I recently purchased and am restoring a 1971 Volvo 1800E. This car is fuel-injected. Do you believe it is necessary to use a lead alternative additive until the day I need a valve job and can add hardened valve seats? Should I try to purchase non-oxygenated gasoline?

This is an older question I "rediscovered" recently, but since it's the heart of the summertime collector-car driving season, I thought it worth answering — sorry for the delay.

To my knowledge, most carmakers were installing hardened valve seats by about 1970, so I don't think you need to be particularly concerned about excess wear unless you are really "leaning" on the engine — full throttle, high RPM — regularly.

Most so-called lead substitutes are not actually tetra-ethyl lead, which is no longer permitted in highway-use motor fuels, they are similar "metallics" that hopefully perform the same cooling and lubricating functions to prevent valve seat overheating, sinking and erosion.

I do, on the other hand, believe you should seek out, purchase and use non-oxy fuel for your older vehicle to protect fuel system components from contamination and corrosion. These parts, including the fuel tank and fuel lines, were not designed for oxygenated fuels.

Paul Brand, author of "How to Repair Your Car," is an automotive troubleshooter, driving instructor and former race-car 
driver. Readers may write to him at: Star Tribune, 425 Portland Ave. S., Minneapolis, Minn., 55488 or 
via email at paulbrand@startribune.com. Please explain the problem in detail and include a daytime phone number. We cannot provide personal replies.

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Cool idea for saving produce

A MassChallenge finalist is developing mobile refrigeration units that run on sun and water and are capable of saving the nearly one-half of developing-world produce that spoils before it ever reaches the consumer.

Evaptainers was the brainchild of Quang 
Truong, who was taking a class at MIT called "Development Ventures" last year, when his professor posed a challenge to the class: Think of a major problem in the developing world, and then come up with a solution.

"I've been to many developing countries over the years, and the one thing I've always noticed was how much produce spoiled," said Truong, a 27-year-old graduate of the Tufts Fletcher School, where he studied agriculture. "It's a huge problem a lot of agencies and governments are trying to deal with."

In his travels, he also had come across a "cool" invention, developed by a Nigerian, called the Pot-in-Pot Preservation Cooling System, essentially a small earthenware pot within a larger one, separated by a layer of wet sand.

The inner pot is filled with produce and covered with a wet cloth. And as the water in the sand and cloth evaporates, the temperature of the inner pot drops by as much as 40 degrees.

For farmers trying to get their produce to market, however, it had one important drawback, Truong said: The pots break easily, making them impractical to transport.

"I thought, hey, there's this really simple invention," he said. "Can I just make it mobile?"

Truong teamed up with a friend, Spencer Taylor, and founded Evaptainers, combining the time-tested evaporative cooling technique of the pot-in-pot system with modern design and materials.

In place of earthenware pots, Evaptainers are made of a breathable crate with wheels on one end and a storage container nestled inside. Between the crate and the container is an evaporative medium such as jute, sawdust or ceramic beads, supplied with water from a tank in the lid. When water evaporates from the medium into ambient air, latent heat is carried by evaporation into the surrounding environment, reducing the temperature inside the container to keep the produce cold.

Currently, Truong and Taylor are building their initial field test unit, which they hope to use in a three-month pilot in Morocco either late this year or early next year. If the pilot is successful, the two would sell Evaptainers for $80 to $120 to agricultural cooperatives there, allowing farmers to nearly double the amount of produce they could sell, with no more work, said Taylor, 32.

In the future, the co-founders said, Evaptainers also could be sold in the U.S. for use in farmers markets, farm shares and campsites.

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Massachusetts big on farm-fresh goods

Massachusetts has the sixth-largest number of farmers markets in the nation, as farmers turn to new venues to supplement their incomes and consumers seek out ways to buy fresh, local food, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's newly updated National Farmers Market Directory.

Over the past year alone, the number of farmers markets in the state has risen 5.9 percent to 306, just behind California, New York, Michigan, Ohio and Illinois, Anne Alonzo, administrator of the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service, said as she kicked off National Farmers Market Week.

"The growth of farmers markets and the buy-local movement is a reflection of citizens wanting to know where their food comes from, who grew it and how, combined with a genuine interest in supporting local agriculture," said Greg Watson, state Department of Agricultural Resources commissioner.

Since 2006, federal Farmers Market Promotion Program grants totaling more than $1 million have funded 15 Massachusetts projects, Alonzo said.

And now, it's easier than ever to find them. The National Farmers Market Directory (farmersmarkets.usda.gov) lists 8,268 markets, a 76 percent increase since 2008, and allows people to search by zip code and product mix, as well as providing directions and operating times.

Farmers markets "bring urban and rural communities together while creating economic growth and increasing access to fresh, healthy foods," Alonzo said.

Bob Marshall of Marshall's Farm in Gloucester said about 30 percent of his income comes from farmers markets, where he has been selling produce and honey for the past five years.

"It's a great way to sell what you grow because not everybody can drive to a farm," Marshall said. "This way, I can bring fresh produce to the city, and I can help a person eat better and get healthy."

One of his regulars at the Allston Village Farmers Market is Lisa Drayton, who has lost 50 pounds in the year since she started going.

"I went from being the takeout queen to making everything myself," said Drayton, 47, of Brighton. "I love being able to ask the farmers questions, like do they use pesticides or GMOs. I also like knowing I'm supporting the local economy. I'm helping these little guys. And they're helping me."

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