Between Young and Old, a Political Collision

In dozens of interviews over three weeks in this rapidly aging suburb of Denver, people talked about a  collision of interests, and perhaps even more crucial, of generations. On one side are younger voters who are championing cuts in spending; on the other, older ones who want to retain the services they counted on getting when they retired.

Specific government programs like Medicare are at issue. Beyond that, many people said they perceived a deeper debate about fairness, equity and ? at its core ? starkly different visions of the nation?s future and how public resources should be allotted in a time of straitened circumstances.

Last month?s special election for a Congressional seat in western New York, which turned in large part on older voters, offered a preview of the tensions. The Democratic candidate?s attacks on a Republican plan to overhaul Medicare seemed to resonate in the district, where a majority of the registered voters are 45 or older.

?The outcome there certainly suggests that there is an old-age Medicare voting bloc,? said Robert H. Binstock, a political scientist who studies aging at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

Older voters have always tended to turn out more heavily than others at the polls, especially when they have issues at stake. But in the past, their generational differences with younger voters, at least in presidential voting, have been less clear. Now they are being mobilized by groups like AARP, which recently issued a national appeal to members.

?You should not have to worry that you can?t afford to visit your doctor,? the appeal said. ?We need to flood the halls of Congress with letters telling them to keep unfair cuts to Medicare and Social Security out of the discussion.?

In just two weeks, more than 200,000 e-mails filled inboxes in Washington.

Some experts say they believe a genuinely distinct older voting bloc could emerge. But either way, they say, there is no doubt that a season of political focus on the issues of aging ? and a search by both parties for the allegiance of older voters ? has begun.

?Age is up for grabs,? said Fernando Torres-Gil, the director of the Center for Policy Research on Aging at the University of California, Los Angeles. ?In the last election it was about the young vote, and Hispanic vote ? this time the issue is age.?

In interviews here in Jefferson County ? politically mixed, with more baby boomers than any other county in battleground Colorado ? many people said that their views and hopes about retirement, or the prospect of it around the corner, had fundamentally changed since the economic downturn.

Lin Stevens, 56, was attending a job-search class at a local shopping mall with her husband, Rick Craig, who has managed to find only temporary work in recent years. Their unemployment checks have run out, Ms. Stevens said, and they have no health insurance.

?My investments took a bath,? she said, ?then being out of work for a few years ? I?m sorry, but there?s not that much left. I?m going to need Social Security and Medicare.?

Their politics are in flux too. Ms. Stevens drifted from Republican roots to vote for President Obama in 2008 and plans to do so again next year. Mr. Craig, who also voted for Mr. Obama, said he was less certain about 2012.

The landscape of battered states and municipalities agonizing over public employee pensions and benefits and cuts to school programs has already put older interests and younger interests at potential loggerheads ? and set the table for the debate about how society should divide its resources.

?There could be an opportunity to talk about what kind of society we want,? said Nancy LeaMond, an executive vice president at AARP. She said that the needs of all generations have to be balanced, and that AARP members are worried about their children and grandchildren as cuts to education and other programs ripple through budget-battered states.

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Interview with Layar CEO Raimo van der Klein, Vodafone Mobile Clicks 2009 Winner

As we told you Friday, the time to enter the Vodafone Mobile Clicks competition is coming to a close. The competition, announced at The Next Web conference, allows any startup with a mobile app or service in 7 different European markets to apply and compete for ?225,000 in prizes.

In addition to the opportunity to win cash to help fund their app, contestants will also get judged and receive feedback from a great set of jury members that include mobile industry leaders, company founders and venture capitalists. This should go a long way towards helping developers refine their approach to making their app more accessible to customers and investors, as well as provide valuable pitching experience.

Previous winners of the competition, in its third year, include 2010 winner Cardbmobili and 2009 winner Layar. In 2009, Augmented Reality was just taking off and Layar was at the forefront of apps offering unique data layers mixed with live-view camera feeds, gyroscope support and mobile platforms. Layar is now serving millions of users with over 1200 different ?layers? of information and thousands of developers have integrated Layar technology into their apps.

We had the chance to speak briefly with Layar?s CEO Raimo van der Klein about his experience with the Vodafone Mobile Clicks competition.

What was your experience like at Vodafone Mobile Clicks 2009?

Excellent. It was a great journey. It was great pitching in front of very knowledgeable judges. It sharpened our pitch and story. It made us ready to go out and fundraise.

Did participating in the contest and getting feedback from the judges help with refining Layar?

It helped making our product understandable for a wider audience. It?s no easy explaining abstract things like Augmented Reality. So presenting and discussing with the judges helped.

What advice could you give to a mobile app developer on making their pitch and making their product stand out, both to judges and to potential investors?

Have a story! A story worth talking about. Break through existing belief systems. Don?t call yourself a start-up, don?t make an app. Stop using words everybody else is using. A story is more important than the actual product in the beginning. Don?t launch if you dont have story. You will be eaten alive by the app stores.

What are your favorite apps, besides Layar of course?

Tweetdeck, Safari, Dropbox, Google maps and email. Looking critically to my iPhone and asking which apps I really use a lot I came to this very short list.

How have mobile apps changed your life, if at all?

They help me overcome situations. Keeps the day flowing.

What does the future hold for Layar?

Haha.. We are iterating continiously. Expect many interesting things to happen over summer.

Great, thanks for taking the time to talk to us Raimo and be sure to keep us updated on future developments with Layar!

The Vodafone Mobile Clicks contest allows any startup in Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, the Republic of Ireland, Spain, Turkey or the United Kingdom that has a mobile site, service or application to apply and compete for a ?225,000 prize fund. The winners of local judging will compete at the PICNIC festival in Amsterdam, where a winner will be chosen. You can read more about the contest here. Also keep your eyes on the site for interviews with some of the jury members of Mobile Clicks 2011.

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Source: http://thenextweb.com/mobile/2011/06/03/interview-with-layar-ceo-raimo-van-der-klein-vodafone-mobile-clicks-2009-winner/

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The 3D podcast with Nvidia

The 3D podcast with Nvidia

Posted on 29th May 2011 at 10:48 by Podcast with 10 comments

As the final part of our 3D week, Clive, Joe and James sit down to discuss 3D with Nvidia's senior EMEAI PR manager, Ben Berraondo.

The team pose Ben a range of questions about everything from why people should be using 3D to whether or not it?s just a gimmick and what we can expect to see from 3D in the future. We also discuss what?s holding 3D back from catching on in the mainstream.

Ben also takes the time to actually explain how game developers go about adding 3D to their games and what Nvidia does to help them and make sure their implementation is tip top. It was also interesting to hear about how 3D technology isn?t just about gaming, but can also be used to help people who have problems with their vision.

The debate about how long we'll have to wait for glasses-free 3D also raises its head, with Ben predicting that it?ll be a good five or seven years before you?ll be able to ditch your special glasses.

As ever, the bit-tech podcast features music by Brad Sucks, and was recorded on Shure microphones. You can download the podcast direct, listen in-browser or subscribe through iTunes using the links below. Also, be sure to let us know your thoughts about the discussion in the forums.

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Can Google Know Where the Gmail Attack Came from?

Hardware 24 - A Computex-Free Zone

Hardware 24 - A Computex-Free Zone

Posted on 1st Jun 2011 at 15:37 by bit-tech Staff with 4 comments

Paul is joined by Harry and Clive to talk about the latest in the world of PC hardware. This was before Paul jetted off to Computex 2011, so we're debating everything from Nvidia?s naming scheme to Intel?s latest chipset.

For example, why has Nvidia called its latest GPU the GeForce GTX 560? Surely that?s just confusing, what with the GeForce GTX 560 Ti? Also, what?s with the non-standard clock speeds for the GTX 560? The Zotac GeForce GTX 560 1GB Amp! is within the reference range of frequencies and yet it's faster than a stock-speed GTX 560 Ti 1GB, despite its supposedly lesser rank in Nvidia?s range.

We also moan about how this makes our jobs a lot harder, as it?s difficult to recommend one GPU over another without getting into some very techy discussion. Even we struggled to stay interested as we delved into GPU architectures, the merits of having more resources versus higher frequencies and which card is right for certain sizes of monitor. Sheesh. Maybe in future we?ll just avoid the issue and continue to recommend the MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II/OC.

We also talk about Intel?s latest Z68 chipset. The hybrid graphics via Lucid Virtu isn?t great at the moment, but Smart Response is better.

Harry also likes the look of Intel?s 3D Tri-gate transistors, claiming that ?they will bring the rain? to AMD? in the face.? Also, here?s a much better explanation of Moore?s Law than we could manage.

Please leave any questions here, or email us at podcast@custompc.co.uk.

As ever, the bit-tech podcast features music by Brad Sucks, and was recorded on Shure microphones. You can download the podcast direct, listen in-browser or subscribe through iTunes using the links below. Also, be sure to let us know your thoughts about the discussion in the forums.

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Weekend Open Forum: Finding a use for old hardware

Being tech enthusiasts, we've committed ourselves to an everlasting pursuit of owning the latest and greatest hardware. Many of you probably upgrade your graphics card more often than you get an oil change, and we wouldn't be shocked to learn that your computer costs more than your car.

Considering that, we'd love to hear about what you do with your "old" components and systems. Do you resell them to fund your habit? Donate them to friends, family or charity? Demote them to server duty? Hoard them for a rainy day project? Condemn them to a silicon tomb in your basement?

**Image courtesy of our staffer, Shawn.

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Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/44099-weekend-open-forum-finding-a-use-for-old-hardware.html

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Can Google Know Where the Gmail Attack Came from?

On Tuesday, Google revealed a new spate of attacks aimed at Gmail users, and said the attacks appeared to have come from Jinan, China. The new attacks illustrate the difficulty of stopping hackers who use simple "social engineering" tricks to steal personal data, and they raise questions about how such attacks can ever be traced with certainty.

Personal accounts belonging to U.S. government officials, Chinese political activists, military personnel, and journalists were targeted, the company said in a blog post. Google has pointed to Chinese hackers before?in early 2010 it said attackers from the country had stolen its intellectual property and tried to access the Gmail accounts of human rights activists. The Chinese foreign ministry has vigorously rejected the idea that the Chinese government was responsible for the attacks.

Google says the attackers did not exploit any security holes in the company's e-mail service. Instead, they involved tricking users into sharing their log-in information. Carefully tailored messages, apparently written by a friend or colleague, were used to direct victims to a fake log-in page where their details were captured. This technique, known as "spear phishing," was also used recently to steal information from the prominent security company RSA?information that may have been used to perform further attacks on the company's customers.

Experts say this type of attack is hard to stop; unlike other types of attacks, there is no technical fix. "I think of incidents like this more as a series of successes and failures on the part of the attacker," says Nart Villeneuve, a senior threat researcher at Trend Micro, which makes antivirus, antispam, and Internet security software. "It's more of a campaign than it is a single attack."

Before joining Trend Micro, Villeneuve was heavily involved in tracking attacks on human-rights activists?he was part of the group that revealed a complex hacking operation that spied on figures including the Dalai Lama.

Villeneuve also says it's hard to identify the real source of this type of attack in order to cut it off. To pinpoint the source of the recent incidents, Google likely looked at a variety of clues, he says. The company could examine the IP addresses used to access e-mail accounts, which can reveal a user's location. The company could also look at the servers used to host fake log-in pages and collect users' personal information.

But this alone isn't enough, Villeneuve says. Attackers can easily take over computers located somewhere else, and use them to launch an attack. "Making your attack seem like it came from somewhere else is not hard," he says.

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Moody?s Warns of Downgrade for U.S. Credit

The warning, from one of the agencies whose assessments of creditworthiness help determine interest rates, amounted to a stern reminder from Wall Street to Washington that global financial markets are watching the budget battle closely and that a standoff or brinkmanship could have economic consequences.

Both sides seized on Moody?s statement to reinforce their bargaining positions, with Republicans demanding that President Obama get more serious about deep spending cuts and Democrats saying that Republicans are risking a financial crisis in pursuit of an ideological agenda.

Moody?s said a review of the credit rating was ?likely? in July, given that ?the risk of continuing stalemate has grown.? Its warning followed a similar one from another major ratings firm six weeks ago, and it came as the administration met Thursday with both House Republicans and Democrats in search of a deal.

The treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, met on Capitol Hill with House freshmen, including Republicans who have suggested that they see little or no risk in a showdown over the debt limit. Citing the Moody?s statement, Mr. Geithner urged them to support raising it or risk an economic crisis.

?We didn?t create this mess,? one Republican told Mr. Geithner, according to a person in the room.

Independent analyses have shown that more than half of the $14.3 trillion debt is from policies enacted during the past decade when Republicans controlled both the White House and Congress, and much of the rest from lost revenues and stimulus spending and tax cuts since Mr. Obama took office at the height of the financial crisis and recession.

Mr. Geithner, as he left the Capitol, told reporters: ?I?m confident two things are going to happen this summer. One is we are going to avoid a default crisis. And we are going to reach agreement on a long-term fiscal plan.?

Representative Austin Scott, the Georgia Republican who is the leader of the freshman class, said after the meeting that House Republicans had a ?fundamental? difference with Democrats on taxes: instead of new tax revenues, the Republicans want additional tax cuts to increase economic growth. Still, he said, ?I think we are all hopeful we will get to a resolution.?

Earlier, Mr. Obama and Mr. Geithner met privately with House Democrats at the White House about debt-reduction matters, following a similar session on Wednesday with House Republicans.

?Just as he discussed with the Republican caucus, the president highlighted the need for both parties to work together to take a balanced approach to deficit reduction, one that allows us to live within our means without hurting our ability to invest in the future or burdening our middle class or seniors,? an administration official said. 

House Democrats said they would support Mr. Obama if he reached a compromise with Republicans that included long-term spending cuts, but not to Medicare benefits, as well as higher tax revenues, according to those briefed on the meeting.

The House speaker, John A. Boehner, said in a statement, ?The White House needs to get serious right now about dealing with our deficit and debt.? He interpreted the Moody?s report as bolstering his contention that ?a credible agreement means the spending cuts must exceed the debt-limit increase.?

Moody?s, however, made no mention of how a deficit-reduction deal should be structured.

The Moody?s report was unexpected. In April, Standard & Poor?s lowered its outlook for the AAA rating on United States debt ? but not the rating itself ? to negative from stable. Moody?s cautionary note was more pointed in that it was pegged to the current political maneuvering over the debt limit and it urged a resolution weeks sooner than the White House and Congressional leaders were aiming for.

Its warning was two-pronged. First, Moody?s said, if Congress does not increase the Treasury?s borrowing authority in coming weeks, the nation?s credit rating may be lowered ?due to the very small but rising risk of a short-lived default.? That is likely to translate into higher interest rates at a time when the recovery shows signs of slowing again.

And second, Moody?s said, with an implicit slap at both parties, that whether the United States keeps its triple-A rating ?will depend on the outcome of negotiations on deficit reduction.?

?Although Moody?s fully expected political wrangling prior to an increase in the statutory debt limit, the degree of entrenchment into conflicting positions has exceeded expectations,? the company?s statement said. ?The heightened polarization over the debt limit has increased the odds of a short-lived default.?

The goal of the bipartisan budget talks that Mr. Obama initiated in April, led by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., has been to reach agreement on deep long-term spending cuts by Aug. 2. That is when the Treasury Department has said it will run out of accounting maneuvers to meet the nation?s financial obligations without breaching the $14.3 trillion debt limit, which would provoke a crisis, even default.

House Republicans have said they will not agree to an increase without parallel action on spending cuts of an even greater amount. The debt limit would have to be raised $2.4 trillion to carry the government through 2012.

Republican leaders engineered a vote on Tuesday evening in which the House voted overwhelmingly not to increase the debt limit. They said that was their way of proving to Democrats that a rise in the debt limit could not pass without spending cuts attached. The Democrats countered that Republicans were risking an adverse market reaction by staging the vote, knowing it would fail.

Stock markets did fall more than 2 percent on Wednesday, but analysts generally attributed the slump to the day?s disheartening economic reports and anticipation that the government?s monthly jobs report on Friday would also be disappointing.

Even so, Republican Congressional leaders fretted that they could be blamed, according to Republican lobbyists who spoke with them. With Mr. Biden traveling in Italy this week, the negotiators are not scheduled to meet again until next Thursday. However, staff advisers continue working on proposals.

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Stimulating New Therapy for Epilepsy

Edwards Pleads Not Guilty in Campaign Fund Case

He entered his plea at the federal courthouse in Winston-Salem on Friday afternoon, setting the stage for a trial to begin July 11. When the judge read him his list of rights, including the right to remain silent, Mr. Edwards, who was the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2004 and twice a candidate for president, said: ?Your honor, I?m an attorney. I?m aware of that.?

Later, outside the courthouse, Mr. Edwards told reporters he had behaved badly but insisted he had not committed a crime.

?I will regret for the rest of my life the pain and the harm that I?ve caused to others,? he said. ?But I did not break the law. And I never, ever thought that I was breaking the law.?

The indictment handed up earlier Friday in Greensboro charged that Mr. Edwards, 57, conspired to use illegal campaign contributions to conceal his affair with his mistress for political reasons.

The grand jury, which has been investigating the case for two years, indicted Mr. Edwards on six counts ? one involving conspiracy, four involving illegal payments, and one involving false statements. If he is found guilty, Mr. Edwards faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count.

Mr. Edwards rejected a chance to make a plea bargain with the Justice Department, and he and lawyers plan ?a vigorous defense,? said Greg Craig, one of his lawyers, a prominent Washington attorney who helped defend President Clinton during his impeachment proceedings.

The defense is likely to become rather messy as the Edwards team acknowledges that he tried to conceal the affair but argues that he did not do so for the political purpose of maintaining his candidacy, as the government alleges. Rather, Mr. Edwards argues that he was trying to conceal it for personal reasons ? to hide it from his wife.

Whether he used the money for political or personal purposes is at the heart of the case. If the purpose was political, as the Justice Department says, the money was subject to federal campaign finance laws that set limits on the amount that can be donated and received, and require public reporting. The indictment says Mr. Edwards and his co-conspirators solicited $725,000 from Rachel Mellon, the now-century-old heiress to the Mellon banking fortune, and $200,000 from Fred Baron, Mr. Edwards?s campaign finance chairman. Both amounts, it says, were well in excess of the limit of $2,300 that an individual can give.

According to the indictment, the money went to hide Rielle Hunter, Mr. Edwards?s mistress and the mother of his child, from the news media and to pay for her pre-natal medical expenses, travel and accommodations.

?A centerpiece of Edwards?s candidacy was his public image as a devoted family man,? the indictment said; public knowledge of the affair would have destroyed his campaign and so the attempts to hide it were clearly motivated by political concerns.

?Mr. Edwards is alleged to have accepted more than $900,000 in an effort to conceal from the public facts that he believed would harm his candidacy,? Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer said in a statement. ?As this indictment shows, we will not permit candidates for high office to abuse their special ability to access the coffers of their political supporters to circumvent our election laws.?

The decision to fight the charges reflects confidence by Mr. Edwards and his legal team that the government?s case would not hold up in court, according to his lawyers.

It also reflects the strong feeling by Mr. Edwards that no matter how much he has disgraced himself ? by lying to his wife and to the country about an extramarital affair, which wrecked his marriage and ended his political career ? he does not want to be seen as a felon or lose his law license.

The matter is likely to turn on a relatively arcane and untested aspect of campaign finance law about which contributions are subject to federal regulation.

The defense team said it had retained Scott E. Thomas, a former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, as an expert witness. In a statement, Mr. Thomas said the government was basing its case on a ?novel and misguided theory? that had no precedent. He said he would not consider the payments in question to be campaign contributions or expenditures within the meaning of the campaign finance laws.

But the Justice Department said that the contribution limit ?applies to anything of value provided for the purpose of influencing a federal election,? including contributions, expenditures and ?payments for personal expenses of a candidate unless those payments would have been made irrespective of his/her candidacy.?

The indictment included the transcript of a note that Mrs. Mellon sent to Andrew Young, a former aide to Mr. Edwards, in May 2007. She said she had been ?sitting alone in a grim mood ? furious that the press attacked Senator Edwards on the price of a haircut. But it inspired me ? from now on, all haircuts, etc., that are necessary and important for his campaign ? please send the bills to me. ... It is a way to help our friend without government restrictions.?

Some legal experts view the case as weak. Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said that while Mr. Edwards?s conduct was ?despicable and deserves society?s condemnation,? the charges against him were flimsy. The case rests on proving that the payments were in fact campaign contributions, but, she noted, ?no court has ever interpreted the definition of campaign contribution this broadly.?

Meredith McGehee, policy director for the Campaign Legal Center, said in a statement that the charges were ?deeply disturbing.

?The alleged payments of ?hush money? raise the specter of political influence-peddling in the form of ?gifts? to candidates in high-stakes campaigns,? she said. Not to pursue them, she said, would set a dangerous precedent.

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