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Saturday, June 11, 2011

IMF targeted in cyberattack, extent not disclosed (AP) : Technet

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IMF targeted in cyberattack, extent not disclosed (AP) : Technet

IMF targeted in cyberattack, extent not disclosed (AP)

Posted: 11 Jun 2011 02:20 PM PDT

By CHRISTINA REXRODE, AP Business Writer Christina Rexrode, Ap Business Writer – Sat Jun 11, 5:20 pm ET

NEW YORK – The International Monetary Fund, already reeling from last month's arrest of its former leader, is investigating an attack on its computer system.

IMF spokesman David Hawley said the organization is fully functional. He declined to provide further details on what he termed an "IT incident," including its scope or nature and whether any sensitive data were taken. The IMF has confidential information on countries in financial trouble.

The New York Times cited unnamed IMF officials as saying the attack was sophisticated and serious.

The IMF told staffers about it on Wednesday but hasn't made a public announcement.

The IMF is already facing a public-relations headache after the arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who resigned as IMF chief last month after being accused of sexually assaulting a maid in a New York hotel.

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, Mexican central bank chief Agustin Carstens and others are vying for the top job. Stanley Fischer, Israel's central bank chief, emerged as a candidate Saturday.

It's not clear if hackers were targeting the IMF. Hackers sometimes try to distribute malicious software code widely and see which organizations it can infect.

But they can also choose targets. Using a technique called "spear phishing," for instance, they can trick employees of a specific organization into clicking a link that then gives hackers access to its computer systems.

Dave Jevans, chairman of computer security firm IronKey Inc., said he's concerned by an uptick in "hacktivism," where groups target organizations for political purposes.

It's possible the IMF was the victim of such hacktivism. However, one official cited by the Times said the attack occurred over the last several months, before the troubles involving Strauss-Kahn.

Concerns about the IMF attack were great enough that the World Bank cut a computer link that allows the two organizations to share non-sensitive information, according to a bank official. The move was taken out of "an abundance of caution," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the security issues around the incident.

The IMF attack follows a string of major data breaches.

In recent months, hackers have penetrated 100 million Sony PlayStation accounts, the networks of Lockheed Martin and the customer email databases of a company that does marketing for Best Buy and Target stores.

Google has accused Chinese hackers of targeting the Gmail accounts of U.S. government officials.

About 200,000 Citibank credit card customers in North America had their names, account numbers and email addresses stolen.

Montana man builds 30 years of quadriplegic gaming (AP)

Posted: 11 Jun 2011 09:10 AM PDT

By STEPHEN DOCKERY, Associated Press Stephen Dockery, Associated Press – Sat Jun 11, 12:10 pm ET

HELENA, Mont. – For Ruben Rios to throw a touchdown, it takes a flick of his tongue. To break away from a tackle, he puffs into a tube.

Rios is a quadriplegic with no use of his body below his shoulders. For Rios to play video games like "Madden NFL 11" he uses a controller that combines lip controls, puff and sip tubes and a head-operated joystick.

That mouth controller is an innovation from Ken Yankelevitz, a Montana engineer whose hobby is hand-making unique controllers to give quadriplegics access to video games usually requiring two hands.

But with the retired Bozeman engineer's 70th birthday approaching, disabled gamers say they fear there will be no one to replace Yankelevitz, who has sustained quadriplegic game controllers for 30 years almost entirely by himself. The retired aerospace engineer hand makes the controllers with custom parts in his Montana workshop, offering them at a price just enough to cover parts.

Gamers and gaming advocates say the Yankelevitz controller's functionality and price is unrivaled for quadriplegics.

Yankelevitz began his work on mouth-operated video game controllers in 1981 for the Atari game console to give quadriplegic people a chance to engage with one of the few activities open to them. The design was simple on the early models; users only needed to be able to push a few buttons and move a joystick through their controllers.

Over time Yankelevitz adapted the designs to more complex consoles including the XBox and PlayStation platforms. He has no formal relationship with any of the companies, saying they aren't interested because there isn't a sufficient market..

Quadriplegic gamers now have around a dozen different actions they can work with their mouth.

It's a complicated system that can be difficult to learn. But for quadriplegics, who suffer paralysis of both arms and both legs and who are largely dependent on others, the device gives them something entirely their own.

"After my injury there really wasn't anything that I could do that I was actually in control of," said Rios, who lost control of his body after a gunshot wound in 1988.

When Rios began using a Yankelevitz controller in 1991 that changed. It was a relief, he said, to enjoy something on the same level as his friends.

With video games and online communities, quadriplegics have access to friends and freedoms not possible otherwise. It's not just a basic level of control, either. Quadriplegics have proven competitive against and sometimes besting two-handed gamers.

"I can't emphasize enough how important this (is) to people with high spinal cord injuries," Rios said.

That meaning is what prompted Yankelevitz to embrace the challenge of his 30 year hobby, the reward of helping others.

"As long as I'm making a controller that will work, then they are motivated," said Yankelevitz, a former aerospace engineer.

Quadriplegics are a small portion of a growing community of gamers with all types of disabilities who are pushing for more accessible games and game controllers, according to Mark Barlet, 37, a disabled veteran, gamer and president of the AbleGamers foundation. His organization works to promote gaming access.

Barlet said gaming is an important connection to the world for those with disabilities. "People have relationships that are completely and totally digital, and they are meaningful relationships," he said.

Barlet said Yankelevitz's controller is the only one like it out there, calling it "unique in terms of accessibility."

But gaming by quadriplegics is a tiny corner of the market that Yankelevitz has sustained by himself for three decades and his output is slowing.

He doesn't want to quit now, but said that he won't be going on forever.

Recently he shut down operation of his shop for half the year to spend time in Southern California, where he used to work.

If someone wanted to fill his shoes, it wouldn't be an easy task.

He puts each controller together by hand, using his engineering skills to solder dozens of switches and circuits. Controllers are offered for just over $200 and include a 1-year warranty for repairs.

"If the bottom line is profit, there's no way to make a profit on these," Yankelevitz said.

Yankelevitz said larger companies and game manufacturers have shown no interest in producing the controllers because the market is so small. He's sold just over 800 of the devices through 30 years. Factory construction of the controller would be cost prohibitive, over $1000 each, he said.

Other products don't offer near the same functionality and they come at a much higher price. There looks to be no comparable substitute available in the near future.

"If Ken (Yankelevitz ) stops making these controllers we're going to be pretty much left out to dry," Rios said.

Malaysia seeks to ban sites for illegal downloads (AP)

Posted: 11 Jun 2011 08:53 PM PDT

Video: The highlights from Sony at E3 2011 (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 11 Jun 2011 01:59 PM PDT

By Barb Dybwad, Tecca barb Dybwad, Tecca – Sat Jun 11, 4:59 pm ET

As one of the Big 3 in gaming, Sony was tasked with delivering big news at this year's E3. Between the company's press keynote and its gigantic booth on the show floor, Sony gave its PlayStation fans a lot to look forward to this holiday season and into 2012.

Tecca TV took a look at the biggest trends from Sony at E3 this year, including a brand-new handheld console, a low-cost 3D TV bundle that lets you play full split-screen co-op side by side, and a plethora of hotly-anticipated exclusive titles like Uncharted 3 and Resistance 3 for the PS3.

Check out the video above and let us know: what were some of your favorites from Sony this year at E3?

More from Tecca at E3:

Just Show Me: How to use the Kinect voice commands to control your Xbox 360 (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 11 Jun 2011 01:46 PM PDT

By Tecca tecca – Sat Jun 11, 4:46 pm ET

Welcome to Just Show Me on Tecca TV, where we give you tips and tricks for getting the most out of the gadgets in your life. In today's episode we'll look at the Xbox 360's Kinect voice control feature — a great part of the Kinect that lets you control your Xbox 360 console with just your voice!

If you're unfamiliar with the Kinect, it's a small sensor bar that sits above or below your TV with small cameras and microphones embedded in it which track your movements and voice. This allows you to control Kinect-enabled games by just waving a hand, kicking a leg, or generally moving your body. It's a really fun way to play video games! For more information, check out our Kinect review.

As usual, if you have any requests for something you'd like Just Show Me to cover, we want to know about them! Please be sure to let us know whatyou want to know in the comments.

More from Tecca:

How Online Education Is Changing the Way We Learn [INFOGRAPHIC] (Mashable)

Posted: 10 Jun 2011 06:47 PM PDT

Sexting US lawmaker set for treatment (AFP)

Posted: 11 Jun 2011 06:40 PM PDT

– 2 hrs 47 mins ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US Representative Anthony Weiner plans a "short leave of absence" to seek treatment, his office said, as colleagues pressed him to resign over his lewd online exchanges with women.

"Congressman Weiner departed this morning to seek professional treatment to focus on becoming a better husband and healthier person," Weiner spokeswoman Risa Heller said in a statement.

Weiner "will request a short leave of absence from the House of Representatives so that he can get evaluated and map out a course of treatment to make himself well."

The New York lawmaker, who is now facing increasing calls from within his own Democratic Party to quit, "takes the views of his colleagues very seriously," it said.

"(He) has determined that he needs this time to get healthy and make the best decision possible for himself, his family and his constituents."

The 46-year-old has faced withering criticism after he admitted sending a close-up photo of his underwear with the outlines of his erect penis clearly visible underneath to a woman in Seattle via his Twitter account.

Weiner spent a week before his confession claiming his account had been hacked, but eventually admitted to sending out a number of lewd pictures and sexting with about six women over the years.

But he said he had not met any of them in person or had a physical relationship outside his year-old marriage to Huma Abedin, an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Weiner, a seven-term congressman who until now was seen as a leading candidate to take over as New York mayor in 2013, has said he does not intend to resign his seat in the US House of Representatives.

"It is with great disappointment that I call on Representative Anthony Weiner to resign," Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz said in a statement.

"The behavior he has exhibited is indefensible and Representative Weiner's continued service in Congress is untenable."

Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, also joined the growing chorus for Weiner's resignation.

"Congressman Weiner has the love of his family, the confidence of his constituents, and the recognition that he needs help. I urge Congressman Weiner to seek that help without the pressures of being a member of Congress," she said.

The comments by senior House Democrats marked the most significant condemnation of Weiner's behavior so far.

"This sordid affair has become an unacceptable distraction for Representative Weiner, his family, his constituents and the House -- and for the good of all, he should step aside and address those things that should be most important -- his and his family's well-being," said Wasserman Schultz.

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel said Weiner's "inappropriate behavior has become an insurmountable distraction to the House and our work for the American people."

"With a heavy heart, I call on Anthony to resign," he added. "I pray for his family and hope that Anthony will take time to get the help he needs without the distractions and added pressures of Washington, DC."

Congressman Weiner seeks treatment after sex scandal (Reuters)

Posted: 11 Jun 2011 06:02 PM PDT

By Thomas Ferraro Thomas Ferraro – Sat Jun 11, 9:02 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democratic Representative Anthony Weiner defied calls on Saturday from party leaders to resign and said he would instead seek treatment and a leave of absence after being snared in an Internet sex scandal.

The 46-year-old New York congressman announced his plans shortly after House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi publicly urged him to go for help, but also to step down.

Weiner's determination to remain, bolstered by support from his New York City constituents, has angered Democrats. They say his inappropriate online exchanges with women have hurt the party as it seeks to regain control of the House of Representatives from Republicans in next year's elections.

In a brief statement, the congressman's spokeswoman, Risa Heller, indicated Weiner would remain in office at least until he receives professional help at an undisclosed facility.

"Congressman Weiner departed this morning to seek professional treatment to focus on becoming a better husband and healthier person," Heller said.

"In light of that, he will request a short leave of absence from the House of Representatives so that he can get evaluated and map out a course of treatment to make himself well."

"Congressman Weiner ... has determined that he needs this time to get healthy and make the best decision possible for himself, his family and his constituents," Heller said.

Earlier on Saturday, Pelosi and other House Democrats called on Weiner to step down, frustrated by his refusal to step aside after admitting on Monday to inappropriate Internet relations with at least six women.

Democrats appeared to coordinate their statements to add pressure on the seven-term lawmaker to resign for his Internet exchanges with women, which included lewd pictures of himself, and then lying about it.

"Congressman Weiner has the love of his family, the confidence of his constituents, and the recognition that he needs help," Pelosi said in a statement.

"I urge Congressman Weiner to seek that help without the pressures of being a Member of Congress," Pelosi said.

Pelosi issued her statement after she was made aware of Weiner's "intention to take a leave of absence in order to seek treatment," an aide said.

Weiner, a fiery liberal re-elected last November with 61 percent of the vote, says his behavior was wrong but that he violated no laws.

Generally, all it takes to get a leave of absence, as Weiner plans to do, is to formally advise the House speaker. "You ask for it, you get it," an aide said.

'DISTRESSING AND SADDENING'

Weiner's political mentor, New York Democratic Senator Charles Schumer, said: "For those of us who are longtime friends of Anthony Weiner his wrongful behavior is distressing and saddening. It's clear he needs professional help and I am glad he is seeking it."

Pelosi has requested an ethics investigation to determine what, if any, House rules Weiner may have broke in his Internet exchanges. Such a probe could take months, even up to a year.

Democratic Party Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz and House Democratic campaign committee chair Steve Israel were among the other party leaders on Saturday to call on Weiner to resign.

"This sordid affair has become an unacceptable distraction for Representative Weiner, his family, his constituents and the House - and for the good of all, he should step aside and address those things that should be most important - his and his family's well-being," Wasserman Schultz said.

Assistant House Democratic Leader James Clyburn repeated his call for House Democrats to address the issue when the House returns next week from a one-week recess.

A Democratic aide said they could pass a resolution urging Weiner to resign. While it would not be binding, it would show that Weiner faces a solid wall of opposition in his own party.

A poll this week found support for Weiner among his constituents.

According to a NY1-Marist poll, 56 percent of adults in his district believed he should stay in office, while 33 percent said he should quit.

The telephone survey of 512 adults was conducted on Wednesday and had a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

Patrick Egan, a political science professor at New York University, said the poll results were not particularly surprising. "This isn't Kansas, Utah or Alabama. This is New York where people are more forgiving of such things," he said.

(Additional reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Nintendo Wii U Faced Unrealistic Expectations from Investors (ContributorNetwork)

Posted: 11 Jun 2011 01:38 PM PDT

Jason Gallagher Jason Gallagher – Sat Jun 11, 4:38 pm ET
Contribute content like this. Start here.

COMMENTARY | Apparently, investors are not quite sure what to make of the recently unveiled Nintendo Wii U, which is weird because critics and gamers seem to know exactly what the innovations brought forward by the console can do for the gaming industry. Nintendo stock is falling despite the official announcement of a ground-breaking home entertainment console.

Critics seem to love the full 1080p resolution, which will grant the Nintendo Wii U graphical capabilities on par with other major consoles and literally blows the original Wii out of the water. Perhaps investors expected more of a major improvement in home gaming, the fall of the stock price indicates lots of folks were expecting a lot more than Nintendo delivered.

Nintendo's stock is down 10 percent since the official announcement of the Wii U. Gamers and critics seem to be something of a polar opposite to the financial folks. For the most part investors just cannot see the difference between the Wii U and other gaming platforms like tablets and phones. The Wii U is a ground-breaking take on traditional games. Offering up different views of the action simultaneously is a huge accomplishment, but perhaps the controller with a six inch touch screen was a bit too cutting-edge for investors.

Gamers on the other hand, realize a great deal of difference between the two platforms. Playing a video game on a four inch or ten inch screen is much different than playing a game on the fifty inch LED TV in the living room. While the Nintendo Wii U will have some great Nintendo characters behind titles right off the bat, the big news for Nintendo fans is the third party developers that are lining up to see what they can do with the new technology. Sure Zelda and Mario can sell games, but so can Tekken and Ghost Recon.

While the situation may be a clash of opinions, Nintendo would have had to deliver the greatest console the world had ever seen to satisfy investors. When the original Wii was released motion based gaming was unheard of, tablet gaming has unfortunately been around for a bit. What investors do not seem to get is that having the console interact with the tablet is new ground. The Nintendo Wii U will probably not see any middle ground, as far as sales are concerned. Yes, price will matter a great deal, if the console retails for over $300 it may be tricky getting it into the hands of gamers.

While investors could be scared of another Virtual Boy type failure, the Nintendo Wii U looks promising. Nintendo has invented a console that is still friendly to casual gamers, but also has the horsepower to appeal to dedicated gamers. This could be the console everyone has been waiting for.

Jason Gallagher is a former travel professional and long-time Pennsylvania resident. These experiences give him a first-hand look at developing situations in the state and everything included in the travel industry from technology to trends.

How Android became WeatherBug’s largest overall platform (Appolicious)

Posted: 11 Jun 2011 09:00 AM PDT

Best Celebrity Twitter Pictures From Jim Carrey to Willow Smith (The Daily Beast)

Posted: 11 Jun 2011 05:18 PM PDT

RIM shareholder calls for separate CEO, chairman (AP)

Posted: 11 Jun 2011 12:34 PM PDT

– Sat Jun 11, 3:34 pm ET

NEW YORK – BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. is already struggling to keep up with rivals such as Apple Inc. Now it faces another challenge: dissident shareholders who are calling for changes in how the company is run.

A Canadian investment firm is calling for RIM to separate the roles of CEO and chairman, saying that's vital for the board to be able to do its job. Shareholder-rights groups often support separating the two positions. A board of directors is tasked with overseeing the CEO, which can be difficult if the CEO is also chairman of the board.

The firm, Northwest & Ethical Investments, is also asking that the company require any future board chairmen to be independent from the company, which essentially means that they cannot be RIM employees.

Shareholders will vote on NEI's proposal at the annual meeting July 12 in RIM's hometown of Waterloo, Ontario.

RIM has an unusual leadership structure, where two executives, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, serve as both co-CEOs and co-chairmen. The company is asking shareholders to vote against NEI's proposal, saying that the board's lead independent director serves many of the functions that a chairman would.

Balsillie and Lazaridis have long histories at the company.

In 2009, they settled allegations with the SEC and the Ontario Securities Commission about stock options that had allegedly been backdated. As part of the settlement, Balsillie agreed to step down from the board for about a year.

In March, RIM reported higher revenue and net income for the fiscal year ended Feb. 26. But in April, it cut its predictions for future earnings and sales, saying it's selling fewer and cheaper phones than it had expected. BlackBerrys are known for their security and reliability as email devices, but they haven't kept pace with Apple's iPhones or phones based on Google Inc.'s Android software when it comes to running third-party applications.

Since the beginning of the year, RIM's stock has fallen 37 percent to $36.56.

RIM will report earnings for the fiscal first quarter on Thursday.

HBO Go and the making of a pretty, pretty, pretty good mobile app (Appolicious)

Posted: 11 Jun 2011 06:00 AM PDT

Fatal Va. bus crash shines light on driver fatigue (AP)

Posted: 11 Jun 2011 07:39 AM PDT

By MICHAEL FELBERBAUM and JOAN LOWY, Associated Press Michael Felberbaum And Joan Lowy, Associated Press – Sat Jun 11, 10:39 am ET

BOWLING GREEN, Va. – Energy drinks, coffee and even talking on his cell phone weren't enough to keep bus driver Kin Yiu Cheung awake after a night on the road.

About an hour before dawn, nearly seven hours into his shift, Cheung dozed off as his bus carrying 59 passengers barreled northward on Interstate 95 in Virginia earlier this month, according to court documents.

The bus veered off the highway. When Cheung tried to swerve back onto the road, the bus hit an embankment and overturned, authorities say. Four passengers were killed and dozens more injured. Attorneys for Cheung, who remains in jail without bond, have called the wreck a "tragic accident."

Prosecutors have charged Cheung, 37, of Flushing, N.Y., with four counts of involuntary manslaughter. But sleep scientists, safety advocates and labor leaders say the roots of the accident lie with an industry whose economic model often results in drivers on the road with too little rest and at hours when their bodies naturally crave sleep.

"The consequence is an entire industry populated by people not getting enough sleep," said Larry Hanley, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents drivers at Greyhound and other companies.

Studies show that between 13 percent and 31 percent of commercial vehicle crashes are due to driver fatigue, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

Recent deadly crashes involving motor coaches — large buses that travel between cities, like the vehicle Cheung was driving — have heightened concern about driver fatigue. In March, a bus returning passengers to New York's Chinatown after a night of gambling ran off an elevated highway and hit a utility pole, shearing off its roof. Fifteen passengers were killed and many more injured. The driver has said he was awake and alert, but passengers told police the bus was swerving. A lawsuit filed by one passenger claims the driver was asleep.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which oversees the nation's estimated 4,000 passenger bus companies, had flagged the bus company in the New York crash, World Wide Travel, for possible extra scrutiny due to violations involving driver fatigue.

Sky Express Inc. of Charlotte, N.C., which employed Cheung to drive from North Carolina to New York, had been cited for 46 violations involving driver fatigue rules over two years, ranking it in the bottom 14 percent of motor carriers . Passengers on the bus that crashed overheard Cheung complaining in a cell phone call that he was tired and that he didn't have much turn-around time between trips, according to a court affidavit.

Federal officials were in the process of shutting down the company at the time of the crash. A timeline released by the Department of Transportation showed Sky Express would have stopped operations the weekend before the May 31 crash if regulators hadn't extended their review an extra 10 days.

Bus industry officials say motor coaches have a good safety record. The popularity of motor coach travel has soared over the past decade, in part because it's relatively inexpensive. The industry transports an estimated 750 million passengers annually in the U.S., roughly equivalent to the domestic airline industry — yet only about 20 passengers a year are killed in accidents.

Pete Pantuso, president of the American Bus Association, said fatalities are primarily the fault of a handful of small operators who ignore safety regulations to cut costs. When the government orders them to shut down, they reopen under a new name or in a new location. The problem is so common they are known in the industry as reincarnated or chameleon carriers.

That's what federal officials say Sky Express did following the crash. Regulators ordered the company to shut down hours after the accident. But Sky Express continued to operate using two other names, 108 Tours and 108 Bus. The department issued a cease and desist order.

Last Thursday, federal inspectors shut down a company in East Point, Ga., that was operating its three buses under two different names from the same location. JCT Motor Coach, also known as JT's Travel & Charter, made no effort to comply with regulations limiting drivers' hours, among a raft of other safety violations, according to the order shutting the carrier. The company didn't even have a system for recording drivers' hours, it said.

James Turner, the company's manager, did not return a phone message left Friday by The Associated Press.

Hanley, with the drivers' union, blamed the problem on deregulation of the bus industry in the early 1980s. The result, he said, has been a phenomenal growth in cut-rate bus companies, driving down ticket prices. As a result, bus companies have slashed driver pay and benefits to stay competitive.

It's not uncommon for companies to juggle schedules up until the last minute, calling drivers into work with as little as an hour's notice. Even if a driver feels short on sleep, there is strong incentive to make the trip — drivers who don't take an assignment go to the bottom of the call list, Hanley said, and most drivers are paid only for trips they make. It's also common for drivers to work second and third jobs because the pay is so low, Hanley said.

Federal regulations allow bus drivers up to 10 hours behind the wheel followed by a minimum of eight hours rest. That adds up to 18 hours, making it legal for a driver to work an entire shift and start a second shift all in one 24-hour period, said Greg Belenky, a sleep expert at Washington State University and former neuroscience division director at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.

Bus drivers also have a 15-hour window in which they can be considered on duty. For example, they could drive five hours, wait five hours at a terminal to pick up passengers, and then drive five more hours. That 15-hour window can be extended if drivers have off-duty breaks in between.

Rules differ for truck drivers, who are permitted to drive for 11 straight hours after 10 hours off. They have a hard 14-hour window, which can't be extended.

Even bus companies that want to abide by rules on rest breaks and driving hours may find it hard to ensure their drivers are taking advantage of their time off to sleep.

"There's a lot of pressure for them to keep to their schedules and sometimes those schedules are hard to meet," said Henry Jasny, general counsel for Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, a safety and consumer group supported by the insurance industry.

Fatigue can be a problem for any driver on the road overnight, especially between the hours of 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. when the human body's circadian rhythms — physical and behavioral changes that respond to light and darkness — are telling the brain to sleep, according to sleep experts.

Cheung's driving log said he finished a driving shift at 5:45 a.m. on May 30, awakened at 6 p.m., and started his next shift at 10 p.m., police said. The bus left Greensboro, N.C., at 10:30 p.m. and made several stops before crashing shortly before 5 a.m. the following day.

"No matter how much sleep you have had, no matter how young you are, that time of day is extremely dangerous to drive a motor vehicle," said transportation and public safety consultant Darrel Drobnich, an expert on driver fatigue.

The problem is exacerbated by a high rate of obesity and sleep apnea among commercial drivers, he said.

One of NTSB's top safety recommendations has been to equip bus and trucks with devices that keep track of how many hours drivers are on the road. The recorders, which would replace paper driving logs, are a way to enforce limits on drivers' work hours. A proposed Transportation Department rule would require companies to equip vehicles with the recorders, but the rule isn't final.

More frequent rest stops so drivers can grab 20- to 30-minute naps might help, Belenky said, but that would also lengthen bus trips and possibly cost companies customers.

Putting a second driver on the bus to share the driving might also help if bus companies don't balk at the cost.

But then there's no guarantee a second driver would be able to stay awake, either.

___

Lowy reported from Washington.

___

Michael Felberbaum can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/MLFelberbaum.

Joan Lowy can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/AP_Joan_Lowy.

Report: Apple's Next-Gen MacBook Airs Are in Production (PC Magazine)

Posted: 11 Jun 2011 03:24 AM PDT

Sara Yin - PC Magazine Sara Yin - Pc Magazine – Sat Jun 11, 6:24 am ET

You might want to hold off on buying an Apple MacBook Air, a new one could be just around the corner.

Apple has reportedly placed an order with its Asian manufacturers for 380,000 next-generation MacBook Airs, equipped with Intel's newest Sandy Bridge processors, according to Concord Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo in a note obtained by AppleInsider.

Kuo said 55 percent of these new models be 11.6-inch versions and the rest will be 13.3-inch models. In addition, Kuo said Apple has scaled back production of current models, announced back in October 2010, to 80,000.

Kuo has been saying since April that Apple will launch its next MacBook Air in June or July. At the same time he said he expected the popular notebook would be equipped with Sandy Bridge processors and high-speed Thunderbolt transfer technology. In early May, Taiwanese newspaper DigiTimes cited sources saying the same. By late May, a Japanese blog reported that Apple was testing MacBook Airs with an A5 chip inside, the same chip used in the iPad 2 (though Steve Jobs has said once that Apple has no interest in building a netbook).

With the launch last week of iCloud and a download-only Mac OS X Lion, many are speculating that Apple will turn the MacBook Air into its next primary machine. Furthermore, as Tim Bajaran extracted from Intel's keynote speech at Computex this month, ultra-thin laptops may be the next big trend; Intel's followup from Sandy Bridge is a low-voltage, high-speed processors codenamed "Ivy Bridge".

Even though the technology inside current MacBook Airs is incredibly outdated compared to its MacBook Pro breathren, the premium-priced notebooks have been a boon for Apple. In March, Kuo (again) told AppleInsider that Apple shipped about 1.1 million of the 13- and 15-inch MacBook Air laptops in the last three months of 2010, making it Apple's most successful Mac product launch.

For more, see PCMag's reviews of the MacBook Air 13.3-inch and MacBook Air 11.6-inch unveiled last October. But note that in April, Apple quietly began replacing the solid state drives (SSD) in the smaller MacBook Air models with faster ones.

IMF becomes latest known target of major cyber attack (Reuters)

Posted: 11 Jun 2011 07:51 PM PDT

By Jim Wolf and Jim Finkle Jim Wolf And Jim Finkle – 1 hr 36 mins ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund, the intergovernmental group that oversees the global financial system and brings together 187 member nations, has become the latest known target of a significant cyber attack on its computer systems.

A cybersecurity expert who has worked for both the Washington-headquartered IMF and the World Bank, its sister institution, said the intruders' goal had been to install software that would give a nation state a "digital insider presence" on the IMF network.

Such a presence could yield a trove of non-public economic data used by the Fund to promote exchange rate stability, support balanced international trade and provide resources to remedy members' balance-of-payments crises.

"It was a targeted attack," said Tom Kellerman, who has worked for both international financial institutions and who serves on the board of a group known as the International Cyber Security Protection Alliance.

The code used in the IMF incident "was developed and released for this purpose," said Kellerman, formerly responsible for cyber-intelligence within the World Bank's treasury team and now chief technology officer at AirPatrol, a cyber consultancy.

The attack on the IMF was the latest to become known in a rash of cyber break-ins that have targeted high-profile companies and institutions, often to steal secrets with potentially far-reaching economic implications.

IMF spokesman David Hawley said Saturday the Fund was "fully functional," despite the attack.

"I can confirm that we are investigating an incident," he said, adding that he was not in a position to elaborate on the extent of it. He declined to respond to requests for comment on Kellerman's conclusion about the intruders' goal.

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has joined an investigation of the attack on the IMF, a U.S. Defense Department spokeswoman, Lieutenant Colonel April Cunningham of the Air Force, said in an email to Reuters Saturday night.

The FBI, the government's main criminal investigative body, said it could not comment on whether it was investigating.

FOREIGN GOVERNMENT CONNECTION

Bloomberg News reported the IMF's computer system was attacked by intruders "believed to be connected to a foreign government, resulting in the loss of e-mails and other documents."

The attack occurred before the May 14 arrest of former IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn on sexual assault charges, Bloomberg said. It did not identify a suspect government. Cybersecurity experts say it is very difficult to trace a sophisticated cyber break-in to its ultimate source.

A World Bank official said the Bank had cut its network connection with the IMF out of "caution" even though the information shared on that link was "non sensitive."

Rich Mills, a Bank spokesman, said "the World Bank Group, like any other large organization, is increasingly aware of potential threats to the security of our information system and we are constantly working to improve our defenses."

The IMF is helping deal with a European debt crisis that has led to rescue loans for Ireland, Greece and Portugal. Such bailouts often entail economic hardships.

The New York Times cited computer experts as saying the IMF had been hit during the last several months by a large and sophisticated cyber attack. The newspaper said the IMF's board of directors was told on Wednesday about the attack.

Experts say cyber threats are increasing worldwide. CIA Director Leon Panetta told the U.S. Congress this week the United States faces the "real possibility" of a crippling cyber attack.

"The next Pearl Harbor that we confront," he said, could be a cyber attack that "cripples our power systems, our grid, our security systems, our financial systems, our governmental systems."

"This is a real possibility in today's world," Panetta told a June 9 confirmation hearing in his bid to become the next U.S. defense secretary.

LOCKHEED MARTIN ATTACK

Internal IMF memos had warned employees to be on their guard.

"Last week we detected some suspicious file transfers, and the subsequent investigation established that a Fund desktop computer had been compromised and used to access some Fund systems," said a June 8 email to employees from Chief Information Officer Jonathan Palmer.

Details of the email were first reported by Bloomberg. Reuters' sources confirmed the wording of the email.

"At this point, we have no reason to believe that any personal information was sought for fraud purposes," the message to employees said.

Lockheed Martin Corp, the Pentagon's No. 1 supplier by sales and the biggest information technology provider to the U.S. government, disclosed two weeks ago that it had thwarted a "significant" cyberattack. It said it had become a "frequent target of adversaries around the world."

Also hit recently have been Citigroup Inc, Sony Corp and Google.

The attack on Lockheed followed the compromise of "SecurID" electronic keys issued by EMC's Ltd RSA Security division.

SecurIDs are widely used electronic keys to computer systems, designed to thwart hackers by requiring two passcodes: one that is fixed and another automatically generated every few seconds by the security system.

At the World Bank, they are used for remote log-ins to the network.

As an extra precaution, employees receive an automatic email each time they log in from outside, to flag the operation in case it was originated fraudulently by someone else, a World Bank staff member said.

The IMF is seeking a new head following the resignation of Strauss-Kahn after he was charged with the sexual assault of a New York hotel maid.

(Reporting by Lesley Wroughton, Jim Finkle, Jim Wolf, Jim Vicini; Editing by Peter Cooney and Todd Eastham)
at 9:42 PM

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