Has Apple really changed the world again?

By Stephen Foley
Thursday, 28 January 2010
It's called the iPad. It looks like a large iPhone, with just a single button on the front. It has a 9.7in screen and weighs in at 1.5lb pounds. And it will cost you around £350 for the cheapest model.

Don't pretend you didn't want to know.

Apple, inventor of the Macintosh computer and the iPod, launched a new computer yesterday and the company's boss, Steve Jobs, claimed it will change the world. Many people agreed. Many more people acted like they agreed. Plenty hope he is right.After months of hype and rumour-mongering that only seemed to get more intense the more tight-lipped Apple executives became, Jobs stepped on to a San Francisco stage yesterday to declare the opening of a whole new category of electronic device. Halfway between a smartphone and a portable computer, the touchscreen-operated iPad will provide a whole new way to buy books and newspapers, play games, watch films and TV shows and surf the web, he said.

"We want to kick off 2010 by introducing a truly magical and revolutionary product," he said. "It's so much more intimate than a laptop and so much more capable than a smart phone."

Apple is confident the iPad will escape the fate of previous attempts at tablet computers – including the company's own Newton device, launched with a fanfare in 1993 – now that so many more applications are available to enrich the device. Like the iPhone before it, the iPad will cause "another gold rush for app developers", Jobs predicted.

And he also yesterday launched the iBookstore, from where users can quickly and easily download electronic books to read on the device. Gallantly, Jobs said he was "standing on the shoulders" of Amazon, which has pioneered the e-reader with its Kindle device, but commentators are already predicting that limited-function e-readers face a dangerous new competitive threat from the iPad. Unlike on the first generation of e-readers, the new device can feature colour photos and video, if authors wish. Certainly publishers lined up to support the Apple debut. Simon & Schuster, Rupert Murdoch's Harper Collins, and Macmillan were among those immediately committing to sell books for the iPad.

The hopes of many media executives are pinned on the iPad, and other similar tablet devices promised by PC manufacturers this year, since they offer an opportunity to replace the declining readership of newspapers and magazines with new subscribers to bespoke applications for the devices, opening up a second chance to charge for digital content that is currently given away for free on websites. The New York Times was among the companies called to the stage to promote a dedicated iPad app yesterday, saying it would offer a more newspaper-like experience than anything that has been created for a smartphone.

Versions of the new device have 16GB, 3GB and 64GB of memory, with or without 3G wireless service on top of the standard wi-fi internet connectivity. Prices will range from $499 to $829 in the US, and the first versions will go on sale in 60 days.

A number of questions were not immediately answered by Jobs' presentation, however, including how the device will connect to 3G wireless internet. AT&T, which is Apple's exclusive network carrier for the iPhone in the US, said it would offer price plans for internet service. There was no immediate detail on arrangements in the UK, or on local currency prices for the device outside the US.

And not every observer was drawn into the hype. "Basically all they've said is this is a really big iPod Touch," said James McQuivey of Forrester Research, a market research firm. It has a better screen and so you can design better apps for it, but Apple hasn't solved some of the media use problems that they're in a position to solve."

Rhi Morgan, at T3 magazine, added: "I find it difficult to place this product because I can't see anybody who needs a laptop buying an iPad, and I can't see people using it as a smartphone either."

Tom Dunmore, consulting editor of technology magazine Stuff, said: "When you pick it up and use it you realise how far ahead of its competition it is."

Rhi Morgan at T3 magazine said: "I find it difficult to place this product because I can't see anybody who needs a laptop buying an iPad, and I can't see people using it as a smartphone either."

Neil McHugh, co-founder of www.rightmobilephone.co.uk said: "It is too early to judge the success or uptake of the iPad, but Apple have again shown themselves to be market leaders, leaving other manufacturers a step behind."

Jim Sloane, lead technology partner at Deloitte said: "These devices will contribute to the growing ubiquity of computing in the home, heralding an era in which connected, browser based devices become as ubiquitous in the living room as scatter cushions."
info came from http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/has-apple-really-changed-the-world-again-1880953.html

China says it needs no Internet lessons from U.S.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China needs no lessons about its Internet from the United States, the head of an online media association said through official media on Saturday after the United States rapped Beijing over information freedom. A speech by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday showed a lack of respect for China, which cannot accept conditions on matters of "national security" or "social stability," said Beijing Association of Online Media Chairman Min Dahong.

The Internet has joined trade imbalances, currency values, U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan and tensions over human rights and Tibet among the quarrels straining ties between the world's biggest and third-biggest economies.

"How China's Internet develops and how it is managed are Chinese people's own affairs," Min said in an interview with state-run Xinhuanet.com.

"On the Internet question, China doesn't need any lessons from the United States on what to do or how," he said.

Clinton's speech criticized the cyber policies of China and Iran, among others, and demanded Beijing investigate complaints by Google Inc about hacking and censorship.

Google, the world's top search engine, said it may shut its Chinese-language google.cn website and offices in China after a cyber-attack originating from China that also targeted other firms and human rights campaigners using its Gmail service.

Websites Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are blocked in China, which uses a filtering "firewall" to prevent Internet users from seeing international web sites with content China's Communist Party opposes.

"Hillary's speech on January 21 insinuating that China lacks freedom of information and speech is in fact disrespectful and doesn't stand up," Min said.
info came from http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60M0II20100123?type=technologyNews

Putin warns against despotism, chaos in Russia

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Friday warned against the dangers of totalitarianism and despotism but said Russia must not adopt a similar political system to its neighbour Ukraine.
"We shouldn't allow the 'Ukraine-ization' of political life in Russia but we should on no account slide in the other direction, towards totalitarianism and despotism," Putin said.

Ukraine last week held the first round of presidential elections that were hailed by international observers as "high quality" and offering a wide choice of candidates. But the country also suffers from chronic political instability. Speaking at a major meeting chaired by President Dmitry Medvedev and attended by Russia's political elite, Putin called for cautious reform of the Russian political system.

"We need to bring in necessary amendments but we need to act extremely carefully," he said, speaking at a meeting of leaders of political parties.

"Any effective political system needs a healthy level of conservatism. A political system shouldn't wobble like liquid jelly every time it's touched," he said.

Putin harshly rejected a call for officials to examine complaints on the Internet about vote rigging in the recent regional elections.

"On the Internet 50 percent is porn material. Why should we refer to the Internet?" he said.

Putin's stern comments contrasted with a speech by Medvedev, who called for a shake-up of the country's political system to promote opposition parties, criticising "non-existent" competition in local government.

The more tech-savvy Medvedev is also a keen user of the Internet and has a video blog. At the meeting, which included the leaders of all Russia's registered parties, Medvedev called "astonishing" the fact that almost 50 percent of deputies in regional councils are members of the ruling United Russia party.

Communists make up two percent of deputies, while A Just Russia has one percent and the Liberal Democrat Party has less than one percent, he said.

"This situation is simply astonishing. It shows that our parties, primarily the opposition ones, still work very weakly at a municipal level," Medvedev said.

"Real political competition is virtually non-existent there."

Medvedev's comments were backed by Sergei Mitrokhin, leader of the liberal Yabloko party, which has no seats in the lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma. "There is a lack of real, full political discussion," he complained. "Political parties are unable to work in such conditions."

Medvedev said he would send a draft bill Friday to the State Duma guaranteeing all parties that gain more than five percent of votes in elections a seat in regional parliaments.

United Russia, which is led by Putin even though he is not a card-carrying member, holds a majority of 315 out of 450 seats in the Duma.

"Our political system works. It's far from being ideal but it works," said Medvedev.

Medvedev's address was his latest call for reform in Russia, coming after a keynote speech in November where he urged Russia's transformation into a democratic, high-tech society.

Analysts have praised Medvedev for making a sequence of promising statements since taking over the Kremlin from Putin in May 2008 but some have criticised him for failing to translate the ambitious words into practice.

Most observers believe that despite Putin's subsequent move to prime minister he still remains Russia's de-facto number one.


Copyright AFP 2008, AFP stories and photos shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium
info came from http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.4578e814909f0ad722594e6c798584f9.4c1&show_article=1

White House confident Senate will OK Bernanke

Jan 24, 9:21 AM (ET)


(AP) In this July 22, 2009 photo, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies on Capitol Hill...
Full Image
WASHINGTON (AP) - White House officials are confident the Senate will confirm Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for a second term.
President spokesman Robert Gibbs says a new four-year term for the central bank head is needed to ensure stability in the financial system.
Bernanke, appointed by Republican President George W. Bush, is widely credited with helping to prevent the recession from turning into a depression. But his support of Wall Street bailouts has angered the public as the country struggles with double-digit unemployment and soaring home foreclosures.
Gibbs tells "Fox News Sunday" that lawmakers would send a bad message to financial markets by "playing politics in any way" with Bernanke's nomination.
President Barack Obama called Senate allies on Saturday to make his case for Bernanke, whose term ends Jan. 31. The Senate is scheduled to vote on Bernanke by week's end.
info came from http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100124/D9DE5EOO0.html

S. Korea To Ban Use of USB Thumb Drives

Posted by l33tdawg on Wednesday, January 13, 2010 - 12:00 AM (Reads: 282)
Source: Defense News

The South Korean military will ban the use of USB flash drives in an attempt to thwart increasing cyber attacks, officials at the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said Jan. 12.

The move comes after part of a South Korea-U.S. operational plan was accessed by a hacker through a USB thumb drive used by an officer at the Combined Forces Command here. It also comes after the MND launched a cyber warfare command Jan. 11.

"We plan to spend 2.8 billion won [$2.5 million] this year in establishing a new data exchange system to replace USB drives," a ministry spokesman said. "Once the system is set up, the use of thumb drives will be banned thoroughly."

AP Exclusive: Network flaw causes scary Web error

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A Georgia mother and her two daughters logged onto Facebook from mobile phones last weekend and wound up in a startling place: strangers' accounts with full access to troves of private information.
The glitch—the result of a routing problem at the family's wireless carrier, AT&T—revealed a little known security flaw with far reaching implications for everyone on the Internet, not just Facebook users.
In each case, the Internet lost track of who was who, putting the women into the wrong accounts. It doesn't appear the users could have done anything to stop it. The problem adds a dimension to researchers' warnings that there are many ways online information—from mundane data to dark secrets—can go awry.

Several security experts said they had not heard of a case like this, in which the wrong person was shown a Web page whose user name and password had been entered by someone else. It's not clear whether such episodes are rare or simply not reported. But experts said such flaws could occur on e-mail services, for instance, and that something similar could happen on a PC, not just a phone.

"The fact that it did happen is proof that it could potentially happen again and with something a lot more important than Facebook," said Nathan Hamiel, founder of the Hexagon Security Group, a research organization.

Candace Sawyer, 26, says she immediately suspected something was wrong when she tried to visit her Facebook page Saturday morning.

After typing Facebook.com into her Nokia smart phone, she was taken into the site without being asked for her user name or password. She was in an account that didn't look like hers. She had fewer friend requests than she remembered. Then she found a picture of the page's owner.

"He's white—I'm not," she said with a laugh.

Sawyer logged off and asked her sister, Mari, 31, her partner in a dessert catering company, and their mother, Fran, 57, to see whether they had the same problem on their phones.

Mari landed inside another woman's page.

Fran's phone—which had never been used to access Facebook before—took her inside yet another stranger's page, one belonging to a young woman from Indiana. They sent an e-mail to one of their own accounts to prove it.

They were dumbfounded.

"I thought it was the phone—`Maybe this phone is just weird and does magical, horrible things and I have to get rid of it,'" said Candace Sawyer.

The women, who live together in East Point, Ga., outside Atlanta, had recently upgraded to the same model of phone and all used the same carrier, AT&T.

Sawyer contacted The Associated Press after reporting the problem to Facebook and AT&T.

The problem wasn't in the phones. It was a flaw in the infrastructure connecting the phones to the Internet.

That illuminates a grave problem.

Generally Web sites and computers are compromised from within. A hacker can get a Web page or computers to run programming code that they shouldn't. But in this case, it was a security gap between the phone and the Web site that exposed strangers' Facebook pages to the Sawyers. Misconfigured equipment, poorly written network software or other technical errors could have caused AT&T to fumble the information flowing from the Sawyers' phones to Facebook and back.

Fortunately, Hamiel said, the vulnerability would be of limited use to a hacker interested in pulling off widespread mayhem, because this hole would let him access only one account at a time. To do more damage the criminal would have to pull off the unlikely feat of gaining full control of the piece of equipment that routes Internet traffic to individual users.

AT&T spokesman Michael Coe said its wireless customers have landed in the wrong Facebook pages in "a limited number of instances" and that a network problem behind those episodes is being fixed.

The Sawyers experienced a different glitch. Coe said an investigation points to a "misdirected cookie." A cookie is a file some Web sites place on computers to store identifying information—including the user name that Facebook members would enter to access their pages. Coe said technicians couldn't figure out how the cookie had been routed to the wrong phone, leading it into the wrong Facebook account.

He also said AT&T could confirm only that the problem occurred on one of the Sawyers' phones, possibly because they had logged off Facebook on the other two before reporting the incident.

Facebook declined to comment and referred questions to AT&T.

Some Web sites would be immune from this kind of mix-up, particularly those that use encryption. A Web browser would have trouble deciphering the encryption on a page that a computer user didn't actually seek, said Chris Wysopal, co-founder of Veracode Inc., a security company.

Sensitive sites and those used for banking and e-commerce generally use encryption. But most other sites, including some Web-based e-mail services, don't use it. One way of checking: The Web addresses of encrypted sites begin with "https" rather than "http." Facebook uses encryption when user names and passwords are entered, to cloak the sign-on from snoops, but after the credentials are entered the encryption is dropped.

It's unclear how many people were affected by the problem the Sawyers discovered, and whether it was limited to Facebook.

The reason all three women experienced the glitch is a function of the way cellular networks are designed. In some cases, all the mobile Internet traffic for a particular area is routed through the same piece of networking equipment. If that piece of equipment is misbehaving or set up incorrectly, strange things happen when computers down the line receive the data.

Usually that means a Web site simply won't load, said Alberto Solino, director of security consulting services for Core Security Technologies. In the Sawyers' case, "somehow they got the wrong user but they could keep using that account for a long period of time. That's what's strange," he said.

The AP tried to contact two of the people whose Facebook pages were exposed to the Sawyers, but the calls and e-mails were not returned. It's unclear whether they are also AT&T customers, though security experts said that's likely the case.

Indeed, it was the case in a similar incident in November.

Stephen Simburg, 25, who works in marketing, was home for Thanksgiving in Vancouver, Wash., when he logged onto Facebook from his cell phone. He didn't recognize the people who had written him messages.

"I thought I had gotten really popular all of a sudden, or something was wrong," he said. Then he saw the picture of the account owner: A young woman.

He got her e-mail address from the site, logged off and wrote the woman a message. He asked whether he had met her at some point and she had borrowed his phone to check her Facebook account.

"No," she wrote back, "but I was just telling my family that I ended up in your profile!"

Simburg and the woman figured out they were both using AT&T to access Facebook on their phones. (AT&T had no comment because the incident wasn't reported to the company.)

"I felt like I had been let down by the phone company and by Facebook," he said.

He says he has put the incident behind him. But one piece of it remains: He and the young woman are now Facebook friends.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
info came from http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9D8EGD00&show_article=1

For $65, tourists get peek at Los Angeles gangland

Jan 16, 4:27 PM (ET)

By THOMAS WATKINS
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Only miles from the scenic vistas and celebrity mansions that draw sightseers from around the globe - but a world away from the glitz and glamour - a bus tour is rolling through the dark side of the city's gang turf.
Passengers paying $65 a head Saturday signed waivers acknowledging they could be crime victims and put their fate in the hands of tattooed ex-gang members who say they have negotiated a cease-fire among rivals in the most violent gangland in America.
If that sounds daunting, consider the challenge facing organizers of LA Gang Tours: trying to build a thriving venture that provides a glimpse into gang life while also trying to convince people that gang-plagued communities are not as hopeless as movies depict.
"There's a fascination with gangs," said founder Alfred Lomas, a former member of the Florencia 13 gang. "We can either address the issue head-on, create awareness and discuss the positive things that go on in these communities, or we can try to sweep it under the carpet."
Several observers have questioned the premise behind the tours, and some city politicians have been more blunt.
"It's a terrible idea," City Councilman Dennis Zine said. "Is it worth that thrill for 65 bucks? You can go to a (gang) movie for a lot less and not put yourself at risk."
More than 50 people brushed aside safety concerns for Saturday's maiden tour to hear how notorious gangs got started and bear witness to the struggling neighborhoods where tens of thousands of residents have been lured into gang life.
The unmarked chartered coach wound its way through downtown. The first sight was a stretch of concrete riverbed featured in such movies as "Terminator" and "Grease," where countless splotches of gray paint conceal graffiti that is often the mark of street gangs and tagging crews.
After that, it was on to the Central Jail, home to many a thug, past Skid Row's squalor and homeless masses and into South Los Angeles, breeding ground for some of the city's deadliest gangs.
Motoring through an industrial area, the bus enters the Florence-Firestone neighborhood, close to the birthplace of the Crips and current home to Florencia 13, a Latino gang that was accused by federal prosecutors of racist attacks against black residents.
Gray warehouses soon merge with single-story stucco homes as the bus heads south. Few gangsters risk hanging out on street corners, as local rules mean they could get arrested even for congregating, but graffiti on walls, road signs and convenience storefronts betray the presence of Florencia 13 and other gangs.
Sieglinde Lemke, 46, an American Studies professor from the University of Freiburg in Germany, said she enjoyed the opportunity to interact with former gang members.
"It brings to life the class divisions you have in America," she said. "This is an area that's blocked out of my mental map of the States. It's important to get a firsthand account of the area."
Junior high school teacher Prisca Ricks, 37, was of two minds about going on the tour after reading critical blog comments about it being "ghettotainment."
But ultimately, she was pleased she went, and said she appreciated the focus on trying to help the community.
Lomas, 45, a respected activist who has worked with the faith-based Los Angeles Dream Center to distribute hundreds of tons of food to low-income families across the inner city, left gang life about five years ago.
He stresses the aim of his nonprofit company is to bring jobs to communities along the route and to reinvest money through micro-loans and scholarships, though he's not sure how the tour will accomplish that. He also eventually wants to start a gallery and gang museum.
He said the tour will create 10 part-time jobs, mainly for ex-gang members working as guides and talking about their own struggles and efforts to reduce violence. The tour is initially scheduled to run once a month.
No tour quite like this runs elsewhere in the country. Chicago has a prohibition-era gangster tour, and another Los Angeles group buses people to infamous crime scenes, including the Black Dahlia murder.
Lomas faces a quandary as he tries to show the troubled history of the area once known as South Central, before politicians renamed it South Los Angeles in 2003 in an attempt to change its deep association with urban strife.
The tour is billed as "the first in the history of Los Angeles to experience areas that were forbidden." But tour leaders don't want it to be voyeuristic and sensational.
"We ain't going on no tour saying, 'Look at them Crips, look at them Bloods, look at them crack heads,'" said Frederick "Scorpio" Smith, an ex-Crip helping narrate, who helped broker the cease-fire among the Grape Street Crips, 18th Street, F13 and the East Coast Crips.
Out of sensitivity to residents, passengers are banned from shooting photographs or video from the bus. The only place that is allowed is near the end of the trip, when they can step off the bus and film an outdoor area where graffiti is allowed.
Stretches of the tour have almost nothing to do with gangs, but instead exploit famous chapters of violence in the city's history, such as a deadly 1974 shootout between police and the Symbionese Liberation Army and the site of the riots that followed the acquittal of officers in the Rodney King beating.
If done right, the tour could highlight the decades-long struggle to solve the gang problem, said civil rights lawyer and gang expert Connie Rice.
Gang crime has fallen in recent years, but groups continue to grow and gain influence. Over the past quarter century, officials in Los Angeles County have spent $25 billion fighting gangs only to see the number of gangsters double to as many as 90,000 and a six-fold increase in the number of gangs.
"If it is carried out well and carefully and carried out with the consent of the community, it could teach people about the very entrenched culture that gangs now have in Los Angeles," Rice said.
City Councilwoman Jan Perry said she would rather tourists see the development potential in the neighborhoods that make up part of her district. About two years ago, she organized her own tour in the area for about 200 real estate agents and business representatives, resulting in the development of buildings with homes and businesses.
"I'd prefer we focus on showing the community in a positive light," she said.
---
On the Net:
LA Gang Tours http://www.lagangtours.com
info came from http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100116/D9D92UDG0.html

Haiti sees 140,000 dead, fears violence

15 Jan 2010 20:55:04 GMT
Source: Reuters
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Haitian authorities have buried 40,000 bodies and believe another 100,000 people probably died in this week's earthquake, a senior official told Reuters on Friday.
Aramick Louis, secretary of state for public safety, also said gangs were starting to take to the streets and the government's main fear was a surge in violence. (Reporting by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by John O'Callaghan)
AlertNet news is provided by
info came from http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N1552739.htm

Exclusive: Meet the human goat

Miracle ... The bizarre human-like creature born from a goat

Shock ... The bizarre 'human-like' creature born from a goat

RELATED STORIES
Gweru: Goat gives birth to human
THESE are the shocking pictures of the human-like creature born from a goat in central Zimbabwe.

Defying science, the dead human-like being survived for several hours after birth on Sunday but died later as shocked villagers gathered in rural Maboleni, 40 miles out of the Midlands town of Gweru, to witness the “miracle”.

The creature, which was incinerated by superstitious villagers before it could be taken for lab tests, had what looks like a human head, face, nose, mouth, neck and shoulders but also had goat legs and a tail. It also had human-like skin and back.

Midlands Governor Jason Machaya claimed on Wednesday that the bizarre creature was a product of bestiality. He declared: “An adult human being was responsible.”

But experts say it is impossible for a human being to have sex with an animal and produce an offspring of any kind.

Inter-breeding humans with closely allied species like chimpanzees, gorillas and gibbons has been attempted with no results, experts say.

There are few known species that can interbreed and produce offspring of varying degrees of fertility, including horses and donkeys which produce mules which are infertile. Bison and cattle produce beefalos while lions and tigers produce ligers – both infertile.

The Midlands’ Provincial Veterinary Officer Dr Thomas Sibanda, while regretting that they never got the chance to conduct tests on the bizarre creature, said: “As far as I know, it is not scientifically possible for a man to impregnate a beast unless of course it’s a miracle.

“Inter-breeding is so hard that a sheep and a goat can mate but they will never produce any product out of it.”


Is it a baby? ... The bizarre creature strikes pose of sleeping human baby

Locals now fear that the creature was a product of witchcraft, but Dr Sibanda still wants to give science a chance. He said: “It is common that an animal can be born with the hydrocephalus condition, a condition that causes an animal to have an abnormally big head full of water. This condition can cause the normal positions of the chin, nose and ears to shift.

“We could have confirmed that the creature was a goat if we had seen it since we are experts in animals. To confirm whether it was a human being, you need medical doctors.”
info came from http://www.newzimbabwe.com/news-912-Exclusive%20Pictures%20The%20human%20goat/news.aspx

White House budget director blames old computers for ineffective government

By Ian Swanson - 01/14/10 02:56 PM ET
A big reason why the government is inefficient and ineffective is because Washington has outdated technology, with federal workers having better computers at home than in the office.

This startling admission came Thursday from Peter Orszag, who manages the federal bureaucracy for President Barack Obama.

The public is getting a bad return on its tax dollars because government workers are operating with outdated technologies, Orszag said in a statement that kicked off a summit between Obama and dozens of corporate CEOs.

“Twenty years ago, people who came to work in the federal government had better technology at work than at home,” said Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget. “Now that’s no longer the case.

“The American people deserve better service from their government, and better return for their tax dollars.”

The White House release that included Orszag’s comments said one “specific source” of ineffective and inefficient government is the huge technology gap between the public and private sectors that results in billions of dollars in waste, slow and inadequate customer service and a lack of transparency about how dollars are spent.



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Obama is meeting with CEOs to solicit their views on how to improve the federal government with new information technology.



“Improving the technology our government uses isn’t about having the fanciest bells and whistles on our websites — it’s about how we use the American people’s hard-earned tax dollars to make government work better for them,” Obama said in a statement.

Obama had proposed the meeting in April. CEOs from Craigslist, Facebook, Microsoft, Adobe Technology and Monster.com are among those taking part.

“It’s time to bring government into the 21st century,” Orszag said. “Information technology has the power to transform how government works and revolutionize the ease, convenience and effectiveness by which it serves the American people."

Those attending the summit are to break into smaller groups to discuss streamlining government operations, improving customer service and maximizing return on IT investments.
info came from http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/75965-white-house-blames-inefficient-government-on-outdated-technologies

Mystery object to whizz by Earth Wednesday

Tue Jan 12, 1:52 pm ET
WASHINGTON – A mystery object from space is about to whizz close by Earth on Wednesday. It won't hit our planet, but scientists are stumped by what exactly it is.
Astronomers say it may be space junk or it could be a tiny asteroid, too small to cause damage even if it hit. It's 33 to 50 feet wide at most.
NASA says that on Wednesday at 7:47 a.m. EST, it will streak by, missing Earth by about 80,000 miles. In the western United States it may be bright enough to be seen with a good amateur telescope.
info came from http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100112/ap_on_sc/us_sci_space_miss

Fears that World Cup could increase spread of HIV

(CNN) -- Advocates for sex workers in South Africa have warned that this summer's World Cup could be a public health disaster.
With up to half a million football fans expected to visit South Africa for the World Cup, and up to half of South Africa's prostitutes carrying the HIV virus, there have been calls for the country to decriminalize prostitution to help tackle the spread of HIV.
Eric Harper, director of the Cape Town-based Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT), told CNN that the World Cup would inevitably lead to a demand for sex workers.
"And where there's demand there will be a supply," Harper told CNN. "It could be a potential recipe for disaster both for the clients and the sex workers," he added.
Harper told CNN that while there are no accurate figures for the number of sex workers in South Africa, his organization believes there are 3,000 in Cape Town alone.
The UN estimates that in South Africa 5.7 million people are HIV positive, more than in any other country. A 2005 University of Michigan study found that 46 percent of female sex workers in Johannesburg had HIV.
Those figures, coupled with the expected influx of visitors for the World Cup, are causing concern for some South Africans.
Harper said HIV is just one of the dangers faced by South Africa's sex workers. As well as the risk of contracting other STIs, there is the chance of unwanted pregnancies and the ever-present threat of violence and rape.
Prostitution is illegal in South Africa, but the law is currently being reviewed as part of a larger assessment of all sexual offenses. Harper believes decriminalizing prostitution can help control the spread of HIV. "Throughout the world people have acknowledged that if you want to reduce HIV you need to be able to engage the population and address human rights concerns," he told CNN.
"One of the key messages is that decriminalization is a way of accessing sex workers."
Harper argued that criminalization drives prostitution underground. He said that removing the threat of prosecution would make it easier to provide sex workers with condoms and make it easier for sex workers to turn down clients who refuse to use condoms.
Any possible change to the legal status of prostitution remains some way off, with South Africa's Law Reform Commission expected to make its recommendations to the Minister of Justice in 2011. Meanwhile, Harper would like to see prostitution decriminalized at least for the duration of the World Cup.
It's an idea that was also put forward in 2007 by police commissioner Jackie Selebi, now suspended on corruption charges. But Dellene Clark, of the Law Reform Commission, told CNN that the government was not considering a temporary amnesty and that it would be "nigh on impossible" to rush the legislation through parliament in time for the tournament.
Julian Seedat of the South African National AIDS Council, which advises the government on HIV and AIDS, is also expecting an increase in prostitution during the World Cup, but he is more optimistic about the health implications.
"I don't think the World Cup will necessarily bring an increased risk of the spread of HIV," he told CNN.
"Over the years there has been an incredible amount of education and awareness work done among sex workers. Years ago the high-risk groups were thought to be homosexuals and sex workers, but there has been such a focus on education for these groups that their behavior has really changed. It's quite the norm for a commercial sex worker to have a bag full of condoms."
Seedat said all public health centers in South Africa offer free voluntary counseling and HIV testing, and that organizations like SWEAT had helped educate sex workers about the importance of using condoms and being tested if they have practiced unsafe sex.
"People in the sex work sector make sure that they're protected, that they're tested and that they know their [HIV] status," he said.
Harper said most sex workers do practice safe sex, but many clients don't want to use a condom. He added that as long as prostitution remains illegal, protecting sex workers and their clients during the World Cup would be problematic.
He told CNN, "We have to make condoms freely available and we have to make it possible for sex workers to report human rights violations like child prostitution and people trafficking."
info came from http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/01/07/worldcup.sex.workers/index.html

Taiwan firm: China got Iran part with nuke uses

AP foreign, Friday January 8 2010
DEBBY WU

Associated Press Writer= TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A Taiwanese company agreed to a request from a firm in China to procure sensitive components with nuclear uses, then shipped them to Iran, the firm's head said Friday. Such transactions violate U.N. sanctions imposed on the Middle Eastern nation.

The admission by Steven Lin of Hsinchu-based Heli-Ocean Technology Co. Ltd. comes amid an international effort led by the United States to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. While Lin said he didn't know whether the parts — a vital component in the production of weapons-grade uranium — were eventually used by Iran militarily, he did acknowledge that they have nuclear applications.

U.N. sanctions to prevent Iran from expanding its uranium enrichment program have led it to the black market to obtain sophisticated nuclear-related equipment. Aided by these illegal purchases, the program has grown to the stage where thousands of centrifuges are churning out enriched material, which can be used both for fuel or as the fissile core of nuclear warheads.

Iran insists that it wants to enrich uranium to generate nuclear power, but its attempts to evade probes by the International Atomic Energy Agency and its refusal to stop enrichment are increasing suspicions it actually seeks weapons capabilities.

In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Lin said he received an Internet order from a Chinese firm in January or February 2008 to obtain an unspecified number of pressure transducers, which convert pressure into analog electrical signals.

While pressure transducers have many commercial uses, they furnish the precise measurements needed in the production of weapons-grade uranium.

Nuclear proliferation expert David Albright of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security told the AP that Iran tried hard to procure the transducers in Europe and Canada, but was thwarted by a concerted international effort.

However, he said, the existence of the Taiwanese-Chinese connection shows that Iran still has the ability to get what it needs by tapping alternative sources.

"This equipment is likely for its gas centrifuge program," he said.

Lin did not identify the Chinese company that placed the transducer order, except to say that it was involved in the manufacture of pipeline for the oil industry.

He said that he obtained the transducers from a Swiss company, which he declined to name.

Lin said that when he contacted the Swiss firm he had no idea where the transducers were heading.

"It was only at the last minute that the Chinese told me to send them to Iran," he said.

Lin arranged for their direct transportation from Taiwan to the Middle East, he said, rather than sending them to the Chinese company first.

Lin said that he didn't know what happened to the transducers after they arrived in Iran, though he acknowledged that they have an important role in the nuclear industry.

"I know that the (peaceful) nuclear research units in Taiwan use these things," he said. "The equipment has multiple uses from semiconductors to solar energy to nuclear work."

A Taiwanese government official told the AP on Friday that an official probe of the Taiwanese-Iranian transducer connection confirmed that 108 of the transducers had been sent from Taiwan to Iran at a Chinese request, but that the equipment was not precise enough to be placed on the island's export control list.

The official, who was in charge of the probe, spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.

Beside being prohibited by the U.N. from pressure transducer purchases, Iran is also banned from buying them on the open market by the Nuclear Suppliers Group, an international body established to limit nuclear proliferation by controlling the export of materials that can be used in building atomic weapons.

Asked about the circuitous route of the transducer transaction — from China to Taiwan to Switzerland, then back to Taiwan and finally to Iran — the Taiwanese official said that such deals were common in international trade.

"It is fairly common to do business through third parties," he said. He did not elaborate.

The U.S. and its allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons secretly under the guise of a civilian atomic energy program, but Tehran insists its efforts are aimed only at generating electricity.

Washington has been pressing both China and Russia to agree to stepped up sanctions to pressure Iran into stopping its alleged nuclear program, but so far without result.

Over the past several years China has been accused of directly aiding the alleged Iranian nuclear weapons development on a number of occasions. Washington has enacted sanctions against several Chinese companies. China has denied involvement in Iran's nuclear programs.

At the same time, Beijing has courted close relations with Iran, with Chinese state companies purchasing Iranian oil and investing in Iran's energy industry.
info came from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/8889728

Man arrested in Newark airport security breach

Jan 9, 8:38 AM (ET)

By SAMANTHA HENRY and DAVID PORTER

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - A man believed to have breached security to bid his girlfriend goodbye, triggering the shutdown of a busy Newark Airport terminal that led to snarled flights worldwide, was arrested in New Jersey and faces a trespassing charge and a fine of up to $500, punishment a senator says should be much harsher.
Haisong Jiang, 28, of Piscataway was taken into custody at 7:30 p.m. Friday at his home, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said. He was questioned at the airport by Port Authority police, who arrested him, and released shortly after midnight.
The Port Authority said in a statement that Jiang will being charged with defiant trespass, and that the charge was determined in coordination with the Essex County prosecutor and federal officials, though it's not a federal charge. A spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration referred all questions to the Port Authority.
Jiang is due to appear in Newark municipal court next week, according to Paul Loriquet of the Essex County Prosecutor's Office.
It was not immediately clear whether Jiang has retained a lawyer.
Jiang, who is Chinese, is a doctoral student in a joint molecular biosciences program at Rutgers University, one of his roommates said early Saturday. He said Jiang was born in Jiangxi, China, and has been in the U.S. since 2004.
Jiang's roommate, who would only identify himself as Hui, said Jiang took his girlfriend to the airport Sunday. He said Jiang's girlfriend was a recent Rutgers graduate who lives in Los Angeles and was visiting for the holidays.
He said Jiang hadn't mentioned anything to his roommates about what happened at the airport and they were surprised by the arrest. He said he felt Jiang didn't think what he had done was a serious matter.
Hui said the roommates were aware of the video of the security breach but didn't pay much attention.
Jiang lives in two-story home on a residential street of tidy, single-family homes near the Rutgers campus in Piscataway. His roommate said Chinese graduate students from Rutgers lived in the house.
"From every indication I've seen, everybody in there is good people," said Gene Wells, who lives next door to Jiang. "I've never had a problem with them."
Hui said he arrived home about 7 p.m. Friday and two officers were waiting outside. He called Jiang, who he said was at the gym, and told him the officers were waiting. Jiang returned home, spoke to the officers and was arrested.
New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who was briefed on the arrest, said authorities found Jiang with "sheer, hard police work" of sifting through records and following leads. But he expressed anger that Jiang faces a charge he described as a "slap on the wrist" and will only be given a fine of about $500.
"This was a terrible deed in its outcome - it wasn't some prank that didn't do any harm - it did a lot of harm because it sent out an alert that people can get away with something like this," Lautenberg said.
The senator called Jiang's actions "premeditated" and said even though the his actions were relatively benign, "what he did was a terrible injustice" to the thousands of people who were inconvenienced.
Lautenberg, a New Jersey Democrat, had pressed for surveillance video of the security breach to be publicly released. He said he believes Newark airport is safe but will pursue airport security issues in upcoming Congressional hearings.
The breach led the TSA to shut down one of Newark Liberty International's three terminals for six hours Sunday, stranding thousands of passengers and contributing to long delays.
A person with direct knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press on Friday that the Transportation Security Administration worker who allegedly left his post is Ruben Hernandez of Newark. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is in progress.
TSA employees are not unionized, but the American Federation of Government Employees is representing him, said union spokesman Derrick Thomas. The union declined to publicly identify him. The TSA has said the guard has been on administrative leave since Tuesday.
The officer, who has been with the agency for 2 1/2 years, previously received a commendation for job performance, Thomas said.
"He's been rated a model employee," he said. "We intend to fully represent him to make sure this whole investigation is handled correctly and that he's not made a scapegoat for all that's been going wrong with security at the airports."
The union is reviewing reports that the officer was called from his post to investigate a disturbance in the seconds before the security breach, Thomas said.
On a surveillance video released Thursday by the TSA and the Port Authority, the guard is seen sitting at a security podium in an exit lane as passengers stream past on their way out of the terminal.
A man wearing a light-colored jacket stands inside a rope barrier, and the guard approaches the man, apparently telling him to move behind the rope.
Within a minute, the guard leaves the podium again and disappears into the crowd. A woman in a long white coat approaches the podium from inside the terminal; the man sees her and ducks under the security rope, and the two walk past, arm in arm.
The man was seen on a separate surveillance camera leaving the terminal about 20 minutes later, according to the TSA.
A bystander waiting for an arriving passenger noticed the breach and told the guard. TSA officials then discovered that surveillance cameras at the security checkpoint had not recorded the breach and were forced to consult backup security cameras operated by Continental Airlines.
Continental spokeswoman Susannah Thurston said Friday night that the airline had no comment on Jiang's arrest.
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Associated Press writers Bill Newill in Piscataway, N.J., and Matt Curry in Dallas contributed to this report.
info came from http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100109/D9D48DH81.html

Mind-reading systems could change air security

Jan 8, 6:22 AM (ET)

By MICHAEL TARM
CHICAGO (AP) - A would-be terrorist tries to board a plane, bent on mass murder. As he walks through a security checkpoint, fidgeting and glancing around, a network of high-tech machines analyzes his body language and reads his mind.
Screeners pull him aside.
Tragedy is averted.
As far-fetched as that sounds, systems that aim to get inside an evildoer's head are among the proposals floated by security experts thinking beyond the X-ray machines and metal detectors used on millions of passengers and bags each year.
On Thursday, in the wake of the Christmas Day bombing attempt over Detroit, President Barack Obama called on Homeland Security and the Energy Department to develop better screening technology, warning: "In the never-ending race to protect our country, we have to stay one step ahead of a nimble adversary."
The ideas that have been offered by security experts for staying one step ahead include highly sophisticated sensors, more intensive interrogations of travelers by screeners trained in human behavior, and a lifting of the U.S. prohibitions against profiling.
Some of the more unusual ideas are already being tested. Some aren't being given any serious consideration. Many raise troubling questions about civil liberties. All are costly.
"Regulators need to accept that the current approach is outdated," said Philip Baum, editor of the London-based magazine Aviation Security International. "It may have responded to the threats of the 1960s, but it doesn't respond to the threats of the 21st century."
Here's a look at some of the ideas that could shape the future of airline security:
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MIND READERS
The aim of one company that blends high technology and behavioral psychology is hinted at in its name, WeCU - as in "We See You."
The system that Israeli-based WeCU Technologies has devised and is testing in Israel projects images onto airport screens, such as symbols associated with a certain terrorist group or some other image only a would-be terrorist would recognize, said company CEO Ehud Givon.
The logic is that people can't help reacting, even if only subtly, to familiar images that suddenly appear in unfamiliar places. If you strolled through an airport and saw a picture of your mother, Givon explained, you couldn't help but respond.
The reaction could be a darting of the eyes, an increased heartbeat, a nervous twitch or faster breathing, he said.
The WeCU system would use humans to do some of the observing but would rely mostly on hidden cameras or sensors that can detect a slight rise in body temperature and heart rate. Far more sensitive devices under development that can take such measurements from a distance would be incorporated later.
If the sensors picked up a suspicious reaction, the traveler could be pulled out of line for further screening.
"One by one, you can screen out from the flow of people those with specific malicious intent," Givon said.
Some critics have expressed horror at the approach, calling it Orwellian and akin to "brain fingerprinting."
For civil libertarians, attempting to read a person's thoughts comes uncomfortably close to the future world depicted in the movie "Minority Report," where a policeman played by Tom Cruise targets people for "pre-crimes," or merely thinking about breaking the law.
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LIE DETECTORS
One system being studied by Homeland Security is called the Future Attribute Screening Technology, or FAST, and works like a souped-up polygraph.
It would subject people pulled aside for additional screening to a battery of tests, including scans of facial movements and pupil dilation, for signs of deception. Small platforms similar to the balancing boards used in the Nintendo Wii would help detect fidgeting.
At a public demonstration of the system in Boston last year, project manager Robert Burns explained that people who harbor ill will display involuntary physiological reactions that others - such as those who are stressed out for ordinary reasons, such as being late for a plane - don't.
The system could be made to work passively, scanning people as they walk through a security line, according to Burns.
Field testing of the system, which will cost around $20 million to develop, could begin in 2011, The Boston Globe said in a story about the demonstration. Addressing one concern of civil libertarians, Burns said the technology would delete data after each screening.
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THE ISRAELI MODEL
Some say the U.S. should take a page from Israel's book on security.
At Israeli airports, widely considered the most secure in the world, travelers are subjected to probing personal questions as screeners look them straight in the eye for signs of deception. Searches are meticulous, with screeners often scrutinizing every item in a bag, unfolding socks, squeezing toothpaste and flipping through books.
"All must look to Israel and learn from them. This is not a post-911 thing for them. They've been doing this since 1956," said Michael Goldberg, president of New York-based IDO Security Inc., which developed a device that can scan shoes while they are still on people's feet.
Israel also employs profiling: At Ben-Gurion Airport, Jewish Israelis typically pass through smoothly, while others may be taken aside for closer interrogation or even strip searches. Another distinquishing feature of Israeli airports is that they rely on concentric security rings that start miles from terminal buildings.
Rafi Ron, the former security director at Israel's famously tight Ben Gurion International Airport who now is a consultant for Boston's Logan International Airport, says U.S. airports also need to be careful not to overcommit to securing passenger entry points at airports, forgetting about the rest of the field.
"Don't invest all your efforts on the front door and leave the back door open," said Ron.
While many experts agree the United States could adopt some Israeli methods, few believe the overall model would work here, in part because of the sheer number of U.S. airports - more than 400, versus half a dozen in Israel.
Also, the painstaking searches and interrogations would create delays that could bring U.S. air traffic to a standstill. And many Americans would find the often intrusive and intimidating Israeli approach repugnant.
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PROFILING
Some argue that policies against profiling undermine security.
Baum, who is also managing director of Green Light Limited, a London-based aviation security company, agrees profiling based on race and religion is counterproductive and should be avoided. But he argues that a reluctance to distinguish travelers on other grounds - such as their general appearance or their mannerisms - is not only foolhardy but dangerous.
"When you see a typical family - dressed like a family, acts like a family, interacts with each other like a family ... when their passport details match - then let's get them through," he said. "Stop wasting time that would be much better spent screening the people that we've get more concerns about."
U.S. authorities prohibit profiling of passengers based on ethnicity, religion or national origin. Current procedures call for travelers to be randomly pulled out of line for further screening.
Scrutinizing 80-year-old grandmothers or students because they might be carrying school scissors can defy common sense, Baum said.
"We need to use the human brain - which is the best technology of them all," he said.
But any move to relax prohibitions against profiling in the U.S. would surely trigger fierce resistance, including legal challenges by privacy advocates.
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PRIVATIZATION
What if security were left to somebody other than the federal government?
Jim Harper, director of information policy studies at the Washington-based Cato Institute, a free-market-oriented think tank, says airlines should be allowed take charge of security at airports.
Especially since 9/11, the trend has been toward standardizing security procedures to ensure all airports follow the best practices. But Harper argues that decentralizing the responsibility would result in a mix of approaches - thereby making it harder for terrorists to use a single template in planning attacks.
"Passengers, too, prefer a uniform experience," he said. "But that's not necessarily the best security. It's better if sometimes we take your laptop out, sometimes we'll pat you down. Those are things that will really drive a terrorist batty - as if they're not batty already."
Harper concedes that privatizing airport security is probably wishful thinking, and the idea has not gotten any traction. He acknowledges it would be difficult to allay fears of gaping security holes if it were left to each airline or airport owner to decide its own approach.
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AP writers Glen Johnson in Boston and Josef Federman in Jerusalem also contributed to this report.
info came from http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100108/D9D3HB101.html

Google Applies to Become Power Marketer

By MIGUEL HELFT
Google is stepping up its forays into the energy world.

The Internet search company, which consumes vast amounts of electricity to run the computers in its data centers, created a subsidiary last month called Google Energy. It then applied for approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to be allowed to buy and sell power much like utilities do.

Google said it did not have specific plans to become an energy trader and that its primary goal was to gain flexibility for buying more renewable energy for its power-hungry data centers.

“We want to have the ability to procure renewable energy to offset power usage of our operations,” said Niki Fenwick, a Google spokeswoman. Ms. Fenwick said that having access to more renewable energy could help the company fulfill its goal to become “carbon neutral.”

This is hardly Google’s first foray into the energy world. Over the years, Google has invested in renewable energy projects through its philanthropic and venture capital units. It has also embarked on a number of engineering projects and partnerships to, for example, advance plug-in hybrids and offer tools to measure home electricity usage. And it has an ambitious goal to help develop renewable energy that is cheaper than coal. Bill Weihl, Google’s green energy czar, discussed many of those initiatives and goals in a lengthy interview with The New York Times published on Thursday.

If Google’s application is granted, the company would be able to sell any surplus power that results from these or other initiatives.
info came from http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/07/google-applies-to-become-power-marketer/

20 million-plus collect unemployment checks in '09

Dec 31, 3:10 PM (ET)

By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER

WASHINGTON (AP) - A record 20 million-plus people collected unemployment benefits at some point in 2009, a year that ended with the jobless rate at 10 percent.
As the pace of layoffs slows, the number of new applicants visiting unemployment offices has been on the decline in recent months. But limited hiring means the ranks of the long-term unemployed continues to grow, with more than 5.8 million people out of work for more than six months.
The number of new claims for jobless benefits dropped last week to 432,000, the Labor Department said Thursday, down sharply from its late March peak of 674,000. The decline signals that the economy could begin adding a small number of jobs in January, several economists said.
Still, hiring is unlikely to be strong enough to quickly bring down the unemployment rate, which fell from 10.2 percent in October to 10 percent in November. December's rate will be announced Jan. 8.
Companies will remain cautious about adding staff until they are confident the economic recovery is sustainable - something they remain unsure about as consumers and businesses keep a lid on spending, and as the government begins to wind down various stimulus programs.
The Federal Reserve and private economists expect joblessness to stay above 9 percent through the end of 2010.
The slow pace of hiring will force Congress and the Obama administration in 2010 to spend as much as $70 billion to extend jobless aid for the long-term unemployed, or else let benefits - which were extended several times in 2009 - expire for millions of people.
"Fewer people are getting fired, but nobody is finding a job," said Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak.
Thursday's report illustrates the two different trends: first-time jobless claims are falling as layoffs ease, but the total number of people collecting unemployment checks is still rising.
More than 10.1 million people collected jobless benefits in the week of Dec. 12, the latest data available. That's up by about 200,000 compared with the previous week.
That figure includes 5.3 million people receiving the 26 weeks of aid customarily provided by the states, and 4.8 million people that have shifted to the extended benefit programs enacted by Congress over the past two years and paid for by the federal government. Unemployment insurance averages about $300 per week.
But the extensions are set to expire in February. That could mean as many as 1 million people would run out of unemployment aid in March, according to the National Employment Law Project, a nonprofit group.
The total number of people who at one point collected benefits in 2009 - roughly 20.7 million - is also a record. A larger proportion of the unemployed received jobless benefits in the last steep recession in 1981-82, but the work force has grown by about one-third since then.
Fifteen million Americans are out of work, an increase of 3.8 million since the start of 2009. There are six unemployed people, on average, for each available job. And the so-called underemployment rate, counting part-time workers who want full-time jobs and laid-off workers who have given up their job hunt, stands at 17.2 percent.
Budget-strapped state governments will struggle with higher spending on unemployment insurance in 2010. States are required to set aside money in a trust fund to pay jobless benefits, but 25 have already run through their funds and have borrowed $26 billion from the federal government.
The Labor Department has projected that 40 states may need to borrow as much as $90 billion by 2012.
Thirty-five states have already increased the unemployment insurance taxes they levy on employers for 2010, according to the National Association of State Workforce Agencies. Some are also cutting benefits as they try to reduce the size of budget shortfalls that are expected to reach $180 billion in the coming fiscal year.
The drain on federal and state finances could force Congress to consider raising the federal unemployment insurance tax, which is currently 0.8 percent on the first $7,000 of wages, or making other changes.

info came from http://apnews.myway.com/article/20091231/D9CUGAHG2.html