Hackers Find A Windows 8 Bug - Business Insider

That didn't take long. Windows 8 was officially released a week ago and hackers have already found a security flaw in it.

But that's not even the worst news. These guys have not told Microsoft about the flaw. Instead, they're selling it to others, reports Computerworld.

The flaw was found by the French company Vupen, which makes a living finding vulnerabilities in popular software from companies like Microsoft, Adobe, Apple and Oracle, and then selling those flaws. Its customers are governments, corporations, and other institutions it supposedly vets for legitimacy. (Some hackers sell vulnerabilities to spammers and virus writers, who exploit the security holes to steal data and scam users.)

Vupen is a controversial company because it ignores a professional standard other security researchers observe. They report flaws to the software maker first and then wait at least 30 days before disclosing the flaw to others.

The company has found a vulnerability with Windows 8 and Internet Explorer 10, but since it is selling the information, not disclosing it, there's not much known about these flaws yet except what Vupen said in a tweet posted a couple of days ago about the so-called "zero-day" vulnerability. (A "zero-day" vulnerability is a previously unknown one.)

Vupen claims to have bypassed Microsoft's "sandbox," a protective environment in which new Windows 8 software runs, isolated from other software components.

What this means for Windows users is that hackers have turned their attention onto Windows 8 and Internet Explorer 10. That's a bummer. Windows malware is a big headache for consumers and businesses alike.?

However, Microsoft has made it tougher for hackers to use flaws they find in Windows 8.

So even if hackers like Vupen find holes in Windows 8, it's a lot harder for the bad guys to create attacks that would actually harm computers.

Don't miss: 10 Computer Crooks Who Have Secretly Made Your Life Miserable >

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/hackers-windows-8-bug-2012-11

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Chris Brown's Mom Defends Controversial Costume, Says 'Halloween Is For Fun'

'Get a life please,' Joyce Hawkins tweets after Brown causes backlash with Arab headdress and gun costume.
By Gil Kaufman

Chris Brown dresses up for Halloween
Photo: PacificCoastNews.com

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1696633/chris-brown-halloween-costume-mom-defense.jhtml

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Altman To Chair Board Of New Cost-Control Health Policy ...

November 1, 2012 | 3:31 PM |

Stuart Altman of Brandeis University

The Patrick administration just announced that Prof. Stuart Altman, a Brandeis economist who advised President Nixon on health policy, will chair the Health Policy Commission, the new board overseeing the sweeping cost-control law.

The board will monitor progress toward keeping health care spending in line with state economic growth overall. Altman says he?s hopeful the state can meet this goal.

WBUR?s Martha Bebinger asked Altman a few questions about the post.

Bebinger: How do you see this new role?

Altman: Massachusetts has put together the best kind of balanced program that I could think of in the country, where it is relying at one level on the many changes that are going on in the private sector, both at the delivery system and at the payment system.?But it also has put together an overarching public assessment of what?s going on to make sure that it works, and it actually brings cost down without hurting quality.

If the changes that are currently in place don?t do that, this commission is responsible for giving an early warning sign that the system is not working and makes recommendations on how to make the system work.?So we don?t have direct regulatory power to force the system to change, but we do have a monitoring role to make sure that it is working and if it?s not, first to direct the delivery system and the payers to change, and if that doesn?t work, we could also recommend back to the Legislature that the state needs more authority.

What is your sense going in about whether things will proceed without too much intervention, or whether you will need to be directive?

One level I?m pretty optimistic.?The level of changes that are occurring in the state are really very substantial.?And I would say that both at the delivery system and including our very big delivery systems they really are seriously trying to restructure their care delivery and really trying to live within a tighter budget than they had in the past.?And the payers too, Blue Cross, and Tufts, and Harvard also, are tightening up the reins and not giving big increases.

So I go into this feeling reasonably optimistic, but I?ve been around a long time and I?ve seen other years and other decades when after a while the cost containment mechanisms in place began to fall apart, and did fall apart.?So while I?m going into this quite optimistic, I also have a degree of skepticism so I?m going to be watching it pretty closely.

You have seen interest in reining in costs wax and wane. How do you rank this period?

If we look back in history we had very strong government regulation environment in the early and middle 1970s, actually put forward by a Republican administration. It looked like the government was going to be a very strong regulator of growing health care spending.? We had wage and price controls from ?71 to ?74.? We created health planning agencies all over the country. We had tough certificate of need laws. And then as we move through the 70s we gradually dismantled it all and by the end of the 70s it was all gone.

Then we had a very brief period when the providers had what we called a ?voluntary effort? to control their spending.?All that fell apart and we had the biggest growth in our history in the 1980s.?Then we introduced managed care, which was extremely effective in slowing the growth in spending, but it was perceived by the patients ? and the beneficiaries and the press ? as a system that was holding back access and quality and we had this strong backlash and we essentially destroyed managed care by the end of the ?90s. So I?ve seen both the private sector fall apart and the government sector fall apart.

Now, I think what?s being done is smarter, and not quite as aggressive as the ?90s, which I think is a good thing. If you?re too aggressive you?re going to get a lot of backlash too quickly.?So I give it a higher probability of success than either the ?90s or the ?70s, and I am hopeful.

What?s your main worry?

The main worry is two:

1)?Is that ultimately the constraints begin to hurt certain segments of the provider community, [and they] begin to put out statements to the patients that they?re being denied needed care and we begin to develop a new backlash. So I think patients need to be part of this equation and we need to be balancing their needs with the people that pay the bills, so that?s one side.

2)?Massachusetts can only be so far ahead of the rest of the country and if inflation really begins to rear its head again in the rest of the country, the likelihood that Massachusetts would be able to really have a significantly lower level of spending growth is hard to hold on to.?I?m going to be very conscious of trying to minimize any backlash and I?ll also be watching what?s going on in the rest of the country.

For patients, are things moving along now in terms of communicating clearly with patients as you think they should?

No. I don?t think patients really understand these limited networks and tiered networks and ACOs and the like.?I think there needs to be an expanded consumer education program.?Also I think we need to do it smarter and I think tiered networks that are a better model than limited networks, in the sense that you don?t force a patient into any one delivery system, you just make it more expensive if they jump out of one to the other, which continues to gives them the choice.?What happened in the ?90s is that often they had no choice, they had to be at a particular network and they couldn?t jump out.

So I think we?ve learned something in the last 20 years.?If we?re going to ask organizations to have responsibility for total spending of a particular patient population, [the patients] need to know they?re in a particular group, but they also need to have the flexibility if for some reason they want to get out. I think we need to better educate our consumers and patients, but I think we?ve also learned from the ?90s, so I?m hopeful.

(Martha thanks Terri Ogan for transcribing.)

(Altman spoke earlier this year to CommonHealth about cost-containment efforts in Massachusetts.)

And here?s the news release from the Patrick administration:

Continuing to make progress implementing the Commonwealth?s first-in-the-nation health care cost containment law, Governor Deval Patrick today appointed Dr. Stuart Altman to chair the Board of the Health Policy Commission (HPC). The new agency is charged with monitoring the reform of Massachusetts health care delivery and payment systems in order to reduce costs and improve quality.

?Dr. Altman?s experience in matters of health policy in both the public and private sectors is deep and unparalleled and will be an asset to the Commonwealth in our work to drive health care costs down,? said Governor Patrick. ?I thank him for his willingness to serve.?

Dr. Altman, a Professor of National Health Policy at Brandeis University, is an economist with nearly five decades of experience working on health policy issues across the public and private sectors.

How Wall Street went to work with the lights out ... - Fortune Finance

By Cyrus Sanati

Before the opening bell Wednesday.

FORTUNE -- Wall Street isn't going to let some pesky tropical storm get the best of it. After two days of closure, the markets reopened on Wednesday to solid, albeit, light, trading, with only a few technical glitches. Large equity orders that had stuffed up the pipes ran through the system relatively well considering the four-day-long break in trading. Treasuries and other fixed income products also made it through the gates relatively unscathed.

There was concern about Wall Street's ability to rise to the occasion yesterday -- not because of flooded servers (The NYSE has its computerized data hub some 30 miles to the west of the exchange floor); rather, it was out of concern that the traders, bankers, lawyers and analysts that run the machines simply wouldn't show up for work. While the vast majority of trades conducted on Wall Street are done by computers, humans are still needed to make the investment decisions that make the machines trade. At the same time, there are also a lot of trades conducted in the so-called "over-the-counter" market ? like physical commodity trades or credit default swaps, that depend on bids and offers from real people.

Despite all the commotion over the blackouts, flooding and transit snarls, Wall Street showed up. But for those that couldn't physically be in the office for one reason or another, telecommuting was the name of the game. An equity analyst at Oppenheimer who lives across the river in Brooklyn told Fortune that he and his colleagues were all working from home this week because the firm's building in lower Manhattan was flooded. He said that he probably wouldn't be able to get back into the building until Tuesday next week, which is good for him as the subways should be running by then.

MORE:?Sandy brings an unexpected stimulus

Meanwhile, across the Hudson River in New Jersey, some Wall Streeters found it impossible to get into work even when their buildings had power and sustained little damage. The head of equity research at a major asset manager told Fortune he was working from a Starbucks where they had free Wi-Fi and hot coffee. His usually hour-long train trip into Manhattan would have probably taken him two or three times as long if he drove as only two of the three major crossings into Manhattan from New Jersey were open. Nevertheless, he said he would look into carpooling or taking a bus to get into work on Thursday.

But for the vast majority of Wall Streeters, Wednesday was just another mandatory workday. If your building had power, you were expected to show up, especially if you were a junior employee. In Manhattan's hip downtown neighborhoods, scores of well-to-do financial professionals found themselves in a dilemma. They were close enough to work that they could walk, if need be, but they had no power, cellular service or hot water. Those trendy walk-up tenements that once housed New York's urban poor a century ago suddenly weren't cool anymore - they started to look more like haunted houses.

A young attorney tasked with defending one of the big banks in the ongoing Libor bank rate rigging case told Fortune he couldn't deal with the blackout and headed uptown to seek "civilization." He decided to bunk up dorm room style in a fancy midtown hotel with three of his young colleagues. There they found power for their iPads, cellular and internet service for their Blackberrys, and, of course, hot water for a shower.

MORE:?Sandy shows economy stronger than thought

Most workers with offices downtown in the Financial District were given a pass due to the power outages. But Goldman Sachs (GS), which has its headquarters in the low-lying neighborhood of Battery Park City, managed to somehow come out completely unscathed. The firm surrounded its tower at 200 West st with hundreds of sandbags that successfully kept water out of the building. It also seems to be one of the only buildings downtown with a generator powerful enough to provide full power ? not just emergency power ? to the entire skyscraper. This allowed the firm to stay open during the storm.

But coming into work really hurts with no mass transit. Many of Wall Street's finest heeded the call and ordered car service to whisk them from their Upper East and Upper West side abodes into Midtown Manhattan, where most of the big banks are located these days. That's how two sales traders made their way into the office Wednesday. They told Fortune they were going to simply bill the company for the service. They had to be at their desks early to broker deals to buy side firms in London and New York. Those firms have been chomping at the bit to buy and sell everything from credit default swaps to shares in Apple for days so there was big money to be made.

A portfolio manager at a large asset manager in London told Fortune all of his 30-some-odd US broker contacts were on their Bloomberg messenger chat programs on Wednesday ready to trade. Superstorm Sandy wasn't really discussed.

MORE:?Goldman's advice for Citi's New CEO: Sell, Sell, Sell

"One guy said his Mother's basement was flooded," he said. "There is no story here."

A more junior portfolio manager at the same firm noted that the European markets had been extremely "boring" on Monday and Tuesday with the U.S. markets closed. With the U.S. Treasury market out of commission, a lot of other markets linked to the critical benchmark, like many credit derivative products, simply couldn't move. He said he finally "got" why Wall Street was so important and how despite all the chest bumping he sees and hears in the City; London is nothing without New York.

Source: http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2012/11/01/wall-street-sandy/

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GM spends $3.6 billion on lump-sum pension buyouts

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co spent $3.6 billion on pension buyouts this year for white-collar retirees as part of a plan to cut about one-fifth of its global pension liability.

About 30 percent of 44,000 eligible salaried retirees agreed to take a lump-sum payment in lieu of monthly pension checks, the largest U.S. automaker said in its quarterly securities filing on Wednesday.

GM reported surprisingly strong quarterly earnings earlier in the day, sending its shares up 10 percent to $25.57.

The automaker paid an average of $273,000 to each of the 13,200 retirees that accepted the program. The lump-sum buyouts were paid using pension plan assets, GM said.

In June, the automaker estimated that 42,000 retirees were eligible for lump-sum payments. GM also said it would shift management of pension plans for 118,000 salaried retirees to a unit of Prudential Financial Inc.

The deal is expected to close on November 1, GM said.

The actions will cut $29 billion from GM's $134 billion global pension obligation, GM said Wednesday in a statement accompanying the third-quarter results.

That is $3 billion better than GM projected when it announced plans to shrink its large pension obligation, one of the few issues left untouched during its 2009 U.S.-financed bankruptcy restructuring.

In connection with these transactions, GM will make $2.6 billion in cash contributions to its salaried pension plan, less than the $3.5 billion to $4.5 billion it previously projected.

Additionally, GM will record a $2.9 billion pretax charge in the fourth quarter as a special item. It had earlier estimated a charge between $2.5 billion and $3.5 billion.

(Reporting by Deepa Seetharaman; editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Matthew Lewis)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gm-says-12-600-white-collar-retirees-lump-134821072--finance.html

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WWE '13 | The 405

Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, Wii
Reviewed On: Xbox 360

Way back at the start of the year, publisher THQ cited the uDraw Wii controller as the reason the company?s earnings had fallen far below what they had expected. Noting very strong sales of Saints Row: The Third and WWE ?12, THQ announced that it intended to shift focus back to core gaming, looking to build on previous successes. With the latest instalment of their long running series of wrestling games, WWE ?13, you can see that it was the right move, and like me you?ll be glad they made it.

It was last year?s WWE ?12 that saw THQ make some very big changes to the core elements of the franchise; WWE ?13 carries this on, adding some serious wrestling fan-service with the incorporation of a single player experience set in the legendary ?Attitude? era.

Now running on the ?Predator Technology 2.0? engine, a great number of updates and improvements have clearly been made on last year?s title. New additions to gameplay include special environmental moves, including ring and table breaking, as well as an extra 300 reported standard moves on top of those of the previous game. Another new design feature picks move appropriate to your chosen wrestler and imposes some weight restrictions that make some characters incapable of lifting others, forcing you to opt a different approach.

Some of the same issues that have bugged previous games are sadly still present, alongside a couple of new ones. However these are minor quibbles when stacked up against the prospect of playing as, and against, all the biggest stars from the glory days of the mid 90?s and the current WWE roster. In Attitude era mode you play out all of the most memorable clashes from the period, both in the ring and outside it. Starting around the time of's WWE (known as WWF at the time) and WCW?s famous Monday night ratings war, the campaign takes you through the events of the matches and the history of the organisations rise to dominance.

Using archive footage from both matches and ring-side antics, this central new game mode really captures the spirit of not just the Attitude era but the sport in general, better than any of the games before it. An element of what makes Attitude mode?s gameplay so entertaining comes from the inclusion of various in-match objectives, most are optional and only really serve as nods to real life events, though many do unlock new content, others need to be met so you can progress.

The Attitude game mode is of course fairly linear, and there are quite a lot of cut scenes as well as live action footage here and there. There is however a genuine feeling of satisfaction to be had from playing your part in a story, switching from wrestler to wrestler as the events dictate. Without a doubt Attitude mode is the centre piece of the game but there?s also the returning ?Universe Mode? with an attached creation suite which tie together with the use of content you create.

Universe mode, first introduced in Smackdown Vs Raw 2011 is back again in its third incarnation. This time the Universe management system has some tweaks that change the game?s story narrative in relation to what happens during play, making for an even more organic experience whilst using this ?free? mode that?s not tied to any of the real world events.

Newcomers to the WWE series may feel a little overwhelmed by the multitude of options for customization on display In the Creation suite. Unfortunately the sometimes frustrating menu system in WWE ?13 is still lacking and doesn?t really help matters, but once you've spent a little time tinkering you learn to cope just fine. You can change and create just about everything and anything. You can make your own wrestler (or Diva), pick and create moves and tailor a move set for your character. You can also design everything from outfits to the ring and elements of the arena.

There's also an entrance video creation section, which is understandably limited but still helps to further immerse you. This along-side things like logo creation, round out a little character package you can then take into Universe mode where you plan not just the fine details of every match, but an entire season's worth of match scheduling. I only really managed to scratch the surface of what?s here, being somewhat distracted by the Attitude Era mode, but you can pour hours into the many nuances of play and management the game allows you to have control over.

Everything you create can be used not only as part of a career in Universe mode but also can be uploaded for use in the online modes, not just by you but any other WWE ?13 players. As far as the standard online modes go there are both ranked and quick matches available, you can choose from many different types of matches including Tag Team, Ladder and Cage matches, Battle Royal, Hell in A Cell and Royal Rumble to name only a few.

In terms of presentation WWE ?13 makes some improvements on last year's game in overall quality, but some character models are still better than others, with some stiff animations here and there, not only looking ugly but occasionally confusing play. Camera angles can be an issue, as has been a recurring problem throughout the series; this time the camera cuts to new angles during moves to mimic the styles of the live shows. This can sometimes disorientate or make you miss a cue. I also found the referee got in my way a fair bit, almost completely obscuring my character or my opponent sometimes. At other times the black and white striped fool would physically get in the way and as a result ended up the recipient of a move here and there. Funny yes, but it also cost me a match now and again. Another slight issue I encountered was with collision detection. Often when attempting to climb onto the turnbuckle I would find myself outside the ring, and by the time I had corrected myself, my opponent had gotten up or out of the way. As stated earlier, these are minor gripes and often faults of the series rather than just this game in particular.

The gameplay as ever, is very addictive and that alone will suck newcomers in and convert them. If you?re new though, it is worth bearing in mind that like all other wrestling games WWE ?13 is much closer to being a sports simulator than a pure fighting game, and at first the very distinct playing style may take some getting used to. There are some very good players out there online so it might be worth taking a run through Attitude or even the tutorials first.

Attitude mode is where WWE ?13 shines for me, despite the dazzling array of game modes to choose from I found myself going back to Attitude mode to play through the famous moments and matches. This is a great single player campaign and its quite surprising THQ haven?t done it before now. As you play through it you unlock more and more of the characters, only The Rock and Stone Cold are available from the start. You can then go into another game mode and pit them against wrestlers from the current WWE roster including Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Randy Orton and current reigning WWE champion CM Punk, who features on the box art. You also have legends like The Undertaker and Triple H that have been in the ring during both periods.

There?s surely more than enough here already, no doubt with DLC on its way, to please fans of THQ?s series and the sport in general. The quality of gameplay on display here and the faithful recreation of some of wrestling?s greatest moments, can't be derailed by some relatively small design issues. WWE ?13 is a great wrestling game, and the inclusion of all the elements of the Attitude era make it so far the best for me.

Rating: 8.5/10

Source: http://thefourohfive.com/review/article/wwe-13

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Local Design Company Commits to Helping Businesses Reach the ...

Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire (PRWEB) June 29, 2012

According to officials with a local design company, One Creations, businesses, large and small will now be able to improve and grow their business with its new, top-of-the-line website design and Magento ecommerce solutions.

We are the only Magento accredited partner in Hertfordshire county in the UK and were making a commitment to helping business reach the next level, said Nick Trinnaman, marketing manager of One Creations, a web design and development company that uses Drupal and Joomla open source platforms with Magento ecommerce solutions.

Trinnaman explained that Magento ecommerce platforms provide the scalability, flexibility and features for business growth.

In addition, Trinnaman said, Magento ecommerce provides feature-rich ecommerce platforms that offer merchants complete flexibility and control over the presentation, content, and functionality of their online channel.

Our services are specifically designed for businesses looking for a next level website or ecommerce solution, Trinnaman noted, before adding, Our model is customer focused, but with an affordable price tag.

One Creations, according to Trinnaman, uses modern cutting edge technology and has adopted a open source CRM system to build cost effective solutions while still allowing customers to remain independent using agency specific rigid CMSs.

Mike Cooke, chairman of MCG Group, described Once Creations services as one of the best he has ever experienced.

One Creations has worked extensively with the Mike Cooke Group on a number of extremely varied products, from travel and publishing to global money transfers and gift services, Cooke said. In spite of the obvious challenges that such variety poses, One Creations has consistently offered an exceptional level of service displaying unwavering professionalism, outstanding technological nous while adapting and diligently adhering to the values that form the basis of MCG.

Cooke, however, isnt the only one who is impressed with One Creations services.

Hamish Fraser, chairman and trustee for Wild Again Reforestation Trust, said the trust is pleased with how One Creations delivered an efficient and seamless online payment system for contributors to make donations to the Wild Again Reforestation Trust.

We were impressed at One Creations? ability to deliver a customized solution, which fully met our requirements, some of which we weren?t even aware of when we started to set up an e-payments system, Fraser stressed. One Creations worked through each of our issues and didn?t finish until the job was completed to our satisfaction. They worked hand-in-glove with our static website designer to ensure a polished overall product.

We couldn?t have been more impressed.

For more information about One Creations website and Magento ecommerce solutions, please visit: http://www.onecreations.co.uk

About the company

For more than six years, One Creations Limited has offered web design services to customers in Hertfordshire and throughout the UK.

The company specializes in web design, e-commerce, search engine optimization, customized software development, and is experts in both Microsoft and Open Sources platforms.

One Creations primary focus is to provide its customers with a first-class service without compromising on quality for affordable prices. It works to maintain high service standards, from start to finish of its design, development, and ongoing support.

Source: http://southwestfloridainternet.com/joomla/local-design-company-commits-to-helping-businesses-reach-the-next-level-via-website-and-magento-ecommerce-solutions/

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