Only Enterprise and Developers Can Bypass Windows Store for Metro Apps
September 19th, 2011How long until both Microsoft and Apple require approval for software to run in their full operating systems?
You think I’m nuts—and then it happens.
Via: Ars Technica:
Microsoft will restrict general distribution of Metro apps to the Windows Store, but grant exceptions to enterprises and developers, allowing them to side-load applications onto Windows 8 devices. While Windows 8 will be an operating system for both desktops and tablets, Microsoft is creating two sets of rules for traditional desktop apps and Metro-style apps, which are optimized for touch screens but will run on any Windows 8 device.
A primer for Windows developers on Microsoft’s website states that distribution of traditional desktop applications will proceed as usual. “Open distribution: retail stores, web, private networks, individual sharing, and so on” will be allowed, Microsoft says. Metro apps, on the other hand, will be “Distributed through the Windows Store. Apps must pass certification so that users download and try apps with confidence in their safety and privacy. Side-loading is available for enterprises and developers.”
This approach is similar to the one taken by Apple with its iPhone and iPad App Store, and also similar to Microsoft’s own Windows Phone 7 Marketplace, although jailbreaks and workarounds allowing side-loading have been released by independent developers for both iOS and WP7. With Google’s Android, by contrast, it is easy for any user to install non-market applications from either third-party app stores such as Amazon’s or by downloading software directly from an app maker’s website. The exceptions carved out by Microsoft will let developers test apps and businesses distribute custom or private apps to employees.
Italy’s Debt Downgraded by S&P; Outlook Still Negative
September 19th, 2011Via: CNBC:
Standard and Poor’s downgraded its unsolicited ratings on Italy by one notch to A/A-1 and kept its outlook on negative, a major surprise that threatens to add to concerns of contagion in the debt-stressed euro zone.
S&P in a release dated Sept. 19 said the cut reflected its view of Italy’s weakening economic growth prospects.
Japanese Government to Invite Foreigners Who Have Large Facebook and Twitter Networks to Tohoku So That They Can Tell Their Followers “Japan Is Safe”
September 19th, 2011Do they get to bring their own dosimeters?
Via: EX-SKF:
Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs have started to make preparations for inviting people from overseas who disseminate information via the social media such as Facebook and Twitter, as part of the countermeasures against “baseless rumors” that have damaged sales of Japanese agricultural products and tourism industry. More than 500 million people in the world are said to use the social media. The ministry has seen the great impact of the social media in the revolutions in the Middle East, and decided to use the social media to counter the “baseless rumor” by having people disseminate the messages of safety and favorable impressions.
In the second supplementary budget for the fiscal year 2011, the ministry obtained 1.5 billion yen for the countermeasures against “baseless rumors”. This plan to invite Facebook and Twitter users with large followers is part of the countermeasures.
Solution for Oahu’s Slums: Move Homeless to Mainland?
September 19th, 2011Via: Independent:
Despite its “aloha” reputation, Hawaii currently has the third-highest ratio of homelessness of any state in the nation, behind Oregon and Nevada. Since the number of Americans living below the poverty line rose above 15 per cent last week, the problem here, like elsewhere, seems likely to get worse before it gets better. In addition to the likes of Paracuelles, a recent study by the research firm SMS found that 96,648 Hawaiians are now members of the “hidden homeless” community, a demographic which contains people squatting, living in temporary accommodation, or staying with friends or family members. Another 262,000 people – a staggering one in five residents of the seven islands – are classed as being “at risk” of homelessness.
You don’t have to go far from the high-rise glamour of Waikiki Beach, Hawaii’s most famous tourist centre, to appreciate the human effects of this statistical burden. Beggars throng the traffic lights of central Honolulu. They while away days in parks, and sleep in wasteland tent cities. In many ways, their sheer ubiquity makes the city of Barack Obama’s birth resemble a Third World metropolis.
Venture into the countryside of Oahu, and you’ll catch glimpses of tarpaulin, often in deep undergrowth a short distance from the road. Each one is a casual dwelling. There are several hundred of them, on a relatively small island which measures roughly 20 miles by 30 across.
The problem has not escaped Hawaii’s ruling class, who are acutely aware of its potential to damage the “tropical paradise” reputation on which the state’s lucrative tourist industry relies. Last year, local politicians narrowly failed to back a highly controversial plan to offer homeless people from other parts of the US a free one-way air ticket home.
Debate over alternative solutions is now gaining increased urgency in the run-up to November’s Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) summit, which will draw 21 heads of state and hundreds of business leaders to Honolulu. In April, Hawaii’s Governor, Neil Abercrombie, unveiled a “90-day plan” to reduce homelessness before the big event. But the 90 days brought little in the way of visible change.
Homeless advocates are now concerned that officials are planning to conduct intense “sweeps” of Hawaii’s homeless encampments in the run-up to the Apec summit, clearing them from the streets in order to hide the scale of their problem from the prying eyes of the international media due to attend.
Lloyd’s Insurer Sues Saudi Arabia for ‘Funding 9/11 Attacks’
September 19th, 2011Well, well, this could meander into all sorts of interesting areas.
Update: Lawsuit Withdrawn
That didn’t take long.
Via: Insurance Journal:
Lloyd’s London’s Syndicate 3500 filed a notice on Monday, Sept. 19, to voluntarily dismiss its federal lawsuit against Saudi Arabia over 9/11 claims.
The lawsuit, first filed on Sept. 8, had asserted that Saudi Arabia as well as several Saudi charity and financial organizations were instrumental in helping al Qaida carry out the 9/11 terror attacks.
Attorney Stephen Cozen of law firm Cozen O’Connor, who represents Lloyd’s, told Insurance Journal that he cannot comment on why Lloyd’s decided to drop the case 13 days after filing the complaint. He said, however, the suit could be refiled and also that there could be other similar lawsuits filed by other insurers in the future.
Cozen said he cannot talk about the lawsuit other than to say “that we were instructed to voluntarily dismiss without prejudice. That of course means that the suit is free to be refiled and certainly similar suits may be filed by others,” he said.
—End Update—
Via: Independent:
A Lloyd’s insurance syndicate has begun a landmark legal case against Saudi Arabia, accusing the kingdom of indirectly funding al-Qa’ida and demanding the repayment of £136m it paid out to victims of the 9/11 attacks.
The Brighton-based Lloyd’s 3500 syndicate, which paid $215m compensation to companies and individuals involved, alleges that the oil-rich Middle Eastern superpower bears primary responsibility for the atrocity because al-Qa’ida was supported by banks and charities acting as “agents and alter egos” for the Saudi state.
The detailed case, which names a number of prominent Saudi charities and banks as well as a leading member of the al-Saud royal family, will cause embarrassment to the Saudi government, which has long denied claims that Osama bin Laden’s organisation received official financial and practical support from his native country.
Outlined in a 156-page document filed in western Pennsylvania, where United Airlines flight 93 crashed on 9/11, the claim suggests that the nine defendants “knowingly” provided resources, including funding, to al-Qa’ida in the years before the attack and encouraged anti-Western sentiment which increased support for the terror group.
The legal claim states: “Absent the sponsorship of al-Qa’ida’s material sponsors and supporters, including the defendants named therein, al-Qa’ida would not have possessed the capacity to conceive, plan and execute the 11 September attacks. The success of al-Qa’ida’s agenda, including the 11 September attacks themselves, has been made possible by the lavish sponsorship al-Qa’ida has received from its material sponsors and supporters over more than a decade leading up to 11 September 2001.”
Economic Collapse of Britain Entering New Phase: Famine
September 19th, 2011Via: Independent:
Tens of thousands of benefits claimants will be referred to food banks by the Government, which is worried that many Britons face a stark choice: starvation or feeding themselves by begging or stealing.
From tomorrow, jobcentres in England and Wales will refer the needy to charity-run food banks that will give them a food parcel. It is the first time in living memory that hungry people will have been passed on to charities in this way.
The move comes amid growing levels of food poverty, fuelled by rising food prices and high rates of unemployment. Under the scheme, people whose benefits have been delayed, or have been refused crisis loans, will be referred to their local food bank. A claimant will be limited to three consecutive referrals – each time giving them enough food for three days. They will be given basics such as tinned soup, baked beans, meat, fish and pasta.
The scheme will operate from more than 70 food banks run by the Trussell Trust, a Christian charity. It will open another 60 in the next six months, according to Jeremy Ravn, a director. “We are forecasting that we will feed somewhere between 90,000 and 100,000 this financial year,” he said. “And we’d expect 30-40 per cent of those to be [caused by] problems over benefits.”
What Does It Feel Like To Fly Over Planet Earth?
September 19th, 2011Via: Universe Today:
Siemens Exits Nuclear Business
September 19th, 2011Via: The Local:
German industrial giant Siemens is turning the page on nuclear energy, the group’s CEO Peter Löscher told the weekly Der Spiegel in an interview published on Sunday.
“We will no longer be involved in overall managing of building or financing nuclear plants. This chapter is closed for us,” he said, explaining that Siemens would restrict its activity to dual-use technology.
“We will from now on supply only conventional equipment such as steam turbines. This means we are restricting ourselves to technologies that are not only for nuclear purposes but can also be used in gas or coal plants.”
Löscher said his group’s decision to withdraw from the nuclear industry reflected “the very clear stance taken by Germany’s society and political leadership.”
Bush’s Toronto Visit Cancelled
September 19th, 2011Via: Vetrans Today:
This weeks appearance by former U.S. president George W. Bush at an event hosted by a local evangelical Christian university has been cancelled while the mainstream U.S. Media ignores the international embarrassment.
The decision came Wednesday, the same day three former students launched a petition urging the university to cancel the speech. On Tuesday, a class valedictorian and professor publicly spoke out against the appearance following the resignation of another staff member.
Bush was scheduled to speak Sept. 20 to about 150 people at an invitation-only breakfast hosted by Tyndale University College and Seminary, home to about 1,400 students at two campuses in Toronto’s north end.
Tyndale supporter Prem Watsa, chief executive of Fairfax Financial Holdings and sometimes referred to as “Canada’s Warren Buffett,” was sponsoring the event, which the administration said was intended to raise the university’s profile. Watsa did not respond to requests for comment.
…
Opposition to Bush’s appearance at the non-denominational evangelical university had been growing within the school’s community since Monday after the story ”Bush to make promotional appearance in Toronto for Christian college” was published in the Star.
The following day, a class valedictorian and professor spoke out passionately against the visit. The university also confirmed “a valued employee” quit in protest.
Critics accused Tyndale of sacrificing its peaceful ideals to attract wealthy donors with the exclusive event. Many students and alumni also complained they only heard about the high-profile appearance through the news.
“They’re still not even saying his name on their web page,” said Dan Oudshoorn, a former student body president who graduated in 2006 and was part of the group that launched the petition. “I think it shows they were really trying to sneak in a cash grab through a means they know is dirty, they got busted doing it and now they’re trying to sneak back out again without taking responsibility.”
More Bailouts from Fed This Week
September 19th, 2011Via: CNBC:
The Fed in the week ahead is widely expected to pull the trigger on a new easing program, as the European debt crisis continues to boil.
…
Market expectations are high that the Fed will announce a new program — dubbed “operation twist” — at the end of its two-day meeting Wednesday.
“Twist” is different than the much larger scale “QE2” quantitative easing program which involved the purchase of $600 billion in Treasury securities. Fed watchers expect this program to raise the duration of the securities the Fed holds, not the amount. The program, in theory, could reduce long-term interest rates as the Fed buys more securities in the middle and longer end of the yield curve.
