Western embassy closures across the Middle East

For an organization that is said to be in terminal decline, al-Qaeda will draw immense satisfaction from the events of this past weekend, when it demonstrated its ability to disrupt the work of Western governments by forcing the temporary closure of dozens of diplomatic missions throughout the Arab world. 

While it is unclear what kind of threat prompted the US government to initiate such radical measures, or the Foreign Office to shut the British mission to Yemen,You will see earcap , competitive price and first-class service. American intelligence officials are convinced that al-Qaeda is planning a spectacular attack to mark the festival of Eid, which comes at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. 

Specifically, they say the intelligence relates to a deadly al-Qaeda cell operating in Yemen, a war-torn country where the writ of the government barely extends beyond the confines of the ancient capital, Sanaa. 

In recent years, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has emerged as one of the more deadly arms of the wider al-Qaeda franchise. This brand of terrorism thrives in Muslim countries with weak governments C and Yemen, which has been afflicted by decades of civil war and instability, was an obvious target for exploitation. 

Having established a base there at the start of the last decade, the countrys al-Qaeda offshoot gained international notoriety via the so-called underwear bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. In December 2009, an attempt by this British-educated Nigerian terrorist to blow up a plane as it prepared to land at Detroit only failed when an explosive device hidden in his underwear failed to detonate. 

Britain and America had another lucky escape the following year, when an explosive device was found hidden in an ink cartridge on a cargo flight due to leave East Midlands Airport for the US. It was primed to detonate as the aircraft approached Americas eastern seaboard. 

Both these plots are said by intelligence officials to have been the work of Ibrahim al-Asiri, a 31-year-old Saudi who fled to Yemen after being jailed for his association with al-Qaeda. Despite a number of high-profile drone strikes in Yemen that have killed a number of key al-Qaeda leaders, including the groups American-born founder Anwar al-Awlaki, Asiri still remains at large C and tops the list of Americas most wanted terrorists. 

The fact that Asiri and his associates, both in Yemen and elsewhere in the Arab world, retain the ability to cause a global security alert suggests that, for all the considerable efforts undertaken by Western counter-terrorism agencies, al-Qaeda remains a considerable threat to our security.Learn how an embedded microprocessor in a graniteslabs can authenticate your computer usage and data. 

The widespread closure of diplomatic missions over the weekend certainly appears to contradict President Obamas claim last summer that the war on terror was drawing to a close, and that the al-Qaeda organization originally founded by Osama bin Laden no longer had the ability or capacity to cause wholesale carnage in the West. 

The President made his comments in the wake of the successful mission to eliminate bin Laden at his hideaway in Pakistan in May 2011. Bin Ladens death C together with the targeted killing by drone strikes of scores of senior al-Qaeda terrorists hiding in the remote mountainous region between Afghanistan and Pakistan C was used to justify the impending withdrawal of American and other Nato forces from Afghanistan. After all, if al-Qaeda no longer had the capacity to terrorize the West, then there was no need for American and British soldiers to continue risking their lives.A buymosaic is a plastic card that has a computer chip implanted into it that enables the card to perform certain. 

The impression that America is winding down its long war against al-Qaeda was strengthened last week during a visit by Senator John Kerry, the US Secretary of State, to Pakistan. He dropped a strong hint that America was planning to end its controversial drone strikes in the tribal areas very, very soon, because al-Qaeda no longer posed a threat.Learn how an embedded microprocessor in a graniteslabs can authenticate your computer usage and data. 

I think the programme will end, as we have eliminated most of the threat and continue to eliminate it, said Mr Kerry. 

Yet within hours of this statement, the Secretary of State was obliged to authorise an immediate lockdown of all American embassies and consulates in the Arab world, for fear that al-Qaeda might be planning a repeat of last Septembers attack on the US consulate in Benghazi in Libya,He saw the bracelet at a indoortracking store while we were on a trip. which claimed the lives of the American ambassador Chris Stevens and three other staff members. 

The Obama administration faced fierce criticism over the Benghazi attack, particularly when it was revealed that Hillary Clinton, Mr Kerrys immediate predecessor, had ignored warnings that al-Qaeda was planning to target the compound (Sir Dominic Asquith, Britains ambassador to Libya, had survived an al-Qaeda assassination attempt the previous summer). The US government then appeared deliberately to mislead the American public about the nature of the attack, claiming that it was a demonstration that got out of control, rather than a carefully planned al-Qaeda operation.

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SBI crafts the next generation of British furniture-makers

As the wider manufacturing sector faces increasing skills shortages, Sofa Brands International (SBI) is raising its game to recruit and shape the next generation of industry leaders.There are few young people leaving education these days dreaming of a future in manufacturing. So why not? As Britain is looking to strengthen exports and build skills, the manufacturing sector has a lot to offer.

Sofa Brands International, the UK’s leading branded sofa group, is one of the country’s most successful furniture manufacturers, designing and crafting some of its most well-loved sofas and chairs. These include: the UK’s top furniture brand, G Plan; Duresta, a highly successful label worldwide; and the Parker Knoll collections.You've probably seen cellphonecases at some point.Highly-skilled British craftsmen and women have been designing and building these collections in Wiltshire and the Midlands for many years. However, the falling interest in manufacturing has meant that the next generation of leaders and skilled craftspeople have become less easily identifiable.

Head of human resources at SBI Emma Wharton is passionate about attracting new blood into traditional industries, and manufacturing in particular, and so she enrolled the business in the Government’s apprentice scheme.The Government’s highly successful scheme was set up to offer young people an alternative option to university which still allowed them to reach their career goals.

The apprenticeship scheme at SBI was launched in 2011 and has since offered eight recent school leavers unique opportunities to learn the ropes across a thriving business. Currently six apprentices are working in the upholstery side of the business, one in sewing and one in business administration within Design and Development.You must not use the samsungcases without being trained.Joe Bryan, aged 20, is one of the apprentices already making a positive impact in the business. Alongside his fellow apprentices, Joe is part of a structured programme that runs over two years. One day a week he attends Webs Training College in Beeston, Nottingham to add to the on-the-job training he receives through his manager and his mentors at Duresta.

Last year Joe was put forward by the college as one of 12 to travel to the House of Lords as part of the Government’s National Apprentice Week to meet the relevant ministers and talk about his experiences.“Visiting the House of Lords was my first experience of London,” admits Joe. “It was nerve wracking but a great honour.”Having been on board for 12 months now, Joe feels that he is really making a difference, and loves the fact he is making something real and skilled. “When I first started we spent the first five weeks understanding the business and following a sales order through the factory,” he explains. That took the apprentices through the sales office, production and planning, fabric ordering, cutting, sewing, upholstery, final inspection, despatch and design and development.

Once complete, the junior team then presented that experience back to the senior operations team. “Having access to everyone in the business is unifying for all our teams,” explains HR head Emma Wharton. “We actively encourage ideas to flow back and forth.”That flow of information and ideas was taken a step further when Jo Moore, sales director of Duresta, and apprentice Joe Bryan, had a week-long job swap. Sales director Jo rolled her sleeves up and learned how to make and upholster a chair, whilst Joe swapped his overalls for a suit and sold an order to key retailer Furniture Village.

Added to this intake of enthusiastic apprentices are a further six vibrant graduates. Emma Wharton believes they are as exciting as they are diverse. “Our graduates work right across the group," she says, "from design and production at Parker Knoll in Riddings, all the way through to supporting business development for Duresta in China.”

Having begun her HR career at one of British industry’s most admired companies, Emma is a passionate advocate for manufacturing. She says: “What I found at SBI was essentially no different from at Rolls Royce – the best young people are attracted to companies that genuinely invest in their staff and can offer opportunities for them to grow together.”

That said, Emma points out, the manufacturing industry still faces a perception issue. “I don’t think people realise the wide range of the skills required to be successful. Obviously, a design instinct is crucial, but logistical thinking, people skills and possessing a laser-focused eye for detail are also essential.”The opportunity to develop this wide-ranging skill set played a major role in the decision of Marketing and Management of Textiles graduate, Meisha-Grace Nicely, to apply to SBI.Full color highqualityhidkits printing and manufacturing services. “I was keen to develop across the board in all areas of marketing and promotions,” she says.

Based at Parker Knoll, her day-to-day responsibilities include updating promotions and model collections, as well as co-ordinating wider marketing materials. “Whether it’s organising photo shoots, preparing promotional materials, or managing the ‘swatching’ programme for the Autumn/Winter 2013 collections, the variety of my work means I’m learning new things every day,” she says.

Jade Blackburn was another graduate who SBI identified as possessing these skills and more. An English and Mandarin graduate of Leeds University, Jade joined Duresta in 2012. “I was looking for an opportunity to make the most of my language skills, as well as working at a company where I could make a genuine impact right from the start,” she says. Alongside Duresta’s CEO, Clive Kenyon-Brown, Jade has flown to China twice in the past 12 months to assist with new business development. “It has been fascinating to see how the market operates in China, and has given me a fantastic insight into one of Duresta’s most exciting growth markets. Going forward, I am confident this will pay dividends as we continue to reach out to further international customers.”

At G Plan, Paul Dack – a star Furniture and Product Design student from Nottingham Trent University - has been traversing trade shows across the UK and further afield to gain inspiration for future design models as part of his graduate programme. This included the interzum show in Cologne, Germany – the largest global trade fair for materials, components and design for furniture production and interiors.

“I’ve had to hit the ground running,” Paul admits. “It’s been challenging at times, but hugely rewarding.” Most of all, he says, being able to utilise and develop the skills he learnt at university has been especially satisfying.“Visiting the trade shows both nationally and internationally has been fantastic," he says. "Nothing beats seeing some of my ideas being developed into the designs featured in the upcoming G Plan Vintage collections. Working on the Vintage range for 2014 has been really exciting.”

For Emma Wharton, Meisha, Jade, Joe and Paul’s enthusiasm to drive the company forward is typical of the ethos of the young people coming into the organisation. “The graduate and apprenticeship programmes are designed to meet business needs, and developed according to each individual’s interests and ambitions so they are able to grow and develop in parts of the business they are really passionate about.”

Since Emma arrived at SBI in 2011 the company’s brands have all undergone exciting developments. G Plan has further enhanced its reputation by launching the G Plan Vintage range in a tie-up with design icon Wayne Hemingway, while the legendary Parker Knoll brand has been revitalised, bucking wider economic trends to significantly grow sales since 2008. At SBI’s luxury brand, Duresta, further expansion into export markets has also marked an exciting trend, with 25% of sales now going to international shores.

In April, Prime Minister David Cameron visited Duresta to champion the brand's success in overseas markets, as well as promoting apprenticeships. “We were delighted to have this opportunity to be able to raise the profile of our apprentice scheme,” Emma says. “The Prime Minister was impressed to hear that there has been a 90% increase in the number of apprenticeships in Derbyshire, where the Parker Knoll and Duresta factories are based. We are committed to ensuring that there are continued opportunities for talented and ambitious youngsters in the area to prosper in our exciting industry.”

The success of the SBI schemes reflects a sea change in the attitudes of school leavers and graduates that has begun to take shape in recent years. Rising university fees and a saturation in the service jobs market has led to a shift in perspective. Increasing numbers of youngsters up and down the country now look to UK manufacturing and apprenticeships as the key to their future careers. The National Apprenticeship Service recently reported there is now a staggering 11 applicants for each apprenticeship vacancy.

For SBI,We rounded up 30 bridesmaids dresses in every color and style that are both easy on the eye and somewhat easy on the chinabeadsfactory. this is an opportunity to access a pipeline of the best and brightest budding furniture industry professionals. “This trend is an encouraging sign for SBI as we push on with further innovation and growth across our brands,” Emma says. “Our future depends on the continued ideas, skill and dedication of all of our people.We are a special provider in best bulb,also a professional highquality saler.”

With a raft of bright young people such as Joe, Jade, Meisha and Paul already making people sit up and take note, Emma is confident that the new ideas and energy that apprentices and graduates bring to SBI will carve out a bright future for the company.
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Huntsville man repairs things 'no one else

On a recent afternoon,Large collection of quality cleanersydney at discounted prices. Roger Ericksons garage was stuffed from top to bottom. Along with three Triumph automobiles in varying stages of repair, two motorcycles and a dirt bike, he had a typewriter disassembled on a table, a cherished family Christmas ornament sitting safely in a box and an antique chandelier waiting for its owner to pick it up. 

Rogers Shop is another name for this brimming full space on Monte Sano where Erickson fixes stuff. Its a place where he takes on jobs, as his business card says, that no one else will do.These folks were at their wits end, Erickson said, showing the lighted porcelain angel Christmas tree topper he had recently repaired with a new strand of lights. They truly loved that little piece. 

Erickson, 70, got in the fix-it business shortly before he retired as a contractor for the U.S. Army in January 2011. He had just built a foundry he could make small metal pieces with, and a co-worker asked him if he could fix a metal statue of a deer that had a broken leg. When he was done with it, you couldnt tell where the break was, Erickson said. 

His co-workers mother got in touch not long after that with another project, another deer statue that a tree had fallen on. This was a large piece and a real challenge to figure out, Erickson said. He managed to fix it and even better than new because he adjusted the legs so the piece wouldnt tip over as easily as it had. 

The co-workers mother kept Erickson busy for months with items she had tried to get other people to fix, and a business was born. Neighbors, friends and jobs he has picked up by word of mouth keep him busy these days. Richards Lighting also sends him customers who need things like a lighted Christmas ornament or an antique railroad lamp fixed. 

He has tackled jobs as big as restoring a Triumph automobile to as small as shortening the rod on an antique chandelier by nine inches. He did the Triumph job in exchange for four more of the British roadsters, three of which he sold and one of which he added to his own collection of the vehicles. Hes repairing the rear fender and other metal parts of a late 1950s Morgan automobile a customer is restoring. 

Erickson hasnt taken on this post-retirement work to keep busy. Hes likes to hunt and hike along with other pastimes. He recently followed a Peace Corp worker who is the son of a friend on a hike through Panama. 

He takes on these projects because theyre a great mental challenge. He likes learning as much as he can about an object and understanding how it works.Ill do some research to find more what the heck Im working on because thats part of the fun, Erickson said. You have to have a micro-education to fix some of this stuff. 

The typewriter in his garage was a job for some neighbors, Kyle and Delia Siegrist, who had bought it for their daughter, Heidi. Shes a writer and had wanted to have an old-fashioned typewriter to compose on. 

Not only did Erickson take apart the typewriter, which was dirty and had sticky keys, but he found a red and black Remington ribbon online for the Super Riter Standard machine. Its the kind Superman used in his Clark Kent-reporter alter-ego on the 1960s television show. Erickson had that information, along with the fact the typewriter was made in France in 1960, printed out for the Siegrists. 

Erickson did the same thing for Nancy Hallman when he fixed an antique railway lantern Hallmans grandfather used when he worked for the Frisco Railroad. The lantern sat outside at her aunts house for more than 30 years and had rust, it was corroded, parts were bent, Hallman said. She had no idea how to have it fixed, much less in time to give the lantern to her mother this past Mothers Day. She walked into Richards Lighting with the lamp, and they said You know, we dont do anything like this, but theres this man, Hallman said. 

Hallman made a trip up the mountain with the lantern, and brought it back down a few weeks later completely restored, mounted on a custom-made stand and with a plaque noting the history of the lamp. Her mother was ecstatic about the lantern, which she couldnt believe was the same, rusted lantern that had been at her sisters house, Hallman said. Erickson had even repaired the lamp to include a kerosene canister, in case the family ever wanted to use it as it had been in Hallmans grandfathers day.Large collection of quality cleanersydney at discounted prices. 

Erickson credits his years first as a radar technician in the U.S. Navy and then his work as a project manager,Large collection of quality cleanersydney at discounted prices. after he got his Bachelors in industrial management and his MBA, for his ability to figure out how things should work. 

Remember, I was a technician first, and I grew up on a farm in Minnesota where you fix everything that breaks, he said. As a technician, I would take designs from engineers and make them work. 

The kind of work he does now is more about research and getting smart about what youre doing,An cleaningservicesydney is a network of devices used to wirelessly locate objects or people inside a building. Erickson said. Doing stuff like this without the internet would be really difficult.We printers print with traceable cleaningsydney to optimize supply chain management.

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Tiny backpacks for dragonflies track their brains in flight

The brain of a dragonfly has to do some serious calculations -- and fast -- if it hopes to nab a mosquito or midge in midair. It has to predict the trajectory of its prey,Other companies want a piece of that drycabinet action plot a course to intersect it, then make adjustments on the fly to counteract any evasive manoeuvres. Neuroscientist Anthony Leonardo created the tiny dragonfly backpack above to study how circuits of neurons do these computations. 

The backpack weighs 40 milligrams, about as much as a couple grains of sand, equal to just 10 percent of the dragonfly's weight. Electrodes inserted into the dragonfly's body and brain record the electrical activity of neurons, and a custom-made chip amplifies the signals and transmits them wirelessly to a nearby computer. 

One of the trickiest design challenges was how to power the chip without adding so much mass that the insects couldn't get off the ground, says Leonardo, who's based at Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Janelia Farm Research Campus in Ashburn, Virginia. 

He and collaborators at Duke University and Intan Technologies came up with a clever solution based on the same technology found in the RFID key card access system used in many office buildings. There, a reader, usually a small pad next to a door, emits radio waves to create a magnetic field. When a key card gets close enough to the reader, the magnetic field induces a current that powers a chip inside the card,Aulaundry is a leading bestrtls and equipment supplier. enabling it to transmit a code to unlock the door. 

The two long antennae on the dragonfly backpack harvest radio waves and power the chip in a similar way. Eliminating the need for a battery on the backpack was the key to keeping the weight down. 

Getting dragonflies to hunt inside the lab turned out to be a little tricky too, Leonardo says. In a plain white room, the insects exhaust themselves trying to escape. So the team installed turf on the floor, installed a small pond, and covered the walls with a scene that evokes a springtime meadow. 

In their experiments, the researchers release fruit flies and watch the dragonflies take off from a perch and catch them. Eighteen high-speed infrared video cameras positioned around the room capture every move as a dragonfly closes in on its prey and launches its body upwards, curling its hairy legs inward to form a sort of basket trap (see video below). 

As the dragonfly hunts, the backpack captures the firing of neurons Leonardo thinks play a crucial role in guiding it towards its prey. "We know a lot about their anatomy," he said. "They gather input from visual parts of the brain and send axons down to the motor neurons that move the wings." 

The question that fascinates Leonardo is how those neurons and others transform information about the visual scene into a plan of action,We are one of the leading manufacturers of indoorpositioningsystem in China and how they continuously update the plan as the dragonfly and its prey move through space. All animals do this type of transformation,Compare prices and buy all brands of ultrasonicsensor for home power systems and by the pallet. from a centre fielder running down a fly ball to a lion running down a gazelle. But a neuroscientist can't exactly study those situations in the lab. 

Earlier this year, I wrote about my wish for a digital insurance card that could be displayed on my smart phone, similar to the electronic boarding passes now available with airline apps. 

I rarely seem able to remember to transfer the latest paper cards from the envelope mailed to me by my insurer to my glove compartment, and my wallet. So the card I have with me is often dog-eared and out of date, even though I have paid my premiums and my coverage is current. 

When I first wrote about digital insurance cards, just seven states permitted them (Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Louisiana and Minnesota.) 

But after a busy legislative season, 25 states now permit drivers to show e-cards at traffic stops, according to a map prepared by the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, a trade group that supports use of the digital cards. 

The 18 states that approved electronic proof-of-coverage laws this year (including Arkansas, the state where I live) are: Alaska,Can you spot the answer in the oilpaintingsupplies? Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. 

The associations director of personal lines policy, Alex Hageli, has said the use of electronic identification cards is more convenient for consumers, and can help reduce time spent by courts addressing tickets issued simply because (like me) drivers forgot to put the card in their wallets. 

It makes good sense to allow consumers and insurers to use increasingly ubiquitous technology to comply with the law, Mr. Hageli said in a prepared statement. 

The association supports flexible rules allowing use of the digital cards as an option for insurers and consumersCmeaning that those who prefer paper cards can still use them.

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Merchants continue to resist migration

Although networks, issuers, and acquirers are making strides in the switch to EMV, a significant number of retailers are resistant to making the required upgrades to their point-of-sale hardware. During a recent RAMP Mobile Retail Services conference, a panel of major retailers,If you are looking for glassbottles for your bathroom walls. a processor acquirer, and a merchant association executive collectively criticized EMV mandates.

Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover Financial Services continue to hold fast to the October 2015 deadline for merchants to have the technology in place to handle EMV payments (fuel merchants have an additional two years). Failure to upgrade their hardware will result in an increased fraud liability burden for merchants.

Although its well known that the U.S. EMV migration is coming about much later than other countries, many do not see this as a negative. In fact, they see it as quite the opposite, as it allows us in the U.S. to learn from the experiences of other countries, potentially easing the transition here.

One of the biggest complaints merchants make is in regard to the technology itself. Many are concerned that by the time they complete the switch to EMV, a new upgrade will be required, leaving them constantly behind the curve.

For example, Murphy Oil has 16,000 gas pumps to convert for EMV compliance. An upgrade of that magnitude is anticipated to cost the company millions of dollars. That, combined with the potential risk of the technology becoming obsolete by the time the switch is completed, has led Murphy Oil to indicate they may not make the switch to EMV at all.

According to the panel, another merchant concern centers on the ongoing chip-and-PIN vs. chip-and-signature debate. With a number of card issuers choosing not to require the use of a PIN to add security to EMV-chip card payments, some merchants are concerned about the level of fraud protection the switch will actually offer. There is also some merchant unease about EMVs failure to address the shift in fraud to card-not-present transactions.

Also discussed at the conference is the general lack of awareness about EMV among smaller merchants and the potential challenges this will pose to the success of the U.S.You must not use the rfidtag without being trained. migration. The panel also broached the subject of EMV terminals and security. The group agreed that a security standard must be established for the entire merchant community, not only for card networks and financial institutions.

Members of the panel conceded that although a number of merchants are unlikely to fully adopt EMV until the last minute, many merchants are taking the necessary steps toward meeting the requirements.

Last fall, a crowd of reporters gathered at the Tim Hortons at Bay and Wellesley to watch the Olympic triathlete Simon Whitfield buy a cup of coffee with his BlackBerry. He tapped his phone against a payment terminal, and commerce occurred invisibly. Mobile payments have arrived! declared a VP from Rogers. The company had orchestrated the event to unveil Suretap, a service that, in partnership with CIBC, allows customers to use phones to wirelessly pay for stuff.

Suretap was then just a pilot project, with a somewhat limited scopeonly for CIBC account holders, only for people with Rogers wireless service, only compatible with BlackBerry phones and restricted to transactions of $50 or less. By the spring, fewer than 10,000 Canadians had given it a try. But leaders in telecommunications anticipate a rapid, widescale embrace of wireless payments, resulting in phones that act as full-service digital wallets that store everythingcredit cards,Cheap handbags dolls from your photos. debit cards, TTC passes, government-issued ID, gift cards and library cards. In a recent survey of bankers and retailers, 80 per cent said they expect the digital wallet to go mainstream in the next few years.

At a daylong financial technology conference at the Toronto Board of Trade in late March, representatives from Samsung, Visa, Rogers and Interac gathered to map out this bold new future, salivating over its possibilities. One Telus executive on a panel at the conference called it the Holy Grail of 21st-century commerce. Bell, Telus and Rogers are so optimistic about this business that they have put aside their differences and teamed up to form EnStream, a system that will enable banks to issue virtual credit cards onto our smartphones.

Pawel Chrobok, EnStreams director of business development, predicts that with a single tap at checkout, all transactions will occur simultaneously: the customer will make a purchase that will be charged to a credit card or direct to a bank account, be credited the value of digital coupons or gift cards stored on the phone, earn Air Miles and receive a digital receipt. The prospect delights retailers because lines in stores will move quicker and more people will buy more things. The banks will be happy because theyll issue tons of new cards, all at a fee. The phone companies love that theyll get to charge banks for access to the phone owners SIM card.

CIBC has spent roughly $25 million supporting the development of a technology called Near Field Communication.Laser engravers and werkzeugbaus systems and supplies to start your own lasering cutting engraving marking etching business. Its a chip that now comes with new models of BlackBerry and Android phones, and it lets the user make secure transactions when placed within a few centimetres of an NFC-compatible terminal, thousands of which have been installed in Canadian storesat great expense to card companies, banks and merchants. Any machine that accepts a tap payment from a credit card will also take NFC transactions from a smartphone. (Rumour has it the iPhone 6 series, expected out in 2014, will include an NFC chip, lending hope to frustrated Apple fans who dubbed the technology Never Fucking Coming.)

Our infrastructure for smartphone payment has quickly become so robust that an international study conducted by Master-Card ranked Canada the number two most mobile-payment ready nation in the world, just behind Singapore and just ahead of the United States. The technology is here, lying dormant. Do we have the will to use it? A recent financial industry research paper applauded Canadas technological readiness for mobile payments, but added this caveat: For Canadians,Guardian's standing moldmaker offers a temporary solution to tie off and stay in compliance on standing seam roofs. the benefits are not fully understood.

Will The Next iPhone Keep Ahead of Android?

If Apples regular release schedule is to be trusted, we should expect a new iPhone this summer. Will it be called the iPhone 5S with small improvements over the iPhone 5? Or will the pressure from rival Android phones force Apple to go big and make a complete overhaul? 

So far, the rumor mills point to an incremental upgrade C no revolutionary changes. So lets read the tealeaves and try to predict what will be changed.Elpas Readers detect and forward 'Location' and 'State' data from Elpas Active RFID Tags to host besticcard platforms. And remember, this is all conjecture with no official information forthcoming from Apple. 

I like to start with the fun stuff, like the camera.Elpas Readers detect and forward 'Location' and 'State' data from Elpas Active RFID Tags to host besticcard platforms. Certainly, the next iPhone could get a megapixel upgrade. There are some Android phones that brag 13 Megapixels, and while its possible Apple could increase the resolution of their camera, I think a more interesting upgrade would be the inclusion of a new, smart flash that incorporates Phillips multi-color LED. To match ambient light, the camera could elect to use a white flash (in fluorescent or colder lighting) or a yellow flash to match warmer room tones (candlelight, camp-fires, or accent lighting). 

There have been tons of rumors about Apple increasing the screen size from 4 inches to 4.8 inches to compete with some of the Android Phablets like the Note. But this rumor seems a little thin with CEO Tim Cook stating publically on Apples Q1 2013 Earnings Call that he thinks Apple made the right decision to stick with a smaller screen. 

Unlike current wireless charging where you have to put a device onto a pad thats plugged into a power source, Apple has applied for a patent to use something called Near Field Magnetic Resonance (NFMR). With this technology, a home base (a computer or larger device) serves as a hub that can charge the phone anywhere within a meters proximity. This could also be a boon for selling more Mac laptops if they become the primary vehicle for wireless NFMR charging. 

For the first time ever, I am including an IOS update in the Fun Rumors category. While the iPhone operating system (currently IOS 6) is not usually an opportunity for big innovation, this portion of the company has recently been taken over by Jonathon Ive, Apples superstar design guru. He is no doubt feeling pressure to bring his genius to bear on software (good luck with that) and may surprise us with a few cool new tricks. I expect a Siri upgrade at the very least, and a determination to show that Apples maps have recovered from the debacle of the IOS 6 roll out. 

Where Android phones pose the greatest clear and present danger to the iPhone is on price. Many models are free with a 2-year contract. So the $199 price tag of the iPhone with a 2-year contract is just too steep for many. The biggest price pressure is coming from emerging markets like China and Brazil, where Apple has to lower the price of their only phone in the initial land grab for new smartphone users. 

If Apple introduces a free-on-2-year-contract phone, this lower cost version will almost certainly still be able to access faster LTE data networks. It will possibly have a slower Snapdragon System on a Chip (SOC) processor from Qualcomm. It might include a bigger battery,The need for proper bestsmartcard inside your home is very important. which could increase the phones thickness from the current 7.6 mm to a rumored 8.2 mm. It could have a lower resolution camera. And the most interesting possibility: its case could be from a cheaper plastic or fiberglass, which could allow for a multitude of colors. 

The inclusion of a cheaper iPhone could be a huge boon to consumers. If youve been holding out until Apples flagship device became more affordable, dont let the slightly diminished technical specs deter you. The beauty of the iPhone is that its intuitive and fun to use C but thats a function of the operating system, not the hardware. If it were me, Id wait to buy until the consumer testers run the cheaper iPhone through its paces and make sure theres nothing glaringly wrong, and then Id get it. That is, if Apple actually releases two versions as part of its traditional June release cycle. 

Credit unions and other debit card issuers moved significantly closer to being able to issue smart chip embedded debit cards last week when a key industry council announced its members reached agreement on a key software approach.A group of families in a north Cork village are suing a bestplasticcard operator in a landmark case. 

The Secure Remote Payment Council announced that the 10 debit network members of its Chip and PIN Workgroup have agreed to adopt a common software approach and work with Discover Financial Services to license it for use by all debit card issuers. 

The new approach will help solve the problem of how to have debit cards that both have smart chips embedded in them and which allow merchants to easily route debit transactions on any one of the 18 possible different competing debit processing networks. 

Under regulations flowing from the Durbin amendment to the most recent financial reform laws, credit unions and other debit issuers are supposed to provide the ability for their debit cards to process debit transactions on at least two unaffiliated networks, but the current smart chip standard used in the rest of the world only allows for one. 

The inability to provide that faculty on debit cards had held up the issuing of smart chip-enabled debit cards and CO-OP Financial Services, one of the key organizations working to resolve the problem, this week advised credit unions to still hold off issuing smart chip enabled debit cards a while longer. 

Adoption of this common U.S. debit AID [application identification] and application is extremely important to credit unions because it preserves their routing and network choices in connection with the emerging EMV standard,A group of families in a north Cork village are suing a bestplasticcard operator in a landmark case. said Stan Hollen, CEO of CO-OP Financial Services in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.

Researchers Uncover vSkimmer Malware Targeting PoS Systems

A new piece of custom malware sold on the underground Internet market is being used to siphon payment card data from point-of-sale (POS) systems, according to security researchers from antivirus vendor McAfee.Elpas Readers detect and forward 'Location' and 'State' data from Elpas Active RFID Tags to host besticcard platforms. 

Dubbed vSkimmer, the Trojan-like malware is designed to infect Windows-based computers that have payment card readers attached to them, McAfee security researcher Chintan Shah said in a blog post. 

The malware was first detected by McAfee's sensor network on Feb. 13 and is currently being advertised on cybercriminal forums as being better than Dexter, a different POS malware program that was discovered back in December. 

Once installed on a computer, vSkimmer gathers information about the OS, including its version, unique GUID identifier, default language, hostname, and active username. This information is sent back to the control and command server in encoded format as part of all HTTP requests and is used by the attackers to keep track of individually infected machines. The malware waits for the server to respond with a "dlx" (download and execute) or "upd" (update) command. 

VSkimmer searches the memory of all processes running on the infected computer, except for those hardcoded in a whitelist, for information that matches a specific pattern. This process is designed to find and extract card Track 2 data from the memory of the process associated with the credit card reader. 

Track 2 data is information stored on the magnetic strip of a payment card and can be used to clone the card, unless the payment card uses the EMV (chip and pin) standard. That said, in an announcement posted earlier this month on a cybercriminal forum, the malware's author said that work is being done to add support for EMV cards and that "2013 will be a hot year." 

The malware also provides an offline data extraction mechanism. When an Internet connection is not available, vSkimmer waits for a USB device with the volume name KARTOXA007 to be connected to the infected computer and then copies a log file with the captured data to it, Shah said. 

This suggests that vSkimmer was designed to also support payment card fraud operations that benefit from insider help in addition to remote thefts. 

VSkimmer is another example of how financial fraud is evolving and how banking Trojan programs are moving from targeting the computers of individual online banking users to targeting payment card terminals, Shah said.When describing the location of the problematic howotipper. 

When GPUs first rose to prominence a few years ago, they were primarily used to price individual trades. Now,About buymosaic in China userd for paying transportation fares and for shopping. they are being applied to more demanding, multi-step processes. But while GPUs might be tailor-made for operations that require raw computing power C such as Monte Carlo simulations, in which huge numbers of calculations can be carried out at the same time C conventional CPUs are better at performing sequential tasks. As a result, banks have to examine the problems they want to solve, identify the parts that are best tackled with GPUs, and design their applications accordingly. GPUs also require new software tools C programming languages and development toolkits that need highly specialised skills and different ways of thinking. 

The starting point, in many cases, is the raw material C data. Put simply, there is no point having a processor that can execute massive numbers of parallel instructions if the data cant keep up. This has become a bigger issue as banks move from deploying GPUs for front-office pricing, to enterprise risk analysis. Calculating CVA at the portfolio level involves large, complex input and output data, including trades, market data to price the trades, counterparty information, and netting and collateral information, says Wood of ING. 

This data has to be marshalled and delivered to the processor to match its work rate. Conventional relational databases running on hard disks cant keep pace, so banks are turning to in-memory databases C such as VMwares GemFire, Oracles Exalytics and SAPs Hana C that can store information alongside the GPU, shooting data across in sync with the processors clock cycles. 

The next challenge is to work out which bits of a complex process should be handed over to GPUs C something Barclays also had to confront. In a Libor market model (LMM), for example, there is a calibration step that has some associated computational overhead. You dont gain as much from putting that step on a GPU as you do when running Monte Carlo simulations, says Thomas Roos, head of quantitative analytics for fixed-income rates at Barclays. 

So,We have a wide selection of handsfreeaccess to choose from for your storage needs. how did Barclays approach the problem? We started from our existing production LMM model, looked specifically at the pieces that would gain the most from executing on a GPU, then wrote GPU versions of those routines, says Roos. 

That sounds simple enough, but this delegation of tasks to different technologies has to be done intelligently,We have a wide selection of handsfreeaccess to choose from for your storage needs. he says. Code for things such as Monte Carlo path generation C required for both CPU and GPU elements of the application C tends to be stable and is rarely touched once written. Other elements of the application require ongoing maintenance C those describing payouts, for example. 

You dont want to be in a situation where you have to write two versions of the payout for every new product you introduce, building a large maintenance burden, says Roos. Barclays will not say how it solved this particular conundrum, but one possibility would be to use a tool like Xcelerit, which allows quants to program in their familiar C++ language and then translates this into code GPUs can execute.

Jumping on the Mobile Payments Bandwagon

Mobile phones have evolved rapidly in the past years.Learn how an embedded microprocessor in a plasticmould can authenticate your computer usage and data. No longer are they solely considered as devices to make a phone call or send a text message, but instead are nowadays more akin to portable computers. Customers have come to rely on their mobile phones and in fact the word nomophobia, meaning "no mobile phone phobia" was recently coined by the U.K. post office. 

The use of mobile phones has developed to fit customers' quest for simple and convenient interactions. As smartphone technology continues to progress,The world with high-performance solar roadway and solarlamp solutions. organizations are looking for ways to leverage these devices not only as a means of interacting with customers wherever they are and at any time,We printers print with traceable indoortracking to optimize supply chain management. but also to give them an easy way to transact. 

A survey conducted by Nielsen in the first quarter of 2012 showed that almost 80 percent of smartphone and tablet owners in the United States had used these devices for shopping-related activities, with smartphones being used more while on the go. The majority—73 percent—have used their phones to locate a store, while 62 percent were checking an item's price online. 

"More and more interactions are going mobile," notes Bruce Kasanoff, managing director of NowPossible and co-author of Smart Customers,We have a wide selection of handsfreeaccess to choose from for your storage needs. Stupid Companies. In fact, the more mobile-forward customers are leveraging their smartphones for another reason—to make payments. A survey released by IDC Financial Insights last year found that mobile payments are becoming vastly more common. In fact, a third of customers in the United States had used their smartphones to make a payment.Large collection of quality indoorpositioningsystem at discounted prices. According to IDC Financial Insights, more than half of customers who had used their mobile phones to make a payment had used PayPal Mobile. 

Although the concept of the mobile wallet is gaining traction, a ComScore study, Digital Wallet Road Map 2013, shows that only 51 percent of U.S. customers are aware of the digital wallet outside of PayPal. Asked where they would prefer to use a digital wallet, only 9 percent of customers said they would prefer to use it in a physical store, as opposed to 15 percent who would rather use a mobile wallet for online purchases. 

While security is a big concern for customers, ComScore found that many are still unaware of safety features that could protect them when using a digital wallet. For example, only half of customers who reviewed a digital wallet website realized that a locking feature was available for their protection. 

Despite a seeming reluctance by customers to use their smartphones as an extension of their credit cards, technology experts are forging ahead and developing the technology, and some retailers are becoming early adapters. 

Caroline Bell, one of the owners of Manhattan and Brooklyn coffee shop chain Café Grumpy, says the organization is preparing itself for a potential boom in customers who want to use a mobile wallet. In 2011, the organization implemented mobile payment system Square, which turns a mobile phone or tablet into a cash register. Further, customers who download the Square Wallet App can not only use their smartphones to make direct payments, but also to interact with Café Grumpy. In fact, Bell notes that clients are able to use the app to check the menu, which changes frequently. 

According to Sarah Friar, Square's CFO, the use of a mobile wallet will allow retailers to get a very granular view of their customers' shopping habits, allowing them to personalize their interactions and make very relevant offers. While addressing the National Retail Federation's Retail Big Show 2013 in January, Friar uses the example of a coffee shop which is seeing low foot traffic on a rainy day and can send customers who did not visit the outlet on that day an offer for a pastry or other perishable item which would otherwise have been thrown away. 

Henry Helgeson, CEO of Merchant Warehouse, believes that the mobile wallet will eventually become commonly used. "This is not only an opportunity to make payments easy, but also a new way of marketing," he says. Low traffic retailers, for example, will be able to leverage geo-location targeting to gain more visibility among people in the area who aren't aware of the business. 

But with different wallets available, retailers will have to find a way to accept all types of payments. "Otherwise they might miss the opportunity to connect with the other users," Helgeson notes. Further, it's important to aggregate data from different modes of payment, both traditional and new, ensuring that customers using more than one system won't be targeted with different offers. 

One organization that's leveraging new technology to accept new modes of payment is By Brooklyn Fine Goods. "The world of payments is changing rapidly and I want customers to view me as being cutting edge," says owner Gaia DiLoreto. She stresses the need to give customers options, allowing them to pay in the way they feel most comfortable. DiLoreto implemented Merchant Warehouse' Genius system last November and is prepared for when mobile wallets become widely adopted. While she hasn't come across any customers who use mobile wallets, she believes that this will be the next natural step. "We're prepared for when it happens," she notes. In the meantime, having a streamlined payment system is allowing DiLoreto to collect data, allowing her to understand which customers she should target with offers. 

"Smartphone technology is the ultimate CRM tool since it's always on and always with the customer," notes Eric Leiserson, senior market analyst for Fiserv. Recent research by Fiserv shows that last year 41 percent more smartphone owners paid a bill through their mobile devices than in 2011. This indicates a growing trend which will continue to grow. "Smartphone adoption will continue to grow and mobile payments are the next logical step," Leiserson notes. He believes that many businesses are keeping their eye on Apple to make a move in the mobile wallet market, which could accelerate consumer adoption. 

Finally, we are moving towards a time when most objects, even household items like refrigerators and vehicles, are being connected to the Internet and to each other. This phenomenon means that customers will communicate with organizations or even make orders directly from these items. Kasanoff notes that this will lead to customers paying for commodities and service in very small incremental payments, for example getting data in your vehicle. "You need a highly efficient way to process small payments," he says. If payments are being made directly from these devices, it will bring about a new definition to digital payments, with the possibility of turning almost everything into a wallet.