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Comment Re:As a mac user (Score 1) 398

There are ATMs EVERYWHERE! Banks, convenience stores, gas stations. Plus, you can withdraw from those ATMs even if you're not a Chase Bank customer. And many banks will refund any fees charged by the ATM network.

Local electric is a better example, but there's no such thing as a local monopoly for banks anymore. I have nearly all of my banking assets in non-bricks-and-mortar banks.

Comment Re:Trust is a slippery thing to pin down (Score 1) 194

So then you don't use credit cards with major retailers (or scammy, smaller ones)? Don't pay bills online? Don't access your bank account online? Don't send e-mails with private information?

Of all of the things I do, I have to say that what lives in my Google Docs account is the least I'm worried about. and I put nearly everything in Google Docs. I'd be much more concerned about my Gmail account being hacked.

The Courts

Submission + - FBI Arrests Founders of Payment Processor Neteller

Sound of Silence writes: "Eye On Gambling is reporting that two founders of a company which processes Internet gambling transactions were arrested and charged with laundering billions of dollars in gambling proceeds, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.

The charges against the former Neteller PLC directors, John David Lefebvre, 55, and Stephen Eric Lawrence, 46, both Canadian citizens, were contained in two criminal complaints unsealed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Monday, U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia said in a statement.

The prosecutor said the men knew when they took their company public that its activities were illegal.

"Blatant violations of U.S. law are not a mere `risk' to be disclosed to prospective investors," Garcia said. "Criminal prosecutions related to online gambling will be pursued even in cases where assets and defendants are positioned outside of the United States."

FBI Assistant Director Mark J. Mershon said the multibillion-dollar online gambling industry was "a colossal criminal enterprise masquerading as legitimate business."

Lefebvre and Lawrence were charged in connection with the creation and operation of an Internet payment services company that facilitated the transfer to billions of dollars of illegal gambling proceeds from U.S. citizens to the owners of overseas Internet gambling companies.

Lefebvre was arrested Monday in Malibu, Calif and was scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles Tuesday. Lawrence, who resides in Paradise Island, Bahamas, was arrested Monday in the U.S. Virgin Islands and will appear in federal court on Wednesday.

In 1999, the men founded Neteller, which is based in the Isle of Man and is publically traded in the United Kingdom.

The company began processing Internet gambling transactions in approximately July 2000, allowing companies to transfer money from U.S. customers to bank accounts overseas.

Prosecutors cited Neteller's 2005 annual report in saying that Lawrence and Lefebvre enabled the company to provide payment services to more than 80 percent of worldwide gaming merchants.

Lawrence left the company's board of directors in October while Lefebvre left in December 2005, prosecutors said. Together, the men owned as much as 35 percent of the company's outstanding shares.

Garcia noted that the company acknowledged when it went public that U.S. law prohibited people from promoting certain forms of gambling, including Internet gambling and transmmitting funds that are known to have been derived from criminal activity.

Lefebvre and Lawrence also conceded in the company's offering documents that they were risking prosecution by the U.S. government, he said.

Prosecutors said Neteller in 2005 alone processed more than $7.3 billion in financial transactions, 95 percent of which was derived from money transfers involving Internet gambling.

Lawrence and Lefebvre, both charged with conspiring to transfer funds with the intent to promote illegal gambling, could face a maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted.

EOG.com has currently got multiple threads discussing the topic on their posting forums"
Editorial

Submission + - Open Source vs Commercial Reviews

An anonymous reader writes: What's the deal with reviews and product comparisons?
My PHB wants independent comparative reviews of proxy and web servers to use to make/justify his decision.
We all know that what the vendors write about their own (and competitive) products needs to be taken with a sack of salt, so I tried searching for 3rd party reviews.
I can find heaps of articles on the web telling us how great IIS is or how good Microsoft's Proxy server is, but nothing showing a back-to-back comparison of Squid vs Sun Java Proxy vs Microsoft Proxy, and the same for Apache vs IIS.
What's happening here?
Are we to assume that all the reviewers have sold out to the big guys? Have they all become shills?
Where can I find an honest back-to-back product comparison?
Music

Apple To Play Fairer With FairPlay? 153

NewbieMonster writes "According to tech.co.uk, Apple is about to license its Fairplay DRM to Made for iPod accessory manufacturers. It's reported that Apple will also allow streaming of protected AAC content via USB. Could this signal a move to allowing other music players to access and play ITMS content?" From the article: "The expected announcements could signal a move on Apple's part to take some of the sting out of its Fairplay DRM which has come in for a great deal of criticism over recent months. It may also be a way of keeping Made For iPod makers onside, as the draw of the Microsoft Zune becomes stronger." Anyone noticed the draw of the Microsoft Zune becoming stronger?
Businesses

Submission + - At&T buyout of Cingular

Questor Thews writes: "AT&T acquired BellSouth and now has complete control over Cingular wireless. It plans to phase out the Cingular brand name. More here."
Intel

Submission + - Intel to ship Centrino Pro with 512MB / 1GB flash

Brent Kupras writes: "Intel will ship the Centrino Pro mainboards with 512MB or 1GB of flash memory.

The NAND flash memory will be made available in the form of PCI Express x1 cards with capacities of 512MB or 1GB. The size of flash memory included in each notebook will be up to the ODM although it should be possible to upgrade it yourself."
Microsoft

Submission + - IE7: 100 Million Downloads, Still Falling Behind?

Kelson writes: "Internet Explorer 7 hit the 100 million download mark last week. Yet in the three months it's been available, Firefox's marketshare has continued to grow. Information Week reports that nearly all of IE7's growth has been upgrades from IE6. People don't seem to be switching back to IE in significant numbers, prompting analysts to wonder: has Microsoft finally met its match?"
Operating Systems

Submission + - MS allows free OS with DX10 support?

neersign writes: "There appears to be a BSD-derived operating system under development claiming it will have full DirectX 10 support. The developer claims they have made a deal with Microsoft where the source must be closed but the operating system can be released for free, only with the request that users legally own one Microsoft operating system. The operating system is called XSOS and it uses what is assumed to be a modified BSD kernel released under the BSD license with Windows running in emulation on top of it. Discussions about the operating system can be found here and here. The home page for the project is here."
Security

Submission + - New York's JFK Airport Begins Expedited Screening

bluewhale writes: "Tom Randall from Bloomberg news reports : Travelers at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport may clear security in minutes under a Transportation Security Administration-approved program that expedites the normal screening process. Clear Registered Traveler allows passengers to use special speed lanes, forego secondary screening with handheld scanners and keep their shoes on. Users pay about $100 in fees and undergo criminal background checks and iris and fingerprint scans for a one-year membership in Clear, which is owned by closely held Verified Identity Pass Inc."
GNOME

Submission + - New Gnome Control Center for Ubuntu's Feisty Fawn

Michael writes: "http://lunapark6.com/?p=2728 In Herd 2 of Feisty Fawn, there is a new Gnome Control Center that resembles Windows XP's control panel. This article compares the new Gnome Control Center in the upcoming Gnome 2.17/2.18 and Ubuntu Feisty Fawn with the older cascading menu style familiar in the current Gnome 2.16 release. There are also plenty of screenshots."
XBox (Games)

Submission + - What are these 360 ports for?

jwigum writes: "So I got to wondering: What are those two ports on the bottom of a 360 controller used for? The ports in question(second photobucket file here in case the first dies) obviously have contacts. The thing that puzzles me is that the only peripheral I know of that uses these ports is the stock 360 headset. I've included that in the same picture, but flipped upside down so that the area that would be in contact with the... contacts is visible. As you can see, there aren't any contacts there. I can only assume they're for a peripheral that is either unreleased, or abandoned(stereo sound headphones for split screen?).

So Slashdot: What are these ports for?"
Security

Submission + - What is the best Firewall/ AV software

Stevecrox writes: With the recent scandals in america and the seeming rise in Bot nets I have to ask what anti virus software and firewall software do you use? I've tried a lot of the larger ones like kasperly, avast, norton, bullguard and stopped using them either they caused a huge drain on my system recources (like mcafee and avast) or they simplied lied. There have been times when I've been without the net for weeks and yet norton, kasperly and bullguard have imformed me that I was being attacked through the internet from IP adress 205/207.xxx.... when I had no network connection and my router was unplugged from the phone line(my home network is wired and all addresses are 192.xxx.) None of the AV software I've tried has ever shown my machine to have a virus and I'm using spybot but know I should be using alot more, where do I spend my money?

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