NEWS
Federal Communications Commission                                                                             News Media Information 202 / 418-0500
445 12th Street, S.W.                                                                                                          Internet: http://www.fcc.gov
                                                                                                                                       TTY: 1-888-835-5322
Washington, D. C. 20554
This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action. Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action.
See MCI v. FCC. 515 F 2d 385 (D.C. Circ 1974).
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                                                                              NEWS CONTACT:
April 23, 2010                                                                                    Janice Wise: 202-418-8165
                                                                                                    Email: Janice.Wise@fcc.gov
        FCC ANNOUNCES AGENDA OF SECOND FUTURE OF MEDIA WORKSHOP:
                               “PUBLIC AND OTHER NONCOMMERCIAL MEDIA
                                                         IN THE DIGITAL ERA”
Washington, D.C. — As part of its project on the Future of Media and the Information Needs of
Communities, the Federal Communications Commission will hold a workshop on April 30,
2010, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. in the Commission Meeting Room, Room TW-C305, at 445
12th Street, S.W., Washington, D.C., on noncommercial media entitled “Public and Other
Noncommercial Media in the Digital Era.” The workshop will focus on:
       o Evolving business and organizational structures of public and other noncommercial
             media entities and the ways these are impacted by government policy;
       o The ways in which public and other noncommercial media entities do and could
             contribute to the information needs of communities across multiple platforms, focusing in
             particular on journalism, cultural, and educational content;
       o The possibilities for greater collaboration among noncommercial media entities such as
             public broadcasters, PEG channels, noncommercial web-based outlets, and other new
             media entities;
       o The role of public and other noncommercial media in serving the information needs of
             the underserved, including minorities, children, the disabled, and the economically
             disadvantaged;
       o The infrastructure needs and assets of public and other noncommercial media in
             delivering information to communities;
       o Innovative uses of social media, gaming, Internet applications, citizen journalism, mobile
             technologies, and other technological and organizational innovations; and
       o The possibilities for new kinds of noncommercial media networks and associated funding
             models. (See Press Release dated March 31, 2010).
The workshop is open to the public, with seating available on a first-come, first-served basis. It
will also be broadcast live over the Internet from the FCC Live web page at www.fcc.gov/live.
Questions from the Internet audience can be submitted throughout the course of the workshop
via e-mail to futureofmedia@fcc.gov and via Twitter using the hash tag #FOMwkshop.
Agenda and Panelists
(All times EST; Panelists in alphabetical order)
9:00 a.m.     Welcome and Opening Remarks
              Chairman Julius Genachowski
              Steven Waldman, Senior Advisor to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski,
              (Moderator)
              Ellen Goodman, Professor, Rutgers School of Law and Distinguished Visiting
              Scholar, Future of Media Project (Co-Moderator)
9:15 a.m.     Framing Presentation: A 1967 Moment… A Vision for Public Media
              Luis Ubiñas, President, Ford Foundation (Taped address)
              Ernest Wilson, Chair, Corporation for Public Broadcasting
9:30 a.m.     Panel Discussion I: Varieties of Public and Noncommercial Media
              Patricia Harrison, President and CEO, Corporation for Public Broadcasting
              Jose Luis Rodriguez, Founder & CEO, Hispanic Information and
              Telecommunications Network (HITN)
              Jan Schaffer, Executive Director, J-Lab, The Institute for Interactive Journalism
              Vivian Schiller, President & CEO, NPR (Via Remote Video)
              Hari Sreenivasan, Correspondent, NewsHour
              Presenter: Sue Schardt, President, Association of Independents in Radio
10:45 a.m.    Panel Discussion II: Purposes of Public and Noncommercial Media
              David Fanning, Executive Producer, Frontline
              James T. Hamilton, Professor, Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University
              Paula Kerger, President, Public Broadcasting Service
              Randolph J. May, President, The Free State Foundation
              James O’Shea, Editor & Co-Founder, Chicago News Cooperative
12:00 p.m.    Break
                                                 2
1:00 p.m. Panel Discussion III: New Platforms, Approaches and Structures
          Joaquin Alvarado, Senior Vice President for Digital Innovation, American Public
          Media
          Bill Buzenberg, Executive Director, The Center for Public Integrity
          Maxie Jackson III, President and CEO, National Federation of Community
          Broadcasters
          Nan Rubin, Chairperson of the Board, Prometheus Radio Project
          Jake Shapiro, Executive Director, Public Radio Exchange (PRX)
          Discussant: Kinsey Wilson, SVP and General Manager NPR Digital Media
2:15p.m.  Panel Discussion IV: New Strategies for Supporting Public and
          Noncommercial Media
          Craig Aaron, Managing Director, Free Press
          Orlando Bagwell, Director, Freedom of Expression, Ford Foundation
          Dean Baker, Co-Director, Center for Economic and Policy Research
          Lee Bollinger, President, Columbia University
          Steve Coll, President, New America Foundation
3:30 p.m. Panel Discussion V: Communications and Regulatory Policy
          Rod Bates, General Manager, Nebraska Educational Telecommunications
          Terry Clifford, Co-CEO, SRG/ Station Resource Group
          Susan Harmon, Managing Director, Public Radio Capital
          Ken Ikeda, Executive Director, Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC)
          Bill Kling, President & CEO, American Public Media
          Craig L. Parshall, Senior Vice President & General Counsel, National Religious
          Broadcasters
5:00 p.m. Adjournment
                                          3
Open captioning of the workshop will be provided. Other reasonable accommodations for
people with disabilities are available upon request. Please include a description of the
accommodation you will need, and a way that we can contact you if we need more information.
Last-minute requests will be accepted, but may not be possible to fill. Send an e-mail to
fcc504@fcc.gov or call the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau at 202-418-0530 (voice),
202-418-0432 (tty).
For further information, contact Krista Witanowski, Media Bureau, (202) 418-2449.
                                               -FCC-
                                                 4

Cleaning out old bookmarks, found this:

Mary-Margaret Network – About Us

Who We Are

Mary-Margaret Network works with a diverse clientele in the game, mobile, web, multimedia, IT, TV and film industries. We successfully fill positions in every department at all levels, including production, engineering, design, art, marketing, sales, operations and executive management.

OUR PURPOSE

Building connections to create stronger careers, companies and industries.
Company History

Mary-Margaret Network was founded by Mary-Margaret Walker and Robin Chenoweth McShaffry in 1996. The two enterprising women developed the business as a turn-key staffing solution for game industry companies. Mary-Margaret Network quickly grew into a powerhouse organization with a full roster of reputable clients in the game industry and a strong group of experienced candidates. With a keen understanding of the industry, and innate sensibilities about the hiring practices of their clients, Mary-Margaret and Robin continue to build a leading recruitment business with a forward-thinking vision. To uphold this vision, they work carefully to develop lasting relationships with their clients and candidates, and to select recruiting specialists to join their team.

Benchmark Fund Incorporated (BFI) is a full service debt buying company that buys discounted debt from the FDIC and troubled banks. As you may know 200-700 banks are set to fail in 2010. Since the mid 80’s we have found that buying this debt at a discounted rate of about 10 cents on the dollar gives us maximum opportunity to offer up to 30% rate of return on the original investment.

Our analysis indicates some interesting parallels between the present bank failure rate and the rates from the bank and S & L crisis of the 80’s and 90’s. We believe that the failure rate in the prior crisis was adversely affected by the FDIC’s ability to staff up, place the banks in receivership and auction the assets in a timely manner. That process has been streamlined with the inclusion of the five FDIC asset resolution contractors and the recent, significant staffing increase in the FDIC’s bank failure team. We are projecting that with the new efficiencies, large blocks of assets will be available on a regular basis to our asset acquisition team.

The opportunity to invest is now!

Benchmark Fund has partners who invest with us who have no liquid capital of their own but hold “publically traded” stocks where we offer liquidity through our “securities based lending” platform. Basically, the program allows cash-strapped investors to use their battered stocks as collateral to access low-cost loans for up to 80% of the stock’s value.

Our program is described in more detail at: www.bfisecuritieslending.com

This is how we do it!

For every $2 Million we can buy $20 Million in debt paper. We intend to write off and sell approximately 70% of the portfolios we buy and concentrate on the 30% profit which is between $3-8 Million. The debt paper program can be seen at our web site www.benchmarkfundinc.com which describes in detail our process.

Our goal, in 3 years, is to systematically raise $100 Million and buy and process $1 Billion in assets and produce $300-800 Million in profits using our patented process.

For any questions that may arise please forward same to samhouston@benchmarkfundinc.com or call (303) 931-2773.

The Company

Benchmark Fund Inc. is a dynamic service corporation that is poised to capture substantial market share in one of the fastest growing service industries in the country, debt servicing and debt remediation services. BFI is a Texas corporation with its base of operations in Austin, Texas. BFI intends to offer discounted payoff as well as 90-day structured settlement programs (SSPs) and restructured debt packages (RDPs) that have been universally accepted as cornerstones of the debt remediation business.

The founders have extensive experience in Debt Service, Banking, Accounting, and Operations, through the over fifty years of cumulative experience. BFI has the potential to gain a reputation for offering quality service in a market that has been largely ignored by its competitors.

Recognizing the Opportunity

We believe that our primary leverage is our knowledge, experience and track record purchasing assets from failed banks, and giving our investors higher than average returns on their investment.

The Background

The FDIC has seized the assets of hundreds of small to medium sized banks in the last 18 months. Currently, the FDIC is contracting with at least five entities to package and sell billions of dollars these bank assets (Debts Receivable). Historically, the principle founders of Benchmark Fund, Inc have successfully operated a similar business during the banking crisis of the 1980’s. It was during this period that Benchmark’s founders were able to buy and service debt paper with a face value of over $200 Million.

Benchmark Fund Inc. will differentiate itself from its competitors (generally larger firms) through a two part strategy. First, the Company will only purchase debt paper directly from the FDIC’s contractors so as to prevent the purchase of previously serviced debt paper. Secondly, the Company will employ the latest and most successful debt servicing techniques in order to surpass the expected collection rates.

BFI has a spotless reputation with no legal issues. There are no existing complaints against us, our lender partners or any officers of the corporation.

The Service

BFI was created for the sole purpose of providing debt service and remediation services on purchased bank assets in the United States of America. The techniques available to service the purchased debt paper are designed to provide debtors with a helpful service and a way to resolve the outstanding debt. Services including structured settlement and restructured debt packaging will enable individual debtors to regain a firm financial footing for themselves. BFI’s services will generally be offered at a facility located in North Austin.

Marketing Plans

Market analysis

The founders undertook substantial research prior to forming Benchmark Fund Inc. The focus of this research was on the growth of bank failures in general and on the subserviced debt formally held by the banks. The research results were quite encouraging. The debt service market is at the beginning of a period of great expansion, according to the findings of several respected industry trade journals. Because of the structured settlement programs and the availability of instant payoff discounts, many individual debtors are finding themselves searching for these offers.
Currently, several companies are offering debt settlement services via the mass media. Generally these companies offer a structured payoff to the debtor and an instant discounted offer to the debt holder. Because BFI is implementing a market strategy as a debt holder and debt service provider, BFI will be able to recapture incrementally higher collection rates on already discounted debt paper.

Market strategy

Essentially, BFI will market itself as offering the same or higher quality of debt service and remediation as non asset holding competitors, and capitalize on the vertical integration. BFI will forego many of the trappings of non asset holding competitors, such as large sales teams, extensive public relations, etc. Instead, BFI will only focus on the debts for which it holds paper and identify with the debtor’s language, cultural, and budgetary needs.

As part of this strategy, BFI will not advertise its services on any mass media outlets including radio stations and newspapers. BFI also intends to utilize the experience of its founders who have managed several debt service providers in order to train the employees in debt service and remediation.

Key Personnel

Wayne Andersen, the Chief Executive Officer of BFI is a highly successful builder and contractor with over forty years of experience. Wayne’s management expertise is invaluable to the structure of BFI having initiated and then managed over a dozen companies. Through his extensive investor contacts, Wayne is raising the major investment capital for BFI.

Sam Houston is the Chief Operations Officer of BFI. He has over thirty years experience in the acquisition and analysis of bank assets and servicing those assets for a higher than average rate of return. Mr. Houston also has in-depth knowledge and experience in the design and management of corporate credit and collection systems having developed a consolidated credit collections program for AutoNation USA for numerous auto dealerships.  Sam plans to provide this expertise in designing and supervising the asset analysis and debt service sections of BFI.

Charles Houston, Senior Advisor to BFI, is an investor relations and asset acquisition specialist. For the past 17 years, Mr. Houston has provided enterprise, web-based and client-server software solutions to government agencies and the private sector, including a Major League Baseball club. Charlie specializes in metadata repositories and designed and deployed an enterprise Air Force information assurance site. During the prior bank and S & L crisis, he raised the investment capital required to purchase $200 million of bank assets, and with his brother Sam, evaluated and acquired assets held by the FDIC and the RTC.

Meera Singh is the Chief Information Officer of BFI. She has extensive management consulting with KPMG and BearingPoint across different industries and has set up several new businesses with every aspect of operational, financial and IT needs. Meera has been actively involved with the due diligence process of $300 mm portfolio when Bank of America acquired Nations and Barclay’s Banks and acquisition of a $15 mm portfolio of router leases from Qwest communications followed by a $25mm guaranteed student loan portfolio acquired in 2005.

Terry Barnes is the Treasurer of BFI and has extensive management experience with a background in electronics for the government and investigational drug for the pharmaceutical industry. Terry has had fiscal responsibility of over $2.5 million dollars in two major corporations. Terry has been instrumental in obtaining major capital for BFI.

BFI Securities Based Lending

In an article in Investment News (dated March 7th, 2010) called “Investors using beat-up stock for cheap loans” There is a very interesting illustration of the way securities based lending works. http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20081026/REG/310279985

Basically, the program allows cash-strapped investors to use their battered stocks as collateral to access low-cost loans for up to 80% of the stock’s value.

The loans carry rates of between 2% and 4.5%, with terms ranging from two to 10 years. There are no credit checks or income verification requirements, and the investor has the option of walking away from the stock at any time and simply keeping the cash from the loan without further obligations (if their stock has taken a beating in the interim period).

A growing number of investors are seeking out the offbeat program. Demand has been particularly strong over the past four months, said Al Christy, founder and chief executive of Equities First.

We are using this platform through BFI Securities Lending to allow the borrower to use their investments (stocks, mutual funds, bonds or other securities) to obtain funds for personal or business use. The time frame for funding may be as little as 5-7 days. We have several testimonials from satisfied customers on our website www.bfisecuritieslending.com

Benchmark Fund, Inc.

Security Based Lending – The Equity Alternative
This type of lending is based on eligible securities such as publicly traded stocks, bonds, options and mutual funds.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

Below Market Interest Rates – fixed rates from 2.5% to 4.5%
High Loan Values – loan to security value ratios up to 80%
Non-Taxable event – as the securities are not sold
No Credit Reporting – nor is it reported to public records
Borrower Retains All Market Appreciation – borrower receives the benefit of any dividend or interest that the securities generate
This is a Non-Recourse Loan – a loan with no personal liability
Loan Proceeds May Be Used For Any Purpose – personal, business, etc.
Eligible Securities Include – publicly traded stocks, bonds, options and mutual funds.
Flexible Terms at Loan Maturity – the borrower may renew the loan, refinance, extend the terms or pay off the loan
Prompt Response to Your Loan Inquiry – usually within one business day of receiving the security information. Funds can be deposited into the borrowers account in three to five business days once the contract is signed and the transfer takes place.

Criteria

The stock must be free-trading without any restrictions.

Simple Steps

Complete the Express Quote Form listing the names of your securities, their stock symbol along with the number of shares

Upon receipt, a loan proposal will be quickly drawn up to determine loan amount and interest rate

If you agree to the terms, the next step will be to provide proof of ownership for each of the stocks, bonds or options included in list

Values will be verified and within days loan proceeds are transferred into your bank.

www.bfisecuritieslending.com

IT’S THAT SIMPLE!

This comes with a zip file (DHL_document_44537.zip 67 KB) and obviously I’m not opening it. Also received fake UPS email immediately afterwards. I’m surprised Norada allowed delivery of this:

Hello!

We failed to deliver postal package sent on the 23rd of February
in time
because the addressee’s address is incorrect.
Please print out the invoice copy attached and collect the
package at our office.

DHL Services.

This comes with a zip file, and obviously I’m not opening it. I’m surprised Norada doesn’t catch this:

Dear customer!

Unfortunately we failed to deliver the postal package you have
sent on the 7th of January in time
because the recipient’s address is not correct.
Please print out the invoice copy attached and collect the
package at our department.

United Parcel Service of America.

Articles4Newbies – A Quick And Simple Guide To Article Marketing!

Did you know that article marketing is a great way to get free advertising for your business?

Businesses can advertise through the creation of articles, and internet marketing campaigns benefit by the creation of content, which raises the presence of the company behind the internet marketing campaign.

You’re About To Discover The Secrets Most People Will Never Know About How To Really
Use & Profit From Twitter…

- How To Make Money With Your “Tweets” Using Twitter The Right Way And How To Avoid Annoying Your Followers!

- Surefire Strategy To Make Easy Residual Income With Twitter Without Doing Anything Black Hat…It doesn’t get any easier than this…

- Insider Secret Tactics On How To Set Yourself Apart From The Twitter Crowd… Most marketers have absolutely no idea how to convert their followers into real traffic and fail miserably to get any results at all…

- How To Avoid The Biggest Mistakes Most Marketers Are Making With Twitter To Keep Your Following Growing Daily!

… and much, much more!

GET STARTED HERE

If you sell digital products online you are no doubt aware of the two most popular affiliate networks, ClickBank and PayDotCom.

Today I came across a brand new service that really caught my attention. It’s called PaySpree and the reason it caught my attention is that all its members get paid for their sales instantly by PayPal.

Even affiliates get paid for their referred sales instantly by PayPal.

I’ve actually come across products for sale that are just lists of affiliate programs that pay instant paypal commission. And I’ve seen many threads in the various internet marketing forums asking about where to find instant commission affiliate programs. Now there is an entire site and marketplace dedicated to them.

As soon as you become a member you can start promoting any product in the marketplace, and you can add your own products so affiliates can promote them for you. All commission payments are handled automatically by PaySpree, it sounds like a winner to me.

I’ve just signed up and had a look around the site and it seems pretty simple and non cluttered, check it out and let me know what you think.

Easter. An unlikely day for non-stop Apple buzz. I’m not out with the family, at least not yet. Not taking pictures of new bluebonnets, not lounging in colorful beds of Texas wildflowers. No, we were up late last night partying. Now I’m enjoying some coffee, reading the news, digesting a delicious egg sandwich, listening to some IDM.

Should it last more than a few days, the endless Apple noise, I intend to take action. I will cut any diehard Apple fans from my Twitter list. With one click you are gone. Yes, there’s an app for that. Apple news is worthless to me, because I use Linux.

OK, but Jeff Jarvis of BuzzMachine.com somehow got my attention with his handling of the iPad. I think he bought one just to make fun of it. Not unlike these kids who bought an iPad just to smash it with a baseball bat. Is baseball bat damage covered by the Best Buy warranty? I don’t know.

Anyway, caught in the crossfire, for some reason I found this particular comment provocative:

iPad danger: app v. web, consumer v. creator « BuzzMachine

What iPod did to record industry?
Accelerated the downfall and mergers of record industry as we knew it.

MP3 format and MP3 players were popular years before the iPod. I’m not even an early adopter and I got the Diamond MP3 player for less than $100 at Best Buy, years before iPod billboards sprung up on major highways.

What really changed the music industry was the Amiga, back in the 80s, in my opinion–that’s when people started to create and share music online. And I’m not talking about the cold, mathematically synthesized MIDI music of that time period. I’m talking about the tracked recordings of real instruments, thunderstorms and bell towers, brought to a global audience by way of the .MOD and .STM formats. In those days I remember professional musicians trading 5 1/4 floppy disks out of cardboard boxes.

The only innovation the iPod offered was the app store. Well, that’s not much of an offering–it asks *you* for money. Among the MP3 players out there, the iPod didn’t offer more storage, better sound quality or better music. The only thing bigger and better was the advertising budget. Now it’s a little more complicated once you add a touch screen, GPS, etc. But essentially it’s the same deal with the iPhone and iPad, in my opinion, you can do most of the same tasks with a less-expensive, equally-capable device.

This could be a really, really long post but it’s 3am and I’m dead tired. Took many hours of searching to find a solution to my problem: How to protect the wp-admin directory, without breaking Wordpress, etc. So much bad advice in Google. Incomplete solutions, incorrect solutions, deprecated solutions, really ugly solutions.

Small part of the problem: NginX docs are in Russian. Don’t think learning Russian will help you. Even the documented features are explained using vague language. Often trial and error is your only option. You can blindly copy a solution posted to xyz blog, but do you trust your understanding of why it works? Fortunately, NginX offers helpful error messages. For me in Fedora it’s “service nginx restart” over and over again until I get the “OK” message. For instance, you can’t “deny” an IP within an “if” block, but I don’t think you would know that without an NginX error message telling you it’s not possible.

Igor Sysoev wrote NginX. So I think you can trust his advice. Thankfully, he is very active (from my Google searches) helping people solve problems. Just hope he doesn’t ask you to recompile in “debug” mode ;-)

For my particular problem, I never thought to try an alias. I think the point of the alias is to change the root? Not really sure yet, but it works for me. I read a dozen blogs that claimed to have a solution to this, read a half-dozen forums too, nobody mentioned using an alias to solve this. Another mystery solved: You need to copy all of your “fastcgi” code into each “location” block (Yes, crazy nested locations Batman!) to protect wp-admin, assuming you want a functioning wp-admin.

Alias which works like in other web servers

You could not use “alias” inside regex location, because nginx does not what should be aliased. The workaround is to use “rewrite” inside such locations. BTW, nginx allows undocumented (because it’s not supported by all directives) inclusive locations: location /blog/wp-admin/ { alias /var/www/wordpress/wp-admin/; auth_basic … location ~ \.php$ { fastcgi_pass … … } } Howerver, I’m not sure rigth now, how “alias” will work in inclusive locations.

Here’s another suggestion: Do your tests using “Private Browsing” in Firefox. Turn off all plugins and test multiple browsers, you will see strange errors! Protecting directories even causes Arora browser to crash if you click “Cancel” on authentication prompt. And don’t be surprised if you see “www.__.com” which I think is some kind of NginX humor.

Update: This morning, as soon as I opened my eyes I had a eureka realization. There’s a much easier way to do this, without cluttering your “nginx.conf”. I will post a solution to wp-fun.co.uk ASAP.

This got me thinking about Toyoda’s predicament:

I believe Toyota, but it would be better if their event data recorders could be read by independent investigators, e.g., NTSB. Open vehicle source codes and circuitries could be crowdsource verified.

Exactly. The only way to prove who is at fault: Every brake and every accelerator on every car in the US needs a standard, tamper-proof recording device capable of broadcasting to Twitter continuously. This is the only way to verify a device was depressed with X force.

Twitter Enters Auto Business

Of course this requires a lot of bandwidth. So many cars broadcasting. And so many tweets! Many data sample tweets per second, per car! Each brake depression needs multiple sample points. Fast-to-slow brake. Slow-to-fast brake. Slow-to-fast acceleration. Etc. Start/stop position doesn’t tell the full story, you would need raw data logs showing absolute position.

Who Knows Where I Went?

But who will want their steering wheel broadcasting this information too!? So where does it stop? Stick shift position? Umm, maybe not. Door ajar? How far? Thrown from the car? Window sensors! No seat belt? Seat belt sensors! Was it raining during the crash? Wiper sensors! I couldn’t see! Windows fogged? Thermal sensors! You need to prove your innocence, right? So auto insurance companies will love this idea and throw tons of money at legislation, regardless of the privacy implications.

My Ride’s Got Proof!

“Liar! I’ll see you in court!” So the liability implications of (Prius brakes) auto electronics will cause a huge backlash. A rejuvinated Luddite movement will drive up the price of classic cars. Then Toyota hooks up with Progressive and announces the world’s first Twitter car. Accident not your fault? Toyota + Progressive + Twitter = Tweet your innocence! Prove you weren’t speeding through that speed trap! Prove you didn’t roll through that “Stop” sign! You’re an awesome driver, right? Now you can prove it. Your car tweets.

Google is planning to launch an experiment that we hope will make Internet access better and faster for everyone.

Google plans to test ultra-high speed broadband networks in one or more trial locations across the country. Their networks will deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today, over 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections.  They’ll offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people.

From now until March 26, Google is asking interested municipalities to provide information about their communities through a Request for information (RFI), which will be used to determine where Google will build their network.

The City of Round Rock feels it would be a great location for Google to test its new service, and we are looking for your help in providing some documentation to give to Google. How can I help?

1) Take our survey (powered by Google spreadsheets)

The best way you can help is by taking our Google Fiber for Communties survey.
This brief survey will help Google understand how motivated our community is to participate in the test and will also give them some basic information about the current lay-of-the-land in Round Rock with regard to highspeed Internet access.

2) Comment on the City of Round Rock Facebook page

3) Send a support email to roundrocktexasdotgov@gmail.com

When: Wednesday, March 10, 2010, 6:00-8:30 p. m. Refreshments will be served.

Location: ACC’s Eastview Campus, 3401 Webberville Road, Austin, TX., Building 8000, in the Multipurpose Room 8500.

On Wednesday, March 10th, multiple agencies within ACC (Center for Public Policy and Political Studies (CPPPS); Center for Student Political Studies (CSPS) club; Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences; and the Department of Economics) are hosting an economic forum focusing on what the government is doing, or could be doing, to stimulate job creation. Four key issues to be addressed are:

· Taxes
· Immigration
· Minimum wage
· Infrastructure

The goal of this highly interactive discussion/debate between ACC students and economic experts is for students to receive an enhanced understanding of the complexities involved in creating jobs and what students can do to be prepared for 21st century careers.

Professor Emeritus LBJ School of Public Affairs and former U.S. Secretary of Labor, Dr. Ray Marshall, will be the keynote speaker.

ACC students, faculty, and staff are invited to attend. Students, check with your professors as many are giving extra credit for attending this event.

If you need a sign language interpreter or other accommodations, please contact John Aintablian at aint@austincc.edu at least 48 hours in advance.

For questions, please contact Carla Jackson at cjackso3@austincc.edu or 512-223-7049.

On Feb. 22, 2010, CreditCards.com will host a live, interactive online video town hall discussion of credit card reform during which consumers can directly ask questions of White House economic adviser Austan Goolsbee. As a credit card publisher, CreditCards.com thought you might like to join in to better understand the Act.

American consumers are invited to participate by submitting questions, responding to real-time polls and viewing live streaming video from the White House.

* What: Credit CARD Act online video town hall with Austan Goolsbee, of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers.
* When: Feb. 22, 2010, the day the law goes into effect at 2PM Eastern time
* Where: www.creditcards.com/askthewhitehouse

The News
The Credit CARD Act of 2009 is the most sweeping credit card reform in history and offers consumers new protection from unfair or deceptive credit card practices.

CreditCards.com is pleased to host a live, interactive CARD Act town hall meeting. In the meeting, Goolsbee will describe the impact of the reform and field questions submitted by consumers.

The town hall event will be Monday, Feb. 22, 2010 at 2PM Eastern, and can be found at www.creditcards.com/askthewhitehouse

Answering questions from the White House will be Austan Goolsbee, a member of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers.

Consumers are encouraged to join the conversation by submitting questions, offering opinions and responding to real-time poll questions. Consumers may submit their questions in advance on the same page, or by posing questions on the social networking site Twitter using the hashtag #cardlaw.

For more information on what is and is not covered in the Credit CARD Act, consumers are invited to review CreditCards.com Guide to the Credit CARD Act of 2009 at www.creditcards.com/reform

About CreditCards.com
CreditCards.com is the leading online credit card marketplace connecting consumers with multiple credit card issuers. CreditCards.com, (http://www.creditcards.com), enables consumers to search for, compare and apply for credit cards and offers credit card advice, news, statistics and tools. In 2009, more than 12 million consumers used CreditCards.com to make smart choices about credit cards. CreditCards.com was recently named a “Best Site for Managing Your Credit” by MSN Money.

This is strange. Looks like Amazon was hacked to sell a colon cleanser!

Tonight I get an email saying “Get a Blu-ray Player with Purchase of Qualifying Samsung HDTVs” which actually sounded like a good deal, coming from Amazon. I recently got a free printer with the purchase of a Samsung LCD, so I clicked this ad because I’m thinking about buying a larger LCD to watch movies.

The spam email looks very professional, at a glance there’s no way to tell it’s not really from Amazon. I get these Amazon “recommended deals” emails all the time. Who doesn’t? So either Amazon has lost its mind (spamming a colon cleanser) or an unguarded redirect script on Amazon’s website was taken over by a hacker/spammer.

The Hack

Take a look at this URL, it looks legit, right?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/r.html?R=1P82UR23M2GSX&C=3BV421ZYZED2C&H=IF98WICIG7CHUGSKWGRWS7CT2MEA&T=C&U=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Fgp%2Ffeature.html%2Fref%3Dhi_img_1%2F%3Fie%3DUTF8%26docId%3D1000476101

R.html appears to have the vulnerability. Probably Amazon uses r.html for some useful purpose and never thought it would be used by a spammer to redirect us to a weight loss landing page. Is your redirect script next? Protect your scripts!

Oops!

The Amazon URL redirects me to “http://www.www.com/daily-health-news/” which tells me I can “Lose 47lbs In The Next 10 Days (Without Exercise or Dieting?)” But this spammer made a mistake, this site runs Google Adsense and Doubleclick.net ads! I assume Google will kill this spammer’s Adsense account.

The Hacker

Granted, we don’t know for sure Alex Royf is responsible for this spam, but I would like to hear a better explanation. The domain is registered to Alex Royf of “Diagonal Axis Limited” and his site “diagonalaxis.com” is a blank page.

If you have more details, please leave a comment.

Last time I had a Bank of America account was over 7 years ago. So I assume this is a phishing attack. It got through Media Temple’s spam filters (Cloudmark + SpamAssassin) and through my webmail spam filter.

Why is this an effective attack? Because banks send out very similar emails. For example, I closed a Chase account last year (after the WaMu takeover) and I received several online banking emails from Chase months after my account was closed.

So if you receive an email like this and you don’t have an account with the bank, understandably you’re assuming it’s a phishing attack. But perhaps worse, there’s also the possibility the bank made an error (database/software incompetence, rogue employee, etc.) and because you have no account you can’t complain. Or, maybe your identity was stolen and the hacker used your actual email address, but doesn’t know your email password, didn’t bother to change it, etc.

Here’s a clue this is a phishing attack: “This is most likely an attempt to gain unauthorized access to your account and/or personal information.” Notice the words “most likely”. Why would a bank jump to that conclusion? Most likely you forgot your password–they don’t want to frighten you unless they’re selling insurance. In other words, read these bank emails carefully.

—

Dear customer

We regret to inform you that your Bank of America Online Account
has been temporarily suspended.
Your account has been suspended after too many failed login
attempts have been made. This is most likely an attempt to gain
unauthorized access to your account and/or personal information.

To resolve this problem we have attached a form to this email.
Please download the form, open it and follow the instructions on
your screen.

Bank of America, Member FDIC
©2010 Bank of America Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Got this email too? No, it’s not your lucky day. Even if there was a parcel waiting for you, I hope you wouldn’t take it.

—

Dear Valued Customer,

You have a parcel worth $300,000.00 with FedEx courier Company.
You are to
provide the information below for confirmation:

your Full Names,
Contact Address
Phone Numbers

Send details to Mr.Donald Blake by email:
fedexcourierdelivery@ankara.tc
or call:+2348076128878. You will be required to make available
the sum of
$75 also for Security Fee.

Robert G Roe
FedEx Courier Service
Note: you are to send the information to
fedexcourierdelivery@ankara.tc
for proper attention.

Many people searching for Leigh Anne Tuohy photos here lately. I’m assuming there’s a shortage of photos of her because she doesn’t want people questioning her motives, accusing her of seeking media attention. But what do I know? I don’t know her, haven’t seen the movie yet either. I found this on YouTube today:

Behind every dollar spent in digital, there is a senior executive who recognizes the power and potential of interactive advertising. The IAB Annual Leadership Meeting is your opportunity to hear directly from the marketing champions pioneering aggressive shifts to digital. What are they planning today, tomorrow and throughout 2010? What can you learn from them?

Learn more at www.iab.net/alm.

When: February 21-23, 2010

Venue:
La Costa Resort and Spa
2100 Costa Del Mar Road
Carlsbad, CA 92009
1-800-854-5000

How far can biometric scans go before we violate a higher law? Do invasive scans rob our respect for human dignity?

What is abundantly clear is that this bungled terrorist will test Obama’s assertion that “we need not sacrifice our security for our values, nor sacrifice our values for our security.”