02. News

December 30, 2009 One leg of GSM encryption cracked, cell industry unimpressed A security researcher is in the process of building a table that will enable the cracking of GSM encryption, assuming that a parallel effort to crack its frequency hopping algorithm succeeds.

December 30, 2009 US rejects Russian missile shield concerns The United States has rejected fresh concerns raised by Moscow about its planned missile defence system.

December 29, 2009 Web Sales Show Big Rise Throughout Holiday Buying Season Online retail sales rose 13.6% from Black Friday to Christmas Eve, as retailers took major steps to make the Internet a prime shopping destination, according to data released Monday.

December 29, 2009 Dollar Is Near Two-Month High on Fed’s Outlook, Recovery Signs The dollar traded near a two-month high against the yen on speculation the Federal Reserve may end emergency stimulus measures as the economy recovers.

December 28, 2009 Korean Team to Build U.A.E. Nuclear Plants A Korean-led consortium on Sunday won a landmark contract, valued at about $20.4 billion, to build four nuclear reactors in the United Arab Emirates, ending a closely watched contest between bidders from Asia, France and the U.S.

December 28, 2009 Xbox 360 Elite Best Deals After Christmas Sales 2009 This year don’t settle for anything less than the best deals on video gaming systems like the 120 GB Xbox 360 Elite – you can get this video gaming console for only $290 at retailers like Amazon.com, Best Buy, Sam’s Club, Toys R Us, Sears, Dell, KMART, Overstock.com, Target and Walmart.

December 28, 2009 JAL Rehabilitation Plan Includes Bankruptcy Option, Nikkei Says Japan Airlines Corp., Asia’s biggest carrier by sales, may seek bankruptcy proceedings among its options in a turnaround plan proposed by a state-affiliated agency, Nikkei English News said.

December 25, 2009 Astronauts Get Two Christmases in Space Each year, the crew gets to choose when to hold their official holiday feast, during which they gather to share special delicacies beyond the scope of their normal daily rations.

December 25, 2009 Sun, moon trigger San Andreas tremors: study Tidal forces parallel to a segment of the San Andreas Fault in central California may be causing non-volcanic tremors that could help predict earthquakes, researchers said on Wednesday.

December 25, 2009 NORAD helps children track Santa via iPhone, iPod touch With the help of NORAD, children can once again track Santa's current location via the Maps application on an Apple iPhone or iPod touch all day Thursday for Christmas Eve.

December 24, 2009 Holiday Shopping Notebook: At the VERY last minute For serious holiday shopping procrastinators, drugstores and convenience stores are offering last-minute deals. Even better for the desperate, many of them will still be open at, say, 3 a.m. Dec. 25.

December 24, 2009 Amazon Kindle Vulnerable To DRM Hack Amazon (NSDQ:AMZN)'s Kindle e-reader is not as invulnerable as previously thought after hackers found a way to circumvent the device's Digital Rights Management protection and transfer e-books to other devices.

December 24, 2009 Oil rises over 3 percent on U.S. crude stock draw Oil rose more than 3 percent to above $76 a barrel on Wednesday in the biggest one-day percentage gain in about five weeks after U.S. inventory data showed crude oil inventories in the world's top energy consumer fell more than expected.

December 23, 2009 Final Fantasy Fans Bolster Sony PlayStation Sales Final Fantasy XIII is projected to challenge Nintendo's New Super Mario Bros. Wii as Japan's best-selling title of 2009

December 23, 2009 PG&E Signs 150-MW Solar-Power Contract With Solar Reserve PG&E Corp.'s (PCG) utility has signed a contract to buy 150 megawatts of solar power from solar-thermal power developer Solar Reserve, the utility said Tuesday.

December 22, 2009 Desert Vistas vs. Solar Power Senator Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation in Congress on Monday to protect a million acres of the Mojave Desert in California by scuttling some 13 big solar plants and wind farms planned for the region.

December 22, 2009 Texting drivers are more dangerous than talkers You obviously don't need to be told that texting and driving are two complex tasks that don’t mix well. But a new study by University of Utah researchers sheds light on why and finds that this activity is even more dangerous than talking on a cell phone while driving.

December 22, 2009 Sanofi's Allegra Gambit By buying Chattem, Sanofi-Aventis gets skilled marketers who can launch its allergy drug in the lucrative U.S. over-the-counter market.

December 21, 2009 Two Chinese companies vying for Shell assets: report Two Chinese government-controlled companies are among front-runners in a GBP3 billion battle for control of oil assets in Nigeria that have been put up for sale

December 21, 2009 Japan’s Exports Fall at Slowest Pace in 14 Months Japan’s exports fell at the slowest pace in 14 months in November as demand from Asia supported the nation’s recovery from its worst postwar recession.

December 21, 2009 Victoria Gets Tough On Tobacco With New Smoking Ban In Cars People will be banned from smoking in motor vehicles with children under 18 when new tobacco laws come into force on January 1, 2010.

December 15, 2009 U.S. Initiates Clean Energy Transfer Program The new program will accelerate deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies in developing countries.

December 15, 2009 WISE Spacecraft Seeks Near Earth Objects, New Stars Using Infrared Wavelengths Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) represent an extinction level threat to the entire human race. The odds are extremely low that an undetected asteroid or comet will strike the Earth and cause catastrophic

December 15, 2009 UPDATE 3-JA Solar gives sunny forecast for 4th quarter 2010 JA Solar, one of the sector's lowest-cost producers of the silicon cells that help convert sunlight into electricity, issued on Monday a bright forecast for the full year and gave investors the first glimpse at demand for the company's products in 2010.

December 14, 2009 Russia and US in secret talks to fight net crime American officials have been holding secret talks with Russia and the United Nations in an attempt to strengthen internet security and rein in the growing threat of cyberwarfare.

December 14, 2009 AOL Talks to Russia's DST Over ICQ AOL Inc. is in talks to sell its ICQ instant-messaging service to Russian Internet-investment group Digital Sky Technologies, according to people familiar with the matter.

December 14, 2009 Japan's tankan sends mixed signals on fragile recovery The Bank of Japan's quarterly tankan survey sent mixed signals Monday on the outlook for the fragile economic recovery, showing better-than-expected sentiment but deteriorating capital-outlay expectations among Japanese companies.

December 11, 2009 Slow But Steady, China Unicom Reports 100,000 iPhone Sales Sales of Apple (NSDQ:AAPL)'s iPhone in China looked to be slow out of the gate, but maybe they were just a stutter step. China Unicom, Apple's Chinese partner for the iPhone, on Thursday reported that there have been 100,000 units sold since the iPhone's Oct.

December 11, 2009 Obama Can Earn His Nobel at Climate Talks, Advocacy Groups Say President Barack Obama, who accepted a Nobel Prize in Oslo yesterday, will have a chance to earn it at climate talks in Copenhagen next week, environmental advocates said.

December 11, 2009 Facebook Info Exposed On Web With 'Everyone' Privacy Setting Starting Wednesday, Facebook users who logged into the site were treated to a prompt requesting that they review and update their privacy settings. Users had choice of sharing their profile and status updates with "friends," "friends of friends" or "everyone."

December 10, 2009 Wind Farm Ordered To Stop Construction, Get Wildlife Permit The developer of a West Virginia wind farm said Wednesday it will apply for a permit to operate the facility near endangered wildlife, after a federal judge ordered the company to get the permit or shut the facility.

December 10, 2009 Americans consume 3.6 zettabytes of data, most of it pixels An estimate of US consumers' data consumption places the figure at 3.6 zettabytes per year. But most of that comprises pixels temporarily thrown onto the screen, not bytes permanently written to media.

December 10, 2009 States Spending Less to Fight Smoking State governments are collecting record revenues from tobacco companies but spending less and less of it on antismoking programs, especially in New York, a group of health and advocacy organizations said in a report released Wednesday.

December 9, 2009 Greece Downgrades May Pose Problem for Banks Getting ECB Loans Greek government bonds may not be eligible as collateral at the European Central Bank if the ECB reverts to pre-crisis rules in 2011, making it more difficult for Greece to borrow money.

December 9, 2009 Ed Whitacre's Secret Plan To Save GM New General Motors Chairman Edward E. Whitacre Jr. was quick to dismiss the automaker's former chief executive after just eight months on the job, saying GM wasn't moving fast enough. But if Whitacre, who took over as CEO while GM searches for a permanent replacement, has a better idea of how to run the company, he's not sharing it publicly.

December 9, 2009 Publishers Make Plans for Devices Yet to Come Five major magazine and newspaper publishers announced plans on Tuesday to build an industry-standard platform to present their work on the Web, smartphones and electronic readers in a richer, more flexible and more lucrative form than is possible today.

December 8, 2009 Virgin Galactic Ready To Unveil SpaceShipTwo After more than five years of waiting, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo is ready to be unveiled to the public tonight at a ceremony in the Mojave desert. Following on the success of SpaceShipOne in 2004, the six passenger SpaceShipTwo already has a backlog of more than 300 passengers who are waiting for their ride into space.

December 8, 2009 Google hopes to turn the river into a canal Before too long, expect to find anything that anyone puts on the Internet on Google within seconds: with luck, it might even be useful.

December 8, 2009 Russia’s Carbon Credits Seen as Barrier to Warming Curb Does Russia hold hostage the future of a carbon cap-and-trade system that many experts see as a critical tool for curbing global warming gases? Improbable as it may seem, the answer appears to be yes.

December 7, 2009 Company issues 2nd recall for tainted beef For the second time this year, a Fresno beef company is recalling thousands of pounds of ground beef contaminated with a drug-resistant strain of salmonella.

December 7, 2009 Shares revival allows KIA to profit from Citigroup stake Kuwait's sovereign wealth fund has made a $1.1bn (£668m) profit by selling its entire stake in US bank Citigroup, cashing in on a recent revival in financial shares.

December 7, 2009 China Sets Yuan-Dlr Parity Slightly Lower; +0.78% Vs Yr Ago The People's Bank of China set the yuan's central parity rate at 6.8278 to the U.S. dollar on Monday, slightly lower than the 6.8272 rate set Friday.

December 5, 2009 CrunchPad Litigation Imminent It has been a busy week for our former partners on the CrunchPad. The company has deleted their corporate blog, taken the time to hire a PR firm and schedule an event Monday morning to "give their side of the story."

December 5, 2009 Mandelson wades into battle for Cadbury Lord Mandelson has warned Kraft, the US food conglomerate, to expect "huge opposition" from the government if it wants to make "a fast buck" from its hostile £10bn bid for Cadbury.

December 5, 2009 Unexpected drop in jobless rate sparks optimism Two years of steep job cuts all but ended last month, unexpectedly pulling down the unemployment rate and raising hopes for a lasting economic recovery.

December 4, 2009 Apple 'iPad' Tablet to Arrive in 2010 -- Analyst Calling its prediction a "no-brainer," market research firm IDC is claiming that Apple will introduce its long-awaited tablet device by the end of next year. In the just-released "Top 10 Predictions" report for 2010, IDC chief analyst Frank Gens writes that the endless rumors are indeed true: Apple's "iPad"--or whatever you want to call it--will debut within a year:

December 4, 2009 FOREX-Dollar dips vs yen, steadies vs euro before US data The dollar dipped against the yen on Friday as traders took profits on the greenback's sharp rebound from a 14-year trough ahead of the U.S. government's monthly employment report later in the day.

December 4, 2009 Calif Regulators Approve PG&E Contract For Space-Based Solar California regulators on Thursday approved a long-term contract between PG&E Corp.'s (PCG) utility and the developer of a speculative technology that would beam 200 megawatts of solar power to Earth from outer space.

December 3, 2009 Google Gives Publishers More Control Over Content Google Inc. on Wednesday made it easier for news outlets to remove content from its Google News property but keep it accessible through Google.com, the latest concession the search giant is making to publishers who want more control over their articles.

December 3, 2009 Something to Read WHEN Amazon.com introduced its Kindle electronic book reader two years ago, the chief executive, Jeff Bezos, hoped the company was forever transforming the reading experience. The Kindle wasn’t the first e-reader on the market, but it came with a built-in advantage: a wireless connection to Amazon’s vast online bookstore.

December 3, 2009 Wal-Mart Launches Videogame War Wal-Mart Stores Inc. opened a new front in its price war against other retailers by temporarily slashing prices on 50 popular videogames in a bid to steal market share.

December 2, 2009 New Orders Help China Lift Output A steady stream of new orders is helping China's manufacturers lift output and jobs, though the economy's recovery also is bringing more signs of inflation, according to two nationwide surveys published Tuesday.

December 2, 2009 Scientist in climate change data row steps down The research director at the centre of a row over climate change data said he would stand down from the post while there is an independent review.

December 2, 2009 China's Auto Sales Eclipse Flat US Market In November China accounted for a quarter of the global automotive industry sales in November, the highest-ever proportion, as manufacturers intensified their marketing in that country while shifting away from slower growing markets.

December 1, 2009 BOJ to Hold Special Meeting Amid Government Pressure The Bank of Japan will hold an emergency policy meeting today amid government pressure for it to combat falling prices. The yen fell the most against the dollar in seven weeks.

December 1, 2009 China’s P.M.I. Unchanged, Growth Seen as Sustainable China's manufacturing sector expanded for the ninth consecutive month in November but ran into headwinds from weaker trade and employment, a survey showed on Tuesday.

December 1, 2009 Google vs. Microsoft Is Good for Consumers Newsweek columnist Dan Lyons is prone to writing (and saying, if you've been fortunate enough to be entertained hearing him speak in conference halls) outrageous things.