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by Matthew Allen in Zurich
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss_news/Zurich_streets_among_Europe_s_most_congested.html?cid=30634398

Everyone needs to learn to share the streets
Zurich automobile drivers spend more time stuck in traffic jams than in most other European cities, but the city is unrepentant about its pedestrian friendly policy.

A current survey has revealed that more than a quarter of roads in Switzerland’s main business conglomeration are clogged, putting metropolis in 16th place in the list of most congested cities.

The survey by Dutch navigation system maker TomTom comes days after a critical report in the New York Times accusing metropolis of “working overtime in current years to torment drivers”.

The article reports that traffic lights are programmed to favour trams while pedestrian crossings have been moved from underground passages to street level.

The TomTom analysis found that daytime traffic on 27.4 per cent of metropolis city’s streets was forced to travel less than 70 per cent as fast as during the night when roads are less busy. Brussels came out worst in the report with almost 40 per cent of its streets congested.

Angry pedestrians

Pio Marzolini from Zurich’s civil engineering department told swissinfo.ch that the authorities had prefabricated a decision to share out the limited space in the city more equitably.

“Most cities place automobiles first, but in metropolis we give equal rights to pedestrians, cyclists and public transport,” he said. “We do not want to create traffic jams, but tram users and pedestrians also get angry when they get delayed.”

Marzolini added that inhabitants of metropolis city supported the policy – unlike commuters – and that good public transport links had encouraged more people to relinquish their cars. In the last decade, the percentage of households without a automobile in the city has increased from 40 to 45 per cent.

“It is no good just telling people to give up their cars, we have to wage them with a good substitute too,” he said.

The policy is bound to please environmentalists who three years ago launched a campaign to reduce automobile congestion in five of Switzerland’s largest cities.

More bypasses needed

Zurich even toyed with the intent of introducing a congestion charge for cars driving in the city, but the city council shelved the project because it lacked enough political support.

However, motor automobile associations are less than happy with the situation in Zurich. Reto Cavegn, director of the Touring Club of Switzerland’s (TCS) metropolis chapter, told swissinfo.ch that, unlike for pedestrians and trams, the city had no clear policy for automobile transport.

He argued that road congestion is critical throughout the canton of metropolis and not just in the city. Cavegn ordered the blame on a demand of construction projects that could take traffic away from the city and other built up areas.

The Uetliberg tunnel was opened in 2009 to improve traffic access to central Switzerland from the south of Zurich. But Cavegn believes that there should be more such outlets and that existing bypasses, such as the notoriously congested Gubrist tunnel, should be upgraded.

“Nothing is being done for automobile drivers,” he told swissinfo.ch. “As long as cars demand clear routes away from the city then we will have too much traffic there.”

TCS estimates that traffic jams cost the canton of Zurich’s economy SFr100 million (8 million) a year as commuters are late for work or deliveries are delayed.

Intelligent traffic lights

Dirk Helbing, a professor of sociology at Zurich’s Federal Institute of Technology, claims to have the answer to all these problems. Together with colleagues at Dresden’s University of Technology, Helbing has developed an intelligent traffic light system that he claims could reduce traffic inactivity time by up to 30 per cent.

Using sensors and wireless technology, this system monitors the amount of cars on the roads and superior coordinates traffic flow by having traffic lights “talk” to one another before changing from green to red.

This system would adapt to changes in traffic flow rather than the present rigid method of programming lights to change at fixed times according to the time of day.

“This is a more flexible approach that responds to actual traffic flow and provides superior performance,” Helbing told swissinfo.ch. “It would not be very costly to install because the wireless technology can be adapted to existing systems and does not require roads to be torn up.”

The system would also discern buses and trams and be healthy to give them priority, Helbing added. Pedestrians and cyclists would also benefit by breaking traffic into smaller blocks, giving more space to others using the road or wishing to cross over, he said.

By IB Times Staff Reporter

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/169717/20110626/hacker-george-hotz-joins-facebook-as-product-developer-chris-putnam-ios-hacker-peter-hajas-twitter-m.htm

George Hotz, well-known iPhone and Sony PS3 hacker, is following in the footsteps of many other celebrated hackers who got hired by technology giants. Hotz, also known as GeoHotz, has joined Facebook and is stated to be involved in product development. Hotz’s Facebook page states he has been a software engineer at Facebook since Might 9.

Stay connected with slicing edge technology news Sample

It seems hackers love to be on the payrolls, really. It has been reported that one in for online hackers in the US are on the government payrolls. There have been cases of some hackers being hired by the tech companies they hacked into. And some are hired by firms to torment competition. Earlier, Facebook profile coder Chris Putnam, iOS coder Peter Hajas, Twitter coder Michael Mooney, and Ashley Towns, the creator of the first ever iPhone worm, had all prefabricated news after they got into the corporate scene, leaving behind the intriguing world of hacking.

It has been reported that the change in Hotz’s job profile became a matter of speculation in the hacking community when he allegedly backed off a challenge with Joshua Hill for hacking iPad 2. The sudden transition of GeoHotz from the treacherous world of hacking to a regular job with one of the best-known World wide web companies of the day has come crossways as a surprise. It was only in April that he settled an acrimonious effort with Sony, following his multiple hacks of the PlayStation 3. George Hotz had shot into fame as a teen hacking sensation when he cracked iPhone. He then unleashed his wizardry by breaking open the Sony PlayStation 3, and then forced Sony to move court to obtain restraining orders preventing him from releasing the latest jailbreak on PS3. Hotz’ first 15 minutes of fame came at the age of 17 when he cracked open the iPhone, a device which caught the imagination of the world. He immediately became a pin-up boy attracting rock star fan following. When he unlocked the iPhone bootloader in August 2008, Apple’s storied device could be used on any network, not just AT&T, its exclusive seller. Hotz’ accomplishment was basically a hardware coup; his modus operandi just involved some soldering and hardware modification. CertiCell, a cell phone modification company, hired him besides giving away a swanky Nissan 350Z sports automobile and 3 iPhones as the price of his unlocked iPhone. After hacking the iPhone, he unleashed a jailbreak titled Blackra1n for all iPhones and iPod Touches. Hotz set up a website for limera1n, his jailbreak software, in March 2010. He announced on July 2010 that he was healthy to jailbreak an iPhone 4 running iOS 4.0 but in the same month he stated he was retiring from the business of hacking ‘iDevices’. He stated his hacking escapades were rather meant to be distractions and they were not being seen any longer as just fun. Hotz stated in late 2009 that he was targeting PS3. He stated in Jan 2010 he was healthy to grapple the organisation and acquire read and write access and released the jailbreak for the public. He released his jailbreak to public in Jan 2010, enabling any one to grapple into the system using the “OtherOS” function in the system. This forced Sony to withdraw the OtherOS function from the organisation which was required for running the hacked code. Sony did this by releasing a PlayStation 3 firmware update which removes the OtherOS function. Sony has since then fortified PS3 with the addition of advanced custom firmware. Hotz stated in July 2010 that he was abandoning his further attempts to grapple the PS3, but resurfaced primeval this year showing demonstrations of running homebrew applications on PS3 firmware 3.55, raising alarm at Sony. In April, Sony and GeoHotz reached a settlement in their months-long legal battle. The settlement enjoined Hotz from reverse engineering any Sony product, or using any tools, hardware or software to get around the authentication systems. Nor was he granted to distribute any information, tools or software that would grant anyone else to do the same thing. If he violates the order then he will be fined ,000 for apiece violation. George Francis Hotz was born on October 2, 1989 and grew up in Glen Rock, New Jersey, where he attended the Bergen County Academies. The curly-haired child prodigy has stated he wanted to get into neuroscience, and go ‘hacking the brain’.

More Wealth Articles

Take Advantage Of A Balance Transfer Credit Card

                                  The first thing you want to do is to choose the type of card that is just right for you. Whether it be an air miles card, or a driver’s credit card, or a rewards card, or even a business credit card, you should choose which one will give you the greatest advantage. You can determine this by looking for the largest amount or type of buys you make apiece month.

                        Once that is done, you want to begin looking at the equilibrise transfer options and compare them. You need to look at more than just to see if it states there is a 0% APR interest rate on equilibrise transfers. All equilibrise transfer options on different credit cards are not equal. Some will charge you as much as four percent of the transferred amount – even if there is 0% APR interest! Many equilibrise transfer credit cards will not charge you to do this, so look around and find one that will not.

                       Balance transfer credit cards also have different lengths of time for the amount transferred that you can get the 0% APR interest. Some will give you that rate for only three months, but will grant you to have 0% APR interest on all your new buys for a year or longer. Other credit cards (the ideal ones) will give you that great interest rate until it is paid off – an unbeatable feature on the ideal cards. If you can get this, and you have balances on other credit cards, this is the way to go. <

                         Another thing that you want to watch for is just how long a time period do you have to be healthy to place existing debt on your new equilibrise transfer credit card. It is very important that you find out about this because many cards will only grant you to use this feature when you apply for the card. You literally have to fill in the amount of all transfers, and the card information, when you apply. Transfers, on some cards, can't be prefabricated after that.

                      Finally, as with any credit card offer, be sure that you also look at the interest rate. It will eventually be the rate you will be paying if you have outstanding balances. Get as low of an interest rate as possible, or, apply for a new equilibrise transfer credit card before the introductory period on this card expires – especially if you still have outstanding debt. However, instead of fully charging up the old card when you make the transfers, be sure to destroy the old card and reduce your debt altogether – that way you are sure to get the ideal savings.

                      The first thing you want to do is to choose the type of card that is just right for you. Whether it be an air miles card, or a driver’s credit card, or a rewards card, or even a business credit card, you should choose which one will give you the greatest advantage. You can determine this by looking for the largest amount or type of buys you make apiece month.

                      Once that is done, you want to begin looking at the equilibrise transfer options and compare them. You need to look at more than just to see if it states there is a 0% APR interest rate on equilibrise transfers. All equilibrise transfer options on different credit cards are not equal. Some will charge you as much as four percent of the transferred amount – even if there is 0% APR interest! Many equilibrise transfer credit cards will not charge you to do this, so look around and find one that will not.

                        Balance transfer credit cards also have different lengths of time for the amount transferred that you can get the 0% APR interest. Some will give you that rate for only three months, but will grant you to have 0% APR interest on all your new buys for a year or longer. Other credit cards (the ideal ones) will give you that great interest rate until it is paid off – an unbeatable feature on the ideal cards. If you can get this, and you have balances on other credit cards, this is the way to go.

                        Another thing that you want to watch for is just how long a time period do you have to be healthy to place existing debt on your new equilibrise transfer credit card. It is very important that you find out about this because many cards will only grant you to use this feature when you apply for the card. You literally have to fill in the amount of all transfers, and the card information, when you apply. Transfers, on some cards, can't be prefabricated after that.

More Wealth Articles

By: Jim Puzzanghera

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-facebook-privacy-20110520,0,467998.story

Reporting from Washington—

A leading senator, angry that Facebook Inc. unsuccessful to stop millions of preteens from using its social networking site, accused co-founder Mark Zuckerberg of absent “social values” and being more concerned with building the company than with children’s privacy.

“It’s my general feeling that people who are 20, 21, 22 years old really don’t have any social values at this point,” Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) told another top Facebook executive at a hearing Thursday.

“I think he was focused on how the business model would work,” Rockefeller stated about Zuckerberg, who was a 19-year-old Harvard student when he created Facebook in 2004. “He wanted to make it larger and faster and superior than anybody else ever had.”

The company’s policy requires users to be at least 13, a move designed to refrain federal regulations for websites used by young children. But a current Consumer Reports survey found that about 7.5 million active Facebook users were younger than 13.

Rockefeller’s comments came as a Facebook executive for the first time came under congressional quizzing in a current round of hearings about concerns that technology companies are not protecting individualized privacy. Executives from Apple Inc. and Google Inc., which sent witnesses to a hearing last week, also appeared at Thursday’s hearing before a Commerce subcommittee.

Rockefeller, a key player on technology issues, and other lawmakers are considering new regulations to protect online privacy, particularly for children. The issue has gained momentum with the current revelation that an fog file on iPhones and iPads could store thousands of detailed records of a user’s whereabouts.

Rockefeller stated he was recently told by Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg that the company has only 100 people monitoring the posts and other activities of about 600 million users.

“My reaction to that is that’s just totally indefensible,” Rockefeller told Facebook Chief Technology Officer Bret Taylor, saying he was worried about children being targeted by sexual predators and online bullies. “I want you to defend your company here because I don’t know how you can.”

Taylor stated Facebook shuts down the accounts of people found to be lying about their age to refrain the company’s restriction.

“We don’t grant people to misrepresent their age,” Taylor said.

But he admitted Facebook depended on other users to report such violations to enforce the policy.

The under-age problem at Facebook showed that huge technology companies have not prefabricated privacy a top priority, stated Amy Guggenheim Shenkan, president of Common Sense Media, a nonprofit children and family advocacy group.

Such hugely successful innovators should be healthy to create ways to superior protect children’s privacy, Shenkan said. She then took a swipe at Facebook for hiring a high-powered public-relations firm to near news organizations to write negative stories about privacy issues at Google.

“Instead of spending money to … hire PR firms to try and take down the other company, let’s take that money and spend it on figuring out technological ways that will protect our kids,” she told the subcommittee. “It can’t be 100 people sitting in a Facebook office trying to monitor 600 million conversations.”

Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), who has introduced bipartisan legislation to prevent the misuse of sensitive consumer information, stated that privacy endorsement is not “the enemy of innovation.”

“Companies collecting people’s information, whether you’re a tech titan or not, ought to comply with a basic code of conduct,” Kerry said.

But Taylor warned that new privacy restrictions could squelch Facebook and other social networks.

Facebook tries to protect privacy by letting users select which information they share, he said. But Taylor cautioned that many people want to share their photos and other details of their lives to get the most out of social networks, and Facebook doesn’t want to adopt that all its users want to place a vault around their data.

“We comprehend that trust is a foundation of the social Web. People will stop using Facebook if they lose trust in our services,” he said. “At the same time, overly restrictive policies can interfere with the public’s demand for new and innovative ways to interact.”

But lawmakers stated many people are clamoring for more endorsement of their individualized data, particularly now as more mobile devices can wage detailed information about a person’s whereabouts.

David Vladeck, director of the Federal Trade Commission‘s Agency of Consumer Protection, stated such location data deserved “special protection,” though the bureau has stopped short of calling for legislation.

Google also has stated it collects location data from mobile devices using its Android software. But Google and Apple executives stated they collected the information anonymously and shared it with third-party applications only if the individual agreed.

“Does Apple track the location of my iPhone?” Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) asked, holding up his device.

“We do not, sir,” stated Catherine A. Novelli, Apple’s vice president for worldwide government affairs.

The company never tracked a user’s actual location from the data collected on iPhones and iPads, only the location of nearby cellphone towers and Wi-Fi hot spots, she said.

Apple stated a software glitch caused the location data to be updated even when the individual had chosen not to use location-based services. The bug was fixed in the latest software release, and the data will be encrypted in the next update, Novelli said.