Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Ou contraire. She is answering all questions in detail.
She is now live. 15 min late. Phone system problem.
She can hear us but we cannot hear her. Standby.
Connection is good, but no Carrie there.
Thankyou very much!
Is there any prefix to the int'l call in tomorrow or do we just dial direct: 852-2112-1444
My call is from Calif.
Sounds like a mucky mess. Good luck with the reconstruction. You might consider raising coy for good luck and maybe some carp for the West Coast market.
Can a private investor be considered an investment professional?
I have int'l. calling service with MCI for $5 per month. The last conf call cost an additional $4.90.
By ROBERT A. GUTH
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
March 28, 2005; Page B1
Microsoft Corp. technology wasn't implicated in the recent identity thefts that have alarmed consumers and Congress. But the software giant is nevertheless getting ready to spark what could be a major shift in how businesses and consumers safeguard personal information on the Web.
In coming months, Microsoft will roll out test versions of its next PC operating system and Internet browser that include new ways for computer users and businesses to identify themselves online, exchange data and guard against software that can steal personal information, according to Microsoft executives and people familiar with the company's plans.
The next version of Windows, code-named Longhorn, will introduce a software technology known as "Info-cards," which let computer users selectively disclose information about themselves to businesses or others online, according to people familiar with the plan. The software stores personal information such as a user's credit-card number, gender and phone numbers, and lets the user send and receive the information in an encrypted form that can be decoded only by trusted Web sites.
THINK PAD
• Bill Gates Ponders Microsoft's Future
Internet Explorer 7, meanwhile, will give computer users more tools and information for identifying and avoiding "phishing" attacks and other methods of stealing personal information over the Internet.
The two products follow a similar approach to protecting identities online: giving average computer users more direct control over how their personal information is used. That approach marks a major break from today's online world, in which computer users surrender vast amounts of personal information both to legitimate Web merchants and, inadvertently, to nefarious Web sites with little sense of how it is used.
"The way you earn customer trust is to put control of information in customers' hands," says Peter Cullen, Microsoft's chief privacy strategist. "It's more than just protecting information, it's providing them with the tools to make their own choices."
Microsoft's efforts come amid a furor over identity theft prompted by recent leaks of personal data from organizations such as ChoicePoint Inc. Those breaches resulted mainly from flaws in operating procedure rather than technology. Yet the incidents spotlight potential risks associated with society's reliance on computerized data storage and communication.
Microsoft executives wouldn't provide detailed product plans. But people familiar with the strategy note a striking change in how the company -- which has been criticized for giving computer security short shrift -- is tackling the problem of managing identities online.
The company several years ago sparked controversy with an earlier service called Passport, which was designed to let consumers use a single password to access multiple Web sites. Passport, in turn, was linked to a proposed set of Web services, dubbed Hailstorm, that would help consumers perform chores such as booking travel and accessing health records.
But those initiatives relied on consumers' information being centrally stored at Microsoft. That concept was opposed by many potential partners and privacy advocates, who raised issues about the influence Microsoft could wield as an information repository. The Federal Trade Commission also cited the company for misrepresenting the security of the Passport system.
Hailstorm was dropped by Microsoft altogether, while Passport failed to find a broad audience. Unlike those earlier efforts, the company's new Info-cards with Longhorn require no central information repository. Instead, computer users manage their own data. The technology is also built on standard technology "protocols," so it is open to any Web site or technology vendor and can run on Unix, Linux and other non-Microsoft software. The software is also designed to work with competing technologies for managing personal information, such as systems from the Liberty Alliance, an association of technology companies, banks and others. It's unclear if Microsoft has started working with other companies on the cards.
To users, Info-cards would appear as a window on the PC screen that acts as a sort of secure file folder for different kinds of personal information, such as date of birth, Social Security number, and credit-card numbers. Each person could maintain multiple cards, each containing different data; a card used at work could have information needed for company transactions, while one set up for home could be used for personal transactions such as buying books or music.
The card stores the data on the PC in an encrypted format. When making a transaction or logging on to a Web site it passes over only the information that the user allows. The encryption helps ensure that intercepted data would be useless to a digital thief.
One goal is to reduce the need for Web sites to hold on to the sorts of personal information that they often store today. Info-cards also would work with technology used by merchants to assure computer users that they are connected to legitimate Web sites -- not bogus sites designed to "phish" their personal information.
More broadly, such cards could gradually be used in place of passwords, which Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates often criticizes as an unreliable security measure. "This will help us move beyond passwords," says Mr. Cullen.
Detailed plans for rolling out the cards haven't been set. Longhorn is expected to be available as a test version in June and in a final commercial version sometime next year. But Microsoft will likely give PC makers and software developers an outline of some features at conferences planned for April and May.
The challenge for Microsoft is that to make the cards useful to consumers and businesses it will need broad support for the cards among Web merchants, banks and others. Microsoft is trying to gradually court those partners, and avoid the mistakes it made with Passport, say people familiar with its plans.
The new version of Internet Explorer, meanwhile, partly reflects pressure from a free rival browser called Firefox, which hasn't been as susceptible as Internet Explorer to security problems. Though few details have been disclosed, Microsoft executives say the new browser will give users more information to help detect if a Web site is trying to dupe them into providing personal information -- a bit like the clues someone might pick up when on walking into a bad neighborhood.
Key to Microsoft's approach is "providing information so users can make more informed decisions," says Dave Aucsmith, chief technology officer at Microsoft's security unit. The enhancements build off of similar user controls in an upgrade to Windows XP last summer called SP2 that can warn users of potentially harmful software and block its installation.
Microsoft runs the risk that giving more information to users about potential security concerns could only confuse them with more decisions to make. "That's always a challenge," Mr. Cullen says.
The company also must balance security requirements with the pressure to add sexy features to counter Firefox, since new features often open up new security risks. "The challenge is how to improve the browser from a security perspective, not just a feature perspective," says John Pescatore, an analyst at technology consultants Gartner Group.
The coming products are the latest sign of a security-conscious ethos at Microsoft, which has modified its organization and procedures in the wake of highly publicized virus programs and spyware that exploited flaws in its software. In each major product group, for instance, Microsoft has "privacy champions" that ensure a set of privacy guidelines are followed when designing and building new software, says Mr. Cullen. The Windows group has 160 champions that are overseen by a four-person "Windows Privacy Council."
Microsoft executives point out that the software maker is only one piece of a broader fight, since mass identity theft tends to occur at large information repositories, such as banks and credit agencies, not on individual PCs. "As big as Microsoft is, all the different pieces of the environmental puzzle have a role to play," Mr. Cullen says.
Here is a short FLTL timeline. You can take a look at their website for more info:
Financial Telecom
Web site: http://www.fintel.com/
2004 Dec 14, Financial Telecom Limited, www.fintel.com, announced today that it has signed a multi year financial consulting service contract with Shanghai Longterms Technology Ltd. (SHLT). The total contract value is US$360,000 for five years, payable by monthly installments totaled at $72,000 each year and renewable at the end of the five-year period. Fintel also ob-tained an option to purchase up to 35% of SHLT. Established in 2000, SHLT specializes in providing technology solutions for networking infrastructure, office automation, and data storage to corporations, government agencies, small medium enterprises and foreign companies oper-ating in China. It recorded sales revenue of 150 Million RMB (US$18 Million) for 12 months ending June 2004.
(IHub #59511, 12/14/04)
2005 Jan 5, Financial Telecom Limited Inc. announced today that it has signed a multi year financial consulting service contract with Beijing JCL Technology Commerce Ltd. (JCL). The to-tal contract value is US$368,750 for five years, payable by monthly installments totaled at $73,750 each year and renewable at the end of the five-year period. Fintel also obtained an op-tion to purchase up to 30% of JCL. On December 14, 2004, Fintel signed a similar multi year contract with Shanghai Longterms Technology Ltd, for a total of $360,000. The accumulated value of these two contracts is $728,750, payable at $145,750 each year.
(IHub #70, 1/5/05)
2005 Jan 20, Financial Telecom Limited (USA) Inc., announced today that it has signed a multi year financial consulting service contract with Shanghai Qianhou Computer Technology Ltd. (SHQCT). The total contract value is US$333,900 for seven years, payable by monthly in-stallments totaled at $47,700 each year and renewable at the end of the contract period. Fintel also obtained an option to purchase up to 35% of SHQCT.
(IHub #60744, 1/20/05)
2005 Feb 25, 8-K issued: On December 14, 2004, Financial Telecom Limited (USA) Inc. en-tered into an Option Agreement, with all of the shareholders (the "Sellers") of Shanghai Longterms Technology Ltd.. Longterms is a privately held company organized under the laws of the People's Republic of China. Pursuant to the terms of the Agreement we had the option to acquire from the Sellers 19% of the total equity interest of Longterms for a purchase price of $130,474. On February 21, 2005, we exercised our option under the Agreement to purchase such 19% equity stake from the Sellers and by mutual agreement the purchase price for such equity stake was satisfied by our issuing to the Sellers 2,461,773 shares of our common stock in lieu of the cash purchase price. Also on February 21, 2005, we exercised an option under the Agreement to purchase a non-interest bearing convertible note from the Sellers. The note was purchased for 2,073,072 shares of our common stock. At any time on or before December 14, 2014 the note is convertible by us without the payment of any additional consideration into 16% of the entire equity interest of Longterms as of the date of the Agreement or, at our election, $109,873 in cash to be paid to us by the Sellers. Our common shares issued to the Sellers are not registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and are subject to transfer restric-tions thereunder.
(IHub #105, 2/25/05)
2005 Mar 7, Financial Telecom Limited Inc., announced today that it has signed a multi year financial service contract with Beijing Sinoskyline Technology Trading Co. Ltd. (Sinoskyline). The total contract value is US$1,309,100 for six years, payable by monthly installments totaled at $218,180 each year and renewable at the end of the six-year period. Fintel also obtained an option to purchase up to 30% of Sinoskyline. Sinoskyline focuses on supplying technology products to the government and state-owned enterprises sectors in China. Its government cli-ents include Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Information Industry, National Development and Reforms Commission, State Grain Administration, and its banking sector clients include Peo-ple's Bank of China, Shenzhen Development Bank, etc. It recorded sales revenue of 40 Million RMB (US$5 Million) for 12 months ending December 2004.
(IHub #110, 3/7/05)
2005 Mar 9, Financial Telecom Limited (USA) Inc. is pleased to announce that its manage-ment will be presenting at Friedland Capital's China Company Luncheon in New York City on Tuesday, March 15th. Mr. David Chen, CEO of Fintel will present the company, its current op-erations and most importantly, prospects for the future. In attendance will be analysts, brokers, fund managers, investment advisors, institutional investors and qualified members of the finan-cial community.
(IHub #62042, 3/9/05)
You're liable to crash if you keep looking thru the rear view mirror. As for me it's time to pull over and stock up on some more shares. Like the cost of gas the price will not get cheaper.
Haven't seen this posted yet.
Hardware security sneaks into PCs
http://news.com.com/Hardware+security+sneaks+into+PCs/2100-7355_3-5619035.html?tag=nefd.lede
Ok, open your spreadsheet. I have 55k and will add.
It will be interesting to see how the market responds to the earnings report and the CC on Wednesday morning. If the response is a myopic negative, I for one will gather more.
In this space-time-(WAVX)finance continuum you should easily be able to divide that 18 hours by any number you wish and allow yourself plenty of latitude to arrive in time.
Are we talking TPMs in cars?
Nanogen Inc., which develops analyst-specific reagents to be used in biomedical research and clinical diagnostics, said Friday (Mar 11) that it received a patent for the amplification and analysis of genetic material.
Then you'll just have to raise your bid.
Good. That's just what I wanted to hear.
Interesting business model. Do you know of any large companies that use this type of approach?
Strategic Financial Services
Fintel's strategic financial services will enable its clients to leverage their valuable assets to derive realized wealth without affecting the working capital of their businesses. Medium and small enterprises in the private sector in China would benefit significantly from our services as they are often limited in their range of knowledge and expertise with regards to capital market. Our services are offered to successful business owners who have a profitable and growing business but don't want to become a public company on its own to be able to gain liquidity. Fintel services will deliver capital liquidity as well capital gain over long term to our clients. The Association with Fintel will also enable these private businesses to gain access to international management system and relationship with foreign industry peer and partners.
Today in history March 1:
http://timelines.ws/days/02_01.HTML
I will post a daily link to the "today in history" section of my web site: www.timelines.ws
The link for Feb 28 is:
http://timelines.ws/days/02_28.HTML
U.S. National - AP
Cub Scout Leader Arrested in BTK Killings
U.S. National - AP
By ROXANA HEGEMAN, Associated Press Writer
WICHITA, Kan. - A 31-year manhunt for a serial killer who taunted police with letters about his crimes ended Saturday when authorities said they finally caught up with the man who called himself BTK and linked him to at least 10 murders.
"The bottom line: BTK is arrested," Wichita Police Chief Norman Williams said Saturday, setting off applause from a crowd that included family members of some of the victims.
The suspect was identified as Dennis L. Rader, a 59-year-old city worker in nearby Park City, who was arrested Friday. Police did not say how they identified Rader as a suspect or whether he has said anything since his arrest.
BTK — a self-coined nickname that stands for "Bind, Torture, Kill" — stoked fears throughout the 1970s in Wichita, a manufacturing center with 350,000 residents, about 180 miles southwest of Kansas City, Mo.
Then the killer resurfaced about a year ago after 25 years of silence. He had been linked to eight slayings between 1974 and 1986, but police said Saturday they had identified two more, from 1985 and 1991.
Rader, a Cub Scout leader who was active at his Lutheran church, lived with his wife, neighbors said. Public records indicate they have two grown children. Messages left for family members were not returned on Saturday, and no one answered the door at the home of his in-laws.
A few neighbors recalled receiving small favors from Rader, but most interviewed Saturday said the municipal codes enforcement supervisor was an unpleasant man who often went looking for reasons to cite his neighbors for violations of city codes.
"A part of me was scared when I heard, because I talked to him. It's a little creepy," said Chris Yoder, 23, who once lived nearby.
Rader has yet to be charged, but a jubilant collection of law enforcers and community leaders told the crowd in City Council chambers they were confident the long-running case could now be closed.
"Victims whose voices were brutally silenced by the evil of one man will now have their voices heard again," Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline said.
Rader was being held at an undisclosed location, and it was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer. In Kansas, suspects generally appear before a judge for a status hearing within 48 hours of their arrest.
Prosecutor Nola Foulston said the death penalty would not apply to any crime committed between 1972 and 1994, when Kansas did not have the death penalty.
The BTK slayings began in 1974 with the strangulations of Joseph Otero, 38, his wife, Julie, 34, and their two children. The six victims that followed were all women, and most were strangled.
Along with his grisly crimes, the killer terrorized Wichita by sending rambling letters to the media, including one in which he named himself BTK for "Bind them, Torture them, Kill them." In another he complained, "How many do I have to kill before I get my name in the paper or some national attention?"
But he stopped communicating in 1979 and remained silent for more than two decades before re-establishing contact last March with a letter to The Wichita Eagle about an unsolved 1986 killing.
The letter included a copy of the victim's driver's license and photos of her slain body. The return address on the letter said it was from Bill Thomas Killman — initials BTK.
Since then, the killer had sent at least eight letters to the media or police, including three packages containing jewelry that police believed may have been taken from BTK's victims. One letter contained the driver's license of victim Nancy Fox.
The new letters sent chills through Wichita but also rekindled hope that modern forensic science could find some clue that would finally lead police to the killer.
Thousands of tips poured in, and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation gathered thousands of DNA swabs in connection with the BTK investigation. In the end, DNA evidence was the key to cracking the case, said Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.
"The way they made the link was some DNA evidence, that they had some DNA connection to the guy who they arrested," Sebelius said in an interview with The Associated Press. She did not elaborate.
The two newly identified cases were similar to the early ones with one exception, Sedgwick County Sheriff Gary Steed said: The bodies had been removed from the crime scenes. One of the victims lived on the same street as Rader.
"We as investigators keep an open mind. But only now are we able to bring them together as BTK cases," he said.
On Friday, investigators searched Rader's house and seized computer equipment.
Authorities, who generally declined to answer questions in detail after announcing the arrest, had little to say about why BTK resurfaced after years without contact.
"It is possible something in his life has changed. I think he felt the need to get his story out," said Richard LaMunyon, Wichita's police chief from 1963 to 1989.
Today Feb 27:
http://timelines.ws/days/02_27.HTML
For an extensive look at any day in history see:
http://www.timelines.ws/
I am accumulating at this level.
Easy. Just buy 450k more.
Yaya's got new backing and is buying again.
Awful news. I really enjoyed Yaya's posts.
Buy because you believe.
RIP
He bought because he believed.
"Blessed be those who believe, for theirs is the Kingdom of Security."
Due to my $5.00 monthly MCI neighborhood worldwide fee
the charge for the Hong Kong call was $4.90.
I think you should make it an even 50k while the gettin's good.
Article posted. Deleted article.
I pay an extra $5 per month to MCI for reduced Int'l rates, but have not yet received my bill. I will post it when it comes.
Does that include the suburbs?
Ditto!
I heard it too.....(smile)
Moody's right....
Last year the Q4 report was March 11.
Let us hope that at this stage it is a brilliant thing to own more than the institutional investors!
Mike Magee? He's a one man banned Sunday February 13, 2005
Chip firms won't sell trusted computing to integrators
Dealers up in arms. Ole!
By Mike Magee: Sunday 06 February 2005, 21:20
A MAKER OF WHITE boxes - and let us not forget that lot vastly outsells the like of IBM, HP and Dell - has told the INQUIRER that trusted module maker Infineon and others refuse to flog [sell] him or other small dealers a Trusted Computing evaluation system of any kind.
The modules - Trusted Platform Modules (TPMs) - are built into corporate boxes. Dell announced a few last week. But maybe security only goes so far. Trusted Computing is backed by a virtual cabal of chip makers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).
The dealer has provided evidence of the denial of service too, and that evidence from resellers of TPMs is hard to gainsay, and may contravene many consumer laws, Europe wide.
Manuel Cornejo, a Spanish reseller and maker of white boxes, said he simply could not understand why Infineon distributors and others would not countenance the sale of a TPM, made only by a few semiconductor firms, to what is a burgeoning small and medium sized (SME) enterprise market which wants security too.
Cornejo said: "I give a lot of importance to security. For me, security is not a blind reliance on new technology, but instead a knowledge of as complete as possible of all the aspects of this new technology."
He continued: "TPMs are supposed to be the key of [to] this new security, and this [Infineon] kit would give me the knowledge I need."
He added that a Spanish lawyer had told him that as a principle of law in the country, manufacturers are supposed to provide consumers with the necessary information to make the best of possible use of goods they bought.
But, when Senor Cornejo attempted to buy a TPM from Infineon, he was blanked. He claims Infineon told him it would not sell him the unit.
He attempted to buy the Infineon TPM from other resellers, but said he met with the same blank refusal.
Cornejo claimed that Siemens Spain had invited him to write in to apply for a TPM Neon, but Siemens reserved the right to decide whether to sell him the module, as only qualified customers were allowed to evaluate the technology.
Now surely, this is taking security a bit too far. Resellers and customers have to test the TPMs to see if they work or not, no? µ