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Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Why US House blocked Spotify music-streaming site

Rosa Golijan , NBC News ? ? ? 9 hrs.

People love to make fun of the apparent technical ineptness of America's congressmen, so it was no surprise that plenty of cheap shots were taken when it was discovered that the U.S. House of Representatives is blocking Spotify. The reason? The legal music-streaming service incorporates the same peer-to-peer network technology found in shady illegal file-sharing networks.

"It is a sad day when a few bureaucrats can block our nation's leadership from enjoying free, secure access to over 20 million songs," a Spotify spokesman initially told Politico's Tony Romm when the news of the music service's ban first broke. "We truly hope the House of Representatives will see the error of their ways and stop blocking Spotify so that all of America can benefit from their collective joy of music."

A spokesperson for the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) told NBC News that Spotify ? and other software which incorporates peer-to-peer technology ? is blocked as a precautionary measure.

"To help protect House data, our IT policy generally prohibits the use of peer-to-peer (P2P) technologies while operating within the secure network," the spokesperson said, emphasizing what he told Politico. "While Spotify is currently not authorized, the CAO has and will continue to work with outside vendors to enable the popular services that improve member communication capabilities."

?The Committee is always looking to improve access to popular services that facilitate open constituent communications," a spokesperson for the Committee on House Administration (CHA) added, in an email to NBC News. "However, in doing so, we must also ensure adequate safeguards exist to protect against the ever-growing cyber threats of today?s environment.?

While the spokespeople from the CAO and CHA refrained from elaborating on what safeguards must exist in order for software such as Spotify to be authorized, Chester Wisniewski ? a senior security advisor at Sophos ? explained to NBC News that sometimes "security through obscurity" can be a good thing. "You are actually safer if someone who's trying to get something past your defenses doesn't know what your defenses are," he said, pardoning the zipped lips of the CAO and CHA.

Wisniewski explained that it is likely that the House of Representatives' network administrators are not targeting specific applications, but rather blocking off certain network ports (which could be thought of as virtual paths allowing different applications to share a single physical Internet connection). After all, he elaborates, "the network sees a request coming from another computer, to access a specific port," but there are few ways of identifying what exactly the incoming traffic is. "Typically this type of traffic is encrypted," Wisniewski says, "so even if this traffic said 'Spotify' on it, you wouldn't know what's in there."

In even plainer terms: Opening up certain ports, for the sake of allowing an application such as Spotify, could put a network at greater risk of security attacks. Given how many high-profile hacks have been surfacing in recent days ? the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Twitter come to mind ? one can hardly blame anyone for erring on the side of caution.

A Spotify spokesperson did tell NBC News that there is some hope, though. "We are currently in talks with the House of Representatives to alleviate any concerns they have regarding Spotify," he said. "We firmly believe that music is a common language that all political parties speak and should be used to bring the legislators of this great country together so they can solve the serious issues facing our nation."

In the meantime, an RIAA spokesperson pointed NBC News to a letter written by Cary Sherman, the association's CEO, to the CAO. "We certainly can appreciate and understand why the policy was implemented that prevents access to unauthorized peer-to-peer services for security reasons as well as to prevent use of the House network for illegal activity," Sherman writes before also offering to help "develop a new policy that ensures that users of the House network will be able to gain access to these new legal services."

Amazingly enough, no one ? so far ? has issued a statement pointing out how many hours have been spent on this issue, which boils down to bending security policies to allow lawmakers to use a specific music-streaming service ... during work hours.

Want more tech news or interesting links? You'll get plenty of both if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/paranoia-or-caution-why-u-s-house-blocked-popular-music-1B8242978

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Doing business in Asia - Business & Economics News - University of ...

A leading expert in doing business in Asia will run a dedicated two workshop on the 19-20 February that will provide a unique insight into doing business this region.

Dr Peter Verhezren, has over 25 years of experience of working and consulting in this region.During the Asian crisis (1998-2002) he became a Senior Financial Advisor to the (IBRA) and has been invited as a speaker on Business Ethics and International Governance at a number of institutions including the World Bank (Washington DC-US), the Hanoi Banking Institute (Vietnam), and the Singapore Monetary Authority.

Any manager or senior executive responsible for growing a business in Asia (with an emphasis on South East Asia and China) or around the globe will benefit from the rich insights of this course.

Combining academic insight with extensive practical business experience into corporate governance, leadership and risk management, the course focuses on three key areas:

How to navigate the complex personal, institutional, political, social and economic environments in Asia
The risk perspectives of the newly globalising Asian businesses ? with a focus on South East Asia and China
Typical governance structures in Asia compared to Anglo-Saxon corporate governance structures and legislation

For more details and to register click here

Source: http://benews.unimelb.edu.au/2013/doing-business-in-asia/

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Monday, February 4, 2013

Amyloid imaging shows promise for detecting cardiac amyloidosis

Feb. 4, 2013 ? While amyloid imaging may now be most associated with detecting plaques in the brain, it has the potential to change the way cardiac amyloidosis is diagnosed. According to first-of-its-kind research published in the February issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine, positron emission tomography (PET) with ¹¹C-PIB can positively visualize amyloid deposits in the heart. Currently there is no noninvasive test available for specific diagnosis.

Cardiac amyloidosis is a deadly disorder caused by abnormal amyloid deposits in the heart tissue. Early diagnosis before structural change to the heart tissue has occurred is important for disease prognosis and for treatment monitoring. Currently echocardiography is the mainstay of imaging in cardiac amyloidosis; a cardiac biopsy is used to confirm diagnosis.

"Imaging with ¹¹C-PIB provides a non-invasive and specific means of showing distribution of amyloid in an organ. This gives a unique opportunity to follow and monitor therapy, as amyloid deposits in the heart should decrease with successful therapy," said Gunnar Antoni, PhD, lead author of the study "In Vivo Visualization of Amyloid Deposits in the Heart with ¹¹C-PIB and PET."

The study included 10 patients diagnosed with cardiac amyloidosis and five healthy individuals. PET/computed tomography (CT) with ¹¹C-PIB was used to visualize amyloid deposits in the heart and with ¹¹C-acetate to measure myocardial blood flow.

Uptake of ¹¹C-PIB was measured 15-25 minutes after injection. Obvious uptake of ¹¹C-PIB was noted in the left ventricle wall of all patients with cardiac amyloidosis, while no uptake was seen in the healthy volunteers. In half of the patients, ¹¹C-PIB was also detected in the right ventricle wall, and nine of the patients had signs of reversible uptake, with a maximum concentration at 10-15 minutes after injection. Myocardial blood flow was significantly lower in patients with cardiac amyloidosis; however, no significant correlation between myocardial blood flow and ¹¹C-PIB uptake was found.

"This study emphasizes the strength of molecular imaging for detecting an underlying and significant molecular aberration in a disease that presents with unspecific symptoms and signs," noted Antoni. "The potential for molecular imaging to provide valuable information for other diseases is of great value to the field of medicine."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Society of Nuclear Medicine.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

G. Antoni, M. Lubberink, S. Estrada, J. Axelsson, K. Carlson, L. Lindsjo, T. Kero, B. Langstrom, S.-O. Granstam, S. Rosengren, O. Vedin, C. Wassberg, G. Wikstrom, P. Westermark, J. Sorensen. In Vivo Visualization of Amyloid Deposits in the Heart with 11C-PIB and PET. Journal of Nuclear Medicine, 2012; 54 (2): 213 DOI: 10.2967/jnumed.111.102053

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/jOIv5AOvRg8/130204114252.htm

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Energy industry develops nontoxic fracking fluids

PITTSBURGH (AP) ? The oil and gas industry is trying to ease environmental concerns by developing nontoxic fluids for the drilling process known as fracking, but it's not clear whether the new product will be widely embraced by drilling companies.

Houston-based energy giant Halliburton Inc. has developed a product called CleanStim, which uses only food-industry ingredients. Other companies have developed nontoxic fluids as well.

"Halliburton is in the business to provide solutions to our customers," said production manager Nicholas Gardiner. "Those solutions have to include ways to reduce the safety or environmental concerns that the public might have."

Environmental groups say they welcome the development but still have questions.

The chemicals in fracking fluids aren't the only environmental concern, said George Jugovic, president of PennFuture. He said there is also concern about the large volumes of naturally occurring but exceptionally salty wastewater and air pollution.

It's premature to say whether it will ever be feasible to have fluids for fracking that are totally nontoxic, said Scott Anderson, a senior adviser for the Environmental Defense Fund.

"But we are encouraged to some extent by recent industry efforts to at least reduce the toxicity," Anderson said.

Fracking, short for hydraulic fracturing, has made it possible to tap into energy reserves across the nation but also has raised concerns about pollution, since large volumes of water, along with sand and hazardous chemicals, are injected deep into the ground to free the oil and gas from rock.

Regulators contend that overall, water and air pollution problems are rare, but environmental groups and some scientists say there hasn't been enough research on those issues. The industry and many federal and state officials say the practice is safe when done properly, but faulty wells and accidents have caused problems.

Halliburton says CleanStim will provide "an extra margin of safety to people, animals and the environment in the unlikely occurrence of an incident" at a drilling site.

Gardiner said Halliburton has developed a chemistry-scoring system for the fluids, with lower scores being better. CleanStim has a zero score, he said, and is "relatively more expensive" than many traditional fracking fluids.

Both Jugovic and Anderson noted that one of the most highly publicized concerns about toxic fracking fluids hasn't really been an issue: the suggestion that they might migrate from thousands of feet underground, up to drinking water aquifers.

"Most people agree there are no confirmed cases so far" of fracking chemicals migrating up to drinking water, Anderson said. But he added that simple spills of fluid on the surface can cause problems.

"The most likely of exposure is not from the fracking itself. It is from spills before the fracking fluid is injected," Anderson said.

There also may be technical and cost issues that limit the acceptance of products such as CleanStim. There is tremendous variation in the type of shale rock in different parts of the country. For example, drillers use different fluids even within the same state, and the specific mix can play a large role in determining how productive a well is.

Gardiner wouldn't say how widely used CleanStim is. "The customers who do use it certainly like the material," he added.

Terry Engelder, a geologist at Penn State University, said he visited a well in that state last year that used just water, sand and three additives in the fracking fluid.

But Engelder added that "green" and "toxic" can be "soft words without real meaning." He noted that consumers, businesses and farms use vast quantities of chemicals that can contribute to pollution, from cleaners and soaps to fertilizers and pesticides. Yet all those compounds are routinely flushed down the drain, ending up in nearby rivers and streams.

"Eventually industry would like to end up with a mix of just water, sand, and food-grade additives," Engelder said of fracking. "Companies are learning to deal with fewer and fewer additives."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/energy-industry-develops-nontoxic-fracking-fluids-171713821.html

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