OCZ’s RevoDrive 3 X2 review roundup: SSD melts faces with 1.5GBps read and 1.2GBps write speeds
June 29, 2011 No Comment
Did our footage of OCZ’s new RevoDrive 3 X2 whet your appetite for more info on the super speedy SSD? Well, your wish is the web’s command, and we’ve got a full roundup of reviews that’ll tell you all you need to know. After putting OCZ’s latest through its paces, the consensus is that the SSD is seriously quick in remembering and retrieving data. According to Tom’s Hardware , the RevoDrive 3 X2 — with its max 1.5GBps read and 1.2GBps write speeds — “smokes everything” they’ve had pass through their lab. However, AnandTech noted that such capacious bandwidth is “simply overkill” for most users, as the drive only really flexes its muscles once the queue depth increases from enterprise-level workloads. Several sites noted that the drive’s lack of TRIM support was also a concern, and that more cost effective (albeit slower) storage solutions can be had with a DIY RAID array of SATA SSDs . Of course, you don’t have to take our word for it, get down to the nitty gritty in the links below. Read – Hot Hardware Read – AnandTech Read – Tom’s Hardware Read – PC Perspective Read – The SSD Review OCZ’s RevoDrive 3 X2 review roundup: SSD melts faces with 1.5GBps read and 1.2GBps write speeds originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Jun 2011 07:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Group of investors includes the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Pimco Investment Management, the world’s largest bondholder, and BlackRock Financial Management Bank of America (BoA) is close to finalising a deal to pay $8.5bn (£5.3bn) to settle claims by a group of investors that the bank sold them poor-quality mortgage-backed securities that went sour when the housing market tanked, according to a person familiar with the settlement talks. The North Carolina-based bank was continuing talks late on Tuesday with the group, which includes the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Pimco Investment Management, the world’s largest bondholder, and BlackRock Financial Management. It is expected to announce an agreement as early as Wednesday, the person said on condition of anonymity because the matter was still developing. The deal comes eight months after the group fired off a letter to Bank of America demanding that it repurchase $47bn in mortgages that its Countrywide unit sold to them in the form of bonds. The investors have argued that Countrywide’s practice of modifying loans found to have faulty paperwork or those written outside of normal underwriting standards breached signed agreements with the investors. By continuing to service bad loans rather than speeding up foreclosures, the group has claimed that Countrywide ran up servicing fees, enriching itself at the expense of investors. The New York Fed is involved because it took over assets held by American International Group, which faltered under the weight of bad home loans that it insured. Bank of America, which paid $4bn for Countrywide in 2008, has dismissed suggestions that its handling of loan modifications and other efforts to prevent foreclosure have violated the terms of the mortgage-backed securities that the investors hold. In November, CEO Brian Moynihan said he was in day-to-day “hand-to-hand combat” with investors’ demands. But the combined effect of the Countrywide deal, mortgage crisis and the risk overhang of the soured loans have been a drain on BoA’s bottom line and stock price, eventually prompting a reversal in strategy. Since the beginning of the year, the bank has struck large settlements with multiple investors. In January, the lender paid $2.6bn to settle buyback claims on home loans sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. And in April, the bank agreed to pay up to $1.6bn to Assured Guaranty, an insurer that also pressed the bank to repurchase shoddy mortgages. If approved, the latest settlement would address a significant remaining slice of Bank of America’s mortgage buyback claim risk. A Bank of America spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment. Bank of America US housing and sub-prime crisis US economy United States guardian.co.uk
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NATO helicopters fired rockets to help end a siege at a luxury hotel in the Afghan capital Kabul overnight. Officials said 19 people died including 8 suicide attackers and 3 policemen. (June 29)
Continue reading …ThinkPad Tablet shown off with keyboard-laden folio cover, could ship within a month
June 29, 2011 No Comment
Well, lookie here! Seems that ThinkPad Tablet’s getting more real by the hour. For what it’s worth, Lenovo hasn’t exactly done a laudatory job keeping its next major Honeycomb tablet under wraps , but flaunting it in public? Now that’s just asking for it. According to ZTOP , the enterprise-centric Tablet will arrive within three to four weeks boasting Tegra 2 silicon, a 10.1-inch display (1280 x 800) and an optional folio / cover that might just steal the show. According to the report, it’s a leather-wrapped case that contains a full-on keyboard and optical tracking sensor, presumably using a USB connector to make the magic happen. Think Clamcase , but tailored for Lenovo. There’s no mention of a price on that one, but we’re guessing it ain’t gonna be tossed in gratis. Tap the source for one more look, and expect to hear more on the whole kit and kaboodle as July draws closer. ThinkPad Tablet shown off with keyboard-laden folio cover, could ship within a month originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Jun 2011 06:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Ceop director warns against jumping to wrong conclusions as findings did not support claims of Asian grooming gangs The first attempt at a nationwide assessment of patterns of child sexual exploitation reveals that 26% of those who engage in on-street grooming of young girls are Asian. But Peter Davies, the director of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre (Ceop), which carried out the research warned against jumping to any conclusions from the findings on the ethnicity of offenders because the data gathered by his investigators was incomplete, not nationwide and of poor quality. “I would send a note of caution about trying to extrapolate anything from this. Looking at this issue through the lens of ethnicity does not do the victims any favours,” he said. The figures (pdf) which published on Wednesday, afer a six-month thematic assessment involving talking to police, social services and charities revealed that of the 2,379 offenders identified by the research ethnicity had not been recorded in 32% of cases. Thhe data also showed 38% of offenders were white and a small number were black or Chinese. The Ceop assessment was commissioned after national debate over what some people had identified as a pattern of Asian men operating in gangs to groom young white girls and sexually abuse them. Davies said the findings did not support this suggestion. Davies initiated the assessment to identify any patterns of offending and victimisation to improve responses. What has emerged is that not enough is being done by the police, by social services and particularly by local children’s safeguarding boards to identify and investigate child sexual exploitation which goes on in local areas. “The key message for me is that this is a horrific crime and involves the systematic, premeditated rape of children. It needs to be understood, it needs to be brought out of the dark. There should be no hiding place anywhere for people Davies said he was “surprised and disappointed” that two thirds of local safeguarding children’s boards were failing to do their statutory duty on child sexual exploitation. He said they were required to assume that child sexual exploitation was going on in their area unless there was clear evidence otherwise. Only one third of LCSB was doing this.who take part in this kind of crime,” he said. Key findings of the research were that: • most local children’s safeguarding boards are failing to fulfil their statutory responsibility to identify child sexual exploitation and protect children, • the size and scale of the crime is not known • police forces across the country need to go out and look for the crime • there are strong links between runaway children and victims of child sexual exploitation • the Crown Prosecution Service should carry out a review of all prosecutions in the area to identify barriers to bringing perpetrators to justice and • more research was needed to provide a more comprehensive picture From the data, Ceop was able to say 2,379 offenders were identified between March 2008 and January 2011. There were 2,083 victims, 90% of whom were white girls, with strong links between children going missing from homes and the care system and becoming victims. Offenders were predominantly males aged between 18 – 24 who acted alone or in groups. Investigators from Ceop spent six months gathering intelligence and data from police forces across the country, social services, health authorities and charities working with victims in an attempt to quantify the scale of the problem. Enver Solomon, head of policy at the Children’s Society, which provided evidence to CEOP, said if patterns of perpetrators had emerged there needed to be further research but he warned against jumping to any conclusions. “This (ethnicity of perpetrators) is obviously disproportionate to the population, but the problem here is that the data is incomplete and poorly recorded so there are questions about the validity and accuracy of the data. “We need to be cautious about drawing conclusions but if patterns are beginning to be identified we need to begin to understand them more, with more research so we can draw evidence based conclusions rather than jump to any assumptions.” Solomon said the figures in the report represented “a scratching at the surface” of what was the hidden problem of vulnerable children being targeted, groomed, internally trafficked and subjected to extreme forms of sexual abuse and violence on British streets. The report identifies a strong link between children who run away, both from the family home and the care system, and those who are victims of men who target them on the streets, outside local takeaways, and at obvious local gathering points for young people, in order to groom and abuse them. The Ceop report Out of Mind, Out of Sight found that in 1,087 cases agencies have failed to identify the background of the child victim. And in many cases no one bothered to record even the gender of the victims. Last year alone, charities across the sector dealt with 2,900 children who had been sexually exploited, according to figures released a fortnight ago by Barnadoes. In 2010 alone, Barnadoes worked with 1,098 children who had been sexually exploited; a 4% increase on the year before. The new head of Ceop commissioned the assessment after a string of cases in the north of England which appeared to suggest a pattern of Asian men as perpetrators of on street grooming of white girls. After the jailing in January of two ring leaders of a group of Asian men to eight years in prison Ceop announced it was carrying out a review. Mohammed Liaqat, 28 and Abid Saddique, 27, were jailed for raping and sexually abusing young girls from the Derby area who were aged between 12 and 18. The case led to claims that a pattern had emerged in which Asian men appeared to be disproportionately the perpetrators of child sexual exploitation and their victims were white girls. In response, Davies said he needed to examine whether any patterns of offending, victimisation and vulnerability could be identified. Child protection Children Human trafficking Prostitution Crime Sandra Laville guardian.co.uk
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The Greek parliament is due to vote on the austerity bill. Protesters on the second day of a general strike are determined to stop the bill being passed. 11.17am: Dailymotion.com is livestreaming Syntagma Square again today: _ 11.08am: Only one member of the ruling (socialist) PASOK party is likely to vote against the bill – not enough to prevent its passage given that PASOK has a five-seat majority in the 300-member legislature – socialist deputy Alexandros Athanassiadis has told the Associated Press. Athanassiadis, many of whose constituents are employed by the Public Power Corporation which is up for privatisation, said he maintains his opposition to the bill but that he will likely be the only dissenter. He said: I have not changed my opinion … as things stand, I persist in my decision. I don’t think (any other socialist) deputies will vote against. I will be the only one. But the Greek news website Kathimerini.com says the vote is still on a “knife-edge” with three other socialists expressing doubts. It reports that there has been last-ditch attempt on Tuesday to win round dissenters straying from party lines. 10.54am: Alexander Marquardt, from ABC News, has posted a picture of protesters spreading Maalox, an antacid, on their faces to protect against teargas. 10.42am: The Guardian’s Helena Smith in Athens writes that battle lines are being drawn ahead of the crucial vote with 8 people already hospitalised this morning: Residents in downtown Athens woke up to the whiff of tear gas and burning rubbing bins, the former still hanging in the air after a day of pitched battles between protesters and riot police, the latter set ablaze by young Greeks bracing for a fight. Since early this morning, protesters started pouring back into Syntagma Square, the focal point of opposition against austerity measures now seen as the symbol of everything that is wrong with Greece. Many say they will stay in the square whether or not George Papandreou’s socialist government passes the bill. “Whatever happens we will stay on and fight,” says Pavlos Antonopoulos, the activist schoolteacher I spoke to yesterday who was back in the square by 8:30am after snatching a couple of hours of sleep. “We hope to amass a lot of people today even if the government has sent out a very strong order to keep Syntagma clear and us away from the parliament building. We will do everything we can to ring off parliament, to stop the vote taking place.” She said that people have been working hard to clean up the square after yesterday’s clashes and the police are determined to prevent a repeat of the trouble: Municipal employees have been working overtime to clean the square – hosing it down and in some cases painstakingly removing graffiti – but the detritus of battle is everywhere: in the shattered windows of shops and chain stores, the chipped marble facades of hotels, smashed pavements and broken entrances to metro stations. Even the trees are burned. The police, meanwhile, appear hell-bent on keeping demonstrators away. The capital’s main boulevards have been cordoned off and there have been reports of violent incidences between gangs of young Greeks and police in Pangrati, a nearby neighbourhood. By 11 am at least eight people had been rushed to hospital after being clubbed by police with one trade unionist reportedly suffering head injuries and requiring several stitches. But ordinary Greeks are equally determined to have their voices heard. Busloads have arrived from around the country – all heading for Syntagma Square. And they are backed by the powerful unions that have brought Greece to a standstill with a 48-hour general strike. “Thousands of strikers have been moved by rage and exasperation with new measures that yet again hit them while those who have, those who stole from the nation’s public wealth, those who have never paid taxes, drink to the health of those who are mocked,” said Yiannis Panagopoulos who presides over the confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE) the country’s biggest labour force. “These policies are not only unfair, they lead nowhere and are ineffective. Today we are waging a huge battle and this battle will not stop until these policies are overturned.” 10.36am: Protesters have clashed with police outside parliament as people opposed to the austerity bill have sought to block MPs from entering the building to vote. One communist deputy was pelted with yoghurt as she made her way into parliament and three people were treated for minor injuries as protesters clashed with police during an attempt to bar the way into the chamber. _ 10.31am: The markets are betting on the mid-term bill being passed by the Greek parliament. • Japan’s Nikkei closed 1.54% higher at 9797 points. European shares rose sharply in early trading: • Britain’s FTSE 100 was 1.2% higher at 2,834.26 • Germany’s DAX rose 1.3% to 7,265.34 • France’s CAC-40 was up 1.1%at 3,895.66. • Wall Street was also headed for a higher opening, with Dow Jones industrial futures gaining 0.2%to 12,169 and S&P 500 futures rising 0.3%t to 1,298.40. 10.27am: The governor of the bank of Greece, George Provopoulos, has told the Financial Times the country will be committing “suicide” if its parliament fails to back the austerity bill. He said: We have never really had a debate in this country about what went wrong. In Portugal the new government has come in and said that there will be a difficult two years ahead. We have not had that kind of talk here … For parliament to vote against this package would be a crime – the country would be voting for its suicide. 10.23am: My colleague Graeme Wearden has outlined exactly what parliament will be voting on today . It amounts to a hard-hitting package of tax rises, cuts to benefits and public spending, and privatisations. Tax increases include • A solidarity levy: At 1% for those earning between €12,000 (£10,800) and €20,000 a year, 2% for incomes between €20,000 and €50,000, 3% for those on €50,000 to €100,000, and 4% for those earning €100,000 or more. Lawmakers and public office holders will pay a 5% rate. • A lower tax-free threshold: People will now pay tax on income over €8,000 a year, down from €12,000. This basic rate of tax will be set at 10%, with exemptions for those under 30, over 65, and the disabled. • Sales tax: The VAT rate for restaurants and bars is being hiked from 13% to the new top rate of 23%. This rate already covers many products in the shops, including clothing, alcohol, electronics goods and some professional services. Spending cuts include: • Public sector wages: Salaries will be reduced by 15%. • The public sector wage bill: The goal is to cut 150,000 public sector jobs, through a hiring freeze and abolition of all temporary contracts. This should cut the total bill by €2bn by 2015. • Social benefits and pensions: The retirement age is being raised to 65. Increased means testing, and cuts to some benefits, will reduce the total amount spend on benefits by €1.09bn in 2011, then €1.28bn in 2012, €1.03bn in 2013, €1.01bn in 2014 and €700m in 2015. 10.16am: Welcome to the Guardian’s coverage of the protests in Greece and the vote on the mid-term bill in parliament. The Greek government will hope to pass its austerity bill – a precondition of additional loans from the EU and IMF – in parliament against a backdrop of massive public opposition. Despite its unpopularity the bill is expected to pass. Greece has said it has funds only until mid-July, after which it will be unable to pay salaries and pensions, or service its debts, without the next bailout instalment The vote is expected anytime from 11am BST (1pm Greek time) onwards. Trade Unionists have vowed to stop MPs getting into parliament for the vote but security in the centre of Athens is high. There are fears of more violent crashes after at least 46 people were injured, most of them police, yesterday a s rioters pelted police with chunks of marble and ripped up paving stones, and authorities responded with repeated volleys of teargas and stun grenades . Several hundred people gathered in front of parliament early today for fresh protests. Greece European Union Europe Europe Protest IMF European Central Bank Haroon Siddique guardian.co.uk
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andrew garfield habla de emma stone EMMA STONE GOES RETRO & TRACY MORGAN OFFENDS MORE PEOPLE The Help – Offizieller Trailer [HD][Deutsch] beautyole says: Emma Stone , is that you?: Sporting a super cute red and white striped bikini, bright red lipstick and Farrah Faw… http://bit.ly/iHmglp
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To mark the World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment we asked you to send us photos that convey the things you value most in nature Environment editor
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Type: Book Title: Impeding Justice See all customer reviews Product Description: updated 18th May 2011 Detective Inspector Lorne Simpkins comes up against her long-time nemesis, The Unicorn. After leading Simpkins and her partner into a trap, in which Pete is killed, Lorne comes to the conclusion the criminal is obtaining insider information, enabling him to stay one step ahead of them. Can Lorne uncover who the mole is before The Unicorn harms her daughter? See the details
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Sheikh Raed Salah is said to be banned from Britain but pro-Palestinian groups say he knew nothing about it Sheikh Raed Salah, a leading Palestinian activist, has been detained in London amid reports that he is banned from the UK Salah, the leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, was detained on Tuesday night by police, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) said. Sarah Colborne, PSC director, insisted that Salah was the leader of a legitimate political organisation. He rejected all forms of racism, including anti-semitism, she said. His solicitor, Farooq Bajwa, said Salah had “no knowledge” of an alleged travel ban and had made “no attempt” to conceal his identity when he entered Britain. “Sheikh Raed Salah is the leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, the largest movement for Palestinians in Israel,” Colborne said. “This is a legitimate organisation which Israel has never moved to ban. “Raed Saleh regularly speaks at venues across Israel where he has considerable support amongst the Palestinian citizens of Israel, who make up a fifth of the population. “Sheikh Raed has been elected as mayor of his home town, Um al-Fahm, three times. He has never been convicted of anti-semitism in Israel. “Before coming to Britain, he faced horrific allegations of anti-semitism, which he completely refuted. “He has clarified his position of being opposed to all forms of racism, including anti-semitism, Islamophobia and racism against his own people, the Palestinians.” The home secretary, Theresa May, said officials from the UK Border Agency were taking steps to remove Salah from the country. She said an investigation had been launched into how he managed to get into the UK. Israel Palestinian territories London guardian.co.uk
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