iTunes accounts hacking more widespread than initially thought. The facts, and what you should do.
By Zee Follow Zee on twitter on July 4th, 2010
On Sunday we reported details of how one specific app developer had managed to hack iTunes users accounts and use them to purchase his own apps – making it to the top of the iTunes charts.
As the story has developed, the problem has grown far more serious than initially thought – not just that one particular developer and his apps – the Apple App store is filled with App Farms being used to steal.
Maybe this Dude did it:
This post will give a complete run down of what we know and will be continue to be updated as we learn further details.
The Facts
A number of iTunes accounts have been hacked from across the globe, not just the US, and used to purchase apps.
The app developer that began this entire investigation has now had their account (and apps) removed, but we’ve discovered a number of other developer accounts with very similar, if not more “innovative”, approaches to stealing users money. Continue reading App Store and iTunes Accounts hacked! WHOA
Chestnut eats 54 hot dogs to keep title
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Competitive eater Joey Chestnut has held on to his title at the annual July Fourth hot dog eating contest at New York’s Coney Island, but one of his biggest rivals tried to crash the celebration and has been taken into custody.
Chestnut chomped down on 54 hot dogs in 10 minutes on Sunday to win the annual Nathan’s International Hot Dog Eating Contest for the fourth year in a row.
Watching from the crowd was six-time champion Takeru Kobayashi who has not signed a contract with Major League Eating to be free to compete in contests sanctioned by other groups.
But Kobayashi went on stage after the competition. Police officers grabbed him, and he tried to hold onto police barricades as they took him into custody.
(AP) DALLAS (AP) – A Dallas police officer is on leave after firing her gun into a squad car floor when colleagues tried to drive her home from a bar where she’d drank too much while off duty.
Officer Kelly Beemer also faces a misdemeanor charge of discharging a weapon.
Video from a squad car camera shows two officers escorting Beemer to the vehicle Wednesday night. Inside, one of them tells Beemer they just want to get her home.
Beemer can be heard saying she doesn’t believe them and demands the car be stopped. As the car continues moving, a muffled shot is heard. The car stops and the officers are heard repeatedly yelling “Kelly, drop the gun!”
No one was injured.
Dallas Police Chief David Brown calls Beemer’s conduct reckless and unacceptable. Beemer’s attorney declined to comment Friday.
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Information from: The Dallas Morning News, http://www.dallasnews.com
EW YORK – As a child, Barack Obama often played soccer on the streets of Indonesia. These days, his affinity for the sport stretches little further than watching his daughter Malia’s junior games and owning a long-distance appreciation for English Premier League team West Ham United.
Yet before he even sets up camp in the Oval Office, signs indicate that the President-elect may already be the best thing soccer in the United States could ever have wished for.
The world game likes to think that it belongs to the people. However, in reality, its cloistered corridors of power are among the most politically intertwined in international sport.
What U.S. Soccer craves is the right to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup. The election of Obama has made such an outcome far more likely.
“We would all like to believe sports and politics do not conflict, but we must be realistic,” U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati told Yahoo! Sports. “Certainly, there is a connection. When people talked about China hosting the Olympic Games, it was not independent of other concerns.
“Anything that enhances the perceived views of the United States can only be a positive for us.”
There is a clear element of “popularity contest” about the way the members of FIFA, soccer’s worldwide governing body, make their big decisions. While Obama may have garnered 53 percent of the popular vote to become USA’s first African-American president, internationally he has rock-star status. His victory was front-page news in every corner of the globe and the outpouring of delight has been overwhelming.
To believe Obama’s popularity will not have an impact on the World Cup selection would smack of naivety, according to a high-placed FIFA source.
“How can it not make a difference?” said the source, who asked not to be named. “Now when you think of America, you don’t think George W. Bush or war. You think of this man, Obama, who has made history and given hope to millions.
“The men who vote on World Cup hosts are not immune to those same feelings. If the U.S. bid stacks up in terms of infrastructure and organization, then Obama could be a huge factor.”
A look at the past World Cups since the United States hosted the event in 1994
Year Host nation Total attendance
2006 Germany 3.36 million
2002 Japan/South Korea 2.71 million
1998 France 2.79 million
1994 United States 3.59 million
Obama figures to have a similar influence on the 2016 Olympic Games, which Chicago is vying for alongside Tokyo, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro. Japanese Olympic Committee chief Tsunekazu Takeda has already admitted Tokyo’s chances of success diminished significantly the moment Obama was crowned the election victor, making Chicago the strong favorite.
The respective rival soccer associations looking at bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups are too savvy to give up any psychological ground at this early stage. But America’s main opponents, likely to be England in addition to joint bids from Spain/Portugal and Belgium/Holland/Luxembourg, must be seriously concerned about the boost received by America’s bid, which is yet to be made official but is no secret.
The last and only time the U.S. staged the World Cup was in 1994, when the tournament shattered all-time attendance records that still stand to this day. That month in the world spotlight placed the sport in the consciousness of the American public, after soccer flat-lined following the demise of the North American Soccer League in the 1980s. Following the tournament, Major League Soccer began and has progressed steadily ever since. Participation levels have grown, while television viewing figures, especially the top European leagues, push onwards to decent, if unspectacular, levels.
In terms of its ability to host the World Cup, the U.S. is in a position of strength. The phenomenal success of the National Football League is a key element with its countless giant state-of-the-art stadiums in which to host matches.
Highly respected in FIFA circles, Gulati and his team were growing in confidence even before Obama’s victory.
“We know we have got great infrastructure, stadiums and so on,” Gulati said. “We know we would stage a terrific World Cup and having people view us as a nation in a better way is a positive.
“It was very clear from the reaction around the world just how popular this result has been. This election has given a lot of people a reason to cheer. They are looking forward to changes in policy.
“We are waiting for the rules of the game to be announced regarding 2018 and 2022. We will go after it in an aggressive fashion.”
FIFA president Sepp Blatter is expected to visit Obama at the White House next year, while Obama also is likely to attend the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The iconic images that would be spawned by a meeting between Obama and Nelson Mandela would cast further positive vibes upon the sport.
Much now hinges on the decision-making progress. At present, it is unclear if nations will be forced to choose which World Cup to bid for, or if they will be allowed to put forward for both 2018 and 2022. Either way, it is impossible to contemplate Europe not getting at least one of the selections. Currently, England is considered to be the strongest European candidate.
Africa and South America will not be in contention because of how recently they will have staged a World Cup. Brazil will play host in 2014.
CONCACAF president Jack Warner believes the U.S. should step aside for the Europeans on 2018 and instead effectively square off against Australia and China for 2022. But if Gulati and U.S. Soccer had been leaning toward that approach, Obama’s rise to the White House may have shifted the goalposts.
If U.S. Soccer believes it can win in 2018, it will certainly go for it and enjoy the resulting spin-offs four years sooner.
Some say it will take more than the arrival of a single charismatic superstar to transform the game and its status in America, as evidenced by David Beckham’s arrival in MLS and its failure to give soccer the boost that was hoped for. Maybe what was actually needed was a different kind of superstar, one who operates in the political playing field rather than within the white lines.
If that is the case, then U.S. Soccer’s dreams just came true.
Washington (CNN)- Two of President Barack Obama’s top legislative initiatives – health care reform and financial regulation – are getting different reactions from the American public, according to a new national poll.
…The poll suggests that most Americans continue to oppose the passage of the health care bill which Obama signed into law in April, although the public may be slightly more optimistic about the bill’s ultimate effect on the country.
According to the survey, 56 percent of the public disapprove of the passage of the bill, with 43 percent approving of the new law.
Louisiana (Reuters) – U.S. government and BP officials are warning that the blown-out oil well causing an environmental disaster on the Gulf Coast may not be stopped until August as the company begins preparations on a new attempt to capture the leaking crude.
U.S. | GREEN BUSINESS | GULF OIL SPILL
The disaster, in its 42nd day on Monday, is already the largest oil spill in U.S. history and officials are calling it the country’s biggest environmental catastrophe.
In the wake of a devastating failure this weekend to plug the BP well with the tricky “top kill” operation, BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward said the Gulf of Mexico leak may not be stopped for two months.
“There’s no doubt that the ultimate solution lies on the relief well, which is in August,” he said on Sunday as he toured the Louisiana fishing hub of Venice, largely idled by the spill.
The drilling of two relief wells began in May, an expensive but reliable way to intercept and cap the leaking well that ruptured with a deadly rig explosion on April 20.
In the meantime, Hayward said BP needs “to be in the mind-set of containment in the sub-sea, containment on the surface and defending the shoreline, in a very aggressive way.”
The Gulf spill has surpassed the Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska in 1989 as the worst U.S. oil spill, with an estimated 12,000 to 19,000 barrels (504,000 to 798,000 gallons/1.9 million to 3 million liters) leaking per day.
Right now, BP is preparing a containment cap to place on top of a lower marine riser package (LMRP), which is a piece of equipment that sits atop the failed blowout preventer at the seabed one mile below the surface.
The White House said the company would begin cutting a pipe that rises out of the so-called LMRP on Monday or Tuesday.
If the containment operation works — and BP expects to know later this week — then at least some of the leaking oil could be piped to the surface.
But even President Barack Obama’s administration, facing a barrage of criticism that they have been slow to respond to the crisis, is looking toward August and the relief well solution.
ELECTIONS LOOM
“There could be oil coming up until August,” top White House energy adviser Carol Browner told CBS’s “Face The Nation” on Sunday. “We are prepared for the worst.”
The oil spill has unleashed a surge of public anger that poses a major domestic challenge to Obama and his party as they face congressional elections in November.
The Gulf Coast is one of America’s richest ecosystems and a vital breeding ground for a $6.5 billion seafood industry.
Kuzma Tesvich, an oyster fisherman attending the Seafood Festival in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, on Sunday, said his livelihood could be hurt for several years.
“If this goes on, if our oysters are totally killed, it would be at least three years before we can come back, it could be a lot longer,” Tesvich said.
The spill has already shut down a good chunk of the fishing business. For the festival, Tesvich brought in oysters from unrestricted waters east of the Mississippi River.
Louisianans, whose anger has only grown after the top kill failure, want the government to do more. They remember the fumbled response of former President George W. Bush’s government to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
“They should be down there seeing what it’s doing, everything that it’s killing. They should be down here supporting the people of Louisiana,” said Cathy Van Der Griff as she visited New Orleans’ famous Cafe du Monde.
Obama, who made his second visit of the disaster to the Gulf last Friday, is sending three of his top energy and environmental officials back to the Gulf this week.
(Additional reporting by Katharine Jackson in New Orleans and Eileen O’Grady in Houston; writing by Mary Milliken; editing by Eric Beech)
A cowboy from Texas attends a social function where Barack Obama is trying to gather support for his Health Plan. Once he discovers the cowboy is from President Bush’s home area, he starts to belittle him by talking in a southern drawl and using single syllable words. As he was doing that, he kept swatting at some flies that were buzzing around his head.
The cowboy says, “Y’all havin’ some problem with them circle flies?”
Obama stopped talking and said, “Well, yes, if that’s what they’re called, but I’ve never heard of circle flies.”
“Well, sir,” the cowboy replies, “Circle flies hang around ranches. They’re called circle flies because they’re almost always found circling around the back end of a horse.”
“Oh,” Obama replies as he goes back to rambling.
But, a moment later he stops and bluntly asks, “Are you calling me a horse’s ass?”
“No, sir,” the cowboy replies, “I have too much respect for the citizens of this country to call their president a horse’s ass.”
“That’s a good thing,” Obama responds and begins rambling on once more.
After a long pause, the cowboy, in his best Texas drawl says, “Hard to fool them flies, though.”
Think this plays into Free Agency Cleveland?
Dish Delonte FAST!!!!!
“It ain’t no rumor. Unfortunately my sources in the NBA tell me that it’s absolutely true. My sources…and they’re legit tell me that the only people who didn’t know what was happening were Lebron and me…I could not imagine me being in that situation and him still being on my team because one of us is going to be dead and the other one’s going to be in jail. No question about it…they was doing the horizontal pokey.” -Calvin Murphy
So this is why Lebron gave up in the playoffs huh. Now we all know why. And now we all know he’s definitely leaving Cleveland…and his mother is not invited to the new house.
Subject: Please Read Lebron
My uncle is the general contractor at the Q and has been for the last 7 years. He is good friends with a lot of guys at the Q including some of the bigger boys in the organization and knows Gilbert personally. I was just told from my brother that a very reliable source informed my uncle that Delonte has been banging Gloria James for some time now. Somehow I guess Lebron found out before game four and it has destroyed our chemistry and divided our team. This is no joke, the only player worse then Lebron has been Delonte. I am not making this up, I wish it wasn’t true but it happened. Wait and see if lebron stays you will not see Delonte in a cavs uni again.
Or maybe this one, in which the source has climbed the ladder all the way to David Stern’s office:
A large number of NBA employees received a VERY interesting email today regarding a developing LeBron James story. I figured before the ESPN assholes get wind of it, you guys should break the story. The word from David Stern’s office is that Delonte West has been sleeping with LeBron’s MOTHER for a couple months now, and LeBron has recently found out. For some reason Delonte is still alive, but not for long – when Cleveland fans find out that for this reason LeBron wants out of Cleveland no matter what. This could explain Delonte’s decreased playing time of late, and who knows – maybe why LeBron hasn’t seemed to have his head fully in the game.
The New Jersey State Legislature has passed a “Millionaire’s Tax” which should redistribute $637 million from the wealthiest 16,000 New Jerseyans to about 600,000 people in some kind of state-identified need. If I were a real estate dealer in Pennsylvania, I’d be salivating right about now — bring us your tired, not-so-poor huddled masses yearning to “Go Galt” on the Garden State!
Governor Chris Christie has vowed to veto the legislation (phew!) and the Democrats don’t have enough votes to override him, so it’s pretty much a symbolic bill by the Dems at this point. But, in reality had Corzine been re-elected to sign a Millionaire’s Tax into law, it would have be an economic stimulus package for any nearby state looking for successful people (like, for instance, millionaires). The legislature would never see the projected $637 million because those paying would either leave or hunker-down their investments, lowering their worth, reducing the potential for all that government revenue. Basic economics: if you want less of something, then tax it.
Also, Democrat Senate President Stephen Sweeney made this statement about the bill which seriously bothered me:
I don’t have an issue with millionaires, I just have an issue with people not sharing in the sacrifice. Those 16,000 people can help 600,000.
I’m sorry, Mr. Sweeney, maybe I don’t get it: are you asking the millionaires to help out or are you compelling them through force of law? How much of your income, Mr. Sweeney, do you give to the charities or government programs which help those newly sainted 600,000? Is it a fair share, you think? Are you “sharing in the sacrifice” enough, or should someone who makes less than you try to sort that out with the force of law behind them? Marxist crap.
Trying to solve the economic problems of Jersey by punishing those who’ve figured out how to succeed would not work and would ultimately hurt the Garden State.
It’s happened twice in the past week: the Obama Administration has spoken negatively about the “troubling” Arizona illegal immigration law overseas at America’s expense.
First, the Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner spoke to the Chinese behind closed doors about the new law. Here’s what Bill O’Reilly had to say about that in his Talking Points on Monday. O’Reilly is completely right — moral relativism between a law that mimics an already wimpy federal statute on the border and the totalitarian police-state reaction the Chinese have to those who cross their borders is absolutely ridiculous. Alas, the Obama Nation staying true to its tolerance of totalitarian thought while making America look like the bad guy continues unabated.
Today, however, the Obama Nation wasn’t quite done being ridiculous. Teaming up with his buddy Mexican President Calderon, Obama slammed the Arizona law while persisting to lie about what is in it. Calderon seemed to be getting his talking points from the Democrat Party, plus he advocated for borders which “unite us instead of dividing us” (my bold). That’s kind of scary, especially these days with a president like Obama being within earshot. Isn’t the point of borders to divide one political entity from another?
By the way, to Mr. Calderon: what’s current Mexican law on illegally crossing Mexico’s borders? Oh yeah, crossing the borders illegally is a felony in Mexico, which could lead to two years in jail, or ten years if you come back. Plus, Mexicans who assist illegals are considered criminals too. It sounds like the policy of a sensible country looking to secure their own territorial integrity while trying to grab some of ours while their at it. Calderon has no credibility speaking about Arizona’s law, and until President Obama actually reads the law, neither does he.
Polish President Lech Kaczynski, as well as 95 other political and military leaders of Poland were killed today in a plane crash over Western Russia near Belarus today. Among the dead were Poland’s Army Chief of Staff, national bank president, Deputy Foreign Minister, Army Chaplain, head of the National Security Office, Deputy Parliament Speaker, Civil Rights Commissioner and at least two presidential aides along with three other member of Parliament.
There were a total of 132 people who died in the crash with no survivors. The officials were on their way to mark the anniversary of the Katyn Massacre of Polish officers by the Soviets in 1940. Some see this as Katyn claiming new victims since a few of those on the plane were relatives of those who were killed by the Soviets, while others view this as simply a tragedy brought on by the unfortunate mix of bad weather over thick woods. An official investigation is already underway.
A MUST SEE Video: How Obama Got Elected… Interviews With Obama Voters
This will show 2 things: A: Main Stream Media Covered Obama’s ‘glory’ but nothing on the issues
B. Those that voted for Obama, didn’t have a clue what he was about.
Video of what Happens when you take a dump truck going 50 MPH and test a military grade barricade to see how it will hold up in Iraq and Afghanistan? Holy SH*T!
U.S. regulators said on Thursday they were reviewing more than 60 complaints that fixes made on recalled Toyota Motor Corp vehicles for unintended acceleration had not solved the problem.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said in a statement it was reviewing the complaints and interviewing vehicle owners. The agency stressed that the complaints are unproven allegations.
The agency has also asked Toyota to provide information about any complaints it has received.
Toyota said on Wednesday after NHTSA reported the first 10 complaints that it, too, would move quickly to investigate the matter. The automaker said its recall remedies were rigorously tested.
NHTSA Administrator David Strickland said on Thursday that regulators were “determined to get to the bottom” of complaints. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told a Senate committee earlier in the day Toyota owners should bring their cars back to dealers if they are still having problems.
The government said it has the authority to order Toyota to provide a different solution if it appears that remedies are not working. NHTSA did not object to the company’s recall fixes.
Toyota said this week it had fixed more than 1 million of the more than 6 million cars and trucks subject to recalls in October 2009 and January. Recalls covered loose floor mats that can jam the accelerator and gas pedals that do not spring back as designed.
NHTSA is reviewing whether there are glitches with Lexus and Toyota electronic throttles as a possible explanation for unintended acceleration.
Toyota, which has hired an independent consulting firm to study the issue, has said it has tested the systems exhaustively and found no problems. Congress has sharply criticized NHTSA for its handling of previous complaints about electronic throttles.
Separately, Edmunds.com, an online research source for consumers, said Toyota’s newly unveiled purchase incentives including interest-free loans and free maintenance have noticeably boosted interest in the company’s vehicles among prospective buyers. Kelley Blue Book also noted a spike in traffic for Toyota.
