Hasta La Gadget!

* “Hard to envision” Peregrine CEO acted alone-son’s lawyer

* NFA president also raised possibility CEO had accomplice

* Son, president of failed firm, puts Iowa home up for sale

By Tom Polansek

CHICAGO, July 26 (Reuters) – Peregrine Financial Group’s Chief Executive Russell Wasendorf Sr. likely had an accomplice to help carry out an alleged 20-year fraud, contrary to his claim that he acted alone, the lawyer for Wasendorf’s son said on Thursday.

Nicholas Iavarone, who represented Peregrine in legal matters for two decades before its collapse this month, said it was “hard to envision” that Wasendorf Sr. had pulled off the scam “without some type of assistance.” Iavarone reiterated that Russell Wasendorf Jr., who was president and chief operating officer of the failed futures brokerage, knew nothing of the fraud.

Peregrine, commonly known as PFGBest, filed for bankruptcy protection on July 10, a day after Wasendorf Sr. attempted suicide and left a note describing how he had bilked customers of more than $100 million over nearly 20 years. He said he had forged bank statements and intercepted mail between U.S. Bank and the firm’s auditors at the National Futures Association.

He said in the note that he had concealed his crime “by being the sole individual” at Peregrine with access to statements from accounts at U.S. Bank and by telling bank employees that he was the only Peregrine employee they should contact.

The possibility of wider involvement was raised publicly a day ago by Daniel Roth, president of the National Futures Association.

Iavarone said it would be logical for Wasendorf Sr. to have had some assistance within the banking or auditing sectors outside Peregrine.

A spokesman for the National Futures Association declined to comment. U.S. Bank said its employees had done nothing wrong.

The public defender representing Wasendorf Sr. did not return a call for comment.

Wasendorf Sr., who is in jail, was arrested on July 13 for lying to regulators. He has waived his right to a preliminary hearing in his criminal case, which was scheduled for Friday.

A spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which is investigating the case, said it was “covering any possible angle.”

Wasendorf Jr. has been cooperating with investigators and has not been told that he is a target, Iavarone said. Still, the lawyer said he was “sure that everyone is looking at him and the other officers of the company.”

Wasendorf Jr. is trying to sell his house in Cedar Falls, Iowa, where Peregrine had its headquarters, to pay legal fees and support his family, Iavarone said. (Reporting by Tom Polansek)

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Sure the financials announced this week weren’t as exceptional as some we’ve seen from the company, but Apple’s still clearly in a buying mood. The company’s apparently doing a little security shopping, picking up AuthenTec for $356 million, according to the mobile and network security firm. AuthenTec’s in the business of content and data protection, including things like fingerprint sensors and contactless payment. Seems Apple’s looking to get into that business too. AuthenTec’s already worked with a number of high profile hardware makers, such as Samsung, Lenovo, LG, Nokia and Motorola.

Apple buying fingerprint sensor maker AuthenTec for $356 million originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jul 2012 08:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We talked more than a few times about Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner. The man has a goal of making the world’s first skydive from space. The daredevil has been conducting practice jumps over the last several months and made his most recent practice jump this week. On July 25, Baumgartner climbed into his specially made capsule attached to a high-altitude balloon and traveled to 96,640 feet.

Once at that altitude, Baumgartner opened the capsule door and jumped into oblivion. The daredevil free fell for 3 min. and 48 seconds reaching a top speed of 536 mph. After opening his parachute, Baumgartner finally landed safely back on Earth 10 minutes and 30 seconds after he jumped out the capsule.

The ultimate goal is to jump from 125,000 feet. Baumgartner and his team hope to make the 125,000-foot jump in the next month or so. The current record for the highest altitude skydive ever made stands at 102,800 feet. That record was set in 1960 by US Air Force Captain Joe Kittinger. Even at 125,000 feet, Baumgartner will be roughly 200,000 feet away from actually making it into space.

[via Space.com]

Felix Baumgartner survives practice jump from 96,640 feet is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

On a cosmic scale, our sun is small. Some stars are much larger, hotter, and more massive than our Sun and in many cases, these massive stars are in a binary pair with a smaller partner star orbiting nearby. Scientists say that in many cases these binary pairs have one “vampire” star that sucks mass from the other. Astronomers say that about three-fourths of O-type stars have a companion star and that a third of these binary pairs are expected to merge into a single star eventually.

These massive stars are 15 or more times the massive than our Sun and can be up to 1 million times brighter. Astronomer Hugues Sana from the University of Amsterdam says that the surface temperature of these massive stars can be up to 30,000°C. The extreme heat produced by the stars give them a bluish-white light rather than the yellow light our Sun produces.

After studying a sample of 71 O-type single stars and binary stars in six nearby young star clusters in our Milky Way galaxy, scientists determined that 75% of all O-type stars exist as part of binary systems. They also found that many of these pairs are close enough to interact through stellar mergers or the transfer mass. According to the scientists, even if the stars aren’t close enough to merge, one star often pulls mass off the other in these binary pairs. Scientists previously believed that binary pairs were rare; the new data shows that the binary stars are common.

“These stars are absolute behemoths,” says Hugues Sana of the University of Amsterdam.

“They have 15 or more times the mass of our sun and can be up to a million times brighter. These stars are so hot that they shine with a brilliant blue-white light and have surface temperatures over 30,000 degrees Celsius.”

[via TG Daily]

Massive vampire stars are more common than previously believed is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Companies seemingly patent anything and everything, so it’s always best to take these listings with your recommended daily allowance of salt, but Apple looks to have filed for a patent relating to pairing controllers using NFC capabilities on an iPhone. It doesn’t mean that Apple is working on a game controller, but does suggest that the company is keeping all its gaming options open, entertaining the idea of pairing multiple devices using NFC and even turning the iPhone into a digital controller.

That could lead to some interesting applications for Apple, such as displaying a digital overlay of traditional controls on an iPhone while you play a game on an Apple TV or Mac. Currently games can be mirrored out to an Apple TV with an iPhone or iPad, but this patent may hint at additional controllers being used on iOS devices thanks to NFC pairing.

Gaming isn’t the sole focus on the patent, however, with the Apple looking to control all sorts of technology once devices have been paired using NFC. Rather than limit the technology to mobile payments, the company looks to turn iOS devices into controllers that could interact with cameras or various appliances throughout the home. It’s been reported several times that the next iPhone will feature NFC capabilities, and with more and more Android OEMs including it in their handsets, it seems like the next logical step for Apple.

[via IGN]

Apple patent reveals iPhone’s NFC ambitions is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.