Microsoft Points are something most people either hate or are indifferent to, with not many people viewing the virtual currency favorably enough to champion it as something that should stick around. As such, we’ve heard rumors for quite a while now that Microsoft planned to ditch the system, replacing it with real currency, but Points
A handful of PayPal users in Europe reported that they received an email from the online banking service saying that they won €500 that they could claim by logging into their account. It wasn’t a phishing attempt, but rather just an error on PayPal’s part that sent out a bunch of winning emails to users.
While Google Wallet hasn’t made its way to the mainstream quite yet, the concept is such that we could see digital money replace physical money slowly over time at some point. According to a patent recently filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office, Apple is looking to get into the digital wallet market themselves.
Hulu has been reportedly entertaining bids for some weeks now, with Yahoo! having been the latest company to hit the rumor mill. Various prices have been tossed around, such as the $800 million Yahoo is said to have bid for the video service, but none of them have reached the level of three alleged bids leaked by unnamed sources: $1 billion. While two of the bids were from companies unknown, one is said to be from Directv.
The information comes from people who are said to be “familiar with the bid.” Reportedly, the powers that be behind Hulu have been looking into seven bids for the service, with the next month or so being used to whittle those down to three or four. While most of those bids fall below the $1 billion mark, three are said to meet or exceed that figure.
Needless to say, such a figure could certainly increase the odds of Hulu’s board agreeing to a sale, something that hasn’t been set in stone. Directv would benefit from the service for obvious reasons, having another platform of content to offer the viewing public that expands beyond what it currently offers. It isn’t the only company to aim at grabbing the company, however.
In early April, we heard rumor from sources that former president of News Corp. – one of Hulu’s owners – Peter Chernin bid on Hulu for $500 million. Rumor of other bids began surfacing soon after, with bidders including Time Warner Cable, William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, Guggenheim Digital, and KKR & Co.
It was announced in late April that Hulu experienced massive growth in its first quarter, tacking on a million subscribers and seeing 1 billion videos streamed over a three-month period. That brought the total number of subscribers to over 4 million.
SOURCE: Bloomberg
Hulu reportedly receives 3 bids over $1bn is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Google has been accused by many of violating privacy with Street View, and those accusations may increase as the service is used by taxing authorities to find individuals guilty of tax evasion. Such is the case in Lithuania, where more than 100 cases have already been discovered, and where authorities are actively pouring over Maps in search of more violators.
Many locations in Europe have taken – or are attempting to take measures – that will limit Street View in certain locations. In Germany, residents who aren’t happy about having their property displayed on Maps, for example, can request to have it blocked. Such is not the case in Lithuania, however, according to the Wall Street Journal. Reportedly, the chief tax inspector Modestas Kaseliauskas says locals are more supportive than it was assumed they would be.
Those guilty of tax evasion don’t likely share in their support, however. The latest two cases that have resulted from Google Maps-based discoveries of possible tax evasion have resulted in $130,000 in owed taxes on top of fines. Such cases result from a team dedicated to looking at the detailed images available via Street View for construction and other buildings that haven’t been declared, for example.
One example given was an image taken of a woman in a hammock, an image that is now being used in a case against the owners of the property for the undisclosed structures it reveals. Another individual, Raimundas Baranauskas who previously served as chairman for Bank Snoras, was found to have undisclosed buildings on property that evaded the attention of the government until Street View revealed them.
The powers that be in Lithuania are praising Street View as being more effective in identifying undisclosed buildings than aerial photography, and likewise allowing the small teams in charge of finding them to accomplish more work in a faster duration that previously possible. Said Kaseliauskas: “We were very impressed. We realized that we could do more with less and in shorter time.”
SOURCE: Wall Street Journal
Street View being used by authorities to pinpoint tax evasion is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Bitcoin is growing in popularity as a way to make financial transactions in a wonderfully anonymous way. The obvious downside to such a reality is the same thing that ultimately took down Liberty Reserve earlier this week – criminal activities. To help cover itself in the face of such activities, Mt. Gox announced earlier today that users who wish to both deposit and withdraw money in a currency that isn’t Bitcoin will need account verification.
Verification will be accomplished by providing Mt. Gox with some type of identification, such as a passport or driver’s license, or other types such as a utility bill or other similar info. Failure to provide such information will result in an inability to withdraw the cash equivalent of a Bitcoin balance. Such a change will impact a great deal of Bitcoin users, considering it is responsible for at least 50-percent of Bitcoin trades.
In the announcement on its website, Mt. Gox said: “The Bitcoin market continues to evolve, as do regulations and conditions of compliance for Mt. Gox to continue bringing secure services to our customers. It [is] our responsibility to provide a trusted and legal exchange, and that includes making sure that we are operating within strict anti-money laundering rules and preventing other malicious activity.”
The obvious sticking point here for many people is the eradication of one of the features that makes Bitcoin so popular – the end of anonymity. By providing identification, one is no longer an anonymous user. On one hand, it could be argued that those with pure intentions should have no issue offering such identification. On the flip side, others argue that being anonymous should not be a crime, and should not be made unavailable as a means to help prevent such.
For Mt. Gox, the side of the argument it stands on is obvious. This move comes after some scrapings with the US government, such as earlier in May when Mutum Sigullum, its US intermediary, had the Department of Homeland Security seize its accounts. The reason? Failure to register as a money transmitter, according to Forbes. It is no secret the US government is not fond of virtual currencies, and such a move on Mt. Gox’s part is no doubt an effort to avoid too much grief.
SOURCE: Forbes
Mt. Gox adds account verification requirement for non-Bitcoin currencies is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Facebook has once again come under fire for its content policy, which many organizations, companies, and users say is too lax in light of hate speech and violent content. Earlier this month, the social network finally banned videos of decapitations, but has still allowed large quantities of controversial content – many of it gender-based, according to some organizations – to persist. For this reason, more than a dozen big-name companies have pulled their advertisements from the social network.
Yesterday, Facebook announced that, in light of the latest round of criticism, it will be making changes to its content policy immediately, which includes revising the materials its review team uses to evaluate content, training its team on the new guidelines, establishing a better communication with organizations, and holding users more responsible for controversial content that is allowed to remain on the site.
While such changes are welcome and are earning it praise from some organizations and users, it is presently a case of “too little, too late,” with over 12 advertisers removing their advertisements from the social network because they were being displayed next to offensive, controversial, and hateful content. Nissan is perhaps the most notable company on the list, with the auto maker saying it will put ads back on the website when Facebook implements the changes it announced yesterday.
According to the Associated Press, many Facebook advertisers were slammed with in excess of 5,000 emails collectively on the behest of a campaign started by Women, Action and the Media. According to the organization, much of the objectionable content on Facebook being allowed to remain focused on endorsing and mocking violence of various natures against women and children, among others.
Women, Action and Media’s Executive Director Jaclyn Friedman said of Facebook’s announced changes yesterday: “We are thrilled with the commitment [the social network] made. It’s about stepping up and being the industry leader that they already are.” According to Facebook, the changes it outlined are going into effect immediately.
SOURCE: Yahoo!
Major brands pull Facebook advertisements over hateful content is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Liberty Reserve is a virtual alternative currency that provided a means of financial exchange beyond the U.S. dollar. The virtual currency has been available for years, but its website LibertyReserve.com went down in recent times without explanation. It took four days, but a notice has since been posted on the website stating that it has been seized by the US Global Illicit Financial Team.
Shortly after the website went offline – but before the seizure notice appeared – it was reported that Liberty Reserve’s founder Arthur Budovsky was arrested in Spain. Such information has since been confirmed via an indictment filed in New York stating Budovsky, as well as five co-conspirators, created the virtual currency to facilitate a smorgasbord of cyber crime activities, with allegations ranging from identity theft to drug trafficking.
Per the filing from the US government, Liberty Reserve facilitated in excess of $12 million transactions every year, something that took place over the course of nearly a decade and prodded the company to a valuation of nearly $1.5 billion. At its core, Liberty Reserve was a simplified and private way for individuals to transfer funds. The service reportedly charged a $0.75 privacy fee per transaction, as well as a 1-percent fee based on the transaction amount.
Those who used the service could do so with a fair bit of anonymity, only have to provide an email address, birth date, and name to make a transfer. Money was added to a user’s account via whatever means they chose, such as a credit card, then was delivered to the recipient as a virtual currency equivalent to either the USD or Euro. As such, it isn’t hard to see how such a service would attract those undertaking illicit activities.
Still, that does not mean the service was designed to facilitate crime, nor that all users were of the criminal variety. Liberty Reserve was, in this way, similar to a file hosting website that primarily hosts copyrighted content, though at its core it merely offers a service. Still, the government has again demonstrated that it doesn’t take kindly to virtual currencies, and one must wonder what precedent this sets for the arguably more popular Bitcoin.
SOURCE: Krebs On Security
US seizes Liberty Reserve virtual currency website, claims it facilitated crime is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
The United States will be rolling out a new greenback this fall, in this case a new $100 note that, while visually similar to the current offering, utilizes new technology (and a slight splash of color) to make it harder for counterfeiters to replicate the bills. Among the changes are such things as a duplicating Benjamin Franklin, who has been enlarged and filled out, microprinting, and more.
According to the Federal Reserve, the new bill will go into circulation on October 8, will all new bills in that denomination ordered after that date being issued with the new technology. This follows the current design, which was issued back in March 1996, and is aimed at making it more difficult for counterfeiters to replicate the notes. As such, the new design implements a variety of technologies.
As part of the changes, Benjamin Franklin is now larger and slightly raised, with more detailed eyes and with a microprinted “United States of America” in the collar. The combination of these two things will make it harder for counterfeiters to print the bills and easier for those receiving fake bills to notice if something is off, such as missing details or incorrectly rendered aspects of the portrait.
In addition, changes have been made to the watermark so that it duplicates slightly when held up to the light. The gold inkwell visible in the image above has a slightly darker image of the Liberty Bell inside of it, which turns green when the bill is shifted. This is achieved using color-shifting ink, and is designed to be easier to spot due to the contrast between the green and gold colors.
One of the biggest changes is found on the back, with the new note featuring a giant golden “100″ numeral vertically aligned on the left side, with the outside of the numbers being lined with blue ink, and the inside being filled with a striated golden gradient, something that makes it especially hard for counterfeiters to replicate, partly because of the color difficulties and partly because of the large size, which require more attention to detail and makes it easier for someone to notice a mistake. There’s the added bonus of being easier on the eyes for those with visual impairments.
Independence Hall is now pictured from the rear, and the clock on the building has had its time changed from 4:10 to 10:30. And finally, there is a blue woven ribbon near the center of the note composed of 650,000 microlenses that generate $100 signs and 3D Liberty Bells. All commonly used counterfeiting methods are incapable of generating this.
SOURCE: Business Week
Technology in new $100 US note aims to foil counterfeiters is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
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