Smartphone pioneer RIM looks to put recent hardships behind it with BB10






TORONTO, Cananda – Once a leader but now derided as a laggard, BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion hopes to regain the confidence of cynical smartphone users this week as the curtain is lifted on its much-anticipated new smartphones.


The stakes are high for the unveiling, which many observers say will determine whether RIM survives to see the launch of another BlackBerry smartphone.






It has been a steep decline for RIM, which less than five years ago was the most valuable company in Canada, above Royal Bank (TSX:RY). Affectionately called the “CrackBerry” maker, the mobile communications pioneer was Canada’s crowning achievement of the technology sector.


Back in 1984, the year RIM was founded, it was practically unimaginable that a tiny startup based in Waterloo, Ont. would help change the way we communicate, but for fresh engineering graduates Mike Lazaridis and Douglas Fregin that was always the plan.


“Like so many of these guys Lazaridis was a Star Trek lunatic,” said Alastair Sweeny, author of “BlackBerry Planet.”


“He says it’s almost like telepathy — humans have a yearning to communicate.”


The beginnings were humble for the two founders, with the majority of their time dedicated to Budgie, an LED sign business that was contracted by General Motors to communicate messages to workers on its assembly lines. Despite early interest, the project was a sales flop and RIM‘s owners decided to sell the business and look at other ventures.


One of those projects put RIM squarely in the eyes of Hollywood. The DigiSync film reader caught on with movie editors because its synching technology shaved hours off the time it took to turn miles of film into useable content in post-production. While the technology went on to win RIM both an Emmy and a technical achievement from the Academy Awards, it was never a top priority for RIM‘s founders.


Lazaridis was always into security,” said Sweeny. “He realized that corporations needed secure communications because of industrial espionage, because of hacking.”


Throughout the late 1980s, RIM was working alongside other industry players to develop technology that would eventually be used in pagers and wireless payment processing systems. By the start of the 1990s, the wheels were turning on the communication systems that would become the foundation of the BlackBerry.


An agreement with Ericcson’s Mobitex wireless network allowed RIM to create pagers that operated as a two-way communicators, a revolutionary concept for data transfer.


Turning the idea into a marketable product was a bigger challenge. The world had yet to become accustomed to the Internet age and most people hadn’t heard of email, nevermind used it. While the project was a bust with its first partner Cantel, RIM forged ahead.


The technology captured the attention and imaginations of an industry, and perhaps most importantly Jim Balsillie, an energetic Harvard graduate who, at the age of 33, invested $ 250,000 of his own money into the company by re-mortgaging his house.


In 1996, RIM launched its first sales success, a clamshell wireless handheld device called the RIM 900 Interactive Pager. It was a two-way communicator that also had the ability to send faxes, as well as link to the Internet and email.


But Lazaridis discovered that the email feature, which he believed was one of the strongest qualities of the device, wasn’t being used by most customers. So he hired Lexicon Branding, based in California, to find a way to draw more attention to its keyboard, the main feature that differentiated it from other pagers.


Branding executives pondered the device, focusing mainly on its appearance, and when one of them pointed out the little keypad looked like similar to the seeds of a strawberry, the conversation zeroed in on the names of fruits and vegetables. Eventually, the group settled on “BlackBerry” because it was both punchy and remained true to the device’s original black casing.


The company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 1997, raising more than $ 115 million, and debuted the first BlackBerry the following year.


From there it seemed the sky was the limit.


Suddenly the BlackBerry was everywhere in the technology community, thrust into the spotlight by the enthusiastic co-CEO Balsillie who touted the device on Wall Street and handed it out for free at select technology conferences. Balsillie knew how to build buzz and proudly tapped away on the BlackBerry whenever he appeared before the media.


A demand had been created, and subscribers to the BlackBerry services continued to grow in leaps and bounds. In 1999, RIM listed on the Nasdaq, raising another US$ 250 million.


The success grabbed the attention of Virginia-based NTP Inc. which filed a lawsuit claiming that RIM‘s network infringed on its patents. While NTP won the case, and the courts ordered RIM to pay US$ 23.1 million, the battle continued in appeals courts for years before a settlement was reached for a much heftier $ 612.5 million.


Outside the courtrooms the BlackBerry was a massive success, garnering headlines when its enterprise network remained intact after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 when other wireless phone systems broke down.


The BlackBerry’s reputation was growing at a steady clip, helped by the introduction of cellphone service in 2002 on what had been a text-only device. Within two years, BlackBerry reached more than 1 million subscribers.


The smartphone was in demand at corporate offices around the world, and soon the more casual consumer began to take notice, helping to boost its subscribers to nine million by 2007. RIM also secured a distribution deal in China, driving its stock to a level that made it the most valuable Canadian company.


But amid all of the success a storm of competition was brewing in the tech industry.


In June 2007, Apple unleashed the first iPhone touchscreen device onto the U.S. market, garnering widespread praise from critics and consumers, but hardly rattling its competitors.


Microsoft’s chief executive Steve Ballmer famously dismissed the touchscreen device that year, saying “there’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share.”


Whether it was a strategic decision or simply coincidence, Apple kept its iPhone far away from the Canadian marketplace for nearly a year, choosing to launch in six other countries first.


The lower profile with Canadian consumers also seemed to minimize the concern from RIM’s executives, who publicly downplayed the influence of the iPhone in an already crowded mobile phone market.


“They just missed it,” said Carl Howe, vice-president of consumer research at Yankee Group.


“They missed the idea that you could create a really good experience without having a keyboard. They gave Apple a two-year head start.”


By the time the iPhone hit Canadian shelves, RIM was facing scrutiny from analysts who worried that the growing number competitors, which now also included Google’s Android system, would devour marketshare.


RIM went on the defensive in 2008, releasing a combination keypad and touchscreen device it called the Storm, but the phone was swept up in a flurry of other BlackBerry releases that year. Much of the marketing clout was put behind the debut of a high-end BlackBerry Bold, which wasn’t a touchscreen.


“A lot of tech companies have their heads in the sand,” said Howe of the co-CEOs.


“It’s not that they’re stupid, and I think that’s an important point. People who get hit by ‘innovator’s dilemma’ are not stupid … I think when you create something from scratch and turn it into a multi-billion dollar business you’re very reluctant to say ‘I’m now going to throw away everything I’ve learned and do something different.’ “


At the height of its hype, the BlackBerry device was splashed across television shows and movies, while then-presidential candidate Barack Obama proclaimed he was a BlackBerry faithful during his campaign.


As competition heated up with Apple, investors became concerned that RIM’s co-CEOs, in particular Balsillie, were distracted by the possibilities that success brought them, rather than focused on revamping the BlackBerry for a new era.


In 2009, Balsillie launched his third, and most aggressive, attempt to buy an National Hockey League team, with hopes that he could convince the NHL to move the Phoenix Coyotes to Hamilton. The battle dragged on for months before Balsillie abandoned his dream once again.


Back in Waterloo a storm was brewing as technical problems began to wreak havoc on the company’s network infrastructure.


There were two network outages in less than a year that left BlackBerry users temporarily without their services. Some industry observers suggested the company could buckle under its own success. BlackBerry sales were soaring, even with the technical problems, with subscriber growth up 70 per cent to 36 million by the end of 2009. RIM’s leaders reassured users that the outages were a fluke and wouldn’t be a reoccurring problem.


Despite the setbacks, the BlackBerry image appeared to emerge unscathed. In April 2010 it cracked the Top Five mobile phone carriers worldwide and soon afterwards Queen Elizabeth made a visit to RIM’s headquarters in Waterloo.


Behind the scenes there was unrest among the company’s board of directors as the leaders clashed over where the BlackBerry brand should go next. Rumours swirled around the industry that trouble was afoot.


Fanfare eventually gave way to the realities of competition, with the first major blow coming from the failed launch of the PlayBook, RIM’s answer to Apple’s iPad. In September 2010, the co-CEOs showcased the new product for the public but waited another six months before unleashing it to stores.


By then it was too late, the tablet market had already been cornered by Apple and reviews of the PlayBook harshly criticized its lack of connectivity to popular BlackBerry functions like email and instant messenger.


Within months the foundation of RIM started to crumble as it repeatedly missed its own revenue and earnings targets. In June 2011, the company slashed 11 per cent of its workforce, or 2,000 jobs, to keep its cost in line.


A stark reminder of its fragility came in October 2011 when a worldwide four-day outage left BlackBerry users again without the use of the device they had come to rely on. The smartphones wouldn’t connect to the Internet, email or its messaging services.


The anger from its loyal users was heard loud and clear, and Lazaridis emerged from days of silence to apologize and tell users the company had let them down.


In an earnings call several weeks later, Lazaridis urged investor “patience and confidence” as the executives tried to improve performance. Both he and Balsillie, two of the company’s biggest shareholders, reduced their salaries to $ 1.


Again, it was a decision made too late — the outage had cost RIM more than $ 50 million in revenue and tarnished its reputation. In December 2011, the company reported that profits tumbled more than 70 per cent, affected by a big charge from sales discounts it was forced make on PlayBook tablets.


Perhaps an even bigger blow to RIM’s reputation was the delay of its next-generation BlackBerrys, pushing the planned release into 2012. The phones — which were delayed again throughout last year and will be unveiled this Wednesday — were seen as the company’s best hope to maintain market share against Apple and Android devices.


The company stock had tumbled from its lofty height of $ 137.41 on the Toronto Stock Exchange in mid-2008 to $ 14.80 at the end of 2011.


RIM, once a symbol of Canadian success and innovation, had become awash in its own troubles. Apple’s iPhone had cornered the rapidly developing apps market while RIM sat on the sidelines with developers.


Sweeny recalls visiting a group of developers, who he considered BlackBerry fanatics, while doing research for his book in 2008.


“They were writing great games and programs for the BlackBerry and they couldn’t get the latest hardware from RIM to test them on,” he said.


“I called them a couple years later and they weren’t writing for BlackBerry at all. They were writing programs for Apple and starting to write for Android.”


From an outsider’s perspective, it’s often suggested that the co-CEOs lost control of their empire, but some industry watchers say that RIM saw the troubles several years earlier.


“In this market you can’t admit that you’re behind,” said Tim Long, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets.


“You have to put on the face because once you start to lose momentum that can shift the buying patterns.”


Numerous acquisitions were made by RIM throughout 2010 and 2011 to beef up its stable of technology, Long said. That included Ottawa-based QNX Software Systems, whose technology became the basis of the new operating system, and Astonishing Tribe, the Swedish company that helped develop an early user interface of the Android operating system.


But the acquisitions came too late, and by late 2011 some investors were calling for its leaders to resign.


Bowing to pressure, Balsillie and Lazaridis stepped down from their co-CEO positions in January 2012, pocketing a combined $ 12 million in the process. The duo were replaced by Thorsten Heins, RIM’s former chief operating officer, and hardly two months later Balsillie had left the company entirely.


Almost immediately, Heins launched a major revamp of RIM’s operations, hiring several new executives with experience at other major tech companies. The approach was a last-ditch effort to revive the company, but it has also thrown the BlackBerry maker into the most uncertain period in its history.


With nearly $ 2 billion in its coffers Heins had options, but the clock was ticking to get a new smartphone on the market.


“Nobody is delusional here,” Rick Costanzo, the company’s new executive vice-president of global sales, said last summer.


“We get it. That’s why we’re building BlackBerry 10 and man are we committed.”


A new chapter in RIM’s history begins this week as the BlackBerry 10 smartphones and operating system are showcased to the world.


Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Exclusive: JJ Abrams Confirms Bradley Cooper in Talks For Lance Armstrong Biopic

Shortly after Bradley Cooper expressed interest (publicly) in portraying disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong in J.J. Abrams'upcoming biopic about the athlete, the producer/director confirmed to ET exclusively that he is indeed in talks with Cooper for the role.


Pics: Stars Take On Real-Life Roles

When asked about Cooper's interest in tackling the part backstage at the Producers Guild Awards in Los Angeles, Abrams told ET's Christina McLarty "[Cooper] sent me an email and we've been talking."

Said Cooper to BBC News on January 22, "I would be interested in [playing Armstrong]. I think he's fascinating. What a fascinating character."

Paramount Pictures & Bad Robot (J.J. Abram's production company) secured the rights to Cycle of Lies: The Fall of Lance Armstrong, a book proposal penned by Juliet Macur, in mid-January just after Armstrong admitted publicly to doping during all seven Tour de France wins. The author, a sports reporter from The New York Times, has covered the athlete over the span of a decade throughout Armstrong's struggle with cancer, years of doping allegations and ensuing lawsuits.

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Bill de Blasio announces he's running for NYC mayor

New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio has announced he's running for mayor.

The public advocate announced his run Sunday outside his home in Brooklyn's Park Slope.

The 51-year-old candidate says that means he'll conduct what he calls a "true citywide campaign" — starting Monday in all five boroughs.

The election to replace outgoing Mayor Michael Bloomberg is in November.

De Blasio says the billionaire mayor's policies have been good for some, but many middle-class New Yorkers "have been ignored or priced out."




REUTERS



Bill de Blasio hugs his wife Chirlane McCray after announcing his candidacy for mayor.



The field of candidates includes City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Bill Thompson, a former city comptroller — both Democrats — and Republican Joe Lhota, former chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

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Miami Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones running for reelection




















Eight years have passed since Michelle Spence-Jones was elected to the Miami City Commission.

She isn’t willing to leave just yet.

Spence-Jones — who was charged with bribery and grand theft in 2009, suspended from office, acquitted and reinstated to her post — is seeking reelection, she announced Friday. She represents District 5, which includes Overtown, Little Haiti and Liberty City.





Whether Spence-Jones could run again has been the subject of much debate. The Miami city charter limits commissioners to two terms and Spence-Jones has twice won election. But City Attorney Julie O. Bru opined that Spence-Jones could run again because her second term was interrupted by the suspension.

“Our charter prohibits a commissioner or the mayor for running for reelection after that commissioner or mayor has served two consecutive terms,” Bru reaffirmed to Spence-Jones at a City Commission meeting Thursday. “You are eligible to seek reelection because you did not serve two full consecutive terms.”

Spence-Jones’s opponent isn’t buying it.

“The bottom line is, Michelle is term limited,” said the Rev. Richard P. Dunn II, who held the commission seat in Spence-Jones’s absence. “She received financial compensation for the time she was away and she was fully vested in the pension. Are the citizens of Miami going to pay her twice?”

Dunn plans to file a legal challenge “immediately,” he said.

Spence-Jones wants the additional term, she said, “to finish what I started.”

She pointed to the improvements she’s spearheaded along Northeast Second Avenue in Little Haiti. “We cleaned the place up, repainted many of the buildings and recreated a Caribbean feel by adding steeples,” she said.

The ultimate goal, Spence-Jones said, is to make Little Haiti a destination for tourists akin to Little Havana’s Calle Ocho. She has a similar vision for Overtown, which was once the cultural hub of Miami’s black community. To that end, Spence-Jones pushed for improvements to Northwest Third Avenue and provided grant money for local businesses.

“Now we’re going to move forward with a marketing campaign and build relationships with cruise lines and tour operators,” Spence-Jones said. “But these sorts of things take time.”

Other big projects are in the works.

Earlier this year, Spence-Jones pushed through a $50 million bond issue for improvements in Overtown — the largest investment the blighted community has seen in decades. The money will go toward affordable housing and some retail projects.

But Spence-Jones takes an equal amount of pride in some of her smaller initiatives, including a project that brought Hollywood director Robert Townsend to Overtown to film an independent movie. Students from the University of Miami and several local high schools had the opportunity to serve as interns. The film will debut this summer.

She plans to focus future efforts on Liberty City. She is already laying the groundwork for a program that will train residents to become laboratory technicians. A second program will help people with criminal records pursue careers in the automotive industry.

Spence-Jones’s tenure has been somewhat of a rollercoaster. After being elected to her second term, she was charged with bribery and grand theft in two separate cases and removed from office by then-Gov. Charlie Crist. Jurors later acquitted her of bribery, and prosecutors dropped the grand-theft charges.

A vindicated Spence-Jones returned to City Hall in August with newfound political heft.

Spence-Jones is now suing Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle and Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado, accusing them of conspiring to destroy her political career via the prosecutions. She declined to talk about the suit, saying only: “I’m going to let my lawyers fight that battle.”

She may have another legal fight ahead.

Dunn believes the city attorney’s opinion giving Spence-Jones the go-ahead to run again won’t withstand a legal challenge. He says Spence-Jones has served two consecutive terms because she was paid for two consecutive terms.

Dunn also criticized the city attorney, saying she likely felt pressured to give that opinion because Spence-Jones is her boss.

“If it stands up in a court of law, I will respect that,” said Dunn, who attended Thursday’s commission meeting and took notes on a legal pad. “But I’m not going to be whitewashed by a city attorney’s opinion that’s biased by her boss’s posturing position.”

Dunn, who also sat on the commission in the mid-‘90s after Commissioner Miller Dawkins was removed from office, pointed to his own accomplishments as a commissioner. He said he helped secure funding for Gibson Park,and quelled racial tensions after Miami police officers shot and killed seven black men in 2010 and 2011.

“Michelle Spence-Jones does not own that seat,” he said. “It’s owned by the people of District 5.”

No other candidates have announced they are running for the post.





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Hackers claim attack on Justice Department website






WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Hackers sympathetic to the late computer prodigy Aaron Swartz claimed on Saturday to have infiltrated the website of the U.S. Justice Department’s Sentencing Commission, and said they planned to release government data.


The Sentencing Commission site, www.ussc.gov , was shut down early Saturday.






Identifying themselves as Anonymous, a loosely organized group of unknown provenance associated with a range of recent online actions, the hackers voiced outrage over Swartz’ suicide on January 11.


In a video posted online, the hackers criticized the government’s prosecution of Swartz, who had been facing trial on charges that he used the Massachusetts Institute of Technology‘s computer networks to steal more than 4 million articles from JSTOR, an online archive and journal distribution service.


Swartz had faced a maximum sentence of 31 years in prison and fines of up to $ 1 million.


The FBI is investigating the attack, according to Richard McFeely, of the bureau’s Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch.


“We were aware as soon as it happened and are handling it as a criminal investigation,” McFeely said in an emailed statement. “We are always concerned when someone illegally accesses another person’s or government agency’s network.”


(Reporting by Deborah Zabarenko; Editing by Vicki Allen)


Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Buzzmakers: Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs and Carrie Underwood Premieres Two Black Cadillacs Music Video

What had ET readers buzzing this week?

1. First Clip: Ashton Kutcher Becomes 'JOBS'

Ashton Kutcher takes on the role of a lifetime in JOBS, and we have your first look at the movie.

In the clip, Jobs (played by Ashton Kutcher) is raving about the operating system that Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (played by Josh Gad) created. While Jobs is certain that this will become a ubiquitous product for mass consumption, Wozniak needs convincing.

"Nobody wants to buy a computer," says Wozniak.

"How does somebody know what they want if they've never even seen it?" Jobs replies.

Steve Jobs lost his battle with pancreatic cancer at the age of 56 in October 2011 and as April 2013 marks the 37th anniversary of the founding of the Apple Computer Company, Open Road Films has decided to release JOBS on April 19.

Directed by Joshua Michael Stern, written by Matthew Whitely, shot by Oscar-winning cinematographer Russell Carpenter and produced by Mark Hulme, JOBS details the major moments and defining characters that influenced Steve Jobs on a daily basis from 1971 through 2001, according to a press release.

Click here for the video!

2. World Premiere: Carrie's 'Two Black Cadillacs'

Carrie Underwood's inner bad girl is darker than ever in the singer's latest music video for Two Black Cadillacs.

Clad in head-to-toe black, the Grammy nominee takes a turn for the wicked as she croons a juicy tale of infidelity and murder at her cheating husband's funeral.

Click here to watch the world premiere of Carrie's latest single Two Black Cadillacs (off her Blown Away album).

3. Pics: Obama's Inauguration Day Diary

The second-term inauguration of President Barack Obama saw Washington D.C. politicians rubbing elbows with Hollywood's elite. From Beyonce Knowles performing the national anthem to Alicia Keys behind the keys at the inaugural ball, Click here for a recap of the historic, star-studded day.

4. Taylor Swift Stuns As Rapunzel in New Disney Ad

Like Jennifer Lopez, Gisele Bundchen, Beyonce, Jessica Biel, Julianne Moore, Scarlett Johansson, Olivia Wilde and countless other A-Lister ladies before her, Taylor Swift is now starring in Disney Parks ad where she brings to life one of the Mouse House's most memorable characters for their ongoing Disney Dream Portrait campaign.

Slipping into Rapunzel's shoes (errrr, hair extensions) for this "Where A World of Adventure Awaits" spot was a dream come true for the Grammy winner. "When Disney came to me and said we want you to play Rapunzel, I was just so honored," Swift said. "It's such a wonderful character to get to play, a childhood fantasy come into reality for me."

Turns out, the gig couldn't have been a better fit because Swift got her start singing Disney songs! "My parents realized I was really obsessed with [singing] when I'd go up to strangers and sing Lion King songs," Swift laughs. "I think about all the times me and my little brother went to Disney World and we were able to escape to that place anytime we had a hard time. Any time you're going through something rough, you can go back into your imagination and you're at Disney World."

Click here for the video!

5. Leo DiCaprio Taking a 'Long Break' From Acting

Unless something was lost in translation, Leonardo DiCaprio has revealed to a German publication that he will be taking a hiatus from acting.

The 38-year-old A-lister told Germany's daily Bild (via Deadline), "I am a bit drained. I'm now going to take a long, long break. I've done three films in two years and I'm just worn out."

DiCaprio's Django Unchained just came out this past month and he also has The Great Gatsby hitting theaters this year (May 10th) as well as The Wolf of Wall Street. So, what does DiCaprio plan to do with his free time? "I would like to improve the world a bit. I will fly around the world doing good for the environment."

The actor added, "My roof is covered with solar panels. My car is electric. A normal person does not drive more than 50 kilometers (31 miles) a day. That can be done with a plug."

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Fed aims for a 6.5% jobless rate




















Six and a half percent unemployment in America would mean almost 2.1 million more people working than today. At the rate the country has been creating new jobs each month, it would take more than a year to find work for that many people.

Keep 6.5 percent in mind this week when the Federal Reserve meets Tuesday and Wednesday to talk about its efforts to push interest rates down. The hope is that the cheap cash will spur on investment leading to job creation. After all, the central bank has promised to keep its target interest rate near zero as long as more than 6.5 percent of Americans in the workforce are without work. The Fed has put other conditions on maintaining its historically low interest rate such as low inflation, but official measures remain tame. So its job growth the Fed is looking for.

It won’t have to wait long for the latest update. On Friday the first jobs report of 2013 will be released. Hiring has been a slow grind but it has been positive.





Finding work in January, though, can be tricky. Winter weather, a hangover from the holidays and seasonal work ending can slow down hiring.

It will be months, maybe even a couple of years before the U.S. unemployment rate hits 6.5 percent. There is nothing magical about that number, but as long as the Federal Reserve has it in its sights, so should we.

Tom Hudson is anchor and managing editor of Nightly Business Report, produced by NBR Worldwide and distributed nationally by American Public Television. In South Florida, the show is broadcast at 7 p.m. weekdays on Channel 2. Follow him on Twitter, @HudsonNBR.





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Fundraiser at Alper JCC to help kids with special needs




















Judy Mezey and Lisa Leventhal will return as chairs for the 17th annual Special Needs Fundraiser on Feb. 9 at the Alper JCC, 11155 SW 112th Ave. Their dedicated committee members include Suzie Fisher, Joanne Gentile, Renee Gershen, Teri Hirschberg, Lynn Katzen, Tobe Marmorstein, Sharon Samole, and Carol Stiefel.

Six have been involved with planning the event for 15 years or more.

This year the theme is “Music of the 60’s” featuring Jay Siegel and The Tokens. Siegel was on the original recording of the 1961 doo-wop hit single The Lion Sleeps Tonight. Proceeds from the concert, silent auction and gourmet dessert reception benefit the Alper JCC’s Shirley and Chester Paul Special Needs Program.





Mezey started the life cycle program 27 years ago for children who were often left out of socialization experiences such as birthday parties, play dates and club groups. The program was launched in 1990 and is thriving. There is a full summer camp and no-school holiday classes for children, ages four and up, with cognitive and/or physical disabilities. There are also programs for special needs teens and young adults. The fundraiser is a necessity to keep the programs going.

“This is a great evening,” Mezey said in a release. “The money that we raise supports the majority of this program throughout the year. It allows the kids to go on field trips…and also provides funding for scholarships.”

Tickets including the performance, silent auction and dessert reception are $65, $100, and $150 per person. For more information on the Alper JCC

Special Needs Program, or to purchase tickets, call 305-271-9000, ext. 238, or visit www.alperjcc.org.

TRIBUTE TO MILITARY

Just after midnight on Feb. 3, 1943, the United States Army Transport Dorchester sunk in the icy North Atlantic Ocean after being hit 20 minutes earlier by a German submarine’s torpedo fire. The ship was about 100 miles from Narsarsuak, Greenland. Of the 902 men on board, only 230 survived.

On the transport were four Army Chaplains: Father John Washington, Roman Catholic; Reverend Clark Poling, Dutch Reformed; Rabbi Alexander Goode, Jewish;

and Rev. George Fox, Methodist. And according to survivor reports, the religious men sacrificed their lives to help save others.

As the story is told on www.greatships.net, “The four chaplains found a deck box full of lifebelts and together started assisting the men who were without into the belts and overboard. Soon the box was empty. The Chaplains, one by one, removed their own lifebelts and gave them to men who had none. The Chaplains locked arms, sang and prayed for the men as the Dorchester sank with them on board.”

You can honor their selfless service at the 70th anniversary of the Four Chaplains from 2-4 p.m., Feb. 3 at Temple Beth David, 2625 SW Third Ave. in Miami.

The event is free and open to the public. There will be patriotic music by The Singing Miamians of Pinecrest, and a SOUTHCOM Color Guard ceremony. Refreshments will be served. For more write to info@bethdavidmiami.org or call 305-854-3911, ext. 200.

To read more visit www.fourchaplains.org. Also be sure to sign up for the 11th annual Tribute to the Military 5K Run/Walk starting at 8 a.m., Feb. 24 at Merrick Park in Coral Gables. For details, and to register ahead of time, go to www.tributetothemilitary.org.

WRITERS CONFERENCE

The South Florida Writers Association will present notable Florida authors Eliot Kleinberg and Seth Bramson along with life coach Steve Liebowitz, and singer and poet Christine Pointer from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Feb. 2 at Our Backyard Museum, 11701 NW 12th St., in Plantation. The public is invited.

Total cost for the conference, including lunch, is $30 for non-students and $20 for students. You can pay SFWA by check sent to Mort Laitner, 8679 SW 51 St., Cooper City, FL 33328 or by PayPal at www.southfloridawritersassn.org.

NEW NEIGHBORS

Experience new talent, get involved, and make friends at the next monthly luncheon of the New Neighbors Club of South Dade. The group has welcomed many new members in the past year and organizers hope to keep on growing this club.

Freddie Colloca, a new singer in pop music, will perform at the luncheon that starts with social hour at 11 a.m. on Feb. 13 at the Coral Gables Country Club, 997 N. Greenway Dr. in Coral Gables.

Colloca, 27, will perform contemporary music and popular ballads at the New Neighbors event. His singing has been compared to that of Ricky Martin, Enrique Iglesias, Marc Antony, and Luis Miguel.

The luncheon cost is $25 and reservations are required. Deadline for reservations is 6 p.m., Feb. 7. Contact Rita Casagrande at 305-595-0213 or ritafosse@yahoo.com.





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Everything You Need to Know About Kim Dotcom’s Mega






Click here to view the gallery: Hands On With Mega


Mega — the long-anticipated file sharing and cloud storage site from Kim Dotcom — is now open to the public.






[More from Mashable: Google Glasses Spotted and Two Other Stories You Need to Know]


Thanks to its association with the now-defunct Megaupload — and the legal issues facing its founder Kim Dotcom — the amount of press, user interest and hype surrounding Mega is greater than any file hosting/cloud storage launch in recent memory.


According to Dotcom, more than 1 million users signed up for Mega in the first 24 hours. On Twitter, the larger-than-life entrepreneur has continued to share usage stats and traffic graphs that compare Mega with perennial cloud favorite, Dropbox.


[More from Mashable: 9 Fresh YouTube Shows You’ll Love]


If you’re curious about the inner workings of Mega, how it works and how it handles security, we’ve got you covered.


The Phoenix of Megaupload


Mega is the spiritual successor to Kim Dotcom’s last business, the insanely popular file-hosting service Megaupload. Last year, the U.S. Department of Justice shut down Megaupload and pursued criminal charges against Dotcom. Dotcom, a New Zealand citizen, is actively fighting U.S. extradition orders.


Megaupload was targeted by the DoJ because of its role in illegally distributing copyright material — including digital copies of movies, TV shows, books, music and software.


Rather than try to start a new service eschewing the potential for copyright material to be uploaded and shared, Dotcom is positioning Mega as a service that cares about and protects its user’s privacy. In fact, Mega’s tagline is “the privacy company.”


How It Works


On the surface, Mega is a bare-bones cloud storage host. After signing up for accounts, users can upload files and folders of all types to the service. Those files can then be shared with others.


The free plan gives users 50GB of file storage. There are no hard limits on file size, meaning users can use Mega as a way to back up photos, documents and other data. Obviously, this means users can use Mega as a way to store media content — video files, music, DVD images — as well.


For now, Mega is optimized to work on desktop web browsers. Mega strongly encourages users to use Google Chrome. And while Mega has big plans for developers and client-side apps, for now, the only way to access files is via the web browser.


Files can be uploaded to the service using drag and drop or a file-upload menu. Users can create folders in the file manager.


Uploads and downloads take place in parallel. If you upload a large number of files at once, each file uploads one at a time. In the future, Mega says users will be able to change the upload order. If you need to upload or download multiple files at once, simply open a new Mega tab in your browser and select that file.


You can upgrade to a higher-tiered storage plan from within your account. Mega doesn’t sell these plans itself; instead it has resellers who sell vouchers for a service. A 500GB storage plan with 1TB of enhanced bandwidth is 9.99 euros a month or 99 euros a year (a little over $ 110 U.S. dollars). That’s cheaper than most of its competitors.


The Importance of Passwords


It’s very important to remember the password you select when setting up your Mega account. The password is a big part of how Mega encrypts data on both ends.


During the sign-up process, Mega uses your password to create a 2,048-bit RSA key. This is the key that tells the system you are who you say you are. If you forget your password, you’re not going to be able to get into your account.


Right now, Mega doesn’t even have a password reset or recovery feature. In the future, Mega says it will have a reset mechanism but it will only allow users access to files or folders they have file keys for (more on file keys below). Users won’t be able to access other files until or unless they remember their password.


Because your Mega password is also your master encryption key, it’s important that users choose a secure password. We recommend using a password manager and printing a copy of the password to store in a safe place.


Understanding File Security


Mega is focused on end-to-end encryption. This means that files are encrypted both on upload and on download. With most traditional file hosts or cloud storage lockers, a public link to a file also includes a file path. With Dropbox, for example, the public or shared link includes the file name.


With Mega, things are a bit different. While users can share specific files to other Mega users or via email, the URL to a file doesn’t contain a file name; instead, a cryptographic key is appended to the URL. Without this key, you can’t access the file. Once decrypted by the server, a user has the option to download the linked file.


Mega’s promise, in other words, is that users control who has access to their files and accounts and no one else.


For important files or folders, users might want to make a note of the file key and keep it in a safe place — if they are worried about getting locked out of their account.


How Safe Are Your Files


Since Mega is touting itself as “the privacy company,” it’s important to look at how the company stores files and content.


The end-to-end encryption scheme is only part of how Mega secures data. Still, some are already criticizing the service, noting that it’s not as secure as it says it is. An article for Forbes cites two professionals who have problems with Mega’s security.


Matthew Green, a cryptography professor at John Hopkins University, is particularly critical of the way Mega uses JavaScript to verify its encryption method telling Forbes that “it makes no sense.”


Mega has responded to Green’s claims on its own blog, noting that its scheme “basically enables us to host the extremely integrity-sensitive static content on a large number of geographically diverse servers without worrying about security.”


Meanwhile, at Ars Technia Lee Hutchinson raises concerns about how Mega comes up with its crypto key at sign-up, as well as how the company handles deduplication, or how it eliminates duplicate copies of data.


Again, Mega has taken to its blog to attempt to clarify its policies and the way it handles data.


While Mega’s crypto system certainly doesn’t seem any less secure than any other file locker, we do agree with critics who note that the system might be more about giving Mega culpability against claims that it knows infringing content is on its servers, rather than about protecting that data itself.


The service is still in beta and much of its code is available via open source, so security purists might want to watch how Mega’s system evolves before trusting it with important, sensitive data.


Will Mega Stick Around?


While security experts can quibble and argue over the way Mega uses cryptography and how it stores data on its array of servers, the bigger issue, for us, is long-term survival.


While I would argue that most users who actively used Megaupload were not using it as a traditional cloud service, the fact remains that when the service was shut down, user files went with it.


Already anti-piracy groups are campaigning to shut down payment processors to Mega’s resellers. One of the reasons Mega isn’t taking payments itself and is instead using resellers is to prevent those groups from shutting down payment processors or trying to seize funds.


This is worrisome because in addition to outside capital, Mega needs professional accounts to keep its site working.


It’s too early to say if Mega will be around for the long haul or not, but our advice is not to use Mega as your only file storage solution. Keep backups of crucial files on disk or other cloud-based services.


What do you think of Mega? Let us know in the comments.


This story originally published on Mashable here.


Linux/Open Source News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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