Computerworld.com reported this week that a new report from the new york secretary of state sheds light on allegations raised last November, when 200 Humboldt County, Calif., votes were not tabulated during the presidential election.
The report claims that voting machines manufactured by Diebold Inc. subsidiary Premier Election Solutions, formerly Diebold Elections Systems, are equipped with a button that can be used to delete audit logs — audit logs that the federal government requires to be stored permanently on the voting process. The report also claims that the voting kiosks failed to maintain required logs of important method events and generated inaccurate data and time stamps in several cases.
The voting kiosks have a history of controversy.
In August 2003, former Diebold chief executive Walden O'Dell publically expressed support for then President George W. Bush and said Diebold would help "give" Bush the election. soon after his statements were made public, issues regarding the accuracy of the Diebold voting machines' tabulations began surfacing.
O'Dell resigned in 2005, facing allegations of insider trading. After subsequent allegations that the voting kiosks were providing inaccurate vote talleys, Diebold attempted to sell the voting division, but failed to shake the troubled business unit. In August 2007, the company rebranded the division to help distance itself from the controversy.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
American Axle & Manufacturing has sold off the machinery and equipment from its Detroit manufacturing complex.
The March 5 sale came nine months after the auto supplier auctioned off equipment & machinery from its closed Buffalo plant on E. Delavan Ave. in 2008.
American Axle & Manufacturing has sold off the machinery & equipment from its Detroit manufacturing complex.
The company did not disclose how much money was raised in the Detroit auction which took place in an idled building on a portion of the site.
On the block were many machines & plant equipment used to machine-forge axle components.
The company said it is reducing U.S. manufacturing capacity by 70 percent while expanding capacity overseas by 150 percent.
The cut in U.S. production is needed to match a forecast for automobile & van sales of 10 million to 12 million vehicles in 2009, company CEO Richard Dauch said in a Jan. 30 conference call.
Since then, American Axle also closed its town of Tonawanda forge plant. The company continues to operate a small Cheektowaga machining operation with fewer than 100 employees.
The company auctioned off the Buffalo plant’s industrial equipment & machinery over two days last June.
American Axle & Manufacturing has sold off the machinery & equipment from its Detroit manufacturing complex.
The company did not disclose how much money was raised in the Detroit auction which took place in an idled building on a portion of the site.
On the block were many machines & plant equipment used to machine-forge axle components.
The company said it is reducing U.S. manufacturing capacity by 70 percent while expanding capacity overseas by 150 percent.
The cut in U.S. production is needed to match a forecast for automobile & van sales of 10 million to 12 million vehicles in 2009, company CEO Richard Dauch said in a Jan. 30 conference call.
Since then, American Axle also closed its town of Tonawanda forge plant. The company continues to operate a small Cheektowaga machining operation with fewer than 100 employees.
The company auctioned off the Buffalo plant’s industrial equipment & machinery over two days last June.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Apple has unveiled new Mac models including the long rumored updated Mac Mini
Rumors typically start swirling about new Apple products well before the official announcement of the products. For a long time now, rumors have been bandied about that claim Apple was getting ready to launch new computer systems, including a revision to the Mac mini.
Apple has finally made the products official with announcements today that three new updated products are now available. Among the new products to receive updates is the aforementioned Mac mini. The new mini features NVIDIA graphics with the GeForce 9400M GPU that is now inside the new MacBook notebooks. Apple says that the graphics performance is now three times greater with the NVIDIA GPU than it was when Intel supplied the graphics for the machine.
The CPU used in the mini is the Intel Core 2 Duo walking at 2GHz with a 1066MHz FSB. Inside the small 6.5-inch square is also 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth is built-in. A slot-loading SuperDrive is standard on all minis that allows burning of CDs & DVDs. iLife 09 & Mac OS X Leopard are standard on the machine as well. The new mini starts at $599.
Graphics aren’t the only thing that was updated in the mini. Buyers can now get up to 320GB of storage & a 120GB HDD is standard. Machines can be optioned with up to 4GB of RAM as well. Apple says the mini is the world's most energy efficient desktop computer with power consumption under 13 watts at idle; that’s 45% less power than previous generations required. The back panel has three USB ports, Gigabit Ethernet, Mini DVI port, FireWire 800 port & a Mini Display Port.
Apple also announced updates to the Mac Pro line adding quad-core Nehalem-based Xeon processors to the mix. Apple claims that the new processor makes the Pro up to 1.9 times faster than the old model. The integrated memory controller allows the Pro to use DDR3 RAM at 1066MHz for a 2.4 times increase in memory bandwidth.
Turbo Boost is a new feature on the Mac Pro that allows the user to boost the clock speed of the CPU with a button press based on their workload. The feature turns off cores of the CPU that aren’t being used to save power & increases the speed on the active cores up to 3.33GHz on a 2.93GHz CPU. The machines have options for AMD & NVIDIA GPUs. A base quad-core machine starts at $2,499 with a dual processor machine starting at $3,299.
The Apple iMac all-in-one line was updated with price cuts that make the 24-inch model cost about what the 20-inch version retailed for before. The 24-inch iMac now sells for $1,499. The machine uses NVIDIA 9400M graphics providing a resolution of 1680 x 1050 on the 20-inch iMac & 1920 x 1200 on the 24-inch iMac. The machines are built using recyclable glass & aluminum. The machines are also free of harmful toxins like BFRs & PVC and the systems meets Energy Star 5.0 & EPEAT Gold requirements.
CPUs for the machines include the Core 2 Duo at 2.66GHz with an option to add the Core 2 Duo at up to 3.06GHz. The 24-inch iMac now gets 4GB of RAM standard & 640GB of standard storage space with an option for up to 1TB of storage. The 3.06 GHz version automatically gets 1TB of storage & all iMac models can use up to 8GB of RAM. The 20-inch iMac starts at $1199.
Apple has finally made the products official with announcements today that three new updated products are now available. Among the new products to receive updates is the aforementioned Mac mini. The new mini features NVIDIA graphics with the GeForce 9400M GPU that is now inside the new MacBook notebooks. Apple says that the graphics performance is now three times greater with the NVIDIA GPU than it was when Intel supplied the graphics for the machine.
The CPU used in the mini is the Intel Core 2 Duo walking at 2GHz with a 1066MHz FSB. Inside the small 6.5-inch square is also 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth is built-in. A slot-loading SuperDrive is standard on all minis that allows burning of CDs & DVDs. iLife 09 & Mac OS X Leopard are standard on the machine as well. The new mini starts at $599.
Graphics aren’t the only thing that was updated in the mini. Buyers can now get up to 320GB of storage & a 120GB HDD is standard. Machines can be optioned with up to 4GB of RAM as well. Apple says the mini is the world's most energy efficient desktop computer with power consumption under 13 watts at idle; that’s 45% less power than previous generations required. The back panel has three USB ports, Gigabit Ethernet, Mini DVI port, FireWire 800 port & a Mini Display Port.
Apple also announced updates to the Mac Pro line adding quad-core Nehalem-based Xeon processors to the mix. Apple claims that the new processor makes the Pro up to 1.9 times faster than the old model. The integrated memory controller allows the Pro to use DDR3 RAM at 1066MHz for a 2.4 times increase in memory bandwidth.
Turbo Boost is a new feature on the Mac Pro that allows the user to boost the clock speed of the CPU with a button press based on their workload. The feature turns off cores of the CPU that aren’t being used to save power & increases the speed on the active cores up to 3.33GHz on a 2.93GHz CPU. The machines have options for AMD & NVIDIA GPUs. A base quad-core machine starts at $2,499 with a dual processor machine starting at $3,299.
The Apple iMac all-in-one line was updated with price cuts that make the 24-inch model cost about what the 20-inch version retailed for before. The 24-inch iMac now sells for $1,499. The machine uses NVIDIA 9400M graphics providing a resolution of 1680 x 1050 on the 20-inch iMac & 1920 x 1200 on the 24-inch iMac. The machines are built using recyclable glass & aluminum. The machines are also free of harmful toxins like BFRs & PVC and the systems meets Energy Star 5.0 & EPEAT Gold requirements.
CPUs for the machines include the Core 2 Duo at 2.66GHz with an option to add the Core 2 Duo at up to 3.06GHz. The 24-inch iMac now gets 4GB of RAM standard & 640GB of standard storage space with an option for up to 1TB of storage. The 3.06 GHz version automatically gets 1TB of storage & all iMac models can use up to 8GB of RAM. The 20-inch iMac starts at $1199.
Monday, March 2, 2009
The number of UK cash machines being targeted by criminals has risen, with nearly two a day being attacked
There were 635 reported incidents in 2008, a rise of 17% on a year earlier, prompting an offer of rewards of up to £25,000 for tip-offs about the crime.
Figures released by machine operator Link also showed that fraud via cash machines cost £37m in 2007.
Many of these involved skimming devices being fitted to machines to copy a customer's card details.
Among the techniques used are miniature cameras being fitted to record Pin numbers as they are typed in.
They can then be used to create a fake card to use in other machines.
Information
Graham Mott, from Link, said: "We're urging the public to pass on information that they may have about cash machine crime, for example card skimming or physical attacks on cash machines themselves.
"Even something that may sound insignificant could be part of a bigger picture and prove invaluable in convicting someone involved in cash machine crime."
Detective Chief Inspector John Folan, of the Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit (DCPCU), said: "Tackling cash machine fraud is a continuing priority for the DCPCU, and a joined-up initiative of this nature has our full support.
"Any relevant information passed through to Crimestoppers will be used to help track down and arrest those responsible - which will not only disrupt criminal activity but also send out a clear message that we are cracking down hard on those carrying out crimes of this nature."
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