Fake Blackberrys, Dr Dre's seized in US-China raids

12 hours ago

HANDOUT / Reuters

A seized counterfeit pair of Beats headphones are pictured in this handout photo courtesy of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection taken in Los Angeles and received by Reuters July 31, 2013. The United States and China joined forces for their first combined operation cracking down on counterfeited goods, seizing more than 243,000 fake electronics products including popular products made by Apple, Samsung, Dr Dre and Blackberry.

The United States and China have joined forces in a combined operation to crack down on counterfeit goods, seizing more than 243,000 fake electronics products, including popular consumer items made by Apple, Samsung, Dr Dre and Blackberry.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the month-long operation was the biggest bilateral customs enforcement effort ever conducted by the United States. It focused on seizures of goods in ports as they were exported from China or imported into the United States.

While the operation resulted in only one arrest, U.S. officials said they see it as a sign that the Beijing government is finally acting on their complaints of Chinese theft of intellectual property.

The two countries agreed in recent high-level talks that they would work together to try to stem the large quantities of fake goods flowing between China and the United States.

"The theft of intellectual property is a global problem and cross-border efforts are needed to fight it," said Thomas Winkowski, the acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection.

"Robust enforcement of intellectual property rights allows innovators and creators - whether in a small start-up or an international corporation - to profit from their efforts and gives consumers confidence in the reputations of the products they buy."

HANDOUT / Reuters

Seized counterfeit Blackberry phones are pictured in this handout photo courtesy of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection taken in Los Angeles and received by Reuters July 31, 2013.

China is the primary source of counterfeit and pirated goods in the United States and accounts for 72 percent of all seizures relating to intellectual property rights, according to the U.S. agency's fiscal 2012 statistics.

Theft of intellectual property rights costs U.S. businesses $320 billion a year, equivalent to the annual value of U.S. exports to Asia, according to a report by the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property, a group of former U.S. officials.

China's Vice Minister of the General Administration of China Customs, Zou Zhiwu, said both countries need to work together to effectively curb the movement of counterfeit products.

"IPR infringement is a global issue involving not only the process of production and export, but also that of import and circulation," he said. "Enforcement agencies around the world should work more closely to crack down (on) these illegal activities."

The operation took place at ports in the United States and China. The main U.S. ports involved were Anchorage, Cincinnati, Los Angeles and Newark. In China the primary ports were Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Shenzhen.

Chinese and American customs officials did not work together physically, but acted on shared information and tips, officials said.

The single arrest was that of an American who imported counterfeit Dr Dre headphones and sold them on Craigslist. He was arrested in the New Orleans area after Chinese customs passed on a tip to U.S. officials.

"The fight against criminal counterfeiters overseas presents a great deal of challenges to U.S. law enforcement," said Daniel Ragsdale, deputy director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "But it is a fight we are committed to and through the international partnerships we forge with foreign customs and law enforcement agencies, we are making an impact."

The largest previous bilateral operation conducted by the United States was with French Customs over a six-month period. In that operation, officials made 470 seizures of electronic components like semiconductors, memory cards and computer storage devices.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663286/s/2f66a874/sc/23/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Cbusiness0Cfake0Eblackberrys0Edr0Edres0Eseized0Eus0Echina0Eraids0E6C10A810A434/story01.htm

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State Baseball: 4A Quarterfinals

Edward Snowden is in good health in Russia and his lawyer there is amenable to hammering out an ending that would satisfy all. This, according to his father's lawyer, Bruce Fein, who appeared on "Anderson Cooper 360" on Wednesday night.

He relayed the...

Read More ?

Source: http://www.kcci.com/news/sports/State-Baseball-4A-Quarterfinals/-/9357168/21273518/-/oqwab3/-/index.html?absolute=true

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FCA considers investigation of metals warehousing - sources

By Susan Thomas and Douwe Miedema

LONDON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Britain's financial watchdog is considering an investigation of the London Metal Exchange warehouse system after U.S. regulators put banks and big traders on notice of a probe due to complaints of inflated prices, two sources said.

The move would mark a change in tack by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which has said it regulates the exchange and the futures derivatives market for commodities but not warehousing or the physical markets.

However, one of the two sources with knowledge of the matter said that as warehousing and the physical market had an important role in LME operations, the FCA would want to ensure the LME - the world's biggest marketplace for metals such as copper and aluminium - was meeting its regulatory obligations.

The LME, a venerable British institution acquired last year by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, is a futures market that oversees a global network of warehouses where its clients should be able to take delivery of metals.

In practice industrial clients needing metal sometimes have to queue for up to a years while warehouse companies - increasingly owned by banks or trading houses - benefit from rents they charge during the wait or focus on using metal in finance deals rather than providing it to LME clients.

The queues have caused the price premium on some metals to surge, prompting accusations from manufacturing companies that banks and traders are artificially inflating prices and distorting supplies and demands for the LME to act.

In a sign of movement over the issue, Goldman Sachs Group Inc said on Wednesday it would offer customers of its Metro International metals warehouse business immediate access to aluminum held up in queues.

"In light of the concerns that end-users have raised about their access to aluminum they are holding in warehouses, Goldman Sachs is contacting end users to offer to swap any aluminum currently in the queue for immediately available aluminum so that they have access to the metal they need to make or package their products," the bank said in a statement

The first of the two sources said the FCA was in close contact with the LME and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and while it was not presently investigating anything in particular at the LME, it had not ruled out such a process.

An LME spokeswoman declined to comment on any potential investigation, but said the exchange had always worked closely with the FCA and the CFTC.

The FCA said on Monday it was working closely with the LME on the exchanges's efforts to fix its warehousing system.

The CFTC has written to firms ordering them to preserve emails, documents and instant messages from the past three years, four sources who received letters said.

WARNING SHOT

The notice amounted to a "warning shot" ahead of what is probably a formal CFTC probe, one source said. A second source said all firms with LME-registered wareshouses in all jurisdictions had received the letter.

The LME storage network extends across 36 locations and 14 countries. The LME itself does not own any of the warehouses.

If there is an investigation, it would be the first by a regulator into the lucrative and controversial industry which has become dominated since 2010 by banks also including JPMorgan Chase & Co and merchant traders like Glencore Xstrata Plc and Trafigura AG.

The European Commission spokesman for competition policy, Antoine Colombani, declined last week to comment on the CFTC's move or whether the European Union antitrust authority was cooperating with the CFTC. He was not immediately available to comment on Wednesday.

However, a source with knowledge of the matter said the Commission spoke to the LME in connection with the warehousing issue during the Glencore-Xstrata merger in November last year.

"The question is to what extent the build-up in delays at the warehouses is a competition issue. DG Comp (the directorate general of competition) talked to the LME regarding the issue during the Glencore, Xstrata merger and concluded there was no obvious way to intervene."

(Editing by Anthony Barker)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fca-considers-investigation-metals-warehousing-sources-165719202.html

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FileMaker shutters Bento products on September 30

Bento, the consumer-oriented database offering from Apple subsidiary FileMaker, is being discontinued on September 30. Bento offered users the ability to create databases using existing or custom templates for various types of information, and integrated with OS X's Calendar and Contacts applications. The discontinuation was announced in a statement by FileMaker:

FileMaker, Inc. is increasing its focus on FileMaker Product Line software. Thanks to the ease of creating iPad and iPhone solutions, our customers' use of FileMaker on iOS is growing rapidly. Our increased focus will create an even better experience for these customers.

As part of our sharpened focus, we will stop further development of the Bento consumer products.

For Bento users, this news is certainly disappointing. Many relied on Bento for database management of projects, contacts, clients, and events. And while FileMaker Pro for desktop and the FileMaker Go apps for iPhone and iPad can fill some of the void, they're also more difficult to use for most users, lack certain features like calendar and contacts integration, and, most importantly for some, they are priced much higher than Bento. FileMaker Pro costs $299, while Bento costs $49.

As unfortunate as this is, it also makes sense that FileMaker would turn their focus to their flagship product line. FileMaker Pro hasn't seen an update since April of 2012, while the iOS apps have been idle since September.

If you're a Bento user, are you surprised by this announcement? Let us know in the comments below, and tell us what you plan to do in the wake of this decision.

Source: FileMaker

Bento

Filemaker

Apps

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/1F7C3j_Mzlo/story01.htm

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Housing market heats up, but not at boiling point yet?

Economy

John W. Schoen CNBC

13 hours ago

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

A sold sign is posted in front of a home for sale on July 2, 2013 in San Anselmo, Calif. California's housing market is heating up, as are markets in Las Vegas and Phoenix, a survey showed Tuesday.

If you tried to buy a home in Phoenix a year ago, you probably would have been able to land it for well under the asking price.

Those days are gone. In a city that was hit hard after the housing bubble burst in 2007, you?re more likely to encounter a bidding war for that split-level ranch on the cul-de-sac you had your eye on.

Prices have leapt 20 percent in the last year in Phoenix. Real estate agent Tucker Blaylock says they will keep rising as long as interest rates remain near historic lows, thanks to the Federal Reserve.

?You can borrow money so cheap it?s really pushing prices up,? he said. ?A year or two ago, a buyer could bid 20- or 30-thousand under the list price and have a shot at getting it. Now sellers want list, or in some cases they get multiple offers and it?ll go above list price.?

It's not just Phoenix. The list of the hottest markets reads like the housing boom of the mid-2000s. In the past 12 months home prices are up 19 percent in Las Vegas. California hot spots include San Francisco (up 25 percent), San Diego (up 17 percent) and Los Angeles (up 19 percent.)

Nationwide, that momentum is dragging potential buyers off the fence, which is in turn feeding the higher prices, the experts say. Despite rising mortgage rates, demand for homes is surging with little sign of the bubble bursting anytime soon.

The latest monthly data from the widely followed Case-Shiller index showed home prices in May jumped 12.2 percent in the past year -- the biggest yearly jump since March 2006 -- supporting economists' views that the housing sector is one of the brightest spots for the economy.

In a handful of metro areas, housing is looking downright ?bubbly,? according to Robert Shiller, co-founder of the index. ?The cities that bubbled in the past are bubbling again,? he told CNBC. ?To me, it?s seems partly psychological. They?ve seen it before and they?re ready for it again.?

But unlike the historic mid-2000s bubble, there are signs the latest price surge is more sustainable. One is that the mix of buyers is shifting from bottom-feeding investors to homeowners who plan to stay awhile. In Phoenix, ?hot money? investors are cooling to new purchases even as prices keep rising, said Blaylock.

?It scares the guys who have been flipping stuff in the 100-to 200-thousand-dollar range that now they?ll have to pay 350,? he said.

(Read more: Home prices make biggest yearly jump since 2006)

And unlike the last bubble, mortgage lenders are much choosier when reviewing loan applications than the days when just about anyone with a pulse was approved.

Prices are also rising because the supply of homes for sale is getting tighter. Banks have shed much of their backlog of foreclosed properties. A four-year drought in home building, which is now beginning to ease, cut deeply into the supply of new homes.

One negative is that increasing mortgage rates could throw cold water on some of the hot markets. The average fixed rate on a 30-year mortgage hit 4.31 percent last week, up nearly a full percentage point since January, according to Freddie Mac.

?Once you put a five in front of it, it?s a different ballgame,? said Blaylock. ?People have been so trained to this 3-5 (percent) range that five seems high.?

But so far, the home sales data indicate that home buyers are taking the relatively higher rates in stride, especially investors with a short-term horizon. New home sales rose 8.3 percent in July, as builders reported continued strong increases in foot traffic. That put the pace of June sales nearly 40 percent above the same month last year.

?Higher mortgage rates don?t appear to be denting new home sales,? said Paul Diggle, a housing economist with Capital Economics.

That may be in part because, despite the recent jump in prices and mortgage rates, homes are still more affordable than they?ve been in decades, based on an index calculated by the National Association of Realtors. The index, which combines the impact of changes in home prices, mortgage rates and household incomes, has fallen sharply this year but still stands well above levels that typically have dampened home sales in the past.

While housing remain affordable by historical standards, the current recovery has left a large segment of U.S. households behind, including the more than 7 million whose homes were seized in the wave of foreclosures that followed the frenzy of reckless mortgage lending in the middle of the last decade.

The home ownership rate, which surged to 69.2 percent in 2004, has fallen back to 65 percent as of the second quarter, according to the latest Census data released Tuesday. The rate, now back to levels last seen in 1995, is expected to continue falling as more families move through a large backlog of pending foreclosures.

Many of those families are expected to remain renters, which has driven strong demand for new multi-family housing and strong rent increases in many markets.

To be sure, a continued rise in mortgage rates will eventually slow the climb in home sales and prices. But in the short term, the strong home price momentum is feeding on itself as buyers sitting on the sidelines fear paying higher prices by waiting.

?At least for the short term (prices) will probably continue to go up,? said Shiller. ?For a flipper now who can get out in a year, it seems to me like a fairly safe bet.?

? 2013 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663286/s/2f5a4848/sc/22/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Cbusiness0Chousing0Emarket0Eheats0Enot0Eboiling0Epoint0Eyet0E6C10A796230A/story01.htm

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SaskTel to improve high-speed Internet service in 220 communities

REGINA ? Internet speeds will be faster in 220 communities across Saskatchewan by the end of 2014, SaskTel announced Tuesday.

The communities already have digital subscriber line (DSL) service at five megabits per second (Mbps) but customers will have the choice to upgrade to 10 Mbps. SaskTel currently provides DSL Internet access to 416 communities and First Nations.

DSL provides Internet access by transmitting digital data over the wires of a local telephone network. DSL Internet service is delivered along with wired telephone service on the same telephone line.

This announcement is part of a long-term strategy to give customers in rural Saskatchewan faster online capacity to do business or surf the web.

?Having faster online speed is becoming a necessity, and our government recognizes its responsibility to provide that service to residents of the province,? Don McMorris, minister responsible for SaskTel, said in a press release.

?SaskTel is working to enhance communication options for rural Saskatchewan, and already offers high-speed Internet service to 99 per cent of the Saskatchewan population,? added Ron Styles, president and CEO of SaskTel.

Other initiatives in SaskTel?s rural strategy include $10.7 million allocated to expand the coverage and capacity of SaskTel?s fourth generation (4G) wireless network, which includes 31 new towers and 37 network enhancements.

As well, SaskTel plans to introduce a new long-term evolution (LTE) fixed-wireless product to facilitate broadband access in rural locations pending results of a LTE-TDD (time-division duplex) fixed wireless trial underway and scheduled for completion this summer, SaskTel said.

SaskTel is the leading communications provider in Saskatchewan, with $1.2 billion in annual revenue and over 1.4 million customer connections including over 608,000 wireless accesses, 492,000 wireline network accesses, 250,000 Internet accesses and 97,000 Max TV subscribers. SaskTel and its wholly-owned subsidiaries have a workforce equivalent to 4,000 full-time employees.

Source: http://www.thestarphoenix.com/technology/internet/SaskTel+improve+high+speed+Internet+service/8726759/story.html

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HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS: Briggs moves on to Winslow

9:28 PM

Starks residents ask for cell tower moratorium

A group of residents are asking Starks selectmen for a moratorium on telecommunications towers, following an application by a Massachusetts-based company to build a cellphone tower on Abijah Hill Road.

5:45 PM

Litchfield man shares 'locked-in' experience

Mark Hathaway, 58, of Litchfield has written a book detailing his experience with locked-in syndrome, meaning his mind was active and he could understand what others were saying and doing, but he couldn't communicate with them or move.

Source: http://www.onlinesentinel.com/r?19=961&43=585542&44=217488391&32=10362&7=625047&40=http://www.onlinesentinel.com/sports/briggs-moves-on-to-winslow_2013-07-29.html

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