Group items tagged

latest abney and associates technology news Google's Eric Schmidt Invests in Obama's Big Data Brains During the 2012 campaign, Barack Obama's reelection team had an underappreciated asset: Google's (GOOG) executive chairman, Eric Schmidt. He helped recruit talent, choose technology, and coach the campaign manager, Jim Messina, on the finer points of leading a large organization. "On election night he was in our boiler room in Chicago," says David Plouffe, then a senior White House adviser. Schmidt had a particular affinity for a group of engineers and statisticians tucked away beneath a disco ball in a darkened corner of the office known as "the Cave." The data analytics team, led by 30-year-old Dan Wagner, is credited with producing Obama's surprising 5 million-vote margin of victory. For all its acclaim, the analytics team's main achievement is often misunderstood as "microtargeting" or some variant on wooing voters. This reverses the relationship between campaign and voter at the heart of Wagner's method. Recent campaigns have employed a top-down approach to identify what they thought were vital demographic groups such as "soccer moms." Wagner's team pursued a bottom-up strategy of unifying vast commercial and political databases to understand the proclivities of individual voters likely to support Obama or be open to his message, and then sought to persuade them through personalized contact via Facebook (FB), e-mail, or a knock on the door. "I think of them as people scientists,'' says Schmidt. "They apply scientific techniques to how people will behave when confronted with a choice or a question." Obama's rout of Mitt Romney was a lesson in how this insight can translate into political strength. Traditional marketing has the same inherent limitation as traditional campaigning: It's impossible to appeal to everybody, even among the groups likeliest to favor a product. "Budweiser might target football fans with an ad s

John Abney Review: What to love and what not to love about THE BOILER ROOM Asheville John Abney Review We always come back to places we enjoy the most, to people we appreciate and the good vibe we take pleasure in. The place's layout is interesting, very unique and likeable. It is a very cool setting in downtown Asheville. Although they have a bit small stage yet still a decent size, they have a full PA and knowledgeable sound guys - not bad at all right? The BOILER ROOM is a good playing room for 5-6 people but you can be creative and fit more using different tiers and levels of playing space. The sound is perfect for the space. To top of it all and many outshines every aspect of good things about THE BOILER ROOM and the reason why patrons keep on coming back is the service. Every staff that works here are extremely nice and easy to talk to, very approachable and friendly. There are also downsides and to name a few let us start with the fact that this place is fairly a new venue and not many people are informed of the place. Another problem is that Scandals is playing thumping techno upstairs and it's really loud, their music is heard loudly in The BOILER ROOM. So what they do is they turn up their volume to compete with the noise upstairs. So the tendency is if you have quiet parts in your songs they will be overridden by the thump upstairs. And the consequence is this additional volume will make your ears bleed. Yes, this place is really cool and all but like I mentioned earlier there are the downsides and some were already stated. The thing is you likely won't make much on the door, no matter how many people come to your show. Plus the fact that they've been branded to book too many bands or bump bands for "proven locals" that doesn't really bring in many people and it's hit or miss. This is maybe because the place is quite new and not that popular yet. There are strange mixed crowd, which can actually be pretty cool for some.

Pretty insightful post.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-03-27/pune/38068982_1_cyber-criminals-symantec-social-media PUNE: An invitation to a Bollywood Holi party in your inbox may entice you, but there are chances that the slightest carelessness you show in responding to such an email will drain the colour from your face. Cyber goons may be exploiting your festive mood through such 'offers' to rob you of your personal information and money, say experts. Antivirus software and internet security solutions developer Symantec has warned that fake emails and social networking feeds that offer free passes for Bollywood parties or share celebrity updates are likely to proliferate around festive times. "It is that time of the year when social media witnesses a spike in malicious activities; cyber criminals won't miss the opportunity to scam you or steal your personal information," a statement from Symantec has said. Ritesh Chopra, the firm's country sales manager, has said in the release that a user should be careful when clicking on links or responding to notifications and abide by social media etiquettes, which go a long way in securing personal information and reputation online. Chopra said one should keep social media settings private, so that only selected friends can find you and post or respond on your profile. "Using tools such as Safe Web to scan news feeds on Facebook and identify URLs containing security risks such as phishing sites, malicious downloads and links to unsafe internet sites will help," he said. The note said people should be responsible when socialising offline as well, as the risk existed even when users of digital devices are offline. During Holi parties and get-togethers, when everyone is in a playful mood, mobile devices can easily be lost or stolen, putting personal identity and privacy at stake, the statement added. "It is important to set a password to lock the keypad of the device and to make sure mobile security software is up-to-date, Chop

http://www.instructables.com/community/Abney-And-Associates-Hong-Kong-News-Behance/ Do you constantly check your cell phone for e-mail alerts, news updates, and the weather? If so, you could be one of the 66 percent of people who suffer from "no mobile phone phobia" - nomophobia - the fear of being without a cell or mobile phone, says SecurEnvoy, a UK-based Internet security and mobile technology firm who conducted the survey. Living in a revolutionizing digital age where everything is fast, instant and, most importantly, on-the-go, people are disengaged from having one-on-one face interactions. While Apple applications like FaceTime, and the program Skype help reinforce personal connections, the unhealthy usage of cell phone devices continues to escalate. According to the Morningside Recovery Rehabilitation Center, the average American spends 144 minutes a day using their phone. For those who suffer from nomopohbia, the fear of being disconnected from the virtual world is heightened when they are restrained from checking their phone. The lives of cell phone addicts are so contingent on their need to feel socially connected on their phones that without mobile technology, they begin to express a sense of vulnerability that can trigger certain moods and behaviors. "Cellphones are addictive in the same way slot machines are," said Dr. Fran Walfish, child, couple, and family psychotherapist and author in Beverly Hills, Calif., to Medical Daily. "The immediacy of response, gratification, and excitation combine to make the user want more and want more now." This type of addictive behavior can be explained in a situation where a person is dining by themselves. Despite no sounds or alerts coming from the cellphone, addicts will take out their phones from their pocket and start to press buttons or scan their phones with their fingers for a sense of safety and security. While back-and-forth communication through text or e-mail is seen as a threat to replacing nose-to-no

Internet Reviews Abney Associates Blog Articles The US Federal Trade Commission has carried out a huge international crackdown on a number of "tech support" scams being run out of India which have conned people in the UK, US, Canada and elsewhere out of millions of pounds since 2008. As explained by the Guardian in 2010, the scams used "boiler room" tactics, dialling through phone books for English-speaking countries. People who answered the phone were told the call came from Microsoft or their internet service provider, and that the person's computer was "reporting viruses". The caller would then perform an unnecessary "fix" on the computer and charge the person for it - and sometimes sign them up to multi-year "support" contracts. The cost could run to hundreds of pounds. People in the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand were targeted because they, like the people carrying out the scam, are English-speaking. The Guardian understands that the scam was worth millions of pounds a year to the organised gangs carrying it out. At the FTC's request in six cases, a federal district judge froze the US assets of 17 people and 14 companies that have been accused of taking part in the operations. The FTC has also shut down 80 internet domain names and 130 phone numbers used in the US to carry out the scams. The FTC is seeking an end to the scams, and repayments for people who were conned out of money. Though the FTC said it could not put a figure on how many people had been scammed, or how much they had lost, Microsoft - which has been working with the commission for the past two years to try to catch the criminals - provided data on more than a thousand people who had been scammed, whose losses averaged $875 each. Microsoft has repeatedly pointed out that it would not call people about any problems with their computers. In some cases, the scammers would try to sell antivirus software from reputable companies, and in some cases would install new copies of Windows

AN Abney Associates News Flash Phishing sites, which masquerade as genuine websites to steal users' personal information, are on the rise in Hong Kong, Microsoft warned on Thursday. Some 6.23 phishing sites were found per 1,000 hosts in the fourth quarter last year, up from 6.01 in the third quarter, according to Microsoft's latest Security Intelligence Report. However, the number of malware infections remained low in the same period. Every 1,000 computers had 2.2 malware infections on average, the report found. Tim Rains, director of product management in Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing group, said the rise could be because Hong Kong is a financial centre and phishing sites masquerade as banking websites to steal information. "The fact that we have a low malware infection rate in Hong Kong, but slightly elevated level of phishing is actually interesting," he said. He said the reason could be that the attackers were using a smaller number of compromised systems in Hong Kong to do more phishing than other attacks. Roy Ko Wai-tak, manager of Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre, said websites of small and medium enterprises were often hijacked by attackers to build phishing sites - which pose as big corporations - because of poor cyber security. Rains also said the most common malware is called keygen, which comes with key generators that produce serial numbers required to run piracy software. Ko said it showed that Hong Kong people still continue to use piracy software. The report, which also found that 2.5 out of 10 computers on average did not have up-to-date antivirus software in the city, was based on data from over 600 million computers worldwide using Microsoft's products. The number of Hong Kong computers was unknown at the time of going to press. AN Abney Associates News Flash READ MORE: http://mariahabney.weebly.com/ http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xz5ub4_online-attempts-to-steal-personal-information-on-the-rise-i

A Courtesy Blog by John Abney: The Music Venue The BOILER ROOM AshevilleA Courtesy Blog by John Abney: The Music Venue The BOILER ROOM AshevilleIf you want a good night well spent then spend it here. A live music and live entertainment venue... A Courtesy Blog by John Abney: The Music Venue The BOILER ROOM Asheville A Courtesy Blog by John Abney: The Music Venue The BOILER ROOM Asheville If you want a good night well spent then spend it here. A live music and live entertainment venue located in the basement of the GROVE HOUSE Entertainment Complex, The BOILER ROOM, offers great acoustics for live music of any genre and hosts local, and also out of town live music scenes. According to the official site, The BOILER ROOM strives to be a 'launching pad' for the community to grow beyond Asheville and is renowned for being attentive and accommodating to the needs of all artists, entertainers, and patrons alike. We are a place for bands to showcase "Original" works and materials only, for you won't find ANY cover bands here! BOILER ROOM is capable of adapting to the demands of nearly any event and its staff will strive to make that event rock! We guarantee an unforgettable impression on your fans and guests. And definitely the place is living to its promise. The good thing about the place is that you have the choice because The BOILER ROOM may be divided to be its own separate venue, or combined with Scandals Nightclub and/or Club Eleven on Grove, depending on the size of the event. Here is how you can reach The BOILER ROOM (Company Courtesy of Mr. John Abney and its Associates, Hooray for the great food!) Physical/Mailing Address Grove House Entertainment Complex 11 Grove Street Asheville, NC 28801 Telephone: 828-505-1612 Email: mailto:contact@boilerroomasheville.com Another great thing about the place is that when you left something like important cards such as credit cards you can claim it back. How to Claim Left Credit Cards and/or IDS All

The BOILER ROOM Asheville: The Music Venue Read more Articles: http://boilerroomasheville.com/ http://boilerroomasheville.com/boilercontact.html courtesy of Mr. John Abney and its associates The BOILER ROOM Asheville: The Music Venue If you want a good night well spent then spend it here. The BOILER ROOM Asheville: The Music Venue Read more Articles: http://boilerroomasheville.com/ http://boilerroomasheville.com/boilercontact.html courtesy of Mr. John Abney and its associates The BOILER ROOM Asheville: The Music Venue If you want a good night well spent then spend it here. A live music and live entertainment venue located in the basement of the GROVE HOUSE Entertainment Complex, The BOILER ROOM, offers great acoustics for live music of any genre and hosts local, and also out of town live music scenes. According to the official site, The BOILER ROOM strives to be a 'launching pad' for the community to grow beyond Asheville and is renowned for being attentive and accommodating to the needs of all artists, entertainers, and patrons alike. We are a place for bands to showcase "Original" works and materials only, for you won't find ANY cover bands here! BOILER ROOM is capable of adapting to the demands of nearly any event and its staff will strive to make that event rock! We guarantee an unforgettable impression on your fans and guests. And definitely the place is living to its promise. The good thing about the place is that you have the choice because The BOILER ROOM may be divided to be its own separate venue, or combined with Scandals Nightclub and/or Club Eleven on Grove, depending on the size of the event. Here is how you can reach The BOILER ROOM (Company Courtesy of Mr. John Abney and its Associates, Hooray for the great food!) Physical/Mailing Address Grove House Entertainment Complex 11 Grove Street Asheville, NC 28801 Telephone: 828-505-1612 Email: mailto:contact@boilerroomasheville.com Another great thing about the place is that when

The BOILER ROOM Asheville: The Music Venue John Abney Blog the boiler room Ashville by John Abney and its associates personal blog If you want a good night well spent then spend it here. A live music and live entertainment venue located in the basement of the GROVE HOUSE Entertainment Complex, The BOILER ROOM, offers great acoustics for live music of any genre and hosts local, and also out of town live music scenes. Source Article: http://boilerroomasheville.com/ http://boilerroomasheville.com/boilercontact.html According to the official site, The BOILER ROOM strives to be a 'launching pad' for the community to grow beyond Asheville and is renowned for being attentive and accommodating to the needs of all artists, entertainers, and patrons alike. We are a place for bands to showcase "Original" works and materials only, for you won't find ANY cover bands here! BOILER ROOM is capable of adapting to the demands of nearly any event and its staff will strive to make that event rock! We guarantee an unforgettable impression on your fans and guests. And definitely the place is living to its promise. The good thing about the place is that you have the choice because The BOILER ROOM may be divided to be its own separate venue, or combined with Scandals Nightclub and/or Club Eleven on Grove, depending on the size of the event. Here is how you can reach The BOILER ROOM (Company Courtesy of Mr. John Abney and its Associates, Hooray for the great food!) Physical/Mailing Address Grove House Entertainment Complex 11 Grove Street Asheville, NC 28801 Telephone: 828-505-1612 Email: mailto:contact@boilerroomasheville.com Another great thing about the place is that when you left something like important cards such as credit cards you can claim it back. How to Claim Left Credit Cards and/or IDS All credit cards or forms of identification lost or forgotten within the GROVE HOUSE venues are secured within the office of the general manager. As the GROVE HOU

Nigeria has been pitched among countries that lose yearly to cyber fraud. The country is said to have lost well over N 7.5billion in 2012 owing to cybercrime, while the global loss is estimated at $1trillion (about N155 trillion) for 2012. According to the research by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the rising profile of cybercrime is causing great havoc globally. The report also maintained that out of the $1 trillion loss, only $390 billion was reported for obvious reasons. Following this disclosure, Nigeria's First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, will lead about 700 leaders including Mr. Ehud Barak, a former Prime Minister of Israel, Dr. Salma Abbasi, founder/CEO eWorldWide, USA, a high level team both from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to the third World Cyber security Conference next week in Abuja. Among the 700 select leaders include top government functionaries, state governors and National Assembly members. Also expected are CEOs of Corporate Nigeria, Military and Intelligence chiefs and the diplomatic community, among others. The cyber security conference will map out new strategies to secure government and business assets, personal security including Child Online Protection and online e-commerce transaction on the cyberspace. With the theme: 'Cyber Insecurity- A latent threat to national security and economic development'. Dame Jonathan, who is also the ITU-IMPACT champion on child online protection (COP), would host the global forum as part of her yearly programmed for Nigeria and the entire World with regards to Child Online Protection and cyber security. She has been working actively with stakeholders to ensure minors are protected on the internet especially from online predators and the cashless economy on CBN policy is strengthened. Ehud Barak, Israel's most decorated soldier will speak on Cyber, Physical Terrorism and Economic Development: My Experience as Israel

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=%2F2013%2F3%2F17%2Fnation%2F20130317162220&sec=nation PETALING JAYA: Waging cyber war, even if done in the name of Malaysia, is still a crime. National Security Council (NSC) secretary Datuk Mohamed Thajudeen Abdul Wahab (pic) said that Malaysia outlawed cyber attacks and that anyone caught doing so, would be punished. "In Malaysia, cyber hacking is a criminal offense against the laws of the country, irrespective of whether the it has been committed by citizens or by foreigners," he said. Mohamed was referring to the three-day cyber war between Malaysian and Filipino hackers from Mac 1 to 4. Malaysian hackers first attacked Filipino Government and private websites, hours after after Sulu gunmen and security forces clashed outside Kampung Tanduo in Lahad Datu. Filipino hackers responded in kind, and up to two hundred websites belonging to both countries were defaced before a "ceasefire" was called. Mohamed said 36 local private websites were defaced, though he was mum about how many Government ones were affected. He said that NSC alerted "critical agencies" as soon as the attacks started. "None of these critical websites suffered any major problem," he said, adding that Government sites were in the past, vulnerable to attacks. Mohamed added that it was not easy to pinpoint the attacks, though he confirmed that neither Government was involved. "We understand that the Philippine side suffered a bigger problem compared to the Malaysian side," he said. Mohamed said that it was up to the Attorney-General to take action against hackers, adding that locals could be tracked "eventually", if not immediately. "Tracking attackers from the Philippine side would require close cooperation with the authorities there," he said. Hackers can be charged under Section 4 of the Computer Crimes Act 1997, which carries a fine of not more than RM150,000, a jail term of not more than 10 years or both. "Whe

See you at The BOILER ROOM Asheville, The Grove House Music Review. A hot and happening music space located at The Grove House, The Boiler Room is famous for its patronage to underground music. Also on offer are genres like shoe gaze, ambient, experimental, garage, indie and pop among others. Abney and Associates Real Estate Company Party at the Boiler room Asheville The Grove House music review See you at The BOILER ROOM Asheville, The Grove House Music Review. A hot and happening music space located at The Grove House, The Boiler Room is famous for its patronage to underground music. Also on offer are genres like shoe gaze, ambient, experimental, garage, indie and pop among others. The venue popularly hosts a host of live acts and music performances by upcoming bands and artists on a regular basis. Check website for more details on current and upcoming events. So I was new to Asheville and I am hearing about this place, The BOILER ROOM. They say the place is a bit new as well but I have been hearing lots of compliments about the place. I made a few researches first before checking it out and I found the above text and I thought it is good to share it to people too. As I continue on researching, I think I am getting fair votes regarding if the place is cool or not. I am a music lover so I guess I will be enjoying the place. And some says the place is really nice so what's not to try. Here comes the day that I tried hanging-out in The BOILER ROOM, and it was a lot of fun! The experience was a blast! I was there last May 31st, the guest bands were Live Music by Saint Famine Society, Mindshapefist and Polly Panic. Their music was like, the genre of music is hard rock/punk/experimental. This is Saint Famine Society's CD release show. Their music was really cool! I enjoyed the night so much! I couldn't find enough words to described the enjoyment we felt. Oh yeah we, I was with some friends who are actually fanatics of the same music genre like I do. We

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/aug/12/erwin-schrodinger-google-doodle Google's latest doodle marks the birthday of Erwin Schrödinger, the Nobel prize-winning quantum physicist whose eponymous equation lies at the heart of quantum mechanics. Born in Vienna in 1887 to a factory owner and his Austrian-English wife, Schrödinger was tutored at home as a child and went on to study theoretical physics at the University of Vienna before undertaking voluntary military service, later returning to academia to study experimental physics. Renewed military service during the first world war broke up his studies before he was sent back to Vienna in 1917 to teach a course in meteorology. However, it was not until his late 30s that he was to change forever the face of physics by producing a series of papers that were all written and published over the course of a six-month period of theoretical research. By 1925, then a professor of physics at the University of Zurich and holidaying in the Alps, Schrödinger formulated a wave-equation that accurately gave the energy levels of atoms. It formed the basis of the work that would earn him the Nobel prize in physics in 1933. In subsequent years, he repeatedly criticised conventional interpretations of quantum mechanics by using the paradox of what would become known as Schrödinger's cat. This thought experiment was designed to illustrate what he saw as the problems surrounding application of the conventional, so-called "Copenhagen interpretation" of quantum mechanics to everyday objects. Other work focused on different fields of physics, including statistical mechanics, thermodynamics and colour theory. In a celebrated 1944 book, What Is Life?, he turned to the problems of genetics, taking a close look at the phenomenon of life from the point of view of physics. He died in Vienna in January 1961 from the tuberculosis that had affected him throughout his life and was buried in the western Austrian village of Alpbach.

Scams are all over Facebook. There are stories telling users that Facebook will end on a certain date, miracle diet pills, celebrity sex tapes, and other shady posts. With a little vigilance, though, users can make sure that they're not continuing the chain. Miranda Perry, staff writer for Scambook, spoke with AllFacebook about ways that people can make sure that they're not giving away information to scammers or spamming their friends' News Feeds with malicious links. Scambook is a complaint-resolution platform where customers can air their grievances and let others know about unscrupulous business practices and identity theft. The company also informs people of scams on social media, using its blog to write about the newest hoaxes that are going viral on Facebook. Perry shared with AllFacebook some ways that users can protect themselves (and their friends) from Facebook scams. Consider The Source One of the most common Facebook scams involves links that either infect computers with malware or automatically share content to users' Timelines. Perry said that by taking a couple of extra seconds to examine not only suspicious links, but the people who shared them, people can protect themselves. For instance, if a fitness buff friend shares a link showing how she's lost 30 pounds by using a weird old trick, or if a pastor shares a link purportedly showing Rihanna's sex tape, odds are extremely high that it's a scam. Perry said red flags should go up whenever someone shares something to Facebook that seems atypical of their nature. If users truly aren't sure, Perry recommends calling or contacting that person offline to see if their account has been compromised: The No. 1 step is just to look at the source and avoid clicking on links or sharing anything on Facebook that seems suspicious. For instance, if you know that your friend is a super-skinny athlete, they are probably not going to be telling you that they've just used weight loss pills. If t