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| March 7, 2011
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Tech Titans Talk Tax Cuts with POTUS

Tech Titans Talk Tax Cuts with POTUSFortune is reporting that a group of tech, pharmaceutical, and energy giants are lobbying for a tax cut that would allow them to bring home the estimated $1 trillion they’ve got parked overseas at a steeply discounted rate. Fortune’s sources say that Apple (AAPL), Cisco (CSCO), and Oracle (ORCL)  are among the major players looking to win a one-year tax amnesty on their foreign earnings, allowing them to repatriate that money at a tax rate of about 5%, instead of the 35% they face now.

Multinationals prevailed on Congress to approve a one-year tax holiday once before, as part of a jobs package in 2004. Back then, the companies argued the relief would help them boost economic growth because they’d plow their repatriated money into research, investment, and hiring. And while plenty of outfits benefited from the break – 843 corporations made use of the holiday, bringing back a total of $362 billion, according to the IRS — the broader economic benefits were dubious.

The Treasury Department wrote rules trying to make sure that the recovered cash was in fact invested back into the companies. But money is fungible. Although the rules expressly prohibited using the funds for dividend payments or stock buybacks, later analysis has shown participants sent most of it to shareholders anyway. One study cited by Fortune from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that for every dollar of repatriated cash, companies bumped up shareholder payouts between 60 and 92 cents.

“A tax holiday would bring a substantial amount of cashback to the United States and paying that out to shareholders is good for the economy,” said study co-author Kristin Forbes, an economics professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management and a member of then-President George W. Bush‘s council of economic advisers told Fortune. “But if you’re a politician claiming this will create a lot of jobs or new investment, it isn’t supported by the data.”

In order to sell the deal, Cisco CEO John Chambers and Oracle president Safra Catz argued in an October editorial in the Wall Street Journal that a second holiday would help put Americans back to work. But they don’t promise that companies would drive all of their repatriated money directly into job-creating investments. They acknowledge that companies might pass the money along to shareholders again. But Mr. Chambers and Ms. Catz argue on top of direct investments, the tax cut holiday would spur a new stimulus by boosting markets, thereby increasing consumer confidence. And they say the tax revenue itself could fund $50 billion worth of credits to encourage new hiring — a sum only possible in the unlikely event companies decide to bring home the entirety of their overseas reserves.

President Obama’s recent dinner with Silicon Valley’s tech titans was a star-studded event according to TechCrunch.

Obama tech- dinner toast

Invitee included Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Yahoo (YHOO) CEO Carol Bartz, Cisco’s CEO John Chambers, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, Netflix (NFLX) CEO Reed Hastings, Genentech Chairman Art Levinson; Google (GOOG) CEO Eric Schmidt; former state controller and venture capitalist Steve Westly Doerr, and Stanford University President John Hennessy. The event was held at Kleiner Perkins partner John Doerr’s home.

After the dinner, White House press secretary Jay Carney said the group talked about ways to invest in innovation and how to increase jobs in the private sector. He said Mr. Obama also discussed proposals to invest in research and development and his goal of doubling exports in five years.

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I don’t think it’s unreasonable to assume that what POTUS calls, “increase jobs in the private sector” would mean a “tax cut holiday” for the tech titans.

It should be no surprise that the Tech Titans who supped with POTUS were big political contributors and supporters of the tax cut holiday. What happened to “Yes We Can”?

 

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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| March 5, 2011
3 comments

Social Media Sites Most Blocked

Social Media Sites Most BlockedOpenDNS is the largest global DNS service that handles DNS for 1 percent of all Internet users worldwide. The firm resolves 30 billion DNS queries per day and services 15 million requesting IP addresses per day. OpenDNS has released the OpenDNS 2010 Report Web Content Filtering and Phishing, (PDF) which highlights their 2010 findings of social media content filtering with data from their global vantage point.

Web-based content can be filtered by subscribing to services like OpenDNS. These firms categorize the content on the web into broad categories like porn, hate, gambling or social media. This allows organizations to block all content that the service providers places in these categories. For more granular control content may also be filtered by blocking specific websites via blacklisting or by allowing specific websites via whitelisting.

  • Blacklists are typically used when there is no wish to block an entire category in principle, but there is a focus on preventing traffic to specific websites based on a combination of their popularity and content.
  • Whitelists are typically used when there is a desire to block entire categories, but access to selected websites is granted on an exception basis. These sites represent the most trusted sites in their category.

The World’s Most Blocked Websites - OpenDNS

WhitelistedBlacklisted
Site %Site
%
YouTube.com
12.7Facebook.com 14.2
Facebook.com12.6
MySpace.com9.9
Gmail.com 9.2
YouTube.com8.1
Google.com 9.0
Doubleclick.net6.4
Translate.Google.com 6.3
Twitter.com 2.3
LinkedIn.com
6.0Ad.yieldmanager.com 1.9
MySpace.com4.7
Redtube.com 1.4
Skype.com 4.6
Limewire.com 1.3
Deviantart.com 4.3Pornhub.com
1.2
Yahoo.com 3.9Playboy.com 1.2

The report says that businesses have specific goals in mind when blocking websites. They need to ensure compliance with HR policies, while also increasing worker productivity by preventing what they consider to be employee cyberslacking on social media. According to the OpenDNS report, the business list confirms that businesses are singling out popular social media sites considered to be of little value in a work setting, especially if they consume a lot of bandwidth. Filtering by Business Users:

  1. Facebook.com — 23%
  2. MySpace.com — 13%
  3. YouTube.com — 11.9%
  4. Ad.Doubleclick.net — 5.7%
  5. Twitter.com — 4.2%
  6. Hotmail.com — 2.1%
  7. Orkut.com — 2.1%
  8. Ad.Yieldmanager.com — 1.8%
  9. Meebo.com — 1.6%
  10. eBay.com — 1.6%

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The blacklisted sites suggest a concern with the use of bandwidth by streaming sites and with privacy concerns from advertising networks. We will be exploring the web app Meebo, which lets users get on web 2.0 apps like MSN, Yahoo, AOL/AIM, MySpace, Facebook, and Google Talk by simply using a browser and a popular workaround even when the desktops are locked down.

The fact that many of the same sites that appear on both the Whitelisted and Blacklisted lists is a sign of how confused the responses are to social networking, All the better reason to have a social media policy in place.

How does your organization handle content filtering?

Does your AUP address social networking?

Related articles

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

Category: Social Networking | Tags: , , , , , , ,
| March 2, 2011
Comments Off on Medicine Talks M2M

Medicine Talks M2M

Medicine Talk M2MDon’t worry about Big Brother, it’s Big Pharma that gets the latest award for invading your space. Dailywireless.org reports that drugmaker Pfizer (PFE) wants to boost the profitability of its cholesterol-lowering Lipitor by calling you to nag remind you to take your medicine. According to Dailywireless.org if every Lipitor pill prescribed were taken, Pfizer expects that to increase its sales of the cholesterol-lowering drug by an extra $7 billion a year. Pfizer intends to use Vitality GlowCaps to grow its Lipitor business to $17 billion a year.

Pfizer logoVitality GlowCaps, are a wireless, Internet-connected bottle cap, that uses light and sound to alert users and phones home if they forget to take their medicine. Vitality and automated communication company Varolii, developed the GlowCap. The Glowcap has an embedded computer chip that communicates via low-frequency RF with a cellular-connected nightlight. The nightlight sends information to Vitality via a GE864-QUAD chip from Telit, a leader in the machine-to-machine (M2M) communications, over AT&T‘s (T) GSM/GPRS network.

If a user misses a dose, an alarm will sound that gradually escalates “from a three-note arpeggio to an 11-note arpeggio,” Vitality President Josh Wachman told MobiHealthNews. The GlowCap can also flash a light, play a ringtone, send text messages or e-mails and even call the user’s mobile phone to remind them to take their medicine. The Dailywireless.org says that if the GlowCap remains unopened long enough, a patient will receive an automated call that asks a series of questions on why they didn’t take their medicine. GlowCaps also include a button that starts a call between the user’s phone and their pharmacy when the medication needs to be refilled.

Vitality GlowCapsVitality CEO David Rose told MobiHealthNews that the company was developing an iPad app for its pharma brand managers to help them track in real-time the success of their GlowCap programs. As part of the deal, Vitality gave away iPads to any GlowCap customer.  Mr. Rose said the freebies went to pharmacies and insurers. They distributed more than 10,000 GlowCaps to their customers. “With the secure app, they can see adherence patterns as they emerge, every day, in real-time. For example, they can see the total value higher adherence creates for the brand. The resulting cost-savings, in the case of insurers. Even how adherence varies by demographic slice or geography (media market),” Mr. Rose wrote.

The AT&T cellular-enabled GlowCaps which can be bought at CVS.com but no longer at Amazon.com comes with the night-light that connects wirelessly to AT&T’s cellular network, a bottle cap, and a six-month subscription to the service. After six months, subscriptions cost $15 a month.

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Talk about convergence! Mobile-to-Mobile + Connected health-care +Data protection. Any wonder why we need IPv6?

According to RCR Wireless, “Connected Healthcare” is a term used to describe a model for healthcare delivery that uses technology to give healthcare remotely. Connected healthcare is a sub-set of all Machine to Machine (M2M) devices which are expected to increase by 36 percent this year. Utilities, healthcare, and securities industries will lead the charge to a total of 2.1 billion “connected M2M devices” by 2020, according to research from Analsys Mason.

What do you think?

Does the idea of getting harassed by your own medicine sit well with you?

 

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

Category: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , ,
| February 28, 2011
One comment

Riskiest Social Media Apps

Riskiest Social Media ApplicationsDarkReading has a report from Seattle-based network security vendor WatchGuard which says that the fastest growing threat to corporate networks is web-based social media applications. The WatchGuard security researchers claim that social media applications can seriously compromise network security, expose sensitive data, and create productivity drains on employees.

Watchguard logoThere are many reasons why social media applications can pose risk to any size business. WatchGuard noted that productivity and data loss are major risks for organizations of all sizes. Social media sites also serve as malware and attack vectors. Social networks will become the leading malware vector over the next few years for three reasons:

  • Social media sites breed a culture of trust. The whole point of social media is to interact with others. Typically interactions are with people considered to be “friends”, which implies trust. Meanwhile, social media sites do not have any technical means to confirm that the people you are interacting with really are who they say they are. This environment of trust creates an ideal scenario for social engineers to use.
  • Many social media sites suffer from technical vulnerabilities. While Web 2.0 technologies offer many benefits, they also harbor many security vulnerabilities. The complexity of Web 2.0 applications can lead to imperfect code, which introduces some social network sites to Web application vulnerabilities, such as SQL injection and cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks. Furthermore, the concept of allowing untrusted users to push content onto social media sites conflicts with traditional security paradigms. Simply put, this means social media sites are more likely to suffer from web vulnerabilities than less complex and less interactive websites.
  • Hugely popular. According to online analytics firm, Compete, Facebook is now the 2nd most popular Web destination after Google. Many other social networks, such as Twitter and YouTube, follow closely behind. The popularity of social networks attracts attackers because they know it means that they can get a “return on investment” for their attacks.

For these reasons, WatchGuard researchers deemed the following applications the riskiest:

Facebook logo1. Facebook is the most dangerous social media site, largely based upon its popularity according to WatchGuard. With a 500+ million user following, Facebook offers a fertile attack surface for hackers. Add in the potential technical concerns, such as a questionable, open App API and now you have a recipe for disaster.

Twitter logo2. Twitter, many incorrectly assume that very little damage could be done in 140 characters. Twitter’s short-form posts lead to new vulnerabilities such as URL shorteners. While URL shorteners can help hackers hide malicious links. Twitter also suffers from Web 2.0 and API-related vulnerabilities that allow various attacks and Twitter worms to propagate among its users.

3. YouTube attracts attackers because it is one of the most popular online video sites. Hackers often create malicious web pages that masquerade as YouTube video pages. Additionally, attackers like to spam the comment section of YouTube videos with malicious links.

4. LinkedIn bears more burden than other social media sites; it is business-oriented. Thus, it makes a more attractive target to attackers, as LinkedIn is highly trusted. Because most users leverage LinkedIn to form business relationships or find jobs, they tend to post more valuable and potentially sensitive information to this social network.

4Chan logo5. 4chan is a popular imageboard, a social media site where users post images and comments. 4chan has been involved in many Internet attacks attributed to “anonymous,” which is the only username that all 4chan users can get. Some of 4chans image boards contain the worst depravities found on the Internet. Many hackers spam their malware to the 4chan forums.

Chatroulette logo6. Chatroulette allows webcam owners to connect and chat with random people. The nature of this anonymous webcam system makes it a likely target for Internet predators.

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I have written about social media risks since 2009, yet many organizations still do not have a social media policy.  Why take the chances?

Does your organization have a social media policy?

Does anybody actually allow 4Chan or Chatroulette?

 

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

Category: Social Networking | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
| February 26, 2011
Comments Off on College Education Bubble

College Education Bubble

College Education Bubble-Updated 03-19-2011- The Business Insider says that It’s Stupid To Go To Harvard — You’ll Do Better As A Plumber. According to the article, Princeton University shows that expensive college degrees are not necessarily worth the lofty price tags in the long run when you take into account one’s natural ability.

The Business Insider noted the price of a college education, versus the CPI, has sky-rocketed since 1980. The cost of college has outpaced the housing bubble, with many of the same characteristics, including a government-sponsored credit bubble.  The value per dollar spent on an American college education is declining because of competitive quality concerns especially when compared to China.

College cost increaded faster thna housing

The story seems oddly familiar. During any bubble, the buyers think what they’re buying will appreciate in value, making them rich in the future. The product grows more and more elaborate, and more and more expensive, but the cost is offset by cheap credit provided by sellers eager to encourage buyers to buy. Buyers see that everyone else is taking on mounds of debt, and so are more comfortable when they do so themselves; besides, for a generation, the value of what they’re buying has gone up steadily. What could go wrong? Everything continues smoothly until, at some point, it doesn’t.

Are we talking about the housing market or the higher ed market? Yes

In an Op/Ed piece on the Washington Examiner, Glenn Harlan Reynolds, a professor of law at the University of Tennessee explains that College has gotten a lot more expensive. The professor cites a Money magazine report, “After adjusting for financial aid, the amount families pay for college has skyrocketed 439 percent since 1982. … Normal supply and demand can’t begin to explain cost increases of this magnitude.” Based on those facts, the professor says consumers would balk at paying for higher ed except for two things according to Mr. Reynolds.

First — as with the housing bubble — cheap and readily available credit has let people borrow to finance education. They’re willing to do so because of (1) consumer ignorance, as students (and, often, their parents) don’t fully grasp just how harsh the impact of student loan payments will be after graduation; and (2) a belief that, whatever the cost, a college education is a necessary ticket to future prosperity.

Mr. Reynolds concludes, “Bubbles burst when people catch on and there are no longer enough excessively optimistic and ignorant folks to fuel them. There’s some evidence that people are beginning to catch on.” The Washington Examiner says that student loan demand is going soft, and students are expressing a willingness to go to a cheaper school than run-up debt. The Washington Post reports that one-quarter of students who took out federal loans to attend for-profit colleges defaulted within three years of starting repayment, according to a new federal analysis. Things haven’t collapsed yet, but they’re looking like the housing market looked in 2007. So what happens if the bubble collapses? Will it be a tragedy, with millions of Americans losing their path to higher-paying jobs?

Maybe not. College is often described as a path to prosperity, but is it? A college education can help people make more money in three different ways.

  1. It may actually make them more economically productive by teaching them skills valued in the workplace: Computer programming, nursing, or engineering.
  2. It may provide a credential that employers want, not because it represents real skills, but because it’s a weeding tool that doesn’t produce civil-rights suits as, say, IQ tests might. A four-year college degree, even if its holder acquired no actual skills, at least indicates some ability to show up on time and work as instructed.
  3. A college degree, at least an elite one, may hook its holder up with a useful social network that can provide jobs and opportunities in the future.

While an individual might rationally pursue all three of these, the professor says that only the first one, actually added skills, produces a net benefit for society. The other two are just distributional, about who gets the goodies, not about making more of them. Yet today’s college education system seems to be in the business of selling parts two and three to a much greater degree than part one, along with selling the even-harder-to-quantify “college experience,” which as often as not boils down to “four (or more) years of partying.”

Just if there are any doubts that the higher-ed market is broken, the costs of higher-end has outpaced even the totally dysfunctional healthcare market.

Tuition costs soar

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In the aftermath of the bubble bursting, higher-ed will have to change. As we have seen in the housing bubble, industries do not reform themselves (and the government doesn’t care). If you’re planning on applying to college, watch out for those student loans. Unlike a bad mortgage on an underwater house, students can’t simply walk away from their student loans and they cannot be expunged in bankruptcy. Student loans are a financial trap.

In a mature industry like higher education, real competition usually comes from the outside. The next educational revolution will be on the internet, online coursework, and the work of “edupunks“

Are you taking online classes to save cash?

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
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