"We are always looking for ways to help merchants grow their businesses and Chase Checkout does just this by enabling clients to accept payments however they operate," said Dan Charron, president of Chase Paymentech. "Chase Checkout is a 'one-stop shop' for small-business owners: one agreement, one system, one statement and one trusted merchant services' relationship to manage."
The Power of a Single, End-to-End Payment Partner
Chase Checkout gives merchants the convenience of working with one trusted provider - with integrated reporting, 24/7 live U.S-based customer support and a commitment to security- when they accept payments via:
Mobile Checkout: When merchants accept mobile payments with Chase Paymentech, they can process credit and signature debit card payments and gift card transactions in any location within the third party merchant account. Merchants have transaction level access to monitor and process voids and returns from their smartphones. Merchants can view sales and transaction summaries from the Mobile Checkout app after the payments have been processed.
Additionally, they can create a catalog of item descriptions and images and email or text digital receipts. The use of signature capture and the location of the point of sale on the digital receipt helps minimize fraud and chargebacks. Finally, merchants' customer data is protected in transit with point-to-point encryption.
Retail Checkout: In retail settings, Chase Paymentech's Future Proof Terminal helps merchants accept both traditional and emerging forms of payment such as EMV (Europay, Mastercard and Visa) chip-enabled cards, NFC-enabled (near field communications) mobile wallets and other contactless payments. Also, through iTerminal?, businesses and professional service firms such as accounting, law and medical, can use their existing computers to accept payments, helping them save on traditional start-up equipment costs.
Online Checkout: Chase Paymentech offers e-commerce merchants, and merchants who accept telephone orders, a suite of PCI-compliant and easy-to-use web-based payment processing options accessible with a merchant's existing computer. These options require no additional hardware and integrate seamlessly with merchants' shopping cart functionality, catalog creation and inventory management.
Chase Mobile Checkout is ideal for merchants who are interested in growing their business by taking payments wherever their business takes them. This includes businesses that wish to use mobile payment acceptance to enhance their customers' experience with services like line-busting or those that wish to accept payments in the field, third party payment gateway, maintenance or transportation professionals. In addition, Chase Mobile Checkout is ideal for small businesses that want to accept debit and credit cards but have found it too difficult or too costly to do so in the past.
"The ability to serve my customers from anywhere helps deepen my relationship with them," said Irina Zhuravsky, owner of Irina's Alterations in Dallas, TX. "It's comforting to know that I'm receiving the support and security I need from Chase to conduct transactions while on the road."
Chase Mobile Checkout's compact card reader is battle-tested for real-world use. The device, which fits securely in the audio port of Apple and Android-enabled smartphones, features the recognizable Chase octagon and includes a rechargeable lithium ion battery so it does not drain the smartphone's power supply. Having an integrated battery also increases the likelihood of positive card reads on the first swipe, and since hardware encryption is performed in the device, personal information is not stored within the smartphone.
"Chase Mobile Checkout is not just smaller than carrying around a cash register, it's built for jobs like mine," said Jamie Rourke, co-owner of RO Style Salon in Tampa, FL. "When I am not in the salon, I travel all over the nation as a freelance artist. It is so convenient and important for my business to take a payment anywhere, 24/7, and it makes being a business owner that much easier."
The setup for Chase Mobile Checkout is simple. After merchants activate their account, Chase Paymentech ships the card reader along with instructions on getting started that include how to download the Chase Mobile Checkout app onto a smartphone.
The success of social networking community Twitter has given rise to an entire shadow economy that peddles dummy Twitter accounts by the thousands, primarily to spammers, scammers and malware purveyors. But new research on identifying bogus accounts has helped Twitter to drastically deplete the stockpile of existing accounts for sale, and holds the promise of driving up costs for both vendors of these shady services and their customers.
Twitter prohibits the sale and auto-creation of accounts, and the company routinely suspends accounts created in violation of that policy. But according to researchers from George Mason University, the International Computer Science Institute and the University of California, Berkeley, Twitter traditionally has done so only after these fraudulent accounts have been used to spam and attack legitimate Twitter users.
Seeking more reliable methods of detecting auto-created accounts before they can be used for abuse, the researchers approached Twitter last year for the company’s blessing to purchase credentials from a variety of Twitter account merchants. Permission granted, the researchers spent more than $5,000 over ten months buying accounts from at least 27 different underground sellers.
In a report to be presented at the USENIX security conference in Washington, D.C. today, the research team details its experience in purchasing more than 121,000 fraudulent Twitter accounts of varying age and quality, at prices ranging from $10 to $200 per one thousand accounts.
The research team quickly discovered that nearly all fraudulent Twitter account merchants employ a range of countermeasures to evade the technical hurdles that Twitter erects to stymie the automated creation of new accounts.
Bulk-created accounts at these Webmail providers are among the cheapest of the free email providers, probably because they lack additional account creation verification mechanisms required by competitors like Google, which relies on phone verification. Compare the prices at this bulk email merchant: 1,000 Yahoo accounts can be had for $10 (1 cent per account), and the same number Hotmail accounts go for $12. In contrast, it costs $200 to buy 1,000 Gmail accounts.
Read the full products at http://austpay.com/.
2013年8月14日星期三
2013年7月29日星期一
Merchant Warehouse Hires
Merchant Warehouse, a leading innovator of payment technologies and merchant account services, recently announced the addition of Russell Harty as Senior Vice President, Key Accounts and Partner Channel. With more than 20 years in the payments industry, Harty will focus on evaluating and adding new partners and expanding the footprint of Merchant Warehouse solutions, including the Genius Customer Engagement Platform, with partners, value-added resellers and key accounts.
“Technology presents an incredible opportunity for merchants of all sizes today, but not all know how to leverage these capabilities in the most effective way. Merchant Warehouse recognized this struggle and developed solutions that let merchants evolve with the payments space,” said Harty. “Merchant Warehouse is a great example of a company that can effectively respond to their customers’ needs and I’m really looking forward to being part of the high risk merchant account.”
“We’re thrilled to have an industry leader like Russell on board,” said Greg Cohen, chief revenue and strategy officer, Merchant Warehouse. “His sales and leadership experience will prove to be a valuable addition to our partner activities, allowing us to expand Merchant Warehouse’s footprint.”
Harty joins Merchant Warehouse from Hibu, where he served the organization as the Head of U.S. Sales Operations, Payments Division. Prior to Hibu, Harty was Senior Vice President, Retail and Retail Banking Solutions for Ingenico, where he was accountable for tier one, mid-tier, channel (developer/ISV) and banking business development and sales. He also held senior leadership roles at VeriFone and Triton, and has a BA from Lynchburg College.
She maintained that, although she was just a 15-year-old schoolgirl at the time of the killing, the chief suspect in Erroll’s murder, Sir Jock Delves Broughton (whose wife, Diana, was Erroll’s mistress and a friend of Juanita’s stepmother) had confessed his guilt to her shortly after the murder.
“By the way, Juanita, I don’t want you to be afraid, but the police are following me,” the world-weary Broughton allegedly told her. When she asked why, Broughton explained that they believed he had been responsible for murdering Erroll. “Well, actually I did,” he added. Furthermore, according to Juanita Carberry, Broughton went on to tell her how he shot Erroll and disposed of the gun.
Juanita Carberry said the police wanted her to testify at Broughton’s trial for murder, but she pretended to “act as a stupid child” because she disagreed with the way such cases were conducted. Eventually they branded her an “unreliable witness” and she was not called.
According to Juanita Carberry, Broughton had confided in her only hours after Erroll’s murder, at a lunch party he hosted at his house in Karen, a suburb of Nairobi, attended by Juanita, her stepmother, June, and her governess.
Knowing that the teenager liked horses, Broughton invited Juanita to look at his stables. As they walked out, she was surprised to see a pair of gym shoes with white rubber soles in the smouldering embers of a bonfire in the garden. This struck her as odd, because it was not usual in Kenya to burn even worn-out gym shoes: they would have been given to a servant. Marks made by white pipeclay, used in the manufacture of such shoes, were found on the back seat of the crashed Buick car in which Erroll’s body was found. He had been shot in the head.
Nearly a year later, after a jury in Nairobi had acquitted Broughton, he committed suicide at the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool.Juanita Carberry believed that Broughton probably also told her stepmother about the murder because the gun — having been recovered by her stepmother’s servants — was found many years later in a shoebox at Malindi, on the coast north of Mombasa, in a workshop owned by her father.
Juanita Carberry revealed none of this until 1971, when she gave an interview to the journalist Cyril Connolly, who had been at Eton with Lord Erroll, and who, with a young reporter, James Fox, had written an article about the case for The Sunday Times . But she withheld Broughton’s confession from Connolly, telling him that she did not want anything she said to be used against him. Only when James Fox interviewed her in 1980, after Connolly’s death, did she blurt out: “There is no mystery. He [Broughton] did it. I can tell you that now. He told me himself the following day.
“We walked down to the stables,” she recalled. “He told me then that he had shot Erroll... He told me not to be frightened when the police came, and he told me about the gun, which he said he had thrown into the Thika falls. He thought the police had followed him and had seen him stop there.”
She told Fox that Broughton had been provoked into murdering Erroll because of his affair with Diana. Although Broughton knew that his wife was planning to divorce him, something finally snapped after she and Erroll had dined and danced together on the night of the murder. “They had gone too far,” Juanita told Fox. “That last dinner was too much and brought home to him that he had really lost. And the fact is that he was in love with Diana.”
The Erroll murder was a gripping and glamorous scandal that shook the decadent Happy Valley coterie and marked the beginning of the end for Kenya’s hedonistic colonial elite, with its heavy drinking and cocaine-fuelled adulterous liaisons.
In his bestselling book about the Erroll affair, White Mischief (1982), Fox ascribed Juanita Carberry’s four decades of reticence to her protective feelings for Broughton, “the only adult who had taken her side in the midst of a host of hard-drinking grown-ups, who were constantly pushing her aside and sending her away”.
The daughter of the 10th Lord Carbery of Castle Freke, a renegade Irish peer, and his second wife (Ma?a), a noted beauty, Juanita Virginia Sistare Carberry was born on May 7 1925 at Nyeri, about 100 miles from Nairobi, and grew up on her father’s coffee farm. When she was three, her mother, a pioneering aviatrix, was killed when her plane crashed at Nairobi airfield, and Juanita was brought up by her promiscuous stepmother, June, and a series of nannies; she was sent to eight boarding schools, attending — from the age of 11 — various Swiss finishing schools, and finally Roedean, a sister school to the one in Sussex, in the Parktown area of Johannesburg.
Her childhood was harsh; her sadistic father, who had dropped his title out of a violent hatred of Britain and had embraced pro-Nazi views, disliked children, especially girls. Juanita recalled: “I was an unwanted brat .” She was dressed and treated as a boy , and confined to a separate wing of the house. Her governess, Isabel Rutt (whom she called “the Rutt”), was often ordered by Juanita’s father to strip her naked and beat her; aged 15, and after one particularly frenzied beating, Juanita left home to live with an uncle, saying she had no wish to grow up “like the rest of that Happy Valley lot”.
In the early 1950s she discovered that her father had been impotent and that her biological parent was probably Maxwell Trench, a white Jamaican who managed her father’s coffee estate, although DNA tests proved inconclusive.
Click on their website http://austpay.com/.
“Technology presents an incredible opportunity for merchants of all sizes today, but not all know how to leverage these capabilities in the most effective way. Merchant Warehouse recognized this struggle and developed solutions that let merchants evolve with the payments space,” said Harty. “Merchant Warehouse is a great example of a company that can effectively respond to their customers’ needs and I’m really looking forward to being part of the high risk merchant account.”
“We’re thrilled to have an industry leader like Russell on board,” said Greg Cohen, chief revenue and strategy officer, Merchant Warehouse. “His sales and leadership experience will prove to be a valuable addition to our partner activities, allowing us to expand Merchant Warehouse’s footprint.”
Harty joins Merchant Warehouse from Hibu, where he served the organization as the Head of U.S. Sales Operations, Payments Division. Prior to Hibu, Harty was Senior Vice President, Retail and Retail Banking Solutions for Ingenico, where he was accountable for tier one, mid-tier, channel (developer/ISV) and banking business development and sales. He also held senior leadership roles at VeriFone and Triton, and has a BA from Lynchburg College.
She maintained that, although she was just a 15-year-old schoolgirl at the time of the killing, the chief suspect in Erroll’s murder, Sir Jock Delves Broughton (whose wife, Diana, was Erroll’s mistress and a friend of Juanita’s stepmother) had confessed his guilt to her shortly after the murder.
“By the way, Juanita, I don’t want you to be afraid, but the police are following me,” the world-weary Broughton allegedly told her. When she asked why, Broughton explained that they believed he had been responsible for murdering Erroll. “Well, actually I did,” he added. Furthermore, according to Juanita Carberry, Broughton went on to tell her how he shot Erroll and disposed of the gun.
Juanita Carberry said the police wanted her to testify at Broughton’s trial for murder, but she pretended to “act as a stupid child” because she disagreed with the way such cases were conducted. Eventually they branded her an “unreliable witness” and she was not called.
According to Juanita Carberry, Broughton had confided in her only hours after Erroll’s murder, at a lunch party he hosted at his house in Karen, a suburb of Nairobi, attended by Juanita, her stepmother, June, and her governess.
Knowing that the teenager liked horses, Broughton invited Juanita to look at his stables. As they walked out, she was surprised to see a pair of gym shoes with white rubber soles in the smouldering embers of a bonfire in the garden. This struck her as odd, because it was not usual in Kenya to burn even worn-out gym shoes: they would have been given to a servant. Marks made by white pipeclay, used in the manufacture of such shoes, were found on the back seat of the crashed Buick car in which Erroll’s body was found. He had been shot in the head.
Nearly a year later, after a jury in Nairobi had acquitted Broughton, he committed suicide at the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool.Juanita Carberry believed that Broughton probably also told her stepmother about the murder because the gun — having been recovered by her stepmother’s servants — was found many years later in a shoebox at Malindi, on the coast north of Mombasa, in a workshop owned by her father.
Juanita Carberry revealed none of this until 1971, when she gave an interview to the journalist Cyril Connolly, who had been at Eton with Lord Erroll, and who, with a young reporter, James Fox, had written an article about the case for The Sunday Times . But she withheld Broughton’s confession from Connolly, telling him that she did not want anything she said to be used against him. Only when James Fox interviewed her in 1980, after Connolly’s death, did she blurt out: “There is no mystery. He [Broughton] did it. I can tell you that now. He told me himself the following day.
“We walked down to the stables,” she recalled. “He told me then that he had shot Erroll... He told me not to be frightened when the police came, and he told me about the gun, which he said he had thrown into the Thika falls. He thought the police had followed him and had seen him stop there.”
She told Fox that Broughton had been provoked into murdering Erroll because of his affair with Diana. Although Broughton knew that his wife was planning to divorce him, something finally snapped after she and Erroll had dined and danced together on the night of the murder. “They had gone too far,” Juanita told Fox. “That last dinner was too much and brought home to him that he had really lost. And the fact is that he was in love with Diana.”
The Erroll murder was a gripping and glamorous scandal that shook the decadent Happy Valley coterie and marked the beginning of the end for Kenya’s hedonistic colonial elite, with its heavy drinking and cocaine-fuelled adulterous liaisons.
In his bestselling book about the Erroll affair, White Mischief (1982), Fox ascribed Juanita Carberry’s four decades of reticence to her protective feelings for Broughton, “the only adult who had taken her side in the midst of a host of hard-drinking grown-ups, who were constantly pushing her aside and sending her away”.
The daughter of the 10th Lord Carbery of Castle Freke, a renegade Irish peer, and his second wife (Ma?a), a noted beauty, Juanita Virginia Sistare Carberry was born on May 7 1925 at Nyeri, about 100 miles from Nairobi, and grew up on her father’s coffee farm. When she was three, her mother, a pioneering aviatrix, was killed when her plane crashed at Nairobi airfield, and Juanita was brought up by her promiscuous stepmother, June, and a series of nannies; she was sent to eight boarding schools, attending — from the age of 11 — various Swiss finishing schools, and finally Roedean, a sister school to the one in Sussex, in the Parktown area of Johannesburg.
Her childhood was harsh; her sadistic father, who had dropped his title out of a violent hatred of Britain and had embraced pro-Nazi views, disliked children, especially girls. Juanita recalled: “I was an unwanted brat .” She was dressed and treated as a boy , and confined to a separate wing of the house. Her governess, Isabel Rutt (whom she called “the Rutt”), was often ordered by Juanita’s father to strip her naked and beat her; aged 15, and after one particularly frenzied beating, Juanita left home to live with an uncle, saying she had no wish to grow up “like the rest of that Happy Valley lot”.
In the early 1950s she discovered that her father had been impotent and that her biological parent was probably Maxwell Trench, a white Jamaican who managed her father’s coffee estate, although DNA tests proved inconclusive.
Click on their website http://austpay.com/.
Bankers still worried with Aadhaar authentication
According to a report in the Economic Times on Monday, the Unique Identification Authority of India is pushing for biometric authentication for credit card and ATM transactions, but bankers are reluctant to make changes since technology costs are high. Bankers argue that upgrading every ATM and point of sale terminal at thousands of merchant outlets will not come cheap, besides travails and risks of a new technology, says the report. But aren’t we forgetting something here? ATM with biometrics is not a new idea. It has been tried and discarded as a failure when the ATMs did not authenticate the biometrics of many underprivileged persons and left them without access to their own funds, especially when banks were closed.
While use of biometric ATMs looks good on paper, its implementation so far has proved costly for the banks as well as for the end-users. On 1 December 2006, Citibank had issued a global release about the launch of its biometric ATM with multi-language voice instruction capability. It had tied up with a NGO called Swadhar FinAccess and a microfinance firm for Citibank Pragati for accounts. The experiment ended in a whimper. In fact, the drumbeat for biometric ATMs began in 2005 as suggested by this report in The Financial Express. In 2007, Andhra Bank had launched biometric ATMs and wanted to make the mobile, to cater to the burgeoning microfinance business.
Canara Bank set up its first biometric-based ATM at Dharavi, in Mumbai in 2008 with much fanfare. It was a dual purpose ATM, which accepted cards as well as thumbprints for banking transaction (mostly cash withdrawals). The biometric-based ATM was expected to cater to the needs of working class, especially housemaids and other people in Dharavi. In fact, even after the global financial crisis, the biometric ATMs and tie-ups continued because micro-finance firms were still seen as saviours and had not revealed their exploitative and rapacious side.
The ground reality turned out to be completely different. According to information provided by several non-government organisations (NGOs) spreading financial literacy in that area, the biometric ATMs in Dharavi failed from day one. The reason? Working class there, especially housemaids and other labours do not have fingerprints without which they could not operate the ATM!
Not having fingerprints is just one of the issues with the biometric-based ATMs. The more serious issue is the danger it may pose to the user as thieves may stalk and assault the person to gain access. If the item is secured with a biometric device, the damage to the owner could be irreversible, and potentially cost more than the high risk merchant account. For example, in 2005, Malaysian car thieves cut off the finger of a Mercedes-Benz S-Class owner when attempting to steal his car.
In addition, the biometric-based passwords are irreversible. That means it cannot be re-issued in case of loss or theft. If a token or a password is lost or stolen, it can be cancelled and replaced by a newer version. This is not naturally available in biometrics. If someone's face or fingerprint is compromised from a database, it cannot be cancelled or reissued.
Another problem associated with the biometric-based ATM is its cost, both installation and operations. The biometric-based ATMs, as proposed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that would facilitate use to Aadhaar data, are more costly than the regular card-based ATMs. While consumers are increasingly complaining about reasonableness of bank charges, the banks themselves are lobbying hard with the RBI, claiming that high cost of technology is making each transaction very expensive. For instance, having encouraged and pushed to obtain corporate accounts of companies, banks are now cribbing about high transaction costs on small withdrawals from ATMs.
For instance, a senior central banker says that each balance inquiry at an ATM costs the bank Rs11 while each transaction costs around Rs18. However, this calls for a serious discussion on the cost-benefit of technology to consumers, since the solution cannot be to load higher costs on to consumers.
And while the UIDAI and RBI are still thinking about using Aadhaar number or fingerprints collected under the UID scheme, for authentication of transactions, the world has moved ahead. World over, fingerprint based ATMs are being replaced by biometric ATMs, which use ‘finger vein scanning’ technology to authenticate the customer's ID. Unlike current fingerprint scanners, the finger vein scanner, developed by Japanese company Hitachi, uses infrared light to analyse the micro veins beneath the surface of the finger. According to Hitachi, it is impossible to fool its machine, as it is not possible to replicate an individual's finger veins. In addition, it does not work with fingers that have been chopped off, the company had said.
In addition, several experts have pointed out that using Aadhaar for identification is completely different than using it for authentication. Especially, when it comes to using biometric data of Aadhaar for payment transactions, the facts are not too encouraging. Several poor people like housemaids and construction labourers are finding it difficult to even enrol for Aadhaar due to lack of a clean fingerprint sample. Some could not even submit sample of their iris due to cataract. In such cases, how will the Aadhaar help in authenticating the card present transaction? Also, why burden the entire banking system with high costs, which will have to be paid by hundreds of million account holders who have no need for biometric identification and have no reason to support biometric authentication systems?
Coming back to the issue of using Aadhaar or UID for authentication card present transactions, it looks good only on paper. As per the latest census, 58.7% households were availing banking services in 2011 as compared with 35.5% in 2001. Notwithstanding these efforts by the RBI and the offshore merchant account, the challenges are enormous. Providing banking coverage to a population of 120 crore and ensuring transactions in these accounts is a daunting task.
While, the government and the RBI have asked banks to accept the Aadhaar number as one of the identification proofs for opening an account, the lenders are not sure about the authentication and verification of these numbers for payment system. The RBI itself was not confident about Aadhaar as it felt that the UID project is not ready for handling secure payment transactions.
According to the Economic Times report, there was a distinct possibility that RBI would ask banks to gradually roll out Aadhaar-based biometric authentication as an additional authentication for card transactions. RBI may not mandate banks immediately, but may nonetheless ask them to upgrade the technology. This is happening at such a time when banks are issuing credit and debit cards based on Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV) chip technology, the report said quoting a banker.
According to a report by a "Working Group on Securing Card Present Transactions" of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), there is a need to put in place a series of measures to strengthen the payments’ infrastructure and ecosystem in the country. Inferences drawn from case studies clearly indicate the need to have a much stronger authentication mechanism and reiterate the need for a second factor (2FA) for card present transactions.
The report discusses new systems like EMV chip cards with PIN that has been adopted by many countries and enhancing the current MSD card system with help from biometric identification.
"Aadhaar (issued by UIDAI) authentication using biometrics, provides a strong 'Who you are' factor of authentication. This can be combined with a second 'What you have' or 'What you know' factor to achieve strong customer identification at the point of sale," the report said.
While the option to use biometrics from the UIDAI database looks good, it may, in practice, due to insufficient feasibility tests, may not be a viable option. "The working committee considered biometric, or UID, as the second factor in one of the solution sets; however, the decision to adopt this would depend on various factors like the number of UIDs issued to the population which transacts through cards, the error rates, authentication network capability to handle transaction volumes, network capability to handle enhanced transaction size and acquiring infrastructure," the report said.
According to the Economic Times report, another working group set up to study the recommendation of the previous group has recently submitted its report to the RBI. “(the) panel has pegged the cost of banks' readiness for Aadhaar at Rs4,259 crore compared with Rs3,556 crore the banking industry has to spend to upgrade machines to match a different technology they think lowers the risk of card frauds,” the report says.
Unfortunately, instead of addressing all the problems related with the Aadhaar, the UPA government is forcing its usage and acceptance, that too without any Parliamentary approval for the UIDAI scheme. The hard push for biometric ATMs is just one of the examples about how technology is being used to exclude the needy, without even thinking about the cost.
While use of biometric ATMs looks good on paper, its implementation so far has proved costly for the banks as well as for the end-users. On 1 December 2006, Citibank had issued a global release about the launch of its biometric ATM with multi-language voice instruction capability. It had tied up with a NGO called Swadhar FinAccess and a microfinance firm for Citibank Pragati for accounts. The experiment ended in a whimper. In fact, the drumbeat for biometric ATMs began in 2005 as suggested by this report in The Financial Express. In 2007, Andhra Bank had launched biometric ATMs and wanted to make the mobile, to cater to the burgeoning microfinance business.
Canara Bank set up its first biometric-based ATM at Dharavi, in Mumbai in 2008 with much fanfare. It was a dual purpose ATM, which accepted cards as well as thumbprints for banking transaction (mostly cash withdrawals). The biometric-based ATM was expected to cater to the needs of working class, especially housemaids and other people in Dharavi. In fact, even after the global financial crisis, the biometric ATMs and tie-ups continued because micro-finance firms were still seen as saviours and had not revealed their exploitative and rapacious side.
The ground reality turned out to be completely different. According to information provided by several non-government organisations (NGOs) spreading financial literacy in that area, the biometric ATMs in Dharavi failed from day one. The reason? Working class there, especially housemaids and other labours do not have fingerprints without which they could not operate the ATM!
Not having fingerprints is just one of the issues with the biometric-based ATMs. The more serious issue is the danger it may pose to the user as thieves may stalk and assault the person to gain access. If the item is secured with a biometric device, the damage to the owner could be irreversible, and potentially cost more than the high risk merchant account. For example, in 2005, Malaysian car thieves cut off the finger of a Mercedes-Benz S-Class owner when attempting to steal his car.
In addition, the biometric-based passwords are irreversible. That means it cannot be re-issued in case of loss or theft. If a token or a password is lost or stolen, it can be cancelled and replaced by a newer version. This is not naturally available in biometrics. If someone's face or fingerprint is compromised from a database, it cannot be cancelled or reissued.
Another problem associated with the biometric-based ATM is its cost, both installation and operations. The biometric-based ATMs, as proposed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that would facilitate use to Aadhaar data, are more costly than the regular card-based ATMs. While consumers are increasingly complaining about reasonableness of bank charges, the banks themselves are lobbying hard with the RBI, claiming that high cost of technology is making each transaction very expensive. For instance, having encouraged and pushed to obtain corporate accounts of companies, banks are now cribbing about high transaction costs on small withdrawals from ATMs.
For instance, a senior central banker says that each balance inquiry at an ATM costs the bank Rs11 while each transaction costs around Rs18. However, this calls for a serious discussion on the cost-benefit of technology to consumers, since the solution cannot be to load higher costs on to consumers.
And while the UIDAI and RBI are still thinking about using Aadhaar number or fingerprints collected under the UID scheme, for authentication of transactions, the world has moved ahead. World over, fingerprint based ATMs are being replaced by biometric ATMs, which use ‘finger vein scanning’ technology to authenticate the customer's ID. Unlike current fingerprint scanners, the finger vein scanner, developed by Japanese company Hitachi, uses infrared light to analyse the micro veins beneath the surface of the finger. According to Hitachi, it is impossible to fool its machine, as it is not possible to replicate an individual's finger veins. In addition, it does not work with fingers that have been chopped off, the company had said.
In addition, several experts have pointed out that using Aadhaar for identification is completely different than using it for authentication. Especially, when it comes to using biometric data of Aadhaar for payment transactions, the facts are not too encouraging. Several poor people like housemaids and construction labourers are finding it difficult to even enrol for Aadhaar due to lack of a clean fingerprint sample. Some could not even submit sample of their iris due to cataract. In such cases, how will the Aadhaar help in authenticating the card present transaction? Also, why burden the entire banking system with high costs, which will have to be paid by hundreds of million account holders who have no need for biometric identification and have no reason to support biometric authentication systems?
Coming back to the issue of using Aadhaar or UID for authentication card present transactions, it looks good only on paper. As per the latest census, 58.7% households were availing banking services in 2011 as compared with 35.5% in 2001. Notwithstanding these efforts by the RBI and the offshore merchant account, the challenges are enormous. Providing banking coverage to a population of 120 crore and ensuring transactions in these accounts is a daunting task.
While, the government and the RBI have asked banks to accept the Aadhaar number as one of the identification proofs for opening an account, the lenders are not sure about the authentication and verification of these numbers for payment system. The RBI itself was not confident about Aadhaar as it felt that the UID project is not ready for handling secure payment transactions.
According to the Economic Times report, there was a distinct possibility that RBI would ask banks to gradually roll out Aadhaar-based biometric authentication as an additional authentication for card transactions. RBI may not mandate banks immediately, but may nonetheless ask them to upgrade the technology. This is happening at such a time when banks are issuing credit and debit cards based on Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV) chip technology, the report said quoting a banker.
According to a report by a "Working Group on Securing Card Present Transactions" of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), there is a need to put in place a series of measures to strengthen the payments’ infrastructure and ecosystem in the country. Inferences drawn from case studies clearly indicate the need to have a much stronger authentication mechanism and reiterate the need for a second factor (2FA) for card present transactions.
The report discusses new systems like EMV chip cards with PIN that has been adopted by many countries and enhancing the current MSD card system with help from biometric identification.
"Aadhaar (issued by UIDAI) authentication using biometrics, provides a strong 'Who you are' factor of authentication. This can be combined with a second 'What you have' or 'What you know' factor to achieve strong customer identification at the point of sale," the report said.
While the option to use biometrics from the UIDAI database looks good, it may, in practice, due to insufficient feasibility tests, may not be a viable option. "The working committee considered biometric, or UID, as the second factor in one of the solution sets; however, the decision to adopt this would depend on various factors like the number of UIDs issued to the population which transacts through cards, the error rates, authentication network capability to handle transaction volumes, network capability to handle enhanced transaction size and acquiring infrastructure," the report said.
According to the Economic Times report, another working group set up to study the recommendation of the previous group has recently submitted its report to the RBI. “(the) panel has pegged the cost of banks' readiness for Aadhaar at Rs4,259 crore compared with Rs3,556 crore the banking industry has to spend to upgrade machines to match a different technology they think lowers the risk of card frauds,” the report says.
Unfortunately, instead of addressing all the problems related with the Aadhaar, the UPA government is forcing its usage and acceptance, that too without any Parliamentary approval for the UIDAI scheme. The hard push for biometric ATMs is just one of the examples about how technology is being used to exclude the needy, without even thinking about the cost.
2013年7月24日星期三
New phone upgrade plans akin to renting
The phone companies call them installment plans, but I think of them as phone rental. Before you pay off the cost of the phone, you're entitled to hand it back in to get a new one -- every six months with Verizon Wireless or T-Mobile or every year with AT&T.It's a good deal for some people on T-Mobile. Unlike the rival plans, T-Mobile's Jump comes with insurance to cover loss and damage. And it doesn't add that much to the cost of the phone. With Verizon's Edge and AT&T's Next, you're essentially paying for the same phone twice.
When you buy an iPhone 5, you might pay $200 for it, but it actually costs $650. Your phone company covers the difference and makes it up over the life of the two-year service contract. On the phone bill, it just appears as a service fee for voice, text and data. But that fee actually includes an amount that helps the phone companies cover the difference. The service fee doesn't go down, however, even after you've covered the third party payment gateway, or paid the phone off.
With AT&T's and Verizon's installment plans, you're paying the full $650 for the iPhone, spread out over 20 or 24 months. But once again, the service fee doesn't go down, even though there's no "difference" the phone companies need to make up. So you're paying for the phone through the installment payments, plus what's baked into the service fee.
Earlier this year, T-Mobile broke the service fee into two fees -- one for the actual service, and one for the phone. So once you've paid off the phone, your total bill goes down. And if you sign up for Jump, you're paying a $10 monthly fee for that, mostly for the insurance, but you're not paying for the phone twice.Even though you're paying more for the phone with Verizon's and AT&T's plans, it might still be worthwhile if you're already planning to upgrade more frequently than every other year. Both take the hassle out of trying to sell your old device.
Here's a closer look at the three plans to see if they are right for you. I'm using prices for Samsung's Galaxy S4 in the calculations, so actual costs may vary. Keep in mind all three plans are optional, so you can still buy phones the old way.Six months after you first sign up for Jump, you're entitled to two phone upgrades every 12 months. You can upgrade twice in the same month, but you'd have to wait a full year for the next one. It's better to spread upgrades out to about six months apart.
If you lose or damage your phone: No problem. The Jump plan replaces insurance, which typically costs $8 a month. So it's just $2 a month more for those who already get insurance to replace phones that get lost, don't work, have water damage or have cracked screens.If you just want an upgrade: Simply turn in your old phone when you get your new one. T-Mobile will refurbish and resell it.
The catch: T-Mobile charges a down payment -- $150 in the case of Galaxy S4. It's the same as you pay when you get your first phone, but you'll be paying that each time you upgrade. If your phone is lost or damaged, and it's not covered by warranty, you pay a deductible of up to $175. In that case, there's no down payment if you are replacing it with the same model, but you have to pay both the deductible and the down payment if you want to upgrade to a different model.
Cost analysis: You break even at 16 months. That is, you have $160 left in payments for your phone, which gets waived when you upgrade through Jump. But you have paid $160 for Jump by that point. At month 17, you pay more for Jump than what you would have to make up in remaining installments. But Jump gives you insurance during that period.You're better off with Jump if you upgrade before the 16-month mark, but it's still more expensive than waiting out the two years, when the phone is normally due for an upgrade. Let's say you upgrade the maximum twice a year. That's three extra phones over those two years. The fourth is the one you would have gotten anyway when the two years are up. At Galaxy S4 prices, that works out to $690 over two years for the luxury -- $450 for the phones and $240 for the cost of Jump. If you would have gotten insurance anyway, figure you're paying just $498 more.
ou're essentially paying twice for the phone. In order to upgrade, you must already have paid at least 50 percent of the cost of the phone. You hit that threshold after one year, so if you upgrade six months early, you have six months of payments to make right away to be eligible. Your new phone comes with new installment payments, even though you've just covered the next six months of payments. You're essentially doubling the payments over those six months.
Also, it's open only to those on Share Everything plans. Customers still on Verizon's older, unlimited data plans are not eligible and must switch to a limited-use plan to participate.Normally, you pay $200 up front, so for a $650 phone, $450 is the minimum premium you pay to upgrade more frequently. If you haven't reached the 50 percent threshold yet, you'll be paying even more. Upgrade every six months as allowed, and you face 12 additional monthly payments over two years (six each year). Those 12 payments add up to $325, assuming the same retail price for the Galaxy S4 replacement. With the additional $450 you're already paying over the normal way of buying phones, you're paying an extra $775 over two years to upgrade every six months. As is the case with third party merchant account, you might be better off breaking a contract and trying to resell the old phone, but Edge removes the hassle.
In a matter of a few years, Smith went from paying out-of-pocket for school – attending when he could afford it, working when he could not – to staring down more than $40,000 in student loan debt.Instead of living paycheck-to-paycheck and putting any extra in savings, he was suddenly flush with cash. His financial aid allowed him to live an expensive lifestyle in college, he says.The tipping point was when he approached the school's student loan office to get help with his $3,000 tuition payment, he says. He walked away with $16,000 for that quarter, starting a cycle that would continue for the rest of his undergraduate career.
"Every quarter I got more free money," he says. "I needed new clothes. I needed a cool car. I needed a nice place to stay.""I always took out way more than I needed," Meehan said in an email. "I thought if it as 'free money' that I would eventually have to pay back when I was living like Carrie from Sex and the City."
Now 31, with a bachelor's and two master's under her belt, Meehan's student loans total nearly $200,000. She currently works as an online media manager at Rosemont College in Pennsylvania, but said she makes less now than she did straight out of undergrad.In some cases, the borrowers are so-called nontraditional students. Over the age of 25, these undergrads are considered financially independent from their parents. More than 50 percent of students pursuing a bachelor's degree fall into this category.
Some, like Smith, have families of their own. Others are saddled with expenses such as medical bills and car payments.With minimal income – either because of unemployment or underemployment – they have little-to-no expected family contribution, a figure the U.S. Department of Education uses to calculate need. This often allows students to take out federal student loans to cover the full cost of attendance, including housing, personal and living expenses.
The University of Oregon estimates the total cost for undergraduates living off campus at nearly $24,000 for the 2013-2014 school year. Less than $10,000 of that goes to tuition, leaving students with refund checks of roughly $14,000 each year.While these refunds are intended to go toward educational expenses and living expenses – food, rent and utilities – no one monitors how students spend this money.
When you buy an iPhone 5, you might pay $200 for it, but it actually costs $650. Your phone company covers the difference and makes it up over the life of the two-year service contract. On the phone bill, it just appears as a service fee for voice, text and data. But that fee actually includes an amount that helps the phone companies cover the difference. The service fee doesn't go down, however, even after you've covered the third party payment gateway, or paid the phone off.
With AT&T's and Verizon's installment plans, you're paying the full $650 for the iPhone, spread out over 20 or 24 months. But once again, the service fee doesn't go down, even though there's no "difference" the phone companies need to make up. So you're paying for the phone through the installment payments, plus what's baked into the service fee.
Earlier this year, T-Mobile broke the service fee into two fees -- one for the actual service, and one for the phone. So once you've paid off the phone, your total bill goes down. And if you sign up for Jump, you're paying a $10 monthly fee for that, mostly for the insurance, but you're not paying for the phone twice.Even though you're paying more for the phone with Verizon's and AT&T's plans, it might still be worthwhile if you're already planning to upgrade more frequently than every other year. Both take the hassle out of trying to sell your old device.
Here's a closer look at the three plans to see if they are right for you. I'm using prices for Samsung's Galaxy S4 in the calculations, so actual costs may vary. Keep in mind all three plans are optional, so you can still buy phones the old way.Six months after you first sign up for Jump, you're entitled to two phone upgrades every 12 months. You can upgrade twice in the same month, but you'd have to wait a full year for the next one. It's better to spread upgrades out to about six months apart.
If you lose or damage your phone: No problem. The Jump plan replaces insurance, which typically costs $8 a month. So it's just $2 a month more for those who already get insurance to replace phones that get lost, don't work, have water damage or have cracked screens.If you just want an upgrade: Simply turn in your old phone when you get your new one. T-Mobile will refurbish and resell it.
The catch: T-Mobile charges a down payment -- $150 in the case of Galaxy S4. It's the same as you pay when you get your first phone, but you'll be paying that each time you upgrade. If your phone is lost or damaged, and it's not covered by warranty, you pay a deductible of up to $175. In that case, there's no down payment if you are replacing it with the same model, but you have to pay both the deductible and the down payment if you want to upgrade to a different model.
Cost analysis: You break even at 16 months. That is, you have $160 left in payments for your phone, which gets waived when you upgrade through Jump. But you have paid $160 for Jump by that point. At month 17, you pay more for Jump than what you would have to make up in remaining installments. But Jump gives you insurance during that period.You're better off with Jump if you upgrade before the 16-month mark, but it's still more expensive than waiting out the two years, when the phone is normally due for an upgrade. Let's say you upgrade the maximum twice a year. That's three extra phones over those two years. The fourth is the one you would have gotten anyway when the two years are up. At Galaxy S4 prices, that works out to $690 over two years for the luxury -- $450 for the phones and $240 for the cost of Jump. If you would have gotten insurance anyway, figure you're paying just $498 more.
ou're essentially paying twice for the phone. In order to upgrade, you must already have paid at least 50 percent of the cost of the phone. You hit that threshold after one year, so if you upgrade six months early, you have six months of payments to make right away to be eligible. Your new phone comes with new installment payments, even though you've just covered the next six months of payments. You're essentially doubling the payments over those six months.
Also, it's open only to those on Share Everything plans. Customers still on Verizon's older, unlimited data plans are not eligible and must switch to a limited-use plan to participate.Normally, you pay $200 up front, so for a $650 phone, $450 is the minimum premium you pay to upgrade more frequently. If you haven't reached the 50 percent threshold yet, you'll be paying even more. Upgrade every six months as allowed, and you face 12 additional monthly payments over two years (six each year). Those 12 payments add up to $325, assuming the same retail price for the Galaxy S4 replacement. With the additional $450 you're already paying over the normal way of buying phones, you're paying an extra $775 over two years to upgrade every six months. As is the case with third party merchant account, you might be better off breaking a contract and trying to resell the old phone, but Edge removes the hassle.
In a matter of a few years, Smith went from paying out-of-pocket for school – attending when he could afford it, working when he could not – to staring down more than $40,000 in student loan debt.Instead of living paycheck-to-paycheck and putting any extra in savings, he was suddenly flush with cash. His financial aid allowed him to live an expensive lifestyle in college, he says.The tipping point was when he approached the school's student loan office to get help with his $3,000 tuition payment, he says. He walked away with $16,000 for that quarter, starting a cycle that would continue for the rest of his undergraduate career.
"Every quarter I got more free money," he says. "I needed new clothes. I needed a cool car. I needed a nice place to stay.""I always took out way more than I needed," Meehan said in an email. "I thought if it as 'free money' that I would eventually have to pay back when I was living like Carrie from Sex and the City."
Now 31, with a bachelor's and two master's under her belt, Meehan's student loans total nearly $200,000. She currently works as an online media manager at Rosemont College in Pennsylvania, but said she makes less now than she did straight out of undergrad.In some cases, the borrowers are so-called nontraditional students. Over the age of 25, these undergrads are considered financially independent from their parents. More than 50 percent of students pursuing a bachelor's degree fall into this category.
Some, like Smith, have families of their own. Others are saddled with expenses such as medical bills and car payments.With minimal income – either because of unemployment or underemployment – they have little-to-no expected family contribution, a figure the U.S. Department of Education uses to calculate need. This often allows students to take out federal student loans to cover the full cost of attendance, including housing, personal and living expenses.
The University of Oregon estimates the total cost for undergraduates living off campus at nearly $24,000 for the 2013-2014 school year. Less than $10,000 of that goes to tuition, leaving students with refund checks of roughly $14,000 each year.While these refunds are intended to go toward educational expenses and living expenses – food, rent and utilities – no one monitors how students spend this money.
Fake money is so common all should beware
Technology has made it easier for criminals to produce counterfeit U.S. currency, and local merchants are saying that they see plenty of fake bills these days. It is not an epidemic, but there are so many instances of people trying to pass off counterfeit bills that many businesses are starting to scrutinize even the lower denominations, like $5 bills, before accepting them from customers.
My research shows that of all U.S. currency in circulation, about one to two percent of it is counterfeit, which accounts for an estimated $261 million in counterfeit money. I have my doubts (the numbers are likely to be much higher), but it may be that areas like ours experience a higher concentration of phony money. In any event, even if the numbers seem to suggest that the problem is not a big one, a bit of caution is certainly in order. One merchant in Modesto told me that she encounters phony bills almost every day, so it seems that being careful is the prudent thing to do. I recently sold a small boat and was paid in $20 bills. Needless to say, all of them were legitimate, but it was worth the extra few minutes to examine each bill before accepting it.
Interestingly, the mass producers of counterfeit money do not use it for their own purchasing purposes. Instead, they sell the currency for approximately 20-30 cents on the dollar. The very-high-quality fakes go for as high a 50 percent of the face value of each bill. In addition, while there are plenty of people using home computers and printers to produce phony money, their impact on the economy and individual victims appears to be less than that of the bigger operators.
The U.S. government has a high stake in protecting the integrity of its currency and to maintain public confidence in its legal tender; high risk merchant account, it takes painstaking measures to make it difficult to produce counterfeit bills. Some of these measures include using color-shifting ink, red and blue threads embedded in the paper and watermark images that can be seen with enhanced lighting. Still, technology allows counterfeiters to produce near-perfect counterfeits. It seems like the most skilled counterfeiters are always able to stay just a step or two ahead the government's efforts to foil their efforts.
Many businesses still only pay attention to denominations of 20s, 50s and 100s, yet I see criminals taking advantage of this practice and using fake 5s and 10s to commit their crimes. People and merchants would do well to check $5 bills and larger to help stop this trend. Keep in mind that when you accept a counterfeit bill, even unknowingly, you are stuck with it. It is illegal to pass that bill on, and if you do, at minimum you may end up being named in a criminal investigation. If the government can prove that you knew it was counterfeit, criminal charges will be likely.
The rule for protecting yourself is to check currency (especially $20 or larger bills) before accepting them during purchasing transactions. The quickest ways include checking for the normally distinctive feel of the paper. If it feels smooth, it is probably fake. The newer bills contain a security thread that is embedded in the paper and runs vertically on one side of the note. This thread contains tiny letters spelling out the value of the note. So, for a twenty dollar bill, you will see the words, in barely 1/10 of an inch in size, "USA Twenty." In addition, the $20 note will contain a watermark image, depicting former president Andrew Jackson on the lower right hand side. It can be seen when holding the note up to a light. The ink on U.S. currency does not run when exposed to water and the color of the "20" on the lower right corner of the note will shift from copper to green, depending on the angle viewed.
When getting cash from the bank or ATM do not assume that all of the bills have been screened - there may well be counterfeit bills, so take time to examine them. Do not delay in reporting any counterfeit bill finds immediately to the bank or other entity that transferred it to you. And be particularly careful when receiving a large amount of cash for such things as appliances, boats, cars, etc., as it is a matter of odds when it comes to the risk as a particular transaction involves higher numbers of bills.
If you wish more information on this subject, there are many resources on the web to help you get all the facts and protect yourself. Taking a few seconds to check the currency during purchasing or selling transactions may well save you a lot of hard-earned money.
Thanks, Bill. Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for joining us today. After the market closed, we reported quarterly diluted earnings per share of $1.20, up 21% over the prior year, driven primarily by loan growth and share repurchases. During the quarter, we generated return on equity of 23% and returned approximately $440 million of capital to shareholders through repurchases and common dividends.
Our Direct Banking business again delivered strong results during the second quarter. Slide 4 of the earnings presentation shows Discover total loan growth at 6% over the prior year. This organic growth was driven by a 5% increase in card receivables and a combined 10% increase in private, student and personal loans.Card receivables growth continues to outpace our primary peers. This strong growth was driven by increased wallet share with existing customers and also new accounts.
Discover it, our new flagship card product drove strong new account growth in the quarter, even while relying less on promotional balance transfers. Discover it's position in the market continues to be highly differentiated with superior customer value and service and the early results of our advertising campaign are positive. This campaign, offshore merchant account, other card marketing initiatives, and our strength and rewards have not only helped us grow new accounts, but have also encouraged our large loyal customer base to spend and revolve with us.
Also in card, I want to announce that Discover has become the exclusive affinity card issuer for 5 universities, including the University of Nebraska. We are excited about the affinity channel for long-term new account and sales growth, as we leverage our cash rewards and customer service.
My research shows that of all U.S. currency in circulation, about one to two percent of it is counterfeit, which accounts for an estimated $261 million in counterfeit money. I have my doubts (the numbers are likely to be much higher), but it may be that areas like ours experience a higher concentration of phony money. In any event, even if the numbers seem to suggest that the problem is not a big one, a bit of caution is certainly in order. One merchant in Modesto told me that she encounters phony bills almost every day, so it seems that being careful is the prudent thing to do. I recently sold a small boat and was paid in $20 bills. Needless to say, all of them were legitimate, but it was worth the extra few minutes to examine each bill before accepting it.
Interestingly, the mass producers of counterfeit money do not use it for their own purchasing purposes. Instead, they sell the currency for approximately 20-30 cents on the dollar. The very-high-quality fakes go for as high a 50 percent of the face value of each bill. In addition, while there are plenty of people using home computers and printers to produce phony money, their impact on the economy and individual victims appears to be less than that of the bigger operators.
The U.S. government has a high stake in protecting the integrity of its currency and to maintain public confidence in its legal tender; high risk merchant account, it takes painstaking measures to make it difficult to produce counterfeit bills. Some of these measures include using color-shifting ink, red and blue threads embedded in the paper and watermark images that can be seen with enhanced lighting. Still, technology allows counterfeiters to produce near-perfect counterfeits. It seems like the most skilled counterfeiters are always able to stay just a step or two ahead the government's efforts to foil their efforts.
Many businesses still only pay attention to denominations of 20s, 50s and 100s, yet I see criminals taking advantage of this practice and using fake 5s and 10s to commit their crimes. People and merchants would do well to check $5 bills and larger to help stop this trend. Keep in mind that when you accept a counterfeit bill, even unknowingly, you are stuck with it. It is illegal to pass that bill on, and if you do, at minimum you may end up being named in a criminal investigation. If the government can prove that you knew it was counterfeit, criminal charges will be likely.
The rule for protecting yourself is to check currency (especially $20 or larger bills) before accepting them during purchasing transactions. The quickest ways include checking for the normally distinctive feel of the paper. If it feels smooth, it is probably fake. The newer bills contain a security thread that is embedded in the paper and runs vertically on one side of the note. This thread contains tiny letters spelling out the value of the note. So, for a twenty dollar bill, you will see the words, in barely 1/10 of an inch in size, "USA Twenty." In addition, the $20 note will contain a watermark image, depicting former president Andrew Jackson on the lower right hand side. It can be seen when holding the note up to a light. The ink on U.S. currency does not run when exposed to water and the color of the "20" on the lower right corner of the note will shift from copper to green, depending on the angle viewed.
When getting cash from the bank or ATM do not assume that all of the bills have been screened - there may well be counterfeit bills, so take time to examine them. Do not delay in reporting any counterfeit bill finds immediately to the bank or other entity that transferred it to you. And be particularly careful when receiving a large amount of cash for such things as appliances, boats, cars, etc., as it is a matter of odds when it comes to the risk as a particular transaction involves higher numbers of bills.
If you wish more information on this subject, there are many resources on the web to help you get all the facts and protect yourself. Taking a few seconds to check the currency during purchasing or selling transactions may well save you a lot of hard-earned money.
Thanks, Bill. Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for joining us today. After the market closed, we reported quarterly diluted earnings per share of $1.20, up 21% over the prior year, driven primarily by loan growth and share repurchases. During the quarter, we generated return on equity of 23% and returned approximately $440 million of capital to shareholders through repurchases and common dividends.
Our Direct Banking business again delivered strong results during the second quarter. Slide 4 of the earnings presentation shows Discover total loan growth at 6% over the prior year. This organic growth was driven by a 5% increase in card receivables and a combined 10% increase in private, student and personal loans.Card receivables growth continues to outpace our primary peers. This strong growth was driven by increased wallet share with existing customers and also new accounts.
Discover it, our new flagship card product drove strong new account growth in the quarter, even while relying less on promotional balance transfers. Discover it's position in the market continues to be highly differentiated with superior customer value and service and the early results of our advertising campaign are positive. This campaign, offshore merchant account, other card marketing initiatives, and our strength and rewards have not only helped us grow new accounts, but have also encouraged our large loyal customer base to spend and revolve with us.
Also in card, I want to announce that Discover has become the exclusive affinity card issuer for 5 universities, including the University of Nebraska. We are excited about the affinity channel for long-term new account and sales growth, as we leverage our cash rewards and customer service.
2013年7月14日星期日
Prepaid cards useful for crooks
As the popularity of prepaid money cards has risen, so have the number of reported scams associated with them.Green Dot MoneyPak cards can be a convenient way to pay bills and to add money to PayPal accounts. Your Better Business Bureau warns that the cards are now among the favorite tools used by scammers seeking access to your money. Fortunately, there are a few rules that card users can abide by to protect themselves from the unscrupulous.
In this variation on an old theme, a caller or emailer will notify you that you are the lucky winner of a fabulous prize in either a lottery or a sweepstakes. Only problem is, you first need to pay a fee in order to claim your money or merchandise. But, no problem, they say: you can use a MoneyPak card to quickly and conveniently pay the fee and then receive your winnings. All you have to do is go purchase the card for whatever amount they specify, then give them the 14-digit code found on the back of the third party merchant account.
One recently reported scam involved an online “quick loan” scheme in which the borrower was told to load more than $100 onto a prepaid debit card with the assurance that the loan company wouldn’t take the money off the card. Instead they claimed to only be looking for proof that the applicant could make payments on the loan in the future.
The loan company did end up taking her money and fraudulently claimed that the Better Business Bureau had put a hold on the funds, telling the person she would need to deposit yet more onto the card. The BBB, of course, doesn’t and couldn’t engage in such a practice. The loan applicant had fallen victim to a variation in the old advance-fee scam. The applicant’s money wasn’t recoverable.
It is bad enough when crooks use the name of the BBB in their schemes. But another popular prepaid debit card scam goes so far as to use the name of the FBI in order to steal from victims. In this scheme, malware is installed on a victim’s computer. The program locks up their computer and displays a message purporting to be from the FBI. The message is formatted with official-looking FBI logos and letterhead, and claims the computer owner must pay a fine or else be subjected to criminal charges for “violating federal copyright laws,” and accessing child pornography.
Helping mobile users navigate their way through this, Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO), the world leader in digital security, has come up with an innovative mobile payment guide, 2013 Gemalto Netsize Guide, aimed at providing insight for users, mobile operators, banks, credit card companies and merchants.
"Mobile billing revenues worldwide are expected to rise by $13bn per year by 2017," said Mohamed Anis Chemli, Business Director, Telecommunication division at Gemalto Middle East.
"The popularity of the smartphone depicts the rise in mobile usage. This is why the guide explores the big picture of mobile security, identity, privacy, and social commerce, while focusing on mobile wallets, in-app micropayments and money transfer, operator billing and messaging, as well as Near Field Communication (NFC)."The popularity of the smartphone and the accessibility of data connections have established mobile devices as being invaluable for consumer purchases, personal banking, merchant transactions, and peer-to-peer payments.
Customers use mobile phones to enjoy services offered by businesses and data providers, thus giving mobile operators an additional opportunity to monetize their network services. According to Juniper Research, 11, 9 million mobile users in Middle East and Africa made transactions through mobile in 2012 and figures are expected to reach 71,9 million users by 2017.
Once you get past the hilarity of Senator Pana Merchant being selected to sit on an international board that advocates for greater global financial transparency even as her name is mentioned in media reports about an offshore tax haven, it appears the longtime Liberal has stoked a growing fire of public anger over the Senate.
Back when the former teacher/volunteer worker was appointed to the third party payment gateway house by Liberal prime minister Jean Chretien almost 11 years ago, there might have been some public tolerance for such matters. But what once might have been considered harmless political amusement very much seems to be something else today.
Consider the reaction to a Postmedia story that the senator from Regina was selected in May to be a director of the Parliamentary Network of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund - an organization that provides politicians from all over the world an opportunity to "advocate for increased accountability and transparency in international.
In this variation on an old theme, a caller or emailer will notify you that you are the lucky winner of a fabulous prize in either a lottery or a sweepstakes. Only problem is, you first need to pay a fee in order to claim your money or merchandise. But, no problem, they say: you can use a MoneyPak card to quickly and conveniently pay the fee and then receive your winnings. All you have to do is go purchase the card for whatever amount they specify, then give them the 14-digit code found on the back of the third party merchant account.
One recently reported scam involved an online “quick loan” scheme in which the borrower was told to load more than $100 onto a prepaid debit card with the assurance that the loan company wouldn’t take the money off the card. Instead they claimed to only be looking for proof that the applicant could make payments on the loan in the future.
The loan company did end up taking her money and fraudulently claimed that the Better Business Bureau had put a hold on the funds, telling the person she would need to deposit yet more onto the card. The BBB, of course, doesn’t and couldn’t engage in such a practice. The loan applicant had fallen victim to a variation in the old advance-fee scam. The applicant’s money wasn’t recoverable.
It is bad enough when crooks use the name of the BBB in their schemes. But another popular prepaid debit card scam goes so far as to use the name of the FBI in order to steal from victims. In this scheme, malware is installed on a victim’s computer. The program locks up their computer and displays a message purporting to be from the FBI. The message is formatted with official-looking FBI logos and letterhead, and claims the computer owner must pay a fine or else be subjected to criminal charges for “violating federal copyright laws,” and accessing child pornography.
Helping mobile users navigate their way through this, Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO), the world leader in digital security, has come up with an innovative mobile payment guide, 2013 Gemalto Netsize Guide, aimed at providing insight for users, mobile operators, banks, credit card companies and merchants.
"Mobile billing revenues worldwide are expected to rise by $13bn per year by 2017," said Mohamed Anis Chemli, Business Director, Telecommunication division at Gemalto Middle East.
"The popularity of the smartphone depicts the rise in mobile usage. This is why the guide explores the big picture of mobile security, identity, privacy, and social commerce, while focusing on mobile wallets, in-app micropayments and money transfer, operator billing and messaging, as well as Near Field Communication (NFC)."The popularity of the smartphone and the accessibility of data connections have established mobile devices as being invaluable for consumer purchases, personal banking, merchant transactions, and peer-to-peer payments.
Customers use mobile phones to enjoy services offered by businesses and data providers, thus giving mobile operators an additional opportunity to monetize their network services. According to Juniper Research, 11, 9 million mobile users in Middle East and Africa made transactions through mobile in 2012 and figures are expected to reach 71,9 million users by 2017.
Once you get past the hilarity of Senator Pana Merchant being selected to sit on an international board that advocates for greater global financial transparency even as her name is mentioned in media reports about an offshore tax haven, it appears the longtime Liberal has stoked a growing fire of public anger over the Senate.
Back when the former teacher/volunteer worker was appointed to the third party payment gateway house by Liberal prime minister Jean Chretien almost 11 years ago, there might have been some public tolerance for such matters. But what once might have been considered harmless political amusement very much seems to be something else today.
Consider the reaction to a Postmedia story that the senator from Regina was selected in May to be a director of the Parliamentary Network of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund - an organization that provides politicians from all over the world an opportunity to "advocate for increased accountability and transparency in international.
2013年7月11日星期四
Riding high on demand, security services
The growing demand for security by large corporations and retail establishments across India is spurring investor attention in the security services industry, one of the country's fastest growing.As a number of companies that offer trained guards, cash storage and transportation as well as electronic surveillance raise risk capital and prepare to buy out smaller players, there is a wave of consolidation that is expected to change a hitherto fragmented industry, which is estimated to employ some 50 lakh.
"The security services industry is reaching an inflection point," said Rituraj Sinha, group chief operating officer of SIS. The 33-year-old, who was earlier a Londonbased banker, took over the reins of the company in 2002.
"Institutional investors believe that they can actually get handsome returns (in security services), instead of just getting back their capital which is the case so often in India," said Sinha, whose company raised Rs 500 crore earlier this year from private equity fund CX Partners. A combination of private equity investments and entry of foreign players is already providing a more organised avatar to this industry currently valued at Rs 23,000 crore.
Experts said the rising interest in the industry, which is broadly divided into segments ranging from manpower and guarding to cash logistics and electronic security, is based on expectations that its size will nearly double to Rs 40,000 crore by fiscal 2015. At present, the organised sector accounts for about 30% of the market. "We are definitely going to see a lot more consolidation," said Amitabh Jhingan, partner of third party merchant account services at EY. "This will be driven by two factors: the entry of global players and demand for companies with a national presence."
Delhi-based SIS has provided security for Tata group employees during the company's pull-out from the disputed site at Singur in West Bengal in 2008. SIS also provided manpower guarding services to automobile manufacturer Maruti at its plant in Manesar following rising tensions between the company's management and its workers.
"We would not have invested unless we anticipated internal returns on investment of about 25%," said Ajay Relan, managing partner of CX Partners, an investor in SIS. CX Partners' investment in SIS provided the company's previous investor DE Shaw with a lucrative exit.
In Mumbai, Topsgrup, one of the largest security services providers in India—it is promoted by 42-year-old Diwan Rahul Nanda—has mandated merchant bank NM Rothschild to scout for fresh investors. A deal will see current investors Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, ICICI Ventures and Everstone Capital, who together own about 38% of the company, exit the firm.
While manpower guarding dominates the space, cash logistics and electronic security are also fast-growing services. "In the cash logistics space, all operators carry up to Rs 15,000 crore per day, and up to Rs 5,000 crore in their vaults. Therefore, there is no doubt that we have reached scale," said R Venkatesh, chief strategy officer at CMS Info Systems, which runs a cash logistics arm, CMS Securitas. Private equity major Blackstone owns a majority stake in CMS.
Affluent clients seeking uncorrelated returns can now consider an investment that’s so alternative it was once a symbol of the counterculture: cannabis. After citizens of Colorado and Washington voted in 2012 to make legal the personal, non-medical use and possession of limited amounts of marijuana by adults, investor interest in this nascent industry spiked. “Since the election in November, we haven’t made an outbound investment call. Investors have been calling us,” says Michael Blue, chief financial officer of Seattle-based Privateer Holdings, reportedly the first private equity firm to invest in the legal cannabis sector.
Although federal law prohibits cultivating hemp and growing, selling, possessing or using marijuana, this seems to be having little effect on investor enthusiasm. And cannabis investors aren’t just aging hippies driving rusted Volkswagen buses plastered with peace signs. “We’ve been raising money from high-net-worth individuals, single-family offices and third party payment gateway,” says Blue, who has an MBA from Yale. “Our investors are from all over the country and all over the world. They’re from red states and blue states. We have ranchers in Kansas, physicians in California, Wall Street executives in New York and farmers in the Midwest.”
Both marijuana and hemp are varieties of the plant species Cannabis sativa, but the two are genetically different and further distinguished by their uses and chemical profiles. Marijuana is grown primarily as a recreational or medicinal drug. Hemp has been cultivated for thousands of years to produce a wide variety of industrial and consumer goods and is being touted today as a green alternative to many products.
Legal medicinal marijuana sales in the U.S. are projected to hit $1.5 billion this year, according to Medical Marijuana Business Daily, an industry publication that reports on legislative and financial developments. In 2014, the first marijuana retail stores are expected to open in Colorado and Washington, which could generate about $1 billion in revenue during the first full year the facilities are in operation. The combined national medical and recreational markets are expected to generate state-legal marijuana sales of $3 billion in 2014 and $6 billion by 2018.
The Hemp Industries Association says the current market for hemp products in the U.S. is about $500 million. Many hemp products are available for sale in the U.S., but beacuse of the federal prohibition on growing hemp, the seeds, oil and fibers used to make them are all imported. If hemp is legalized, the domestic market could ultimately be 10 times the size of the market for marijuana, but it’s expected to be slower to take off since hemp hasn’t been grown on a commercial scale in the U.S. for over 60 years.
In the short term, investors are focusing on the marijuana market because it’s larger right now and the infrastructure is in place in many states. Industry insiders are betting the market will continue to expand no matter what happens legislatively on the federal level. In 2016, the citizens of several states, including California, are expected to vote on whether to allow recreational marijuana use.
"The security services industry is reaching an inflection point," said Rituraj Sinha, group chief operating officer of SIS. The 33-year-old, who was earlier a Londonbased banker, took over the reins of the company in 2002.
"Institutional investors believe that they can actually get handsome returns (in security services), instead of just getting back their capital which is the case so often in India," said Sinha, whose company raised Rs 500 crore earlier this year from private equity fund CX Partners. A combination of private equity investments and entry of foreign players is already providing a more organised avatar to this industry currently valued at Rs 23,000 crore.
Experts said the rising interest in the industry, which is broadly divided into segments ranging from manpower and guarding to cash logistics and electronic security, is based on expectations that its size will nearly double to Rs 40,000 crore by fiscal 2015. At present, the organised sector accounts for about 30% of the market. "We are definitely going to see a lot more consolidation," said Amitabh Jhingan, partner of third party merchant account services at EY. "This will be driven by two factors: the entry of global players and demand for companies with a national presence."
Delhi-based SIS has provided security for Tata group employees during the company's pull-out from the disputed site at Singur in West Bengal in 2008. SIS also provided manpower guarding services to automobile manufacturer Maruti at its plant in Manesar following rising tensions between the company's management and its workers.
"We would not have invested unless we anticipated internal returns on investment of about 25%," said Ajay Relan, managing partner of CX Partners, an investor in SIS. CX Partners' investment in SIS provided the company's previous investor DE Shaw with a lucrative exit.
In Mumbai, Topsgrup, one of the largest security services providers in India—it is promoted by 42-year-old Diwan Rahul Nanda—has mandated merchant bank NM Rothschild to scout for fresh investors. A deal will see current investors Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, ICICI Ventures and Everstone Capital, who together own about 38% of the company, exit the firm.
While manpower guarding dominates the space, cash logistics and electronic security are also fast-growing services. "In the cash logistics space, all operators carry up to Rs 15,000 crore per day, and up to Rs 5,000 crore in their vaults. Therefore, there is no doubt that we have reached scale," said R Venkatesh, chief strategy officer at CMS Info Systems, which runs a cash logistics arm, CMS Securitas. Private equity major Blackstone owns a majority stake in CMS.
Affluent clients seeking uncorrelated returns can now consider an investment that’s so alternative it was once a symbol of the counterculture: cannabis. After citizens of Colorado and Washington voted in 2012 to make legal the personal, non-medical use and possession of limited amounts of marijuana by adults, investor interest in this nascent industry spiked. “Since the election in November, we haven’t made an outbound investment call. Investors have been calling us,” says Michael Blue, chief financial officer of Seattle-based Privateer Holdings, reportedly the first private equity firm to invest in the legal cannabis sector.
Although federal law prohibits cultivating hemp and growing, selling, possessing or using marijuana, this seems to be having little effect on investor enthusiasm. And cannabis investors aren’t just aging hippies driving rusted Volkswagen buses plastered with peace signs. “We’ve been raising money from high-net-worth individuals, single-family offices and third party payment gateway,” says Blue, who has an MBA from Yale. “Our investors are from all over the country and all over the world. They’re from red states and blue states. We have ranchers in Kansas, physicians in California, Wall Street executives in New York and farmers in the Midwest.”
Both marijuana and hemp are varieties of the plant species Cannabis sativa, but the two are genetically different and further distinguished by their uses and chemical profiles. Marijuana is grown primarily as a recreational or medicinal drug. Hemp has been cultivated for thousands of years to produce a wide variety of industrial and consumer goods and is being touted today as a green alternative to many products.
Legal medicinal marijuana sales in the U.S. are projected to hit $1.5 billion this year, according to Medical Marijuana Business Daily, an industry publication that reports on legislative and financial developments. In 2014, the first marijuana retail stores are expected to open in Colorado and Washington, which could generate about $1 billion in revenue during the first full year the facilities are in operation. The combined national medical and recreational markets are expected to generate state-legal marijuana sales of $3 billion in 2014 and $6 billion by 2018.
The Hemp Industries Association says the current market for hemp products in the U.S. is about $500 million. Many hemp products are available for sale in the U.S., but beacuse of the federal prohibition on growing hemp, the seeds, oil and fibers used to make them are all imported. If hemp is legalized, the domestic market could ultimately be 10 times the size of the market for marijuana, but it’s expected to be slower to take off since hemp hasn’t been grown on a commercial scale in the U.S. for over 60 years.
In the short term, investors are focusing on the marijuana market because it’s larger right now and the infrastructure is in place in many states. Industry insiders are betting the market will continue to expand no matter what happens legislatively on the federal level. In 2016, the citizens of several states, including California, are expected to vote on whether to allow recreational marijuana use.
2013年6月23日星期日
An open letter to John Kerry
Comprehensive immigration reform is important and necessary for the United States, but it must be done wisely. There are serious concerns about the current immigration Bill. The legislation, in its present form, would impact the business execution model for US corporations.
It will also prove damaging to the US economy, costing a tremendous number of high quality jobs and doing significant damage to international diplomatic and business relationships. We don't believe that most policymakers want these unintended consequences.
India's IT industry has serious concerns about the provisions in the proposed Senate Immigration Bill that arbitrarily singles out a group of multinational info-tech companies. These proposals amount to discriminatory and punitive treatment of the Indian IT industry and will necessarily restrict thousands of US companies from continuing to use their services.
This will obviously be to the detriment of the US companies. Top companies across all sectors rely on global talent to help them run and improve their busines-ses. They depend on the world-class minds that IT service providers bring to the table as well as efficiencies that enable them to invest in the future. The Senate Bill could undermine some of this.
The contributions of Indian industry in particular are through IT services, business process management, product development, engineering research and design and global in-house centres. These services help US businesses to be more competitive, build innovative products and solutions for global markets, and enter emerging markets globally. By contributing to the innovation, agility and growth, global IT services companies are unsung heroes of the US economic recovery.
There will also be a loss of flexibility and cost efficiency for the US companies as they may be forced to hire additional employees on their payroll adding to increased costs and losing the aspect variability to their cost structure.
In fact, the companies will likely need to divert focus from their core business to the associated IT activities to the extent that they are forced to source their IT work internally. This will not allow the US companies to access best-of-breed techno-logy and expertise, which they could otherwise get from global third party service providers.
All this has a spiralling effect. The lack of US companies' ability to bring in global talent will result in increased offshoring of work. Additionally, the limitations and fees in the new visa regime will inhibit their ability to select IT partners, which in turn will lead to the services being concentrated in the hands of a few service providers, leading to increased costs and loss of flexibility.
Global IT service providers have invested billions of dollars in the US and have been increasing these investments rapidly. They support employment of over 2,00,000 American citizens and pay hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes through their corporations and their employees. They also contribute significantly to academic institutions and their communities.
Concerns around unemployment in the technology sector are also distant from reality. Various studies have shown that computer science is the highest paid college degree and compu-ter programming jobs are growing at twice the national average, but fewer than 2.4% of US college students graduate with a degree in computer science - a trend that is actually declining.
Additionally, by 2020, there will be one million more jobs in the US related to computer science than there are students graduating with a computer science degree and the vacancy rate for jobs in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) is three to four times the rate of other sectors. Put simply, the US education system is not producing enough STEM-capable students to keep up with demand, both in traditional STEM occupations and in other sectors across that demand similar competencies.
Finally, we are concerned that the Senate Bill could strain the US-India strategic partnership and trade, with potentially harmful consequences for both economies. The IT industry is one of the many strong and mutually beneficial areas of commerce between India and the US.
American exports of non-military commercial services to India grew 12% from 2010 to 2011 and 351% since 2000. Ten of the top 15 technology companies operating in India are American. US exports to India have grown significantly, increasing 12.4% in 2011 and 491% since 2000.
Discriminatory policies that differentiate between and among companies bias the free marketplace and unfairly confer competitive advantage on some companies at the expense of others. Policies enacted should not pick winners or losers but should apply to all companies in a fair and equitable manner.
We understand that immigration reform is important and fortunately a much better approach is under consideration in the House of Representatives. The HR 2131 Issa-Goodlatte SKILLS Visa Act more effectively balances the need to increase jobs for Americans while giving US businesses favourable conditions to compete and grow; encouraging investments that benefit the US economy, and protecting strategic international relationships.
We hope that you will express your support for the House of Representatives' approach, rather than the Senate Bill on the matter of H-1B and L-1 visas, so that the India-US bilateral relationship will continue to flourish and benefit both of our countries and economies.
Just as President Obama has described the US-India relationship as "one of the defining partnerships of the 21st Century", trade and collaboration between our nations in advanced IT solutions and services are one of the defining catalysts of US-India business and economic success.
Click on their website austpay.com for more information.
It will also prove damaging to the US economy, costing a tremendous number of high quality jobs and doing significant damage to international diplomatic and business relationships. We don't believe that most policymakers want these unintended consequences.
India's IT industry has serious concerns about the provisions in the proposed Senate Immigration Bill that arbitrarily singles out a group of multinational info-tech companies. These proposals amount to discriminatory and punitive treatment of the Indian IT industry and will necessarily restrict thousands of US companies from continuing to use their services.
This will obviously be to the detriment of the US companies. Top companies across all sectors rely on global talent to help them run and improve their busines-ses. They depend on the world-class minds that IT service providers bring to the table as well as efficiencies that enable them to invest in the future. The Senate Bill could undermine some of this.
The contributions of Indian industry in particular are through IT services, business process management, product development, engineering research and design and global in-house centres. These services help US businesses to be more competitive, build innovative products and solutions for global markets, and enter emerging markets globally. By contributing to the innovation, agility and growth, global IT services companies are unsung heroes of the US economic recovery.
There will also be a loss of flexibility and cost efficiency for the US companies as they may be forced to hire additional employees on their payroll adding to increased costs and losing the aspect variability to their cost structure.
In fact, the companies will likely need to divert focus from their core business to the associated IT activities to the extent that they are forced to source their IT work internally. This will not allow the US companies to access best-of-breed techno-logy and expertise, which they could otherwise get from global third party service providers.
All this has a spiralling effect. The lack of US companies' ability to bring in global talent will result in increased offshoring of work. Additionally, the limitations and fees in the new visa regime will inhibit their ability to select IT partners, which in turn will lead to the services being concentrated in the hands of a few service providers, leading to increased costs and loss of flexibility.
Global IT service providers have invested billions of dollars in the US and have been increasing these investments rapidly. They support employment of over 2,00,000 American citizens and pay hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes through their corporations and their employees. They also contribute significantly to academic institutions and their communities.
Concerns around unemployment in the technology sector are also distant from reality. Various studies have shown that computer science is the highest paid college degree and compu-ter programming jobs are growing at twice the national average, but fewer than 2.4% of US college students graduate with a degree in computer science - a trend that is actually declining.
Additionally, by 2020, there will be one million more jobs in the US related to computer science than there are students graduating with a computer science degree and the vacancy rate for jobs in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) is three to four times the rate of other sectors. Put simply, the US education system is not producing enough STEM-capable students to keep up with demand, both in traditional STEM occupations and in other sectors across that demand similar competencies.
Finally, we are concerned that the Senate Bill could strain the US-India strategic partnership and trade, with potentially harmful consequences for both economies. The IT industry is one of the many strong and mutually beneficial areas of commerce between India and the US.
American exports of non-military commercial services to India grew 12% from 2010 to 2011 and 351% since 2000. Ten of the top 15 technology companies operating in India are American. US exports to India have grown significantly, increasing 12.4% in 2011 and 491% since 2000.
Discriminatory policies that differentiate between and among companies bias the free marketplace and unfairly confer competitive advantage on some companies at the expense of others. Policies enacted should not pick winners or losers but should apply to all companies in a fair and equitable manner.
We understand that immigration reform is important and fortunately a much better approach is under consideration in the House of Representatives. The HR 2131 Issa-Goodlatte SKILLS Visa Act more effectively balances the need to increase jobs for Americans while giving US businesses favourable conditions to compete and grow; encouraging investments that benefit the US economy, and protecting strategic international relationships.
We hope that you will express your support for the House of Representatives' approach, rather than the Senate Bill on the matter of H-1B and L-1 visas, so that the India-US bilateral relationship will continue to flourish and benefit both of our countries and economies.
Just as President Obama has described the US-India relationship as "one of the defining partnerships of the 21st Century", trade and collaboration between our nations in advanced IT solutions and services are one of the defining catalysts of US-India business and economic success.
Click on their website austpay.com for more information.
2013年6月18日星期二
G-ma's Rack Pack to race for cure
The group of 38 members has several options for the race: the 5k competitive run, the 5k untimed run or the one-mile walk.
Besides participating in these events, the team will be donating funds they have raised in the past calendar year to the Susan G. Komen Foundation, which helps women in the St. Louis area with cancer treatment and offers free mammograms.
Eight years ago, in 2005, Licking resident Pam Creech battled breast cancer. After winning her battle, Creech decided that she wanted to be a part of Race for the Cure.
In 2006, Creech and daughter, Kassi Smith-Ramsey, went to St. Louis and participated with the team of a family friend. The event had a huge impact on them, and the following year Creech and Ramsey founded their own team—G-ma Pam’s Rack Pack.
“Being at Race for the Cure is a feeling you can’t describe. The atmosphere is amazing. Everyone is celebrating and present for third party payment gateway,” said Ramsey.
“We wanted for local family and friends to be able to take part in such an awesome experience. The walk is always packed with people, more than you can imagine, streaming out for miles in the distance. Survivors of breast cancer, those who are still battling the disease, family and friends, and people ranging in age from small children to the elderly are present. It’s a massive crowd of pink.”
Along with Creech and Ramsey, Gary Hassel, Ginger Smith and Gloria Schembra (who also survived breast cancer) were very active in helping to get G-ma Pam’s Rack Pack started, and it has been a major success.
For the last six years, the Rack Pack has held fundraisers and garnered an amazing amount of support from the community to help the organization. Each year, more members join the team and more fundraisers are participated in.
Fundraisers held by the Rack Pack have included bake sales, silent auctions, the selling of pink ribbon trinkets and a cookbook, silicone “Save the Boobies” bracelets, Pampered Chef parties and the selling of t-shirts, which has been by far the most popular.
There were two options available for shirts this year: a solid black with pink deer antlers, emblazoned with the words “Save the Rack,” and a solid black with a row of ribbons showing the words “Hope,” “Courage” and “Strength.”
A 50-inch Toshiba LED HDTV 1080P television was raffled off, as well, and pink-ribbon items (such as clothing from previous years, bandanas, glowsticks, rubber ducks, lotion-stuffed purses and leftover cookbooks) were sold at the Rack Pack’s booth during the Licking PRCA Rodeo Days.
Ramsey and the team are constantly brainstorming to come up with fresh fundraising ideas, one of which will be incorporated during the holidays this year.
Arlene Clouse has made pink-ribbon plates, which the team will load with baked goods and pass through the community. If you receive a plate, you are asked to donate five dollars, refill the plate and pass it along to someone else, who will then also be expected to donate.
“Working together fundraising is always fun, as we can get together and act silly. Being able to witness when first-time members discover the magnitude of the event is also great. Our team has a tradition now, where each year we gather together and take photos in front of a fountain that is dyed pink for the occasion. We have a photo from each year and looking at the differences between them is very neat,” Ramsey said.
However, those who are interested in supporting the team but do not have time to participate in fundraisers or to be a member can still help out.
“There are many ways to donate and be active in G-ma Pam’s Rack Pack, “ said Ramsey. “We have a running account set up at First National Bank. Donations can be made directly to a team member, and there are donation cans placed throughout businesses in the area, such as at Right Away.”
The wearable tech band continuously updates the users using a combination of visual and tactical cues according to Kickstarter. The tech band made of Silicone comes with a push button inside. The users need to press a specific but ordinary spot on the band and the Embrace+ gets activated. It then automatically connects itself with the other apps of the smartphone via Bluetooth connectivity.
However, the band does not support WhatsApp and Viber tweaks at present. But might be included later on, claims the manufacturer.
The band has high longevity and it is much more safe to wear when compared to any other plastic bands that are often found causing skin eruptions.
As soon as the notification appears, the band’s colour changes to a specified colour set for that particular app. Not just the notifications, the band also sends out alerts about phone battery getting low and other things the wearer would like to stay updated on. The user can use the tech band even at the poolside or under shower as Embrace+ claims to be water resistant.
The band paired with a micro-USB charging cable can be connected to any laptop or any generic charging adapter with USB port and gets fully charged within 10 minutes. However, this band cannot be paired with the Windows phone as of now.
Besides participating in these events, the team will be donating funds they have raised in the past calendar year to the Susan G. Komen Foundation, which helps women in the St. Louis area with cancer treatment and offers free mammograms.
Eight years ago, in 2005, Licking resident Pam Creech battled breast cancer. After winning her battle, Creech decided that she wanted to be a part of Race for the Cure.
In 2006, Creech and daughter, Kassi Smith-Ramsey, went to St. Louis and participated with the team of a family friend. The event had a huge impact on them, and the following year Creech and Ramsey founded their own team—G-ma Pam’s Rack Pack.
“Being at Race for the Cure is a feeling you can’t describe. The atmosphere is amazing. Everyone is celebrating and present for third party payment gateway,” said Ramsey.
“We wanted for local family and friends to be able to take part in such an awesome experience. The walk is always packed with people, more than you can imagine, streaming out for miles in the distance. Survivors of breast cancer, those who are still battling the disease, family and friends, and people ranging in age from small children to the elderly are present. It’s a massive crowd of pink.”
Along with Creech and Ramsey, Gary Hassel, Ginger Smith and Gloria Schembra (who also survived breast cancer) were very active in helping to get G-ma Pam’s Rack Pack started, and it has been a major success.
For the last six years, the Rack Pack has held fundraisers and garnered an amazing amount of support from the community to help the organization. Each year, more members join the team and more fundraisers are participated in.
Fundraisers held by the Rack Pack have included bake sales, silent auctions, the selling of pink ribbon trinkets and a cookbook, silicone “Save the Boobies” bracelets, Pampered Chef parties and the selling of t-shirts, which has been by far the most popular.
There were two options available for shirts this year: a solid black with pink deer antlers, emblazoned with the words “Save the Rack,” and a solid black with a row of ribbons showing the words “Hope,” “Courage” and “Strength.”
A 50-inch Toshiba LED HDTV 1080P television was raffled off, as well, and pink-ribbon items (such as clothing from previous years, bandanas, glowsticks, rubber ducks, lotion-stuffed purses and leftover cookbooks) were sold at the Rack Pack’s booth during the Licking PRCA Rodeo Days.
Ramsey and the team are constantly brainstorming to come up with fresh fundraising ideas, one of which will be incorporated during the holidays this year.
Arlene Clouse has made pink-ribbon plates, which the team will load with baked goods and pass through the community. If you receive a plate, you are asked to donate five dollars, refill the plate and pass it along to someone else, who will then also be expected to donate.
“Working together fundraising is always fun, as we can get together and act silly. Being able to witness when first-time members discover the magnitude of the event is also great. Our team has a tradition now, where each year we gather together and take photos in front of a fountain that is dyed pink for the occasion. We have a photo from each year and looking at the differences between them is very neat,” Ramsey said.
However, those who are interested in supporting the team but do not have time to participate in fundraisers or to be a member can still help out.
“There are many ways to donate and be active in G-ma Pam’s Rack Pack, “ said Ramsey. “We have a running account set up at First National Bank. Donations can be made directly to a team member, and there are donation cans placed throughout businesses in the area, such as at Right Away.”
The wearable tech band continuously updates the users using a combination of visual and tactical cues according to Kickstarter. The tech band made of Silicone comes with a push button inside. The users need to press a specific but ordinary spot on the band and the Embrace+ gets activated. It then automatically connects itself with the other apps of the smartphone via Bluetooth connectivity.
However, the band does not support WhatsApp and Viber tweaks at present. But might be included later on, claims the manufacturer.
The band has high longevity and it is much more safe to wear when compared to any other plastic bands that are often found causing skin eruptions.
As soon as the notification appears, the band’s colour changes to a specified colour set for that particular app. Not just the notifications, the band also sends out alerts about phone battery getting low and other things the wearer would like to stay updated on. The user can use the tech band even at the poolside or under shower as Embrace+ claims to be water resistant.
The band paired with a micro-USB charging cable can be connected to any laptop or any generic charging adapter with USB port and gets fully charged within 10 minutes. However, this band cannot be paired with the Windows phone as of now.
2013年6月7日星期五
Spokane parking meters to accept plastic
After several exploratory studies over the past decade, Spokane plans to roll out parking meters that will accept credit card payments as well as coins at 800 parking spaces downtown. The City Council is expected to review a contract with Milwaukee-based Duncan Solutions for the new meters later this month.
The Downtown Spokane Partnership, which represents the interests of downtown businesses, has worked with the city on plans to improve the convenience of downtown parking. The group’s president, Mark Richard, said new meters will do just that.
Plans to update downtown meters have hit snags in the past. The city originally contracted with a French company named Parkeon in 2011 to install a handful of multispace kiosks requiring drivers to walk up the block to pay for their parking. Those units didn’t test well, Richard said.
“Part of the challenge was you’d have to traipse halfway down the block and climb into a snow bank to pay for your parking,” Richard said.
Single-space units proved more popular. Duncan won a bidding war to supply Spokane with new meters, releasing a model that will cost the city $800 for each machine, making the total cost around $640,000, according to the city. Duncan provides parking services for Atlanta and Houston, among other cities.
The installation will occur in two phases. Parking crews have already removed about 100 credit card meters from downtown streets and will replace them with Duncan machines in the next few weeks. In September, another 700 meters will be installed in the core of downtown, an area roughly bounded by Spokane Falls Boulevard, First Avenue and Monroe and Washington streets.
The city also hopes to lower the transaction fee charged for paying with a card, spokeswoman Julie Happy said. The city charges 30 cents now but hopes to reduce that figure to around 10 cents in the near future.
Richard said the new meters represent a first step in improving the parking experience in downtown. In November, the city rebranded its parking enforcement department to include conflict resolution training and hospitality services. Sensors embedded in the new meters will be able to detect vehicles, allowing the city to collect information on traffic volume and potentially develop an app that would direct drivers to vacant spots.
Some changes, including allowing drivers to receive alerts on their phones when their meter has almost expired and pay for 30-minute extensions, would require cooperation from the city, Richard said. An ordinance prohibits drivers from plugging meters beyond posted time limits.
The Marines have tried curfews, drinking restrictions and plain old jawboning to cut down crime and controversy on Okinawa, a key center of U.S. military power in the Pacific. Now they’re handing out reminder cards.
The more than 20,000 Marines stationed in the Pacific region will get wallet-sized cards that promote core values of “honor, courage and commitment,” and remind Marines of the battles fought and price paid by earlier generations.
“We are forward-deployed in the region, and we call this place home,” says Lieut. General Kenneth Glueck, commander of the Okinawa-based III Marine Expeditionary Force. The card “serves as a constant reminder of our heritage, our traditions and the ideals that have made the corps what it is today.”
Glueck went on a speaking tour of bases last year after a series of crimes by U.S. servicemen on Okinawa sparked large-scale protests and led to curfews and restrictions on alcohol consumptions for Marines and other U.S. forces. The Marines’ V-22 Osprey also has been the target of protests over noise and safety concerns.
Gang members will crowd customers withdrawing cash to read their four-digit PIN, then distract them to steal the card. In some cases they install a simple metal sleeve in the slot which means the card is not returned to the user.
Someone reads the PIN over the victim’s shoulder and then, when they have moved away, retrieves the card. Once the thieves have the card and PIN they can go on a shopping spree or use a hole in the wall machine to empty their victim’s account.
Pensioner Jacqueline Fletcher was watched by two thieves while she withdrew cash from an ATM outside her local supermarket in Bletchley, Buckinghamshire.
When the 80-year-old emerged from the shop, one of the men asked her for change and stole her bank card while pretending to help her with her purse.
‘It frightened me and it gutted me to think that I’d been stupid enough and that they’d been attacking vulnerable people, young or old,’ she said.
Last month a woman in Cheltenham had her cards stolen in a supermarket car park as she was distracted by a man asking for directions. She believes the criminals, who siphoned ￡1,000 from her account, spotted her using her PIN at a store till.
Meanwhile, victims are finding it increasingly difficult to get their stolen cash refunded. A number of banks have introduced rules which means they can deny a refund if they believe the customer has failed to protect their PIN and card.
The theft figures were revealed by Financial Fraud Action, which is responsible for tackling plastic card fraud on behalf of banks. Chip and PIN cards were introduced by the industry in 2005 with the aim of reducing fraud. Click on their website austpay.com for more information.
The Downtown Spokane Partnership, which represents the interests of downtown businesses, has worked with the city on plans to improve the convenience of downtown parking. The group’s president, Mark Richard, said new meters will do just that.
Plans to update downtown meters have hit snags in the past. The city originally contracted with a French company named Parkeon in 2011 to install a handful of multispace kiosks requiring drivers to walk up the block to pay for their parking. Those units didn’t test well, Richard said.
“Part of the challenge was you’d have to traipse halfway down the block and climb into a snow bank to pay for your parking,” Richard said.
Single-space units proved more popular. Duncan won a bidding war to supply Spokane with new meters, releasing a model that will cost the city $800 for each machine, making the total cost around $640,000, according to the city. Duncan provides parking services for Atlanta and Houston, among other cities.
The installation will occur in two phases. Parking crews have already removed about 100 credit card meters from downtown streets and will replace them with Duncan machines in the next few weeks. In September, another 700 meters will be installed in the core of downtown, an area roughly bounded by Spokane Falls Boulevard, First Avenue and Monroe and Washington streets.
The city also hopes to lower the transaction fee charged for paying with a card, spokeswoman Julie Happy said. The city charges 30 cents now but hopes to reduce that figure to around 10 cents in the near future.
Richard said the new meters represent a first step in improving the parking experience in downtown. In November, the city rebranded its parking enforcement department to include conflict resolution training and hospitality services. Sensors embedded in the new meters will be able to detect vehicles, allowing the city to collect information on traffic volume and potentially develop an app that would direct drivers to vacant spots.
Some changes, including allowing drivers to receive alerts on their phones when their meter has almost expired and pay for 30-minute extensions, would require cooperation from the city, Richard said. An ordinance prohibits drivers from plugging meters beyond posted time limits.
The Marines have tried curfews, drinking restrictions and plain old jawboning to cut down crime and controversy on Okinawa, a key center of U.S. military power in the Pacific. Now they’re handing out reminder cards.
The more than 20,000 Marines stationed in the Pacific region will get wallet-sized cards that promote core values of “honor, courage and commitment,” and remind Marines of the battles fought and price paid by earlier generations.
“We are forward-deployed in the region, and we call this place home,” says Lieut. General Kenneth Glueck, commander of the Okinawa-based III Marine Expeditionary Force. The card “serves as a constant reminder of our heritage, our traditions and the ideals that have made the corps what it is today.”
Glueck went on a speaking tour of bases last year after a series of crimes by U.S. servicemen on Okinawa sparked large-scale protests and led to curfews and restrictions on alcohol consumptions for Marines and other U.S. forces. The Marines’ V-22 Osprey also has been the target of protests over noise and safety concerns.
Gang members will crowd customers withdrawing cash to read their four-digit PIN, then distract them to steal the card. In some cases they install a simple metal sleeve in the slot which means the card is not returned to the user.
Someone reads the PIN over the victim’s shoulder and then, when they have moved away, retrieves the card. Once the thieves have the card and PIN they can go on a shopping spree or use a hole in the wall machine to empty their victim’s account.
Pensioner Jacqueline Fletcher was watched by two thieves while she withdrew cash from an ATM outside her local supermarket in Bletchley, Buckinghamshire.
When the 80-year-old emerged from the shop, one of the men asked her for change and stole her bank card while pretending to help her with her purse.
‘It frightened me and it gutted me to think that I’d been stupid enough and that they’d been attacking vulnerable people, young or old,’ she said.
Last month a woman in Cheltenham had her cards stolen in a supermarket car park as she was distracted by a man asking for directions. She believes the criminals, who siphoned ￡1,000 from her account, spotted her using her PIN at a store till.
Meanwhile, victims are finding it increasingly difficult to get their stolen cash refunded. A number of banks have introduced rules which means they can deny a refund if they believe the customer has failed to protect their PIN and card.
The theft figures were revealed by Financial Fraud Action, which is responsible for tackling plastic card fraud on behalf of banks. Chip and PIN cards were introduced by the industry in 2005 with the aim of reducing fraud. Click on their website austpay.com for more information.
2013年5月23日星期四
Troubled Visa Settlement Takes Another Hit As Retailers File Own Suit
A $7 billion antitrust settlement over credit-card processing fees that critics say would make things worse for retailers suffered another insult today as Target TGT +0.39%, Macy's M -0.04% and J.C. Penney filed their own lawsuit accusing Visa V -1.13% and Mastercard of generating monopoly profits at their expense.
Bloomberg reported the lawsuit was filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York. It comes two days after the National Retail Federation, the largest association of retailers, announced it will formally oppose the settlement before the May 28 deadline U.S. District Judge John Gleeson set for complaints. Wal-Mart, which led a landmark antitrust suit that generated a $3 billion settlement in 2004, also has objected.
The problem with this settlement is it is a classic case of what I call selling absolution. Class-action lawyers including Robbins Geller, Berger & Montague and Robins Kaplan filed the lawsuit in 2005 on behalf of 19 trade associations and smaller retail chains, accusing Visa and MasterCard MA -1.21% of using their 70% control of the credit-card market to charge excessive processing fees. As is typical with these firms, they worked out a settlement last July that would pay retailers $6 billion in cash and offer them $1.2 billion in reduced interchange fees for eight months after the deal is signed. The lawyers are seeking 11% of the total, or some $800 million in fees.
The objecting retailers say the settlement would actually make things worse. Buried in the settlement are releases in which every retailer that doesn’t opt out agrees never to sue the credit-card companies again with similar claims. The settlement doesn’t force Visa and Mastercard to change the policies that allow them to dictate interchange fees to retailers, however, which is what drives so many of them nuts.
Visa and Mastercard would drop their prohibition against retailers assessing a surcharge for credit-card purchases, but that is meaningless. Retailers can already discount for cash, and it would be a clueless consumer indeed who couldn’t see that a 5% discount for cash is the exact equivalent of a surcharge for using Air purifier.
Which points out the silliness of all of this litigation. Retailers complain that the credit card companies are picking their pockets to the tune of $40 billion a year and passionately, desperately want that money back. They also use clever terms like “swipe fee” to try and convince consumers that they are paying these fees every time they buy with plastic.
But retailers get a huge benefit from the ubiquitous credit-card network and the easy availability of credit that allows consumers to make impulse purchases they may or may not be able to afford. It is also naive to assume that retailers would be able to keep any reductions in interchange fees they may get out of this litigation. Retail is a fiercely competitive business and the savings would be passed through to consumers while the credit card companies cut back on perks like free airline miles.
Retailers were faced with a tough choice when their ostensible lawyers negotiated this deal. If they remained in the class, they’d agree to release Visa and Mastercard from any future litigation. If they opted out, they’d give up their share of the $7.25 billion.
It looks like a critical mass has decided to give up the $7 billion and try their luck on their own. The question is whether Judge Gleeson will pull the plug on what’s left of this settlement that rewards the lawyers who negotiated it so richly. Next Tuesday, we see how many more retailers decide to opt out.
The story that John Ryall offered about the $14,000 cash and eight credit cards in his hotel room, and the plastic bags filled with chemicals in his sports utility vehicle sounded hard to believe to police.
His grandma gave him the money to start a chemical research company, Ryall told Bensalem police earlier this month after they showed up at a Route 1 hotel room where he was staying with a woman whom police say had an outstanding arrest warrant.
The 2 kilograms of white powder and nearly 250 gel capsules in his SUV were used to make drugs to treat erectile dysfunction and an anti-estrogen pill, he allegedly told them. The credit and debit cards were given to him by friends, Ryall claimed.
Bensalem police say parts of Ryall's claims were true, but there is far more to the story.
Now, Ryall, 34, and Jennifer Claherty, 35, both from Palmyra, N.J., are facing charges of receiving stolen property and multiple counts of identity theft, conspiracy and access device crimes.
Police say their investigation began May 3 after a tip that Claherty could be found at the Route 1 motel. She had an active arrest warrant out of Scranton, where she was wanted on charges of receiving stolen property and conspiracy, according to online court records.
But as the investigation progressed, the story started disintegrating, police said. They added that the money was likely stolen from a man whom Ryall claimed was a former business partner. That man's name was on debit and credit cards in the motel room, police added.
Police said they also learned that Navratil was arrested April 30 for attempting to pass a fraudulent check for $6,600 from an account listed for a business owned by Ryall’s former partner. She also allegedly passed four other bad checks, totaling more than $31,000, through the same man's account at other banks.
The chemicals that police found in the SUV — Tamoxifen and Tadalafil — are used for treating breast cancer and erectile dysfunction, but both require a doctor’s prescription, and a license to distribute and manufacture, police said. Claherty and Ryall don’t have either, court papers show.
Bloomberg reported the lawsuit was filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York. It comes two days after the National Retail Federation, the largest association of retailers, announced it will formally oppose the settlement before the May 28 deadline U.S. District Judge John Gleeson set for complaints. Wal-Mart, which led a landmark antitrust suit that generated a $3 billion settlement in 2004, also has objected.
The problem with this settlement is it is a classic case of what I call selling absolution. Class-action lawyers including Robbins Geller, Berger & Montague and Robins Kaplan filed the lawsuit in 2005 on behalf of 19 trade associations and smaller retail chains, accusing Visa and MasterCard MA -1.21% of using their 70% control of the credit-card market to charge excessive processing fees. As is typical with these firms, they worked out a settlement last July that would pay retailers $6 billion in cash and offer them $1.2 billion in reduced interchange fees for eight months after the deal is signed. The lawyers are seeking 11% of the total, or some $800 million in fees.
The objecting retailers say the settlement would actually make things worse. Buried in the settlement are releases in which every retailer that doesn’t opt out agrees never to sue the credit-card companies again with similar claims. The settlement doesn’t force Visa and Mastercard to change the policies that allow them to dictate interchange fees to retailers, however, which is what drives so many of them nuts.
Visa and Mastercard would drop their prohibition against retailers assessing a surcharge for credit-card purchases, but that is meaningless. Retailers can already discount for cash, and it would be a clueless consumer indeed who couldn’t see that a 5% discount for cash is the exact equivalent of a surcharge for using Air purifier.
Which points out the silliness of all of this litigation. Retailers complain that the credit card companies are picking their pockets to the tune of $40 billion a year and passionately, desperately want that money back. They also use clever terms like “swipe fee” to try and convince consumers that they are paying these fees every time they buy with plastic.
But retailers get a huge benefit from the ubiquitous credit-card network and the easy availability of credit that allows consumers to make impulse purchases they may or may not be able to afford. It is also naive to assume that retailers would be able to keep any reductions in interchange fees they may get out of this litigation. Retail is a fiercely competitive business and the savings would be passed through to consumers while the credit card companies cut back on perks like free airline miles.
Retailers were faced with a tough choice when their ostensible lawyers negotiated this deal. If they remained in the class, they’d agree to release Visa and Mastercard from any future litigation. If they opted out, they’d give up their share of the $7.25 billion.
It looks like a critical mass has decided to give up the $7 billion and try their luck on their own. The question is whether Judge Gleeson will pull the plug on what’s left of this settlement that rewards the lawyers who negotiated it so richly. Next Tuesday, we see how many more retailers decide to opt out.
The story that John Ryall offered about the $14,000 cash and eight credit cards in his hotel room, and the plastic bags filled with chemicals in his sports utility vehicle sounded hard to believe to police.
His grandma gave him the money to start a chemical research company, Ryall told Bensalem police earlier this month after they showed up at a Route 1 hotel room where he was staying with a woman whom police say had an outstanding arrest warrant.
The 2 kilograms of white powder and nearly 250 gel capsules in his SUV were used to make drugs to treat erectile dysfunction and an anti-estrogen pill, he allegedly told them. The credit and debit cards were given to him by friends, Ryall claimed.
Bensalem police say parts of Ryall's claims were true, but there is far more to the story.
Now, Ryall, 34, and Jennifer Claherty, 35, both from Palmyra, N.J., are facing charges of receiving stolen property and multiple counts of identity theft, conspiracy and access device crimes.
Police say their investigation began May 3 after a tip that Claherty could be found at the Route 1 motel. She had an active arrest warrant out of Scranton, where she was wanted on charges of receiving stolen property and conspiracy, according to online court records.
But as the investigation progressed, the story started disintegrating, police said. They added that the money was likely stolen from a man whom Ryall claimed was a former business partner. That man's name was on debit and credit cards in the motel room, police added.
Police said they also learned that Navratil was arrested April 30 for attempting to pass a fraudulent check for $6,600 from an account listed for a business owned by Ryall’s former partner. She also allegedly passed four other bad checks, totaling more than $31,000, through the same man's account at other banks.
The chemicals that police found in the SUV — Tamoxifen and Tadalafil — are used for treating breast cancer and erectile dysfunction, but both require a doctor’s prescription, and a license to distribute and manufacture, police said. Claherty and Ryall don’t have either, court papers show.
2013年2月20日星期三
Orem radar company demos product for defense department
Harris, the owner of Orem-based SpotterRF, developed a portable radar device that has received the attention of the U.S. Department of Defense. He was invited to demonstrate the Spotter M600C at the Stiletto Maritime Demonstration Program last month for the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command.
"The Department of Defense on a regular basis does investigations into new technology," Harris said. "They invite groups that might be applicable and test in real world situations."
The point of the radar is essentially to allow people to see around corners and into areas where traditional radar cannot reach. That allows military users to both move and deploy with a greater knowledge of the type of situation they are entering. During the demonstration, the Spotter M600C was set up remotely on a tripod at the mouth of the harbor. Several vessels traveled into and around the harbor. The radar communicated movements to the military vessel about a mile away, giving sailors real-time detections on a map that displayed the location, distance and speed of the target.
"We were their remote eyes where they didn't have coverage," Harris said. "Ships have large radar dishes limited by line of sight areas without view. We were in a port area where the entrance wasn't visible."
The military ship was able to get the advance alerts needed and deploy to take care of the problem. According to Harris all a person would need is a small tripod and a radio along with the M600C radar.
"Warfighting needs are rapidly changing, and our interest is in looking at mature technologies and future capabilities that could be transitioned to fill an operational need sooner than later," Dale Shiflett, NECC's deputy assistant chief of staff for strategy and technology, said in a news release. "Using the Stiletto Maritime Demonstration Program allowed us to look at the realm of possibilities for new and improved technologies. What better way to do that, than to have both the warfighter and the system developers in the same environment using the systems and having discussions on how it could work better."
Brock Josephson, SpotterRF's team lead for the demonstration, said, "The M600C was very effective at detecting all vessels coming in and out of the harbor. The system even detected and tracked a drifting jet ski."
Weirdly, you switch into macro mode by turning a ring on the lens; it snaps into a new position. I ruined more than one great photo because the lens ring had accidentally wound up in macro mode.
Superwide shots are effortless, since the RX1 inherits the Sweep Panorama feature of Sony’s other models; as you swing the camera around you, pressing the shutter button, it snaps away, creating a 270-degree, automatically stitched, usually perfect panorama in real time.
Video is gorgeous, too: 1080p high definition with stereo sound. There’s a miniplug input for an external microphone, too.
Clearly, this camera is intended for professionals or nearly pros. It’s built like a tank, all metal, with markings etched and not just painted on. Its shutter is completely silent. Its hotshoe accommodates various expensive accessories, including optical or electronic viewfinders.
It offers every kind of manual control, and you can customize it to the hilt; its scene mode dial offers three positions for storing your own memorized settings. There’s an aperture adjustment ring right on the lens, and there’s a dedicated exposure knob on the top.
Unfortunately, there are also some aspects that will drive you crazy. Focusing can be slow — in low light, really slow; as a result, this isn’t a great camera for sports, pets or children. There’s no stabilization for still photos, either. And you can’t play back stills and videos consecutively. You have to dive into the menus to switch from one form of playback to the other. That’s common to other recent Sony cameras, and it’s idiotic.
As the state has sought to profit more from the game, the Legislature has lifted most of the original restrictions, allowing it to expand from restaurants and bowling alleys to bars and large stores, and authorizing play almost around the clock.
The remaining restrictions prohibit businesses that do not serve alcohol from offering Quick Draw unless they occupy more than 2,500 square feet, and require players to be 21 years old in venues serving alcohol. (In other states, the minimum age is 18.) Removing those rules would allow small stores to offer Quick Draw, and would be likely to generate more sales in New York City, where per capita revenues are low compared with the rest of the state.
While the ZIP codes with the highest earnings tend to be in New York City — the neighborhood of Sunset Park, Brooklyn, is tops in the state, doing almost twice the business of the second-place ZIP code, northwest Staten Island, according to lottery figures — that is because city neighborhoods are far denser than those upstate.
The proposal would also allow players as young as 18 to play Quick Draw in bars, even though they cannot legally drink there.
“The restrictions have proved cumbersome and unnecessary, and have substantially reduced the amount of earnings that would otherwise be generated by the game,” reads the governor’s memo.
Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz, a Brooklyn Democrat who chairs the Assembly’s Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Committee, warned in a statement that the age change could result in a generation of new addicts. About one million New Yorkers have already been identified as “problem gamblers,” he said, noting that Quick Draw has been called “video crack.”
"The Department of Defense on a regular basis does investigations into new technology," Harris said. "They invite groups that might be applicable and test in real world situations."
The point of the radar is essentially to allow people to see around corners and into areas where traditional radar cannot reach. That allows military users to both move and deploy with a greater knowledge of the type of situation they are entering. During the demonstration, the Spotter M600C was set up remotely on a tripod at the mouth of the harbor. Several vessels traveled into and around the harbor. The radar communicated movements to the military vessel about a mile away, giving sailors real-time detections on a map that displayed the location, distance and speed of the target.
"We were their remote eyes where they didn't have coverage," Harris said. "Ships have large radar dishes limited by line of sight areas without view. We were in a port area where the entrance wasn't visible."
The military ship was able to get the advance alerts needed and deploy to take care of the problem. According to Harris all a person would need is a small tripod and a radio along with the M600C radar.
"Warfighting needs are rapidly changing, and our interest is in looking at mature technologies and future capabilities that could be transitioned to fill an operational need sooner than later," Dale Shiflett, NECC's deputy assistant chief of staff for strategy and technology, said in a news release. "Using the Stiletto Maritime Demonstration Program allowed us to look at the realm of possibilities for new and improved technologies. What better way to do that, than to have both the warfighter and the system developers in the same environment using the systems and having discussions on how it could work better."
Brock Josephson, SpotterRF's team lead for the demonstration, said, "The M600C was very effective at detecting all vessels coming in and out of the harbor. The system even detected and tracked a drifting jet ski."
Weirdly, you switch into macro mode by turning a ring on the lens; it snaps into a new position. I ruined more than one great photo because the lens ring had accidentally wound up in macro mode.
Superwide shots are effortless, since the RX1 inherits the Sweep Panorama feature of Sony’s other models; as you swing the camera around you, pressing the shutter button, it snaps away, creating a 270-degree, automatically stitched, usually perfect panorama in real time.
Video is gorgeous, too: 1080p high definition with stereo sound. There’s a miniplug input for an external microphone, too.
Clearly, this camera is intended for professionals or nearly pros. It’s built like a tank, all metal, with markings etched and not just painted on. Its shutter is completely silent. Its hotshoe accommodates various expensive accessories, including optical or electronic viewfinders.
It offers every kind of manual control, and you can customize it to the hilt; its scene mode dial offers three positions for storing your own memorized settings. There’s an aperture adjustment ring right on the lens, and there’s a dedicated exposure knob on the top.
Unfortunately, there are also some aspects that will drive you crazy. Focusing can be slow — in low light, really slow; as a result, this isn’t a great camera for sports, pets or children. There’s no stabilization for still photos, either. And you can’t play back stills and videos consecutively. You have to dive into the menus to switch from one form of playback to the other. That’s common to other recent Sony cameras, and it’s idiotic.
As the state has sought to profit more from the game, the Legislature has lifted most of the original restrictions, allowing it to expand from restaurants and bowling alleys to bars and large stores, and authorizing play almost around the clock.
The remaining restrictions prohibit businesses that do not serve alcohol from offering Quick Draw unless they occupy more than 2,500 square feet, and require players to be 21 years old in venues serving alcohol. (In other states, the minimum age is 18.) Removing those rules would allow small stores to offer Quick Draw, and would be likely to generate more sales in New York City, where per capita revenues are low compared with the rest of the state.
While the ZIP codes with the highest earnings tend to be in New York City — the neighborhood of Sunset Park, Brooklyn, is tops in the state, doing almost twice the business of the second-place ZIP code, northwest Staten Island, according to lottery figures — that is because city neighborhoods are far denser than those upstate.
The proposal would also allow players as young as 18 to play Quick Draw in bars, even though they cannot legally drink there.
“The restrictions have proved cumbersome and unnecessary, and have substantially reduced the amount of earnings that would otherwise be generated by the game,” reads the governor’s memo.
Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz, a Brooklyn Democrat who chairs the Assembly’s Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Committee, warned in a statement that the age change could result in a generation of new addicts. About one million New Yorkers have already been identified as “problem gamblers,” he said, noting that Quick Draw has been called “video crack.”
2011年6月8日星期三
Advanced Air Purifier Reduces Indoor Allergens by 99%
Hospitals, nursery schools, and other high-traffic indoor spaces have been acting as quiet proving grounds for an advanced new form of air purification. These are normally the kinds of places where germs, allergens and airborne toxins flourish. That's soon going to be a thing of the past.
A consumer version of this same technology is now available to home and small-business owners. "It's going to change the way people live in their homes," says Dr. Edward F. Group, an expert on green lifestyle and technology and innovative developer of organic and natural dietary supplements.
The Guardian Air REME+ air purifier silently generates Ionized Hydro-Peroxides, like in nature, which circulate throughout the home, instantly neutralizing impurities in the air and surfaces on contact.
The Guardian Air REME+ (Reflective Electro Magnetic Energy) whole house air purification system is small enough to hold in your hand, has no moving parts, and installs into any central HVAC duct in minutes. The invisible particles it creates actively seek out contaminants, making a single unit powerful enough to easily purify an entire home or small office.
Independent testing has shown a 97% reduction in airborne bacteria, and a 99% reduction in E. coli, Listeria, Streptococcus, and MRSA 'super staph.' Its ability to control airborne mold has led the US Military to adopt it for use in field hospitals, and inner city schools have reported a 20% decrease in student absences following its installation.
"I have researched the majority of the air purification systems on the market and there's simply nothing else out there as advanced and affordable as the Guardian Air REME+ air purification system, every home and office in the world should have one," says Dr. Group.
Dr. Edward F. Group III has studied environmentally friendly methods for more than two decades. He is the creator of Oxy-Powder® and the founder of Global Healing Center. Under his leadership, Global Healing Center has earned recognition as one of the most respected green living, natural and organic health authorities in the world.
A consumer version of this same technology is now available to home and small-business owners. "It's going to change the way people live in their homes," says Dr. Edward F. Group, an expert on green lifestyle and technology and innovative developer of organic and natural dietary supplements.
The Guardian Air REME+ air purifier silently generates Ionized Hydro-Peroxides, like in nature, which circulate throughout the home, instantly neutralizing impurities in the air and surfaces on contact.
The Guardian Air REME+ (Reflective Electro Magnetic Energy) whole house air purification system is small enough to hold in your hand, has no moving parts, and installs into any central HVAC duct in minutes. The invisible particles it creates actively seek out contaminants, making a single unit powerful enough to easily purify an entire home or small office.
Independent testing has shown a 97% reduction in airborne bacteria, and a 99% reduction in E. coli, Listeria, Streptococcus, and MRSA 'super staph.' Its ability to control airborne mold has led the US Military to adopt it for use in field hospitals, and inner city schools have reported a 20% decrease in student absences following its installation.
"I have researched the majority of the air purification systems on the market and there's simply nothing else out there as advanced and affordable as the Guardian Air REME+ air purification system, every home and office in the world should have one," says Dr. Group.
Dr. Edward F. Group III has studied environmentally friendly methods for more than two decades. He is the creator of Oxy-Powder® and the founder of Global Healing Center. Under his leadership, Global Healing Center has earned recognition as one of the most respected green living, natural and organic health authorities in the world.
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