GLAMOURS NEWS

Sony Pictures has threatened Twitter with legal action unless it removes confidential material stolen from the movie company’s computers that someone has posted on the social networking site.

The threat is the latest fallout from the hacking of the  movie studio, which US officials have blamed on North Korea.
A group calling itself “Guardians of Peace” took credit for infiltrating Sony’s computer systems in retribution for plans to release the film “The Interview”, which mocked North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.
The hackers destroyed numerous Sony computer files and  published several embarrassing emails containing unflattering remarks about movie stars and confidential celebrity pay information.

Some of that material now has been posted on Twitter, said an attorney for Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE), David Boies, in a December 22 letter to the company’s lawyer, demanding that it be removed.
In the letter addressed to Twitter’s general counsel Vijaya Gadde, Boies asked that the Twitter account be suspended.

If the company fails to comply, Boies wrote, “SPE will have no choice but to hold Twitter responsible for any damage or loss arising from such use or dissemination by Twitter, including any damages or loss to SPE or others, and including, but not limited to, any loss of value of intellectual property and trade secrets resulting from Twitter’s actions.”
Meanwhile, in a separate development, some 250 independent movie theater owners expressed “solidarity” with Sony Pictures on the change.org website.

The art house cinema owners “reaffirm clearly our dedication to the value of freedom and the absolute necessity to keep our film industry free of restriction, censorship and violent intimidation,” they wrote, encouraging independent movie houses to dare to show the film.

Just last week, Hollywood star George Clooney slammed the industry for failing to stand up against the cyber threats that ultimately led Sony Pictures to cancel The Interview’s planned Christmas Day release.
No one, the actor said, was brave enough to sign the petition, fearing that doing so could make them vulnerable to a hacking attack like the one that befell Sony.

To put this in perspective, Chengdu's New Century Global Center is big enough to house 20 Sydney Opera Houses.
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Chengdu's New Century Global Center
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
New Century Global Center is the 'largest freestanding building in the world'
Mega-structure capable of housing 20 Sydney Opera Houses
Attractions include an IMAX cinema, water park and luxury retail outlets
(CNN) -- The superlatives in China continue -- the latest symbol of China's "bigger is much, much better" ethos is open for business.

Located in Chengdu (population 14 million), capital of Sichuan province in southwestern China, the New Century Global Center is the "largest freestanding building in the world," Chinese officials say.

Though the words "world's largest" usually bring to mind an image of a towering skyscraper, this project actually isn't all that tall. But it's certainly big.

At 500 meters long, 400 meters wide and 100 meters high, the 1.7-million-square-meter mega-structure is capable of housing 20 Sydney Opera Houses and almost three times the size of the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

The Global Center, which opened June 28, is home to business offices, hotels, movie theaters, shopping malls, a faux Mediterranean village and family-themed attractions such as a water park called Paradise Island.

The New Century Global Center is located in an entirely new planned area of Chengdu called Tainfu New District.

Chengdu is also currently expanding its subway line and plans to construct a new airport by 2020, further suggesting official ambitions to make the city an economic and cultural capital of western China.

From June 6-8, Chengdu hosted this year's Fortune Global Forum, an annual invite-only event featuring chairs, presidents, and CEOs of the world's largest companies.

According to Xinhua, China's official state media, by the end of 2012 Chengdu's GDP had hit 800 billion RMB (US$130.48 billion).

Beginning at about 9 a.m. ET Thursday, the country's largest financial institutions will endure a large-scale coordinated cyberattack, the likes of which we've never seen.
Good thing it's just a drill.
About 50 institutions -- including banks like JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) and Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) -- will participate in the exercise, called "Quantum Dawn 2." Several government agencies, including the U.S. Treasury, will observe the drill.
The idea is to simulate what would happen if hackers penetrated certain systems in financial companies and agencies. If breached, infections could, in theory impact the entire gamut of the sector from exchanges to brokerages to insurance companies.
The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), a trade group, will orchestrate the exercise. The simulated attack will run from 9 a.m. to about 3 p.m. today, crunching about two and a half days worth of faux attacks those hours. No real systems or accounts will be impacted during the simulation.
Related story: Easy ways to keep your online accounts safe
To take part in the drills, each of the participating institutions will be running software developed by Cyber Strategies, a Northfield, Vt., firm that specializes in making cyber exercise software for financial institutions.
Karl Schimmeck, SIFMA's vice president of financial services operations, declined to share specifics of what exactly the simulated threats would look like, but similar drills in the past have looked like a giant, computerized version of roleplaying game Dungeons and Dragons.
Mandiant: Cyber espionage is the new normal
An employee sitting at his desk might get a prompt saying, "this bank is having integrity issues with money," or "you cant make trades over this technical system." The employee then might role-play talking to an FBI agent -- likely an actual one enlisted to help with the drill, said Dave Aitel, CEO of the security firm Immunity, who formerly worked as a research scientist for the National Security Agency.
Institutions will have the opportunity to practice sharing information with one another during the drill to help navigate through the threats, Schimmeck said.
Related story: cyberattacks are the bank robberies of the future
The financial sector is hoping to prepare itself for a massive, disruptive attack -- a growing concern lately, as "hacktivists," organized cybercriminals and government-spnosored attacks become increasingly large and successful. Though still a far-off doomsday scenario, some security industry experts say the financial sector is vulnerable to cyber-terrorists aiming to damage the U.S. economy.
In a digitized world, every sector needs to worry about cyber breaches, but the financial sector is in a "uniquely bad position," said Aitel. That's because banks and other financial institutions have to do deal with money flows in real time, with markets hanging in the balance.
"Our industry has been the target of many attacks over the past year, and it's important that we stay one step ahead," said Schimmeck.
SIFMA said that Thursday's drills attracted twice the number of financial institutions that participated in first Quantum Dawn exercise, held in 2011.
Though some skeptical security experts dismissed Quantum Dawn as a PR stunt, SIFMA said the first run was useful in uncovering flaws in the industry's cyberattack protocols. The trade group found that banks were largely good at sharing information with one another, but bad at making real-time critical decisions for mitigating the threats.
This time around, banks are hoping to improve their performance and discover new vulnerabilities.
"The banks won't answer all of their questions," said Aitel. "But they will learn more about what kinds of questions they need to ask."

Where are the video bloggers raising questions about Samsung's decline?
Fanny Schlatter, 18, with bandaged thigh and burned-out Galaxy S3
FORTUNE -- Did you miss the report Monday about the Samsung Galaxy S3 that caught fire in the pants pocket of a Swiss teenager, sending out shoulder-high flames and inflicting second- and third-degree burns on her right thigh?
I'm not surprised. These things can happen in any device powered by lithium-ion batteries, and the news of such incidents tends to fly under the radar.
Unless, of course, the device that catches fire is made by Apple (AAPL). Then -- whether it's an iPod in Japan, a MacBook in California or an iPhone in Finland -- the Internet lights up like a Christmas tree and doomsday pundits start weighing in.
Take, for example, this Your Gadget Guide video from last March titled "Apple iPhone 5 Catches Fire - Apple Going Downhill?

Keypads on screen and video cameras are among the latest features
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Personal Banking
The great credit card takeaway
The bank branch of the future?
Collapsed Lloyds' Co-op deal and you
Financial action plan when moving abroad
There are 66,134 cash machines in operation across the UK - an all-time high - yet they have changed little since they first appeared on the High Street in 1967.
As payment methods move digital, so cash machines will need to develop from the terminals that we have all become used to, experts say.
The main challenge comes from the smartphone. Mobile banking allows customers to check balances, organise transfers, make swift payments between friends in restaurants or pay the local tradesman.
The answer from the industry, it appears, is to make the cash machine more like a smartphone.
A recent cash machine jamboree in London featured a host of prototype terminals that had the look, and feel, of oversized smartphones or tablet computer.

Laser surgery for varicose veins
4 February 2013 Last updated at 12:35 GMT Help
Painful and unsightly, varicose veins affect around a third of people in the UK.
Traditional surgical treatment which strips out veins means having a general anaesthetic, staying in hospital overnight, followed by several weeks of recovery time.
Laser surgery is much less invasive and works by heat-sealing damaged veins from the inside. Patients can be back on their feet and return home the same day.
Health Check's Dr Ayan Panja reports.

Nokia suggests the Lumia 1020 "reinvents" the way smartphones handle zoom
Continue reading the main story

Dawn of computational photography
Nokia unveils slimmer top-end phone
Nokia phone gets Whatsapp button
Nokia has unveiled a new handset with a 41 megapixel sensor which it claims can record "details never thought possible from a smartphone".
It says consumers will be able to zoom in and reframe their photos without worrying about the image quality suffering.
Analysts who have tested the device said that it was "without doubt" the best smartphone camera on the market.
But they added that was not a guarantee that it would be a bestseller.
Market research firm IDC recently carried out a survey of smartphone owners in 25 countries to identify what factors were most likely to drive future purchases.
The results placed camera resolution 15th on a list of 23 features. Audio quality for voice, battery life, device security and browsing came top of the poll.
"Most people just look at their photos on their smartphone or via a social network on a computer - and for this the other vendors already provide very good quality," Francisco Jeronimo, a mobile phone analyst at the firm, told the BBC.
"Nokia needs to convince consumers that this new handset outperforms others in low-light conditions, otherwise they would only really notice the difference if they zoomed in on the images on a large screen or printed out a poster.
The Lumia 1020 allows owners to adjust focus, shutter speed and white balance via a new user interface
"It may be the best smartphone out there but I doubt it will be enough to convince many users to jump platform from Android or iOS which accounted for 92% of global shipments in the last quarter ."

-According to the times of India launches online search giant Google a new ad format ,called product listing Ads,in India to provide uses information like images,price and brands of products that will help people shop better both online and offline.

This ad format will help uses easily find the complete relevant products and their prices to fine out what they are looking for the statement said.
Product listing Ads are a great opportunity for merchant to present their business and promote their products to interested shoppers as well it added.