Two Overland Park businessmen are charged with computer crimes



Johnson County prosecutors filed felony charges against three men — two of whom are Overland Park businessmen — with several counts of computer crimes and theft.

Kenneth Opstein and Overland Park businessmen Grant Wilms and Hermann Wilms were arrested Thursday and each was held on a $1 million bond.

Johnson County Prosecutor Steve Howe alleged that the three men ran ASP Inc. and National Healthcare Discount, which drew money from the bank accounts of several elderly people without their permission.

State govs saying 'No thanks' to mystery laptops

Even during the difficult budgetary situation of the times, proving a growing handful of governors to pay attention to laptops, which have shown in their offices this month, accept unsolicited.

Officials in West Virginia, Vermont, Wyoming and the United States have reported receiving the state of Washington, between three and five laptop computers, each in two separate feeds - but nobody should be ordering any of them.

"They immediately raised a red flag," says Matt Turner, spokesman for West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin. "Nobody said, 'Hey, we have a gift."

The laptops were from Hewlett-Packard or Compaq from its mark. Major PC manufacturers in the world took a load of at least one other state, according to a bulletin of the National Association of Governors in response to suspicious shipments delivered.

"HP is aware that fraudulent orders state government had recently spent a small amount of HP hardware. HP has provided prompt remedial measures for the fraudulent purchase orders and works with the police personnel on the criminal investigation "The Palo Alto, California - express company in a statement, a further decline.

Hewlett-Packard has signed contracts to supply computer hardware, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming.

The warning also said the National Governors Association, laptops Vermont have been issued with a credit card on behalf of Governor Jim Douglas has been - but it was not really considered Douglas received or issued by this state .

Officials in Washington and Wyoming, said the computer had been purchased with credit cards, account numbers did not match any in the possession of these countries. West Virginia State Police Sgt. Mike T. Baylous refused to comment on how the phones were delivered in May, he was paid.

"The state police and FBI are working together on why these computers were sent to West Virginia to access," said Thursday Baylous.

Agent Jay Bartholomew, the senior supervisor of the FBI agent in Charleston, declined to comment Thursday.

Frank Dorman, a spokesman for the Federal Trade Commission, who said beware of identity theft and other fraud, the Agency has not heard of such a case, and asked who would benefit.

But government officials were also on what might be hidden in the affected laptops.

"I do not know what, but I guess we do not receive this as a goodwill gesture," said Kyle Schafer, West Virginia's Chief Technology Officer. "We take very strong measures to protect us from the outside world."

Following the review, none of the offices of the governor of one of the machines running. Instead, they either returned or she gave to police.

"After the first shipment arrived, we realized they had erred and has begun the process to return to the company," said Cara Eastwood, spokeswoman Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal. "When we heard the second show, we're not on the investigators. "

West Virginia has been particularly susceptible to potential fraud.

Earlier this year, someone ran to 475,000 $ on the phone a licensing authority to state the bill after they have been unduly restricted in his conference call codes online account. The State Auditor was created in the diversion of nearly $ 2 million for the sellers in bank accounts from which to say that scientists are mistaken for a Kenyan, a network of fraud.


Internet Archive stares down Google book mine

Google Books Settlement Con As part of its ongoing campaign against the book of 125 million U.S. dollars from Google pact scanning, Internet Archive, Peter Brantley has warned that even if the authors opt-out service from Google Book Search web giants have continued the power of their wealth Data Book for use in other services.

"It's a value to [the integrity of the digital collection of books from Google]. It is something we have to believe that scientists and researchers to think: if they want to transfer this unique collection must complete a single enterprise, "Brantley said Friday at a conference devoted to the colony of Google Books in the University of California, Berkeley.

"Authors can retire from work [] Google Book Search. But Google will not use yet in a position to take this work in many cases, for integration into other products like Google Maps and others who rely on the diversity of knowledge in this books instead.

"As owner, I can not my book from all the data on the use only, and even if I my book, my purpose is to display] always [corpus of data."

In October, Google has launched an action brought by the Authors Guild and digitize settled the American Association of American Publishers over Book Search project, a project to books in the libraries of the world. The pact creates a "book, which can solve the rights of the firm" authors and publishers of copyright claims in exchange for a predetermined reduction in revenue from Google.

Brantley and many others have complained that allows the regulation also has a scanning single Google to sell ads and help check against the "orphan works" books, the rights of authors and publishers not yet removed. But only one of Brantley concerns about the pact, which still requires court approval.

The regulation applies not only to give Google a monopoly around the online booking of orphan works. It would be the company the opportunity to free myself (the data within the 10 million pounds and counting), he scanned - including books, the rights of authors and publishers have chosen to place Google Book Search.

Under the settlement, Google has synchronized access to others at least a portion of their collective data structure - the "body of research - from the inside of the two American libraries. Yes, only two. And the company could prevent others from use of the data, what he sees as competing services.

Dan Clancy, director of engineering at Google Book Search, said that Google would just crack on services, with the latest offerings from Google, no future competing offers. But Google will decide what is in the competition and what is not.

Clancy, however, warned that if the scheme was rejected, only Google has access to that body. This is a double-edged sword for Google book deal with. If approved, Google has an enormous amount of control over the future of digital book. And if it is rejected, the company has still a large amount of control. What we need is a federal law that is) with these (and many other topics. And that's what Brantley claims.

Mediacom residential high-speed Internet service getting faster



Mediacom Communications is its residential customers for high speed Internet services to promote, accelerate downloads by 50 per cent from 1 September, a statement the company said.

Customers with Mediacom Online will automatically increase the download speed as it had previously risen to eight megabits per second to reach 12 Mbit / s to be defined. Download speed will be doubled from 512 Kbps to 1 Mbps.

Consumers who subscribe to Mediacom Internet Video Phone, win a trip to increase by 50 percent, a jump from 10 Mbps to 15 Mbps download speed with download speeds of 1 Mbps.

"Speed is the asset, and our commitment is always the most high-speed Internet into homes and businesses in the areas we serve to provide," said Ed Pardini, Senior Vice President of North Central Division of Mediacom.

"Download a person, a 30-MEG-file software will be, will wait approximately three minutes, with the most frequently offered 1.5 Mbps DSL connection from the phone company. For comparison: the file in just 25 seconds with 12 meg service Internet Mediacom Online Download.

Since 2005, Mediacom has revved its Internet speeds of up to four times and added an option max by Mediacom Online gamers and other users of the bandwidth is very popular.

Mediacom Max offers download speeds of up to 20 Mbps and download speeds of 2 Mbps.

"We are always investing in our fiber optic network to meet the needs of broadband consumers who regularly visit the Internet to download an ever-increasing amount of information, entertainment video and online tools that really speed requiring a high service, "Pardini said." This trend is not thin, it is only to grow, and we see see that in how people use the Internet at high speed, the consequences The most important of a favorite TV series or video clips of the latest social networking sites Download now. "

In addition, the Internet makes it faster for consumers to share large files, music and videos or play games online, Mediacom 12 Mbps and 15 Mbps on-line VIP service with optimized access automatic free content for high speed downloads Send ahead. The content includes live streaming ESPN360 competition for sports fans, Disney Connection and answers Iceland places of learning for children, ABC News Now broadband


New technology can beam up talent

BRISTOL, Conn. — ESPN beamed a hologram of anchor Bob Ley into a chair alongside anchor Chris Berman and executive vice president of technology Chuck Pagano here Thursday to demonstrate "Ultimate Interview" technology launching next spring.

After Ley's hologram bantered with his colleagues, the real-life anchor strolled into the room and took his seat.

"This is an example of the cutting edge technology that will save us so much money on airfare for the World Cup," joked Ley.

ESPN uses "EA Virtual Playbook" technology in NFL shows. The new 3D technology could be used on any telecast, said Anthony Bailey, ESPN vice president of emerging technology.

For example, holograms of on-air talent could be projected to an NBA court to interview Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers. Similarly, Alex Rodriguez, while still on the field at Yankee Stadium, could be projected as a hologram to the set of SportsCenter.

Omnivision Technologies -Earnings Call Transcript

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to our fiscal 2010 first quarter earnings conference call. Just after the close of market today, Omnivision issued an earnings release reporting our financial results for our first quarter. You can access this release from the investor relations section of our website at ovt.com.

Please be advised that this call is being webcast live and is also being recorded for playback purposes. Both the live webcast and the replay can also be accessed from the investor relations section of our website.

Before we begin, we wish to remind you that certain information discussed in this call, in particular our revenues, earnings targets and our forward-looking product plans is based on information as of today August 27, 2009 and contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those set forth in such statements.

For a discussion of these risks and uncertainties, you should review the forward-looking statements disclosure in the earnings release we issued to today as well as Omnivision's SEC filings including our annual report on Form 10-K for fiscal 2009 and our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and other reports filed from time to time.

During this call we will discuss GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation between the two is available in our earnings release posted on our website.

With that, I will now turn the call over to Omnivision's President and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Shaw Hong.

Shaw Hong

I would like to welcome everyone who is participating in our call today. Joining me today are Anson Chan, our CFO, Ray Cisneros, our VP of Sales and Bruce Wyer our VP of Marketing.

I will begin the call with an overview of our results for the quarter and then provide our thoughts on the overall status of the image sensor market, the trends we see in the market and within that trend, our competitive positioning, and lastly our commitment to customers as an integral part of meeting demands and the trends of the market.

I'll ask Ray to present an overview of sales activity and outlook followed by Bruce who will discuss our recent product introductions. Finally, Anson will discuss detailed financial results for the first quarter and provide our outlook for the second quarter of fiscal 2010. We will conclude as usual by answering as many of your questions as time permits.

We are pleased to report fiscal 2010 first quarter revenues of $105.6 million representing sequential growth of 19% as compared to the fourth quarter of 2009. Gross margins also improved sequentially from 17% in the fourth quarter to 22.4% for this quarter. Our net loss was $0.19 per share and our non-GAAP net loss was $0.08 per share.

We experienced revenue growth across all of our markets consistent with general improvements in the demand for consumer electronics. In particular, we saw strength in the mobile phone and notebook markets and introductions in the back-to-school Netbook sales drew consumer spending.

More importantly, and Ray and Bruce will expand on this, we are excited by the wide range of our recent consumer product introductions and we are encouraged by the overall market demand for our products as reflected in booking trends.

Our first quarter performance also included a number of positive metrics which demonstrate that our operating strategy supporting our competitive position is well aligned with the demands and trends of the market.

As we know, mobile communications and the imaging technology continue to transform the lives of millions of people around the world, changing the way we work, how we play and how we interact with those around us. Facebook and U-tube have given us new methods for managing our lives and memories.

These and other consumer applications will continue to drive the need for advanced image capture technology in many formats. According to a report published in June by TSR, the number of image sensor units shipped is expected to almost double from 1.4 billion per year in 2009 to approximately 2.4 billion per year in 2013.

Singularity taps students' technology ideas

The inaugural graduates of Singularity University, a Silicon Valley school backed by NASA, Google Inc., and tech industry luminaries like Ray Kurzweil, unveiled their grand visions on Thursday for leveraging emerging technologies to solve humanity's great challenges

Before a filled conference room at NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, the students faced the dual pressures of presenting what were both final class projects for the faculty on hand, as well as business pitches to the venture capitalists and business leaders in attendance. Most, if not all, of the four teams hope to secure the funding necessary to transform their ideas into viable ventures.

The stated mission of the unaccredited university, founded in 2008, is to foster leaders who will build on rapid advances in and convergence across areas like biotechnology, supercomputing, nanotechnology and robotics to address intractable problems.

"It is only the scale of these exponentially growing technologies that has the ability to address the major challenges of humanity, whether it's energy and the environment, or poverty and disease," said Kurzweil, a renowned futurist and author of "The Singularity Is Near."

During the nine-week interdisciplinary graduate studies program, the 40 students were asked to develop projects that could help 1 billion people within 10 years. The individuals divided themselves into four teams focused on different challenges.
Four teams

Team Xidar Global Disaster Response developed new systems to facilitate communications in the aftermath of a disaster, including smart phone applications that provide GPS-based evacuation guidance or relay vital signs from "eTriage" bracelets.

"We're calling for an entirely new communication architecture," said Christian Tom, 22, who recently graduated from Stanford.

Lest it all seem pie in the sky, he noted the team members are in the process of incorporating a company and applying for patents.

Team Domus 3D Printing presented a plan to scale up advances in 3-D printing technologies, already employed to create miniature prototypes of buildings and consumer products, to create the actual components of affordable housing from materials like cement or polymers.

Team One Global Voice devised a text message-based information sharing system that enables marketplaces, job boards and other means of accelerating economic development in developing countries.

Finally, Team Gettaround proposed an "intelligent transportation grid" that would make vehicle use safer and more efficient by using censors and cell phones to provide real-time travel updates, enabling owners to rent their autos when they're not using them and, eventually, taking advantage of "autonomous" or self-driving vehicles.
40 top students

The 40 students - some recent college graduates, some the chief executives of existing companies - were accepted into the course from a field of more than a thousand applicants. Their bios are rife with advanced degrees from Harvard, MIT, Stanford and the like.

The university's board of trustees include: Kurzweil; Peter Diamandis, CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation, which awards multimillion-dollar prizes to organizations that achieve breakthroughs in genomics, energy, medicine and other fields; and Robert Richards, the founder of Odyssey Moon Ltd., which is attempting to commercialize trips to the moon.

Subsequent graduate programs at Singularity University will include around 120 students. Tuition is $25,000. The school is also gearing up to offer three- and nine-day executive programs, limited to 25 and 50 individuals, respectively.

Margo Lipstin, 23, a Team Domus member who studied the ethics of science at Stanford, said she was drawn to Singularity University because of its emphasis on real life applications. Technology is developing so rapidly and changing the world so dramatically that it's no longer possible to separate ideas from practice, she said.

"The theories are very powerful and we need to understand what values they espouse, and what is the vision for the world we're trying to reach with them," she said.