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6/30/11
Myspace to Be Sold to Specific Media for $35 Million
Thx AllThingsD:
Closing another chapter on one of the Internet’s most iconic properties, Myspace has been sold to to Specific Media, an advertising network, for $35 million.
Sources close to the situation said the deal is being completed today, although it has not been officially signed. Myspace’s owner, News Corp., will hold on to a very small stake of less than five percent.
[UPDATE: It's official; see the press release and memo to Myspace employees from outgoing CEO Mike Jones below.]
AllThingsD broke news of Specific’s interest in Myspace yesterday.
The price is well below the $100 million that News Corp. had been hoping for, and a chasm away from Myspace’s one-time billion valuation.
The deal includes a halving of Myspace’s staff of 400, as well as other cost cuts. It’s likely Jones and other top staff will remain only for an interim period.
News Corp. bought Myspace for $580 million in 2005, and made that back via a lucrative advertising deal with Google when the social networking site was flying high.
But that was another time — the media giant has been trying to sell the site before the end of its fiscal year, which falls on Thursday, in order to get it off the books.
There were several other bidders in the process, including separate efforts by the two co-founders of Myspace, Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson.
More recently, the preferred acquirer was a group that included Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, but it fell apart over a number of issues.
This week, it came down to Specific and also a private equity firm, Golden Gate Capital.
According to a report yesterday in The Wall Street Journal:
Founded in 1999 by Tim Vanderhook and his brothers Chris and Russell, Specific Media helps marketers buy digital ads across the Web, online video, mobile and even the TV. The Irvine, Calif., company got its start brokering ad space for websites and quickly moved into the fast-growing business of collecting and using Web browsing, demographic, geographic and other profile information about consumers to target ads. The company now ranks among the largest online advertising networks in the country, reaching 170.9 million unique U.S. visitors in May, or about 79% of the U.S. Internet users, according to comScore Inc.
A Myspace deal would give the company access to data about Myspace users to be used for ad targeting. It also would transform the firm into a media company with its own ad space to sell instead of simply an online ad technology firm that brokers ad space on behalf of other websites.
Specific Media’s executive team includes knowledge of the inner-workings at Myspace, with two executives who previously worked at Fox Audience Network, News Corp.’s online advertising unit that sold ads for Myspace.
Specific Media has raised more than $110 million in funding, closing a $100 million round of financing from private-equity firm Francisco Partners in 2007. Since then, the company has acquired a couple of digital advertising companies, including online video company Broadband Enterprises and an Amsterdam ad technology company.
Here is the official press release and the memo to Myspace staff from Jones:
From: Mike Jones
Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2011 11:26 AM
To: Myspace All
Subject: IMPORTANT COMPANY NEWS
Importance: High
Myspacers,
Today, we are announcing that Myspace will be acquired by Specific Media, one of the world’s leading online media and advertising platforms. Over the next few days you will be hearing from the team at Specific, including their CEO, Tim Vanderhook, regarding their exciting plans for Myspace and how it fits in with the overall vision of their company.
In conjunction with the deal, we are conducting a series of restructuring initiatives, including a significant reduction in our workforce. I will assist Specific with the transition over the next two months before departing my role as Myspace CEO.
I wanted to take a minute to thank you all for the incredible experience it has been to lead this company and to work closely with all of you over the past several years. While I regret we won’t be working together at Myspace any longer, I am very proud of the work we have done here and believe we have performed with excellence — even under extremely difficult circumstances.
My time here at Myspace represents the most engaging and challenging time of my professional career. I have found our team to be comprised of the best people I have come across in our industry.
You can read the press release below. Once again, thank you for all of your hard work and dedication.
Thanks,
-M
SPECIFIC MEDIA ACQUIRES MYSPACE FROM NEWS CORPORATION
Los Angeles, Calif. — June 29, 2011 — Specific Media, a digital media company, today announced it has acquired Myspace from News Corporation. As part of the agreement, News Corporation will take a minority equity stake in Specific Media. Additional terms of the agreement are confidential and will not be disclosed.
“Myspace is a recognized leader that has pioneered the social media space. The company has transformed the ways in which audiences discover, consume and engage with content online,” said Tim Vanderhook, Specific Media CEO. “There are many synergies between our companies as we are both focused on enhancing digital media experiences by fueling connections with relevance and interest. We look forward to combining our platforms to drive the next generation of digital innovation.”
Specific Media is an innovative global interactive media company that enables advertisers to connect with consumers in meaningful, impactful and relevant ways. Founded in 1999 by brothers Tim, Chris and Russell Vanderhook, Specific Media is currently headquartered in Irvine, CA and operates offices around the world.
(Full disclosure: News Corp. owns Dow Jones, which owns this site.)
Closing another chapter on one of the Internet’s most iconic properties, Myspace has been sold to to Specific Media, an advertising network, for $35 million.
Sources close to the situation said the deal is being completed today, although it has not been officially signed. Myspace’s owner, News Corp., will hold on to a very small stake of less than five percent.
[UPDATE: It's official; see the press release and memo to Myspace employees from outgoing CEO Mike Jones below.]
AllThingsD broke news of Specific’s interest in Myspace yesterday.
The price is well below the $100 million that News Corp. had been hoping for, and a chasm away from Myspace’s one-time billion valuation.
The deal includes a halving of Myspace’s staff of 400, as well as other cost cuts. It’s likely Jones and other top staff will remain only for an interim period.
News Corp. bought Myspace for $580 million in 2005, and made that back via a lucrative advertising deal with Google when the social networking site was flying high.
But that was another time — the media giant has been trying to sell the site before the end of its fiscal year, which falls on Thursday, in order to get it off the books.
There were several other bidders in the process, including separate efforts by the two co-founders of Myspace, Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson.
More recently, the preferred acquirer was a group that included Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, but it fell apart over a number of issues.
This week, it came down to Specific and also a private equity firm, Golden Gate Capital.
According to a report yesterday in The Wall Street Journal:
Founded in 1999 by Tim Vanderhook and his brothers Chris and Russell, Specific Media helps marketers buy digital ads across the Web, online video, mobile and even the TV. The Irvine, Calif., company got its start brokering ad space for websites and quickly moved into the fast-growing business of collecting and using Web browsing, demographic, geographic and other profile information about consumers to target ads. The company now ranks among the largest online advertising networks in the country, reaching 170.9 million unique U.S. visitors in May, or about 79% of the U.S. Internet users, according to comScore Inc.
A Myspace deal would give the company access to data about Myspace users to be used for ad targeting. It also would transform the firm into a media company with its own ad space to sell instead of simply an online ad technology firm that brokers ad space on behalf of other websites.
Specific Media’s executive team includes knowledge of the inner-workings at Myspace, with two executives who previously worked at Fox Audience Network, News Corp.’s online advertising unit that sold ads for Myspace.
Specific Media has raised more than $110 million in funding, closing a $100 million round of financing from private-equity firm Francisco Partners in 2007. Since then, the company has acquired a couple of digital advertising companies, including online video company Broadband Enterprises and an Amsterdam ad technology company.
Here is the official press release and the memo to Myspace staff from Jones:
From: Mike Jones
Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2011 11:26 AM
To: Myspace All
Subject: IMPORTANT COMPANY NEWS
Importance: High
Myspacers,
Today, we are announcing that Myspace will be acquired by Specific Media, one of the world’s leading online media and advertising platforms. Over the next few days you will be hearing from the team at Specific, including their CEO, Tim Vanderhook, regarding their exciting plans for Myspace and how it fits in with the overall vision of their company.
In conjunction with the deal, we are conducting a series of restructuring initiatives, including a significant reduction in our workforce. I will assist Specific with the transition over the next two months before departing my role as Myspace CEO.
I wanted to take a minute to thank you all for the incredible experience it has been to lead this company and to work closely with all of you over the past several years. While I regret we won’t be working together at Myspace any longer, I am very proud of the work we have done here and believe we have performed with excellence — even under extremely difficult circumstances.
My time here at Myspace represents the most engaging and challenging time of my professional career. I have found our team to be comprised of the best people I have come across in our industry.
You can read the press release below. Once again, thank you for all of your hard work and dedication.
Thanks,
-M
SPECIFIC MEDIA ACQUIRES MYSPACE FROM NEWS CORPORATION
Los Angeles, Calif. — June 29, 2011 — Specific Media, a digital media company, today announced it has acquired Myspace from News Corporation. As part of the agreement, News Corporation will take a minority equity stake in Specific Media. Additional terms of the agreement are confidential and will not be disclosed.
“Myspace is a recognized leader that has pioneered the social media space. The company has transformed the ways in which audiences discover, consume and engage with content online,” said Tim Vanderhook, Specific Media CEO. “There are many synergies between our companies as we are both focused on enhancing digital media experiences by fueling connections with relevance and interest. We look forward to combining our platforms to drive the next generation of digital innovation.”
Specific Media is an innovative global interactive media company that enables advertisers to connect with consumers in meaningful, impactful and relevant ways. Founded in 1999 by brothers Tim, Chris and Russell Vanderhook, Specific Media is currently headquartered in Irvine, CA and operates offices around the world.
(Full disclosure: News Corp. owns Dow Jones, which owns this site.)
Open letter to BlackBerry bosses: Senior RIM exec tells all as company crumbles around him
thx BGR:
To the RIM Senior Management Team:
I have lost confidence.
While I hide it at work, my passion has been sapped. I know I am not alone — the sentiment is widespread and it includes people within your own teams.
Mike and Jim, please take the time to really absorb and digest the content of this letter because it reflects the feeling across a huge percentage of your employee base. You have many smart employees, many that have great ideas for the future, but unfortunately the culture at RIM does not allow us to speak openly without having to worry about the career-limiting effects.
Before I get into the meat of the matter, I will say I am not part of a large group of bitter employees wishing to embarrass us. Rather, I believe these points need to be heard and I desperately want RIM to regain its position as a successful industry leader. Our carriers, distributors, alliance partners, enterprise customers, and our loyal end users all want the same thing… for BlackBerry to once again be leading the pack.
We are in the middle of major “transition” and things have never been more chaotic. Almost every project is falling further and further behind schedule at a time when we absolutely must deliver great, solid products on time. We urge you to make bold decisions about our organisational structure, about our culture and most importantly our products.
While we anxiously wait to see the details of the streamlining plan, here are some suggestions:
1) Focus on the End User experience
Let’s obsess about what is best for the end user. We often make product decisions based on strategic alignment, partner requests or even legal advice — the end user doesn’t care. We simply have to admit that Apple is nailing this and it is one of the reasons they have people lining up overnight at stores around the world, and products sold out for months. These people aren’t hypnotized zombies, they simply love beautifully designed products that are user centric and work how they are supposed to work. Android has a major weakness — it will always lack the simplicity and elegance that comes with end-to-end device software, middleware and hardware control. We really have a great opportunity to build something new and “uniquely BlackBerry” with the QNX platform.
Let’s start an internal innovation revival with teams focused on what users will love instead of chasing “feature parity” and feature differentiation for no good reason (Adobe Flash being a major example). When was the last time we pushed out a significant new experience or feature that wasn’t already on other platforms?
Rather than constantly mocking iPhone and Android, we should encourage key decision makers across the board to use these products as their primary device for a week or so at a time — yes, on Exchange! This way we can understand why our users are switching and get inspiration as to how we can build our next-gen products even better! It’s incomprehensible that our top software engineers and executives aren’t using or deeply familiar with our competitor’s products.
2) Recruit Senior SW Leaders & enable decision-making
I’m going to say what everyone is thinking… We need some heavy hitters at RIM when it comes to software management. Teams still aren’t talking together properly, no one is making or can make critical decisions, all the while everyone is working crazy hours and still far behind. We are demotivated. Just look at who our major competitors are: Apple, Google & Microsoft. These are three of the biggest and most talented software companies on the planet. Then take a look at our software leadership teams in terms of what they have delivered and their past experience prior to RIM… It says everything.
3) Cut projects to the bone.
There is a serious need to consolidate our focus to just a handful of projects. Period.
We need to be disciplined here. We can’t afford any more initiatives based on carrier requests to squeeze out slightly more volume. Again, back to point #1, focus on the end users. They are the ones making both consumer & enterprise purchase decisions.
Strategy is often in the things you decide not to do.
On that note, we simply must stop shipping incomplete products that aren’t ready for the end user. It is hurting our brand tremendously. It takes guts to not allow a product to launch that may be 90% ready with a quarter end in sight, but it will pay off in the long term.
Look at Apple in 1997 for tips here. I really want you to watch this video because it has never been more relevant. It is our friend Steve Jobs in 97 and it may as well be you speaking to RIM employees and partners today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LEXae1j6EY
4) Developers, not Carriers can now make or break us
We urgently need to invest like we never have before in becoming developer friendly. The return will be worth every cent. There is no polite way to say this, but it’s true — BlackBerry smartphone apps suck. Even PlayBook, with all its glorious power, looks like a Fisher Price toy with its Adobe AIR/Flash apps.
Developing for BlackBerry is painful, and despite what you’ve been told, things haven’t really changed that much since Jamie Murai’s letter. Our SDK / development platform is like a rundown 1990′s Ford Explorer. Then there’s Apple, which has a shiny new BMW M3… just such a pleasure to drive. Developers want and need quality tools.
If we create great tools, we will see great work. Offer shit tools and we shouldn’t be surprised when we see shit apps.
The truth is, no one in RIM dares to tell management how bad our tools still are. Even our closest dev partners do their best to say it politely, but they will never bite the hand that feeds them. The solution? Recruit serious talent, buy SDK/API specialist companies, throw a truckload of money at it… Let’s do whatever it takes, and quickly!
5) Need for serious marketing punch to create end user desire
25 million iPad users don’t care that it doesn’t have Flash or true multitasking, so why make that a focus in our campaigns? I’ll answer that for you: it’s because that’s all that differentiates our products and its lazy marketing. I’ve never seen someone buy product B because it has something product A doesn’t have. People buy product B because they want and lust after product B.
Also an important note regarding our marketing: a product’s technical superiority does not equal desire, and therefore sales… How many Linux laptops are getting sold? How did Betamax go? My mother wants an iPad and iPhone because it is simple and appeals to her. Powerful multitasking doesn’t.
BlackBerry Messenger has been our standout, yet we wasted our marketing on strange stories from a barber shop to a horse wrangler. I promise you, this did nothing to help us in the mind of the average consumer.
We need an inventive and engaging campaign that focuses on what we are about. People buy into a brand / product not just because of features, but because of what it stands for and what it delivers to them. People don’t buy “what you do,” people buy “why you do it.” Take 3 minutes to watch the this video starting from the 2min mark: http://youtu.be/qp0HIF3SfI4
6) No Accountability – Canadians are too nice
RIM has a lot of people who underperform but still stay in their roles. No one is accountable. Where is the guy responsible for the 9530 software? Still with us, still running some important software initiative. We will never achieve excellence with this culture. Just because someone may have been a loyal RIM employee for 7 years, it doesn’t mean they are the best Manager / Director / VP for that role. It’s time to change the culture to deliver or move on and get out. We have far too many people in critical roles that fit this description. I can hear the cheers of my fellow employees now.
7) The press and analysts are pissing you off. Don’t snap. Now is the time for humility with a dash of paranoia.
The public’s questions about dual-CEOs are warranted. The partnership is not broken, but on the ground level, it is not efficient. Maybe we need our Eric Schmidt reign period.
Yes, four years ago we beat Microsoft when everyone said Windows Mobile with Direct Push in Exchange would kill us. It didn’t… in fact we grew stronger.
However, overconfidence clouds good decision-making. We missed not boldly reacting to the threat of iPhone when we saw it in January over four years ago. We laughed and said they are trying to put a computer on a phone, that it won’t work. We should have made the QNX-like transition then. We are now 3-4 years too late. That is the painful truth… it was a major strategic oversight and we know who is responsible.
Jim, in referring to our current transition recently said: “No other technology company other than Apple has successfully transitioned their platform. It’s almost never done, and it’s way harder than you realize. This transition is where tech companies go to die.”
To avoid this death, perhaps it is time to seriously consider a new, fresh thinking, experienced CEO. There is no shame in no longer being a CEO. Mike, you could focus on innovation. Jim, you could focus on our carriers/customers… They are our lifeblood.
8) Democratise. Engage and interact with your employees — please!
Reach out to all employees asking them on how we can make RIM better. Encourage input from ground-level teams—without repercussions—to seek out honest feedback and really absorb it.
Lastly, we’re all reading the news and many are extremely nervous, especially when we see people get fired. We need an injection of confidence: share your strategy and ask us for support. The headhunters have already started circling and we are at risk of losing our best people.
Now would be a great time to internally re-brand and re-energize the workplace. For example, rename the company to just “BlackBerry” to signify our new focus on one QNX product line. We should also address issues surrounding making RIM an enjoyable workplace. Some of our offices feel like Soviet-era government workplaces.
The timing is perfect to seriously evaluate at our position and make these major changes. We can do it!
Sincerely,
A RIM Employee
To the RIM Senior Management Team:
I have lost confidence.
While I hide it at work, my passion has been sapped. I know I am not alone — the sentiment is widespread and it includes people within your own teams.
Mike and Jim, please take the time to really absorb and digest the content of this letter because it reflects the feeling across a huge percentage of your employee base. You have many smart employees, many that have great ideas for the future, but unfortunately the culture at RIM does not allow us to speak openly without having to worry about the career-limiting effects.
Before I get into the meat of the matter, I will say I am not part of a large group of bitter employees wishing to embarrass us. Rather, I believe these points need to be heard and I desperately want RIM to regain its position as a successful industry leader. Our carriers, distributors, alliance partners, enterprise customers, and our loyal end users all want the same thing… for BlackBerry to once again be leading the pack.
We are in the middle of major “transition” and things have never been more chaotic. Almost every project is falling further and further behind schedule at a time when we absolutely must deliver great, solid products on time. We urge you to make bold decisions about our organisational structure, about our culture and most importantly our products.
While we anxiously wait to see the details of the streamlining plan, here are some suggestions:
1) Focus on the End User experience
Let’s obsess about what is best for the end user. We often make product decisions based on strategic alignment, partner requests or even legal advice — the end user doesn’t care. We simply have to admit that Apple is nailing this and it is one of the reasons they have people lining up overnight at stores around the world, and products sold out for months. These people aren’t hypnotized zombies, they simply love beautifully designed products that are user centric and work how they are supposed to work. Android has a major weakness — it will always lack the simplicity and elegance that comes with end-to-end device software, middleware and hardware control. We really have a great opportunity to build something new and “uniquely BlackBerry” with the QNX platform.
Let’s start an internal innovation revival with teams focused on what users will love instead of chasing “feature parity” and feature differentiation for no good reason (Adobe Flash being a major example). When was the last time we pushed out a significant new experience or feature that wasn’t already on other platforms?
Rather than constantly mocking iPhone and Android, we should encourage key decision makers across the board to use these products as their primary device for a week or so at a time — yes, on Exchange! This way we can understand why our users are switching and get inspiration as to how we can build our next-gen products even better! It’s incomprehensible that our top software engineers and executives aren’t using or deeply familiar with our competitor’s products.
2) Recruit Senior SW Leaders & enable decision-making
I’m going to say what everyone is thinking… We need some heavy hitters at RIM when it comes to software management. Teams still aren’t talking together properly, no one is making or can make critical decisions, all the while everyone is working crazy hours and still far behind. We are demotivated. Just look at who our major competitors are: Apple, Google & Microsoft. These are three of the biggest and most talented software companies on the planet. Then take a look at our software leadership teams in terms of what they have delivered and their past experience prior to RIM… It says everything.
3) Cut projects to the bone.
There is a serious need to consolidate our focus to just a handful of projects. Period.
We need to be disciplined here. We can’t afford any more initiatives based on carrier requests to squeeze out slightly more volume. Again, back to point #1, focus on the end users. They are the ones making both consumer & enterprise purchase decisions.
Strategy is often in the things you decide not to do.
On that note, we simply must stop shipping incomplete products that aren’t ready for the end user. It is hurting our brand tremendously. It takes guts to not allow a product to launch that may be 90% ready with a quarter end in sight, but it will pay off in the long term.
Look at Apple in 1997 for tips here. I really want you to watch this video because it has never been more relevant. It is our friend Steve Jobs in 97 and it may as well be you speaking to RIM employees and partners today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LEXae1j6EY
4) Developers, not Carriers can now make or break us
We urgently need to invest like we never have before in becoming developer friendly. The return will be worth every cent. There is no polite way to say this, but it’s true — BlackBerry smartphone apps suck. Even PlayBook, with all its glorious power, looks like a Fisher Price toy with its Adobe AIR/Flash apps.
Developing for BlackBerry is painful, and despite what you’ve been told, things haven’t really changed that much since Jamie Murai’s letter. Our SDK / development platform is like a rundown 1990′s Ford Explorer. Then there’s Apple, which has a shiny new BMW M3… just such a pleasure to drive. Developers want and need quality tools.
If we create great tools, we will see great work. Offer shit tools and we shouldn’t be surprised when we see shit apps.
The truth is, no one in RIM dares to tell management how bad our tools still are. Even our closest dev partners do their best to say it politely, but they will never bite the hand that feeds them. The solution? Recruit serious talent, buy SDK/API specialist companies, throw a truckload of money at it… Let’s do whatever it takes, and quickly!
5) Need for serious marketing punch to create end user desire
25 million iPad users don’t care that it doesn’t have Flash or true multitasking, so why make that a focus in our campaigns? I’ll answer that for you: it’s because that’s all that differentiates our products and its lazy marketing. I’ve never seen someone buy product B because it has something product A doesn’t have. People buy product B because they want and lust after product B.
Also an important note regarding our marketing: a product’s technical superiority does not equal desire, and therefore sales… How many Linux laptops are getting sold? How did Betamax go? My mother wants an iPad and iPhone because it is simple and appeals to her. Powerful multitasking doesn’t.
BlackBerry Messenger has been our standout, yet we wasted our marketing on strange stories from a barber shop to a horse wrangler. I promise you, this did nothing to help us in the mind of the average consumer.
We need an inventive and engaging campaign that focuses on what we are about. People buy into a brand / product not just because of features, but because of what it stands for and what it delivers to them. People don’t buy “what you do,” people buy “why you do it.” Take 3 minutes to watch the this video starting from the 2min mark: http://youtu.be/qp0HIF3SfI4
6) No Accountability – Canadians are too nice
RIM has a lot of people who underperform but still stay in their roles. No one is accountable. Where is the guy responsible for the 9530 software? Still with us, still running some important software initiative. We will never achieve excellence with this culture. Just because someone may have been a loyal RIM employee for 7 years, it doesn’t mean they are the best Manager / Director / VP for that role. It’s time to change the culture to deliver or move on and get out. We have far too many people in critical roles that fit this description. I can hear the cheers of my fellow employees now.
7) The press and analysts are pissing you off. Don’t snap. Now is the time for humility with a dash of paranoia.
The public’s questions about dual-CEOs are warranted. The partnership is not broken, but on the ground level, it is not efficient. Maybe we need our Eric Schmidt reign period.
Yes, four years ago we beat Microsoft when everyone said Windows Mobile with Direct Push in Exchange would kill us. It didn’t… in fact we grew stronger.
However, overconfidence clouds good decision-making. We missed not boldly reacting to the threat of iPhone when we saw it in January over four years ago. We laughed and said they are trying to put a computer on a phone, that it won’t work. We should have made the QNX-like transition then. We are now 3-4 years too late. That is the painful truth… it was a major strategic oversight and we know who is responsible.
Jim, in referring to our current transition recently said: “No other technology company other than Apple has successfully transitioned their platform. It’s almost never done, and it’s way harder than you realize. This transition is where tech companies go to die.”
To avoid this death, perhaps it is time to seriously consider a new, fresh thinking, experienced CEO. There is no shame in no longer being a CEO. Mike, you could focus on innovation. Jim, you could focus on our carriers/customers… They are our lifeblood.
8) Democratise. Engage and interact with your employees — please!
Reach out to all employees asking them on how we can make RIM better. Encourage input from ground-level teams—without repercussions—to seek out honest feedback and really absorb it.
Lastly, we’re all reading the news and many are extremely nervous, especially when we see people get fired. We need an injection of confidence: share your strategy and ask us for support. The headhunters have already started circling and we are at risk of losing our best people.
Now would be a great time to internally re-brand and re-energize the workplace. For example, rename the company to just “BlackBerry” to signify our new focus on one QNX product line. We should also address issues surrounding making RIM an enjoyable workplace. Some of our offices feel like Soviet-era government workplaces.
The timing is perfect to seriously evaluate at our position and make these major changes. We can do it!
Sincerely,
A RIM Employee
6/2/11
Sell a kidney, get an IPad -would you do it?
Some has done it, according to Shanghai Daily:
A 17-year-old student in Anhui Province sold one of his kidneys for 20,000 yuan only to buy an iPad 2. Now, with his health getting worse, the boy is feeling regret but it is too late, the Global Times reported today.
"I wanted to buy an iPad 2 but could not afford it," said the boy surnamed Zheng in Huaishan City. "A broker contacted me on the Internet and said he could help me sell one kidney for 20,000 yuan."
On April 28 Zheng went to Chenzhou City in neighboring Hunan Province for the kidney removal surgery arranged by the broker. His parents knew nothing about it, Zheng said. He was paid 22,000 yuan after his right kidney was taken out at the Chenzhou No. 198 Hospital.
When he returned home, his mother found out and reported to the police immediately. But they could not locate the broker whose cell phone was always powered off, the report said.
It turned out that the Chenzhou No. 198 Hospital was not qualified to perform organ transplant. The hospital claimed they had no idea about Zheng's surgery because the department that did the surgery had been contracted to a Fujian businessman.
The case is still under investigation, the report said.
DJ Mister Cee pleads guilty to bust; ordered to attend counseling
According to NY Post:
Popular Hot 97 radio deejay "Mister Cee" 'fessed up Wednesday to a penal code violation: receiving oral sex from another man in a parked car.
Cee, 44, whose real name is Calvin LeBrun, pleaded guilty to a charge of loitering for the purpose of engaging in a prostitution offense. He and his much younger companion, Lawrence Campbell, 20, were busted March 30 at 4 a.m. at Watts and West streets.
He was ordered to complete three months, or 12 sessions, of counseling with a doctor, officials said.
This was Cee's second conviction on the same charge. The music man was busted in lower Manhattan last Oct. 8 and pleaded guilty a month later, officials said.
Cee made a name for himself in the hip-hop world as Big Daddy Kane's deejay. He later produced "Ready to Die," Notorious B.I.G.'s first album.
On Hot 97, he hosts "Throwback at Noon," a classic hits hour. At the time of his arrest a station manager told the Daily News the allegations were untrue.
Station officials did not return calls after his guilty plea.
His lawyer also could not be reached for comment.
Campbell, 20, who had no previous criminal record, was given an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal - meaning that if he stays out of trouble for six months, the case will be cleared from his record, officials said.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2011/06/01/2011-06-01_dj_mister_cee_pleads_guilty_to_loitering_after_gay_oral_sex_bust_ordered_to_atte.html#ixzz1O7zAJk11
Popular Hot 97 radio deejay "Mister Cee" 'fessed up Wednesday to a penal code violation: receiving oral sex from another man in a parked car.
Cee, 44, whose real name is Calvin LeBrun, pleaded guilty to a charge of loitering for the purpose of engaging in a prostitution offense. He and his much younger companion, Lawrence Campbell, 20, were busted March 30 at 4 a.m. at Watts and West streets.
He was ordered to complete three months, or 12 sessions, of counseling with a doctor, officials said.
This was Cee's second conviction on the same charge. The music man was busted in lower Manhattan last Oct. 8 and pleaded guilty a month later, officials said.
Cee made a name for himself in the hip-hop world as Big Daddy Kane's deejay. He later produced "Ready to Die," Notorious B.I.G.'s first album.
On Hot 97, he hosts "Throwback at Noon," a classic hits hour. At the time of his arrest a station manager told the Daily News the allegations were untrue.
Station officials did not return calls after his guilty plea.
His lawyer also could not be reached for comment.
Campbell, 20, who had no previous criminal record, was given an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal - meaning that if he stays out of trouble for six months, the case will be cleared from his record, officials said.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2011/06/01/2011-06-01_dj_mister_cee_pleads_guilty_to_loitering_after_gay_oral_sex_bust_ordered_to_atte.html#ixzz1O7zAJk11
Dutch drugs 'ban': Why closing Amsterdam 'coffee shops' to tourists is a bad thing for the Netherlands
According to Daily Mail UK:
Earlier this week, the Netherlands announced plans for new regulations that effectively ban tourists from visiting the 'coffee shops' where drugs are openly smoked. Here, Priscilla Pollara assesses the pros and cons of such restrictions, and wonders whether - whatever your opinions on narcotics - this is the wisest of moves by the Dutch.
Posted by Priscilla Pollara, Travel Writer, TravelMail
To say they offer a 'unique' tourist experience would be to understate the facts.
Indeed, if someone had ever had the ingenious idea of planting a camera at the entrance to every Dutch 'coffeehouse', the aghast faces of all its unwitting visitors would undoubtedly have, by now, made for some entertaining viewing.
For most of us, coffee shops sell nothing more than over-sized caffeine drinks and the odd calorific pastry. Perhaps even a sandwich or two.
In the Netherlands, however, the term 'coffeehouse' is little more than a euphemism. For it is here where people (either first-time visitors or neighbourhood regulars) come to peruse, buy and/or enjoy a large selection of drugs. They are distinguishable from ordinary cafes by the subtle drug-innuendo artwork which adorns their exteriors.
The country's relaxed drug policy, which allows the sale of cannabis products in 'licensed venues', is the reason transactions of this type can take place. Born in 1970, coffeehouses quickly became a grand source of income – partly because the Dutch are said to enjoy only 'high-quality' narcotics, partly through sheer intrigue.
This week, however, the Dutch introduced a new set of anti-drugs laws which will see foreigners effectively banned from entering 'coffeehouses'. In the future, customers will be forced to sign up for a yearly membership – a 'dope pass' – if they want to gain entry. Each shop (there are 800 in total) will be allocated only 1500 of these passes in any 12-month period. These restrictions – a word so ironically used in conjunction with the famously liberal Holland – are due to come into play by the close of the year.
But is this a wise decision by the usually sage Dutch? Do they not now stand to endanger their all-important multi-million-pound tourist revenue?
The Netherlands has some enduring emblems. Edam cheese, orange football shirts and lemon-yellow wooden clogs for starters. And characteristic canals, veal 'krokets', windmills, kaleidoscopic tulip fields – and of course, heady brands of beer.
Drugs, however, also play a key part in Netherlands' image – as do the various red-light districts up and down this small country. Of course, it isn’t so much the substances or the lascivious acts themselves which are celebrated, more the infamy. And with it, the magnetic tourist pull that they have both have come to acquire.
The majority of us do not hail from places where corner shops freely sell cannabis – instead of the ordinary croissant – behind attractive glass-display cabinets. Few of us see scantily-clad women, enticing passers-by from shop windows, on a daily basis.
Yet while these may be a tiny detail in the make-up of the Netherlands, for some Dutch citizens they are as nationally symbolic as their abundant cheeses and bicycles.
What is undeniable is that – whether one dabbles in coffee shops and the ‘exotic’ nightlife – or find yourself repulsed by the whole spectacle – both aspects have served the Netherlands' economy well. They are part of the DNA of the likes of Amsterdam and Rotterdam, contributing to a schizophrenic appeal that makes these cities perfect both for couples seeking romantic walks or men on an alcoholic stag-do.
The Dutch claim the new regulations 'will put an end to the nuisance and criminality associated with coffee shops and drugs trafficking'.
But won't the banning of foreigners from coffee shops simply encourage the growth of a thriving black market? And after years of standing out from the crowd, do the Dutch really want to become known for backhand business dealings?
'It's a bold move,' a concerned Dutchman tells me. 'It will definitely cost Holland, or more to the point, Amsterdam, much of the revenue it generates from tourism.
'Most travellers are young backpackers who come on the promise of seeing something they don't normally see, and there is no way that those coming from far and wide will be organised enough to subscribe to memberships before their arrival. We will lose their business.'
Some people say the Dutch are committing 'tourism suicide'. At a time when flying has never been easier, is it wise for a country to rid itself of one of its most recognisable attributes?
China rejects Gmail spying claims
According to BBC News:
China has rejected allegations of involvement in a cyber-spying campaign targeting the Google e-mail accounts of top US officials, military personnel and journalists.
A foreign ministry spokesman said it was "unacceptable" to blame China.
Google has not blamed the Chinese government directly, but says the hacking campaign originated in Jinan.
The US company said its security was not breached but indicated individuals' passwords were obtained through fraud.
Chinese political activists and officials in other Asian countries were also targeted, Google said.
Washington investigation
It is extremely difficult for analysts to determine whether governments or individuals are responsible for such attacks, says the BBC's Adam Brookes in Washington.
But the fact that the victims were people with access to sensitive - even secret - information raises the possibility that this was cyber-espionage rather than cyber-crime, adds our correspondent.
However, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a news briefing: "Blaming these misdeeds on China is unacceptable.
"Hacking is an international problem and China is also a victim. The claims of so-called support for hacking are completely unfounded and have ulterior motives."
On Wednesday, Google said it had "detected and has disrupted" a campaign to take users' passwords and monitor their emails.
"We have notified victims and secured their accounts," said the company. "In addition, we have notified relevant government authorities."
The e-mail scam uses a practice known as "spear phishing" in which specific e-mail users are tricked into divulging their login credentials to a web page that resembles Google's Gmail web service (or which appears related to the target's work) but is in fact run by hackers.
Having obtained the user's e-mail login and password, the hackers then tell Gmail's service to forward incoming e-mail to another account set up by the hacker.
The White House said it was investigating the reports but did not believe official US government e-mail accounts had been breached.
US Pentagon to treat cyber-attacks as 'acts of war'
According to BBC News:
The US is set to publish plans that will categorise cyber-attacks as acts of war, the Pentagon says.
In future, a US president could consider economic sanctions, cyber-retaliation or a military strike if key US computer systems were attacked, officials have said recently.
The planning was given added urgency by a cyber-attack last month on the defence contractor, Lockheed Martin.
A new report from the Pentagon is due out in a matter of weeks.
"A response to a cyber-incident or attack on the US would not necessarily be a cyber-response. All appropriate options would be on the table," Pentagon spokesman Col Dave Lapan told reporters on Tuesday.
Col Lapan confirmed the Pentagon was drawing up a cyber defence strategy, which would be ready in two to three weeks.
Cyber-attacks from foreign nations that threaten widespread US civilian casualties, like cutting off power supplies or shutting down emergency-responder networks, could be treated as an act of aggression under the new policy.
But the plan does not mention how the US may respond to cyber-attackers, such as terrorists, who are not acting for a nation state.
'All necessary means'
The Pentagon's planning follows an international strategy statement on cyber-security, issued by the White House on 16 May.
The US would "respond to hostile acts in cyberspace as we would to any other threat to our country", stated the White House in plain terms.
"We reserve the right to use all necessary means - diplomatic, informational, military, and economic - as appropriate and consistent with applicable international law, in order to defend our nation, our allies, our partners and our interests."
The Wall Street Journal quoted a military official as saying: "If you shut down our power grid, maybe we will put a missile down one of your smokestacks."
White House officials said consideration of a military response to a cyber-attack would constitute a "last resort", after other efforts to deter an attack had failed, the New York Times newspaper reported.
Sophistication of hackers
One of the difficulties strategists are grappling with is how to track down reliably the cyber-attackers who deliberately obscure the origin of their incursions.
The sophistication of hackers and frequency of the attacks came back into focus after an attack on arms-maker Lockheed Martin on 21 May.
Lockheed said the "tenacious" cyber-attack on its network was part of a pattern of attacks on it from around the world.
The worst cyber-attack against the US military occurred in 2008, when malicious software on a flash drive commandeered computers at US Central Command.
The US defence department estimates that more than 100 foreign intelligence organizations have attempted to break into American networks.
The US is also accused of using cyber warfare against other nations. In 2010 Iran accused the US of helping to develop Stuxnet, a software worm aimed at controlling systems in Iranian nuclear plants.
Google Gmail accounts hacked from China; US officals targeted
According to Mercury News:
Google (GOOG) disclosed Wednesday that hundreds of Gmail accounts, including those of senior U.S. officials and Chinese political activists, were targeted in a concerted hacking campaign originating from Jinan, China.
Unlike a series of cyberattacks from China last year, Google said the goal this time was not its own central systems, but the individual accounts of users of its email service. The attacks, which Google said also targeted government officials in South Korea and other Asian nations, military personnel and journalists, were likely the result of "phishing" attempts, in which the attacker dupes users into sharing passwords.
There were no indications Wednesday that the latest round of attacks would prompt any change in Google's operations in China. Nor was there evidence of Chinese government involvement, although some analysts speculated Chinese officials could be indirectly involved.
"We have more than 500 employees and hundreds of partners in China and we plan to continue to work there," Google said in a written statement provided to this newspaper.
Google said the latest attacks, which gained access to an undisclosed number of accounts before they were detected, intended to spy on the private email conversations of U.S. and foreign government officials, political dissidents,
journalists and others. The phishing campaign is being investigated by the FBI and other federal agencies.
"We are working with Google and other U.S. government agencies to review this matter further to identify the origin of this campaign and to see what information may have been compromised," the FBI said in a written statement released Wednesday. Neither Google nor an FBI spokeswoman would comment on which senior U.S. officials were targeted.
Some of the same targets of last year's Gmail attacks may have been targeted again. Tenzin Seldon, a Stanford student and Tibetan activist, said she noticed that someone improperly commandeered her email account in March and managed to send messages under her name to other Tibetan leaders.
This particular attack used a method called "spear phishing," in which the attacker uses small bits of real information to trick someone into sharing access to their email account. In this case, government officials received a message in their personal Gmail account that appeared to come from the address of a close associate or collaborating government agency, according to an analysis cited by Google as one way it discovered the latest Chinese attacks.
The messages were crafted to appear as though they had an attachment with links such as "View Download" and a name of the supposed attachment. However, the bogus link led to a fake Gmail login page, which the cybercriminals used to obtain passwords.
Google "did their own extensive investigation," said Mila Parkour, who wrote the malicious software analysis cited by Google. "The attack started probably a year before if not longer."
Google said in a posting to its official blog Wednesday afternoon that it had detected and disrupted "this campaign to take users' passwords and monitor their emails," and had already "notified victims and secured their accounts," as well as alerting authorities.
"The goal of this effort seems to have been to monitor the contents of these users' emails, with the perpetrators apparently using stolen passwords" to gain access to Gmail accounts, the company said in its post. Google said it was not accusing the Chinese government: "We can't say for sure who is responsible," a Google spokesman said.
Last year's cyberattacks broke into Google's computer security infrastructure and resulted in the theft of the company's intellectual property, allowing the attackers to gain access to the Gmail accounts of Chinese activists in the U.S. and other countries.
According to an investigation by The New York Times, the attacks originated in several schools in Jinan province. That intrusion helped precipitate Google's decision that it would no longer comply with the Chinese government's rules that it censor politically sensitive results from its Internet search results. It moved its search service to Hong Kong.
Chinese government officials have vehemently denied involvement in earlier attacks.
Security experts who specialize in protection against cyberattacks that originate in other countries said that even though the latest attacks targeted political activists, it may be impossible to ever prove whether the Chinese government played any role in the latest attacks.
In some cases, said Larry Ponemon of the Ponemon Institute, a Michigan-based computer security consulting company, the governments of China and other nations may shelter cybercriminals in exchange for the information they steal from U.S. networks or individual accounts. While many phishing campaigns target large groups in hopes of finding a few victims, these attacks targeted specific high-value targets.
"It could be a dark alliance where the syndicate is allowed to operate, reminiscent of the (historical) privateers that became pirates," Ponemon said. "China is pretty bold. They are actually educating people to be really good hackers, to be really good cybercriminals."
Typically, Ponemon said, people may be slightly less guarded about their personal email accounts.
"They are going after people of consequence whose information might be valuable. That's the scary part. "
Parkour also believes it is likely the Chinese government was involved.
The same people "are after sensitive corporate, military and government data," she said in an email message. "They might be foreign government sponsored directly, on payroll, or indirectly, selling what they find to willing buyers."
Google on Wednesday urged its users to take safety precautions such as using its two-step verification feature for Gmail, and to use a password that they would not use for any other account but Gmail.
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