VASLUI: Valentin Boanta, sitting in his jail cell, proudly explains the device he has invented which, he says, could make the world's ATMs impregnable even to tech-savvy criminals like himself. Boanta, 33, is six months into a five-year sentence for supplying gadgets an organized crime gang used to conceal ATM skimmers, which can copy data from an unsuspecting ATM user's card so a clone can be created. He said he had started to make the devices for the sheer excitement of it and denies ever planning to use them himself, saying he only sold them to others. Boanta says his arrest in 2009 and ...
Published On: 2013-05-17

SAN FRANCISCO: Dell Inc, the subject of a takeover battle between activist investor Carl Icahn and the company's billionaire founder, reported a 79 percent slide in profit as personal computer sales continued to shrink. The disappointing results lend weight to Michael Dell's effort. The man who started Dell from a college dorm room wants to take the world's No.3 PC maker private for $24.4 billion, arguing that its transformation into a provider of enterprise computing services, from mainly a computer maker in a shrinking market, is best done away from public scrutiny. Reflecting that shift i...
Published On: 2013-05-17

ELIZABETH, N.J.: A homeless, hatchet-wielding hitchhiker who became an Internet hero earlier this year was arrested Thursday for allegedly beating a New Jersey lawyer to death inside his home. Caleb "Kai" McGillvary, whose star turn as "Kai the Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker" came after he intervened in an attack on a California utility worker, was arrested at a Philadelphia bus station, Union County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow said. "I believe that everyone is a little safer with this person off the streets," the prosecutor said. Philadelphia police could not imm...
Published On: 2013-05-17

SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook and Twitter have launched applications for Google glasses as developers rushed to learn more about tailoring software for the Internet-linked eyewear yet to hit the market. "Built by Facebook, this app allows you to upload photos from Google Glass directly to your Facebook timeline," Erick Tseng, head of mobile products at the social network, said in a message posted from the Google developers conference. "You can also add an optional photo description, just by speaking it." Tseng's Facebook page displayed an image evidently taken in a packed Glas...
Published On: 2013-05-17

LONDON: One-third of common land animals could see dramatic losses this century because of climate change, scientists predict. More than half of plants could be hit the same way as habitats become unsuitable for numerous species. The collapse of ecosystems would have major economic impacts on agriculture, air quality, clean water access, and tourism. Global temperatures are set to rise 4C above preindustrial levels by 2100 if nothing is done to stem greenhouse gas emissions. This could have a hugely destructive effect on thousands of common as well as rare and endangered species around the ...
Published On: 2013-05-16

KATHMANDU: While some prefer cycling to commute, others use it for the purpose of exercising. Whatever the purpose, cycling is beneficial both to the human health and environment. And to promote cycling as a life style, Epic Events Nepal in association with Lalitpur Cycling Association is set to organise the Kathmandu Bike Festival 2013. At a press meet held at Moksh, Jhamsikhel on May 16, it was informed that the second edition of the festival will take place on May 19 at Gyanodaya International Residential School, Khokana, Lalitpur. Nirakar Yakthumba, Director of Epic Events informed, &ld...
Published On: 2013-05-16

HOUSTON: Four US students have developed shoes that extract energy with every step to power portable electronics and, perhaps someday, life-preserving medical devices, US media reported. Four mechanical engineering students at Rice University in Houston, for a project required for graduation, created PediPower shoes, which deliver 400 milliwatts of energy through wires that connect the shoes to a belt-mounted battery pack, according to on- line version of Texas Medical Center News. The students, Carlos Armada, Julian Castro, David Morilla and Tyler Wiest, focused their attention where the r...
Published On: 2013-05-16

TOKYO: A Taiwanese eatery famed for its dumplings was crowned Asia's best restaurant, while restaurants in Beijing claimed the lion's share of spots in the top ten of a new survey of the food-obsessed region's best dining. Din Tai Fung in the Taiwanese capital Taipei was ranked number one in the inaugural "101 Best Restaurants in Asia" list, released on Thursday by the U.S.-based food website The Daily Meal, which does similar polls in the United States and Europe. "Ultimately we chose ... a place best-known for doing one thing absolutely perfectly," said Colman Andrews, ...
Published On: 2013-05-16

CARACAS, Venezuela: First milk, butter, coffee and cornmeal ran short. Now Venezuela is running out of the most basic of necessities — toilet paper. Blaming political opponents for the shortfall, as it does for other shortages, the embattled socialist government says it will import 50 million rolls to boost supplies. That was little comfort to consumers struggling to find toilet paper on Wednesday. "This is the last straw," said Manuel Fagundes, a shopper hunting for tissue in downtown Caracas. "I'm 71 years old and this is the first time I've seen this." One supe...
Published On: 2013-05-16

MANILA: What do you do when two candidates running for mayor in the Philippines get exactly the same number of votes? You get them to toss a coin. Marvic Feraren and Boyet Py both received 3,236 votes for mayor of San Teodoro town in Mindoro Oriental province in Monday's elections. The Elections Commissions suggested the two men flip a coin five times each, which is allowed under the country's Election Code to break a tie. Feraren won Tuesday, but not before a second round of coin flipping. They tied in the first round too. ...
Published On: 2013-05-16