FBI nominee says surveillance can be valuable tool

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Obama administration's nominee to become the next FBI director, James Comey, told members of Congress on Tuesday that federal judges who oversee government intelligence programs are "anything but a rubber stamp." But Comey also agreed to work with legislators to improve the laws governing surveillance activities.

Comey said he wasn't familiar with the details of the government's phone and Internet surveillance programs that recently became public, but he said that collecting that type of information can be "a valuable tool in counterterrorism."

"Folks don't understand that the FBI operates under a wide variety of constraints," Comey told the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is considering his nomination for FBI director. He added that when critics discount the oversight of federal judges and call them a rubber stamp, it "shows you don't have experience before them."

Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said the expansive scope of the surveillance programs raises the question of "when is enough enough?"

"Just because we have the ability to collect huge amounts of data doesn't mean that we should be doing so," Leahy said.

The senator asked Comey if he would be willing to work with legislators "to enact some common sense improvements to our surveillance laws," and Comey agreed to do that if confirmed as FBI director.

In the aftermath of the uproar over NSA spying, Leahy has introduced legislation that would improve privacy protections and strengthen oversight and transparency provisions in U.S. surveillance programs.

Comey spent 15 years as a federal prosecutor before serving in the George W. Bush administration, where he is best known for facing down the White House over a warrantless surveillance program. The White House made changes in the program when Comey and current FBI Director Robert Mueller threatened to resign.

Comey got a warm reception from the both Democrats and Republicans on the committee, who repeatedly referred to his independence in standing up to the Bush White House.

Civil liberties groups have nonetheless expressed concerns that Comey signed off on abusive CIA interrogation techniques for terrorist suspects during the Bush administration, when he was the Justice Department's No. 2 official.

Comey told the committee that he argued strongly within the Justice Department against the interrogation techniques, telling the attorney general that "this is wrong, this is awful" and insisting that his arguments be presented to the White House. But his objections were overruled.

The FBI Agents Association has told Leahy that it supports Comey's nomination.

The FBI is investigating Edward Snowden, the former NSA systems analyst who has admitted leaking details of the surveillance programs to the news media. Snowden is charged with two violations of the Espionage Act and theft of government property. To date, he has stayed out of the government's reach. He is believed to have been holed up in the transit area of Moscow's main airport since he suddenly appeared there on a plane from Hong Kong two weeks ago.

Civil liberties groups on Monday called on the government to release any reports by the Justice Department's inspector general on the collection of Americans' telephone records. If the inspector general has not previously reviewed the program, "We ask that it do so now," the groups said.

On a separate surveillance issue, Mueller told Congress last month that the FBI on rare occasions uses unmanned drones for domestic surveillance. The disclosure has prompted questions from members of Congress in both parties.

Meanwhile, the FBI has been conducting investigations of the Boston Marathon bombings and last year's attack at Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans. The Boston bombings probe resulted in a 30-count indictment against suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The Benghazi probe is ongoing.

After leaving the Justice Department, where he served as the agency's No. 2 official, Comey was senior vice president and general counsel at defense contractor Lockheed Martin. He later became general counsel at hedge fund Bridgewater Associates. His financial assets include $5.2 million in securities and a home in Westport, Conn., valued at $3 million, according to financial statements filed with the Senate.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fbi-nominee-says-surveillance-valuable-tool-152757675.html

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Blue Star Infotech Moves To Cloud With Microsoft Office 365

Blue Star Infotech Limited, the global software services and solutions provider, has moved to cloud with Microsoft Office 365 to take advantage of an unsurpassed productivity experience. The adoption of cloud is part of a global IT transformation strategy to increase collaboration amongst employees and reduce costs for better business results and to gain a competitive edge.
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With operations in USA, UK, Europe, India and Singapore Blue Star Infotech is transposing from multiple IT collaboration and messaging solutions to Microsoft Office 365 to provide a single platform for productivity, communication, collaboration and enterprise social in the cloud.? Office 365 benefits Blue Star Infotech by allowing its employees to confidently share information with their customers and colleagues knowing that Office documents are commonly accepted inside and outside their organisation. It further allows the employees to access their content virtually anywhere across PC, phone, and browser. The deployment is also expected to reduce the total cost of ownership as the company didn?t have to deploy servers in-house. Microsoft partner PC Solutions smoothly completed the Office 365 deployment transition in just one month enabling employees to use the enterprise class capabilities.
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?We provide the most advanced technologies to our employees across the globe. Our IT roadmap is aligned according to the latest technology trends in the market cloud, social and mobility. Microsoft Office 365 will help us to take full advantage of these trends by enabling us to move to cloud on our own terms. It will help us to enhance employee productivity and to enable better collaboration amongst employees using SharePoint integrated with Yammer. It will also provide employees operating from different parts of the world access to all their official data from any location by seamlessly integrating multiple devices like tablets, PCs, phones, hybrids, etc., thereby making the overall value all the more compelling,? said Mitul A. Shah, Head ? IT, Blue Star Infotech Ltd

?With Office 365, Microsoft has combined the familiarity of Office with the capabilities businesses need, delivered as a cloud service they can trust. The migration to Office 365 by Blue Star Infotech Ltd. will empower the business to bring its people together across geographies to drive innovation and reduce costs through unified communications,? said Ramkumar Pichai, GM - Microsoft Office Division, Microsoft India.

Source: http://biztech2.in.com/news/cloud-computing/blue-star-infotech-moves-to-cloud-with-microsoft-office-365/161562/0

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Vote looms in Ga. over solar power usage

ATLANTA (AP) -- A political group founded by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch wants Georgia's utility regulators to reject a plan requiring Southern Co. to buy more solar energy, but an Associated Press review ahead of a vote on the issue finds that it has used misleading figures to build its case.

The Georgia chapter of Americans For Prosperity has said in mass emails and on Twitter that a proposal requiring Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power to buy more solar energy could raise energy bills by 40 percent. A review of those figures shows the claim is misleading, and there's a debate over how much solar energy might cost.

Georgia's Public Service Commission will meet next week to vote on the utility's plan for meeting Georgia's energy needs for the next two decades. Georgia Power has already agreed to add 270 megawatts of solar energy to its system and did not propose adding more in its latest plan. Commissioner Lauren "Bubba" McDonald Jr. wants a vote on a plan requiring Georgia Power to add another 525 megawatts of solar energy.

McDonald's plan has support from a group of solar developers earlier spurned by Georgia Power and organizers of the Atlanta Tea Party Patriots.

"It's an opportunity for the consumers," McDonald told the AP. "It's an opportunity to utilize what God has given us, and that's the sun."

The Georgia chapter of Americans For Prosperity wants McDonald's plan rejected over concerns it will raise costs.

Solar power has historically been pricier than traditional fossil fuel sources for around-the-clock energy, though costs have fallen and developers argue it is now more competitive. Better figures will emerge once Georgia Power signs contracts as part of earlier pushes to obtain solar power. The company expects to pay no more, if not less, for that solar power than it would pay to get it elsewhere, Georgia Power spokesman John Kraft said.

Even if costs are higher, the total solar power that has been proposed or added to Georgia Power's system is the equivalent of 1 percent of its current electric fleet, according to AP calculations based on the capacity of the company's power plants and a federal study predicting how reliably different types of power plants can produce electricity. As a result, it is unlikely so small a resource could have a 40 percent impact on monthly bills.

In an email to supporters, Georgia director for Americans for Prosperity Virginia Galloway wrote, "What if I told you something you're not even hearing about in the news is about to raise your electricity bill by more than 40 percent and reduce the reliability of every appliance and electronics gadget in your home? That's what will happen when your Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) votes on July 11th if you don't take action today!"

AFP made a similar claim on Twitter.

To support her claim, Galloway cited a study by the Institute for Energy Research showing that customers in states that require utilities to buy renewable energy paid an average of 39 percent more than customers in states without those rules, such as Georgia.

That is not an exact comparison because many factors ? not just solar technology ? influence prices. The demand for energy and the available supply affect prices. So does local weather. So does choice: In some places, consumers can pick their own electricity provider. In other places, they must rely on a monopoly. And renewable energy requirements vary greatly among the states that have them.

"It's hard to say it would be fair to apply that across the board," said Liz Coyle, deputy director of Georgia Watch, a consumer advocacy group that supports renewable energy but is wary of consumer cost increases.

Galloway acknowledged in an interview that the pending proposal would "probably not" raise bills by 40 percent, though she said cost increases are possible. She said Georgia Power already has too much spare electric capacity ? a point raised independently by other observers ? and said that government mandates can create extra expenses in the long run.

"I don't think that everyone should be forced to pay more for a questionable thing," she said.

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Follow Ray Henry on Twitter: http://twitter.com/rhenryAP.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/vote-looms-ga-over-solar-135239832.html

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George W. Bush on Gay Marriage, Immigration, and Why Obama Kept His Terrorism Policies

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/george-w-bush-gay-marriage-immigration-why-obama-145128688--abc-news-topstories.html

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?Umami? Was Coined by the Inventor of MSG to Describe Its Taste

In 1908, Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda isolated and patented monosodium glutamate, more commonly known to English-speakers of the 21st century as the often-maligned MSG. Ikeda thought that his discovery was so special that the taste deserved to be described with a brand new word, a word that a century later has become quite popular among food critics and even graces the signs of a burger chain here in Southern California. Ikeda's word was umami.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/gCi8BX7A5vs/umami-was-coined-by-the-inventor-of-msg-to-describe-i-693953580

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Dangerous chemicals found in south China river

BEIJING -- Residents and water plants along a river in southern China that is used as a drinking source have been warned not to use the river's water after authorities detected excessive amounts of two dangerous chemicals.

Tests by authorities detected the chemicals thallium and cadmium in a section of the Hejiang River in Guangdong province after dead fish turned up in the water, the official Xinhua News Agency said Saturday.

The Fengkai county government warned downstream water plants and residents against using the water or eating anything from the river, Xinhua said. Cadmium is considered an environmental hazard, and thallium is extremely toxic. No illnesses have been reported.

Xinhua said the pollutants were believed to have come from upstream, and later reports said excessive amounts of the chemicals were detected in the upstream Guangxi region. The reports didn't say how the pollutants got into the stream.

Hejiang is a major tributary of the Xijiang River, which serves as the primary water source for Macau and the city of Zhuhai.

Water pollution is a serious problem in China due to unscrupulous industrial waste disposal.

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/07/06/3487518/dangerous-chemicals-found-in-south.html

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Windows 8.1 Flyout Placement improvements

I like new Flyout control that has been introduced in Windows 8.1 but I think Placement property should be improved since I cannot show a Flyout at the bottom-left or bottom-right of a button (like logged menu Flyout in Windows).

I think Placement should be splitted in HorizontalPlacement (Left, Center, Right) and VerticalPlacement (Top, Bottom) to have more flexibility.

Source: http://visualstudio.uservoice.com/forums/121579-visual-studio/suggestions/4140418-windows-8-1-flyout-placement-improvements

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