Want a job with the Feds? Step up and order your lobotomy...

Something tells me that he has trouble with the start button...

Original story here.

"U.S. authorities are investigating whether Chinese officials secretly copied
the contents of a government laptop computer during a visit to China by
Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez and used the information to try
to hack into Commerce computers, officials and industry experts told
The Associated Press.

Surreptitious copying is believed to have occurred when a laptop was
left unattended during Gutierrez's trip to Beijing for trade talks in
December, people familiar with the incident told the AP. These people
spoke on condition of anonymity because the incident was under
investigation."

But not to worry there couldn't have been anything on the laptop. They don't let the laptops with sensitive data out of the country right?

"It was not immediately clear what information on the laptop might have
been compromised, but it would be highly unorthodox for any U.S.
government official to carry classified data on a laptop overseas to
China, especially one left unattended even briefly. Modern copying
equipment can duplicate a laptop's storage drive in just minutes."

Good so nothing was on the laptop. Right? Right??

"In the period after Gutierrez returned from China in December, the U.S.
Computer Emergency Readiness Team - known as US-CERT, some of the
government's leading computer forensic experts - rushed to the Commerce
Department on at least three occasions to respond to serious attempts
at data break-ins, officials told the AP."

To quote Homer Simson... DOH!

A shameless plug

Ok I know this is the company I work for but if I don't promote it who will?

Broadcast Muddle could create pirates

So you think the pirate on the web is a downloading the latest episode of Dr. Who or sharing music at an alarming rate? Think again this time it could be your local broadcaster. The problem comes as broadcasters use H.264 for both their broadcasts and streaming and it becomes easier and easier to move that content to streams on the web.

"Well, if you happen to be a TV broadcaster that also happens to have a license that allows you to stream your TV broadcast to the web, you might want to check whether you can stream this content. CCTV says you can't unless you are authorized by the company."

Who is CCTV?

"CCTV was granted the exclusive rights to conduct live streaming of the August Olympics in the Chinese mainland and Macao over the internet and mobile phones," said Hu Zhanfan, vice president of CCTV International, the company that won the rights of live streaming of the Olympics in both China and Macao, the former Portuguese colony near Hong Kong."

Jump in the water's fine. On second thougth maybe not.

In this recent post from EngadgetHD..

"sales of BD players -- Sony's PlayStation 3 notwithstanding -- sunk a staggering 40-percent from January to February in the US. Furthermore, sales only grew 2-percent from February to March."

Then ABI Research's piles on with this take...

" It will be 12 to 18 months before this market kicks into gear. Consumer electronics manufacturers need to introduce full-featured players and then get prices down to the $200 level. Until then, non-HDTV owners will certainly favor standard definition DVD players. A depressed economy in the United States could also lead HDTV and prospective HDTV owners to opt for upconverting standard players as they delay buying higher-ticket CE items. In addition, Blu-ray packaged media comes at a heavy premium over standard DVDs, although studios have brought prices down to the low $20-range for some titles."

So if we will have to wait until after Christmas 2008 for a Blu-ray player under $200 bucks, and that old DVD player works fine, Blu-ray may be left on the store shelves for many consumers.