Listening: Still “Our Mutual Friend”; “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” on BBC7 (character similarities with Cabaret and I don’t like either of those female leads). In anticipation of Season 3 of “Undone.”

Watching: “City Hall” on dramafever.com; it’s a Korean drama about politics. The heroine of the drama is pushing forty, prone to the kind of exaggeration that would get her fired in real life, and apparently has a job in all of the industries in the city: she paints houses, arranges tours, rents boats, is a waitress– in addition to her job at the city hall. (Reminiscent of the heroine in Coffee Prince, perhaps, who works a variety of jobs (martial arts instructor, delivery person, seamstress of stuffed animals, etc.).) Clearly set up to be a bit of a brash personality, but with a good heart, hard-working, etc. There’s a lot of playing with city mouse/country mouse notions.

Reading: Martin J. Murray’s Taming the Disorderly City: The Spatial Landscape of Johannesburg after Apartheid, having only read the first two chapters thus far, it’s mostly covering theoretical ground but provides an up-to-date and well-written genealogy of urban anthropology. I assume later chapters will deal more concretely with Johannesburg itself. Simultaneously, Frieze magazine’s “The Art of War” by Eyal Weizman, which discusses how the IDF turns (architectural and post-structuralist and the mingling of the two) theory into practice in a very chilling way.

Which brings me to a short story that I meant to discuss a while ago, Maureen McHugh’s “The Cost to Be Wise,” published in  Mothers and Other Monsters which is (a) thought-provoking (b) licensed under Creative Commons and therefore free to read! It is many things, but the thing I came away with is that no matter how much a “best society” is theorized, planned and created, there will always be some leakage in the system: things will go awry, personalities will interfere with the ostensible well-running system, and– this part was particularly striking– people will forget why they do things the way they do: praxis becomes practice.

“What are the six precepts of development philosophy?” she asked.

I had to think. “One,” I said, “that economic development should be gradual. Two, that analyzing economic growth by the production of goods rather than the needs and capacities of people leads to displacement and increased poverty. Three, that economic development should come from the integrated development of rural areas with the traditional sector—”

“It’s just words,” she snapped at me.

Read McHugh’s Mothers and Other Monsters at Small Beer Press.

elsewhere:

- grapefruit marmalade recipe at desert candy. (here) grapefruit curd (vegan) recipe at vegan visitor. (here)

- the results of the “100 figures in a week” challenge revisited at Jinx the Monkey. (here)

- video: “zoologic” directed by Nicole Mitchell – “A penguin and gorilla team up to lead the other animals in a comedic revolution against a zoo keeper who just will not leave them alone.” (here)

I love it when the things I write produce an emotional response. For a writer, it’s the biggest buzz in the world when someone comes to you and says, “That short story/chapter/poem made me so sad/happy/hungry*.”

I always strive to create something that is going to play on the reader’s conscience, to make them contemplate whether the actions within the story are right or wrong. Or better yet, I love making people side with the bad guy and question what sort of a person that makes them.

Despite all my good intentions though, anger seems to be the easiest emotion to evoke in others.

Don’t get me wrong, I do get a cheap thrill out of that but it’s just so easy on the internet. A little too easy, perhaps. One of my posts, ‘Consider a Modern Wife’, has an entire page dedicated to how it – and I by proxy – is wrong, despite the fact that said post only had 32 readers at its initial upload.  I was also spammed with messages from people I know on facebook following my piece concerning that most disgusting of language errors – ‘might of’. Apparently, I’m ignorant as to the history of my country and as a language student ’should know better’.

I could take the time to explain that I spent four years of my life not only learning Danish, but also reading about the common Germanic stem that it shares with English. Or I could boast about the fact that my current favourite book is Bill Bryson’s Mother Tongue and that I spend my free time compiling a list of Doric words that come from Nordic stems. I could write lengthy paragraphs about how invasions from the Vikings and the French have perverted the original form of the language that was used when Beowulf was first scribbled down by monks, or about how the unique ‘ing’ verb form makes English a wonderfully easy language to learn the basics of for foreign speakers**.

But honestly, who gives a toss?

This is the internet: it is estimated that there are over 60 million ‘blogs worldwide and of those, only a handful achieve a readership of over 1000 per day. I write on here because I feel that doing so empties my head of clutter and helps me to be a better writer. I also like to think that my ‘blog is a good showcase for the selection of writing styles I can offer to any potential clients. I don’t for one minute believe that my work could ever be widely read in the way that Diary of a London Call Girl was.

With the exception of family and friends -  who know me well enough to understand that I’m just a crotchety old woman – nobody cares about what I have to say. I’m just another one of the faceless people who sit tapping away at their laptop keyboard instead of getting on with their work. My opinions, therefore, do not matter to anyone other than myself. Just like the opinions of those who think I’m wrong don’t matter to me – the age-old internet stalemate. Because neither party involved in an argument over opinions has to face the other, and because people online are inherantly rude to each other, we end up with arguments like this:

Me: Blah blah blah – hate world – blah blah – romantic notions about how things should be – blah.
Someone else: U hv penis.
Me: Eh? What has that got to do with anything?
Someone else: U jst scared coz u wrong.
Me: Wrong in which way? I like discussions – let’s talk and share our thoughts.
Someone else: U 2 scared to talk bk. ha ha ha ha… penis.
Me: You’re a spoon.

The other problem with the internet is that sites like twitter, facebook, myspace, friendface etc. make us believe that what we say has an impact on those around us. We use the web as a way to express ourselves and without the social boundaries enforced by real life, we’re not afraid to express ourselves in overly critical, arrogant ways. We presume that because we can broadcast information about our goings on and opinions at all hours of the day, that we should. This is not the case. My rule of internet etiquette is as follows: if you wouldn’t say face-to-face what you’ve just typed, hit the backspace key instead of enter***. Afterall, you don’t want to hear about my various bodily functions so what makes you think I want to read about yours?

I think this is what I was trying to say in my entry about lamebook – we’ve all become self-obsessed and presume that the rest of the world cares about what we think and about every intimate detail of our lives. Nobody does, and so after the initial thrill of causing an angry reaction in my online reader for whatever reason, I feel slightly hollow – as if the emotion’s I’ve managed to trigger aren’t real. With so many people out there looking for yet another way to tell the world about themselves, it’s just too easy to have someone disagree.

______

*Hungry is an emotion. I spend 95% of my life ‘hungry’. The other 5% I spend sleeping.

**Interestingly, all objections to my statement that English is an easy language to learn came from native speakers, rather than from those who use it as a second language.

***If you’re drunk, slightly different rules apply,  akin to those necessary where mobile phones are concerned. On becoming inebriated to the point where you think the following messages to your friends are a good idea, all communication devices must be handed to the designated driver or, if at home,  hidden in either the sewing machine case or the vegetable drawer.

Examples of messages to friends that are a terrible idea are:
a. You’re sexy
b. I’m sexy
c. The ex you still have feelings for is sexy and I just saw them naked
d. Did your car have a bonnet when you loaned it to me?

It’s been almost thirty days since the Formula 1 season finale, the Abu Dhabi dazzle in the twilight. It’s been almost thirty days since I’ve been able to recognize this sport we love so much.

It’s also been almost thirty days since Toyota announced the end of their relationship with us and F1. Since that large blow, Mercedes split from McLaren and bought 75.1% of Brawn GP inevitably turning the team into ‘Mercedes GP.’ A few clicks of your mouse later and Button and Raikkonen were both testing waters for a McLaren seat which Button landed. His salary of peanuts sounded better to Mercedes than Raikkonen’s asking price of a hand and a leg. The Finn decided it was better to ditch next year all together, seeing that Ferrari are paying him enough to get through the inactive year.

With McLaren sitting happily with an all British line-up, it seems reasonable to suggest that Mercedes might be aiming for an all German line-up especially with the news that Rosberg has joined camp. That makes rumors of a Schumacher return tickle our fancy even more.

After BMW’s shocking exit announcement after the 2009 season, their future is not clear until… they announce selling the team back to Peter Sauber.

You consume all that and then take a breather. Oh, and Alonso announced his move to Ferrari. That slipped my mind because after a few pictures were snapped of him walking alongside Massa as an official Ferrari driver, he disappeared into Ferrari Land.

For 2010, refueling has been banned which was an idea proposed to help cut costs rather than improve F1 excitement. Anyone who knows anything about F1 knows that some of the best race moments take place during pit stops. But life is all about money so we shall only nod our heads and hope it helps us enjoy the show.

As of next season, Lotus, Campos, Manor and USF1 will be given a small nudge by the FOM: a $10 million grant including the free transportation of two chassis and 10,000 kg of freight to each race. That’s a good way to encourage fresh interest. Hands up for Volkswagen anyone?

KERS is still permitted in 2010 even though the FOTA have agreed to do without it. The minimum car weight has been increased from 605 kg to 620 kg to eliminate any driver height or weight disadvantage if any team decides to use the electric box.

Mercedes GP, Red Bull Racing, McLaren, Ferrari, Sauber F1, Williams, Renault, Force India, and Toro Rosso have been joined by Lotus, Campos, Manor and USF1. That makes 26 cars. With 24 cars in 2009, qualifying rules have been reevaluated accordingly: 8 drivers knocked out in Q1, 8 drivers in Q2 and 10 drivers fight it out in Q3.

Wheel covers have been banned, in season testing is still banned, a limit has been placed on number of aerodynamic upgrades per season including a limit on the number of team personnel able to attend a Grand Prix – c’mon, the more brilliant minds in the paddock will affect the success of a team? I don’t get it.

ING is gone after the Renault controversy and has been replaced by TW Steel.

RBS has canceled its trackside sponsorship in 2010 and will end its sponsorship agreement with Williams after next season.

YouTube has joined USF1.

Vigin Group have bought a 20% stake in Manor Grand Prix and plan on renaming the team.

Banco Santander is sponsoring Ferrari in 2010 and has extended its agreement with McLaren as well.

Since when has there been this much information during an off season? And in less than 30 days? I can’t remember when. It’s a busy winter and I am sure it’s going to get busier. I just hope all these changes are for the better. KERS had some pros but most of its cons were reoccurring. I honestly think KERS is genius and just needs more time to evolve for F1 to become accustomed to it.

Let’s hope with all these changes Formula 1 is still worth retaining its number: 1.

ING históricamente ha sido una de las entidades procursoras de la alta rentabilidad y sin comisiones y fue una de las primeras entidades online de este país. Pero creemos que se ha quedado dormido en los laureres, y su principal y reciente competidor Ibanesto le está comiendo la moral y la cartera de clientes, y sino mira la comparativa entre ambas entidades.

Seguir leyendo >>

ING históricamente ha sido una de las entidades procursoras de la alta rentabilidad y sin comisiones y fue una de las primeras entidades online de este país. Pero creemos que se ha quedado dormido en los laureres, y su principal y reciente competidor Ibanesto le está comiendo la moral y la cartera de clientes, y sino mira la comparativa entre ambas entidades.

Seguir leyendo >>

ING históricamente ha sido una de las entidades procursoras de la alta rentabilidad y sin comisiones y fue una de las primeras entidades online de este país. Pero creemos que se ha quedado dormido en los laureres, y su principal y reciente competidor Ibanesto le está comiendo la moral y la cartera de clientes, y sino mira la comparativa entre ambas entidades.

Seguir leyendo >>

ING históricamente ha sido una de las entidades procursoras de la alta rentabilidad y sin comisiones y fue una de las primeras entidades online de este país. Pero creemos que se ha quedado dormido en los laureres, y su principal y reciente competidor Ibanesto le está comiendo la moral y la cartera de clientes, y sino mira la comparativa entre ambas entidades.

Seguir leyendo >>

Dopo le dichiarazioni di ieri, in cui lo stato del Dubai si dichiarava in ritardo per il pagamento dei debiti di Dubai World (la società che si occupa dello sviluppo di molti dei progetti del paese), c’è qualche timore per l’esposizione di alcune banche europee.

Si tratta di HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group e ING.

E’ ormai dall’inizio della crisi che molti progetti di costruzione in Dubai sono stati messi in pausa, ma nulla sembrava far presagire la notizia. Senza dubbio tutto ciò avrà ripercussioni sullo sviluppo dell’area.

Al eerder schreef ik over personal finance management (PFM)-tools. Het gaat om online hulpmiddelen om je persoonlijke financiën in kaart te brengen, te budgetteren en het verkrijgen van advies om je financiële huishouding te verbeteren. De laatste jaren waren het vooral niet-financiële instellingen die met oplossingen kwamen op het vlak van personal Finance, zoals het Amerikaanse Mint en Wesabe en het Nederlandse Yunoo (voorheen Qash).

Volgens het Nationaal Instituut voor Budgetvoorlichting (Nibud) lopen zo’n 3,5 miljoen huishoudens het risico om financiële tegenvallers niet te kunnen opvangen. Het volledige onderzoeksrapport vind je hier. Ze constateren een aantal belangrijke zaken, die relevant zijn voor dit artikel: geen overzicht maakt financieel kwetsbaar en goed omgaan met geld maakt gelukkig. Of een aantal Nederlandse personal finance management-tools ons gelukkig maakt gaan we uitvinden. In dit artikel aandacht voor Yunoo, ABN AMRO’s Familiekompas en ING’s Tim.

Yunoo

In maart 2009 ging Yunoo ‘live’, na eerst een jaartje als Qash door het leven te zijn gegaan. Vroeger had je nog Davilex Bank Offline (nog steeds trouwens), maar sinds software as a service zijn intrede deed verschuift het beheren van je financiën zich naar het internet. Met Yunoo kun je rekeningmutaties importeren van nagenoeg alle Nederlandse banken. Inmiddels slaagt Yunoo erin circa 70% van alle geimporteerde transacties op een juiste wijze te categoriseren, zodat je meer inzicht krijgt in je inkomsten en uitgaven. De overige mutatie moeten handmatig aan een categorie toebedeeld worden. Dat is een hele prestatie als je bedenkt dat iedere bank weer een eigen manier van presenteren heeft.

Met Yunoo kun je ook je kennis en ervaring delen met andere gebruikers. Met meer dan 35.ooo gebruikers (!) creeert Yunoo een behoorlijk whisdom of crowds en is zij de grootste online PFM-tool van Nederland. Desgevraagd laat Yunoo weten de ambitie te hebben binnen 5 jaar de nr. 1 in Europa te worden op het vlak van social personal finance. Dit kunnen ze waarschijnlijk niet op eigen kracht, dus werd er naarstig gezocht naar (strategische) investeerders. Inmiddels heeft Yunoo een strategisch partner aangetrokken, die het platform en de onderneming naar een hoger niveau gaat tillen.

Over ongeveer twee weken lanceert Yunoo een mobiele versie van haar PFM-tool.

Familiekompas

ABN AMRO’s Familiekompas is meer dan een PFM-tool. Het Familiekompas maakt alle gezinszaken inzichtelijk op één internetsite. De door het Familiekompas geboden diensten moeten appelleren aan gezinnen in de spitsuurfase van hun leven. Het Familiekompas laat je eigen situatie vergelijken met andere op het vlak van financiën, maar ook lifestyle. Daarnaast brengt het Familiekompas je in contact met professionele leverancier met betrekking tot kinderopvang, voogdij of verhuizing. Als Familiekompas-lid kun je korting op allerlei diensten krijgen. Het Familiekompas heeft inmiddels ruim 5.000 geregistreerden. Dit zijn niet per definitie betalende leden.

De PFM-tool binnen het Familiekompas heet het Uitgavenkompas. Het overgrote deel van de geregistreerden maakt ook actief gebruik van het Uitgavenkompas, waarmee je bankafschriften van ABN AMRO, ING en Rabobank kunt importeren. Volgens het Familiekompas gaat het automatisch categoriseren van mutaties in 75% van de gevallen in één keer goed. De overige mutatie moeten handmatig aan een categorie toebedeeld worden. Het Uitgavenkompas maakt vergelijking met andere gebruikers mogelijk. Zo kun je bijvoorbeeld jouw uitgaven aan verzekeringen vergelijken met die van andere gebruikers in eenzelfde persoonlijke situatie (gezinssituatie, inkomen, e.d.). Op basis van de vergelijking krijg je inzicht in besparingsmogelijkheden.

Tim

In juni startte de ING een pilot voor de PFM-tool Tim, het slimste huishoudboekje van Nederland. De ING doet de pilot in samenwerking met CentiQ, Wijzer in geldzaken, een initiatief van de overheid en ruim 40 andere partijen. Centiq deed onlangs onderzoek naar de financiële huishouding van consumenten. De conclusie is dat een groot deel van de Nederlanders aangeeft dat zij gebruik zou maken van een digitaal huishoudboekje gekoppeld aan hun bankrekening om inzicht te krijgen in hoeveel zij aan verschillende uitgavenposten besteden.

De Tim-pilot liep in augustus af. De feedback wordt nu gebruikt voor de verdere ontwikkeling van Tim. Meer informatie over de pilot vind je hier. Tim verschilt van Yunoo en het Familiekompas. Je kunt namelijk alleen de rekeningmutaties van een ING-rekening importeren, wat mijnsinziens echt een gebrek is. Wil je inzicht hebben in al je financien, dan moet je gegevens van meerder banken kunnen importeren. Nederlanders hebben over het algemeen meerdere rekeningen bij meerdere banken, bijvoorbeeld bankrekening bij ABN AMRO en spaarrekening bij Moneyou. Yunoo biedt mijns inziens daarom op dit moment de beste oplossing.

Tot slot

Een belangrijk verschil tussen bovenstaande initiatieven is dat Yunoo los staat van een bank en het Familiekompas en Tim initiatieven van banken zijn. Onlangs kreeg ik van een vriend de vraag hoe betrouwbaar Yunoo is. Deze vraag impliceert dat vertrouwen voor consumenten heel belangrijk is. Vertrouwen ze meer op de veiligheid van een bank of op de veiligheid van een onafhankelijk initiatief? Het gaat immers toch om je financiele gegevens. Gelet op het succes van Yunoo lijkt vertrouwen geen grote drempel te zijn. Daarnaast doet Yunoo er alles aan om vertrouwen uit te stralen als het gaat om veiligheid.

Uit meerdere onderzoeken blijkt dat er meer behoefte is aan het managen van de persoonlijke financiele huishouding. Mochten er in Nederland meerdere financiele instellingen zich willen storten op de personal finance-markt, dan kunnen ze wellicht een beroep doen op het Amerikaanse Wesabe. Wesabe heeft Wesabe Springboard gelanceerd, de springplank voor financiele instellingen om snel en goedkoop PFM-tools toe te voegen aan hun eigen online omgeving. Ik kan niet beoordelen of Nederlandse banken ook gebruik kunnen maken van de oplossing. Maar mocht dit mogelijk zijn, dan hoef je in ieder geval de mutaties van je eigen bank, die Wesabe Springboard gebruikt, niet meer handmatig te importeren. Kijk daar word ik nou gelukkig van.

Al eerder maakte ik er melding van dat de Rabobank een battle op Battle of Concepts plaatste waarbij de vraag was: “hoe benutten we de kracht van social media om startende ondernemers en ZZP’ers elkaar te laten adviseren over de vragen die ze hebben rondom de start van hun bedrijf?”.

Nu heeft de Rabobank een landelijke starterscommunity gelanceerd, die volgens mij gezien mag worden als het vervolg op haar lokale starterscommunities. En niet zozeer als winnaar uit de battle, want daar was de opdracht niet het beginnen van een nieuw netwerk of forum.

In september vorig jaar lanceerde de Rabobank namelijk al een aantal lokale starterscommunities. Ze volgde daarmee ABN AMRO, die in maart van dat jaar startte met Flametree, een online netwerk voor ondernemers. Inmiddels is de concurrentie in het land van online ondernemersnetwerken groot: deOndernemer van Wegener, Biz4Biz van Bizner Bank, Hallo van de Kamer van Koophandel en vergeet vooral Linkedin niet, dat zich op steeds meer belangstelling van (startende) ondernemers mag verheugen. Ook ING had vorig jaar plannen voor een online ondernemersnetwerk, maar de plannen werden door de economische malaise al snel in de koelkast gezet.

De Rabobank startte begin deze maand samen met Reed Business, vlak voor de KvK-Startersdag, al met de internetsite ikgastarten.nl. In het persbericht destijds werd ook al gezinspeeld op het netwerken en een community voor starters in eigen regio. Nu is die starterscommunity er dus en ben ik benieuwd naar de mogelijke integratie van de twee platformen.

Toen vorig jaar de lokale starterscommities werden gelanceerd had ik zo mijn bedenkingen. Iedere lokale community was/is de verantwoordlijkheid van de lokale Rabobank. Zo kon de look & feel van de communities verschillen en moesten medewerkers van het lokale kantoor vooral zelf voor content zorgen. Daarmee  waren ze  zelf de (onervaren) moderators van hun eigen starterscommunity. Wellicht dat de landelijke starterscommunity tegemoet komt aan mijn bezwaren van destijds. Als betrokkene bij Flametree wens ik mijn netwerkende collega’s veel succes.

Meer weten over de Rabobank en social media? Bekijk dan deze presentatie van Maarten Korz.

Shareholders of Dutch financial services group ING back the firm’s plans for a 7.5bn euro share issue, and its decision to split the business…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: canada recession. The blog is also related to: recession stock.

Admón. del Tiempo: Carpeta evidencias y Examen

Ingles 1: Exposición en Inglés

Lista de cotejo para carpeta de evidencias

Índice:

**Portada

**Objetivo

**Temario

**Apuntes de clase al corriente

**Ensayos y Presentaciones del equipo

* Resumen 1 (1-75)
* Resumen 2 (76-206)
* Resumen 3 (207-356)

**Ensayos y Presentaciones de otros equipos

**Películas, diapositivas y Conclusión

**Exámenes

Lista de cotejo:

25 % Orden y Limpieza

25% Puntualidad

25% Presentación (Expo);

*Vestido

*Dominio de Tema

*Diapositivas

*Lenguaje corporal: Ademanes, Dispersión Visual, Voz.

25% Actitud: Trabajo en equipo, Participación en clase, Disponibilidad.

+ Proyecto integrador (3 de diciembre)

————————————————————————————–

Lo mencionado (70%)

Examen (30%)

Ingles 1: Exposición en Inglés (3 de diciembre)

Autobiografía en Ingles y exponer como narrativa

What do you get the company that is hard to buy for? How about a new niche acquisition? As we ready for the holiday season and the end of the year, I wonder if there will be any interesting, prettily wrapped presents. If you are shopping to buy or sell all or a portion of an HRO business, here are a few gift buying guide pointers.   

Look at the Bow on the Package

Attractive acquisition factors:

•  State-of-the-art technology infrastructure with low operating costs and great end-user experience

•  Integrated service centers in desirable locations, good regional coverage for languages, deep subject matter expertise and knowledge of local regulations

•  Reputation for service quality and relationships

•  Compatibility in values and culture

•  A well-rounded book of current clients

•  Strong revenue stream with a high percentage of multiyear contracts

•  No/low debt

•  Small enough to be affordable and benefit from the leverage of a larger partner

Shake the Package

While the above characteristics are the ideal, it’s much more likely a potential acquisition candidate will have a mix of elements, some more attractive, some not so much.

Extra due diligence is required if the main asset is a current slate of contracts. If the potential acquisition is friendly, take a look at the customer termination clauses to see if there are easy outs. Larger clients often have Change in Control terms that work both ways, including covering what happens if the provider is acquired. Check the penalties for Termination for Convenience. If the penalties decline over time, how near end of term are the largest clients? Are there signs some of the major clients are already on their way out the door?

Last April, Empyrean Benefits Solutions, Inc. made a bid to acquire ING’s Health and Welfare Unit. By June the deal was dead. According to my information, a key to the deal was keeping the majority of the clients intact as Empyrean already had its own new technology platform. When it became increasingly clear that the full book of clients would likely not be retained, the deal fell apart. As a result, Empyrean decided to stay focused on its own organic growth path. (Which, by the way, Empyrean has successfully done, almost doubling its client base by adding 14 new clients so far this year.)

There are providers looking for the right acquisition, and there are those who would like to sell. A match in the HRO space requires the same level of mutual due diligence required in a major provider and client long term contract. A match in the HRO community is also a matter of attractive elements and compatibility.

Happy holiday due diligence and gifting.

Linda Merritt, Research Director, HRO, NelsonHall

There has been news today of yet another iPhone worm that affects users who have unsecured SSH installed on their device.

Security Company, F-Secure, has unearthed this latest worm for the iPhone which targets people in the Netherlands, as it did before with the first exploit of unsecured SSH. It targets users who use their iPhone to online bank with ING. Much like a phishing attack, it redirects the bank’s users to a look-a-like website with a log-in screen.

The worm only affects jailbroken devices as before, and only devices with SSH that has the default password are affected. This latest worm is more serious than the ones prior, as they were created to warn people, that things such as this could happen. The security company, F-Secure, have also said that it can behave like a botnet and send itself to other un-secure devices on a local WiFi network.

The phone can be controlled by the hacker remotely without the knowledge or permission of the user. Hackers can ring people, text people, copy your contacts or what ever they wish with your device if it’s left open. At the moment it’s only spreading around the Netherlands, but soon enough malicious hackers will most likely take advantage of the users who don’t change the default password.

A spokesperson for ING Bank said that a warning was going to be put on the bank’s official website.

“We are also briefing call centre personnel,” she added. “It’s important to remember that the worm only affects jail-broken phones and it is only aimed at customers in the Netherlands.”

If your device is jailbroken and you believe SSH maybe, or is installed then please read this guide to secure your device. Many other guides will not fully protect you as they only change the mobile user password and not the root.

If you wish to read more from F-Secure on this issue click here.

Related:

How To: Change Your iPhone’s SSH Password
Dutch Hacker Hack’s Into Jailbroken iPhone’s
iPhone Worm Rickrolls Jailbroken Devices

L’Ordine degli Ingegneri della Provincia di Bolzano ha istituito anche quest’anno un premio per  tesi di diploma, di laurea specialistica e di dottorato di ricerca di interesse ingegneristico, al fine di documentare e divulgare i molteplici aspetti della professione e della cultura tecnica e diffonderne la conoscenza.

Il premio riveste temi di carattere ingegneristico che possono interpretare le esigenze e le aspettative della popolazione, al fine di sottolineare l’importanza del ruolo dell’ingegnere nella società civile.

Al premio possono accedere tutte le persone iscritte o laureate presso Università italiane od estere che abbiano redatto una tesi che tratti, nel biennio 2007/2008 temi connessi a: “Sicurezza sul posto di lavoro, nuove idee e sistemi innovativi”.

Per prendere visione del bando clicca qui .