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FireEye's IPO signals red hot interest in cybersecurity

The shares of cybersecurity company FireEye Inc leapt 80 percent in their trading debut on Friday in a sign of how red hot cybersecurity is on Wall Street at the moment, and even inspired at least one peer to accelerate plans to go public.

FireEye, whose debut ranks as the sixth biggest first-day close in the United States this year, is the latest in a string of successful public offerings from technology companies.

However, its valuation might raise some eyebrows among investors who(once again) still recall the dotcom bubble, when unprofitable companies launched with outsized growth expectations.

FireEye and ad technology company Rocket Fuel Inc, which also went public on Friday and whose shares have nearly doubled in value, are helping to set the stage for other high profile technology offerings later this year and in 2014. These include Twitter, Box and Dropbox.

Source: Reuters

China September HSBC PMI hits six-month high of 51.2

Growth in China's factory sector accelerated to a six-month high in September, a preliminary survey showed on Monday, as stronger domestic and foreign demand added to recent signs of a tentative turnaround in the world's second-largest economy.

The flash HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) climbed to 51.2 this month from August's 50.1, hitting a high not seen since March. A breakdown of the data showed ten of 11 sub-indices rose in September.

The flash PMI gives the earliest reading of China's monthly economic performance, and should cheer investors worried about a sharp economic slowdown after a previous rebound in activity proved short-lived.

A PMI reading over 50 points indicates expanding activity while one below that suggests contraction.

Monday's PMI joins other data earlier this month suggesting China's economy has bottomed out, with factory activity growing at its fastest in 17 months in August, comfortably surpassing expectations.

Exports also fared better than expected last month, as sales to southeast Asia and the United States boosted performance

Qu Hongbin, a HSBC economist, said the pick-up in manufacturing would give China's authorities scope to restructure the economy and boost domestic consumption, thereby cutting dependence on exports and investment.

Russia: CPC to Get Commercial oil flows from Kashagan Oil Field

The Caspian pipeline, CPC, will be ready to get commercial oil flows from the newly launched Kazakh Kashagan oil field only in the spring, a senior official at Russia's oil pipeline monopoly said Friday, suggesting an alternative route for the oil.
"We are counting on receiving Kashagan's oil in commercial volumes through the CPC likely in March-April," Mikhail Barkov,Transneft's vice president said, adding that meanwhile Transneft's Samara pipeline could serve as an alternative.
He has said the expansion program of the CPC, where Transneft is a shareholder, is behind schedule by up to a year.

Kazakhstan expects Kashagan, the world's biggest oil find in decades, to achieve commercial production in October and produce about 8 million tons of crude in 2014.
A CPC spokesman in Moscow said the shipments from Kashagan would begin in late October.

 

 

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Source: The Moscow     Times

Green cars take center stage at auto show

The 21st Indonesia International Motor Show (IIMS), one of Asia's biggest automobile shows, kicked off on Thursday at the Jakarta International Expo (JIExpo) in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, with automakers aiming to step up their sales of eco-friendly cars.

Several automakers, such as Suzuki, Ford and Subaru, unveiled their new cars, while other automakers also revealed their concept cars.At the show, PT Suzuki Indomobil Sales introduced a 1,000 cubic-centimeter (CC) eco-car variant - Karimun Wagon R, slated to be its LCGC version.
"The car has been used in Japan since 1993 and around 4 million units were sold in Japan in the last 20 years," said Suzuki sales director Davy Tuilan.
Suzuki will start massive production of the car soon and launch it after October, but it still waited for the final verification from the Industry Ministry, he said. A number of customers have pre-ordered the cars, Davy said.
Meanwhile, Daihatsu and Honda also introduced their concept cars.
Honda made a world premiere of its low multi-purpose vehicle (LMPV) Honda Mobilio.
Honda is expected to produce the 1,500 cc Mobilio in its plant in Karawang, which was scheduled to start operating in 2014, Honda Prospect Motor president director Tomoki Uchida said.

Japanese firm begins oil production in Iraq

"A Japanese company in southern Iraq has begun the full-scale production of crude oil.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and other officials attended a ceremony on Saturday at the Garraf oil field to mark the occasion.

Japan Petroleum Exploration Company, or JAPEX, began production on August 31st. It jointly developed the field with a Malaysian firm.

Maliki said in a speech that the 2 companies in partnership with Iraq will increase oil production in Iraq and help lead the country to prosperity.

Garraf is a mid-sized oil field with an estimated reserve of 1.3 billion barrels.

JAPEX plans to produce about 35,000 barrels a day. Daily output is expected to reach 230,000 barrels in 2017. That's more than 5 percent of Japan's total imports.

Oil exports to Japan could start as early as next year.

Japanese firms were involved in crude-oil development in Iraq in the 1970s. But this is the first time a company has been involved there in full-scale production.

JAPEX president Osamu Watanabe said the company was able to begin production much earlier than other oil firms. He said the donation of a soccer field to the local community and dialogue efforts contributed to security.

The minister at the Japanese embassy in Iraq, Kansuke Nagaoka, said a Japanese firm is fully operating in Iraq for the first time since the Iraq War. He said he hopes others can follow suit".

Source: NewsOnJapan

Germany: Merkel won, But Faces Tough Talks

"Angela Merkel's conservatives won a stunning victory in Sunday's general election, sharply increasing their share of the vote by some eight points to around 42 percent and putting her on track for a third term.It's the best result for the conservatives since the heady days of 1990, when Germans handed then-Chancellor Helmut Kohl, Merkel's former mentor, his third term in a wave of gratitude for his role in reunifying the nation.

 Merkel's junior coalition party, the pro-business Free Democratic Party crashed out of parliament according TV  based projections which put them below the 5% needed for parliamentary representation.

"We can already celebrate today because we did great," a beaming Merkel, 59, told ecstatic supporters at the CDU's headquarters in Berlin.

 If her conservatives have indeed won an absolute majority, and that is beginning to look unlikely as more results come in, she will face the prospect of governing with a wafer-thin majority of seats and a hostile upper house of parliament with the power to block her policies.

If the conservatives have fallen just short of a majority, they will need to find a coalition partner, the most likely candidate being the center-left Social Democratic Party , which will want to extract the highest possible price for its cooperation in a so-called grand coalition, both in terms of cabinet posts and policy concessions.

The prize, however, would be a left-right government with an overwhelming majority in both houses of parliament. She wouldn't have to worry about backbench rebellions against upcoming euro bailouts or domestic reforms, which she will finally have to address after years of postponement.

The SPD was at around 25.5 percent, up slightly from 23.0 percent in 2009, according to projections. The Greens were at just over eight percent, down from 10.7 percent in 2009.

The anti-euro Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which was formed in February and calls for an "orderly dismantling of the euro zone," came close to the five percent threshold. Public broadcaster ARD had them at 4.8 percent and ZDF at 4.9 percent in election night projections".

Source: Spiegel International

 

Biometrics hacking team use photo finger print to get through Touch ID

"In a rather nervous video and associated blogpost , Chaos Computer Club appears to demonstrate how they can get through Touch ID by taking high-resolution photographs of a fingerprint. Ironically, they claim the hack can be completed with “materials that can be found in almost every household” then go on to say that a 2400 dpi resolution photograph of the fingerprint must be used.

The group claims that Touch ID was only a little bit more difficult to get through compared to other fingerprint sensors, since the iPhone 5s’ scanner is extremely high-resolution. They go on to state that fingerprints should not be used as a secure method of authentication since they are left on so many surfaces and can be picked up very easily.

A large crowdfunded bounty was created to reward the first group to "crack" Touch ID. In

this case CCC is using conventional methods rather than software cracking,but the video

proof makes a solid case that it is effective. solid case that it is effective. The chances that someone will be able to take a 1200 dpi photograph of your fingerprint without your knowledge, however, is slim".

Source: 9to5Mac

Sony, e il nuovo smartphoneXperia Z1 e gi accessori fotografici Cyber-Shot QX100

Nella competizione dei cameraphoneSony si inserisce a gamba tesa. All’Ifa di Berlino il colosso giapponese ha infatti presentato il nuovo smartphoneXperia Z1 e gli accessori fotografici Cyber-shot DSC-QX100 e QX10 con il chiaro obiettivo di mandare in soffitta le vecchie fotocamere compatte. Il trend è quello giusto visto che secondo uno recente studio negli Usa il 58% dei possessori di smartphone utilizza solo il cellulare per scattare foto. Il numero è destinato inevitabilmente a crescere se, come è probabile, la qualità degli scatti fatti con il cellulare continuerà a migliorare in modo rilevante .

L’ultimo smartphone di Sony ha ulteriormente migliorato la valida fotocamera del modello precedente Z, montando ora un obiettivo G Lens con un grandangolo di 27 millimetri, zoom 3x, apertura focale 2.0 e sensore Cmos 1/2.3 da 20,7 megapixel, il tutto affiancato dal valido processore Bionz. Traducendo in linguaggio comune queste caratteristiche, tutto ciò significa che le foto scattate risultano molto buone, con una sorprendente definizione e una resa cromatica particolarmente fedele. Lo Z1 già con l’equipaggiamento di base è sufficiente a soddisfare le esigenze anche del fotoamatore evoluto, ma Sony ha previsto la possibilità di aggiungere al terminale anche due ulteriori accessori: le Cyber-shot DSC-QX100 e QX10. 

Questi prodotti sono in realtà delle vere e proprie macchine fotografiche indipendenti che sfruttano il software e lo schermo del cellulare (non solo lo Z1, ma qualsiasi Android e iOS scaricando l’applicazione PlayMemories). Si collegano al dispositivo tramite NFC o via WiFi e consentono di catturare foto e video offrendo qualche plus aggiuntivo. Il vantaggio principale risiede nella qualità dell’ottiche e dei sensori. La QX10 dispone di un zoom ottico 10x con sensore da 18,2 megapixel reali e stabilizzatore SteadyShot, mentre la QX100 monta addirittura un sensore Cmos Exmor R da 1 pollice con 20,2 megapixel e lenti Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnart T. Entrambi i modelli si possono montare sullo Z1 con un’apposita cover, oppure su altri telefoni usando un aggancio universale, ma possono essere utilizzati anche staccati dal cellulare, offrendo una libertà di movimento tale da effettuare scatti decisamente creativi.

Uno Smartphone di qualita' - Lo è soprattutto se si considera che lo Z1 viene commercializzato a 699 euro, cifra certo rilevante ma in linea con tutti gli altri top di gamma in commercio. Il prodotto di Sony però ha i numeri per competere con i suoi avversari grazie a un display Full HD Triluminos da 5 pollici, finalmente migliorato, robusto processore Qualcomm Snapdragon 800, 4G LTE, e la collaudata resistenza ad acqua e polvere (P55 e IP58), questa volta senza avere la necessità di coprire il jack dell’auricolare. Tra gli elementi distintivi di questo modello che ci ha sorpreso maggiormente, dopo la fotocamera, è la batteria: 3000 mAh consentono di non dipendere più dalla presa elettrica. Grazie anche alla modalità Stamina, che spegne le funzioni per risparmiare energia quando non sono in uso e le riavvia quando occorre, si arriva tranquillamente al secondo giorno di utilizzo.

Corriere della Sera