Loonie reaches parity with U.S. dollar again

OTTAWA — The Canadian dollar was again trading at a greater value than U.S. currency Wednesday, with the loonie getting a lift from higher crude oil prices.

The loonie rose as high as $1.0025 U.S. at about 3:25 a.m. ET, but traded above and below parity throughout the morning. At 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, it was trading around $1.0004 U.S..

Meanwhile oil, one of Canada's biggest exports, has been near a 26-month high this week. At midday Wednesday, it was trading at $91.33 U.S. a barrel, down from the previous day's close of $91.49 U.S..

On Tuesday, the dollar spent much of the day above $1 U.S.. It was trading around $1.0004 U.S. at 4 p.m. ET, when the official close would normally be set by the Bank of Canada. However, the central bank and other Canadian financial institutions were closed Monday and Tuesday in lieu of Christmas and Boxing Day.

The dollar's previous official close was 99.36 cents U.S. on Christmas Eve. The loonie last closed at parity with the U.S. greenback on Nov. 10.

© The Financial Post

Canadians lead the world on YouTube

Canadians lead the world on YouTube

Online temptation is tough for Canada. Image: YouTube.

So you think Canadians enjoy nothing more than slapping the burnt biscuit during their spare time, eh? While ice hockey does have a fervent following in Canada, a new study has found that clip-sharing service YouTube is also a major source of pleasure north of the border.

More pointedly, the number crunchers over at comScore have revealed that Canada leads the world it comes to watching content on YouTube, beating out even the United States where per capita consumption is concerned.

According to comScore, around 21 million Canadians use YouTube every month and watch an average of 147 clips while perusing the Google-owned site. In terms of demographic spread, the 18-to-24 age group builds the most monthly YouTube time, watching 244 clips while logging an average total time of 18.25 hours.

Not just riding high on YouTube usage, Canada also boasts the world’s highest penetration of Internet access, with around 68 percent of the total population online—which compares to 62 percent in the United Kingdom, 60 percent in Germany, 59 percent in the United States and 57 percent in Japan.

That, in turn, feeds into the revelation that connected Canadians are racking up more than 2,500 online minutes (42 hours) each month, a leading figure that beats out the 2,300 minutes amassed by users in Israel.

thetechherald.com

Festivals in Sydney

Festivals in SydneySydney abounds with festivities and happenings for tourists and residents all year round. Off the bat, there are about 15 different popular Sydney festivals spaced out throughout the year. Here are some of the more sought after of Sydney’s festivals.

Sydney Festival – this festival takes place in January, It includes a celebration of Sydney’s culture with theater plays and performances, art exhibits, and concerts. This festival is held in different venues every year, which keeps the anticipation always on a high.

The Tropfest – Held either in February or March, the Tropfest is Sydney’s festival for short films. Open to entries from around the world, Tropfest has been named the world’s largest short film festival, and has been gaining population steadily over the years

Sydney’s Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras – Now here’s a February showstopper that always manages to catch even the most jaded by surprise. This is the world’s biggest gay festival. The Mardi Gras is highlighted by a gay costume parade on Oxford Street. Sydney’s festival for gays typically ends with a final all night party.

Royal Easter Show – Held in March or April, and coinciding of course, with the Catholic religious celebration of Easter, this Sydney festival is your typical farm show that lasts for almost 2 weeks. The Royal Easter show is usually held in Sydney’s Olympic Park and the number of tourists and residents that join this particular Sydney festival sometimes have no religious affiliation whatsoever.

Sydney Film Festival – This is one of Sydney’s festival that also draws huge crowds. Naturally, the reason being the number of celebrity turnouts during the Awards Night. Nevertheless, the quality of films shown in this film festival have been of world class, outstanding standards. The Sydney Film Festival is held in June at the State Theater.

Sydney Design Week – This Sydney festival celebrates the pride of Sydney’s art and design students and experts. Sydney is obviously well intent on giving due recognition to deserving Australians who bring honor to the country with their designs and art work.

During the month of August, you will enjoy different exhibitions and forums of art and design. Experts are invited to grace the event, and many art tours are organized to bring attention to the wonderful artistry of Sydney.

City to Surf – Also held in August, this particular festival is a project that hopes to revive running. It’s a marathon with over 50,000 athletes, residents and tourists running for 14 km around Hyde Park all the way to Bondi Beach.

Good Food Month – This special Sydney festival is a gastronomic delight. Held in the “beery” month of October, it is held in different venues and includes talks and workshops on food and food preparation, food markets, and lots of culinary delights.

One of the finest of all of Sydney’s festivals is the world famous New Year Eve Countdown in Sydney Harbour. Every December 31, video from Sydney Harbour is beamed all over the globe as one of the most exciting and extravagant displays of fireworks in the world.

Documents To Go Premium 3.0 for iPhone Now Available in the App Store

Documents To Go Premium 3.0 is the only mobile Office suite for iPhone/iPod touch with support for viewing and editing of all three Office formats (Word, Excel and PowerPoint).
Edit & create PowerPoint presentations
Edit/add bullets and text in Outline view and see changes immediately in Slide view
Edit/add speaker notes
Sort, add, duplicate and delete slides
Promote/demote bullets
And more!
Added support for Gmail attachments
Edit/view attachments using Docs To Go
Product name change
From "Documents To Go with Exchange Attachments" to "Documents To Go Premium"

RoadSync 2.0 Now Available in Android Market and Preloaded on Select Handsets from Acer, Foxconn, Huawei, HP, Sony Ericsson and ZTE!

In addition to push e-mail, calendar, contacts and attachments, the latest version of our enterprise-grade Exchange ActiveSync client now adds:
Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 compatibility
Optimizations for latest Android devices running OS 1.5, 1.6, 2.0 & 2.1
Tasks synchronization and new home screen widgets and shortcuts
Global Address List / Corporate Directory Look-up
Improved contact integration with new "Quick Contact Toolbar"
Enhanced meeting creation for inviting required attendees
Ability to store e-mail and attachments on the memory card
Now localized in over 10 languages

This update is free for all existing customers who previously purchased the software. Customers who received a version of RoadSync preloaded on their device should select the "Check for Updates" option for device specific updates.

RoadSync 2.0 is also available in Android Market as a 14-day free trial and for a limited-time price of $9.99 (regularly $19.99.)

New! Share and contribute to web pages with Toolbar

New! Share and contribute to web pages with Toolbar

• Share any web page with your friends
  right from the Toolbar.
• Contribute and read helpful information
  on any web page with Google Sidewiki.
• Translate web pages instantly
  with automatic language detection.

More info and download: http://www.google.com/intl/en/toolbar/ff/index.html

Do more than just IM with!! Yahoo! Messenger 10

Do more than just IM withYahoo! Messenger 10

Download Now

Enhanced video calling

Feel like you're there with high-quality, full screen video and voice calling

Keep up with what your friends are doing

See your friends' latest updates from Yahoo!, Flickr, Twitter and more with the new “Updates” view

Improved language support

Change your preferred language in Yahoo! Messenger with just a few clicks

System requirements: Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, 7.

Newshosting Review

- 760 days binary retention - 1,000 days text retention - US & European servers - Up to 60 connections - Free trial: 14 days free - Special: $12.95 unlimited

Newshosting has been around a long time and has a large customer base. They were the first Usenet provider to announce binary retention upgrades last year. Since then Newshosting has steadily raised retention to 760 days with and continues to grow daily. They also increased connections up to 60 and are offering the special discount.

Newshosting offers 760 days binary retention and 1,000 days text retention across 100,000+ newsgroups. You get full retention with all Usenet plans. Server farms in both the United States and Europe (Amsterdam) enhance performance and reliability.

Newshosting offers high-speed access and an industry leading 60 connections with their NHXL PowerPack unlimited account. However, the NH Unlimited account includes 30 connections which is plenty for $12.95 a month for life. They also offer a NH Lite (50 GB/mo.) account with 30 simultaneous connections for $10 a month.

Tech support is available 24/7 by emailing support@newshosting.com. The site also has a useful FAQ section including server connection details and alternate ports. Newshosting also offers a video tutorial series to help get you started.

Newshosting offers new customers a 14 day free trial including 30 GB of free downloads. You can combine the free trial with the Newshosting special offers listed below.

Newshosting NH Unlimited $12.95 special:
Newshosting is also offering their NH Unlimited account for $12.95 a month for life. It includes unlimited Usenet access, 256-bit SSL encryption, 30 connections and 760days of binary retention for $12.95 a month for life. Visit the Newshosting special page for more details.

Newshosting XL PowerPack $15.95 Deal + Free Easynews special:
Newshosting is offering their XL PowerPack account for $15.95 a month for life. In addition members receive a free Easynews accountwith 10 GB of monthly web Usenet access, The XL PowerPack account includes unlimited Usenet access, free 256-bit SSL encryption, 60connections and up to 760days of binary retention. Visit theNewshosting special page for more details.
The difference between the two specials is that the XL PowerPack includes 60 connections and a free 10 GB/mo. Easynews account. The NH Unlimited is limited to 30 connections and no Easynews account.
Standard account pricing:
- XL Powerpack, unlimited, 60 connections, SSL - $19.95/mo.
- NH Unlimited, unlimited, 30 connections, SSL- $14.95/mo.
- NH Lite, 50 GB/mo., 30 connections, SSL - $10.00/mo.

Bottom line - Newshosting provides a high level of service and reliability. The added features and special pricing helped them earn a first quarter 2010 Editors' Choice award. Find out for yourself by signing up for a 14 day free trial of Newshosting or take advantage of the currentNewshosting special offers.

Visit Newshosting

SEO Hosting: What you really have to know

– When one thinks of anything that can be used in relation to seo hosting, they are often of the impression that such C class IP addresses are the best bet. But what they fail to understand is that this is one of the most challenging tasks to accomplish. In order to be well capable of being able of going ahead and optimizing one’s website for any search engine, one first has to go about finding the best and right seo host provider that can adhere to all the needed guidelines when it comes to delivering the best traffic to one’s website. This is the most important task to remember.
When it comes to C class IP addresses, remember that any IP address is divided into 4 parts and so it is vital that the third part is different so that the website that you go about creating does not get banned or sandboxed by Google.  If you make sure that all your backlinks pointing back to the main website come from different C classes, then you are also ensuring that they would not be targeted by any search engines. The fact that this C Class IP hosting model is highly acclaimed due to its ability of creating a network of blogs that can not only rank higher in search engines, but can also backlink well to the main site. In such a way, link building can be effectively accomplished.
Now you might want to go ahead and select the very first seo host provider that you lay eyes on, but what you have to remember is that you have to perform all the needed research on the site, in other words, you have to go about the process of reading the various feedbacks that have been given by customers of the service.
About Author:
There is a great need to contemplate SEO Host so as to help webmasters achieve the best of results on their website’s PR and SERP. Firms such as Page1Hosting are some of the only few authentic SEO Hosting options that need to be formulated with the sole intention of knowing which are the best optimization strategies available in the market today.
For more information follow, http://www.page1hosting.com

Joomla-Seo

Joomla-Seo -

Free Seo Report Example

Free Seo Report Example -

How to Pick the Right Cloud Hosting Company to Scale Your Business Online

With online web technology growing in power and strength everyday online efficiency is an area that seems to consistently be a focal point for many businesses. For companies really serious about their online data usage taking their business to the cloud makes a great deal of financial sense. Cloud computing companies allow you to pay for what you use making cloud web hosting a strong viable option to help scale any business. When seeking out a reputable cloud hosting provider there are some things you should know before pulling the trigger.

How good is the hosting support?

If your website goes down at 1 AM will there be someone to respond in a reasonable amount of time? A cloud hosting company’s support system is the only life line a person has to their website from a hosting standpoint so it is important for a hosting company to have a strong support line their customers can turn to when things go wrong.

What are the uptime server promises?

Uptime is one of the most important factors to determining how great a cloud hosting company really is. Uptime could be the difference between your company making money online and losing money online so it is important that your server never goes down. Reliability is an extremely important aspect when choosing a hosting provider which is why it is important to have a 100% uptime promise.

Are the hosting costs reasonable compared to the industry?

You should be able to determine roughly how much your spend will be before you migrate over to a cloud hosting company. The costs should also be reasonable compared to the industry. Some hosting companies like to flash around client logos and name drop in order to charge top dollar for server usage and it is important to distinguish between a cloud hosting company looking for profits only and one that is fair to its audience by offering reasonable rates.

Does the internal control panel serve its purpose?

Behind the scenes the control panel is your go-to destination point where you can manage email addresses, usage statistics and all other technical aspects of your specific hosting situation. The control panel is where you will most likely spend a great deal of your time so it is important that it satisfies you’re your business’s needs.

Cloud hosting is amazing option to reduce server IT costs at any organization especially one that has a wide reach in the digital space. In order to find the right one for you there are some important questions that should be answered prior to securing the right cloud hosting company to satisfy any web hosting needs.

About Open Hosting:

Open Hosting, a cloud hosting company offers a robust, feature rich VPS cloud hosting solutions. The Open Hosting cloud computing solutions offer the freedom and control of dedicated servers with the added flexibility and scalability of the cloud. And for projects with special considerations, the hybrid solutions offer a mix of dedicated servers and VPS cloud hosting. In addition, every solution comes with guidance and support from our experienced engineers. for more information please visit http://www.openhosting.com.

Source Code Revision Control with Subversion

Source Code Revision Control with SubversionControl with Subversion
Christophe Dupré
May 13, 2005Update KEJ May 10, 2006

Source Code Revision Control with Subversion -

Website Designing Services

Website Designing Services

A website is the best platform in Internet Marketing Consultants for those businesses who are trying to make a transition to the World Wide Web. However your website does not need to be award-winning to meet your business targets. It only needs to be functional and professional. An aesthetically appealing and well optimized website not only captures the interest of visitors but also converts them into long term customers.


Website Designing Services -

Handling Session Classes for Predicting ASP.NET Performance Metrics

This document is just too good. The best thing is that document is written in very detail to cover the aspects for this particular scenario. The part i like the most is "Modelling a multi tier web application using a queueing network". I was looking for some solutions for a particular project problem of mine. I am sure this will be helping a lot in designing of strucutre for my solution.

Handling Session Classes for Predicting ASP.NET Performance Metrics -

Google Search Shortcuts Guide Cheat Sheet

Google Search Shortcuts Guide Cheat Sheet -

Hướng dẫn đăng ký tên miền miễn phí đẹp is.com hỗ trợ đầy đủ DNS...

Hôm nay mình xin hướng dẫn đăng ký (bằng hình ảnh) thêm một tên miền miễn phí đẹp tensite.is.com có hỗ trợ DNS, rút gọn link, bảng ghi đầy đủ:

+B1 vào: http://is.com
+B2 Điền tên site của bạn muốn đăng ký vào ô WWW
+B3 click check availability

*nếu xuất hiện màn hình không giống hình sao đồng nghĩa với tên site của bạn đã có người đăng ký bạn hãy chọn tên miền khác

*nếu giống thì tiếp tục (tên miền này miễn phí đến 2 năm) chọnCheckout
+B4 Điền thông tin tương tự như hình sau:(lưu ý: User Name: phải trong khoảng từ 6-12 ký tự. Email phải điền chính xác để nhận mã đăng ký)

+B5 mở mail lên rồi copy cái key mà nó gởi cho mình 

+B6 past vào ô key: rồi click vào verify Activation Key

rồi click vào finish free registration
+B7 click vào chữ My Account (trên góc phải màn hình) rồi đăng nhập với Username và pass vừa tạo rồi click vào chữ My domains 
+B8 click vào nút Manage

+B9 bây giời bạn chọn cài đặt thích hợp cho tên Miền của bạn (bạn chỉ được sử dụng một trong 3 lựa chọn phù hợp với mục đích sử dụng của mình)

có gì liên hệ mình: Y!M: trunghieuvery  email: trunghieuvery@gmail.com
chúc các bạn thành công!
xem thêm:
+tên miền miễn phí hỗ trợ DNS co.cc 
+Host free miễn phí tốt nhất hiện nay

SEO Hosting Servers

Opting for the right SEO Host means having to take the plunge into making an investment that will be able to yield the best of results for developing your websites and host them in a way that would be able to yield the best of results. Once this can be finalized, webmasters will be able to make the most of their needs by being able to create and develop their webpages so as to dominate the top search engines of the world. There are a lot of features that we at Page1Hosting have for you. Each and every one of our SEO Hosting services come from an SEO Hosting network that has been purchased on reliable server blocks located in the heart of The United States. Webmasters that would want to opt for a reliable SEO Hosting Country would now be able to do so with the sole intention of giving their websites just what they need. If you are one such webmaster, you would be interested in this service that could be the best SEO Hosting VPS that you have ever found.

At Page1Hosting, we have accumulated the best of SEO Hosting Network locations that have the best reliable servers offering a 99% uptime guarantee. This means that you and your website will receive nothing but the best in SEO Hosting servers. All our SEO Hosting Servers are monitored by expert analysts that maintain our track record of providing unlimited and consistent levels of service to all of our clients. If you are one such person that needs a consistent SEO Hosting Server that will be able to provide the best of results on the top search engines of the world, our complete range of SEO Hosting Networks will be your first and last stop. Once this can be formulated well, you will be able to dominate effectively the top search engines of the world.

Our SEO Hosting VPS servers are the best in the industry where we have powered more than a thousand accounts within a short span of time. Ever since our inception in the SEO Hosting Servers business, we have set a standard for ourselves in being able to create and develop the best of services relating to SEO Hosting VPS systems. With our SEO Hosting USA servers, we shall ensure that you will be able to make the most of your web hosting needs and at the same time be able to create and develop the best of services in regard to SEO Hosting Networks. If you are looking for an SEO Hosting USA Server or SEO Hosting Network to give you the best of results, contact us immediately and we shall provide you with the best of services. Along with SEO Hosting VPS servers, we also offer multiple C Class IPs for you to assign to each of your domains. For more information, contact us at the earliest.

Insured patients hit for part fees

HCM CITY — More than 90 per cent of insured patients will have to co-pay for check-ups and treatments, according to the new health insurance law that takes effect today.
Tong Thi Song Huong, director of the Ministry of Health’s Health Insurance Department, said patients with health insurance must pay part of the hospital fees, depending on the level or category of hospitals, and the kind of insurance policy bought.
Insured patients who are examined and treated in hospitals assigned under their policy must pay between 5 and 20 per cent of hospital fees. Those who use other hospitals must pay 30-70 per cent of the fees.
Cao Van Sang, head of HCM City’s Social Insurance Agency, said that retired officials, ethnic minorities, needy people and welfare recipients with poor health would pay 5 per cent of hospital fees.
Students, employees and others who are not obligated to buy health insurance will pay 20 per cent of the fee.
The nation’s health insurance fund will pay for children under six years old and people who have contributed to the revolution.
No co-payment will be required for examination fees that do not exceed VND97,500 (US$5.3).
Patients who received treatment and check-ups at hospitals in communes and wards would not be obligated to co-pay, Sang said.
Under the new health insurance law, insured people will be provided with health insurance cards with a new code.
Nguyen Minh Thao, head of the Viet Nam Social Insurance’s Health Insurance Evaluation Committee, said that nearly 50 million people nationwide currently bought health insurance.
For insured patients who are being treated during the printing period of the new cards, old insurance cards will still be effective until they are discharged from the hospital. For people who have not received new health insurance cards, social insurance agencies will provide a document that confirms the patient is waiting for a new card. Children without new cards will be allowed to use their birth certificates.
In HCM City, Sang said that new health insurance cards for retired officials would be sent to People’s Committees of their wards soon.
Most children under six years old and 1.1 million students in HCM City have received new health insurance cards. — VNS

Human traffickers sentenced for selling 86 women

Four people were sentenced to a total of 25 years in prison in the southern province of Tay Ninh on Wednesday for selling nearly 90 women to Singaporean and Malaysian bidders.
According to the indictment, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Yen, 53, was the trafficking ring’s mastermind.
Prosecutors said Yen hired 60- year-old Nguyen Thi Khuan to entice young women in Tay Ninh and other Mekong Delta provinces into leaving for foreign countries with the promise of jobs or marriages to wealthy men.
Yen would put the women up and teach them Malaysian before selling them to a Malaysian named Lee, who was introduced to Yen by her adopted daughter’s husband, another Malaysian, in 2007. The women were then bought by Malaysian and Singaporean men as wives.
Police investigations showed that Yen earned US$1,000 and paid Khuan VND2 million ($108) for each woman sold to Lee. She also paid Pham Thi Phi, 50, who helped her keep records of the women, VND500,000-1 million ($27-54) a month.
The ring was busted in November 2008 when Tay Ninh Police and the Criminal Investigation Bureau at the Ministry of Public Security caught Yen’s accomplices carrying out procedures for three women set to leave for Malaysia at Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat Airport.
According to police, Yen had earned VND76.5 million ($4,140) from selling 80 out of 400 women introduced by her accomplices since mid 2007.
Further investigations then found that Khuan also worked for another ring led by 31-year-old Nguyen The
Phong, who had sold six women to another Vietnamese also named Phong in Malaysia and his brother-in-law in Singapore since 2007. The Phong earned VND6 million ($324) for each woman sold to his partners.
Yen got 12 years’ imprisonment and The Phong was given seven while Khuan and Phi were sent to prison for four and two years respectively. They were all found guilty of human trafficking.
In a separate case, seven women, who were sold into prostitution in Thailand by Vietnamese citizen Vo Thi Hong, who was arrested in July 2009, returned to Vietnam last Friday.
The women, who were sent to Thailand eight months ago, were rescued by Vietnamese Embassy workers in Thailand in cooperation with other organizations and Thai investigators.
Reported by Phuc Nam

Obama summons intel chiefs for security talks

President Barack Obama on Thursday summoned U.S. intelligence chiefs to a meeting next week at the White House to discuss how to prevent a repeat of the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner on December 25.
Seeking to quell criticism of his administration over an intelligence breakdown, Obama said he was briefed by his top advisers and would get assessments from intelligence agencies later on Thursday and study them over the weekend before returning to Washington from Hawaii.
Obama had ordered an immediate review of what he called "human and systemic failures" that allowed the accused bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian with alleged links to Islamic militants, to get on the transatlantic flight from Amsterdam.
The incident has put Obama on the defensive, drawing charges from Republicans that his administration has dropped the ball on counterterrorism and exposing intelligence gaps that have lingered on since the September 11, 2001, attacks.
While still on vacation with his family in Hawaii, Obama tried to reassure the U.S. public and grab control of what has become one of his toughest national security challenges since taking office last January.
"On Tuesday, in Washington, I will meet personally with relevant agency heads to discuss our ongoing reviews as well as security enhancements and intelligence-sharing improvements in our homeland security and counterterrorism operations," Obama said in a statement issued by the White House.
A preliminary report is expected to detail the intelligence lapses that allowed Abdulmutallab to board the Northwest Airlines flight to Detroit on Christmas Day with what authorities said were explosives sewn into his clothes.
The Nigerian suspect flew from Africa to Amsterdam, where he boarded the Northwest flight to Detroit.
Obama, who took his children to a movie and played golf on Thursday, would study incoming reports on the issue throughout the evening, a senior administration official said.
Accountability for mistakes
The report is also likely to make recommendations on improving the sharing of information between the United States' 16 intelligence agencies.
Obama, a Democrat, is under pressure from opposition Republicans, who fault his administration for not preventing the attack and seek to paint him as weak on national security before mid-term elections in November, when they will challenge the Democrats' control of both houses of the U.S. Congress.
Admiral Dennis Blair, the director of national intelligence, said in a memo to staff that those who made mistakes in the incident would be held accountable.
"The president was direct in his assessment that intelligence failures were a contributing factor in the escalation of this threat. This is a tough message for us to receive," he said.
"In coming days we will review what information was available to whom, determine what mistakes were made in assessing or sharing that information, commend those who did their jobs well, and hold accountable those who did not.
"I have no doubt in our ability to close the gaps that these attacks exposed," Blair said.
There was also strong speculation about a possible shake-up at the top of the intelligence community, which had information from interviews and clandestine intercepts but did not put the pieces together.
Intelligence lapses in the incident have raised questions about sweeping changes made to improve security and intelligence-sharing after the September 11, 2001, attacks.
A senior aide said Obama would seek accountability at the highest levels. Another official said the review would show "where the dots should have been connected."
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano will dispatch senior agency officials to meet with airport executives around the world to review security and technology used to screen passengers on U.S.-bound flights, the department said in a statement on Thursday.
Intelligence trail months old
U.S. intelligence and counterterrorism officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said spy agencies picked up important information about Abdulmutallab, and about the intentions of al Qaeda leaders in Yemen, in the months before the attempted bombing.
The intelligence trail began at least four months ago, when the U.S. National Security Agency intercepted communications between al Qaeda leaders in Yemen discussing the possibility of using a "Nigerian" bomber, according to one official briefed on the intelligence.
The CIA first learned of Abdulmutallab in November, when his father came to the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria and sought help in finding him, a spokesman said.
The agency said it then worked with the embassy to add Abdulmutallab and his possible Yemeni contacts to the U.S. terrorism database and forwarded biographical information about him to the National Counterterrorism Center.
Although worrying, a U.S. intelligence official said, the information the CIA received about Abdulmutallab was sketchy.
One U.S. counterterrorism official said there was reason to believe that Abdulmutallab had also come into contact with Anwar al-Awlaki, an American Muslim preacher linked to Nidal Malik Hasan, a military psychiatrist charged with 13 murders in a November shooting spree in a Texas Army base.
"People are looking at the precise nature of their interaction," the official said.
As authorities sought to piece together Abdulmutallab's movements, the Nigerian government said he began his journey in Ghana and spent less than 30 minutes in Nigeria's Lagos airport before boarding a flight to Amsterdam.
Although Abdulmutallab was known to have bought his ticket in Ghana's capital Accra, he had been thought to have started his journey on December 24 in Lagos, where he boarded a KLM flight to Amsterdam before transiting to the Detroit flight.
Source: Reuters

Update: Twitter Apps and You

What are applications?

There are over 250,000 applications built using the Twitter API. To use most applications, you first authorize the application to access your Twitter account, after which you can use it to read and post Tweets, discover new users and more. Applications come in many varieties, including desktop applications likeTweetDeck, Seesmic, or EchoFon, websites such as TweetMeme, fflick, orTopsy, or mobile applications such as Twitter for iPhone, Twitter for Blackberry, or Foursquare.

Update 1: New authorization rules for applications

Starting August 31, all applications will be required to use “OAuth” to access your Twitter account.

What's OAuth?

• OAuth is a technology that enables applications to access Twitter on your behalf with your approval without asking you directly for your password.
• Desktop and mobile applications may still ask for your password once, but after that request, they are required to use OAuth in order to access your timeline or allow you to tweet.

What does this mean for me?

• Applications are no longer allowed to store your password.
• If you change your password, the applications will continue to work.
• Some applications you have been using may require you to reauthorize them or may stop functioning at the time of this change.
• All applications you have authorized will be listed athttp://twitter.com/settings/connections.
• You can revoke access to any application at any time from the list.

Update 2: t.co URL wrapping

In the coming weeks, we will be expanding the roll-out of our link wrapping service t.co, which wraps links in Tweets with a new, simplified link. Wrapped links are displayed in a way that is easier to read, with the actual domain and part of the URL showing, so that you know what you are clicking on. When you click on a wrapped link, your request will pass through the Twitter service to check if the destination site is known to contain malware, and we then will forward you on to the destination URL. All of that should happen in an instant.

You will start seeing these links on certain accounts that have opted-in to the service; we expect to roll this out to all users by the end of the year. When this happens, all links shared on Twitter.com or third-party apps will be wrapped with a t.co URL.

What does this mean for me?

• A really long link such as http://www.amazon.com/Delivering-Happiness-Profits-Passion-Purpose/dp/0446563048 might be wrapped as http://t.co/DRo0trj for display on SMS, but it could be displayed to web or application users as amazon.com/Delivering- or as the whole URL or page title.
• You will start seeing links in a way that removes the obscurity of shortened links and lets you know where each link will take you.
• When you click on these links from Twitter.com or a Twitter application, Twitter will log that click. We hope to use this data to provide better and more relevant content to you over time.