Sunday, December 8, 2013

Micron Associates: My week as an Amazon insider



The first item I see in Amazon's Swansea warehouse is a package of dog nappies. The second is a massive pink plastic dildo. The warehouse is 800,000 square feet, or, in what is Amazon's standard unit of measurement, the size of 11 football pitches (its Dunfermline warehouse, the UK's largest, is 14 football pitches). It is a quarter of a mile from end to end. There is space, it turns out, for an awful lot of crap.

But then there are more than 100m items on its UK website: if you can possibly imagine it, Amazon sells it. And if you can't possibly imagine it, well, Amazon sells it too. To spend 10½ hours a day picking items off the shelves is to contemplate the darkest recesses of our consumerist desires, the wilder reaches of stuff, the things that money can buy: a One Direction charm bracelet, a dog onesie, a cat scratching post designed to look like a DJ's record deck, a banana slicer, a fake twig. I work mostly in the outsize "non-conveyable" section, the home of diabetic dog food, and bio-organic vegetarian dog food, and obese dog food; of 52in TVs, and six-packs of water shipped in from Fiji, and oversized sex toys – the 18in double dong (regular-sized sex toys are shelved in the sortables section).

On my second day, the manager tells us that we alone have picked and packed 155,000 items in the past 24 hours. Tomorrow, 2 December – the busiest online shopping day of the year – that figure will be closer to 450,000. And this is just one of eight warehouses across the country. Amazon took 3.5m orders on a single day last year. Christmas is its Vietnam – a test of its corporate mettle and the kind of challenge that would make even the most experienced distribution supply manager break down and weep. In the past two weeks, it has taken on an extra 15,000 agency staff in Britain. And it expects to double the number of warehouses in Britain in the next three years. It expects to continue the growth that has made it one of the most powerful multinationals on the planet.

Source: Micron Associates

Monday, December 2, 2013

Micron Associates, Online shoppers warned of scam websites



The UK government has warned bargain hunters to be extra vigilant when searching for deals online this Black Friday and in the run-up to Christmas, confirming that cyber criminals netted more than £12m online during the same period last year.

The UK government issued the warning on Thursday, also revealing that its Action Fraud hotline received more than 10,000 reports about active cyber scams last year. Each scam reportedly earned the criminals an average of £1,700 per victim.

Dave Clark, detective chief superintendent of the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, highlighted scams masquerading as deals on technology products, like the Apple iPhone and iPad, as being particularly problematic.
"Online shopping has revolutionised the way we buy our Christmas presents, with each year more and more people choosing to search for gifts over the internet rather than heading to the shops. However, the result is that online fraud is top of the festive scam list," he said.

Source:  Micron Associates

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Micron Associates - Forum to focus on GCC cybercrime



The seminar will discuss penetration, hacking attacks and advanced persistent threats, malware and spyware, denial of service attacks, risk scenarios in the cloud, social engineering risks, bring your own device (BYOD) risks, audits and risk assessments, key cyber security controls and BYOD best practices.

It has been designed to equip risk, compliance and fraud prevention professionals with the knowledge they need to combat these sophisticated crimes and mitigate the risk they pose.

The seminar is conducted in collaboration with the International Compliance Association, UK, and is funded under Tamkeen's conferences and seminars support scheme. "Increasing exposure of businesses to the Internet provides the advantage of publicising business offerings and promoting interaction between stakeholders," CBB information technology director Yousif Al Fadhel said.

"However, it also requires adequate security measures to be deployed in a timely manner to counter possible and reported risks to IT infrastructure across organisations. "It is hence mandatory for IT security officials to be well-informed about latest developments in IT security risks and remedies," he added.

Source:  Micron Associates

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Micron Associates, New e-crime centre in fight against growing internet scams



A national e-crime evidence centre hosted by North Yorkshire County Council, which has been set up and expanded to tackle the growing threat of internet scams, is to be formally opened next week by peer Lord Toby Harris.

The National Trading Standards E-crime Centre’s digital evidence unit (DEU) has recently doubled in size to increase consumer protection against internet scams and online fraud.
The lab has been extended to accommodate 4 more forensic analysts and a forensic technician, bringing the new e-crime unit’s strength up from 5 to 9 forensic staff.

Lord Toby Harris, chairman of the National Trading Standards Board, and member of both the House of Lords Select Committee on “Personal Internet Security”, and the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy, will formerly open the unit on Monday 7th October 2013

The new staff based in the county council DEU will work closely with the e-crime enforcement officers in York, hosted by the City of York Council. Together they constitute the National Trading Standards eCrime Centre’s e-crime unit. The new staff will help reduce turnaround times and enhance the support given to local trading standards officers and regional scambuster teams.

The expansion of the DEU forms part of the National Trading Standard Board’s overall investment in consumer protection. It represents a longer term commitment to improve trading standards’ capacity nationally to tackle internet scams and rip-offs targeted at both consumers and businesses.

Source:  Micron Associates

Micron Associates, New e-crime centre in fight against growing internet scams



A national e-crime evidence centre hosted by North Yorkshire County Council, which has been set up and expanded to tackle the growing threat of internet scams, is to be formally opened next week by peer Lord Toby Harris.

The National Trading Standards E-crime Centre’s digital evidence unit (DEU) has recently doubled in size to increase consumer protection against internet scams and online fraud.
The lab has been extended to accommodate 4 more forensic analysts and a forensic technician, bringing the new e-crime unit’s strength up from 5 to 9 forensic staff.

Lord Toby Harris, chairman of the National Trading Standards Board, and member of both the House of Lords Select Committee on “Personal Internet Security”, and the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy, will formerly open the unit on Monday 7th October 2013

The new staff based in the county council DEU will work closely with the e-crime enforcement officers in York, hosted by the City of York Council. Together they constitute the National Trading Standards eCrime Centre’s e-crime unit. The new staff will help reduce turnaround times and enhance the support given to local trading standards officers and regional scambuster teams.

The expansion of the DEU forms part of the National Trading Standard Board’s overall investment in consumer protection. It represents a longer term commitment to improve trading standards’ capacity nationally to tackle internet scams and rip-offs targeted at both consumers and businesses.

Source:  Micron Associates

Monday, September 16, 2013

Micron Associates article code 85230508839: China’s Net crackdown shows fear trumps reform


Say you are a Shanghai-based economist and doubt the veracity of China’s latest trade data. You put out a research report to that effect, one that creates buzz on the Internet and exposes you to something far worse than making a bad call: prison.

Or say you are a photographer in Chongqing and circulate images of a politician who loves Rolexes. Bloggers begin buzzing about how a modestly compensated public official could afford a stable of $7,000 watches. You, too, may end up in handcuffs.

What if overworked and underpaid Foxconn Technology Group workers churning out iPhones they can’t afford choose to vent online? How about an environmentally minded graduate student who questions the accuracy of Beijing’s air-pollution readings? Or a mother who lost a child in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake who complains in a blog post that repairs still look shoddy? Could all of these people get arrested?

Yes, according to a new threat from Xi Jinping’s government: three-year jail terms for Web comments deemed defamatory. This isn’t happening in a place of George Orwell’s imagination, but in a country many still think is destined for world domination. China’s escalating war on free expression is unfolding in ways even the author of the classic 1949 novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four” couldn’t have dreamed up. It’s clear evidence that hopes Xi’s government would be serious about economic reforms are also fiction.

Few expected Xi to be China’s Mikhail Gorbachev, but the president’s crackdown is particularly poorly timed. Markets are looking for Beijing to roll out a raft of reforms in November and were hoping for them to be bold — a big bang that would set the Chinese economy on a more sustainable growth path. Instead, the latest Internet rules signal timidity rather than strength: The government has clearly been taken aback by the explosion in online commentary on microblogging services such as Sina Weibo and is desperately trying to reassert its control however it can.

A similar fear has resulted in a rollback of the campaign to clamp down on runaway credit growth — a refreshing sign of discipline that economists had cheered this summer. Li Keqiang, China’s reform-minded premier, can only go as far as Xi permits him, and the leash appears rather short. Despite Li’s pledge to rein in excesses, the broadest measure of new credit nearly doubled in August.

The longer Xi and Li keep the loan spigot open, the longer state-owned enterprises will dominate. Their primacy is the biggest barrier both to China switching focus away from sweatshops toward services and to ending corruption. Similarly, policing the shadow-banking industry is key to avoiding a Japan-like debt crisis. Yet too many Communist Party power brokers are making tens of millions of dollars off state-dominated China Inc. Beijing lacks the political will to irk these cronies, let alone inflict pain on a restive population.

Nothing would end this corrosive dynamic faster than a freer media and Internet. In May, a vice chairman of China’s economic planning agency lost his job after allegations of improper business dealings made the rounds among bloggers. This month, another official, Yang Dacai, got 14 years in jail after online photos of his pricey watches inspired a crowdsourcing investigation. That won’t be possible now that local cadres can aim politically motivated lawsuits at anyone with a camera and an IP address.

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Micron Associates - Scam lettres : "ne pas être pris pour un prix idiot'



Vous vous trouverez plusieurs enveloppes contenant la littérature avec le caractère distinctif, semi-glacé se sentent des vieilles football pools des tracts. Là s'arrête la ressemblance. Alors que les piscines donner au moins une chance, ce que vous m'avez adressé ne résiste pas à l'analyse.

Ce qui vous a arrêté de vous en débarrasser était la promesse d'importantes sommes d'argent dans un tirage qui, à sa face même, semble avoir déjà pris place avec vous, le grand gagnant.
Une lettre dit: "Vous êtes un gagnant confirmé de £ 15 500 ." puis, plus loin, cette somme devient 15 500 €.  C'est la norme pour ces arnaques, qui tendent à être plein de contradictions stupides et bizarreries. Sur le dessus il lit : "La lettre officielle jointe est une preuve formelle de ce!" Le point d'exclamation indique que même l'auteur ne peut pas prendre ce qui est écrit au sérieux. Les formalités administratives vous prie instamment de faire une commande unique d'un collant catalogue de la santé et des produits de beauté dans les 10 jours. UN salmigondis d'à peine déchiffrables conditions suit.

Les lettres sont venus de Belgique et de l'Irlande. Par ailleurs un "spécimen lettre cachetée" proclame que : "Ce n'est pas une possibilité dans ce cas, c'est une certitude." Il y a plusieurs images d'un grand chèque fait à vous, donnant la forte impression que c'est le vôtre pour la demande. Il y a également une incitation sous le couvert d'un "cadeau" de dépenser plus.


Read more:   Source

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Micron Associates, HK actions fin supérieure après la Chine ralentissement quelques surprises



Hong Kong parts clos légèrement supérieur lundi après un largement signalé ralentissement en Chine le deuxième trimestre croissance économique offert quelques surprises.

Le blue chip Hang Seng Index rose 26,03 points, soit 0,1 %, à 21 303,31 après négociation entre 21 205,60 et 21 391,76 au cours de la session.
Chiffre d'affaires s'élevait HK USD 45,98 milliards de dollars (US$ 5,93 milliards), bas de HK$57,16 milliards vendredi.
L'économie de la Chine a augmenté à un 7,5 % rythme au cours du deuxième trimestre, ci-après 7,7 % au premier trimestre mais en ligne avec l'économiste prévisions après un tas de données faibles au cours des derniers mois. Selon les économistes, le rapport a soulevé la nécessité de mesures de stimulation de la deuxième économie du monde, un chemin politique de la République populaire de Chine les décideurs ont jusqu'à présent hésité à poursuivre.

"Nous ne sommes pas d'accord avec le point de vue que l'économie pourrait auto-ajuster et auto-améliorer sa structure avec la pression d'une diapositive modéré," dit Haitong économiste International Yifan Hu. "Sans politiques de relance, même l'objectif annuel de 7,5 % [année en année] sera difficile à atteindre."

grands secteurs à Hong Kong fermé mélangé. Utilitaires ont été les plus gros decliner avec un 0,5 % automne. Hong Kong & la Chine partage gaz ont fléchi de 1,3 % à HK$19,40 et puissance actifs a diminué de 0,8 % à HK$68,65 .




Monday, July 15, 2013

Micron Associates - Kina regjeringen advisor advarer Kina ansikter enestående gjeld krise

 

Den ecent kommentarer av Kinas økonomi statsminister Mr. Lou advarsel landets vekst kan falle godt under 7% er absurd, sier Xia Bin, en økonom med status råds utvikling Research Center og regjeringen advisor. 

Bin hevder økonomien er allerede oppslukt i en enestående økonomisk krise som kan bli verre før det blir bedre med mindre regjeringen implementerer ytterligere tiltak for å løse samfunnets fellesressurser nivåer av gjeld. 

MNI Beijing Bureau rapporter på Bin tilbud over helgen: "Beijing må slutte å bruke kjedelig retorikken om stabilisering av økonomien og fokusere på å takle en gjeldsbelastning som renter alene stemmer nesten CNY6 billion et år." 

Read more: http://www.fxstreet.com/news/forex-news/article.aspx?storyid=309a4d15-f4b9-4d28-9f4f-ec436cb7ea0e#

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Micron Associates internet scam reviews, ‘Like’

Hittingthe “like” button on Facebookseems innocent enough but your likes might not be used for what you think.
A newsocial media scam hasemerged. “Like farming” is when socialmedia users are posting false pictures on Facebook to farm “likes”.
“Ninety-threepercent of Facebook users engage in some form of 'like' behaviour monthly,”writes digital consultant Beverly Crandon in her article: “What does a like toyour Facebook fan page really mean?”
The“like” button has long been used as a promotional tool for businesses,according to business community manager, Rebekah Monson. The like button hasnow been changed to be the Facebook substitute for “follow” or “share.” Thismeans that any item “liked” will automatically be shared to your Facebook walland your friend's feeds making “likes” highly sought after, so much so, thatpeople are using back-handed methods of obtaining them for different reasons.

Monday, July 8, 2013

Micron Associates internet scam reviews: ‘Like’ if you’ve been scammed

Hittingthe “like” button on Facebookseems innocent enough but your likes might not be used for what you think.
A newsocial media scam hasemerged. “Like farming” is when socialmedia users are posting false pictures on Facebook to farm “likes”.
“Ninety-threepercent of Facebook users engage in some form of 'like' behaviour monthly,”writes digital consultant Beverly Crandon in her article: “What does a like toyour Facebook fan page really mean?”
The“like” button has long been used as a promotional tool for businesses,according to business community manager, Rebekah Monson. The like button hasnow been changed to be the Facebook substitute for “follow” or “share.” Thismeans that any item “liked” will automatically be shared to your Facebook walland your friend's feeds making “likes” highly sought after, so much so, thatpeople are using back-handed methods of obtaining them for different reasons.
Some ofthese people are merely amused by the sheer amount of fake likes they can get.Others send you to pages you have no intention of visiting. It is even a clevermarketing technique. US online company CafeMom posted “Click 'like' if you loveyour kids!” This post got their page over 1.3 million “likes”.
“Likefarming” also involves selling these “likes” for cash. After the “likes”skyrocket to the thousands, maybe millions, they are then sold to businesses aspart of a Facebook page. The business now has access to the newsfeeds of allwho “liked” the picture and floods their pages with promotional material.

Friday, June 28, 2013

Micron Associates - China's Message to Banks: No More Easy Money, Lax Oversight


Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has shown China’s bankers that he’s not to be trifled with. Since assuming office in March, Li has urged them to curb speculative lending, with little effect. In mid-June, he abruptly cracked down. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC)—which, unlike the Federal Reserve, takes orders from the government—broke with custom and didn’t supply funds to the banking system to offset a liquidity shortage. Interbank lending rates, the interest that banks charge each other for short-term loans, soared as banks scrambled to fill the hole in their balance sheets. It was the central banking equivalent of whacking a hog across the snout.

The hard-line approach contributed to the biggest drop in Chinese stocks in almost four years and alarmed investors worldwide. “Allowing liquidity to dry up to communicate your message strikes us as a dangerous game,” says Andrew Elofson, senior research analyst in Seattle at asset manager D.A. Davidson. Li relented the next week, but only a little. Late on June 25 the central bank announced it would act to ensure adequate liquidity. The next day the widely watched overnight repurchase rate was fixed at 5.6 percent—off its June 20 peak of nearly 13 percent, but well above its average of 3.1 percent this year. “Welcome to Li Keqiang’s surgery,” Stephen Green, head of Greater China research at Standard Chartered, wrote in a June 21 note.

read more:

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Micron associates latest news reviews, Ausweichen Der Krise


Micron associates latest news reviews, Ausweichen Der Krise
Es ist eine vertraut melancholische Geschichte – ein anderes Jahr, eine andere vorausgesagte Energiepreiserhöhung. In diesem Jahr jetzige Tendenzen in Firmen, die ihre Preise erheben, haben zu einer geschätzten durchschnittlichen jährlichen doppelten Kraftstoffrechnung von fast £1,400 geführt.
Und wenn das nicht schlecht genug war, der Energieregulierapparat hat des Vereinigten Königreichs Ofgem ein vorausgesagt ‚Energiekrise aufzuragen‘ bevor 2020, wenn das Land seine Energietaktiken – ziemlich erschreckenden Stoff nicht ändert. Aber wir können alle unser Bit und, wenn sonst nichts, Ausführung bedeutsame Ersparnisse und Machen des Haushaltshaushaltsstreckens sogar weiter machen.
1.  Investieren Sie In Einem Energie Monitor, Ihren Brauch Zu Verfolgen, den Sie schon einen von diesen besitzen dürften, als viele Energieunternehmen sind gegangen durch eine Flut des Schickens sie aus gratis zu Kunden, aber nicht verzweifeln, wenn nicht – Sie einen guten Qualitätsmonitor online für zwischen £20-30 erhalten
können.
Diese wunderbar einfachen Vorrichtungen schließen nur an einer Stöpselsteckdose irgendwo in Ihrem Heim an und erzählen Ihnen genau, wie viel Sie (in Watt benutzen, Stunden, oder kw-Stunden, wenn Sie viel) benutzen!, und ungefähr wie viel dies Sie pro Monat kosten wird. Durch Helfen Sie identifiziert, als Sie benutzen viele Elektrizität, und detaillierend, wie viel es Sie kosten könnte, Verbrauchergruppe Welcher? Schätzungen, die Sie zu £75 pro Jahr sparen könnten.
2.  Lehnen Sie Alles ab! (Aber nur ganz wenig) Jetzt ich jetzt hat dieses Blog versprochen, auf Trost oder Ihrer Qualität des Lebens nicht zu beeinträchtigen, aber lehnend Heizung ab oder Kühlgeräte durch ein kleines Bisschen werden wirklich einen beachtlichen Auswirkung auf Ihre Rechnungen machen – aber Sie werden die Änderung in Temperatur nicht bemerken.
Wenn Sie einen Thermostat für Ihre Zentralheizung, oder eine Klimaanlageneinheit für die Sommer Monate erhalten haben, klopfend dann nur ein Grad Ihrer üblichen Temperatur Sie so viel wie £40 in einem Jahr könnte sparen. Es hört sich viel nicht an, aber behaltend £40 in Ihrer Tasche statt in den Händen Ihres Energielieferanten für etwas, dass den Trost Ihres Heims nicht beeinträchtigt, ist bestimmt wert Machen.
3. Schalten Sie Ihren Energielieferanten, den Wir viel um Verringern Ihres Verbrauchs aber wie jede andere Verbraucherware geredet haben, Sie erhalten nur die besten Raten, wenn Sie herum einkaufen. Einfach Änderung, die Sie Ihrer Rechnung bezahlen, zu jedem Monat oder Viertel kann Sie Hunderte von Pfund jährlich sparen. Ob Sie sich für einen reizenden kleinen meerkat oder einen ärgerlichen Opernverkäufer entscheiden, könnten Sie irgendwo bis zu £360 nur durch Ändernlieferanten – ein bedeutsames Sparen tatsächlich sparen.
4. Waschen Sie An Unteren Temperaturen (Sogar 15c!) Gemäß der Energie vom Vereinigtem Königreich, das Vertrauen, die durchschnittlichen Kosten des Laufens eine Waschmaschine Spart, könnte bis zu £63 pro Jahr sein – aber mit Energiepreisen steigend, es nur wird gesetzt, zu steigen. Mit dem Reichtum von effektiven Waschmitteln und Tabletten, die zur Verfügung für Wäsche an unteren Temperaturen stehen, die einfach Ihre Maschine hinunter von 40 Graden zu 30 Graden klicken, könnten 40 % weniger Elektrizität benutzen und könnten bedeutsame Reduktionen auf Ihren Gesetzentwürfen über die Energiepolitik machen.
Und wenn Ihre Maschine ist ein neueres Modell, dann Sie die Option für sogar kühlere Wäschenzyklen – so niedrig können wie 15 Grade. Während diese werden wahrscheinlich erfordert, dass ein besonderes Produkt eine effektive Wäsche erhält, werden Sie die Ersparnisse sogar größer finden.
5.  Bedenken Sie Investieren In Wirksamem Heim Geräten Jetzt, dies bedeckt eine große Auswahl der Technologie vom billigen Recht durch zu den größeren Investitionen – es alle hängen ab, wie viel Sie sich leisten können, auszugeben, sowie wie lang Sie sehen, dass davon sich in Ihrem jetzigen Heim bleibend.
Zum Beispiel, den Ihren alten Heizkessel für ein Ein-nenn energiewirksames Modell ändert, darf erfordern eine Bit mehr Investition als andere Methoden, aber könnte Ihre Gasrechnung durch zu £310 pro Jahr für das Leben der Vorrichtung zerschneiden. Wenn Sie eine energiewirksame Heizungsmethode für typisch kalte Gebiete suchen, wie Badezimmer, Wintergärten und Haushaltsgeräteräume dann Fußbodenheizung auch weniger Energie (und benutzen kann, als solche Kosten weniger zu laufen) als konventionelle Heizkörper.
Es gibt einige einfachen wirksamen Geräte, die bedeutsame Auswirkungen auf Ihren Brauch und machen können, als solcher, Ihre Rechnungen, die wirklich die Erde kosten müssen nicht. Eine Energie, die Kraftstreifen spart, zum Beispiel, Drehungen ab der Kraft zu allen Geräten, die an ihm angeschließt worden sind, wenn die "Haupt"-vorrichtung ausgeschaltet ist. Dies ist perfekt für Desktopcomputer, zum Beispiel, und könnte Ihren Monitor, Sprecher, Drucker und Scanner ausschalten, als der PC sich ausgeschaltet ist.