New Technology Reviews!.: electronic

Virgin Media's TiVo is 'changing telly habits'

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Virgin Media's TiVo hard disk recorder and on-demand set top box has changed the way people find and view TV programmes, according to the fibre-optic entertainment supremo.</div>
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A quarter of its users forgo the electronic programme guide (EPG) favoured by other set top boxes, instead preferring TiVo's intelligent search feature.</div>
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Half of these searches are for programmes that aren't in audience research company BARB's top fifty for the UK - which means more people are seeking out programmes, rather being spoon-fed the top result on the EPG.</div>
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According to Virgin Media's second 'Entertainment Index', the top ten customer searches were:</div>
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1. The Apprentice 2. Camelot 3. Doctor Who 4. House 5. Glee 6. EastEnders 7. Dexter 8. Casualty 9. Desperate Housewives 10. Fringe</div>
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Too demanding</h4>
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Dexter and Fringe aren't broadcast on conventional 'terrestrial' channels, instead being shown on FX and Sky1 respectively which, Virgin Media reckons, reinforces the prominence of "word of mouth social recommendations or marketing campaigns".</div>
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What Virgin Media hasn't revealed is the number of people who prefer watching on-demand to recording on the TiVo's hard drive, so it's not clear if the Tivo's 1TB of storage is proving increasingly redundant.</div>
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At 484 million views in the first half of 2011, Virgin Media's on-demand service is still dwarfed by the BBC iPlayer - which achieved 175 million views in December 2010 alone.</div>
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The company believes it's on track to achieve one billion views this year, but this could be a drop in the ocean compared to the (free) iPlayer's results.</div>
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We doubt Virgin is too worried though. It's already delivered Britain's fastest fibre-optic broadband to many homes, and many will take out a TV package at the same time.</div>
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Virgin Media's TiVo is 'changing telly habits'

Virgin Media's TiVo hard disk recorder and on-demand set top box has changed the way people find and view TV programmes, according ...

What Are Different Types of Electronic Communications?

<a href="" title="#jsArticleStepImageCredit1 rel=thinbox></A> You no longer need to leave your house anymore to stay in touch.Since the development of <A">the Internet</A>, electronic means of communication over the years have grown and improved. Now, email has become one of the more basic forms of communication, overshadowed by social media, instant messaging and video chatting. With the expansion of various types of electronic communications, it is easier than ever to keep in touch with friends and <a href="">family</A> worldwide. Electronic mail (email) was one of the first forms of electronic communication. Emails are typed messages sent instantaneously from one person to another. To send an email, you need an email account (such as gmail or Optimum Online) and the email address of the person to whom you are sending a message. Emails have virtually replaced letters sent by post. Instant messaging is a live form of messaging in which you and the person you are talking to are both on your <a href="">computer</A> at the same time. Messages are sent back and forth instantly, in the form of an ongoing conversation. Types of instant messengers include AOL instant messenger, Windows Live messenger, G-mail chat and Skype messenger. With the development of web cameras video chatting came about. Video chat is the newest form of phone conversation, where you can literally see the person to whom you are talking. Web cams are sometimes attached to a person's computer or part of an external device that may be attached to your computer monitor. A video conversation can be had through external programs like Skype, Gmail, iChat (for MAC users) or Windows Live video chat. Video chat creates the illusion that the person you are speaking to is directly in front of you. As long as you have an Internet connection, a web cam and video chat software, video chatting allows you to talk to anyone anywhere in the world. Blogging is a type of online journaling that allows you to keep up with the day to day lives of your friends and family. Blogs are typically updated often (sometimes multiple times a day) and may cover all aspects of a person's life and interests or be concentrated on a specific topic (i.e., sports, fashion, etc.). Blogs allow people to follow, comment and share updates with others. Social networks allow people to keep in touch with each other through status updates, pictures, comments and messages. Through social network sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Linked In and Myspace, people can see what their friends are up to at all times and comment on their activities. While social networking may be used as a form of communication between friends and family, businesses and celebrities as well have allowed fans to follow them through fan pages on Facebook and status updates (tweets) from their Twitter accounts. Linked In is primarily used as a job network between colleagues and contacts. <a href="http://www.ehow.com/list_7697534_different-types-electronic-communications.html">Source</A>

What Are Different Types of Electronic Communications?

You no longer need to leave your house anymore to stay in touch.Since the development of the Internet , electronic means of communication o...

How to Create a Website With Electronic Checks

<ADDRESS class="Note byline">Electronic checks are an often-overlooked online payment option. If you have a product to sell online, you need a website that accepts digital payments. Credit and debit card vendors are an obvious choice, but another choice that web masters sometimes forget to offer customers is electronic checks. Paying with an electronic check requires providing a checking account and routing number. The check is processed electronically rather than needing to be physically deposited into a bank account. Difficulty:Moderately Easy1 Go to a website that offers electronic check payment options. Three solutions are PayByCheck.com, Authorize.net and iCheckGateway.com. These websites will process payments and deposit the money into your bank account, for a fee. There is a set-up, monthly and per-check fee to be paid. The payments, as of December 2010, are: PayByCheck.com, $149.95 (start-up), $19.95 (monthly) and $0.50 (per check); Authorize.net, $99.00 (start-up), $20.00 (monthly) and $0.10 (per check); iCheckGateway.com, $49.95 (start-up), $19.95 (monthly) and $0.45 (per check).2 Click "Apply" or "Sign Up." Enter your <a href="">business</A> information, such as your name, the business's name, tax ID, address (physical and mailing) and contact data.3 Pay for the start-up fees (with credit, debit or check). Copy the code given to you and insert it in into your website ("CTRL+C" to copy and "CTRL+V" to insert). This code creates a payment page for your customers. Whenever someone pays for your product via electronic check, the payment will go through the processor.<a class="readNext jsNoFollow" rel="http://www.ehow.com/way_5332992_buy-stuff-online-electronic-checks.html"></A><a class="twitter-share-button" data-count="horizontal" data-text="How to Create a Website With Electronic Checks" data-url="http://www.ehow.com/how_7650672_create-website-electronic-checks.html" data-via="ehow" href="http://twitter.com/share"></A></ADDRESS>

How to Create a Website With Electronic Checks

Electronic checks are an often-overlooked online payment option. If you have a product to sell online, you need a website that accepts digit...

Video: 1958 electronic tennis game gets refurbished

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/classifications/home-entertainment/gaming/images/pong-table-moritz-waldemeyer-200-200.jpg"> Though many people think Pong was the first videogame, a team of US engineers have revamped a game that preceded it by 14 years. The 1958 Tennis for Two oscilloscope-based game, has been upgraded with some new vacuum tubes, allowing modern day gamers to see what the early days of videogames were like over 50 years ago. Visitors to NYC's Brookhaven Lab will be able to play the game as it was originally conceived by the designers back in the mid-fifties. It seems that we have come a long way in the last 52 years from a rudimentary oscilloscope tennis game to Sega's forthcoming <a href="">Virtua Tennis 4 in 3D using PlayStation Move controllers</A>! Pong was not the first Brookhaven engineer Willy Higinbotham is originally credited with designing created <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennis_for_Two">Tennis for Two</A>, which was a fairly basic bouncing-ball demonstration which worked using a combination of an oscilloscope and a Donner Model 30 vacuum tube analogue computer. Brookhaven restored the game originally back in 1997 for the title's 40th birthday, but was forced to use a solid-state computer at the time, which didn't accurately recreate the original experience of Tennis for Two. This year the team has made use of a later-model Donner computer, which will allow New Yorkers to experience the true Tennis for Two experience. Physicist Peter Takacs says the game will be made available to play very soon, once Brookhaven's electrical safety inspector gives them the green light.

Video: 1958 electronic tennis game gets refurbished

Though many people think Pong was the first videogame, a team of US engineers have revamped a game that preceded it by 14 years. The 1958 ...

What They Aren't Telling You About The eSlate (Electronic Voting)

Part 1: What they are telling you about the eSlate To a close eSlate & VOTER eVoting and not getting all things. There were, in great abundance the rights of vulnerabilities belongs by reason of access to the proper system of rumors of the past and the fullness of a crime eSlate system. I am and made an 20 according to the years information technology. I may almost 10 years old, the sum of experience has amply acts of the process from the credit card fraud, daring the empire Juvenile literature. Is there really anything to be concerned about regarding the Hart InterCivic eSlate system? According to several information technology publications that specialize in security, Hart InterCivic is testing its own equipment and refuses to participate in third-party peer-reviewed security testing to validate its claims. In a recent article in Computer World magazine, Marc L. Songini wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE>"... That's about whether the verification and validation processes these machines go through are woefully inadequate or not. The e-voting companies aren't volunteering their systems for independent audits and analysis." Is the security in e-voting up to the standards that business executives would demand in their applications? "No way." "Definitely not." "Five years ago, yes, but in the current climate, no." "These guys are betting their critical business processes on software." "They need to consider who might do harm to that system." "This level of rigor isn't applied to e-voting systems."</BLOCKQUOTE> I contacted Hart InterCivic and spoke with Gary Gandy, the sales representative for Texas and Fort Bend County, about some of the issues that have been raised about the company's systems. What efforts have been made to provide affordable printers for the eSlate systems? Gary Gandy responded: "The printers are currently available," adding, "several other states already require a paper trail by law." A paper trail in Texas is an issue that has to be addressed by the secretary of state. Legislation was previously drafted but never went anywhere. Because Texas does not require the paper trail, the printers can not be purchased. The state of Texas has also failed to require the latest version of eSlate software that will allow for printing and better security. Gerry Birnberg, Harris County Democratic Party Chairman, stated "I also do not understand the point about counties not being able to purchase Hart printers. While they are not required to do so at the present time, there is no legal prohibition against their doing so if they want to and if Hart InterCivic's is willing to sell them to them. A county can use systems which provide voter verifiable paper trails if it wants to, even though the Texas Legislature has not yet required that it do so." Convention Strategy Chair John Behrman of Harris County stated "Hart's VVPAT (voter verifiable paper trail) 'solution' only works with its v6 software, which is neither available nor certified for use in Texas. In any case, no elected official from either party has challenged any of Hart's commercial misrepresentations or monopolistic practices. Hart is the darling of Democratic elected officials who have, simply, no understanding whatsoever of the technical or economic dimensions of procuring, using, maintaining, depreciating, or replacing engineered goods." How much would the printers cost? Mr. Gandy did not know off the top of his head but stated approximately $1,000 to $1,200 each. What other efforts are there to allow for independent audits and recounts? Gandy stated "Harris County has previously done this. We would have to talk to Harris County about how that recount was performed." Birnberg stated "From my perspective, there is, effectively, no such thing as a recount of electronic voting machine tallies not accompanied by a voter verifiable paper trail. It amounts to no more than asking the machine to regurgitate the figures it previously spit out, but there is no way to check or 'recount' the accuracy of the tally at that point - without a paper trail." Behrman stated In the two most recent instances of probable cause to investigate first-degree felony vote-tampering in Harris County, the technique of "recovering" cast vote records that were corrupt or unreadable at the Central Counting Station also removed the possibility of forensically examining those records as originally recorded. If the votes had not been tampered with before, they had been after county officials hastily "recovered" them. Behrman went on to state "In any case, without VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail), there simply is nothing of an original nature to recount. What you see vanishes the moment you press the red button unless you take a camera into the voting booth - a crime in Texas. " Birnberg stressed the importance that the "Jimmy Carter/Jim Baker Commission on Federal Election Reform specifically recommended retrofitting electronic machines with printers and requiring them on all electronic machines in the future. Also, this is not that partisan an issue - the platform of the Republican Party of Texas specifically calls for a prohibition on all electronic voting machines and systems which do not include a voter verifiable paper trail." What has been done to resolve some of the issues seen in 2004? The problems of reliability with entire daisy chains of systems freezing when one system hangs: According to Gary Gandy "This is possible but interruption would be brief. Just remove the offending node, reset the system (reboot), the interruption should be very slight and brief, a few minutes at most." Malfunctions that deprived voters of their votes: According to Gary Gandy, "this is not possible; the voter enters an access code (PIN). If the unit malfunctions and a reset is required the system automatically prints what nodes (eSlates) are attached by serial number and lists 'aborted access codes,' then the person could re-vote." These interrupted votes are called "Spoiled Ballots." The voting judges are fully trained on this issue and the process to allow re-votes. The system is real-time and all activity is recorded. If a voter has a spoiled ballot they need only compare their access code with the automatic print out after a reset to be allowed to vote. Has the eSlate been through any independent third-party security testing? Gary Gandy answered this question "yes." This was done by Symantec @stake Consulting Services and a copy of the report can be downloaded from Hart InterCivic. The consulting started in the fall of 2003 and according to the report itself it is dated as being published on Dec. 7, 2004. Unfortunately, back in 2004, many of the issues and concerns about security and paper trails were too difficult to implement by the November elections. Some of the concerns allegedly appear to have become reality in that election. While those concerns appear to have been true in 2004 why are we in 2006 where the same concerns still exist? Hart InterCivic has had two years to develop solutions to the problems and some progress has been made. If concerns about paper trails and auditing are still valid, where are those solutions today? In my conversation with Gary Gandy, I learned the responsibility lies with the Texas Legislature and the Texas Secretary of State. They failed Texas voters in getting legislation passed that would require a paper trail. Without validating the Version 6 of the eSlate and proper legislation, Hart InterCivic can not sell their solution in Texas. In the executive summary section of the report it is noted "Symantec @stake consultants advised Hart in making significant changes to the latest version of the eSlate system code and the Hart development process." In the overview documentation it is stated "The media attention and conflicting expert commentary make the task of securing a DRE voting system particularly challenging." The security is challenging, not impossible. The report cites some excellent examples of high-level recommended security practices. If these practices are in fact in place it would seem to be a good process. The problem I see with the report is that they were engaged by Hart InterCivic a year before the reported problems back in 2003. The problems were reported about six weeks before the report was published. The report is also centered around security design in the development phase of the software. When it comes to security testing, Symantec basically recommended self-testing and internal processes. This security testing is in fact not a report on testing results, nor is it a documented testing procedure. This report reveals that there is no independent third-party testing of the products for security vulnerabilities, nor does it recommend independent third-party testing. The "About Hart InterCivic" section on the last page of the report sounds far too much like marketing. The report states, "Hart InterCivic's name stands for exceptional expertise, absolute accessibility, and trusted transactions. Hart InterCivic is a leader in providing products and services that help redefine the relationship between state and local governments and the citizens they serve." For information on how all of this applies to Fort Bend County, read this question-and-answer session with county Elections Administrator Steve Raborn. Steve Raborn has provided a highly detailed document that provides information about security procedures in Fort Bend County. What is the final tally? E-voting is the way of the future. Therefore it is essential to have a system that can be audited by a paper trail. Americans have the right to vote and the government has the responsibility to provide a system that allows for everyone to vote, can be audited and allows for recounts that are separate from the electronic system. According to Marc L. Songini "There should be much more severe security-testing requirements. The key is, you need to raise awareness that these vulnerabilities do exist and can be exploited, and you need a way of measuring security." Based on my conversation with Raborn and others, the Fort Bend County Office of Elections is doing the best job that it possibly can with what equipment it has and the laws and rules that it has to operate under. The fact is that the secretary of state and our Texas Legislature have failed us in not passing legislation requiring a VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail). As long as these requirements do not exist, a lot of the vulnerabilities of the electronic voting system will remain in place with no method for proving or disproving the validity of the system. The legislature must pass a bill requiring a VVPAT for elections, and require independent third-party security testing of eVoting systems that passes an independent peer-reviewed security testing procedure that evolves with the technology. The state of Texas has failed to approve Version 6 of the eSlate softwhere, which supports printers and is more secure; without that approval no county in Texas can purchase the latest version of eSlate. Hart InterCivic has a good testing process on paper. It is strictly a high-level internal process with no outside or independent validation of these processes. This is like the fox writing the security procedure for the hen house. The procedure is nice, but is without an independent third party audit to validate that those procedures in fact work and the results can be measured. Until Hart InterCivic volunteers its equipment for independent testing, no one will ever know if the eSlate system is in fact secure. Until there are changes in the testing procedures and our state representatives take care of our voting concerns, no one can claim for certain what votes were in fact cast. Part 2: Steve Raborn Answers Questions About Fort Bend County's E-voting System Fort Bend County Election Administrator Steve Raborn participated in a recent question-and-answer interview about the county's eSlate voting system, with Prescott Small, a Stafford information technology professional. Q: Have you heard of some of the complaints that occurred in Travis and Harris Counties? A: Vaguely aware of some of the issues reported but not fluent in them. The machines are specifically designed so that ballots could not be lost. Q: Does your office train polling place operators on how to handle "Spoiled ballots" in the event of a malfunction? A: We prefer to call them Cancelled booths. Spoiled ballots are a legally defined term. Reasons for canceled booths are wrong precinct or wrong party (primary) . As long as the ballot is not cast the booth can be canceled. Q: What is the current version of the software of the eSlate voting system that Fort Bend County has? A: Fort Bend County uses System Version 3.3. Q: Could you tell me some about why Fort bend has to use the eSlate voting system we currently have and not the version 6 that is currently available? A: Any time a new version is released the system needs to be certified on a national level. Texas typically will not certify before a version is certified on a national level. The new versions can not be used until the state of Texas approves them. Til then it is illegal. Q: Are you aware that sversion 6 supports printers and allows for a Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail? A: Yes. Q: Do you personally have any concerns about the systems? A: I have no concerns about security, accuracy or reliability. There is room from improvement for the ease of use in setup at the polling place, since a lot of the polling judges are not as comfortable with computer equipment and set-up as some other people. The serial port plugs also can be a problem because pins can get bent requiring repairs or replacement, and can cause delays in getting a polling opened. Q: Do you have any further comments you would like to share? A: Even though versions of the eSlate system are currently available that allow for VVPAT, the state of Texas would not be able to legally use such a system. Even if we had the paper trail today, those pieces of paper could not be used in a recount because Texas law would not allow for it. The laws of the state of Texas has to change before any type of paper trail could be allowed. Overall satisfaction with the product is high. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being excellent, Steve Raborn rates the eSlate system an 8.5. Steve Raborn's county has in place a system for monitoring progress and reliability in the eSlate system. They log every call regarding the eSlate system and categorize them. They have reviews of the calls, analyze what went well and what could be done better. They implement those changes and then repeat the monitoring process the next time, Raborn said. The measurement of their success is that they saw a significant decrease in call volume this last primary because of the changes they made and enhancements in the training for the setup of the systems. Part 3: Comments on recent Articles in the News regarding "problems" with eSlate: Recently there was more news that is current and challenges the credibility and reliability of the eSlate system from Hart InterCivic as well as other eVoting systems. As published on March 9th in the Star Telegram from Fort Worth, TX: <BLOCKQUOTE>An undetected computer glitch in Tarrant County led to inflated election returns in Tuesday's primaries but did not alter the outcome of any local race, elections and county officials said Wednesday. The error caused Tarrant County to report as many as 100,000 votes in both primaries that never were cast, dropping the local turnout from a possible record high of about 158,103 voters to about 58,000. Because the errors added votes equally for each candidate, the glitch did not change the outcome of Tarrant County races but narrowed the margin of victory in some statewide races. In the close Republican primary race for Texas Supreme Court, for example, incumbent Don Willett edged past former Justice Steve Smith by only about 1 percentage point with the corrected vote tallies. Also according to John Covell, a vice president with Hart InterCivic: The problem stemmed from a programming error by Hart InterCivic, which manufactured the equipment and wrote the software for the local voting system. The system is designed to combine electronic early voting results and totals from paper ballots on Election Day. The error caused the computer to compound the previous vote totals each time the election totals were updated throughout the night, rather than keep a simple running total, officials said. "The system did what we told it to do," said John Covell, a vice president with Hart. "We told it incorrectly." The program was designed specifically for Tarrant County, and no other counties reported similar problems, elections officials said.</BLOCKQUOTE> How do we know those votes that were tallied were as the voter intended? What definitive proof is there? Granted Fort Bend County uses a different system than Tarrant County and the outcome was "not affected." This clearly shows that Hart InterCivic's software is not full proof. This issue isn't only about Fort Bend County and eSlate. These problems exist all over the United States and with all of the eVoting equipment manufacturers. There are hundreds of reported incidents across the United States, including reports of successfully hacked systems. When the votes exist solely as 1's and 0's inside the hardware of a computer system how can an audit be valid? If the system repeatedly gives the same results that does not validate the intent of the voter, it only validates what is inside that system. Let's use a 5 pound box of apples analogy: You have a Box labeled as being 5 pounds of apples. So you count the apples and come out with 25 apples. I can not be certain that I have 5 pounds of apples without a scale. The count is irrelevant without a proper means of validating the intent. In this scenario the intent was to have 5 pounds of apples in the box. The count of what is in the box is irrelevant because we do not have an external method of validating that the intent of 5 pounds was met and recounting has no value These problems have occurred over and over while Hart InterCivic states that the machines are designed to not allow for errors. Yet we have a specific example where errors have occurred because the machines are "designed to work this way." ...The conventional wisdom was all wrong," said Wagner, a member of the panel that reviewed the Diebold machines. "It was possible to subvert the memory card without detection." No one can not decisively prove voter intent. My biggest concern is If we have a situation where there is one big error at the wrong place and wrong time causing major negative affects in an election it could completely destroy voter confidence in electronic voting. The public trust is earned very slowly over time, yet that trust can be completely forfeit overnight. All that the voters demand is confidence in the electoral system. If the Voters loose confidence it will take many years to earn that trust back As long as these reports of over-votes, lost votes and such continue to arise people are going to be concerned. While I definitely have some doubts in the quality of programming of the equipment I do not have any major concerns about the hardware, other than what Steve had previously pointed out about the cable connections and ease of use in setup and break down. The integrity of the software is what is at the "heart" of the issue. Until there is a state mandated VVPAT and independent 3rd party auditing of the equipment and the software then voter confidence will not be very high and could be subject to continuous decline. With this additional knowledge I have even less confidence in the Hart InterCivic system. They have sold the State of Texas millions of dollars worth of equipment, our tax dollars. They admit it is buggy and yet we can not get the software updated because the legislature has to approve it and certify it first. So most counties are operating with software that is years out of date. This incident is just more proof that we need a VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail). To answer Steve Raborn's question: Who are "They"? That would be Hart InterCivic (and other EVoting companies), the Secretary of State, the Mass Media, the Texas State Legislature. One of the bigger problems seems to be that people don't ask the questions that need to be answered. The first time that the article I have written to more than the sense of a personal quest, what is going on in the eVoting eSlate and the holy vessels. Indeed, on several occasions I have heard several times in another and the reasons or rather hear what they are perversely, is the nature of these things, and to err is denied the stories and people of the approach it irritates us to vote for the sake of the errors of eSlate computer. Nothing could possibly be in one chapter the information I can not validate that the data and very fully with. I have received over me research this matter in the context of abode with Information Technology to a certain half of life.

What They Aren't Telling You About The eSlate (Electronic Voting)

Part 1: What they are telling you about the eSlate To a close eSlate & VOTER eVoting and not getting all things. There were, in great ab...

Electronic Money, RFID Implanted Chips, and the Death of the Paper Dollar Considered

Beware read the headline; Big Brother is out to chip you! And no they were not referring to throwing anyone into a wood-chipper, rather they were talking about implanting RFID Chips inside humans for tracking, communication, ID, and banking. Consider if you will that all you'd have to do to buy something is wave your arm over the cash register reader instead of sliding your ATM or credit card to buy something? No more check writing, no more waiting, as you could either buy online, or with your chip in person.Sales tax, use tax, and everything would be collected instantly, and everyone would be happy right? Wrong, you see a Conspiracy Theorist from Pennsylvania emailed me the other day and explained that this was a plot. And so, I told him what I thought of his whole conspiracy issue;You see, I would be concerned with the security issues and ID theft if we use the current RFID systems available. Also, some bio-scientists discuss the issues with the cells around such RFID chips, would vibrate incorrectly cause cancer cells in nearby cells. Even with a passive RFID tag it could be an issue, of course holding a cell phone microwave generating device up to your head isn't exactly wise either.Electronic embedded ID, banking, etc - well, I'd say It is inevitable, as paper money is a problem, viruses and diseases in the fiber, plus it is too easy to counterfeit and it doesn't last very long. Electronic funds move faster thus, it simulates increased money supply. I don't buy into the whole "mark of the beast" thing; remember human superstition doesn't faze me. Physical money has no real future looking forward very far.We need to do what is most efficient in our society, and what makes the most sense, so if they ever figure out the security features needed to protect your RFID implanted chip and protect you from ID thieves or electronic hacking, then it's all good. Right now the technology isn't there yet, so either way you really don't need to be concerned at this juncture anyway. Please consider all this.	 	 		 			 				 					 						Lance Winslow is the Founder of the Online Think Tank, a diverse group of achievers, experts, innovators, entrepreneurs, thinkers, futurists, academics, dreamers, leaders, and general all around brilliant minds. Lance Winslow hopes you've enjoyed today's discussion and topic. <a href="http://www.WorldThinkTank.net" target="_new">http://www.WorldThinkTank.net</a> - Have an important subject to discuss, contact Lance Winslow.

Electronic Money, RFID Implanted Chips, and the Death of the Paper Dollar Considered

Beware read the headline; Big Brother is out to chip you! And no they were not referring to throwing anyone into a wood-chipper, rather t...

Electronic Medical Billing Software, HIPAA Compliance, and Role Based Access Control

HIPAA compliance requires special focus and effort as failure to comply carries significant risk of damage and penalties. A practice with multiple separate systems for patient scheduling, electronic medical records, and billing, requires multiple separate HIPAA management efforts. This article presents an integrated approach to HIPAA compliance and outlines key HIPAA terminology, principles, and requirements to help the practice owner to ensure HIPAA compliance by medical billing service and software vendors.The last decade of the previous century witnessed accelerating proliferation of digital technology in health care, which, along with reduced costs and greater service quality, introduced new and greater risks for accidental disclosure of personal health information.The Health insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was passed in 1996 by Congress to establish national standards for privacy and security of personal health data. The Privacy Rule, written by the US Department of Health and Human Services took effect on April 14, 2003.Failure to comply with HIPAA risks accreditation and reputation damage, lawsuits by federal government, financial penalties, ranging from $100 to $250,000, and imprisonment, ranging from one year to ten years. Protected Health Information (PHI) The key term of HIPAA is Protected Health Information (PHI), which includes anything that can be used to identify an individual and any information shared with other health care providers or clearinghouses in any media (digital, verbal, recorded voice, faxed, printed, or written). Information that can be used to identify an individual includes: Name Dates (except year) Zip code of more than 3 digits, telephone and fax numbers, email Social security numbers Medical record numbers Health plan numbers License numbers Photographs Information shared with other healthcare providers or clearinghouses Nursing and physician notes Billing and other treatment records Principles of HIPAA HIPAA intends to allow smooth flow of PHI for healthcare operations subject to patient's consent but prohibit any flow of unauthorized PHI for any other purposes. Healthcare operations include treatment, payment, care quality assessment, competence review training, accreditation, insurance rating, auditing, and legal procedures.HIPAA promotes fair information practices and requires those with access to PHI to safeguard it. Fair information practices means that a subject must be allowed Access to PHI, Correction for errors and completeness, and Knowledge of others who use PHI Safeguarding of PHI means that the persons that hold PHI must Be accountable for own use and disclosure Have a legal recourse to combat violations HIPAA Implementation Process HIPAA implementation begins upon making assumptions about PHI disclosure threat model. The implementation includes both pre-emptive and retroactive controls and involves process, technology, and personnel aspects.A threat model helps understanding the purpose of HIPAA implementation process. It includes assumptions about Threat nature (Accidental disclosure by insiders? Access for profit? ), Source of threat (outsider or insider?), Means of potential threat (break in, physical intrusion, computer hack, virus?), Specific kind of data at risk (patient identification, financials, medical?), and Scale (how many patient records threatened?). HIPAA process must include clearly stated policy, educational materials and events, clear enforcement means, a schedule for testing of HIPAA compliance, and means for continued transparency about HIPAA compliance. Stated policy typically includes a statement of least privilege data access to complete the job, definition of PHI and incident monitoring and reporting procedures. Educational materials may include case studies, control questions, and a schedule of review seminars for personnel.Technology Requirements for HIPAA Compliance Technology implementation of HIPAA proceeds in stages from logical data definition to physical data center to network. To assure physical data center security, the manager must Lock data center Manage access list Track data center access with closed circuit TV cameras to monitor both internal and external building activities Protect access to data center with 24 x 7 onsite security Protect backup data Test recovery procedure For network security, the data center must have special facilities for Secure networking - firewall protection, encrypted data transfer only Network access monitoring and report auditing For data security, the manager must have Individual authentication - individual logins and passwords Role Based Access Control (see below) Audit trails - all access to all data fields tracked and recorded Data discipline - Limited ability to download data Role Based Access Control (RBAC) RBAC improves convenience and flexibility of systems management. Greater convenience helps reducing the errors of commission and omission in granting access privileges to users. Greater flexibility helps implement the policy of least privilege, where the users are granted only as much privileges as required for completing their job.RBAC promotes economies of scale, because the frequency of changes of role definition for a single user is higher than the frequency of changes of role definitions across entire organization. Thus, to make a massive change of privileges for a large number of users with same set of privileges, the administrator only makes changes to the role definition.Hierarchical RBAC further promotes economies of scale and reduces the likelihood of errors. It allows redefining roles by inheriting privileges assigned to roles in the higher hierarchical level.RBAC is based on establishing a set of user profiles or roles according to responsibilities. Each role has a predefined set of privileges. The user acquires privileges by receiving membership in the role or assignment of a profile by the administrator.Every time when the definition of the role changes along with the set of privileges that is required to complete the job associated with the role, the administrator needs only to redefine the privileges of the role. The privileges of all of the users that have this role get redefined automatically.Similarly, if the role of a single user is changed, the only operation that needs to be performed is the reassignment of the user profile, which will redefine user's access privileges automatically according to the new profile. Summary HIPAA compliance requires special practice management attention. A practice with multiple separate systems for scheduling, electronic medical records, and billing, requires multiple separate HIPAA management efforts. An integrated system reduces the complexity of HIPAA implementation. By outsourcing technology to a HIPAA-compliant vendor of vericle-like technology solution on an ASP or SaaS basis, HIPAA management overhead can be eliminated (see companion papers on ASP and SaaS for medical billing).	 	 		 			 				 					 						Know any health care providers who complain about shrinking insurance payments and increasing audit risk? Help them learn winning Internet strategies for the modern payer-provider conflict by steering them to Vericle - Medical Billing Network and Practice Management Software, which powers such leading-edge billing services as Billing Precision (<a href="http://www.chiro-billing.com" target="_new">http://www.chiro-billing.com</a>), Billing Dynamix (<a href="http://www.pt-billing.com" target="_new">http://www.pt-billing.com</a>), and Affinity Billing, and is home for "Medical Billing Networks and Processes" book by Yuval Lirov, PhD and inventor of patents in artificial intelligence and computer security.

Electronic Medical Billing Software, HIPAA Compliance, and Role Based Access Control

HIPAA compliance requires special focus and effort as failure to comply carries significant risk of damage and penalties. A practice with...

Weird Tech: Will electronic bras tempt tourists to Tokyo?

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//classifications/world%20of%20tech/images/mustang-200-200.jpg" /> 
Firstly, we take the Weird tech bus to Japan, a nation often - and unfairly, we think - associated with pointless, sexist inventions. It's also where you'll find the Tourist Bra, an outfit <a href="http://www.reuters.com/news/video/story?videoId=164073946&videoChannel=2602">designed to make Tokyo more attractive to tourists</a>. 
The wearer's skirt also unfolds to become a map complete with magnetic models of tourist attractions, while pressing down on the bra cups plays the message "Welcome to Tokyo!" in both English and Japanese. 
<img alt="Bra" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/world%20of%20tech/images/bra-420-90.jpg" width="420" /> 
ALL THE SIGHTS: Reuters discovers the tourist bra, designed to boost the economy rather than the wearer's assets 
Bacteria solve Sudoku 
Sticking with Japan for a bit longer, we turn to one of the pressing issues of our age: when will single-celled organisms be able to beat us at Scrabble? 
<img alt="Sudoku" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/world%20of%20tech/images/sudoku-320-100.jpg" width="320" /> 
BACT AT YOU: If bacteria can solve Sudoku puzzles, it's just a matter of time before they're driving cars [Image credit: Jelte / Wikimedia] 
That day draws ever nearer, my friends, because E.Coli can now crack Sudoku puzzles. Students at the University of Tokyo <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19733-problemsolving-bacteria-crack-sudoku.html">programmed bacteria</a> to solve puzzles, although you need 81 types of bacteria to solve a 9x9 grid. 
See how they run 
Three blind mice / three blind mice / <a href="http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/65484/title/A_new_way_for_blind_mice_to_see">see how they run</a> / <a href="http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/65484/title/A_new_way_for_blind_mice_to_see">see how they run</a> / they all ran to College of Cornell University in New York City / Where they were fitted with experimental retinal prosthetics / and they could see a baby's face / and that's great news for the 25 million people worldwide who have lost their sight due to retinal diseases / three blind mice. 
The key that makes you go wheeeeeeeeeeeee 
Ford's latest Mustang Boss 302 has a secret: if you use a second, red, key you can turn the muscle car into a demented track day screamer, altering over 200 engine parameters, boosting torque and delivering an impressive 444 horsepower. 
Such videogame-style power-ups are increasingly common, and we fully expect the next Kia Venga to contain a secret Pipes game that you can unlock to fire live bees at your enemies. 
Introducing the grass mask 
We have to be honest. Some art leaves us cold. What's the point of it? We ask. What is it trying to say? We ponder. Is the café open yet? But other art is so <a href="http://www.mattiacasalegno.net/index.php?/synaesthesiae/the-open/">obviously, fundamentally right</a> that it needs no explanation. 
<img alt="Grass" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/world%20of%20tech/images/grass-420-90.jpg" width="420" /> 
GRASSY: This is called The Open. We'd have called it GRASS! IN YOUR FACE! That's why we're not artists 
Art like The Open, by Mattia Casalegno. To some, it might look like a helmet that presses a bit of turf against your face for no good reason, but to those in the know it's a "sensorial wearable device [that is] about the quality of sound to define a territory." We'll take three!

Weird Tech: Will electronic bras tempt tourists to Tokyo?

Firstly, we take the Weird tech bus to Japan, a nation often - and unfairly, we think - associated with pointless, sexist inventions. It...