Talk about a huge to-go order: Federal authorities arrested four Romanian nationals in connection with a sophisticated multimillion-dollar cybercrime scheme against Subway restaurants and other retailers.


The indictment, obtained by Wired, alleges that from about April 2008 until May 2011, the defendants remotely hacked into the point-of-sale checkout terminals at more than 150 Subway restaurants, including ones in Plaistow, N.H., East Northport, N.Y., Ocala, Fla., Tulare, Calif. and Fairborn, Ohio. The suspected crooks implanted keystroke loggers and Trojans on the point-of-sale machines, which were connected to the Internet, and used the hacking devices to steal more than 80,000 customers' credit-card details. The suspects allegedly tapped into the point-of-sale terminals of 50 other retailers as well.

The suspected cybercriminals harvested victims' payment information and stored it on several "dump sites" hosted by the domain-name company GoDaddy. They then transferred the swiped credit-card data to FTP sites, where they could share it with overseas computers they controlled. The suspects used the details to create fraudulent credit cards and make "unauthorized charges with various merchants, primarily located throughout Europe," the indictment reads.

The defendants, Adrian-Tiberiu Oprea (age 27), Iulian Dolan (27), Cezar Iulian Butu (26) and Florin Radu (23), were charged with conspiracy to commit computer fraud, wire fraud and access-device fraud. They face a maximum of five years in prison for each count of conspiracy to commit computer-related fraud, 30 years for each count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and five years for each count of conspiracy to commit access-device fraud. Oprea, Dolan and Butu are all in custody; Radu is still at large.

The Mac App Store isn’t quite a year old, and it just passed the 100 million download mark, according to Apple. Originally launched Jan. 6, 2011, the Mac App Store is now the “largest and fastest-growing PC software store in the world,” Apple says.

In its official press release announcing the news on Monday, Apple used quotes from developer partners to highlight its platform advantage. Autodesk SVP Amar Hanspal said his company is “using the Mac App Store to deliver new products and reach a growing base of new Mac customers,” and Pixelmator’s Saulius Dailide said that offering their version 2.0 software “exclusively on the Mac App Store allows us to streamline updates to our image editing software and stay ahead of the competition.”
Apple also took time to talk about the success of the iOS App Store, which it says has over 500,000 apps presently, and which has seen more than 18 billion app downloads in total, at a rate of more than 1 billion apps per month. The iOS App Store caught on much faster than the Mac App Store, however, at least in terms of downloads: Only nine months after its launch, it had already reached 1 billion downloads.

The Mac App Store also doesn’t offer nearly as large a library; according to the latest count by AppShopper.com, there are 8,459 apps available on Apple’s OS X software store. But there are some caveats that go a long way toward explaining why the Mac App Store’s growth rate is slow compared to its mobile cousin. First, the Mac App Store is available only on Macs running OS X Snow Leopard or later, so it isn’t on every active Mac computer out there. Second, the Mac App Store isn’t the exclusive software distribution channel for Mac apps, the way the iOS store is for Apple mobile devices (unless you jailbreak).

For a PC software market, the Mac App Store is still a huge success, and will likely continue to grow as it ships on future Macs and increasingly becomes a go-to resource for customers looking to get new apps on their machines. Apple’s ability to attract top-tier developers away from direct web distribution models will also be a key factor in helping it expand its library.

Yes, Tim Tebow played great in the fourth quarter of his miracle comeback against the Bears yesterday

But let's not kid ourselves — Tebow and the Broncos got insanely lucky yesterday.

Here's why they won.

Marion Barber choked, twice. All the Bears running back had to do was fall down in bounds on 2nd down with Chicago up 10-7 and the Broncos unable to stop the clock with under two minutes left. If he simply falls over, Tebow gets the ball back deep in his own territory with less than 20 seconds left, and Denver loses.

Then in overtime, the Bears were a play or two away from bringing on Robbie Gould to kick the game-winning field goal, and Barber decides to dangle the ball away from his body and he gets stripped. If he's protecting that ball there rather than trying to bust a touchdown run, Denver loses.

The Bears thought it'd be a great idea to go into the ultra-prevent with five minutes left. The Chicago D was dominant for the first 55 minute of the game. But then they get up 10 points with five minute left, and they decide to play their safeties 30 yards off the ball. This lets Tebow check down to his wide-open running backs all the way down the field.

What is Chicago doing there? They dominated Tebow all game. But when they get a comfortable lead they decide to call off the dogs?

The thin mountain air made Tebow' job easier. The two field goals that won the Broncos the game were 59 yards and 51 yards. You just can't expect both of those to go win. Credit Mike Prater, credit the altitude, but Tebow didn't do his kicker any favors, and he had nothing to do with those two bombs splitting the uprights.

Facebook Is Making Us Miserable

When Facebook was founded in 2004, it began with a seemingly innocuous mission: to connect friends. Some seven years and 800 million users later, the social network has taken over most aspects of our personal and professional lives, and is fast becoming the dominant communication platform of the future. 


But this new world of ubiquitous connections has a dark side. In my last post, I noted that Facebook and social media are major contributors to career anxiety. After seeing some of the comments and reactions to the post, it's clear that Facebook in particular takes it a step further: It's actually making us miserable.

Facebook's explosive rate of growth and recent product releases, such as the prominent Newsticker, Top Stories on the newsfeed, and larger photos have all been focused on one goal: encouraging more sharing. As it turns out, it's precisely this hyper-sharing that is threatening our sense of happiness.

In writing Passion & Purpose, I monitored and observed how Facebook was impacting the lives of hundreds of young businesspeople. As I went about my research, it became clear that behind all the liking, commenting, sharing, and posting, there were strong hints of jealousy, anxiety, and, in one case, depression. Said one interviewee about a Facebook friend, "Although he's my best friend, I kind-of despise his updates." Said another "Now, Facebook IS my work day." As I dug deeper, I discovered disturbing by-products of Facebook's rapid ascension - three new, distressing ways in which the social media giant is fundamentally altering our daily sense of well-being in both our personal and work lives.

First, it's creating a den of comparison. Since our Facebook profiles are self-curated, users have a strong bias toward sharing positive milestones and avoid mentioning the more humdrum, negative parts of their lives. Accomplishments like, "Hey, I just got promoted!" or "Take a look at my new sports car," trump sharing the intricacies of our daily commute or a life-shattering divorce. This creates an online culture of competition and comparison. One interviewee even remarked, "I'm pretty competitive by nature, so when my close friends post good news, I always try and one-up them."

Comparing ourselves to others is a key driver of unhappiness. Tom DeLong, author of Flying Without a Net, even describes a "Comparing Trap." He writes, "No matter how successful we are and how many goals we achieve, this trap causes us to recalibrate our accomplishments and reset the bar for how we define success."And as we judge the entirety of our own lives against the top 1% of our friends' lives, we're setting impossible standards for ourselves, making us more miserable than ever.

Second, it's fragmenting our time. Not surprisingly, Facebook's "horizontal" strategy encourages users to log in more frequently from different devices. My interviewees regularly accessed Facebook from the office, at home through their iPads, and while out shopping on their smartphones. This means that hundreds of millions of people are less "present" where they are. Sketching out a mind-numbing presentation for the board meeting? Perhaps it's time to reply to your messages. Stuck in traffic? It's time to browse your newsfeed. Recounted one interviewee, "I almost got hit by a car while using Facebook crossing the street."

Leaving the risk of real physical harm aside, the issue with this constant "tabbing" between real-life tasks and Facebook is what economists and psychologists call "switching costs," the loss in productivity associated with changing from one task to another. Famed author Dr. Srikumar Rao attributes mindfulness over multitasking as one of his ten steps to happiness at work. He argues that constant distractions lead to late and poor-quality output, negatively impacting our sense of self-worth.

Last, there's a decline of close relationships. Gone are the days where Facebook merely complemented our real-life relationships. Now, Facebook is actually winning share of our core, off-line interactions. One participant summed it up simply: "We Facebook chat instead of meeting up. It's easier."

As Facebook adds new features such as video chat, it is fast becoming a viable substitute for meetings, relationship building, and even family get-togethers. But each time a Facebook interaction replaces a richer form of communication - such as an in-person meeting, a long phone call, or even a date at a restaurant - people miss opportunities to interact more deeply than Facebook could ever accommodate. As Facebook continues to add new features to help us connect more efficiently online, the battle to maintain off-line relationships will become even more difficult, which will impact their overall quality, especially in the long-run. Facebook is negatively affecting what psychology Professor Jeffrey Parker refers to as "the closeness properties of friendship."

So, what should we do to avoid these three traps? Recognizing that "quitting" Facebook altogether is unrealistic, we can still take measures to alter our usage patterns and strengthen our real-world relationships. Some useful tactics I've seen include blocking out designated time for Facebook, rather than visiting intermittently throughout the day; selectively trimming Facebook friends lists to avoid undesirable ex-partners and gossipy coworkers; and investing more time in building off-line relationships. The particularly courageous choose to delete Facebook from their smartphones and iPads, and log off the platform entirely for long stretches of time.

Commander in Pips: Your quick eye is worthy of a compliment, son. You are absolutely right.Commander in Pips: Sure, why not:

SPOT MARKET
We already know something about the spot market. The spot part of the market is the most simple in our sense of understanding. Currencies are traded immediately, that’s why it is called “Spot”. The attractiveness of the spot market lies in its liquidity , simplicity, tight spreads and running around the clock. You can easily participate in this part of FOREX, because retail brokers offer to open spot trading accounts, some for as little as $5-25 in assets!
Commander in Pips: Stop right there son and don’t move! Have you accomplished our school already, or maybe you already know all lions on the path better than me? If you just want to give all your money to someone else – that’s ok, go ahead (you can give it all to me, for example, ha ha). But if you don’t, then listen carefully and hang on. We will talk in detail about opening trading accounts and funding them in latter lessons.Commander in Pips: …So. Besides the low-volume spot account brokers usually provide their customers with charts, technical analysis tools and news. That being said, trading on the spot FOREX market represents a “direct exchange” between two currencies that has the shortest time frame .


FORWARD/FUTURES CONTRACTS
Now let’s shift to forward/futures trading. In general, forward/future contract assumes making a deal to buy or sell particular currency at specified exchange rate (i.e. price) on a future date (that’s why they call futures/forward!). Conditions are fixed in contract directly. For example, if the current EUR/USD rate is 1.38 and today is April 20th. Currently I would like to buy EUR for USD (assume that you would like to sell it) in on June 20th for 1.33. So, today we’ve come to agreement (i.e. made a deal) with a future date of execution and a future price. If today we will sign a corresponding contract on paper, then this will be a forward contract on EUR/USD.Commander in Pips: That’s right.
Commander in Pips: Good question son. The nature of forwards and futures is the same. There is only a difference that futures contracts are traded via different exchanges. Futures is an organized market and forwards are not. A forward is a contract that trades on an over-the-counter market. This specification leads to some different qualities. First of all, futures contracts have strict specifications by exchange – dates of expirations, value of contracts, delivery dates and other specifications are fixed and well known ahead of time. And the Exchange itself is counterparty for both parties. For the seller and the buyer on their trade, the exchange is the intermediary. On the over-the counter market there is no such tight specification for contract conditions. In fact, you may apply any conditions of your choice if those conditions are acceptable for both parties of the deal – buyer and seller. And you can choose the counterparty for your trade by yourself.Commander in Pips: Right you are. Ok, let’s go further. Swaps and options…


SWAPS
I want to remind you, that swap is a most common type of transaction on FOREX. It’s even bigger than the spot part of the market. The reason is in the high convenience of such kind trade. In general a swap is a transaction when counterparties exchange different currencies for a definite period of time and agreed to make a reverse exchange on predetermined future date. Also they agreed to pay to each other corresponding annual percent rate. For example, if today is November 01 and the EUR/USD rate is 1.33, we could come to an agreement to make a swap with the notional amount of 100 000 EUR and reverse the transaction 30 days later. It means, that I have to transfer to you $133 000 USD and you have to transfer to me 100 000 EUR. When these 30 days have passed – we will have to make a reverse transaction – I will return to you 100 000 EUR plus interest for using them, and you, in turn, return to me USD 133 000$ and interest for using this sum during the period of the swap. These are not standardized contracts and are not traded through an exchange. As you understand, banks are the major participants on swap market.


OPTIONS
Option also is a contract with future date of execution. It’s not a spot kind of trade. It is different from any other types of contracts, since the rights and obligations of buyer and seller of option are different. The buyer of option has right but not an obligation to exchange one currency into another one at a pre-agreed exchange rate on a specified date. But the seller will have to do the transaction (seller has an obligation) if the buyer will ask him to fulfill it. Options exist as both an over-the-counter FX option market as well as an exchange traded one. Options on many FX pairs are traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. As you already know, exchange traded options are highly structured as are futures.Commander in Pips: The reason for that is in price of option, also known as the premium. The buyer has to pay a premium to the seller to get such a feature. In other words, the buyer purchases these choices to have only rights but not any obligation by paying the option premium to the seller. The buyer then has the option to exercise the contract on the specified date.Commander in Pips: And the last type of possible FOREX trading is ETF


EXCHANGE-TRADED FUND (ETF)
ETF’s or exchange traded funds are a relatively new approach to trading. These funds can be invested in different markets – stocks, bonds, currencies, commodities, real estate etc. Some of them can invest in many different assets simultaneously. The shares of these funds are traded at different exchanges. If you, for example do not want to trade FOREX personally, or do not have sufficient confidence for that yet, you may buy shares of some ETF that invests in the FOREX market. In this case, if this ETF does well and its assets will grow during the time - you will receive profits, because the shares of this fund also will rise in price. Also take a note that ETFs are traded only via exchanges. It means that this market has time breaks and does not operate in 24/5 mode like spot FX. Liquidity there is also lower than on the spot FOREX market and transaction costs are higher.Commander in Pips: Be patient. We’ll get there. If you understand the FOREX market first, you are more likely to make money than to give it all away.