Online note service Evernote latest firm to get hacked

Yet another company has fallen victim to a hack, with attackers breaking into systems at Evernote, maker of a Web-based note-taking application used by about 50 million people.

The company said in a security notice that some user data had been accessed and that Evernote was requiring all users to reset their passwords. Apparently, though, no sensitive financial info was stolen, and no user content was affected:

"In our security investigation, we have found no evidence that any of the content you store in Evernote was accessed, changed or lost," the company said in the statement, which was e-mailed to users and posted online. "We also have no evidence that any payment information for Evernote Premium or Evernote Business customers was accessed."

What was accessed, the company said, were usernames, e-mails addresses associated with Evernote accounts, and encrypted passwords. The company emphasized in the notice that "the passwords stored by Evernote are protected by one-way encryption. (In technical terms, they are hashed and salted.)"

The notice goes on to walk users through the password-reset process and to give tips on how to create an effective password.

Evernote is just the latest company to suffer at the hands of hackers. Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, and Twitter have all been victimized recently. And of course there were the high profile hacks at The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal that helped prompt President Obama to sign an executive order on cybersecurity.

There has been speculation that the Chinese military was behind the hacks at the newspapers -- though the Chinese government denies this -- and that the Apple, Facebook, and Twitter hacks may have been the work of Eastern European cybercriminals.

In a statement sent to CNET, an Evernote representative said the breach of the company's systems "follows a similar pattern of the many high profile attacks on other Internet-based companies that have taken place over the last several weeks." The rep also addressed our question about what Evernote is doing to reassure current and potential users about the safety of its products. Here's the rep's statement in full:

Our operations and security team caught this at what we believe to be the beginning stages of a sophisticated attack. They are continuing to investigate the details. We believe this activity follows a similar pattern of the many high profile attacks on other Internet-based companies that have taken place over the last several weeks.

At this time we believe we have blocked any unauthorized access, however security is Evernote's first priority. This is why, in an abundance of caution, we are requiring all users to reset their Evernote account passwords before their next Evernote account log-in. We are actively communicating to our users about this attack through our blog, direct e-mails, social media, and support. This simple step of users creating strong, new passwords will help ensure that user accounts remain secure.

As you point out, attacks like this are becoming more commonplace for all Internet-related companies and services. Evernote's ops and security team ensures we are using the latest and strongest security protocols. In addition, the team continuously and aggressively monitors for unusual activity patterns. This allows us, as was the case in this instance, to catch new and novel attack types as soon after they begin as possible.

Update, 10:45 am PT:
Adds statement sent to CNET from Evernote representative.

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Sequester blame game goes on as shutdown looms

President Obama on Saturday called for a "caucus of common sense" to step forward and stop the sequester, which began cutting $85 billion of federal spending out of the economy on Friday.

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Sequester to affect all federal agencies

"I know there are Republicans in Congress who would rather see tax loopholes closed than let these cuts go through," he said in his weekly address. "And I know there are Democrats who'd rather do smart entitlement reform than let these cuts go through. There's a caucus of common sense. And I'm going to keep reaching out to them to fix this for good."

The deadline to avoid the across the board cuts outright came and went on Friday evening, as Mr. Obama officially signed the sequester into effect. Both parties blamed each other for the failure to secure a deal before the deadline, and the finger-pointing continued Saturday.

The sequester "took effect because President Obama and Senate Democrats failed to act," Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash. and a member of House GOP leadership, said in the Republicans' weekly address. "In the last year, the House of Representatives has passed two proposals to replace the president's sequester with smarter spending cuts," but that the president's desire to "continue singling Americans out for tax increases" prevented Democrats from passing a "responsible plan to replace" the sequester.

"The president must stop using this debate as an excuse to raise taxes," she said, "and start seizing this opportunity to cut spending."

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Americans to feel sequester cuts in few weeks

Mr. Obama, for his part, pinned the blame squarely on Republican obstinacy, accusing the GOP of protecting tax loopholes for the rich at the expense of middle-class families.

"None of this is necessary," the president said. "It's happening because Republicans in Congress chose this outcome over closing a single wasteful tax loophole that helps reduce the deficit. Just this week, they decided that protecting special-interest tax breaks for the well-off and well-connected is more important than protecting our military and middle-class families from these cuts."

And "while not everyone will feel the pain of these cuts right away," Mr. Obama said, "the pain will be real."

Instead of submitting to the "perpetual partisanship and brinksmanship," the president suggested, "we can and must replace these cuts with a balanced approach" that combines targeted spending cuts with entitlement reform and closes tax loopholes.

"This is America," he said, "and in America, we don't careen from one manufactured crisis to another. We make smart choices."

Bipartisan leaders from the House and Senate met with President Obama at the White House Friday to continue negotiations before he officially signed the cuts into effect.

No agreement emerged, but both parties forged on, already looking ahead to the next fiscal fight. A temporary budgetary measure funding the government expires March 27, and if the parties cannot reach an agreement on continued funding by then, the government will shut down.

Despite the potential for another bout of budgetary drama, the president and House Speaker John Boehner each signaled after their meeting on Friday that a government shutdown looks unlikely.

"With respect to the budget and keeping the government open," Mr. Obama said, "what's called the continuing resolution, which is essentially just an extension of last year's budget into this year's budget to make sure those basic government functions continue - I think that's the right thing to do to make sure that we don't have a government shutdown. And that's preventable."

Boehner said, "The House is going to move a continuing resolution next week to fund the government past March 27th, and I'm hopeful that we won't have to deal with the threat of a government shutdown while we're dealing with the sequester at the same time. The House will act next week, and I hope the Senate will follow suit."

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Rescuers Search for Man as Fla. Sinkhole Grows

Rescuers early Saturday morning returned to the site where a sinkhole swallowed a Florida man in his bedroom after the home's foundation collapsed.

Jeff Bush was in his bedroom when a sinkhole opened up and trapped him underneath his home at 11 p.m. Thursday night.

While the sinkhole was initially estimated to be 15 feet deep on Thursday night, the chasm has continued to grow. Officials now estimate it measures 30 feet across and up to 100 feet deep.

MORE: How Sinkholes Can Develop

Rescue operations were halted Friday night after it became too dangerous to approach the home.

Bill Bracken, an engineer with Hillsborough County Urban Search and Rescue team said that the house "should have collapsed by now, so it's amazing that it hasn't."

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Using ground penetrating radar, rescuers have found a large amount of water beneath the house, making conditions even more dangerous for them to continue the search for Bush.

"I'm being told it's seriously unstable, so that's the dilemma," said Hillsborough County administrator Mike Merrell. "A dilemma that is very painful to them and for everyone."

Hillsborough County lies in what is known as Florida's "Sinkhole Alley." Over 500 sinkholes have been reported in the area since 1954, according to the state's environmental agency.

The Tampa-area home was condemned, leaving Bush's family unable to go back inside to gather their belongings. As a result, the Hillsborough County Fire Rescue set up a relief fund for Bush's family in light of the tragedy.

Officials evacuated the two houses adjacent to Bush's and are considering further evacuations, the Associated Press reported.

Meanwhile, Bush's brother, Jeremy Bush, is still reeling from Thursday night.

Jeremy Bush had to be rescued by a first responder after jumping into the hole in an attempt to rescue his brother when the home's concrete floor collapsed, but said he couldn't find him.

"I just started digging and started digging and started digging, and the cops showed up and pulled me out of the hole and told me the floor's still falling in," he said.

"These are everyday working people, they're good people," said Deputy Douglas Duvall of the Hillsborough County sheriff's office, "And this was so unexpected, and they're still, you know, probably facing the reality that this is happening."

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Small cars more popular after announcement of new car-buying measures

SINGAPORE: It is the first weekend since the government announced the tightening of car loans and increases in additional registration fees for more expensive cars.

Some car dealers said the popularity of small cars has gone up.

A showroom which sells mostly small cars with an open market value of less than S$20,000 said it has seen a 30 per cent increase in potential car buyers, compared to weekends before the measures were announced. The fees for such cars remain unchanged.

As for other showrooms selling larger, luxury cars - dealers said they have not increased prices yet.

These showrooms still have some Certificates of Entitlement (COEs) left from the previous round of bidding, which are unaffected by the new measures.

Such cars would fetch 10 to 100,000 dollars more in additional registration fees.

Johnson Tay, sales director at Jack Cars, said the company has not seen a drop in interest for now.

He said: "Due to some finance companies, the interest rate and loan quantum has not been decreased yet. Most of the customers will still come to us because of this kind of current interest rate and loan quantum."

- CNA/xq

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Apple's Safari challenged by rival mobile browsers

Apple's Safari is still by far the dominant mobile browser though its competition is eating away at some of its popularity.

Safari grabbed 55.4 percent of all mobile browser traffic captured by Web tracker Net Applications in February. That proved a hefty drop from January's 61 percent share and last July's 66 percent share.

At the same time, the stock
Android browser, which is found on older Android devices, chewed up 22.8 percent of the
mobile browser traffic last month. Though its numbers were higher last October and November, the Android browser has sliced off an increasingly larger share over the longer haul.

Opera Mini also staged a recovery last month with a 12.72 percent share, up from 9.84 percent in January and its highest number since March of last year. Chrome's mobile share fell slightly to 1.96 percent in February from 2.02 percent in January. But its long-term trend shows continued growth.

The mobile version of Internet Explorer won a share of 1.58 percent last month, a steady rise over the past several months.

Safari is obviously in no danger of losing its dominance any time soon. But its rivals are clearly eating into some of its action, especially as mobile browsing itself grows more popular.

Net Applications bases its data on more than 160 million visits to more than 40,000 Web sites each month.

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Man feared dead in 100-foot sinkhole near Tampa

Last Updated 10:01 a.m. ET

SEFFNER, Fla. A man was missing and feared dead early Friday after a large sinkhole opened under the bedroom of a house near Tampa. His brother says the man screamed for help before he disappeared.

The 36-year-old man's brother told rescue crews he heard a loud crash around 11 p.m. Thursday, then heard his brother screaming for help.

"When he got there, there was no bedroom left," Hillsborough County Fire Rescue spokeswoman Jessica Damico said. "There was no furniture. All he saw was a piece of the mattress sticking up."

The brother called 911 and frantically tried to help his brother. An arriving deputy pulled the brother from the still-collapsing house.

There's been no contact with the man since then and neighbors on both sides of the Seffner home have been evacuated.

By early Friday, Hillsborough County Fire Rescue officials determined the home had become too unstable to continue rescue efforts.

Hillsborough County Fire Chief Ron Rogers told a news briefing that extra-sensitive listening devices and cameras were inserted into the sinkhole. "They did not detect any signs of life," he said.

Damico said that at the surface, she estimates the sinkhole is about 30 feet across but officials say the sinkhole spreads to about 100 feet across below the surface. Authorities were waiting for an engineering crew to bring monitoring equipment to determine the borders of the sinkhole, she said.

"The entire house is on the sinkhole," Damico said.

Sinkholes are common in seaside Florida, whose underlying limestone and dolomite can be worn away by water and chemicals, then collapse.

Engineers condemned the house, reports CBS Tampa affiliate WTSP.

Janell Wheeler told the Tampa Bay Times newspaper she was inside the house with four other adults and a child when the sinkhole opened.

"It sounded like a car hit my house," she said.

The rest of the family went to a hotel but she stayed behind, sleeping in her car.

"I just want my nephew," she said through tears.

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Fla. Man Swallowed by Sinkhole, No Signs of Life

A Florida man has disappeared into a 30-foot-wide, 20-foot-deep sinkhole that collapsed the bedroom portion of his home overnight, according to police.

The hole opened up at around 11 p.m. Thursday night in the Brandon, Fla., neighborhood, authorities said.

"[The family] heard a sound that they described as a car crash emanating from the bedroom in the back of the house," Hillsborough County Fire Chief Ron Rogers said at a news conference today.

The family rushed into the room where Jeff Bush, 36, was sleeping, according to ABC News' Tampa affiliate WFTS-TV.

"All they could see was part of a mattress sticking out of the hole. Essentially, the floor of the room had opened up," Rogers said. "They could hear the nephew in the hole, but they could not see him."

Bush's brother, Jeremy Bush, jumped in and tried to rescue him, but was unsuccessful. A first responder "heroically" jumped in and rescued the brother, Rogers said.

The family was evacuated from the home as rescuers tried to get to the man.

Louisiana Sinkhole Raises Fears of Expansion Watch Video

Listening devices and cameras were sent into the hole.

"They did not detect any signs of life," Rogers said. "There continued to be collapses of the earth below the floor to the point where they had to eventually back out of the house."

Rogers said the main issue right now is that authorities and rescuers do not know how stable the house is.

It was previously reported that the hole was 100-feet wide, but Bill Bracken, president of Bracken engineering, clarified at the news conference that the safety zone around the hole is 100 feet, but the hole itself is between 20 to 30 feet in diameter.

It is contained within the footprint of the house, he said.

"The hole has actually taken up most of the inside of the house," Bracken said. "It started in the bedroom and has been expanding outward and it's taking the house with it as it opens up."

When asked what authorities believe the victim's status is, Rogers said, "Until we can actually determine where the victim is, I can't really answer that. We're going to do everything we can for Mr. Bush, but we have to make sure we don't endanger other personnel in the process."

Rogers said "time is a critical thing" and they are assessing the situation as quickly as possible without jeopardizing anyone else.

"We're not going to leave until we know that this community is safe and we know the extent of this issue here," he said. We're going to make sure that everyone is safe as much as we can. We don't know where the next sinkhole is going to open."

Police evacuated the other residents from the structure, as well as the two surrounding homes. Officials say the home could go at any moment.

"Our hearts go out to the Bush family during this terrible time," he said. "They're dealing with a lot of questions, a lot of unknowns."

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Kerry to chide Turkish PM over Zionism comments

ANKARA (Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry will upbraid Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Friday for his description of Zionism as a crime against humanity, comments which could overshadow his first trip to a Muslim nation since taking office.

Kerry is meeting Turkish leaders in talks meant to focus on Syria's civil war and bilateral interests from energy security to counter-terrorism.

But Erdogan's comment at a U.N. meeting in Vienna this week, condemned by his Israeli counterpart, the White House and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, has clouded his trip.

"This was particularly offensive, frankly, to call Zionism a crime against humanity ... It does have a corrosive effect (on relations)," a senior U.S. official told reporters as Kerry flew to Ankara.

"I am sure the secretary will be very clear about how dismayed we were to hear it," the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.

"To state the obvious, it complicates our ability to do all of the things that we want to do together when we have such a profound disagreement about such an important thing."

Washington needs all the allies it can get as it navigates the political currents of the Middle East, and sees Turkey as the key player in supporting Syria's opposition and planning for the era after President Bashar al-Assad.

But the collapse of its ties with Israel have undermined U.S. hopes that Turkey could play a role as a broker in the broader region.

"The Turkey-Israel relationship is frozen," the U.S. official said. "We want to see a normalization ... not just for the sake of the two countries but for the sake of the region and, frankly, for the symbolism," he said.

"Not that long ago (you) had these two countries demonstrating that a majority Muslim country could have very positive and strong relations with the Jewish state and that was a sign for the region (of what was) possible."

Erdogan told the U.N. Alliance of Civilizations meeting in Vienna on Wednesday: "Just as with Zionism, anti-Semitism and fascism, it has become necessary to view Islamophobia as a crime against humanity."

The head of Europe's main rabbinical group condemned his words as a "hateful attack" on Jews.

Ties between Israel and mostly Muslim Turkey have been frosty since 2010, when Israeli marines killed nine Turks in fighting aboard a Palestinian aid ship that tried to breach Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip.

In recent weeks, there has been a run of reports in the Turkish and Israeli media about efforts to repair relations, including a senior diplomatic meeting last month in Rome and military equipment transfers.

The reports have not been confirmed by either government.

SUPPORT FOR SYRIAN OPPOSITION

Officials said Syria would top the agenda when Kerry meets Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul, building on the discussions in Rome between 11 mostly European and Arab nations within the "Friends of Syria" group.

After the Rome meeting, Kerry said on Thursday the United States would for the first time give non-lethal aid to the rebels and more than double support to the civilian opposition, although Western powers stopped short of pledging arms.

"We need to continue the discussion which took place in Rome ... in terms of the main goals there is no daylight between us and the Americans," a senior Turkish official said.

"A broad agreement was reached on supporting the opposition. Now our sides need to sit down and really flesh out what we can do to support them in order to change the balance on the ground," he said.

Turkey has been one of Assad's fiercest critics, hosting a NATO Patriot missile defense system, including two U.S. batteries, to protect against a spillover of violence and leading calls for international intervention.

It has spent more than $600 million sheltering refugees from the conflict that began almost two years ago, housing some 180,000 in camps near the border and tens of thousands more who are staying with relatives or in private accommodation.

Washington has given $385 million in humanitarian aid for Syria but President Barack Obama has so far refused to give arms, arguing it is difficult to prevent them from falling into the hands of militants who could use them on Western targets.

Turkey, too, has been reluctant to provide weapons, fearing direct intervention could cause the conflict to spill across its borders.

(Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

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Growing calls for abolishment of China's labour camps

SHANGHAI: A hot issue likely to be discussed at China's upcoming National People's Congress in Beijing is one that is not often talked about - re-education labour camps.

The system allows for detention of up to four years without trial -- and there are growing calls for it to be abolished.

26 year-old Ren Jianyu was arrested and held in police custody for 36 days in Chongqing, after allegedly posting some anti-government comments online in 2011.

Under China's forced re-education system, or "laojiao" in Mandarin, Ren was then sent to a labour camp for 15 months, without trial.

Ren said: "They said what I put online constitutes incitement to subvert the government. At that time, no one dared to appeal on my behalf as my case was sensitive. No lawyer wanted to take it up."

Ren's case is just one of many which have caught the public's attention in recent years.

Critics and lawyers have called for the system to be abolished, as it is unconstitutional and violates human rights.

The Gulag-style regime started in the 1950s, as a way for the government to censor political opponents.

Experts say there are about 60,000 people detained in these camps currently.

Detainees include prostitutes and drug offenders, and they have no legal recourse.

Lawyer Yang Zhuang said: "Currently only the Public Security Department has the final say in the system, unlike lawsuits which go through the courts. The Public Security Department uses its internal legislative affairs office to determine a person's freedom. There are no checks on the system."

There have been moves to do away with the system.

In January, Guangdong province applied to the National People's Congress to be the first province in China to close down such labour camps.

While talk of abolishing the labour re-education system at the official level started in 2005, change has been slow due to differing opinions from the police and legislators on how to deal with existing detainees.

Professor Sun Bo from Shanghai Institute of Politics and Law said: "After the system is abolished, detainees will be separated. They'll be divided between the criminal system and the public security system. A portion of which will come under a new law for re-education due to violations. So who has the legal right over these detainees, whether it's the courts or the police, that's where the interests collide."

Experts say publicity over cases where authorities allegedly abused the system to detain some people have increased the public's attention and criticism on the system, putting pressure on China's new leaders to reform the controversial procedure.

Experts say at the upcoming National People's Congress, officials are likely to table more suggestions and set up a plan of action as a first step to closing the labour camps.

- CNA/xq

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Big Bang Theory's Kaley Cuoco caught in the Dish-CBS crossfire

"The Big Bang Theory" star Kaley Cuoco doesn't mind making a few extra dollars endorsing products. Tweeting an ad to her 1.2 million Twitter followers is an easy way to pick up some spare change. Just as long as she isn't tweeting at Dish Network's behest about its ad-skipping Hopper DVR.

As first reported by TheWrap, Cuoco, or her representatives, deleted the following tweet after TheWrap inquired about it: "Amazing! Watching live TV anywhere on the #Hopper looks pretty awesome! Now where can I find a tiny beer? #ad."

Dish officials claim that Cuoco's tweet generated thousands of clicks from her followers to an informational site about the Dish product. "We felt Kaley was a good match for our brand and that her fans represented our customers and potential customers who would be interested in the benefits of Hopper," a Dish spokesperson told CNET in an email.

With the sponsored tweet touting the Dish Hopper, Cuoco got caught in the middle of a bitter, prolonged battle between CBS, which airs "The Big Bang Theory," and Dish, which offers a product that CBS (the parent company of CNET) and the other broadcast networks believe is illegal. The Dish Hopper features AutoHop, which allows users to automatically skip over ads on recorded programming. The networks contend that Dish doesn't have the right to tamper with advertising from broadcast replays for its own economic and commercial advantage. The lawsuits brought by CBS, Fox (News Corp.), NBC (Comcast), and ABC (Disney) so far have not stopped Dish from selling the Hopper, which the company says is in two million homes.

Read:
Fox asks court to block sales of Dish Hopper with Sling

Read: Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen: 'I don't want to kill ads'

In a press release, Dish CEO Joe Clayton accused CBS of demanding that the sitcom star remove the tweet: "Clearly, with this kind of response, consumers have a true interest in the types of innovations the DISH Hopper offers. It's a shame that CBS, despite its legacy, feels it needs to thwart this kind of consumer demand."

A CBS spokesperson denied the accusation: "Once again, Joe Clayton demonstrates his dubious gift for hyperbole and hucksterism. No demands were made, but it's clear that Dish's culture of fabrication is alive and well."

Cuoco so far has not addressed the question of why the Dish paid endorsement tweet was deleted. She may have come to the sudden realization that the sponsored tweet hit a sensitive nerve at CBS.

The Cuoco tweet delete comes on the heels of CBS' decision to have CNET disqualify the Dish Hopper with Sling as the winner of the Best of
CES award at the Consumer Electronics Show in January due to the parent company's ongoing litigation with Dish over the AutoHop technology.

In another bit of Dish guerrilla marketing Dish sponsored a car driven by Scott Speed in Sunday's Daytona 500 to get around the ban by the TV networks on advertising the Hopper product on their airwaves. The race was broadcast on the Fox network.

Last week, Fox Broadcasting amended its original lawsuit against Dish, asking the court to stop sales of the just-released Dish Hopper with Sling, which lets users watch programming on the go, over the Internet, and on mobile devices via its place-shifting Sling technology. A hearing is slated for March 22 to address Fox's amended claim.

Read:
CBS claims Dish concealed AutoHop ad-skipping technology

Read:
Editor's take: Dish Hopper with Sling

Read:
CEA back Dish in Hopper copyright lawsuit

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