Tag: korea

Dealer-Installed GPS Tracker Leads To Kidnapper’s Arrest in Maryland

New submitter FarnsworthG writes A news story about the capture of a kidnapper mentioned that he was caught because a car dealer had secretly installed a GPS device on his car. Apparently this is becoming common for “buy-here-pay-here” dealers. The devices are sold by Spireon, among many others. Raises interesting privacy questions. FarnsworthG also points to this Jalopnik article condemning the practice, when it’s done without disclosure. The kidnapping itself, of Philadelphia nursing assistant Carlesha Freeland-Gaither, was captured by a surveillance camera. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Dealer-Installed GPS Tracker Leads To Kidnapper’s Arrest in Maryland

PC Cooling Specialist Zalman Goes Bankrupt Due To Fraud

An anonymous reader writes Zalman’s parent company Moneual’s CEO Harold Park, and vice presidents Scott Park and Won Duck-yeok, have apparently spent the last five years producing fraudulent documentation relating to the sales performance of Zalman. These documents inflated sales figures and export data for Zalman’s products. The reason? Bank loans. By increasing sales and exports Park and his associates were able to secure bank loans totaling $2.98 billion. Someone has finally realized what has been going on, though, triggering Zalman’s shares to be suspended on the stock market and the company filing for bankruptcy protection. The questions now turn to how this practice was allowed to continue unnoticed for so long and how the banks will go about getting their near $3 billion back. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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PC Cooling Specialist Zalman Goes Bankrupt Due To Fraud

Entire South Korean Space Programme Shuts Down As Sole Astronaut Quits

An anonymous reader writes The entire South Korean space program has been forced to shut down after its only astronaut resigned for personal reasons. Yi So-yeon, 36, became the first Korean in space in 2008 after the engineer was chosen by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) to lead the country’s $25m space project. Her resignation begs questions of KARI regarding whether she was the right person to lead the program and whether the huge cost of sending her into space was a waste of taxpayer’s money. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Entire South Korean Space Programme Shuts Down As Sole Astronaut Quits

Russia Writes Off 90 Percent of North Korea Debt

jones_supa (887896) writes “In Russia, the State Duma (lower house) on Friday ratified a 2012 agreement to write off the bulk of North Korea’s debt. It said the total debt stood at $10.96 billion as of Sept. 17, 2012. Russia sees this lucrative in advancing the plans to build a gas pipe and railroad through North to South Korea. The rest of the debt, $1.09 billion, would be redeemed during the next 20 years, to be paid in equal installments every six months. The outstanding debt owed by North Korea will be managed by Russia’s state development bank, Vnesheconombank. Moscow has been trying to diversify its energy sales to Asia away from Europe, which, in its turn, wants to cut its dependence on oil and gas from the erstwhile Cold War foe. Russia’s state-owned top natural producer Gazprom is dreaming shipping 10 billion cubic meters of gas annually through the Koreas. Russia has written off debts to a number of impoverished Soviet-era allies, including Cuba. North Korea’s struggling communist economy is just 2 percent of the size of neighboring South’s.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Russia Writes Off 90 Percent of North Korea Debt

ATM Hackers Have Figured Out How to Withdraw Unlimited Amounts of Cash

Federal regulators just alerted banks across the country of a very dangerous new skill ATM hackers have picked up. They can trick ATMs into spitting out unlimited amounts of cash, regardless of the customer’s balance. Not only that, but also schedule the illicit withdrawals for holidays and weekends, when the ATMs are extra flush. Read more…        

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ATM Hackers Have Figured Out How to Withdraw Unlimited Amounts of Cash

Get Drunk with Kaiju at This New Japanese Bar

You know kaiju, right? Those Japanese-style monsters now have their own watering hole, which serves booze and eats. There’s an important rule, though: No superheroes allowed. Don’t you dare break it! Read more…        

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Get Drunk with Kaiju at This New Japanese Bar

This Football-Sized Device Could Replace Your Huge Water Heater

That 60 gallon tank of hot water in your basement eats up a lot of energy. But tankless on-demand water heaters leave you running water down the drain while you wait for warmth. This tiny Kickstarter water heater promises to change all that, and save you money, thanks to some fascinating technology. Read more…        

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This Football-Sized Device Could Replace Your Huge Water Heater

North Korea’s State Computers Run This Delightful Mac OS X Knockoff

At first glance, this screen looks strangely familiar. The dock icons, the gray, rounded windows, the whole layout; it’s Mac OS X, except not quite. The top-left icon is the giveaway. This ain’t OS X, it’s Red Star, North Korea’s state-sanctioned operating system. And Version 3.0 looks very Mac-like. Read more…        

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North Korea’s State Computers Run This Delightful Mac OS X Knockoff