ROSH HAAYIN, Israel

Israeli entrepreneur Shai Agassi has begun rolling out the world’s first nationwide electric car network. Now, will the drivers come?

After more than $400 million in outlays and months behind schedule, dozens of electric cars have hit the road in Israel, the test site Agassi chose for his Better Place venture. Four stations where the cars can get a new dose of juice when their batteries run out are operating, and the plan is to ramp that number up within months.

The concept: to wean the world from oil and eliminate the biggest hurdles to environmentally friendly electric cars — high cost and limited range.

To do this, Better Place has jettisoned the fixed battery. Instead, drivers can swap their depleted batteries for fully charged ones at a network of stations, receiving a full, 160-kilometer (100-mile) range in five minutes. Better Place owns the batteries, bringing down the purchase price of the cars using the network.

People driving shorter distances, the vast majority of customers, can plug in their batteries each day to chargers installed at their homes, offices and public locations, which will fully recharge in six to eight hours.

He faces a wall of skepticism. A major concern is “range anxiety”: Will the car conk out because its battery is drained, stranding the driver in a dicey neighborhood, en route to the hospital, or with three wailing kids in back?

Rising fuel prices worldwide still haven’t sent electric car sales surging, noted U.S.-based automotive expert John McElroy. “It may not be an energy price issue,” he said. “Consumers may simply decide that electric cars don’t offer the range they need.”

Agassi, a former top executive at software giant SAP AG, said he is ready to prove his doubters wrong. “We’re driving a car that most people said would be a fantasy,” he said.

The swappable battery model aims to reassure drivers about range and show they don’t need to sacrifice convenience or cash to switch to electric.

So far, the four Better Place battery stations are set up in central and northern Israel. During the second half of the year, around 40 stations are due to be operating across the country. But even before that, the company says enough will be up that a motorist could make the 500-kilometer (300-mile) drive from Israel’s northern tip to its southern end.

Agassi has raised $750 million from investors including General Electric Co. and HSBC Holdings PLC since founding Better Place 4 1/2 years ago.

French automaker Renault has begun selling a sedan, the Fluence, customized to use the stations, priced in Israel at roughly $32,000, comparable to other sedans sold here. Currently, about 140 are on the road, most driven by Better Place employees.

The Fluence should start becoming available to the general public within weeks. Leasing companies, which buy about two-thirds of the more than 200,000 new cars sold annually in Israel, have ordered more than 1,800, and private customers have ordered several hundred more.

Compared to electric or hybrid cars in other markets, the sales numbers in this nation of 6 million might not be as humble as they seem: In 2011, Chevrolet sold about 7,700 Volts and Nissan sold under 10,000 LEAFs in the U.S., which has a population of more than 310 million.

“It interests all fleet managers we talk to,” said Shai Dahan, CEO of Eldan Transportation, a top Israeli leasing group.

Better Place, which had promised to have thousands of cars on the road last year, acknowledges the rollout is behind schedule, mostly because of bureaucratic hurdles and production issues at Renault.

Better Place has also spent years testing its integrated system designed to allow its operation center, which is connected to every car, to monitor the vehicles and correct problems remotely. For instance, its software notifies drivers when their batteries are running low and directs them to the nearest switching station.

Israel sales director Zohar Bali predicts up to 5,000 Fluences will be silently running on Israeli roads and highways within a year.

Israel was chosen for the experiment in part because of its tech-savvy population. Also, with 80 percent of the population living in a narrow, densely populated stretch along the Mediterranean coast, it provides a perfect laboratory for the charging network.

Better Place claims it can shave up to 20 percent off the annual cost of owning a car, especially if gas prices, now around $8 a gallon here, continue to rise. Drivers buy access to the switching stations and charging spots through a monthly package ranging from under $300 to over $500, depending on mileage.

Israelis are taking notice. Better Place says more than 80,000 people in this country of 7.8 million have trekked to its visitor’s center, situated at an abandoned oil reserves depot outside Tel Aviv.

What happens in Israel could decide how broadly Better Place deploys.

So far the Fluence is the only model compatible with the grid, but Renault’s Middle East director, Jean-Christophe Pierson, says the company is considering a more compact model. Better Place is also in contact with other carmakers.

Denmark is set to become Better Place’s second launch site this year. Australia is to become its first major market, with deployment in the capital, Canberra, also this year. Small-scale projects are in place in Hawaii and California. Amsterdam is the next European target after Denmark.

The company also has its sights set on China, where it already has opened a demonstration battery switching station.

Agassi sees the “tipping point” for electric cars coming in two to three years, propelled by dropping prices of cars and batteries. By 2017, he expects 50 percent of all new car sales in Israel to be electric.

The largest investor is The Israel Corp., whose holdings include Israel’s biggest oil refinery and deep water oil drilling.

Idan Ofer, whose family controls The Israel Corp. and who serves as Better Place’s chairman, said he saw no contradiction between his oil and clean-tech holdings.

Film giant Kodak “knew about digital photography. And look what happened. They still went bankrupt because they didn’t do anything about it,” observed Ofer. “There are many examples. I don’t want to be there.”

(click image for larger view and for slideshow)When Facebook goes public in the next few days, the company could end up being valued at over $100 billion.

Facebook expects investor interest will be high: Two days ago, the company increased the total number of shares it will offer and increased the share price range from $28 to $35 per share to $34 to $38 per share. According to its most recent SEC filing, Facebook will offer over 421 million shares.

The company certainly has a lot going for it: 845 million users, high user engagement compared to competitors, rapidly growing revenue, and a strong developer community.

But it faces a number of problems, some of its own making.

1. Trust. Users don’t trust Facebook. According to an AP-CNBC poll conducted earlier this month, 59% of respondents “say they have little or no faith in the company to protect their privacy.” Only 13% of Facebook users say they trust Facebook completely or a lot to protect their data.

[ What are Facebook's most valuable technologies? Read Facebook's 11 Biggest Technology Bets. ]

When Facebook settled Federal Trade Commission charges that it deceived consumers with its privacy claims last November, CEO Mark Zuckerberg accepted blame. “I’m the first to admit that we’ve made a bunch of mistakes,” he wrote in a blog post. “In particular, I think that a small number of high profile mistakes, like Beacon four years ago and poor execution as we transitioned our privacy model two years ago, have often overshadowed much of the good work we’ve done.”

Facebook will have to keep working to convince users that it can be trusted.

2. Regulation. Having managed to convince users that sharing could somehow co-exist with privacy, Facebook still has to worry about government regulators. The European Union is presently considering revised data rules that would affect Facebook and other companies. The rules include a “right to be forgotten. To comply, companies would have to respond to requests to delete customer data and would probably incur additional costs. In the U.S., Facebook faces 20 years of privacy audits and an abundance of legislators and other legal officials ready to hold hearings or open investigations when controversies arise. And in China, a highly desirable market for many tech companies, Facebook is banned.

3. Ads. Facebook is an advertising company. Forget the social jargon for a moment. Facebook might use terms such as “Sponsored Stories,” but it’s really talking about ads. And ad companies succeed when their ads produce results.

Unfortunately, Facebook’s ads don’t work for everyone. GM just told the Wall Street Journal that it plans to stop advertising on Facebook. Apparently, the $10 million GM spent on Facebook ads didn’t help sell cars. On a smaller scale, a pizzeria in New Orleans recounted a similar experience in a recent NPR blog post. The pizza restaurant saw a $10 return on its $240 ad purchase.

Facebook has counterexamples. It notes, for instance, that CM Photographics generated almost $40,000 in revenue directly from a $600 investment in Facebook ads. However, “works sometimes” isn’t the sort of slogan that entices ad buyers. If the odds of generating a return are significantly less than 50%, you might be better off gambling your marketing money at a casino.

4. Skepticism. Among those who responded to the AP-CNBC poll, 46% believe Facebook is a fad. That’s three percentage points more than the number of respondents who believe Facebook has staying power. The skeptical majority might be easier to dismiss if Facebook hadn’t agreed to pay $1 billion for Instagram, a startup with no revenue but 30 million enthusiastic users. That’s not the move of a secure company. It looks more like a defensive effort to co-opt a potential competitor and reinvigorate a user base that doesn’t tune in as often as it used to.

5. Value. Three out of 10 Americans surveyed by AP-CNBC say they visit Facebook daily. But for what? Entertainment? Self-promotion? Socialization? That’s nice, but there are plenty of places to get that.

It’s different for Apple, Google, and Microsoft. For the average computer user, hardware running an operating system from Apple or Microsoft is essential, as is a search service from either Google or Microsoft.

Apple, Google, and Microsoft all offer software and services for productive tasks and for personal convenience, such as online storage. They offer services people will pay for, even if they subsidize some of them with ads in order to offer them for free.

Facebook gives away plenty of value, just not the kind of value that people want to pay for. And that needs to change. Facebook needs to offer Dropbox-style file storage or other services that create lock-in and meet business needs. Facebook’s control of users’ contact data isn’t enough to keep users interested if the novelty of sharing wears thin.

6. Mobile. Apple has iOS and Safari. Google has Android and Chrome. Microsoft has Windows Phone and Internet Explorer. Facebook has no operating system or browser to guarantee its presence on mobile phones. The company depends on apps and the mobile Web. And that could be dangerous, particularly because Facebook’s mobile apps aren’t very well regarded.

Google already has greatly increased the number of Google+ users through Android. Apple is bound to try to improve its social competency. And Microsoft could get less friendly toward Facebook if it can convince enough people to buy a Windows Phone.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is aware of the problem at least. During the company’s IPO roadshow, he emphasized that his number-one priority is improving Facebook’s mobile apps.

The Enterprise 2.0 Conference brings together industry thought leaders to explore the latest innovations in enterprise social software, analytics, and big data tools and technologies. Learn how your business can harness these tools to improve internal business processes and create operational efficiencies. It happens in Boston, June 18-21. Register today!

“Phone Password Breaker becomes an alternative way to get access to iOS devices’ content,” said Vladimir Katalov, CEO of Moscow-based ElcomSoft, in a statement. “With a valid Apple ID and a password, investigators can not only retrieve backups to seized devices, but access that information in real time while the phone is still in the hands of a suspect.”

Information from iPhone backups is in high demand by forensic customers, according to ElcomSoft. No wonder, since an estimated 125 million Apple users store some type of data in iCloud, which offers 5GB of storage for free, and which is easily enabled via a checkbox in the iOS device settings. By accessing data stored in an iCloud backup, investigators could keep tabs on a suspect without the suspect having any idea that their cloud-based data was being accessed.

[ Changes are in the works for Apple's iCloud service. Read more at Apple iCloud Refresh Eyes Social Weak Spot. ]

What’s in an iPhone backup? “iCloud backups hold essentially the same information as stored in offline backups, which includes accounts and passwords, call logs and text messages, calendars, appointments, contacts, and organizer information,” said ElcomSoft marketing director Olga Koksharova in blog post. “Pictures and Web browsing history, including URLs of recently visited sites, are also included.”

Since last year, ElcomSoft’s password-cracking tool has been able to break the new hardware-based encryption used by Apple as of the iPhone 4, and then extract data. But investigators needed physical access to either the iOS device or to a PC that had been synchronized with the device and stored an offline backup via iTunes.

ElcomSoft said its software can access iOS device backups thanks to its having cracked the communication protocols used by Apple. “ElcomSoft researchers analyzed the communication protocol connecting iPhone users with Apple iCloud and were able to emulate the correct commands in order to retrieve the content of iOS users’ iCloud storage,” said Koksharova. “It’s important to note that, unlike offline backups that may come encrypted and must be broken into–a time-consuming operation–data retrieved from iCloud is received in plain, unencrypted form. The 5GB of storage space can be retrieved in reasonable time, while receiving incremental updates is even faster.”

But while the tool can automatically access the backup, investigators must first obtain valid credentials. “There’s no magic,” said Koksharova. “If [the] Apple ID and password are not known or no longer valid [for example, if the user changed the password], Phone Password Breaker will be unable to retrieve information from iCloud.” One option for gleaning the password is for investigators to access an offline iPhone backup–handled by iTunes–that’s stored on a PC, since Password Breaker had be used to crack the encryption key that protects the backup.

Of course, there are other ways to discover a person’s iCloud password. Notably, a federal indictment first handed down in March 2012 against alleged LulzSec and Anonymous ringleaders traced the interception of an FBI conference call with U.K. law enforcement personnel to unauthorized access to an iCloud account.

According to court documents, Irish defendant Donncha O’Cearrbhail (aka palladium, among other handles) sent this boast to LulzSec leader Sabu via chat: “I just got into the iCloud for the head of a national police cybercrime unit. I have all his contacts and can track his location 24/7.” O’Cearrbhail was allegedly able to access the work emails because the cyber cop had forwarded his email to his Gmail account, which he then checked with his iPhone.

It’s unlikely that O’Cearrbhail would have had physical access to the cop’s iPhone or a PC that connected to the device and obtained the relevant password that way. Accordingly, he may have made an educated guess as to the cop’s password. Another potential way of learning the iCloud password would have been through password reuse–for example, if the same password was used for another service and had been disclosed in a data breach.

High-profile breaches against cloud-based services have forced tougher security and closer scrutiny of what to put in the cloud. In our Dark Side Of The Cloud report, we explain the risks. (Free registration required.)

A file named “ChromeSetup.exe” is being offered for download on various websites, and the link to the file appears to be legitimately hosted on Facebook and Google domains. In reality, the software won’t install Google’s Chrome browser, but an information-stealing Trojan application known as Banker, according to antivirus vendor Trend Micro.

Once the malware–which appears to be targeting Latin American users, especially in Brazil and Peru–is executed, it relays the IP address and operating system version to one of two command-and-control (CC) servers, then downloads a configuration file. After that, whenever a user of the infected PC visits one of a number of banking websites, the malware intercepts the HTTP request, redirects the user to a fake banking page, and also pops up a dialog box informing the user that new security software will be installed.

In fact, the malware has been designed uninstall GbPlugin, which is “software that protects Brazilian bank customers when performing online banking transactions,” said Trend Micro security researcher Brian Cayanan in a blog post. “It does this through the aid of gb_catchme.exe–a legitimate tool from GMER called Catchme, which was originally intended to uninstall malicious software. The bad guys, in this case, are using the tool for their malicious agendas.”

[ Hacktivists take down the Kremlin's website in protest of Putin reelection. Read more at Anonymous Targets Russian Sites For Putin Protest. ]

Trend Micro gained access to a log file associated with the CC servers that were managing this strain of Banker and saw the number of PCs infected with the malware quickly multiply. “During the time the CC panel was analyzed … the phone-home logs jumped from around 400 to nearly 6,000 in a span of 3 hours. These logs are comprised of 3,000 unique IP addresses, which translates [into] the number of machines infected by the malware,” Cayanan said. But the CC servers–first spotted in use in October 2011–soon became inaccessible. That suggests that attackers were moving to new CC servers, he said, noting that whoever is behind Banker will likely continue to enhance the malicious application’s capabilities.

For now, however, Cayanan said Trend Micro was continuing to study the malware, noting that “the one missing piece” of information is how the malware “is able to redirect [users] from normal websites like Facebook or Google to its malicious IP, to download malware.”

In other malware news, GFI Labs is warning that a new piece of Android malware masquerades as free antivirus software. Advertised via Twitter spam promoting links to “sexi gerl see,” among other phrases, the malicious application has been available via websites sporting a dot-TK (.tk) address, which is the top-level domain name for Tokelau, a New Zealand territory in the South Pacific.

Clicking on the proffered Twitter link takes users to a Russian-language Web page–hosted in the Ukraine–that advertises numerous products, including fake updates for Opera and Skype, as well as an “Anit-Virus Scanner.” [sic] “Users who accessed and used this purported scanner are then given the option to download and install a file, which [varies] depending on whether the target is a PC or a phone,” said GFI Labs researcher Jovi Umawing in a blog post. Interestingly, the PC version–delivered as a Java archive file–will fail to execute. But the APK (Android application package) version will install on an Android device. The application’s Android icon, meanwhile, was copied from security firm Kaspersky.

Many security tools will have difficulty spotting the malicious APK file. According to Bulgarian antivirus researcher Vesselin Bontchev at FRISK Software, “the fake AV file is actually server-side polymorphic.” Polymorphic malware is designed to change every time it gets downloaded, which generates malware with identical attack capabilities but different fingerprints. That makes spotting the malware more difficult for signature-based security defenses.

“If you download it several times in a row, you’ll get different APK files,” said Bontchev. He said it’s also likely that the malware developer is updating the attack code every few days to make the malware more difficult to spot.

What’s the purpose of the Anit-Virus Scanner malware? As with most online attacks, blame the software on criminals trying to make a fast buck (or in this case, ruble). “If you went ahead and installed the app onto your mobile, it would attempt to send expensive SMS messages to premium rate services,” read a blog post from Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, who has also been studying the malware.

As with most malware, the fake antivirus scanner also has the ability to download and install further code from the Internet onto your Android smartphone, thus potentially allowing attackers to exploit devices, or the data they store, in numerous other ways.

Security information and event monitoring technology has been available for years, but the information can be hard to mine. In our SIEM Success report, we provide a step-by-step guide to make the most of your SIEM system. (Free registration required.)

IronGate Security Networks™, the industry’s first security as a service provider for the home, today announced that it began beta of its patent-pending iHomeDefender™ managed security solution that provides total security for the home, as well as complete control for how kids access the Internet, use social media, play online games, chat and more.

“Most parents are not network administrators, nor are they security experts,” said Ron Brahy, Director, Web Systems at the company. “Despite this, parents desperately want their home computers and devices to be safe from hackers and malware, as well as they want the ability to control where their kids go online and for how long. With IronGate Security Networks, a parent can have total security and complete control of their home network without having to be a PhD in Computer Science.”

IronGate Security Networks’ solution – iHomeDefender – is a complete, zero-touch solution, which means a parent has nothing to install; the company does it all – system configuration, user set-up and home installation. Unlike traditional software security suites, there are no per client license limits, there is nothing to take up disk space and nothing to slow computers down.

With automatic virus updates every six hours, consumers get a first-line defense against viruses, worms, trojans and adware that can harm computers or any other wireless device in the home. Additional intrusion prevention (IPS) technology, which is normally reserved for corporate network environments, stops hackers and automated intrusion attempts before they can reach home PCs, applications or data.

Adding to this, the iHomeDefender utilizes the latest in next-generation hardware firewall technology. Unlike software-based firewalls that only function on the PC that they are installed upon, iHomeDefender inspects data packets at the home-internet gateway, which means every web-enabled device in the home is protected. All the network and web traffic is inspected before it ever hits a computer or gadget.

Parents who are tired of yelling at their kids to get off the internet or stop playing online games will appreciate the automatic network control features that can limit individual web access time, and also specific web applications, regardless of what device their child uses. For example, a parent can have Facebook turn off at 9:00 p.m., but have the Internet say on until 10:00 p.m. so that a child can get homework done.

Additional content filtering and website blocking features give parents the ability to block not just porn, but an unlimited number of undesirable websites, as well as prevent access to 70+ categories of web content, ranging from “alcohol and tobacco” to “weapons” on a per child basis.

Brahy concludes, “Nothing good ever happens at 2:00 a.m. – whether it’s a hacker trying to steal your personal information, or it’s your kid surfing the dark corners of the internet – with IronGate Security Networks, parents can put a stop to both from happening on their home network.”

For more information about IronGate Security Networks or its iHomeDefender solution, please go to: www.IronGateSecurity.net.

About IronGate Security Networks, Inc.
IronGate Security Networks™ provides internet security for consumers who want business-class protection against hackers, identity thieves, and other sources of malware, spyware, viruses for all the devices in their home network, as well as in-depth parental controls for how their kids access the web, use social media, online games, chat and more, via the company’s iHomeDefender™ managed security solution.

IronGate Security Networks and iHomeDefender are trademarks of IronGate Security Networks, Inc. All other marks are property of their respective owners.

So would Chip Ganassi.

The team with four straight IndyCar championships didn’t even come close to making Saturday’s Pole Day shootout for the Indianapolis 500, and the thought of bumping their way into the shootout were so bleak that none of Ganassi’s four drivers even made a second qualifying attempt on a steamy, slick 2.5-mile oval.

“It sucks. It absolutely sucks. Every member of the Target team is working so hard. We’re just going to have to figure this one out,” said Franchitti, a two-time Indy winner and four-time points champ. “It’s not been a very good qualifying day for us.”

Not at all.

The woes began when Scott Dixon, the 2008 Indy winner and two-time series champion, produced an unusually slow four-lap average of 223.684 mph early in qualifying. That wasn’t even close to Tony Kanaan, who went 225.100 on the day’s first qualifying attempt – a run later disqualified because of a rules violation.

Two attempts later, after Team Penske driver Will Power was clocked at 225.399, Charlie Kimball qualified at 223.868. Franchitti followed that with a 223.582, and Graham Rahal, the last Ganassi driver on the track, sealed the team’s fate even though he posted the fastest speed of the day then delivered the best speed of the day for Ganassi, 223.959. It still wasn’t enough.

All four practiced briefly in the afternoon, but Dixon turned the best lap of the four drivers at 224.220. It still wasn’t enough to supplant Venezuela’s E.J. Viso from the final spot in the shootout, so the Ganassi drivers packed up and headed to the garage.

The May 27 race will be the first in five years not to include one of Ganassi’s cars on Indy’s front row.

“We’re a little disappointed,” Ganassi said. “Honda seems a bit challenged here, so we’re working on that. I think in race trim, we’re OK, we’re just a little challenged in qualifying.”

Rahal will start 12th, Kimball 14th, Dixon 15th and Franchitti, the three-time defending series champ, 16th for the May 27 race.

“I’ve had some great birthdays here, today’s not one of them,” Franchitti said.

___

SARAH’S STRUGGLES: American rookies Josef Newgarden and Bryan Clauson were two of the biggest surprises in practice.

Things didn’t go as well for the Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing teammates in qualifying.

Yes, Newgarden was the only Honda driver to make the nine-driver pole shootout, but he was the slowest of the seven who completed a qualifying attempt during the 90-minute segment. He’ll start on the inside of Row 3 after going 224.037.

Things were even worse for Clauson, who was within one lap of making the 33-car starting grid. But as he drove through the first turn, Clauson’s No. 39 car spun and wound up hitting the outside wall.

Crew members were scrambling throughout the afternoon to fix his car in time for the resumption of qualifying. Sunday’s round is expected to fill the final nine spots in the field.

One thing that will help is that Dallara, the chassis maker, which has an assembly plant in Speedway, Ind.

“We ripped a lot of stuff off it, but we’re actually going to fix that tub and go back at it,” Clauson said. “So we’re not even going to get the backup car out, we’re just going to go back out with this one probably tomorrow.”

___

NOT SO SMOOTH: Clauson was the first driver to hit the Indianapolis Motor Speedway walls with the new cars.

But he wasn’t only the one having a tough day.

Spanish veteran Oriol Servia crashed on his warm-up lap when he spun coming out of the fourth turn, slid down the track, hit the inside wall and then hit the attenuator at the start of pit road. He, was released from the infield care center and was cleared to drive but did not get another

The biggest hit of the day? Easily Ed Carpenter. His No. 20 car spun going through the second turn, then slid up the track and slammed into the outside wall. The rear wheels came up but the car never got airborne.

The good news: Nobody was seriously hurt.

“While we never like to see any car involved in an incident, we have been very pleased to see all of the drivers walk away from the 200 mph plus impacts,” said Will Phillips, IndyCar’s vice president of technology. “All the credit to Dallara and those who had input into the safety of the new car.”

Another rookie, Colombia’s Sebastian Saavedra, blew an engine on his warm-up lap and wound up with No. 24 starting spot, the outside of Row 8.

And Tony Kanaan, who won the pole in 2005 but has never won the 500, was forced to requalify after his No. 11 car failed post-qualifying technical inspection. Series officials erased his qualifying average of 225.100 because of a violation involving the ballast. He requalified at 224.751, good enough to make the shootout but never completed another full qualifying run.

___

WHAT A RELIEF: Rubens Barrichello had a solid showing in his first qualifying attempt on an oval.

The longtime Formula One driver will start 13th after going 224.264. But it looked easier than it actually felt.

“People at home, they might think `It’s just four corners,’” the Brazilian said. “I’ll tell you these four corners are much more difficult than many of the other corners I’ve done in my whole life.”

Barrichello wasn’t the only veteran driver relieved to make the race.

Mexico’s Michel Jourdain Jr. qualified 22nd with an average of 222.893.

Who didn’t make the race Saturday?

Four-time Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais was bumped out and now must requalify Sunday. And former Formula One driver Jean Alesi didn’t make a qualifying attempt Saturday.

___

BRAND NAME: Country music group The Band Perry was in town to help announce Crown Royal’s five finalists to have their name appear on the official title of July’s Brickyard race.

The finalists are Brandon Veatch of Bloomfield, Ind.; Curtis Shaver of Troy, Ala.; Dale Beatty of Statesville, N.C.; John Thomas of Sarasota, Fla.; and Lindsey Marquez of Sun Prairie, Wis. Four of the five have served in the military. Shaver is a certified EMT, paramedic and fire fighter.

Adult fans can vote from Monday through June 28. The winner will have his or her name appear on the July 29 race’s official title.

The band’s three members – Kimberly, Reid and Neil Perry – also waved the green flag to start Pole Day qualifying Saturday. It was their first time at the Brickyard to see the IndyCars.

“I’ve never seen cars go that fast,” Neil Perry said.

“It’s such an adrenaline rush being that close to it,” Kimberly Perry said.

The band was in town to perform a concert with country music star Brad Paisley and is scheduled to perform when Cup drivers are in town in late July.

___

PIT STOPS: Howie Mandel will serve as Indy’s honorary announcer on race day, making the traditional call “all cars to the grid.” … Servia was the only driver not to drive a lap in Friday’s practice. On Saturday, he said the team was having trouble with the installation of an engine. … Ryan Briscoe is the first Australian national to win the pole. Dixon, who is from New Zealand, also won the pole but was born in Australia. … Newgarden is the highest rookie qualifier since Danica Patrick was fourth in 2005.

As it is prone to do, HP has released many models in the printer market in an attempt to lure a wide range of consumers. This can be a daunting prospect for potential buyers, who can quickly become disillusioned by the overwhelming number of options on shelves.

Things may have become simpler following the release of a new multifunction device from HP, the Officejet Pro 8600 Plus e-All-in-One. But is it the answer to everyone’s individual printing needs or is it just a blanket solution to lure a wider range of punters? And how much has it really improved on its predecessor, the manufacturer’s flagship model of last year? Let’s take a look.

FORM

The Officejet Pro 8600 Plus wins on style, but not compactness. HP has done away with the glossy plastic finish of its predecessor, opting for a more subtle and professional-looking matte plastic shell, edges rounded for a sleek finish. Another plus is the internal power transformer, unlike other HP printers that trail an annoying power brick.

On the downside are the large dimensions of the unit. It’s 50cm high, almost as wide, and weighs in at more than 12kg, making it heavy to move. It also requires further space for operation (paper tray, and so on), which might deter some small or home office users.

FUNCTION

HP has honed in on improving functionality and appearance with this new model, with good results. Out of the box, the printer can be set up in minutes with the intuitive handling, easy touchscreen menu and good connectivity options.

The scanning bed offers 4,800dpi resolution, and can send documents to be printed, to a memory stick, a network destination or an email address.

The adjustable 4.3in touchscreen gives quick access to the printer’s extended functionality, unlocking the scan, fax and copy options quickly and easily. Documents can be recorded in a variety of formats, including JPG, PDF and DOC. A navigable qwerty keyboard pops up on the screen when input is required.

Another strength is the devices connectivity options. In addition to USB, you can connect it to a network via Ethernet or Wi-Fi. Both Windows and Mac OS recognise the printer on a network without the need for additional drivers _ iDevices can connect without additional software using HP’s AirPrint feature.

Through the panel, users can access apps to print news, pictures or children’s puzzles from online sources, which has limitless extendability as the amount of available content and applications increase.

VERDICT

The Officejet Pro 8600 Plus is a smart move by HP, as the inkjet crosses over genres and would fit into a number of scenarios nicely, both in and out of the office. Printing speed is a match for low-cost laser printers, and output quality is suitable for most home and business needs without reaching commercial levels of glossy brochures, for example, but a colour laser printer with that capability would cost a great deal more to both buy and refill with toner.

The only query might be its pricing, which for HP products is consistently higher in the region than in Europe or the US. For example, the Officejet Pro 8600 Plus is available in the US for less than half the price here, which is doubly frustrating since it’s made in the region. However it’s still cheaper to buy than competitive colour laser printers, and much cheaper to run, particularly if you look at consumable costs over the life of the printer. Coupled with the ease of use and set-up, it becomes a good option for small business owners or heavier home users alike, and will continue to draw fans who are willing to pay a little more upfront to save later.

The HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus e-All-in-One is available for 13,900 baht. Visit www.hwhinter.com or tinyurl.com/d3frtt2. Email richardm@bangkokpost.co.th with any gadget ideas.

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Writer: Richard Mcleish
Position: Reporter

“China is investing in not only capabilities to better defend their networks but also they’re looking at ways to use cyber for offensive operations,” Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for East Asia and Asia Pacific Security Affairs David Helvey told reporters.

Halvey said China is engaging in cyber activity focused on computer network exploitation.

“That continues to be a concern of ours, and we’ve raised it and we’ve talked to the Chinese about it, most recently during the Strategic Security Dialogue in Beijing,” he said.

Noting that this is being raised at the highest level, Halvey said this is something that the US continues to pay very careful attention to.

“It’s something that seems to be sustained, and I think their continued efforts in this area reflect the importance that they’re placing on developing capabilities for cyber warfare,” he said in response to a question.

“We continue to see China expressing interest in making investments to improve their capacity for operations in cyberspace, and that is something that we pay very, very careful attention to. There is the potential for these types of operations to be very disruptive, disruptive not only in a conflict, could be very disruptive to the United States, but other countries as well.

“I mean, that’s one of the things about military operations in cyberspace, that there can be cascading effects that are hard to predict,” Halvey said.

“We do have concerns about this, and this is why we’ve created joint military and civilian platforms, like the Strategic Security Dialogue, to be able to talk about issues that we view as having potential for friction in the US-China relationship. Cyber is one of those areas. We’d also be like to be able to talk to China about space and nuclear and missile defense areas as well as part of the Strategic Security Dialogue,” he said.

The Pentagon official said China is investing in a range of layered capabilities that start with, undersea warfare, so investments in submarines and advanced surface combatants, advances in their capabilities for integrated air defense or to conduct precision conventional strikes at great distances from China.

“We have concerns because these types of capabilities could, if they’re employed, in ways affect the ability of our forces or other forces in the region to be able to operate in the Western Pacific. So we highlight that as something that we’re paying very, very careful attention to. And it was something that was raised in the context of a broader global concern that we have about anti-access/area denial capabilities in the January defense strategic guidance,” he said.

Halvey said China is interested in developing unmanned air systems, and they have in the past acquired a number of different types of UAVs, or unmanned aerial vehicles, both from foreign sources — they have Israeli-made Harpy UAVs, and they also have some domestic variants of UAVs.

“We are paying very careful attention to China’s military modernization. But we’ve been surprised in the past, and we may very well be surprised in terms of seeing new weapons and equipment in the future. Part of this report and part of what the many, many professionals in the intelligence community do is to try to minimize the extent to which we are surprised by that,” he said.

Halvey said China has now greater capacity and capability to operate at distances from China, that it has a responsibility also to uphold international norms and rules and to support the international community’s interest in peace and stability.

“So we see opportunities to work with them there, and we’d like to continue doing those things that we have done, like counter piracy, for example, and expand those areas where we can cooperate,” he said.

After more than $400 million in outlays and months behind schedule, dozens of electric cars have hit the road in Israel, the test site Agassi chose for his Better Place venture. Four stations where the cars can get a new dose of juice when their batteries run out are operating, and the plan is to ramp that number up within months.

The concept: to wean the world from oil and eliminate the biggest hurdles to environmentally friendly electric cars — high cost and limited range.

To do this, Better Place has jettisoned the fixed battery. Instead, drivers can swap their depleted batteries for fully charged ones at a network of stations, receiving a full, 100-mile range in five minutes. Better Place owns the batteries, bringing down the purchase price of the cars using the network.

People driving shorter distances, the vast majority of customers, can plug in their batteries each day to chargers installed at their homes, offices and public locations, which will fully recharge in six to eight hours.

He faces a wall of skepticism. A major concern is “range anxiety”: Will the car conk out because its battery is drained, stranding the driver in a dicey neighborhood, en route to the hospital, or with three wailing kids in back?

Rising fuel prices worldwide still haven’t sent electric car sales surging, noted U.S.-based automotive expert John McElroy. “It may not be an energy price issue,” he said. “Consumers may simply decide that electric cars don’t offer the range they need.”

Agassi, a former top executive at software giant SAP AG, said he is ready to prove his doubters wrong. “We’re driving a car that most people said would be a fantasy,” he said.

The swappable battery model aims to reassure drivers about range and show they don’t need to sacrifice convenience or cash to switch to electric.

So far, the four Better Place battery stations are set up in central and northern Israel. During the second half of the year, around 40 stations are due to be operating across the country. But even before that, the company says enough will be up that a motorist could make the 300-mile drive from Israel’s northern tip to its southern end.

Agassi has raised $750 million from investors including General Electric Co. and HSBC Holdings PLC since founding Better Place 4 1/2 years ago.

French automaker Renault has begun selling a sedan, the Fluence, customized to use the stations, priced in Israel at roughly $32,000, comparable to other sedans sold here. Currently, about 140 are on the road, most driven by Better Place employees.

The Fluence should start becoming available to the general public within weeks. Leasing companies, which buy about two-thirds of the more than 200,000 new cars sold annually in Israel, have ordered more than 1,800, and private customers have ordered several hundred more.

Compared to electric or hybrid cars in other markets, the sales numbers in this nation of nearly 8 million might not be as humble as they seem: In 2011, Chevrolet sold about 7,700 Volts and Nissan sold under 10,000 LEAFs in the U.S., which has a population of more than 310 million.

“It interests all fleet managers we talk to,” said Shai Dahan, CEO of Eldan Transportation, a top Israeli leasing group.

Better Place, which had promised to have thousands of cars on the road last year, acknowledges the rollout is behind schedule, mostly because of bureaucratic hurdles and production issues at Renault.

Better Place has also spent years testing its integrated system designed to allow its operation center, which is connected to every car, to monitor the vehicles and correct problems remotely. For instance, its software notifies drivers when their batteries are running low and directs them to the nearest switching station.

Israel sales director Zohar Bali predicts up to 5,000 Fluences will be silently running on Israeli roads and highways within a year.

Israel was chosen for the experiment in part because of its tech-savvy population. Also, with 80 percent of the population living in a narrow, densely populated stretch along the Mediterranean coast, it provides a perfect laboratory for the charging network.

Better Place claims it can shave up to 20 percent off the annual cost of owning a car, especially if gas prices, now around $8 a gallon here, continue to rise. Drivers buy access to the switching stations and charging spots through a monthly package ranging from under $300 to over $500, depending on mileage.

Israelis are taking notice. Better Place says more than 80,000 people have trekked to its visitor’s center, situated at an abandoned oil reserves depot outside Tel Aviv.

What happens in Israel could decide how broadly Better Place deploys.

So far the Fluence is the only model compatible with the grid, but Renault’s Middle East director, Jean-Christophe Pierson, says the company is considering a more compact model. Better Place is also in contact with other carmakers.

Denmark is set to become Better Place’s second launch site this year. Australia is to become its first major market, with deployment in the capital, Canberra, also this year. Small-scale projects are in place in Hawaii and California. Amsterdam is the next European target after Denmark.

The company also has its sights set on China, where it already has opened a demonstration battery switching station.

Agassi sees the “tipping point” for electric cars coming in two to three years, propelled by dropping prices of cars and batteries. By 2017, he expects 50 percent of all new car sales in Israel to be electric.

The largest investor is The Israel Corp., whose holdings include Israel’s biggest oil refinery and deep water oil drilling.

Idan Ofer, whose family controls The Israel Corp. and who serves as Better Place’s chairman, said he saw no contradiction between his oil and clean-tech holdings.

Film giant Kodak “knew about digital photography. And look what happened. They still went bankrupt because they didn’t do anything about it,” observed Ofer. “There are many examples. I don’t want to be there.”