The Great Recession hits Teens

It has been a long, hard couple of years for everyone. Layoffs, overtime, fruitless job searching, and unemployment payments. Unsurprisingly, the Great Recession is hitting the summer job market as teens and college students are finding it harder and harder to find employment.

Employment among 16-to 19-year olds in May grew by just 6,000, the smallest increase since 1969, when teen jobs fell by 14,000, according to government data analyzed by employment firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. In May 2008 and 2009, teen employment grew by over 110,000...

Jobs traditionally given to teens are apparently going to older workers who are willing to take low paying job to make ends meet.

Clearly, steps taken by the Obama administration and Congress are not doing the job. And issues created by the Gulf Oil Spill - decimating tourism and the fishing industries in the South - are likely to make things worse. It time for a change in direction... just in time for the 2010 Congressional Elections.

AT&T leaks personal information for iPad 3G owners

Every day, the choice of AT&T as exclusive partner for Apple seems like a worse and worse decision. Not only have they dropped the unlimited data plans for iPhone and iPad, but now they have leaded personal information for iPad 3G owners. This is a very serious security breach, and affects many, many powerful people. It is time for Apple to take AT&T to the woodshed, or else open up the deal to other providers.

The breach, which comes just weeks after an Apple employee lost an iPhone prototype in a bar, exposed the most exclusive email list on the planet, a collection of early-adopter iPad 3G subscribers that includes thousands of A-listers in finance, politics and media, from New York Times Co. CEO Janet Robinson to Diane Sawyer of ABC News to film mogul Harvey Weinstein to Mayor Michael Bloomberg. It even appears that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's information was compromised.

It doesn't stop there. According to the data we were given by the web security group that exploited vulnerabilities on the AT&T network, we believe 114,000 user accounts have been compromised, although it's possible that confidential information about every iPad 3G owner in the U.S. has been exposed.

Google confirms capture of Wifi Data in CT

The Google Wifi scandal - where Street View cars captured data from unsecured wireless networks as it mapped locations - is now officially not just a European issue. CT attorney general - and senatorial candidate - Richard Blumenthal has announced that they have admitted collecting the same kinds of data in Connecticut.

Google told Blumenthal’s office it “believes” it started collecting WiFi data in Connecticut in 2008.
“Google’s acknowledgement that it vacuumed up data from unencrypted wireless computer networks in Connecticut is disturbing and demands additional inquiry,” Blumenthal said. “Google grabbed information -- which could include emails, passwords and web-browsing -- that consumers rightly expect to be private. Google needs to better explain how this practice happened, exactly when, where and why.
“We will consider the legality of Google’s WiFi collection practices. Google’s actions raise troubling and profound questions about privacy and whether laws need to be clarified or changed,” Blumenthal said.

This is also a good reminder to secure your network as even a very simple password in WEP or WPA security would have foiled the attempt to snoop. If you're not sure how to set up security on your router, please contact the manufacturer.

iRony

WWDC Announcements

The 5 cent summary:
- iPhone 4 with "retina display" screen, HD camera, new design - $199 starting price with 2 year contract on AT&T - on sale June 24
- iMovie for iPhone ($4.99 from App Store)
- iPhoneOS has been renamed to iOS
- iOS 4 goes Gold Master today, releases June 21
- iBooks coming to iPhone/iPod Touch with iOS 4
- iAds to enable more free/low-cost Apps, coming July 1
- FaceTime - Video calls over Wifi (3G in 2011)

WWDC is today

Those less obsessed with Apple than me may not be aware that today is the first day of Apple's World Wide Developer Conference. Today, at 1 PM EST, Steve Jobs will give the keynote address where he expected to announce:

- the next iteration of the iPhone
- Safari 5, with better HTML 5 support
- iPhoneOS 4
- an updated XCode
- iBooks and possibly NetFlix for iPhone

The keynote will not be streamed live, so if you want to see the announcements check out a liveblog like that of MacRumors.

It begins - CT has its bond rating cut

My home state is the first, but it won't be the last. Ratings agencies are beginning to cut the bond ratings for the state. This will make it much more expensive to raise funds in the future

Connecticut is preparing to borrow $956 million to close a budget gap in the fiscal year beginning July 1, after borrowing money last year to cover a deficit of $947.6 million. Not good. Fitch has reduced the states credit rating from AA+ to AA.