Three-dimensional images are expected jump out of movie theaters and into living rooms by next year.  Sony and Panasonic say they will release home 3-D television systems in 2010; Mitsubishi and JVC are reported to be working on similar products. “TV finally becomes real” in three dimensions, said Robert Perry, an executive vice president at Panasonic. “You’re in it. It’s the next frontier.”

Read full article on CNN

The Obama administration has unveiled a government “app store” designed to push the federal bureaucracy into the era of cloud computing. The change means some federal employees will begin using services like YouTube, Gmail and WordPress, which store data on private Internet servers instead of on those paid for with public money.

Story Highlights

• The “app store” would be for federal workers doing government business
• The site, at apps.gov, seeks to offer and explain cloud computing programs
• The administration says such programs could save the government money
• Google also announces a “government cloud” where public data may be stored

Full Article on CNN

Every depository financial institution (DFI) needs to understand the impact of the new rule on its ACH operations regarding OFAC compliance.  DFIs can contract with other parties for ACH processing services but cannot contract away their liabilities and obligations related to OFAC compliance.

Also see, OFAC Compliance Implications

References

1. There is a letter from the dept of treasury regarding the responsibilities at the bottom of this link
2. FFIEC guideline before the IAT requirement
3. OCC (old document again from 2006). See page 8 and 9
4. NACHA guidelines
5. NACHA Readiness checklist
6. ABA Preparedness Checklist
7. OFAC Letter to NACHA on purely domestic ACH (this is from 1997)

References for corporate

1. IAT for Corporate practitioners (PPT)
2. IAT for Corporate Practitioners (Word)
3. FAQ for Corporate

Resource Centers

1. NACHA Resource Center
2. FRB Resource Center

FAQ and Q&A

1. NACHA FAQ revised 2/27/09
2. NACHA FAQ for Corporate
3. NACHA Q&A

Survey

1. IAT Rediness Survey – FRB

Idola Announces Aegis, an OFAC Solution for IAT
08.03.09, 9:00 AM ET

ISELIN, N.J., Aug. 3 /PRNewswire/ — Idola today announced Aegis, a new middleware product that will simplify the process of OFAC screening of International ACH transactions (IAT). New rules issued by NACHA require all international ACH payments to be identified as such, and thus will permit financial institutions to perform due diligence with respect to IAT transactions as required by the Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC). These rules become effective September 18, 2009 and will impact all financial initiations that originate or receive ACH transactions.

Aegis, designed based on Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), can intercept and screen both domestic and international ACH messages or mixed source files and can be configured to provide the following functionality:

1. Perform OFAC screening of IAT Transactions or domestic ACH Transactions or both.

2. Operate in “Split Mode”: Segment source file into two files – one containing all transactions without possible OFAC matches and a second one containing suspected matches.

3. Operate in “Highlight Mode”: No modification of source file other than highlighting transactions with any possible matches against scanned lists by setting the secondary screening indicator.

4. Generate a rebalanced file from all transactions cleared after the due diligence review.

5. Real-time or batch mode of operation.

Aegis as a middleware will allow financial institutions the ability to leverage existing workflow procedures and investment in automated OFAC scanning software, by easily integrating with any OFAC screening software. Aegis provides message reconciliation and comprehensive reporting capabilities as mandated by the new IAT regulations.

Aegis will significantly ease the burden of OFAC filtering for financial institutions. More importantly, it will provide transaction identification and routing to assure that all IAT or ACH transactions as required are filtered through OFAC screening software in the shortest possible time.

For further information on how your organization can benefit from Aegis, please contact:

S.K. Murthy IDOLA INFOTECH LLC Tel: 732-744-0066 Ext 202 Fax: 732-744-0061 Email: skmurthy@idolainfotech.com

 About Idola Infotech

 Idola ( http://www.idolainfotech.com ) was founded in 2002 by a team that specialized in software product development and the deployment of complex technology projects. Its management team consists of banking experts, leaders of the regulatory compliance market, and senior technology specialists. Idola has established itself as a leading provider of Risk and Compliance services to the financial sector and has developed commercial products for one of the largest vendors of financial services software. Project management experience has been earned across a wide range of financial institutions from some of the largest in the world to small community banks. Idola has implemented and deployed software solutions domestically and internationally earning its reputation for excellence, reliability, and value.

Federal agents swept into New Jersey towns across several counties Thursday morning, charging 44 people, including three mayors and religious leaders, in a federal investigation into public corruption and money laundering.

“The rings were international in scope, connected to Deal, N.J., Brooklyn, N.Y., Israel and Switzerland,” said Mr. Marra, the U.S. attorney, at the news conference. “They trafficked in the cleaning of dirty money all across the world.”

Levy Izhak Rosenbaum of Brooklyn was charged separately with conspiring to broker the sale of a human kidney for a transplant, at a cost of $160,000 to the transplant recipient. According to the FBI’s complaint, Mr. Rosenbaum said he had been brokering the sale of kidneys for 10 years. Mr. Rosenbaum couldn’t be reached for comment. A relative of Mr. Rosenbaum who answered the phone at an address belonging to him declined to comment.

“Any corruption is unacceptable – anywhere, anytime, by anybody,” the governor said, referring to Thursday’s arrests. “The scale of corruption we’re seeing as this unfolds is simply outrageous and cannot be tolerated.”

via Dozens Arrested in New Jersey Corruption Probe

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via Worlds Best Awards 2008 Press Release | Travel + Leisure.

Source: Google’s Public data

(CNN) — Google is jumping into Microsoft Windows territory — and threatening to change the way personal computers work — with its own version of a computer operating system.

Google’s operating system will augment its Web browser, which is also called Chrome.

The company says the forthcoming Google Chrome OS will revolutionize how computers operate, putting more emphasis on Web functionality, making computers faster and opening them up to helpful tinkering by outside program developers.

“The operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web,” Google said late Tuesday on its official blog. “It’s our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be.”

Chrome OS will be available this coming fall or winter, Google says.

But why should you care?

A trim and speedy Google operating system, which has been buzzed about online for some time, is interesting for several reasons — even if you think it could flop out of the gate.

The first is that Chrome OS will be available as “open-source” technology. That means software developers will be able to mess with the code behind the system, allowing them to develop new applications for it.

via Google takes on Windows with Chrome OS – CNN.com.

via 2038

When you want to know what’s in your tap water, look at your local water utility’s website or check your mailbox for its annual report.  You’ll find the source of the water and any chemical pollutants remaining after treatment.

IT’S THE LAW.

When you pay a premium price of up to 1900 times more for bottled water, you expect more.

But with rare exceptions, you get less.

All too often, you get nothing.   Unless you count hyped advertising come-ons like “crisp,” pristine” or “essential.”

In our book, empty rhetoric means zero.  Zip.  Nada.   Pure drinking water is all about the facts.

An 18-month Environmental Working Group investigation of bottled water labels and websites has found that:

Only 2 bottled waters disclose water sources and treatment methods on their labels and offer a recent water quality test report on their websites.  These best performers are:

• Ozarka Drinking Water
• Penta Ultra-Purified Water

Just 18% of bottled waters disclose quality reports with contaminant testing results.  Among them are all 8 Nestlé domestic brands surveyed:

• Poland Spring
• Nestlé Pure Life
• Arrowhead
• Calistoga
• Deer Park
• Ice Mountain
• Ozarka
• Zephyrhills.

None of the top 10 U.S. domestic bottled water brands label specific water sources and treatment methods for all their products.

via Is your bottled water worth it? | Environmental Working Group.