Overnight Newspapers Online 12-31-2013 | Sci

A holding company that Lazaridis controls took advantage of a jump in the company's share price – despite it reporting a quarterly loss of $4.4bn and a 56% slump in revenues – to sell 3.4m shares, realising $26.45m. But there might be almost no profit in the move, as he had increased his holding by 3.1m shares in 2012 – and during that year the price of BlackBerry shares was almost always higher than the recent sale price.

Lazaridis's move, noted in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), comes after he failed to gather finance for a buyout of the company during the summer as it looked as though it was going to be sold for $4.9bn to a consortium led by Fairfax Holdings, a Canadian private equity group.

Lazaridis, 52, had increased his holding at the end of 2012 by 3.1m shares, apparently in expectation that the release of the new BB10 software in January would boost the company back towards the success it had enjoyed between 2007 and 2010. But his former co-chief executive Jim Balsillie, who with Lazaridis piloted the company towards its global success, sold all of his 26.8m shareholding – 5.1% of the shares – by the end of 2012.

That could mean that Lazaridis has taken a loss on the 3.1m shares bought in 2012 unless he bought them in a narrow window between 19 and 26 September, when the price was below $7.

Handset exit

Jesper Ovesen, who joined NSN in 2011 when it was still a joint venture between Nokia and Siemens, will continue for a while as an advisor after the mobile phone business is transferred to Microsoft, Nokia said on Monday.

We browsed some techie Kickstarter projects and picked our favorites that are nearing funding or were just recently funded. Most will begin delivery in early 2014, but many of these projects are slated to deliver later in December as well. So, if you still have names to cross off on your gift list, take a look at some of these gadgets for your tech-oriented friends.

From controlling the temperature of your house with a swipe of your hand to coding a website by simply drawing a design, 2014 is starting to look like a futuristic year already.

1. Peg - Organizational Board Sometimes it only takes a simple idea to get your life organized. Peg is an aluminum, perforated board that can hold anything you want. The board comes with smaller pegs that you can customize and put on the Peg board to hold your belongings, such as a smartphone, keys or jewelry. It can also act as a stand for your mobile devices. Funding for the project is over, but Peg's creators will be taking pre-orders soon. 2. FlyKly Smart Wheel - Electronic Bicycle Wheel

Install the Smart Wheel onto your bike and you'll ride effortlessly wherever you go. The motorized wheel turns on when you start pedaling. The wheel syncs to a native app, and you can even set the top speed of the Smart Wheel, up to 20 mph. You can also lock the wheel from the app, which can track your bike if it gets stolen.

The Smart Wheel also comes with the Smart Light, which is not only a bike light but also a phone holder and charger. You can pre-order the Smart Wheel for $590 for delivery in mid-2014. 3. MiStand - Phone and Tablet Stand

Unlike other tablet stands, the aluminum MiStand has fluid 3D rotation that allows you to orient your tablet or phone however you want. The stand has micro-suction pads that easily attach to your tablet and allow for easy removal. The MiStand is perfect for browsing, displaying and gaming, and the 3D rotation turns your tablet into a flexible device. You can pre-order the MiStand for delivery in late 2013 or early 2014.

Panasonic, like peers Fujifilm Holdings and Olympus Corp, has been losing money on its cameras since mobile phones that take high-quality photos ate into the compact camera business. This year, compact camera sales are likely to fall more than 40 percent to fewer than 59 million, according to industry researcher IDC.

Meanwhile, sales of mirrorless cameras - seen as a promising format between low-end compacts and high-end single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras - are sputtering as buyers put connectivity above picture quality.

A 40 percent drop in Panasonic's overall camera sales in April-September left the imaging division vulnerable as the company's mid-term plan to March 2016 demands unprofitable businesses turn themselves around or face the axe.

"If you look mid-to-long term, digital camera makers are slipping and the market is becoming an oligopoly," said Credit Suisse imaging analyst Yu Yoshida.

Panasonic held 3.1 percent of the camera market in July-September, down from 3.8 percent a year earlier, according to IDC. Canon Inc, Nikon Corp and Sony Corp controlled over 60 percent between them.

"Only those who have a strong brand and are competitive on price will last - and only Canon, Nikon and Sony fulfil that criteria," added Yoshida.

Canon and Nikon dominate the SLR camera market, while Sony could survive any shakeout thanks to its strength in making sensors for a number of camera manufacturers as well as collaboration with its smartphone division.

SPUTTERING MIRRORLESS

Panasonic, Fujifilm and Olympus are trying to fend off the smartphone threat by cutting compacts, targeting niche markets such as deep-sea diving, and launching the higher-margin mirrorless models.

The mirrorless format promised mid-tier makers an area of growth as the dominance of Canon and Nikon all but shut them out of SLRs, where Sony is a distant third. Neither Panasonic nor Fujifilm makes SLRs, and Olympus stopped developing them this year.

Mirrorless cameras such as Panasonic's Lumix GM eliminate the internal mirrors that optical viewfinders depend on, so users compose images via electronic viewfinders or liquid crystal displays. This allows the camera to be smaller than an SLR, while offering better quality than compacts or smartphones due to larger sensors and interchangeable lenses.

US firm Hold Security told Reuters and the Financial Times that it had spotted the hacker advertising the exploit on a black market forum last week.

It said it was not clear whether the attacker secured a sale before the broadcaster reacted.

A BBC spokesman said: "We do not comment on security issues."

The server was allegedly compromised via the file-transfer site ftp.bbc.co.uk.

The corporation had previously listed a log-on and password for the service on its news website in 2002 to allow the public to upload video and audio messages marking the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

BBC reporters had also historically used the server as a way to send in their own material.

More recently the facility has been used to allow advertisers to send in media files for use on the BBC Worldwide Channels.

'Jumping off point' According to Milwaukee-based Hold Security, the hacker used the pseudonyms "Hash" and "Rev0lver", and publicised the vulnerability on 25 December.

The firm said the attacker provided copies of files that supposedly could only be accessed by someone controlling the site as "proof" that the exploit worked.

One expert said cyber-criminals have been known to use such breaches as a way to compromise wider systems.

"If a security hole has been identified in the underlying server and it has not been patched then the FTP [file transfer protocol] facilities can be exposed," said Prof Alan Woodward from the University of Surrey's Department of Computing.

"This could mean, for example, that files containing sensitive information could be downloaded.

The ice-bound ship, the Akademik Shokalskiy, left New Zealand on November 28 on a privately funded expedition to commemorate the 100th anniversary of an Antarctic journey led by famed Australian explorer Douglas Mawson.

It has been stuck in the ice since December 24. Its passengers include scientists and tourists, many of them Australian, and a Russian crew.

The Australian icebreaker the Aurora Australis is expected to reach the stricken ship at about midnight on Sunday.

A Chinese icebreaker could not break through the thick ice earlier but the weather on Sunday boded well for a rescue.

"The ice conditions seem to have improved and there appears to be some softening and some cracks appearing," Lisa Martin of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which is coordinating the rescue, told Reuters.

Just how the rescue would be done would be worked out when the Aurora reached the area, she said.

Those on board were in good condition and have never been in any imminent danger.

"We're primarily looking to the Aurora to get us out," Chris Turney, an Australian professor onboard the beleaguered ship who is leading the expedition, wrote in an email to Reuters on Sunday.

"Hopefully there are some breaks developing in the surface from the weaker winds and sun during today."

The ship is stuck about 100 nautical miles east of the French Antarctic station Dumont D'Urville and about 1,500 nautical miles south of Hobart, Tasmania.

The Aurora is the third icebreaker seconded by the Australian maritime rescue agency to try to reach the hemmed in ship.

The Chinese icebreaker, the Snow Dragon, is on standby at the edge of the ice and within sight of the trapped ship. It has a helicopter on board which could be used in the rescue.

"We can say that his condition is life-threatening," Jean-Francois Payen, head anesthetician at the CHU hospital in the eastern French city of Grenoble, told a news conference.

"For the moment we cannot say what Michael Schumacher's future is," he added. "We are working round the clock - we are trying to win time."

The retired motor racing great, 44, slammed his head on a rock while skiing off-piste on Sunday morning in the French Alpine resort where he has a vacation home.

"His helmet did of course protect him at least partly. Someone who had suffered a similar accident without a helmet would not have made it here (to the hospital)," Payen said.

Schumacher was initially conscious as he was transported to a local hospital in Moutiers and then to Grenoble. However, his condition deteriorated sharply afterwards.

Neurosurgeon Stephan Chabardes said an emergency brain scan carried out on Schumacher had revealed internal bleeding and injuries including contusions and lesions. He said they had operated to treat the internal bleeding.

Doctors said Schumacher had been placed in an artificial coma but, contrary to an earlier French media report, said they had not carried out a second operation during the night and were not planning any further interventions at this stage.

A spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was shocked to hear the news.

"We hope that he overcomes his injuries and can recover," the spokesman told a regular briefing in Berlin.

HOPES AND PRAYERS

In Germany, Schumacher's accident topped news bulletins, with the bestselling tabloid newspaper Bild reporting on its website: "Schumi fighting for his life".

Schumacher was under the care of Professor Gerard Saillant, a brain and spinal injury expert who is also president of the International Automobile Federation (FIA) Institute. Saillant told the news conference he was there as "a friend" and gave no further details on his condition.

Bild reporters said Ross Brawn, the Briton who worked with Schumacher at Ferrari and Mercedes as technical director and team principal respectively, had arrived in Grenoble.

Leading names in motor racing reacted with shock on Twitter.

"If anyone can pull through, it's him," said Britain's triple Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti, who is still walking on crutches after a crash in October that ended his racing career.

In exchange for the $200 million, Blackstone will receive preferred stock that can convert to common stock in three years if certain conditions are met. It will also receive two board seats.

The preferred stock will have a 6 percent cash dividend rate and is convertible into shares of common stock at a conversion price of $14.50 per share.

The shoemaker also said late on Sunday that the company's chief executive, John McCarvel, plans to retire in April and will also give up his seat on Crocs' board.

"We will recruit a new CEO who will work with the reconstituted board to refine our short-term and long-term strategic plans, which will include a sharper focus on earnings growth with less emphasis on top-line growth," Chairman Thomas Smach said in a statement.

Crocs, which is known for its colorful clogs, intends to use the Blackstone investment to help pay for a $350 million stock repurchase it expects to launch in the first quarter.

Established in 2002, Crocs sells its shoes, made out of a proprietary closed-cell resin it calls Croslite and which are offered in more than 300 four-season footwear styles in some 125 countries, according to its website.

Crocs posted a 2 percent decline in sales for the third quarter, hurt by weakness in the Americas and Japan. The company said it saw less discretionary spending for footwear, apparel and other consumer goods in the United States.

The company now expects fourth-quarter revenue to be at the low end of the previously provided outlook range of $220 million and $225 million, while it expects loss per share to be near 23 cents.

Analysts, on an average, were expecting fourth quarter loss per share of 20 cents on revenue of $222.3 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Moelis & Co LLC was the financial advisor and Perkins Coie LLP provided legal counsel for Crocs.

While it is not known if the hacker found any buyers, the BBC's security team responded to the issue on Saturday and believes it has secured the site, according to a person familiar with the cleanup effort.

A BBC spokesman declined to discuss the incident. "We do not comment on security issues," he said.

Reuters could not determine whether the hackers stole data or caused any damage in the attack, which compromised a server that manages an obscure password-protected website.

It was not clear how the BBC, the world's oldest and largest broadcaster, uses that site, ftp.bbc.co.uk, though ftp systems are typically used to manage the transfer of large data files over the Internet.

The attack was first identified by Hold Security LLC, a cybersecurity firm in Milwaukee that monitors underground cyber-crime forums in search of stolen information.

The firm's researchers observed a notorious Russian hacker known by the monikers "HASH" and "Rev0lver," attempting to sell access to the BBC server on December 25, the company's founder and chief information security officer, Alex Holden, told Reuters.

"HASH" sought to convince high-profile hackers that he had infiltrated the site by showing them files that could only be accessed by somebody who really controlled it, Holden said.

So far Hold Security researchers have found no evidence the conversations led to a deal or that data was stolen from the BBC, Holden said.

It is common for hackers to buy and sell access to compromised servers on underground forums.

Buyers view the access as a commodity that grants them the chance to further penetrate the victim organization. They can also use compromised servers to set up command-and-control centers for cyber-crime operations known as botnets, run spam campaigns or launch denial of service attacks to knock websites off line.

The BBC offer stands out because the media company is such a high-profile organization, Holden said. "It's definitely a notch in someone's belt."

BBC has some 23,000 staff and is funded largely by license fees paid by every British household with a television.

Justin Clarke, a principal consultant for the cybersecurity firm Cylance Inc, said that while "HASH" was only offering access to an obscure ftp server, some buyers might see it as a stepping stone to more prized assets within the BBC.

Market strategists and tech experts say the comparison is overblown. While there is the potential for a decline in some Web company stock prices that are out of line with their earnings outlook, they say there is little chance of a bloody retreat.

Most importantly, this year's stars, such as Facebook and Netflix, actually make money. Many of the web companies that were emblems of the previous era had little prospect of ever being profitable and some hardly had any revenue - basing their boasting on non-financial metrics such as numbers of eyeballs, or page clicks.

The Internet and the ways people use and access it have been transformed in the past 14 years. In 1999, it was mainly through slow dial-up services using a desktop computer, now there is faster broadband and mobile access from phones and tablets. Web-based advertising has grown into a mature, viable business, and computing speeds support video and sophisticated gaming.

The market is much more rational than it was in 1999, argues Jeff Dachis, who co-founded and was chief executive of Razorfish, an online ad firm that went public in 1999, and is now part of France's Publicis Groupe.

"What you had then was 100 times the volume of stock with little to none of the credibility or weight in the marketplace that a Facebook or a Twitter has today," said Dachis. "Nobody denies now the growth of online advertising or digital marketing."

WARNING SIGNS

Facebook, Google and Netflix are among the internet companies set to finish 2013 at or near record highs. Less-weighty Web companies such as Yelp and Pandora saw their shares triple.

That is not to say there aren't warning signs. The 160-percent gain in shares of Twitter since its November initial public offering raises awkward questions about the levels of speculative froth given the company has not yet earned a cent.

Also, consumer names like Snapchat and Pinterest are raising eyebrows by garnering millions of dollars in financing at multi-billion dollar valuations - despite being decidedly in the red.

In addition to a weak yen, which can boost overseas earnings, the battery unit is also seeing increased demand for some of its new products, the Nikkei business daily reported.

For the past two years Sony had been planning to offload the unit, which was a pioneer in making lithium-ion batteries for computers and mobile devices but has struggled recently against cheaper South Korean rivals.

A government turnaround fund tried to broker a sale of the battery business to a Nissan Motor Co Ltd and NEC Corp joint venture earlier this year.

However, talks have stalled and Sony has now told the turnaround fund that it will hold on to the battery unit and develop it as a core business, the Nikkei reported, citing unidentified sources.

Yemen is battling one of the most active wings of al Qaeda, known as Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which has been foiled in several attempted attacks on Western targets, including airliners.

The prosecution said the group, which was also convicted of planning to kill military officers and kidnap foreigners, planted an explosive device this year on a road used by Hadi on his way to the presidential palace.

Their intention was to detonate the bomb remotely and kill Hadi, but the device was found and dismantled by security forces, prosecutors said.

It was one of several attempted attacks on Hadi, who was elected in February 2012 after his long-serving predecessor Ali Abdullah Saleh stepped down as part of a U.S.-backed power transfer deal. Saleh's departure ended months of popular protests against his three decades in office.