Author: Serkadis

Como todos sabemos, hace unos meses, General Motors eligió a Edwar Whitacre como su CEO temporal tras la dimisión de Frederick Henderson. Pues bién, la noticia ha saltado a los medios hace escasamente unos minutos y esque Whitacre ha sido designado como CEO definitivo de GM.

Por otra parte, en la conferencia donde se ha dado a conocer este dato, el propio Edwar Whitacre ha prometido que General Motors devolverá hasta el último céntimo de los prestamos que el gobiernos de los Estados Unidos le ha ofrecido.

Related posts:

1. Dimite el presidente de General Motors
2. General Motors confirma el fin de Saab
3. El director general de Apple podría ser el nuevo CEO de General Motors

Tim Rowe wrote:

If the NSA monitored communications in Massachusetts, their analysts might raise an alert. With the baseball season over, there has been an anomalous amount of chatter using baseball terms as code for something.

They would trace the threat to Bill Warner, Avid founder and long time innovation activist. Bill has recently published a manifesto on his blog setting the bar for the rest of us. Declaring that we have too many singles and doubles, and not enough home runs, Bill is proposing we adopt a new nomenclature in our innovation economy. Here is Bill Warner’s proposed scorecard:

Single

Any growing company that is selling a successful product. This would mean any company that successfully reaches the market and serves a growing need. Essentially, you’re on base once you show that more and more people need your product.

Double

Any growing company with sales over $10M.

Triple

Any growing company with sales over $100M. Local or distant leadership. Note: huge acquisitions by distant companies will still be considered a triple due to loss of local leadership.

Home Run

>$1B market cap. Local leadership.

Grand Slam

>$10B market cap. Dominates its market; fast market growth. Local leadership.

Bill followed his scorecard manifesto with some practical suggestions on how to improve the score in this playbook.

What Bill’s getting at is that we need to think actively about building large, local companies to serve as anchors for our economy. For too long, our smartest companies have been sold early to acquirers on other coasts. This behavior deprives us of market leadership, dampens the flow of experienced executives to our region, especially in scaling and execution roles such as sales and operations, and ultimately relegates us to being the world’s R&D lab. Not a bad position on the ball field, but we can do better.

In the ensuing chatter, some have argued that economics, particularly venture fund economics, drive the decision to sell early versus growing a company independently. While this is can be true, I believe that the volition of our startup executives, and the values of our investors, can play a big role, since it is rarely certain that selling early provides a bigger ultimate return than staying in the game. A quick exit can pay for a new car, a new house, and maybe a new life for a founder. Sticking around and growing a business through difficult realities is hard work, but real impact in the Bill Gates and Steve Jobs league requires sticking around.

Hearing top startup CEOs mull over Bill’s challenge, I get the sense that a lot of folks are getting religion, and are saying “Yeah! Lets take our creations all the way.” In the end it is this attitude, more than any other factor, which will cause us to build more Gillettes, Genzymes, Akamais and EMCs.

The Economist’s Free Exchange blog pulls a key piece of data from yesterday’s Case Shiller housing report. In November 2009 (the latest data), Las Vegas real estate prices rose on the month-to-month seasonally-adjusted basis for the first time during this overall U.S. economic recovery. We’ve highlighted the data point in question below.

Free Exchange: If I had to guess, I would say that Las Vegas is beginning to benefit from recovery in California’s husing markets. It was rapid price increases in California that initially drove the housing booms in Las Vegas and Phoenix. Home prices in the Golden State were surprisingly quick to recover after the bust; San Francisco prices have been rising for eight consecutive months and rose 1% in November, year-over-year. The combination of dirt cheap property in Las Vegas and growing property prices in California seems to have finally driven buyers back to America’s playground.

Yes it appears like only a tiny blip so far, but they’re not alone in their optimism. Carl Icahn recently bought an entire distressed casino there. At the very least prices may have stabilized.

See the full Case Shiller release here.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Icahn Bags Distressed Vegas Casino For 90% Off
• Nicolas Cage’s Foreclosed Las Vegas Mansion Sells For $5 Million
• The Las Vegas Monorail Bond Disaster

“About 55,000 Indonesians have signed a petition to have a statue of US President Barack Obama removed.

The statue of the US president as a young boy is located in a park in the capital Jakarta and was unveiled last month. Barack Obama lived in Jakarta from ages six to ten.

Critics say Mr Obama has done nothing for Indonesia and does not deserve a statue. They have opened a petition on the network site Facebook and submitted the results to the Indonesian authorities who have said they will consider the issue…” (source)

Alright, I hate to do it, but I have to stick up for The President here. First of all, I’m pretty sure he didn’t ask for the “little Barry” statue to be erected in the first place…after all, he spent his campaign trying to distance himself from Jakarta (shouldn’t that have been their first clue?)

And what was he supposed to “do” for them? Did they ever consider the fact that young Barry probably resented the hell out of the stepfather that drug him and his mother to some totally overpopulated little country–and that thoughts of the little conglomeration of islands might bring back bad memories?

After all, according to Wikipedia::

“Indonesia is the stinkiest fart in Southeast Asia and a member of the G-20 major economies.” (source)

Remember Mercury? That third brand in the FoMoCo lineup next to Ford and Lincoln? While Mercury hasn’t shown a new car or new concept since before any of us were born, CEO Alan Mulally doesn’t seem to want to give up on the brand just yet.

Asked at the 2010 Washington Auto Show whether or not Mercury has a future, Mulally replied: ”The plan right now is (to develop) Ford, Lincoln and Mercury.”

He said that the plan is to position Mercury with smaller vehicles that fill the void between mainstream Ford and Lincoln branded vehicles.

Mercury to become a more Scion type brand for FoMoCo? We can see that.

– By: Kap Shah

Source: Inside Line

Rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs hosted a Super Sweet Sixteen Birthday Party for his first biological son, Justin Dior Combs, last Friday at the M2 Ultra Lounge in NYC, an event which will be featured in a March episode of MTV’s "My Super Sweet 16". The ‘Prince of New York’ themed party turned out to be made Diddy-style, as the rapper bought his beloved son a $300,000+ Maybach.

The brand new silver limousine was decorated with a huge red ribbon, and was parked outside the … (read more)

Crappy politics + crappy policy = heckuva job!

End of segment is here.

 

Now, you all know I have a penchant for insane ‘news’ stories and pride myself in the fact that, over the past 5 and 1/2 years that I’ve been blogging, I’ve unearthed some real doosies.

But I’ve now come across the most insane, inane, over-the-top story ever. Ever! It’s so kooky and disturbing I’m not even going to paste a teaser for you to read. Yeah, I just re-read it and there’s nothing I can post here…

Weird Story All Time Winner

I dare you produce a stranger entry!

A Nottingham housing agency reinvented it’s services to create SMaRT – an innovative scheme using technology and response service to help people remain independent and well.

Since 2003 the Nottingham Community Housing Association (NCHA) has provided supported housing to a wide range of people, including people with a learning disabilities, mental health needs and drug and alcohol problems. 

In 2002, the NCHA asked their residents what they wanted from the service. They found that many felt that the service wasn’t meeting their needs.  They wanted access to support, but were not always happy with the way that support was provided.

One of the residents said “I would rather not have staff sleeping in the whole time. If I had staff there when I need them I wouldn’t be able to do my own things like I am doing now. Then I know that when I move on to a flat, I can do all that for myself”.

Other people, who didn’t have on-site support, said that scheduled visits from support workers weren’t always at the times they were wanted or needed.

The NCHA decided to have a rethink. How could they meet the needs of the people who used their services more efficiently?

They looked at the technology often used in services for older people: remote monitoring, help at the end of the phone or the press or a button, and rapid-response call-out. They then identified how they could use them in a different setting to provide more efficient and effective support.

“Why couldn’t this be adapted to work with a whole range of client groups?” says John Bartle, Head of Housing with Care and Support at NCHA.

So the SMaRT scheme was launched in November 2003. Staff no-longer sleep in the supported housing. Instead, a response centre was set up with staff on call round the clock. Residents can contact support staff by phone or via a ‘SMaRT box’ in their home. 

Other technology is used where needed, such as an automatic medication dispenser which allows staff to remotely keep track of whether someone is taking the medicines they need. CCTV is installed to offer protection to those who may be at risk, such as for women who have experienced domestic violence.

SMaRT ensures that the right support to be there at the right time. John says “we can respond instantly by sending in our staff, and we have good relationships with the police, ambulance and fire service, out of hours NHS services so they can respond appropriately.”

Staff at the response centre deal with a wide range of issues. 

“At a simple level it’s people locked out of their flat” says John. “They can contact us and we can talk them through what to do. It’s giving people the confidence and empowering them to know what do. At the opposite end of the spectrum someone may have got to the point where they want to take their own life. Basically we’re giving people a counselling session at three in the morning.”

It is also flexible, so the amount of support an individual receives can be tailored to the amount that they need.

“it’s an individual response – it can be stepped up or stepped down, instantly – the whole service is designed to be a response service,” John says.

The ability to respond rapidly, and the staff’s ability to think of creative solutions mean that they can often catch problems early. This can prevent more serious issues developing and avoid hospital admissions, intervention from the police or even a tenant losing their home. In the case of a woman who had escaped domestic violence, the service was able help at exactly the right time.

“Her partner had arrived at the house” says John, “and she was wavering with letting him in.  She called SMaRT, where the staff had her records on file and were able to talk through the issues and how she was feeling. They talked her round and she managed to resist getting into a very dangerous situation.”

John emphasises he doesn’t think SMaRT is a “one size fits all” solution.

“One of the problems with the current  commissioning process,” he says. “People prescribe how they want care delivered and order what they’ve always ordered.  We prefer to have a conversation about how we can meet the needs in different ways. People talk about thinking outside the box – if you procure inside the box, you get an answer from inside the box.”

Summing up how things changed as a result of the SMaRT service, John says “It has inspired people to achieve things.  The things we have always talked about, it’s actually delivering.  People are inspired and confident to do things they never believed they could do before. It’s inspired us as professionals, and then we can inspire service users to achieve fantastic things.  But we’ve only just started on a journey…we’ve still got a long way we can go.”

Linda Bollea, the former wife of wrestling legend Hulk Hogan, is set to pen a tell-all book about her turbulent quarter century-long marriage with The Hulk.

Bollea is currently in the process of penning her own “uplifting” tell-all book that details “her life, the traumas and how much better life is now that she is no longer married,” her attorney Ray Rafool told FOX News Tuesday.

“She will include all the trials she endured during the marriage, Nick’s accident and the things she has accomplished,” Rafool added. “Linda wants people to know her – she understands what it is like to get a divorce, to be a mother with grown children and establish a career and move forward.”

Last year, Hulk released tell-all book, My Life Outside the Ring, where he labelled his ex-wife as an “abusive alcoholic.” Readers can guarantee that the stocky athlete won’t like some of the labels Linda applies to him on the pages of her memoir.

“I don’t think he will like it,” Rafool said. “Unless it is his version, everything else is not true. But Linda isn’t writing it for him….”

Linda, 49, is currently dating 20-year-old beau Charlie Hill.

I recently enjoyed the first World Fair Use Day in Washington DC, put on by Public Knowledge. It was nice to see that one of the main sponsors of the event was The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. After all, if there’s a famous artist who epitomizes the value of fair use and not artificially limiting the ability of people to make and sell art, it’s Andy Warhol. Given that, it’s disappointing to hear (via Justin Levine) that the very same Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts is being sued by a woman claiming that the Foundation’s Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board deface Warhol artwork owned by others by stamping them with a red “DENIED” stamp.

Now, the article linked above only gives one side of the story, so perhaps there’s more to it, but the woman claims that the Foundation purposely defaces the artwork and greatly lowers the value of it in order to create additional scarcity for the artwork which the Foundation itself owns (and sometimes sells for significant sums). Of course, that’s a pretty extraordinary claim that probably requires additional proof. The woman suing says that the Foundation requires people to sign a form with an indemnity clause which would stop those who own the works from suing the Foundation.

The article also notes that “the board’s stamp of approval is necessary for anyone in the world to sell a Warhol work,” but that’s the part that confuses me. Why? I know that, in the art world, it is important to be able to prove that a particular work is an original, so I’m guessing that’s a part of it. But I don’t see how the Foundation could totally bar a sale without the “stamp of approval” (or disapproval, as the case may be). But if it’s true that the Foundation is purposely defacing (and disparaging) legitimate works owned by others, that seems like a particularly obnoxious way to represent Warhol — though, given Warhol’s oddities and history of putting his name on the paintings of others, perhaps it’s just a modern version of a Warhol art project to insist that legitimate works are fakes.

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Scottish singing star Susan Boyle got the fright of her life last night when she arrived home last night to find a male intruder standing at the top of her stairs.

The 48-year-old had just flown back to her West Lothian home from London — where she had been recording vocals for Simon Cowell’s Helping Haiti single — when she ran into the potential burglar, The Sun reports.

Police detained a man in connection with the incident but he was later released pending an investigation.

A police spokesperson said Wednesday: “Lothian and Borders Police were called to an address in Blackburn at around 9.50pm following reports of a disturbance. A man was detained in connection with the incident and released pending further inquiries.”

Yesterday, General Motors confirmed that it has reached an agreement with Spyker Cars N.V. to sell its Saab brand to the Swedish supercar manufacturer. With all the delays, rumors and speculations, you may be wondering what actually went on behind closed doors and how much Spyker will actually end up paying for Saab.

According to a report by Automotive News, Saab has Spyker’s 50-year-old CEO Victor Muller to thank. Apparently Muller, who runs an unprofitable manufacturer that built 43 high-end sports cars last year, didn’t want to Saab to go down after being unprofitable for GM since 1990. Sounds crazy right?

“Our brand values are closely related to that of Saab,” Muller told Automotive News. “Both Saab and Spyker are highly individualistic, both have aircraft heritage, and both follow independent Scandinavian and Dutch thinking. There were so many things at work here. It was such a complex deal — trying to take a company that was part of General Motors for 20 years and carving that out as a different business.”

As a part of the deal, Spyker will pay GM a total of $74 million for Saab – $50 million will be paid on the date of the completion of the transaction and $24 million will be paid by July 5, 2010. On top of that, Spyker will give GM $326 million worth of preferred shares in the merged company.

Muller has put together a third financing package with a $550 million loan from the European Investment Bank.

When will see the fruits of this deal? Only time will tell.

Check out the Spyker press release below for more details.

###

Press Release:

GENERAL MOTORS AND SPYKER CARS REACH AGREEMENT ON SAAB

GM and Spyker Cars announce a binding agreement over the transfer of ownership of Saab
Terms are agreed and the deal is expected to close in February
Saab’s future as an independent company is secured
Saab will exit the orderly wind-down process
Spyker shareholders will restructure at closure of the deal
Swedish Government issues guarantee in favour of EIB

ZEEWOLDE, The Netherlands (26 January, 2010) – General Motors Company and Spyker Cars N.V, today confirmed the details of a binding agreement over the transfer of ownership of Saab Automobile AB of Trollhättan, Sweden. The transaction is expected to close in February and Saab Automobile will exit the orderly wind down process in line with that timetable.

The transaction will be accomplished as follows:

Spyker acquires from Saab Automobile Investering AB, a subsidiary of General Motors (“GM”), all the issued and outstanding ordinary shares in the capital of Saab Automobile A.B. (“Saab”) for a consideration of USD 74 million (“Purchase Price”).

The Purchase Price will be paid in two instalments. The first instalment of USD 50 million will be paid on the date of completion of the transaction, expected to take place on or before February 15, 2010 (“the Closing”). The second instalment of USD 24 million will be paid on July 15, 2010.

The Share Purchase Agreement is subject to the execution of a EUR 400 million loan agreement between Saab and the European Investment Bank (“EIB”), guaranteed by the Swedish Government. Today, the Swedish government announced approval of this guarantee. The guarantee is subject to approval by the European Commission, which is expected shortly.

Upon completion of the transaction GM will retain redeemable preference shares of USD 326 million. The preference shares represent less than 1% of the voting rights in the capital of Saab. The mandatory redemption date is 31 December 2016 and Saab has the right to request voluntary redemption at any time prior to this date. The preference shares carry a dividend entitlement of 6% starting from January 2012, increasing to 12% as from July 1, 2014. The dividend over 2012 will be added to the principal, but as from January 1, 2013 the dividend is payable in cash. Should Saab have insufficient distributable reserves to pay the cash dividend it will be added to principal increased with a penalty factor.

In order to allow Saab to operate on a stand-alone basis outside GM, Saab and GM will enter into a number of ancillary agreements. As part of the transaction, Spyker intends to negotiate the acquisition of all the outstanding shares in Saab Great Britain Limited, the UK distribution, marketing and sales company for Saab from General Motors UK Limited.

Spyker will issue a corporate guarantee not exceeding USD 10 million for Saab’s obligations to and for the benefit of the financing company GMAC.

Spyker will as soon as practically possible convene a general meeting of shareholders to approve the transaction. Spyker obtained irrevocable voting undertakings to vote in favour of the transaction representing the voting majority of its current shareholders.

It is the intention to change the name of Spyker Cars N.V. at that general meeting of shareholders to Saab Spyker Automobiles N.V.

As back-up financing, Spyker entered into a EUR 150 million Equity Credit Line Facility with GEM Global Yield Fund Limited (“GEM”) for a term of 3 years. According to this facility, Spyker may issue shares to GEM at 90 per cent of the volume weighted average price of the shares over a period of 15 trading days following a draw down notice sent to GEM by Spyker. In relation to the GEM facility, Spyker has issued to GEM share warrants in respect of 1,570,000 ordinary shares at an exercise price of EUR 4 per ordinary share. The warrants have a 5 year term.

The object of acquisition

In spite of media reports that certain parts have already been sold off, the object is Saab as a complete entity and going concern with all IP rights, trademarks, facilities and other infrastructures. The sale of pre 2003 Saab 9-3 and current Saab 9-5 technology to BAIC in December 2009 did not result in any part of Saab’s business being divested or devalued. On the contrary, Saab has already started the production of the new generation Saab 9-5 in Trollhättan.

Both Saab management and Saab GB management prepared an estimated balance sheet as at 31 December 2009 for the purpose of this transaction. These estimated balance sheets are still subject to final account closing and audit procedures.

Spyker Cars does not yet have a balance sheet as at 31 December 2009 ready for reporting purposes. As such, it would be premature to show a pro-forma combined balance sheet for Spyker, Saab and Saab GB as at 31 December 2009.

Therefore Spyker only disclose an indicative combined balance sheet of Saab and Saab GB as at Closing date based on the estimated balance sheets for both entities as at 31 December 2009, adjusted for the impact of the transaction items as at Closing date.

It should be noted that the indicative closing balance sheet is based on the latest estimated balance sheets of both entities by Saab and Saab GB management which are subject to final closing and audit procedures and therefore subject to change, and does not reflect any potential fair value or purchase price allocation adjustments. The indicative closing balance sheet should therefore not be considered as the actual closing balance sheet, but only as an indication for the assets and liabilities to be acquired at closing date.

Saab’s and Saab GB’s combined revenue amounted to some EUR 1.0 billion in 2009 (2008: EUR 1.6 billion). Earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation amounted to EUR 0.4 billion negative in 2009 (2008: EUR 0.3 billion negative). In 2009 Saab sold 39.903 cars and produced 20.791 cars versus selling 94.751 cars in 2008 and producing 89.086 cars.

RESTRUCTURING AND MANAGEMENT BUY-OUT

As from Closing of the Saab acquisition, the ownership structure of Spyker will change as follows:

Tenaci Capital B.V. (“Tenaci”), a company wholly owned by Mr. V.R. Muller has made a successful bid on Mr. V. Antonov’s current shareholding in Spyker consisting of 4.6 million ordinary shares. As agreed in 2007, when Mr V. Antonov acquired his shares in Spyker, Mr. V. Antonov will cause the transfer of the priority share to Spyker if and when he would dispose of his shareholding. A resolution to cancel the priority share will be proposed at the upcoming EGM.

Messrs. N. Stancikas, M. Bondars and Mr. V. Antonov will retire as members of Spyker’s Supervisory Board effective as per the date of Closing.

Tenaci will grant to Spyker two loans. One for an amount of USD 25 million towards payment of part of the Purchase Price for Saab upon completion of the transaction. A second loan for an amount of EUR 57 million for repayment of all of Spyker’s current outstanding loans to banks and other financial institutions controlled directly, or indirectly by Mr. V. Antonov. This loan mirrors the existing terms (including the lender’s right to convert EUR 9.5 million into ordinary shares at a conversion price of EUR 4.00 per share).

The sale will be subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of applicable regulatory, governmental and court approvals. Other terms and conditions specific to the sale are not being disclosed at this time.

Victor R. Muller, Spyker’s CEO, stated: “We are very much looking forward to being part of the next chapter in Saab’s illustrious history. Saab is an iconic brand that we are honoured to shepherd. We are delighted to have secured the jobs and livelihoods of thousands of loyal Saab employees, suppliers and dealers and to have given reassurance to the 1.5 million Saab drivers and enthusiasts around the world. It was breathtaking to see so much support from the global Saab community over the last months which not only shows the strength of the brand but also helped us in our relentless determination to get the deal done.”

“Spyker Cars will provide Saab with the backing required to compete as a competitive global brand along with an entrepreneurial leadership team sensitive to the uniqueness, heritage and individuality of the Saab brand. I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to Vladimir Antonov for his formidable support during the past two years. His contribution has allowed Spyker to get to the point that this transaction was made possible. I also want to extend my gratitude to Messrs. Stancikas and Bondars as Members of the Supervisory Board. They have made very valuable contributions to our company during their respective terms.”

“Finally I would like to thank the Swedish Government for its constant support for our efforts culminating in granting the Guarantee in favour of the European Investment Bank today for an EUR 400 Million loan to Saab which we hope to secure in the coming weeks.”

Jan Åke Jonsson, CEO of Saab Automobile AB said: “It has been a challenging 15 months for Saab but our global organization has shown a fighting spirit that will serve us well going forward. The agreement with Spyker Cars has secured Saab’s future and will enable us to maximize the brand’s potential through an exciting new product line-up with a distinctly Saab character.”

“Today’s news is great for Saab’s customers, dealers, suppliers and employees around the globe. The level of passion and support shown to Saab over recent months has been remarkable and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those people who continued to believe that Saab deserved a future. Now we aim to get back to the execution of our business plan and with the continued support of our employees and business partners I am confident we will succeed.”

Nick Reilly, President GM Europe, added: “As a responsible corporate citizen in Europe, and throughout the entire period, GM has always had the hope to find a positive solution for Saab that would avoid a wind-down of the brand. We have worked very hard with many parties, including governments and investors, and I’m very pleased that we could come to such a positive conclusion that preserves jobs in Sweden and elsewhere. GM will continue to support Saab and Spyker Cars on their way forward.”

– By: Omar Rana

Google sure loves its doodles, the graphics it uses to replace the logo on the homepage on special occasions. It ran 12 different doodles since the start of the year, mostly on local versions of the search engine, and you’d think that there couldn’t possibly be anything controversial with the cutesy drawings. That is, unless copy… (read more)

This is a guest post by Joseph Matthews from Art of Approaching, a hands-on guide to picking up any woman.

I think you’re really going to like this article, because I’m going to share a little trick with you that I’ve developed that really makes it easy to meet a woman.

Too often, guys are simply too nervous to approach a girl because of the extreme amount of uncertainty involved.

Think about it. What runs through your head when you want to meet a woman?

“Am I her type?”
“Does she have a boyfriend?”
“Will she find me attractive?”
“Maybe she’s too busy to meet anyone.”
“Will she be receptive to me talking to her?”

I’m sure you can think of a 100 more things that run through your mind when you see an approach opportunity come your way.

If you get scared or nervous when this happens, it’s because of one thing:

UNCERTAINTY.

You don’t know how the girl you want to approach is going to respond! So your scared because the outcome MIGHT be negative!

Well, worry about this no more, because with this little trick I’m going to share with you, you’ll never have to worry about a negative reaction again.

This little trick is so simple, ANYONE can do it! And it’s a 100% fear free tactic.

Ready for it? Good, because here it comes…

***The Eye Contact Opener***

We all know that eye contact is important, but something funny happens when we make eye contact with another person. We become COMPELLED to respond to them in some fashion. When it comes to women, you can use eye contact to find out if she’s open to meeting you. In fact, in a way, she’ll be opening YOU!

So here’s what you do…

The next time you see a woman you want to meet, LOCK your eyes on her! Seriously, just stare at her eyes, even if she’s not looking at you.

When people are out and about, they will usually look around to keep aware of their surroundings. This is an unconscious thing we all do. Eventually, the woman you’re locking onto will look around to scan the area.

When she comes to you, her eyes will invariably meet yours, and you’ll be locked in eye contact.

When that happens, simply SMILE at her.

If she smiles back, guess what? She’s OPEN TO YOU MEETING HER. If she doesn’t, then move on to someone who is.

And when she does smile back, say “Hi!” And if she responds, you’re in! Go right into your opener.

I like to use this tactic in low-key situations, like grocery stores, coffee shops, book stores, etc. Even though it can work
just as well in bars (as long as the light is high enough that she can actually SEE you!).

Often times, after you smile, the girl herself will say “Hi!” and then the rest is easy.

The next time you go out, do this to every woman you see. Lock your eyes onto them and see what happens. I guarantee you, you’ll be surprised by the results.

And if you’re looking for even more tactics and techniques that are proven to work to help you meet tons of women, check out my book The Art of Approaching! There is no other book out there that focuses on nothing BUT how to overcome your fears and meet women.

Check it out right now by clicking below:

Click Here To Download Now

With the help of my book, you won’t have to use the Eye Contact Opener! You’ll simply be able to walk up to any woman you want and meet her right away.

Wishing you success with women.

photo credit: top – liber, bottom – mark sebastian

Related posts:

1. The Secret To Meeting More Women
2. It’s Friday – The Best Time to Pick Up Women
3. Contacts That Turn You into an Anime Character

With their financial future still unclear before the official start of the testing season, Campos Grand Prix is allegedly in danger of missing all testing action prior to the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

Despite being one the the first teams to sign a race driver for the 2010 season – in the person of Brazilian driver Bruno Senna – and also one the the first newly-entrant team to pass the FIA crash test for their 2010 challenger, the lack of finance for their inaugural F1 campaign coul… (read more)

Kiefer Sutherland has been roped into a new lawsuit after the actor was allegedly conned into funding a cattle scam that netted over $1 million. Michael Wayne Carr, of Linden, California, is accused of making agreements to buy steers in Mexico and sell them for profit. Jack Bauer would have seen this coming a mile a way — but Kiefer sure didn’t. He is among several cattle customers roped into the scheme.

Carr allegedly took $869,000 from Sutherland, star of the hit Fox series, and $177,000 from a New Mexico couple. According to prosecutors, there is no record Carr ever bought the steers. He is also accused of selling steers that didn’t belong to him.

The accused scammer has been slammed with 12 felonies, including grand theft, forgery. and embezzlement.
He will be arraigned Feb. 8.

The following two years are poised to be very busy for German carmaker Porsche, and we are not talking here about the projected merger with the Volkswagen Group. Porsche will release in 2010 and 2011 revised models of its range, including for the Cayenne SUV and the subject of this piece, the new 911.

Compared to the current generation 911, the new model will feature revised front lights, which are moved more upright, while the mirrors, currently located on the side window corner, have been … (read more)

Last year, EDAG, an independent German engineering firm with an affinity for the automotive world, introduced the Light Car Concept at the Geneva Auto Show. This was an out-of the box vehicle inside-out.

The concept used an electric powertrain, located under the vehicle’s floor. This was powered by lithium-ion batteries which offered a 150 km (90 miles) range per charge. The structure of the car was made out of 100 percent recyclable basaltic fiber, a material which is lighter that aluminum,… (read more)