All over the world, it seems, the entertainment industry keeps pushing for ever more draconian copyright laws. Copycense points us to the latest out of Malaysia, where an amendment to the Copyright Act would making owning a single counterfeit DVD illegal. Yes, just owning it. In most places, it’s distributing or reproducing that causes infringement. But now we’re adding owning to the list. Imagine buying what you thought was a legitimate DVD and then being dragged to court for it. That seems reasonable.
Autographed Chrysler 300C for Haiti – Click above for high-res image gallery
The countless victims trapped under the rubble in Haiti need a lot of things: rescue, medical attention, food and water. A luxury sedan, you might think, wouldn’t count among them, but Chrysler says otherwise. The brand’s new CEO, Olivier Francois, brought a 300C to the red carpet at the Golden Globe awards this past Sunday and invited some 300 celebrities to sign it.
Specially branded and trimmed to “eco” specifications with cork, bamboo and recycled materials on the interior, the car was donated personally by Francois and is earmarked for a charity auction to benefit the American Red Cross in its relief efforts on the disaster-struck Caribbean island. General Motors is performing a similar act by auctioning off a rare 2008 Corvette Z06 Special Edition at the Barret-Jackson event in Scottsdale, AZ.
Details of the auction will follow, so stay tuned. In the meantime, there’s video footage – showing such A-listers as Samuel L. Jackson, Sandra Bullock, Morgan Freeman, Sigourney Weaver and Neil Patrick Harris signing the car – after the jump, along with the press release, and images in the gallery below.
“The Biggest Loser” checked in with the blue (Cherita and Victoria) and yellow (O’Neal and Sunshine) teams to see how they were doing after 15 days at home. Both teams appeared to be doing well and were eager to beat the other team so they could rejoin the competition.
Learning and teaching
After a quick update on the two at-home teams, the “Biggest Loser” couples met Alison outside, where they learned it was student-teacher week. Alison told the teams that this week one of them would be the student and the other the teacher.
The teachers would have to absorb everything they’d learn from Bob and Jillian, so they could teach their partners (the students). Furthermore, only the students’ weight would count at this week’s weigh-in. In view of the fact that John and Stephanie’s partners were sent home, the two of them would be partners for this week.
Since determining who would be the student and who would be the teacher on each team was a difficult decision, the “Biggest Loser” couples participated in a temptation challenge, and the team that ate the most calories chose who would be the teacher and student for each team. Only one person from each team could participate in the temptation challenge.
One member from each team stepped forward. No one seemed tempted to reach for the chocolate candy that was in front of them, and at the last second both Sherry and Mike ate one piece of candy, which meant each of them consumed 5 calories. Sherry and Mike moved on to round two.
Alison counted down from five again, and at the last two seconds, Sherry ate another piece of the chocolate candy, giving the pink team the win. Although 10 calories wouldn’t have been much to burn off, Mike didn’t want to deal with the repercussions that might come from choosing the teacher and student for each team.
Picking sides
Sherry and Ashley deliberated for a couple minutes about the teacher-student decision. They both agreed that they didn’t want to play dirty, so they returned with their choices, which they felt were fair: Andrea would be the teacher and Darrell the student; Stephanie, teacher, John, student; Sam, teacher, Koli, student; Melissa, teacher, Lance, student; Cheryl, teacher, Daris, student; Migdalia, teacher, Miggy, student; Mike, teacher, Maria, student; and Sherry, teacher, Ashley, student.
The teachers explained student-teacher week to Bob and Jillian, and before they headed to the gym to begin, Bob felt something was bothering Migdalia; however, she assured Bob she was fine. Despite Migdalia’s assurance, Bob and Jillian still felt something was up.
At the gym, Bob and Jillian educated the teachers from each team. They told the “Biggest Loser” couples how they wanted their partners to work out in the gym and eat during meals and snacks. The teachers listened closely and took notes.
Migdalia’s breakdown
After the lesson, Jillian approached Migdalia, determined to get her to open up about what was bothering her. Jillian was having such a difficult time with Migdalia that she went to Bob for advice. Bob suggested Jillian unleash her mean side, but Jillian feared that might cause Migdalia to walk out of the gym. Nevertheless, Jillian was out of options, so she thought it wouldn’t hurt to try.
Moments after Migdalia returned from her short bathroom break, Jillian put the plan in motion as Bob and everyone else listened. Jillian pushed so hard that Migdalia walked out of the gym, just as Jillian feared she would.
Jillian refused to give up and followed Migdalia. Once outside, Jillian pushed so hard that Migdalia said, “I’m done. I quit.” At this point, Jillian went to Miggy and asked her to talk Migdalia out of giving up. Miggy went inside to talk to Migdalia, but Migdalia was too upset with Jillian. Then Bob joined Miggy and Migdalia to see if he could help, and in the end, Migdalia decided to stay on the “Biggest Loser” ranch.
Healthy meals and tangled ribbons
After the drama, the teachers headed to the California Health and Longevity Institute for a cooking lesson from chef Curtis Stone. Chef Stone delivered a lesson on portion control as he had the “Biggest Loser” couples prepare a yummy chicken dish that contained a little over 300 calories.
Over a healthy meal in the “Biggest Loser” kitchen, Miggy told Migdalia she knows she has a hard time talking about things that bother her, and then she encouraged Migdalia to let Jillian help her.
“Number one is accepting you have a problem. Number two is accepting the help,” Miggy told her daughter.
The “Biggest Loser” couples rode a school bus to a playground. For their student-teacher challenge, the teachers had to unwind 1,000 feet of ribbon. Then the students would draw to discover which ribbon they had to unravel, and the first student to disentangle the ribbon for his or her team would win immunity and the ability to switch one team’s teacher-student position at the weigh-in.
The teachers were off with the ribbon. They wrapped, twisted and tied their ribbon around as much playground equipment as they could, hoping they made it as hard as possible for the student who had to untangle their ribbon. Once time was up, everyone felt sorry for the team that would have to deal with the white team’s ribbon.
Just as the students prepared to draw for the color of ribbon they’d have to unwind, Alison surprised them with an added twist: they’d have to unwind their own ribbon while blindfolded!
“Back fire!” Maria, from the white team, told her son, Mike.
“Whoa, had I known the rules from the beginning it wouldn’t have back fired. I would have wrapped it around one tree and we would’ve been done,” Mike replied.
The teachers used their voices to guide the students, and the gray team communicated well, but the pink team failed with its communication. After over an hour, the red and gray teams were neck-in-neck, but the gray team prevailed.
Weighing in
During last chance workout, Bob knew Migdalia needed to release the frustration she had built up inside, so he let her release it by literally beating the stuffing out of a punching bag.
Before the “Biggest Loser” couples weighed in, Alison asked Sam and Koli which team they wanted to switch roles. They told her the white team, because they thought Mike hadn’t been working as hard as he could be. Although they didn’t want Mike and Maria to fall below the yellow line, they felt this might be a wake-up call that Mike needed.
Migdalia lost 8 pounds, and Miggy lost 7 pounds. Miggy’s total percentage of weight lost was 3.2.
Koli lost 7 pounds, and Sam lost 11 pounds. Because the gray team won immunity, they were safe.
Cheryl lost 7 pounds, and Daris lost 9 pounds. Daris’ total percentage of weight lost was 2.9.
Andrea lost 7 pounds, and Darrell lost 12 pounds. Darrell’s total percentage of weight lost was 3.22.
John lost 14 pounds, and Stephanie lost 7 pounds. John’s total percentage of weight lost was 3.1.
Ashley lost 12 pounds, and Sherry lost 6 pounds. Ashley’s total percentage of weight lost was 3.48.
Mike lost 10 pounds and Maria lost 4 pounds. Mike’s total percentage of weight lost was 2.8, which put them below the yellow line.
Back inside the “Biggest Loser” ranch, Maria cried as she asked her fellow teammates to send her home instead of Mike. She pointed out the fact that Mike needed to be there more, and she feared if they sent Mike home, his weight would send him to an early grave.
Everyone except for Stephanie and John honored Maria’s wishes, and Maria reported that she’s down to 231 pounds since going home.
(By Misti Sandefur for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)
Arnon Mishkin is a partner with Mitchell Madison Group, where he consults for media companies on improving legacy businesses as well as making the internet profitable. Prior to MMG, he was a partner at the Boston Consulting Group, where he did some of the firm’s earliest work on the web.
Most content creators (who once thought they were kings) are clearly looking forward to the launch of Apple’s iSlate, supposedly next week. Indeed, there hasn’t been this much anticipation about the unveiling of a tablet since, well, biblical times – and maybe not even then (because this time, the former slaves are ignoring the golden calf, i.e. Steve Balmer’s Window’s tablet).
I happen to think much of the optimism is well-placed. The iPhone – and presumably the iSlate, which is said to be an “iPhone on steroids” – will most likely enable companies to supply full apps rather than simply browse-able (and thus disposable) web pages. (See my previous piece for more detail about how apps benefit content companies.)
Moreover, because of Apple’s knack for using new approaches to existing technology to redefine not only the businesses it enters but also adjacent businesses, it is likely that Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) will find innovative ways to “leapfrog” the existing products; the iPod re-defined the music business and the iPhone defined the mobile web. The iSlate will be designed, priced and promoted in a way that will create a market for iSlate apps, just as Apple created a market for iTunes and iPhone apps. One can be fairly confident that the iSlate, unlike other e-readers, will expand the nascent market for mobile-content devices.
But over the next few years, content creators and audience aggregators should be careful about how they deal with the e-readers or it could turn into primarily a bonanza for Apple, as the Kindle may be primarily a bonanza for Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN). With the launch of the iSlate, Apple (and its iTunes store) could truly turn into the mythical tollgate on the content web, supplying music, apps, print and movies to their market-dominating media players.
For music companies, Apple’s tollgate has accelerated the destruction of their business model. iTunes has torn apart the original bundles of records for consumers who were not already pirating the music, thereby reducing the importance and profitability of the record companies. Amazon (with its Kindle) and Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) (with the Nook) have the potential to diminish the importance of publishing companies and could wind up cutting deals directly with authors.
But tollgates don’t always destroy the economics of an industry—sometimes they police it. In the mid-1980’s, the cable operators had made themselves into a very effective tollgate between content producers/cable networks and their subscribers, who paid a monthly fee to receive a better signal and a range of cable-only products.
Originally, most of the cable networks offered their programming for free. Content was king. Audiences were beginning to flock to cable. And investors believed that there was a windfall in cable advertising due to the stronger ability to target audiences. But soon enough, it became clear to cable companies that they were not going to be profitable from advertising alone. Just as today, no one felt they ought to pay for CNN or ESPN (NYSE: DIS). But the companies were able to go to the operators, as personified by John Malone, and make the case that unless they shared in the monthly fee that the cable companies got, they would go out of business.
Malone, known more for his ability to get ownership shares of networks he programmed than for spontaneous generosity, did not want to agree. In fact, in the case of CNN, he personally convinced NBC to begin planning a cable network of its own, as a negotiating ploy against the over-leveraged Ted Turner. But, in the end, the cable operators agreed to pay fees to the content creators and aggregators.
Obviously, it’s too early to say whether Apple is going to become that tollgate—and it’s too early to figure out its impact on the content creators. But even today, they need to think carefully rather than just experimenting with how they want to contribute to the anticipated iSlate and the plethora of other existing or announced e-readers.
Among the questions to address are:
1. How do your customers’ needs and wants differ by digital channel?
2. How do your tablet initiatives fit in with your overall digital strategy?
3. What is the meaning of your brand(s) in a tablet world—and how can you maximize the brand value of bundles of your content, rather than isolated bits of it? For example, magazine businesses, to avoid the fate of the music labels, need to figure out how to maintain the brand of the overall magazines, rather than individual stories; in other industries, the companies need to decide if the most potent expression of their brand is some bundling of their existing web products, or the creation of a new, more segmented product, and whether it makes sense to also sell through some larger consortium of publishers.
4. How much value are you delivering to the tablet company and how do you approach licensing your products to them?
5. Whether and how to participate in the various consortiums—are you doing it to make your consortium the strongest player or to gain advantage to help negotiate with the tablet companies.
6. How to use one’s free web sites not as a way of cannibalizing other sales but to promote tablet sales and subscriptions. For example, while the New York Times (NYSE: NYT) tries to promote its “skimmer” on its web site, it does not demonstrate any superior product features or content on that skimmer.
7. How to promote tablets without getting wedded to one platform over another.
8. How to try to ensure that there isn’t just one company that functions as a dominant tollgate; and if such a dominant player does emerge, how best to manage relations with that company.
Morgan Stanley (MS) is out with a very sober analysis of what the Greek situation means.
The report, put together by analyst Emma Lawson, describes Greece as a “Trojan Horse” that threatens not just the euro, but the credibility of the ECB itself if the central bank finds itself unable to punish fiscal miscreants.
The risks to the EUR from the events in Greece arise from a number of different factors. In summary, however, it boils down to credibility: The credibility of the Greek government in meeting their targets, the credibility of the EU institutions to deal with non-compliant states and the credibility of the EUR itself. In periods of fiscal deterioration, the EUR has typically benefitted from the understanding that all countries would adhere to the conditions of the Growth and Stability Pact (GSP) envisioned by the European Treaty. The GSP requires that they would need to employ deficit reduction programs. The fact that Greece had yet to implement reduction programs, and now evidence that historical financial statistics were not accurate, calls this market assumption into doubt.
Exhibit 1 shows the EUR’s performance against rating agency downgrades of European countries. Often, the agency downgrades come after the market has built in expected fiscal deterioration and the currency can rally. Since 2009, the increased concerns surrounding the euro area mean that EUR continues to underperform after a round of rating downgrades.
The weakness may arise as originally the market assumes the rest of the euro area will take on the liabilities of the non- compliant state. In the ten years from the beginning of the common currency until the current challenges, the ability to service debt or other countries to absorb debt if necessary was unquestioned. The willingness to do so was also assumed.
What has changed and is perhaps not fully priced into the FX market is the unwillingness of other states to provide funds in the event they are required by Greece. This is slowly becoming clearer. The ECB President has noted that the bank will not change its collateral rules for non-compliant states, while various finance ministers have implied that they will not bail Greece out. The euro area’s institutional framework actually sets out that no bailouts can occur. Article 125 states that “The Union shall not be liable for or assume the
commitments of central governments…” Many investors believe that Greece will be bailed out; their resolve is now being tested. As this belief in the absorption of liabilities is tested, it is likely to pressure EUR and lead to further EUR weakness on either added negative news on Greek debt or in the event of further rating downgrades.
Earlier this morning, General Motors dropped the pricing details on the 2011 Buick Regal CXL, which will start at $26,995. A couple of hours ago, Buick/GMC General Manager Brian Sweeney held a live chat on GM’s FastLane Blog, giving us info on what else GM has planned for the Regal.
One of the interesting questions Sweeney was asked was whether or not there will be a coupe or sport wagon version for the Opel Insignia based Buick Regal.
“No, but we are looking at all the different possibilities for Regal based on what’s available on this global architecture and the success of other models in global markets such as Europe and China,” Sweeney said.
Sweeney also spoke a little about the upcoming Regal GS. Asked whether GM will offer the Regal GS with the 325-hp 2.8L Turbo V6 found in the Opel Insignia OPC (AWD), he said: “At 255hp with 0-60 in less than 6 seconds we think we’re in good shape if we bring this to production.”
Verizon has announced pricing for the Palm Pre Plus on the Verizon network. One of the major features of the Palm Pre Plus will be the WIFI Hotspot features, a feature pretty familiar to HTC HD2 owners which allow smartphone owners to share their 3G internet connection via WIFI with devices close to them.
Enabling the feature will add an additional $40 charge for 5GB of data with this 3G-based Wi-Fi connectivity. The $40 charge is levied on top of your calling and data plan so a Wi-Fi mobile hotspot-activated Pre Plus on a 450 minutes Talk and Text plan would cost you a whopping $129.99 per month ($59.99 for calling plan, $29.99 for Email and Web data plan and $40 for the Wi-Fi feature).
Launching the Palm Pre on Verizon was supposed to save Palm. Somehow in now rather seems unlikely.
Talk about procrastination (or rather, ignorance of a fundamental flaw in your OS for nearly two decades): a Google engineer recently discovered a vulnerability in Microsoft’s 32-bit Windows kernel that had been around since 1993.
It’s kind of funny that this thing has been around long enough to get a driver’s license, but less so considering that it’s exposed every Windows OS since then to hacker takeovers. The afflicted subsystem was the Windows Virtual DOS Machine, and the potential for damage was pretty serious, according to yesterday’s Microsoft advisory:
What might an attacker use this vulnerability to do?
An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could run arbitrary code in kernel mode. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.
Bad news! Don’t worry, they’ll patch it. But do worry, for all the other teenage bugs out there that no one’s caught yet. [ComputerWorld]
The former View moderator has been ousted from her position as a panelist on the syndicated celebrity newsmagazine after sparring with a show producer over creative differences, according to a new tabloid report. Production insiders say Jones found herself in the middle of a verbal spat with a superior that nearly turned physical and led to the outspoken chatterbox being led out of the studio by security.
“At first, Star got along with the producers just fine. But as she got more comfortable, she started complaining about the topics they wanted to discuss. She said they were too trashy and ‘Star doesn’t do trash!’” a production snitch blabs in the Feb. 1 edition of The National Enquirer.
Star is also accused of sending an e-mail to show host Lara Spencer blasting fellow panelist and ex-Reno 911 actress Niecy Nash:
“Star said she couldn’t understand why Niecy was a regular on the show, while she, Star, was not.”
Niecy never got a chance to respond. All Hell broke loose just before The Insider’s holiday break, The Enquirer claims. Star, now 47, and an unnamed female producer faced off after the former legal complained that her “intellectual insight” was not being respected and campaigned for more thought-provoking subjects to discuss than the “reality show wannabes” and “bimbos” that provide popular fodder for Insider panelists.
“Star had made it clear that she didn’t like what was scheduled for the show that day….The argument got heated, and then it turned into a shouting match….Star exploded!” a spywitness recalls. “She started yelling insults. Finally, the producer called security to escort her off the set….”
A rep for Star Jones had no comment. Sidebar: Chris Jacobs is an idiot. Fire him!
Who are the most desirable women of 2010? Ask Men’s annual list of the Top 99 Most Desirable Women ranks the famous females who rock our world – from stand-up comediennes to stunning models. Did Eva Mendes hold on to the No. 1 spot in 2010? Who is the highest ranked Brit this time around?
After six weeks of voting and 6 million votes cast worldwide, the ballots have closed and the tallying is complete.
A combination of mediocre earnings, jitters out of China and, possibly, Obama’s new populist streak, absolutely hammered stocks for the second day in a row.
The dow ended down about 217, the second big triple-digit loss in a row.
Big financial stocks got brutalized.
This chart, via FT Alphaville, showing the divergence of large banks and regionals tells the whole story
Once a tool employed mainly by hardcore users, GeekTool seemed to begin exploding across OS X desktops in 2009. But despite its widening usage, many still are unfamiliar with this fantastic utility (you’ve probably seen it, and not even realized) or just don’t know how to leverage it. If you fit either of the above stereotypes, then today is your lucky day, because I’m going to point out some great examples of GeekTool, and just how to put it to good use for yourself.
Simply put, GeekTool displays information at the desktop level (meaning it’s not clickable), right on top of your wallpaper image, in a ‘Heads-up-display’ fashion. It’s interesting (to me at least) to see how the use of a simple yet powerful tool evolves. For those of us who began playing with GeekTool long ago, it was used in a very utilitarian fashion — the output was simple lines of text displayed on the Mac’s desktop (three year old screencast here shows what I mean). And while the content that we’re seeing displayed with GeekTool hasn’t changed much, some designer-types out there have taken the display of that information to the next level. The great part is that it’s super easy to do with GeekTool — but more on that in a bit.
Inspiration
To get some inspiration — and a great feel for what we’re talking about — check out Flickr for photos tagged with ‘geektool’, or LifeHacker’s Featured [Mac] Desktops. I’ll be here, so take your time. Or if you’re ADHD, here are a couple quick examples:
So some good stuff, eh? It’s pretty neat to see the way that GeekTool can be used to morph meaningful data into specific wallpaper images, or going that extra yard, to coordinate with a custom GUI theme. Clearly some people have a solid eye for design, and the time to monkey around and put in some extra awesome. Not so much for me, which is why I pointed you in the direction of some great examples. I however, threw in some extra Geeklets on my desktop to show you what you can do.
Getting Started
So now you’re probably primed and ready to put GeekTool to work for you. It’s not very difficult, so let’s get started. I’ll assume you’ve already installed it. Since it’s a Preference Pane, it lives in the System Preferences (found under the Apple menu or in your Applications folder).
There are three types of information you can display using GeekTool:
File – Originally intended for viewing Console type log files. Point it at any text file you choose — those with text-based todo lists will love this feature.
Image – GeekTool’s developer identifies this as useful for viewing the images generated by monitoring tools. While Analytics and whatnot may be just what the doctor ordered, you can display any image, or image URL with this.
Shell – This is where the real power lies with GeekTool. Run either a Shell Command, or point at a Shell Script file to run. If your bash-fu is strong, you’ll be running wild. But fear not, there are a multitude of examples out there to lean on if you need some help with this geekier part.
To begin using a Geeklet (as they’ve been deemed in the 3.0 version), select the File, Image, or Shell that you want to use, and drag it to your desktop. Once there, the Geeklet properties window will populate, which is where all the magic (configuration) happens.
Drag & Drop
The great thing about the latest version of GeekTool is that you can drag and drop your Geeklet wherever you want it on screen. In earlier versions, there was a lot of trial and error involved as you had to enter the coordinates and dimensions of a Geektlet. It was time consuming to say the least — but you can still tweak these settings in the Properties window if you need to fine tune . Once it’s where you want it, define the image or file location of the data you want displayed, or drop a shell command in there. If it’s necessary, there’s space to set a refresh time in seconds.
Bling
Now we come to the part that the designers like. Click the aptly named button, “Click here to set font & color…” Up pops an OS X window that should be familiar for selecting font, font color, font size, and so on. Your Geeklet updates in real time, so you can adjust your settings on the fly. Suddenly those log files don’t seem so bland anymore…well, maybe not.
Organization
The crazier you get with GeekTool, the more Geeklets you may find yourself creating. You can group them into categories, and turn them on and off as desired. The uses for this obviously vary from person to person based on their workflows. But I could easily see having a set of Geeklets in a group for work information, and a set for home use. A GeekTool menubar item can be turned on so you can quickly maintain these Geeklet groups without having to launch the Preference Pane.
Shells
The spot that gives most people trouble is coming up with the shell commands or scripts to run. I have some limited background using Unix, so have come up with a few simple commands in the past. Luckily, there are lots of people out there who are smarter than I, and are happy to share their work with others via blog posts. Yay! Here areseveral of the morehelpfulposts I’ve come across.
GeekTool is such a free-form utility that it’s difficult to outline all of the settings and uses. It’s one of those situations where it’s great to let your imagination run wild, if only your knowledge and expertise can keep up. If you find yourself lacking the latter, post your questions below, and if I can’t help, I’m certain some of our brainiac readers will be able to chime in as well. And if you just want to show off your GeekTool-fu, we’d love for you to share some links here as well.
Tony George, shepherd of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for two decades, has resigned from the Speedway board effective immediately. The move severed his final tie with the historic venue, after he resigned from his CEO position last summer. In a statement, the board chairman, who also happens to be his mother, said that they asked George to stay and are disappointed to see him go.
George oversaw massive changes in the raceway and the series’ it hosts: the IndyCar split and reunion, NASCAR’s arrival and Formula One’s arrival and departure, and a large number of track renovations and changes. When he left the CEO job, the given reason was to spend more time with his family and his Vision racing team in the IZOD IndyCar Series. We have a feeling he won’t be gone from the public eye for too long. Hat tip to Michael
The following is a statement from Center for Responsive Politics’ Executive Director Sheila Krumholz on the Supreme Court’s ruling today on Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission:
Today’s Supreme Court decision on Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission overturns a decades-long ban on unlimited independent expenditures by corporations and labor unions — a move that could bring enormous changes in the way American elections are run and financed. Although the law has consistently prohibited such expenditures, this decision belies the tenuous nature of precedent: Things change.
But some things remain the same — such as the need for transparency. In today’s opinion, the Supreme Court upheld the need for disclosure, writing:
“With the advent of the Internet, prompt disclosure of expenditures can provide shareholders and citizens with the information needed to hold corporations and elected officials accountable [C]itizens can see whether elected officials are ‘in the pocket’ of so-called moneyed interests and disclosure permits citizens and shareholders to react to the speech of corporate entities in a proper way. This transparency enables the electorate to make informed decisions and give proper weight to different speakers and messages.”
In sum, with new paths for money to enter into the political bloodstream, transparency is now more essential than ever. And transparency is what the Center for Responsive Politics delivers.
Whether coming from political action committees, individuals or corporate or labor treasuries, billions of dollars already power political campaigns at the federal level — more than $5 billion in the 2008 elections alone, according to CRPs analysis. Now the spigot has been opened even further for corporations, trade groups and unions to use as much money as their hefty bank accounts can muster to aid or attack a federal candidate. Such action could potentially come in the eleventh hour of a campaign when the target may not be capable of an effective response, for want of time, funds or both.
Of course, just because the path is clear for them to spend this money doesn’t necessarily mean they will. But if their willingness to contribute unlimited soft money before its prohibition in 2002 is any indication, they have both the wherewithal and the readiness to use their financial largess to wield control over politics and elections. And whether hard money or soft, overall, most campaign cash represents corporate interests.
All sides in this debate will undoubtedly buckle down to take advantage of this rarified moment in history — making plans to utilize this new vehicle in their campaign strategies, or holding up the specter of wealthy goliaths flipping elections by the sheer weight of their treasure. Public financing advocates present the new world order in election law as a wholly untenable outcome, one that points to public financing as the only logical guarantee of fair elections.
Here at the Center for Responsive Politics, we are not political strategists or campaign finance reform activists. We are neither planning to use the new loophole nor find ways around it — but we will follow it. Closely.
Its times like these when OpenSecrets.org and CRPs nonpartisan, straight-shooting data and analysis matters most.
More than ever, the public will need reliable research to reveal who’s funding politics, what interests they represent, how much theyre spending and who’s receiving it. Only then can constituents see whether they are pitted against interests contrary to their own, and who — and how much — those interests represent.
This information empowers citizens take action, through political engagement and at the ballot box, to hold our government accountable. Citizens need reliable information to participate effectively in a democracy, and democracy needs that citizen engagement to function as it should. It’s a delicate balancing act, with the free flow of information to the public at its core.
Overall, solidly ahead of expectations. Not a blowout. EPS comfortably ahead of estimates, revenue just ahead. Stock getting clobbered–Wall Street’s dreams were ahead of reality. (Releass here.)
Company very healthy. Free cash flow was once again astounding: $2.5 billion for the quarter, for an annualized run-rate of $10 billion a year.
Excluding $25 billion of cash (!), the company is trading at about 16X run-rate cash flow. Not cheap by any means, but reasonable.
The biggest issue for the company now is China: After clumsily giving the Chinese government a black-or-white ultimatum, Google may actually have to withdraw from the biggest future opportunity in the world. Needless to say, this would be a big negative.
Key Stats:
Net Revenue $4.95 Billion versus $4.9 consensus (modest upside)
Non-GAAP EPS $6.79 versus $6.45 consensus (nice upside)
Non-GAAP Operating Income $2.76 billion versus consensus of $2.68 Billion (nice upside)
Paid clicks up 13% (fine)
Cost per click up 5% (fine). Lots of room for this to increase if the economy really recovers.
The Bottom Line: Google’s stock has been hit in the past week on the company’s ultimatum to China (in which the company clumsily backed itself into a corner). The core business, however, appears to be recovering strongly, and the market is counting on strong results.
Specifically, the market expects the company to beat consensus estimates of $4.9 billion in revenue and $6.45 in EPS.
Most investors are expecting sequential revenue growth in the 10%-11% range. Anything below that will probably hammer the stock.
Background: At $575, the stock is priced at about 22X 2010 earnings, which is below historical levels of about 30-times, but still pretty rich for a company this huge.
Key Consensus Estimates:
Net Revenue $4.9 Billion
Non-GAAP EPS $6.45
Non-GAAP Operating Income $2.68 Billion
Here’s a quick outlook from JP Morgan’s Imran Khan:
We see net revenue of $5.11B. This implies Q/Q revenue growth of 16.6%. We see the US market growing 10% Q/Q.
We expect aggregate paid click growth of 12% Q/Q or 16% Y/Y. This is a slight acceleration from the 3Q growth rate of 14% Y/Y and roughly in line with 2Q’s 15% growth and 1Q’s 17% Y/Y growth.
We see EBITDA margins declining. We are modeling an EBITDA margin of 61.9%, down 130 bps sequentially but up 190 bps Y/Y. During the call, we will be looking for color on our expectations for an increased cost structure in 2010 due to acquisitions, increases in headcount, and product and infrastructure investments.
We are modeling a pro forma EPS of $6.85. This implies 34% Y/Y growth which is an acceleration from 20% growth in 3Q. We think this is reasonable given our expectations for 21% Y/Y net revenue growth and Y/Y costs increases of less than $300M. We are modeling CapEx of $400M, compared to $368M in 4Q’08 and $186M last quarter.
Commentary to watch for. We will be listening for insight into ad budget trends, CPC levels, strategic investment and infrastructure needs, an update on the China operations, and insight into the mobile device strategy.
Here is a snapshot from Citi analyst Mark Mahaney:
Sources have confirmed that the 2011 BMW M3 will come with an optional Competition Package (ZCP) and it’s probably the closest thing you’ll get to getting your M3 to look like the M3 GT2 pictured above.
Details are still being kept a secret, but speculators say that there will be some performance enhancements, 19-inch (style 359 M) wheels and a suspension drop of 10mm.
In the past, the Competition Package has offered larger wheels, bigger brakes, Alcantara touches on the inside and performance upgrades.
MTV is putting the kibosh on reports that Kanye West has been blacklisted from participating in tomorrow night’s Haitian Earthquake Relief telethon. On Thursdaym PopEater’s “Naugthy But Nice Column” scooped that producers for Friday’s Hope For Haiti Now charity special didn’t want the impulsive “Golddigger” star anywhere near the event after his infamous “Bush Doesn’t Care About Black People” rant during a 2005 television event to help survivors of Hurricane Katrina. Not to mention his near career-ending Swift stage-crashing at last summer’s Video Music Awards.
“After what he said on the Katrina telethon and the way he behaved at the MTV Video Music Awards, everyone agrees it’s just best that he does not participate…..Kayne has to make everything about himself. He will do anything to steal the spotlight and, well, this night it’s just not about him,” a source was quoted as saying.
A rep for MTV, who is producing tomorrow’s telethon, says that simply isn’t true, adding that the network has indeed reached out to Yeezy.
In an effort to help those in need in Haiti, General Motors announced today that it will auction off a limited edition 2008 Chevrolet Corvette at his weekend’s 39th annual Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction with all the benefits going to help earthquake relief efforts.
“The proceeds, which will be donated to the American Red Cross relief fund, are in addition to a $100,000 contribution from the GM Foundation to the Red Cross,” GM said in a statement.
The limited edition 2008 Chevy Corvette seen here was the last of the 427 units built for the North American market and the only model to feature Crystal Red Metallic Tint Coat. Power comes from a 7.0L V8 engine making 505-hp. The Corvette also features spider design chrome Z06 wheels, Z06 plates, a Stinger-style stripe on the front hood and fascia, chrome exterior badges and a painted Z06 spoiler and body color door handles. Inside, the Corvette contains a Dark Titanium leather-wrapped interior and special Crystal Red center trim plate.
The Corvette is Lot #1318 and will be auctioned on Saturday evening, Jan. 23.
The above card skimmer, found on a Citibank ATM in Woodland Hills, CA, secretly scans your account information and PIN number, which it then wirelessly sends to a scammer. Would you have spotted it?
Card skimmers have been around for a while now, but they’re only getting more sophisticated and hard to detect. This one features a tiny pinhole camera that records victims’ PIN as they punch it into the keypad, and it was clearly molded to fit and work with this exact ATM.
What can you do to protect yourself? Just be aware. Look at all the ATMs in the bank you’re in to make sure they all look the same. Look for hidden cameras or extra seams that seem out of place. Look for odd protrusions or elements that have colors that don’t match the rest of the machine. If you’re paying attention, you should be OK. But if you aren’t, you’re at risk for giving up your checking account to a scammer. [Krebs on Security via Cynical C]
Big banks have already begun poking the holes in Obama’s new rules—holes they expect their banks to pass through basically unchanged.
The president promised this morning to work with Congress to ensure that no bank or financial institution that contains a bank will own, invest in or sponsor a hedge fund or a private equity fund, or proprietary trading operations unrelated to serving customers for its own profit.
But sources at three banks tell us that they are already finding ways to own, investment in and sponsor hedge funds and private equity funds. Even prop trading seems safe.
A person familiar with the operations of one big Wall Street bank said it expects that new regulation will affect less than 1% of its overall business.
The key phrase is “operations unrelated to serving customers.” The banks plan to claim that much of the business in which it engages is related in one way or another to serving customers. Even proprietary trading, for instance, can become related to customer service if it is done through internal hedge funds in which some outside clients are permitted to invest.
One insider at a bank pointed to JP Morgan Chase’s ownership of the hedge fund Highbridge Capital. It is thought that under a strict “no hedge funds” rule, Highbridge would have to be sold off. But under the rule proposed by the Obama administration, Highbridge can be retained by JP Morgan because outside clients are permitted to invest in it.
A still more devious way is to have a banks own employees be the customers who are invested in the internal hedge funds. That way trading operations can remain closed to outsiders while the regulatory requirement of relating the trading to customer service is met. Goldman Sachs is rumored to be considering this approach. (Goldman isn’t commenting on the regs right now.)
“This thing is about showing the public that Obama is standing up to Wall Street. So the rhetoric is heated. But the implementation will require far less change than people think right now,” a person familiar with the thinking at the upper echelons of one of our largest banks said.
“The market is getting this wrong by selling off the megas,” a person at another bank said.
Big banks have already begun poking the holes in Obama’s new rules—holes they expect their banks to pass through basically unchanged.