By Jeff Nolan, Blogger, Venture Chronicles
Larry wrote this today and I think it pretty much sums up the situation for Google (GOOG) in China.
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Author: Serkadis
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Doubting the Sincerity of Google’s Threat [Voices]
By Evgeny Morozov, Fellow at the Open Society Institute in New York
Unlike many other honorable members of the technology blogosphere, I am not too excited about Google’s (GOOG) ultimatum to the Chinese government (if you have been living in a cave or are not on Twitter: Google wants to either stop censoring search results on Google.cn or shut down their Chinese shop altogether).
Of course, all companies make mistakes, and Google’s executives may have discovered that they blundered when they decided to offer a censored version of Google.cn. I grant them the right to to fix the situation.
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The Google News: China Enters its Bush-Cheney Era [Voices]
By James Fallows, National Correspondent, The Atlantic
I have not yet been able to reach my friends in China to discuss this story, and for now I am judging the Google (GOOG) response strictly by what the company has posted on its “Official Blog,” here, and my observations from dealing with Google-China officials while overseas. Therefore this will epitomize the Web-age reaction to a breaking news story, in that it will be a first imperfect assessment, subject to revision as new facts come in. With that caveat, here is what I think as I hear this news:
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Google Gets On the Right Side of History [Voices]
By Rebecca Mackinnon, Contributor, Opinion Asia, The Wall Street Journal
One night in the mid-1990s when I was working as a journalist in Beijing, I went out to dinner with some Chinese friends. I had just finished reading a book called “The File” by the British historian Timothy Garton Ash. It’s about what happened in East Berlin after the Berlin Wall came down and everybody could see the files the Stasi had been keeping all those years.
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Mozilla Weave Sync 1.0 RC2 for Firefox Is Out
Mozilla Labs has announced the availability of the release candidate version of the Weave Sync bookmark and preferences sync add-on. Mozilla Weave Sync 1.0 RC2 comes with some updated features, but mostly rounds out the edges on the existing one and speeds things up a little. The final build should be coming soon, the dev team says, likely in time … (read more) -
2010 NYIAS to Launch the First Auto Show iPhone App
This year’s New York International Auto Show (NYIAS) due to be held in April will premiere the first-ever iPhone application for an auto show. When it launches, the free app will also allow Blackberry Storm and Motorola Android users access to the same content as the one available on the Auto Show’s mobile website."The New York Auto Show app is designed to provide a visually-driven experience for consumers before they visit the Show, during their visit, and even after the Show," sa… (read more)
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Hallmark Unveils Augmented Reality Webcam Greetings
We have seen augmented before realty but only here and there – well Hallmark is looking to take this new technology to the mainstream with the introduction of Webcam Greetings. These new cards not only feature the same lovey dovey messages but now you can also open up a whole new interactive world when you go to the Hallmark website. Just follow the directions in your card by placing the Webcam Greetings in front of a webcam and watch the card come to life. Its a great way for people to get interested in sending greeting cards again and takes Hallmark to a whole new technological level. Check out the demo here.
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Multitouch coming to ‘majority’ of future Motorola devices, says CEO
Native app multitouch, you say? It’s a dream that most US Android users have failed to experience, but Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha has let loose some promising words. In an interview with Laptop, he asserted that the company will be more proactive in getting the two-finger (or more) shuffle into its Google devices — more specifically he said, “I think you will see us deliver multitouch in the majority of our devices going forward. There’s a complex set of factors, not all of them technical.” That last bit’s pretty ominous, but nothing we haven’t surmised before, and frankly, it all sounds a lot better than “we’ll consider it.” Also discussed in the interview is the inevitability of tablet experimentation, and the (un)likelihood of a Motoblur phone landing in Google’s online store. “I think clearly the bias is towards Google Experience devices.” Perhaps, but we’ll be interested to see what HTC has to say about that.Multitouch coming to ‘majority’ of future Motorola devices, says CEO originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Jan 2010 02:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Honda Insight Sports Modulo Concept Coming to Tokyo
Although one would believe that such a model would be more appropriate to be unveiled during an aftermarket show, Honda will present the Insight Sports Modulo Concept at the Tokyo Auto Salon. Just as its name suggests, the concept is based on the Insight but, thanks to the customizations brought by Honda Access Corporation – Honda’s very own manufacturer of aftermarket parts and accessories – the car comes with a new face and interior.Unfortunately, only a few details are available at this p… (read more)
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2010 Camaro Synergy Priced at $26,790
Although back in November, when the Camaro Synergy was unveiled at SEMA, some questions about it turning production version still existed, those questions have been answered yesterday by Chevrolet when it announced pricing and availability for the green Camaro. Although it will be produced in limited numbers, the Camaro Synergy is coming this February and will retail for $26,790. The car is based on the Camaro 1LT and features a 3.6l direct injection V6 engine, developing 304 horsepower and … (read more)
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Cap and Trade Tales
Cap and Trade is an attractive idea that looks like it might work until one gets into the details. It certainly was my first choice as a putative solution. It is just not that simple.
The major problem is that the energy industry does not operate a level playing field when it comes to properly monetizing its costs to society. If this were changed, the problems would likely begin to go away.
A huge part of the cost of coal based power has been the impact of the stack gas on adjacent communities. Cleaning them up is possible and costly. It is far cheaper to politically engineer you way around the problem than to actually fix it.
That is why Chinese cities presently suffer from debilitating air and it derivative health costs.
Far better than cap and trade would be a treaty that progressively begins to charge back those costs to those that fail to remedy the situation. An outright ban is impractical but leveling the playing field over twenty years allows the better solutions to be quickly implemented.
Severin Borenstein on Cap and Trade
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/severin-borenstein-on-cap-and-trade
“There is a ticking time bomb under these cap and trade models.”Dr. Severin Borenstein is an outspoken economist and thought leader in carbon economics and energy matters. He serves as the Director of the
His talk at the CalCEF Angel Fund monthly meeting was a viewpoint on Cap and Trade policy and its impact on Green House Gases (GHGs) and the price of oil, coal, and natural gas. He summed up his speech last night with these words: “What a downer.”
For a bit of background on cap and trade you can go here. Note that there is already a market for GHG permits – The EU has been trading GHG permits for 4 years, RGGI in Eastern US is a carbon market and
But according to Borenstein, “There is a ticking time bomb under these cap and trade models. Most studies ignore the supply elasticity of fossil fuels.” “Analysis to date hasn’t focused on resource price change in response to cap and trade – resource scarcity and price changes are likely to be central.”
Here is the argument:Pricing GHG permits at $30 per ton does not impact coal usage.
“If GHG permits are at $30 to $40 per ton – will that cut down coal production or oil production? The answer is almost certainly “no”” according to Borenstein.
He adds that, “At $60 per ton, coal usage goes down but the cost of coal actually gets cheaper. It’s a pretty disturbing result.”
According to Borenstein, it may take GHG permits priced at $80-$100 per ton to drive coal out of the market.“You have to drive coal out of the market. You have to drive the price of coal down until it isn’t worth mining anymore,” adding “Or you drive the price of natural gas so high that it is not competitive with other renewable sources.”
Strikingly for an economist, Borenstein essentially punted on the value of Cap and Trade – he abandoned the value of cap and trade and carbon taxes and suggested that the main instrument in reducing GHGs is going to have to be technological change. He added that we probably need more money channeled to energy R&D and that we need more technological “hail mary passes.”
Here are some choice quotes from his speech:· “The numbers we hear for tradable permits are substantially too low.”· “If you don’t get· “None of the current technologies can compete with fossil fuels.”· “It’s worse to subsidize Green than to tax Brown.”· “Subsidizing green power essentially taxes energy efficiency.”· “We’re going to have to have higher prices to have any impact on GHGs.”· “None of this changes if you are talking taxes instead of cap and trade.”
He concluded by saying that $80-$100 per ton GHG prices, whether by cap and trade or taxes, is “so politically unpalatable” that only a technological fix might work to lower GHGs. -
SEAT Quits FIA WTCC
Spanish car manufacturer SEAT yesterday evening announced their official quit from the FIA World Touring Car Championship. Although it was initially believed that SEAT Sport will only reduce their WTCC programme to fewer cars for the 2010 season, it now seems the series will no longer benefit from factory SEAT Leons in the sport.However, the company will continue to supply customer teams with petrol or diesel powered Leons for the upcoming season.
After achieving all possible successes in… (read more)
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Iraq Oil Optimism
I think it remarkable that bidders accepted such extraordinary targets. They must believe that they are achievable for at least the short term. I certainly find it hard to believe it will promote best practice.
More importantly, putting a new 12 million barrels of oil on the market over the next several years will offset developing declines everywhere else. Thus the intent is to postpone a major decline in global oil deliveries. This is not a real problem for the developed world since they can simply buy their way past those without the money. It is a monster problem for everyone else who rely on oil to fuel their own industrial revolution.
We have posted a lot on the solutions that will work in
I think that the necessary solutions are presently to hand or certainly will be in this decade. This Iraqi oil surge will provide the necessary cushion.
It obviously also provides convincing evidence for the war conspiracy types that the major motivation for disposing of the inconvenient former government was this oil and our present clear need of it.
However, if EEStor or its equivalent emerges shortly, then oil will be worthless in a decade or so and it does not matter at all. Besides, who wants to go to war over a completely uneconomic goal like peace in Afghanistan.
Contractual Incentives and Penalites to Motivate Oil Companies Increase Iraq Oil Production to 12 million barrels per day
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VyTCyizqrHs/S0eP8GC94RI/AAAAAAAAGOE/BKj8XM6MSjM/s1600-h/iraqoilss.jpg
Stuart Staniford chart onJay Park describes why he thinks Iraq can achieve its 12 million barrels per day in 6-7 years This was a comment on an article (crossposted to the Oil Drum) by Stuart Staniford of Early Warning blog.He is the instructor of the “International Petroleum Transactions” course at the Faculty of Law of theJay Park’s Analysis of the Likely Development of
I [Jay Park] have been involved for a number of years with the Iraqi oil industry, and I am familiar with the Technical Service Contracts (TSCs) which were awarded in the First and Second Petroleum Licensing Rounds by the Petroleum Contracts and Licensing Division (PCLD) of the Iraq Ministry of Oil (MoO). I have met Dr. Al-Shahristani and many of the other MoO executives. Consequently, some of what I know can shed light on the opinions and comments above.
It seems to me that the possibility that
Let me explain why I agree with this sentiment. In 2004 and the years that followed, MoO entered into a number of “Memoranda of Understanding” with various major international oil companies (IOCs) to study the discovered Iraqi fields, both producing and non-producing, and share this information with MoO. Extensive analysis work was done by the IOCs, in the hopes that the work would lead to an award of a contract for the fields, or at least, the knowledge gained would give an upper hand in a bid process. Neither proved to be the case; all contracts have been awarded by bidding, and all information was shared with prospective bidders. The consequence is that all IOCs went into the bid process with good knowledge of the fields.
The Technical Service Contracts impose an obligation on the IOC (who becomes a a “Contractor” for the relevant Iraqi regional oil company, such as the South Oil Company, or the North Oil Company) to increase production to the Plateau Production Target. This must be done within 6 years (for First Round fields) or 7 years (for Second Round fields). The PPT must be maintained for 7 years.
The Plateau Production Target was one of two factors which the IOCs bid during the rounds. The second bid factor was the Remuneration Fee, expressed in dollars per barrel. The winning bid was determined using a formula involving (in the First Round) the product of the production target and the remuneration fee, or (in the Second Round) a point system that put 80% of the weight on the Remuneration Fee.
In either case, there was a tremendous incentive on the bidding IOCs to propose a VERY high Plateau Production Target. It has been said that MoO was amazed at the PPTs that were bid. MoO had hoped to get commitments for 6 million bbl/day of production; instead, they got 12 million bbl/day, even though less than all of the fields were awarded.Can these production rates actually be achieved in
1. The IOCs had good information about these fields2. The Contractor’s remuneration fee is based on a per-barrel fee which creates an economic incentive to achieve the PPT3. The Contractors have a contractual obligation under the TSCs to reach the PPT. If they fail to do so, there are non-performance penalties under the TSC that grind down the already-modest remuneration fees, and other possible consequencesI don’t make it my business to bet against some of the world’s most capable companies achieving objectives that they are contractually bound to perform, and with economic incentives that encourage such performance, when they voluntarily set those objectives with all the relevant information they needed.The following are reasons why these production levels may not be achieved:2. While IOCs are very good at achieving their committed goals, the TSCs (particularly for the First Round fields) give them quite limited control over ensuring that operations are successful. It is up to MoO to develop the transportation and export infrastructure to take away all the produced oil, and MoO’s performance record since 2003 in increasing Iraqi production is less than stellar.
3. Security issues in the fields or attacks on pipelines may prevent the Contractors from being able to fulfill the PPT.In a presentation I heard from Mr. Thamir Ghadhban, a former Iraqi oil minister, and now an oil advisor to the Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki, he doubted that 12 million barrels/day could be achieved. He believes that the IOCs bid too high, just to get the contracts. However, others have suggested to me that a really good oil field can be very forgiving– and have no doubts, these are some of the world’s best oilfields.Indeed, production capability could conceivably go over 12 million bbl/day, once theAlso, the First and Second Bid Rounds were dealing only with discovered fields. There are 430 geological anomalies inThe remuneration fee is the ‘profit’ to the Contractor. And it is less than many people understand. The table in Stuart’s post that lists the fields and the remuneration fee shows the gross fee. There is an Iraqi state partner in the Contractor consortium who gets 25% of that remuneration fee, and then there is income tax of 35% on the remainder. So the $2.00 per barrel fee that BP and CNPC agreed to receive for Rumailah becomes only $0.97 after those deductions. At $80 oil, that is 98.7% government take– a new world high.Please remember that -
USB Scent Flower Gives Glade Plugin a Run for Their Money
USB devices that also double as aromatherapy are nothing new but the USB Scent Flower differs because it is just too cute! Designed to look like a flower with petals each one has 3 refill cartridges and comes in 4 four different colors. each one also has its own scent – Ocean Breeze, Purple Lavender, Pink Jasmine, and White Chamomile. Each one retails for $9.99 and is certainly a lot cuter and economical than the Febreeze or Glade plugin.
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Sarkozy Summons Renault Executives to Meeting Over Clio Production Sites
It looks like Renault is facing an unexpected level of opposition to its (rumored) decision of producing the Clio’s succesor exclusively in Turkey: French president Nicolas Sarkozy has summoned Renault’s Chief, Carlos Ghosn, to a meeting on Saturday in order to debate this issue, as Reuters writes.As we’ve previously reported, after the French magazine La Tribune published the rumor last week, the French Government, who owns 15% of the carmaker, reacted by warning Renualt not to cut any jo… (read more)
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Dead Space 2 to get Collector’s Edition, you get to decide what’s in it
Dead Space 2 has been confirmed to get a Collector’s Edition, this according to Visceral Games’ press wire.
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Driving Directions in 18 New Countries in Google Maps
Google Maps is a wonderful tool and with the number of features now available, things like traffic reports, public transit maps, Maps Navigation, Street View, it is staggering. If you live in the US and some parts of the developed world, that is. But when Google Maps lists just a couple of international roads in your entire country, the too… (read more) -
SGN Founder Steps Aside. Randy Breen Takes CEO Role
SGN, a mobile gaming platform and publisher based in Silicon Valley, has named former EA and LucasArts executive Randy Breen as CEO. Founder and former CEO Shervin Pishevar continues at the company as executive chairman. Breen first joined the company in 2009 as COO.
SGN is one of the top gaming publishers on the iPhone, with 15 million unique installs of games like F.A.S.T and Skies of Glory. Revenue in this market will almost certainly explode this year with the October 2009 launch of in-game payments for free Apple appstore applications.
Companies like SGN, ngmoco and Tapulous are all in a prime position to tap into that growth. 2010 may be as good for these companies as 2009 was for the social gaming companies like Zynga, Playfish and Playdom – big financings and acquisitions across the board.
The press release is below.
SGN NAMES RANDY BREEN CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Founder Shervin Pishevar Continues as Executive ChairmanPalo Alto, Calif. – January 14, 2010 – SGN, a leader in mobile social gaming, today announced that Randy Breen has been named SGN’s chief executive officer. Shervin Pishevar will remain focused on SGN in his day-to-day role as founder and executive chairman.
Since joining SGN in an interim role as chief operating officer, game industry veteran Breen has been pivotal in providing leadership in all aspects of corporate operations including game production, business development, marketing, strategy and executive management.
“Over the last five months, Randy has done an incredible job leading the company and I look forward to continuing to work closely with him,” said Pishevar. “With the industry preparing for explosive growth this year – resulting from massive expansion in the iPhone, Android and tablet marketplace – I strongly believe that Randy’s experience and knowledge will be instrumental in building SGN into the largest mobile social gaming company of 2010 and beyond.”
SGN entered into the iPhone market in 2008 and has since had more than 15 million unique downloads – resulting in an average of one in three iPhones and iPod Touches that run at least one of SGN’s games. To date, the company secured $15 million in one round of funding and has expanded globally with more than 100 employees worldwide.
“Working with Shervin and the team over the past five months has exceeded all of my expectations coming into the company,” said Breen. “I’ve witnessed the birth of EA and Lucas Arts’ gaming business, but I’ve never seen such an immense opportunity in gaming as SGN has ahead of it.”
“This is a great day for SGN as Shervin Pishevar – one of the most dynamic, passionate and innovative entrepreneurs I’ve worked with – has joined forces with one the most experienced gaming leaders to help take SGN to the next level,” said David Sze, Greylock Partners. “Shervin has been instrumental in taking SGN from being just an idea to one of the leading mobile social gaming company’s in the world. Breen and Pishevar are a dynamic duo that will push SGN forward in the mobile social gaming space.”
Breen brings over two decades of industry gaming experience to SGN including fifteen years at EA. Starting off in production roles, Breen moved into the lead executive producer and creative director position for EA. His next five years were spent at LucasArts Entertainment, a subsidiary of LucasFilm, as vice president of product development where he helped build and scale their gaming business. For more information, please see http://www.linkedin.com/in/RandyBreen.
About SGN
Headquartered in Palo Alto, California with offices in Beijing and Argentina, SGN is one of the largest developers of mobile social games. SGN’s current stable of advanced games has led to more than 15 million unique downloads on the iPhone and iPod Touch. SGN specializes in advanced games such as Skies of Glory and F.A.S.T. that have console quality graphics and live multiplayer features over 3G, WiFi and Bluetooth. F.A.S.T, the company’s new 3D jet-fighting game, was listed as #5 on Apple’s App Store Top Paid Games list for the iPhone and #6 on the Top Paid Apps list in the U.S. within the first two weeks of its launch. SGN’s games are on 1 in 3 iPhones and iPod Touches. For more information, please visit www.sgn.com or www.twitter.com/sgn_tweets.Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors
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A Quick And Dirty Fix For The 27-inch iMac Screen Problem
When we last wrote about the problems with the new 27-inch iMac’s screen a few weeks ago, there were over 1,600 replies on Apple’s support board about the issue. That’s 110 pages of replies. And the thread had been viewed some 260,000 times — much, much more than any other thread. I’m fairly certain more than all of the other ones combined, actually. Those numbers now? Try 2,860 replies, 191 pages, and over 400,000 views. Yeah, this problem is not going away.Amazingly, Apple still has yet to reply to these messages piling up. Yes, they issued what they said was a fix for the problem, but that was actually before our post. Obviously, for many people, it did not work. I happen to have one of these affected Macs, and randomly, I think I’ve stumbled up an easy, but janky fix. It doesn’t solve the issue, but it does seem to eliminate for a while.
If you go to Settings, click on Expose & Spaces, and locate the Active Screen Corners portion of Expose, you’ll have an option to set one of the corners of your screen to “Put Display to Sleep.” Set one corner to do this. The next time your screen starts flickering, activate this hot corner and put your display to sleep for a few seconds. When it comes back on, it should be okay (for at least several hours in my experience).
Alternatively, I’ve found that if I restart my computer it helps too. But that’s a pain since you have to close everything you are working on, obviously. The resolution appears to work because the problem would seem to be related to overheating. Several commenters in the forums noted this, and I’ve noticed it as well. If you put your hand behind the iMac when the flickering problem is going on, you’ll notice it’s hot. Really hot. Almost scalding hot.
Again, it’s a somewhat janky temporary fix, but sadly it’s all we have now. Or you could try sending your iMac back. But I’ve done that once too — the iMac I got back still has the issue.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
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2010 Goodwood Breakfast Club Dates and Themes Announced
The schedule and details for this year’s Goodwood Breakfast Club have been announced, with the meetings set to take place on the first Sunday of every month, from March to December, with the exception of July and September, that have been rescheduled due to the preparations for the annual Goodwood Festival of Speed and the Goodwood Revival.As in previous years, the Goodwood Breakfast Club meetings for 2010 will also be held at the Goodwood Motor Circuit in West Sussex. Moreover, the December… (read more)
