Author: Serkadis

This is why concern about the euro is becoming so mainstream.

Even the healthy powerhouses of Europe — we’re not talking Greece and Ireland here — are showing signs of instability, or at least weakness.

New numbers out of Germany do not look good.

Despite strong Q3 growth, total 2009 output plunged 5% in 2009, which means implicitly that Q4 came in worse than expected, according to The New York Times.

The statistics agency did not release a figure for the fourth quarter, but economists said the greater-than-expected full-year decline implied that growth had slowed from the third quarter, when output rose 0.7 percent compared to the previous quarter. The exact figure is impossible to calculate now because economists don’t know if government statisticians will revise figures from earlier quarters.

If earlier figures stand, then fourth-quarter growth was almost stagnant. But economists said growth probably continued in the latter part of the year, though possibly at a slower pace. “We expect the German economy to have posted substantial growth in the fourth quarter — even if it does not quite match the excellent third quarter,” Commerzbank economists said in a note to investors.

The bottom line is that there’s precious little right now to suggest a solid v-shaped recovery anywhere in the world.

There are good numbers we get from time to time, and then there are numbers like this, the last Case-Shiller, and last week’s jobs data, which point to a world that isn’t rebounding on a straight line.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• BARCLAYS: The Chance Of A New Crisis In 2010 Is Growing
• David Rosenberg: "Uh-Oh" It’s A Double Dip In Housing
• Paul Krugman: "Reasonably High Chance" Of Double Dip Coming Next Year

Many a mind might’ve strayed from all the CES crazy-talk about future tech and wondered as to what exactly is going on in the war against bad graphics on otherwise totally sweet laptops. The answer from NVIDIA is, disappointingly, not much. The green giant of GPUs quietly snuck out its 300M mobile GPUs over the turn of the year, and there was good reason for the lack of fuss — the top tier GeForce GTS 360M sports the same number of processing cores as its 260M predecessor, accompanied by the same 2GHz memory clock and identical 128-bit memory interface. But don’t despair yet, sailor! There’s the stark omission of any GeForce GTX models among the new 300Ms, which should fuel hopes that this gap in what NVIDIA calls the enthusiast market will be filled by Fermi-shaped chips come March of this year.

NVIDIA outs 300M mobile graphics series, causes little excitement originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Jan 2010 06:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Obama is coming to a stage near you!

Hope, a musical based Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, is heating up the stage in Germany with power ballads by Obama, a rock chorus from John McCain, and a solo from Sarah Palin and a bevy of scantily-clad backup dancers.

The lyrics for the songs are taken from actual political speeches, while the plot focuses on residents of an apartment building who become affected and united by Obama’s campaign message of change and hope.

Michigan-based Saleen Performance Vehicles is currently displaying two of its latest contraptions at the 2010 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit. The visitors at the SPV’s booth will therefore get to take a closer look at the Saleen 435S and the Saleen S281, both based on the 2010 Ford Mustang.

The Saleen 435S was the first vehicle launched under Saleen’s new ownership, following the purchase of Saleen Inc. in 2009, debuting as part of the Special Vehicle Team Owners As… (read more)

Heritage Key (Malcolm Jack)

“There is no other site like it,” states the introductory paragraph on the website of the Amarna Project – the body which, since 2005, has been responsible for excavations and research at Tell el-Amarna, the short-lived capital city of the “heretic pharaoh” Akhenaten (King Tut’s dad) in the 14th century BC. As a living site, Tell el-Amarna is perhaps unparalleled in all of Egypt in terms of scale, ready accessibility and quality of preservation.

Professor Barry Kemp – of the University of Cambridge – is the director of the Amarna Project, and also the chairman of the Amarna Trust, a UK registered charity which provides most of the funding for the project. Kemp has directed excavation and archaeological survey at Amarna for the Egypt Exploration Society since 1977, and is one of the world’s leading authorities on the ill-fated ancient Egyptian city.

It in a wide-ranging interview with Heritage Key, Kemp explains what makes Amarna so important, and details the history of excavations there. He also reveals the latest news on the construction of a brand new visitor centre at Amarna, and gives us a heads-up on plans for future investigations and study at the site.

Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

One can say a lot of things about Italian driver Giancarlo Fisichella, but no one could argue that his desire to race Formula One cars has remained unchanged throughout the years. Although he was the second oldest driver in the Formula One roster until recently, the Roman driver insisted that he hasn’t said his last word in the series just yet.

Midway through last season, Fisico signed a deal with Ferrari for the upcoming 10 years, but only as a test and reserve driver. He went on to replace … (read more)

On Tuesday, the two-year rape investigation targeting illusionist David Copperfield was been closed by prosecutors in Washington State. No charges were filed against the celebrity after police said his accuser made a false sex assault claim against another man last month.

The woman who accused Copperfield of raping her, a 23-year-old fashion model, waitress and former Miss Washington contestant, said in a related civil lawsuit against Copperfield that she met him when he pulled her out of the crowd and on to the stage during a performance in Kennewick, in southeastern Washington. She was later invited to visit his private island in the Bahamas in July 2007.

The still-unidentified woman claimed that, once she arrived, Copperfield, whose real name is David Kotkin, sexually assaulted her, in one instance holding her head under water to coerce her.

The beauty queen was questioned by police last month over allegations she tried to extort $2,000 from a businessman for sex, according to police reports. An official police report states the woman told a businessman she would have sex with him for $2,000 after performing oral sex on him in a hotel room in Bellevue, Washington on December 2.

When he refused to pay, the woman went to the lobby where she allegedly complained to workers she had been “taken advantage of.”

The illusionist’s lawyers, Angelo Calfo and Patty Eakes, previously called the rape lawsuit “extortion for money, plain and simple…”

Lots of interesting commentary in the wake of Google’s bombshell blog post from yesterday about its decision to stop censoring its search results and possibly withdrawing from the Chinese market all together after being hit with severe cyber attacks on its core infrastructure. You can follow the conversation on Techmeme, but there’s one item that just hit the news aggregator that I felt compelled to set straight.

Thomas Crampton correctly notes that Baidu.tw, supposedly owned by Chinese search leader Baidu, is currently getting forwarded to the Google Taiwan homepage (albeit only when you put www in front of the domain name). But it’s false to assume that the site was hacked: the domain name never directed to a Baidu property and is even entirely out of the company’s control. There’s a number of ways you can tell.

Just to be clear, I’m not criticizing Crampton here. After all, the Baidu.com domain name was hacked just yesterday so his assumption isn’t that far-fetched.

However, a simple WHOIS search reveals that the domain name isn’t owned by Baidu but by another entity, either an individual or an organization. The identity (Zheng Xiaodo) and contact details that were given for registration are likely fake, and I seriously doubt the owner really lives in China.

The person who registered Baidu.tw, back in 2005, has used the generic contact e-mail address for at least 99 other domain names in the past. He or she signed up for a webmail account on Chinese portal 21cn.com, an ISP under ownership of a holding called Century Dragon Information Network, which can be perfectly done by anyone outside of the country.

Furthermore, this person used Malaysian registrar (Web.CC) to secure the domain name, and the nameservers that are currently configured for the Web address are also located in Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia. For its other domain names, Baidu uses its own nameservers. It also uses taiwan.baidu.com for its Taiwan operations, although the site is currently offline.

Also, when you look at the cache for Baidu.tw, you can see that just a couple of days ago the domain led to Szhot.com, another domain name registrar.

Finally, when you go to Baidu.tw right now and click around (apart from the top menu), you’ll see that there was simply a change in domain name record settings, likely following the flurry of news about Google’s China stance and the role Baidu plays in all this from yesterday.

In conclusion: Baidu.tw was not hacked; someone is just trying to play a number on Baidu.

(Image via Thomas Crampton)

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There is no indication as to whether the Egyptian government has given the ok to Iran to study the remains. It seems unlikely.

A group of Iranian archeologists is planning to go to Egypt to study the remains of a great Persian army in the Sahara desert.

Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization (ICHTO) Hamid Baqaei announced on Sunday that Egypt had agreed for the Iranian group to conduct studies there.

Two Italian brothers claimed to have found the remains of a great army sent by the Persian King Cambyses II to attack the Oasis of Siwa 2,500 years ago.

Egypt’s chief archeologist Zahi Hawass, however, rejected the discovery as “unfounded and misleading,” adding that as the Italian brothers had not been granted legal permission to excavate in Egypt their claims of having made a discovery was not credible.

“We have sent a letter to Egyptian cultural heritage officials and they have implicitly confirmed the existence of the remains of the Persian army,” IRNA quoted Baqaei as saying.

“They have also stated that the finds belong to the Egyptian government.”

Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

Bmw Group’s nonidentical SUV twins, the X5 and the X6, will receive a new diesel unit, becoming available as the X5 xDrive40d and the X6 xDrive40d in spring, but only on the European Market, as bmwblog.com reports. The information has not been officially confirmed.It seems that the engine we are talking about is the twin-turbocharged 3.0 liter straight six which has recently found it’s way under the 7 series sedan’s hood. In the X5’s case, it will be featured on the upcoming facelift. Apparent… (read more)

(This guest post originally appeared at the author’s blog)

So says the team of equity analysts at Barclays.   Although policymakers helped avoid the second Great Depression, Barclays believes we have simply kicked the can down the road.  As their head of U.S. equity strategy said in November, the likelihood of Japanese style de-leveraging stagnation remains very high.

Like TPC, the bank argues that 2010 will be a year of halves.  While the first half is likely to be characterized by more of what we saw in 2010 (improvement in corporate profits and accommodative government actions) the second half is likely to be characterized by an increasing burden on the consumer as the baton is handed from the public sector to the private sector.  Barclays says this passing of the baton has the potential for an even greater crisis as higher taxes, higher interest rates and lower government spending create increased risks.

Barclays remains more bearish than the consensus.  Global economic growth is likely to disappoint as spare capacity fails to lead to a sharp rebound and unemployment remains high.  They see the probability of a crisis increasing as 2010 goes on:

The probability of a crisis will build during 2010. Although it might seem natural to think that the probability of a dire scenario falls over time, as more quarters of growth are recorded, in fact the opposite is true.  The main reason why is that, faced with resistance to a more fundamentals shift, currently, policymakers are trying to recreate the “old” world, which was clearly unsustainable in a number of respects, such as in its reliance on “rich” consumers to spend and “poor” ones to save.  The longer that that continues the higher the probability of a train crash.

Because of this, the likelihood for an “ugly” economic outcome is 40% according to Barclays.  Unlike the consensus, who is overwhelmingly bullish about 2010, Barclays sees just a 10% probability of a “good” outcome:

As the crisis remains unresolved the potential for policy mistakes grows with every day.  Barclays now sees four primary risks to their 2010 outlook:

• The Fed gets it wrong and spooks the market with rate increases.
• The US Treasury gets it wrong on fiscal tightening and results in yield spike.
• Consumers get cold feet and become permanent savers.
• Foreigners lose confidence in the US and a dollar crisis ensues.

The implications here are fairly straight forward.  We are not yet out of the credit crisis woods and 2010 has the potential to remind us of that.  Although the first half of 2010 is likely to mirror what we saw in 2009 the back half of 2010 has the real potential for another economic relapse and even a double dip.  As we mentioned in our 2010 investment outlook investors would be wise to remain nimble and keep investment durations fairly short.

Source: Barclays

Read more market commentary at The Pragmatic Capitalist — >

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• January 12, 2010: THE DAY BERNANKE GOT REPLACED
• Goldman Sachs: The Year Will Be Huge For Big Banks, M&A, And Food Inflation, While Obamacare Will Prove Irrelevant
• Byron Wien: Here Are Ten Things That Will Surprise You In 2010

Here’s the new Ferrari Enzo tuning from Gemballa called the Mig-U1 and, yes, they could have done a better job with the name. Just 25 units of Mig-U1 will be made, and all can be completely customised according to the client’s wishes. The aerodynamics have been completely redesigned for an extra 35 kg at the front and 85 kg at the rear, with active wings that are lowered below 120 km/hr.

Modifications have been made to the front air intakes for the engine and air outlets for the brakes, to optimise airflow. The bodywork itself is different after the tweaks to the aerodynamics and the wheel axle is now 80 mm wider at the front and 100 mm wider at the rear.

The electro-hydraulic height adjustment system (HLS) raises the wheel base by 45 mm for ramps and speed humps, and will automatically go back into place when travelling at more than 80 km/hr. Alloy wheels measure 10×19″ at the front with 265/35 tyres, and 13×20″ at the rear with 335/tyres.

The V12 engine on the Mig-U1 has achieved 700 hp thanks to a new engine management system, air intake and new exhaust. On the inside, the Mig-U1 features sports seats, a new centre console, sports steering wheel and touch screen with DVD, navigator and iPod outlet. You even get a sub-woofer in the middle of the seats, although I suspect you might find yourself sitting a little too close for comfort.

Sneakers aren’t just for helping you walk or run comfortably. They can and should be statements, and that’s exactly what the new Nike Lunarlite Hyper Ventilate shoe is.

The sneaker features many of Nike’s most advanced technologies including Torch three-layer ventilation material, Lunarlite outsoles, and overall comfortability, stability, and performance. Oh, and they look amazing in a kind of other worldly way.

You can find them now at Proper.

Related posts:

1. Preview of the New Zune HD

I know everyone heaved a great sigh of relief because they now know that the President’s State of the Union Address will not coincide with the season premiere of LOST.

But as President Obama’s first State of the Union approaches, you have the opportunity to get the inside track on what his advisors are thinking, and in return they want your thoughts on the current condition of this country.

Each morning this week at WhiteHouse.gov, you’ll find a guest post from a senior advisor talking about the progress the Administration had made in a particular area. Then, in the afternoon, the advisor will host a live video chat with the public where you can ask anything you want, or just tune in to see what’s going on.

• Wednesday, 12:00 EST: HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will talk about health reform.
• Thursday, TBD: The nation’s first Federal Chief Technology Officer, Aneesh Chopra, will join Norm Eisen, special council to the President for ethics and government reform, to talk about ways in which the President has changed Washington.
• Friday, 1:00 EST: Christina Romer, Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, talks about restoring the economy.

Now is your opportunity to hear and be heard! What issues are you most concerned about? Will you be watching the State of the Union?

	Detroit 2010: BYD’s plans to bring the all-electric E6 to the U.S. slightly detailed Nothing says ambition like a Chinese company that wants to be the world’s biggest automaker in 15 years.		Detroit 2010: First wave of Chevy Volts will come to Michigan Home sweet home.
	Detroit 2010: Pelosi says automaker bailout protected industry, environment A lot of optimism about the future from the Washington delegation.	Other news: Report: Ford going with LG Chem for lithium ion cells? Detroit 2010: Tesla Model S in gorgeous red and a dirty Roadster Raging Grannies target Tesla for potential Downey plant site on toxic dump site

AutoblogGreen for 01.13.10 originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 13 Jan 2010 05:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Channing Tatum “burned the skin off” his penis.

The 29-year-old actor suffered the agonizing injury while trying to keep warm when shooting The Eagle of the Ninth in the Scottish Highlands in October. While shooting the film, Chan — as the hunk prefers to be called — had to stand in ice-cold water for just a few minutes at a time, but injured his man parts when his warm-up routine took a wrong turn.

He tells the February issue of Details: “The only way to keep warm was by pouring a mix of boiling water and river water down your suit. We were finally done shooting for the day, and one of the crew guys asks if I want to warm up before I go. I’m like, Nah, I’m good. And then I thought, Why not?” Chan recounts. “Thing is, he’d forgotten to dilute the kettle water. So he poured scalding water down my suit. And I was trying to pull the suit away from my body to somehow get away from the boiling water, and the more I pulled the suit away, the lower the water went. It just went straight down and pretty much burned the skin off the head of my dick.”

Channing describes the incident as “the most painful thing” he had ever experienced. The former stripper was taken to hospital, but with the nearest medical facility over an hour away, he struggled to cope with the pain:

“I said to the driver, who was ex-special-forces Marines, ‘You might have to knock me out, because I don’t know if I can take the pain. Just grab something and hit me on the back of my head…..I had five guys looking at my shrivelled, burned penis.”

Luxor News Blog (Jane Akshar)

Apparently there have bee a series of significant finds (including some papyrus) at Dra Abu Naga near Roy and Shu Roy and Zahi is coming to Luxor 17th to announce something.

All very intriguing

Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

Following a recent sweepstakes put together by Aaron’s and Hewlett Packard (HP) in the United States and Canada, Cynthia Norlin of Glendale, Arizona won a 2010 Mini Cooper, valued at $20,000+. According to Aaron’s, there were more than 4,000 HP Mini Netbooks leased or purchased at Aaron’s locations during the sweepstakes.

Moreover, the first prize winner, to be announced, will receive a brand new HP Touch Smart Laptop valued at $1,439. The second prize winner, Steve Hogg from Texas, will rec… (read more)

The Ancient World Online

Thanks to Chuck Jones at AWOL for posting a comprehensive list of online resources available for those who wish to find out more about the excavations at the Giza necropolis. Go to the above page for some excellent links, many in PDF format.

Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

Although most companies debuted their latest goodies at the 2010 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Audi is waiting for the Geneva Motor Show in March to introduce the A8 hybrid. There are no technical details available but we do know that the future model will be a full hybrid, meaning that it could be driven on electricity alone, while the additional combustion engine will act as backup so it will supply power only once the electric unit gets depleted.

The 2011 Audi A8 was u… (read more)