Flavio Briatore’s lawyer, Philippe Ouakrat stepped up today to state that in his opinion the FIA can’t win anything by appealing to the French court’s decision. Ouakrat argued the verdict was a disaster for the governing body, which should now accept it will have to make radical changes to its World Council structure.
"First of all we aim at having the verdict enforced. In any case, the FIA has zero chances if it decides to appeal," Philippe Ouakrat was quoted as saying … (read more)
All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism, right? Critics are still blasting the TSA for allowing an alleged Nigerian terrorist to board a plane headed to Detroit on Christmas day. Experts say screeners missed several suspicious behaviors, especially the fact that someone was willingly going to Detroit.
The big news yesterday, if there was any, were the minutes from the mid-December Fed meeting (with the usual 3 week lag). The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) still sees a modest recovery this year, e.g., one that will bring only a “slow improvement” in the nation’s severe unemployment problem. Although the FOMC’s role is not to provide jobs, employment is still a concern, and they expect unemployment to remain elevated for quite some time. But of most interest to mortgage lenders is the appearance that they are in no hurry to raise overnight Fed Funds which have been near 0% for over a year. In addition, a weak recovery could warrant expanding or extending the $1.25 trillion mortgage-backed securities purchase program, although there is no change now. Winding it down, the minutes stated, may hurt housing since the securitization markets are still “impaired”, and the commercial sector is still deteriorating. If you’re interested in the 12 pages of minutes check them out HERE.
In the meantime, ahead of tomorrow’s unemployment data we had yesterday’s ADP Employment Report (which showed that the private sector dropped 84,000 jobs in December, ADP’s 23rd month in a row of declines – “employment losses are now rapidly diminishing”) and today’s weekly Jobless Claims data. Today’s number showed that the number of U.S. workers filing new applications for unemployment insurance rose less than expected last week (up only 1,000 to 434,000) and the 4-week moving average hit a 16-month low at 450,000. Yesterday’s jobs data, however, was enough to push rates higher during the day, resulting in several investors changing prices. (Mortgage prices did better than Treasury prices, presumably due to lack of supply versus the Fed buying.) Ahead of us we still have the supply announcement for next week’s auction of 3’s, 10’s, 30’s and 10yr TIPS, but for now the 10-yr yield is back up to 3.84% and mortgage prices are worse between .125 and .250.
Featuring an extremely paradoxical name, the HTC Smart is HTC’s first dumb phone, based on the Qualcomm BREW Mobile Platform with HTC’s Sense UI overlay.
HTC’s press release is below:
HTC Corporation, a global smartphone designer, today unveiled HTC Smart, a new type of smartphone that creates a new category of easy-to-use, connected smartphones that are accessible by people all over the world. “HTC has always focused on listening to customers and setting the stage for new mobile categories and HTC Smart is the response to customer demand around the world for an easier-to-use, affordable smartphone,” said Peter Chou, chief executive officer, HTC Corporation. “Just adding a touch interface doesn’t mean a phone is a smartphone; The integration of HTC Sense brings an unparalleled smartphone experience for people looking to do more on their phone.”
Bringing HTC Sense To The Masses
HTC Smart begins with a friendly compact touch design and integrates an intuitive user experience that is centered around HTC Sense, an HTC design philosophy that puts people at the center by focusing on three core areas: Make It Mine, Stay Close and Discover the Unexpected. HTC Smart enables personal customization of each person’s own phone experience. It also provides a quick and easy way to see what friends are up to via various social networks as well as quickly communicating over the phone, through text messaging or email.
“HTC Smart breaks new ground in delivering the powerful, in-demand smartphone features that consumers want on a more accessible device for global markets,” said Paul Jacobs, chief executive officer, Qualcomm Incorporated. “We are pleased to be supporting HTC as they utilize the capabilities of Qualcomm’s Brew Mobile Platform open operating system to offer high-end capabilities and a compelling mobile user experience at mass-market price points.”
Qualcomm Brew Mobile Platform (Brew MP)
HTC Smart utilizes Qualcomm’s Brew MP, a popular mobile operating system that enables smartphone devices to be offered at more aggressive price points, providing HTC with the flexibility to deliver smartphone features on devices across multiple tiers.
Availability
The HTC Smart will be available this spring across Europe and Asia.
The phone features a 300 Mhz processor, QVGA screen, 256 MB ROM and 256 MB RAM, European 3G, 3 megapixel camera and 3.5mm headphone jack.
Commentary
It is of note that even a free OS like Android was not cheap enough to allow HTC to access the pay as you go market. This is because a smartphone OS brings with it certain hardware requirements such as a powerful processor, RAM and extra sensor support. Having a free OS does not mean much when you need $200 worth of hardware to run it.
This of course further suggests a role for an OS optimised for less demanding hardware such as Windows Mobile 6.5.x to continue to exist while Windows Mobile 7 would cater to the higher end of the market.
Hopefully this move will be successful for HTC, but we do doubt HTC has enough brand recognition, or the phone enough features to compete in the feature or fashion and style market.
A suggestion to HTC however, your slogan of bringing Sense to the Masses could do with some tweaking – we don’t think the masses appreciate being called Senseless…
Ed Whitacre, General Motor Co’s chairman, said he is expecting around 100 GM dealerships to get restored due to the new arbitration federal law.
I think a large number will get reinstated, autonews.com quoted him as saying today. I think that’s a given. It’s in the hundreds.
The law, which was signed by President Obama, sets a period of six months in which dealers can demand neutral arbitration after they get closed down. Closed dealers have until January 25 to ann… (read more)
We had a chance to catch up for a minute with the man tasked with turning around Moto’s phone business, Mobile Devices CEO Sanjay Jha, just moments before he went on stage to introduce the Backflip this week at CES. With Android getting more attention than ever before, it’s never been a better time to sit down with a guy who’s gone all-in with the platform, right? He talks Nexus One, Google, firmware updates, Blur, and more, so don’t be shy — read on for the full transcript!
Continue reading A quick sitdown with Motorola co-CEO Sanjay Jha
A quick sitdown with Motorola co-CEO Sanjay Jha originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Anyone who owns a dolphin trained to detect underwater mines might be interested in Matthieu Baele’s rechargeable stove idea. Anyone who’s got a retired dolphin trained to, etc, etc, might want to re-educate it to do the cooking at home.
The Stoov consists of an electromagnet with a heating element, all covered in heat-resistant rubber, and then, rather implausibly, finished with a multi-touch screen (that you can, I guess, watch cooking porn on or, maybe not.) And when you get bored with the Stoov, you can stick it on the bottom of a ship and wait for it to blow up.
[Yanko]
Spring Design’s Alex e-reader gets February 22 release date, $399 price originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apparently, today’s the day to release affordable mainstream laptops and Toshiba is joining the flood with seven new Satellites. Yes, Tosh’s got seven new models with every screen size from 13 inches on up to 18.4. We’re pretty interested in the higher end 16-inch Satellite A505 which will have choices of Intel Core i3-330M, Core i5-430M, Core i7-720QM as well as AMD Turion Ultra M620 processors. The starting at $749 rig will also be offered with Blu-ray and discrete graphics options. On the lower end, the 13.3 inch Satellite U505, isn’t as thin or light as the Toshiba T135, but the Core i3-330M and Core i5-430M powered system can be configured with a mulittouch display and WiMAX. The 14-inch E205, 15.6 inch L505, 17.3-inch L555, and 18.4 inch P505 all have Intel Core i3 and i5 options, but hit the break for the detailed specs.
Continue reading Toshiba unleashes seven Satellites with Core i3 and i5 processors
Toshiba unleashes seven Satellites with Core i3 and i5 processors originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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As if it wasn’t enough to unleash seven new mainstream laptops, Toshiba’s updating its 18.4-inch Qosmio X505 desktop replacement with new Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors. The chassis is unchanged and continues to be a beast of a laptop with Harmon Kardon speakers and a wide 1920 x 1080-resolution display. The rest is all based on what configurtion you choose, but its safe to assume the starting at $1,199.99 model will have the lower end Intel Core i5-430M processor and a 320GB hard drive option. From there on up it will have options for NVIDIA GTS 360M graphics, an 64GB SSD and up to 6GB of RAM. Basically, the Qosmio just continues to be one mother of a rig. Hit the break for full specs.
Gallery: Toshiba Qosmio X505 hands-on
Continue reading Toshiba Qosmio X505 gets Core i5′d
Toshiba Qosmio X505 gets Core i5′d originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Continue reading Hanvon debuts new line of WISEreader e-book readers
Hanvon debuts new line of WISEreader e-book readers originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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EA’s financial problems from last year, it seems, are continuing to have repercussions. Even after cutting 1,500 employees in November, the publisher is still looking to reduce operating costs. As a result, the company is killing off a number of game servers on three separate dates in the coming months.
February 2 will see the largest number of game servers shut down, followed by a few more on February 9. While many of these games are a few years old and on older systems (such as FIFA 07 for PC), some of the games on the list are shockingly recent. The most surprising shutdown revelation is Madden 09 on all platforms, which will occur on April 6. Of course, no plans have been announced to turn off servers for Madden 10, but fans have got to be wondering if they’re only going to be able to play that game’s online mode for roughly a year before it, too, is shut down.
It makes sense to shut down many of these servers, since they cater to what are—most likely—small numbers of gamers at a significant expense to EA. However, the shutdown of servers for titles like Madden 09 and NASCAR 09 seems like a heavy-handed attempt to force players to pick up newer entries for these series. It’s a shame that EA is having such problems that it is forced to such drastic measures, but it’s even more of a shame that the company is using such tactics on general consumers. Here’s the full list of affected games:
April 6, 2010 Online Service Shutdown
February 9, 2010 Online Service Shutdown
February 2, 2010 Online Service Shutdown
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LAS VEGAS—After enduring an embarrassing power outage that delayed the start of the event for over 20 minutes, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer took the stage to kick off CES 2010. A major theme of Ballmer’s keynote, and also of Consumer Electronics Association head Gary Shapiro’s pre-keynote opening remarks, was that 2009 may have been a frightful year, but the worst is behind us; and as bad as last year was, the industry managed to beat some of the more pessimistic analyst expectations.
Ballmer then started to recap Microsoft’s 2009 successes, starting with the Xbox division. He announced that Project Natal will be released this holiday season, bringing motion control to the 360. At what price? Unknown. With what games? It’s a safe bet we’ll have these questions answered at E3.
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Leo Burnett today named Patti Temple Rocks executive vice president and global director of corporate communications responsible for strategic leadership of internal and external communications for the agency.
Temple Rocks assumes her new position effective Jan. 19.
Temple Rocks, 50, formerly served as vice president, global public affairs and reputation at The Dow Chemical Company, where she led a global communications function of over 300 employees in 28 countries.
She is returning to Chicago where she spent much of her career as a senior leader at Golin Harris International, overseeing McDonald’s, BP, Levi Strauss and several other blue-chip accounts.
Over the course of her career, Temple Rocks has worked with and for both traditional and non-traditional agencies and is no stranger to the advertising industry.
“On the heels of adding Susan Credle as our U.S. chief creative officer, Patti’s hiring continues the momentum as Leo Burnett continues to evolve and look forward to an even brighter future,” said Rich Stoddart, president of Leo Burnett USA to whom Temple Rocks will report.
“Patti has led communications efforts for some of the world’s most iconic brands with vision and creative flair that truly moves people. She is an exceptional talent and we are thrilled to welcome her to the Burnett family.”
“Leo Burnett’s reputation for transforming human behavior through creativity is unparalleled and the opportunity to build on that strong foundation and to be a key player in the future of this agency is a terrific opportunity.
Throughout the course of my conversations with the agency leadership, it became very clear to me that they are extremely committed to communications as a key part of their global growth strategy going forward,” said Temple Rocks, “I can’t wait to get started.”
Temple Rocks joins Burnett as the agency is experiencing a significant rise in creative performance.
Leo Burnett Worldwide was the third-most awarded network at Cannes 2009 and the Third-Most Awarded Creative Network in the World (2009 Creativity Awards Report).
Additionally, the network has been recognized as the #1 Network in New World Thinking (Gunn Report 2008). Its flagship creative office leads by example, continuing to shine at every major creative show in 2009, winning at Cannes, One Show, Clio, D&AD, Art Directors Club of New York and Andy’s.
Leo Burnett also announced today that it has hired Amy Cheronis, 39, as senior vice president, director worldwide corporate communications, effective Jan. 11.
She will report to Temple Rocks. Cheronis was most recently senior vice president, U.S. communications director at DDB in Chicago.
“There are tremendously talented people and a fantastic creative product at Leo Burnett, both here in Chicago and in offices around the world,” said Cheronis.
“I am excited to work with Patti and have the opportunity to tell the Leo Burnett story in a fresh, relevant way.”
About Leo Burnett Company Inc.
Leo Burnett Company Inc. is one of the world’s largest agency networks and the parent company of Leo Burnett and its marketing services arm, Arc. Leo Burnett is a HumanKind communications company.
Our approach is simple and singular: we put a brand’s purpose at the center of our communications in order to truly connect with people.
Then, we activate this human purpose to create what we refer to as “Acts, not just Ads.” In doing so, we make a life-long meaningful relationship between people and brands.
We believe when you create value, you create value for your clients.
That’s why an impressive number of the world’s most valuable brands, including The Coca-Cola Company, Kellogg, McDonald’s, Hallmark, Allstate, Walgreens, Procter & Gamble and Nintendo work with Leo Burnett.
Clients share our purpose-centered approach and, like us, they know that agencies don’t create great brands. People do.
Jamie Varner suffered quite a few injuries in his last fight back in January 25th last year. To help him recover, his doctor put him on gaming therapy until his fractured bones heal up. Now that he’s
Sitting at the helm of a company that has lost money consistently every year since 2005, GM CEO Ed Whitacre has expressed his optimism that GM will actually show a profit in 2010. GM lost $1.2 billion in the last quarter of 2009, while Toyota and Ford both showed a profit.
Whitacre, who assumed the position of CEO on December 1, intends to focus on sales growth, rather than expense slashing in order to boost profitability. The company has not seen an increase in market share since 2002, and the same has plunged from 44% in 1980 to under 20% in 2009.
“You can always take out more cost, but we are focused on the revenue side if you want to prioritize it,” Whitacre said.
In order for the government to completely recoup its investment, GM would have to go public, and Whitacre said that is not necessarily contingent upon profitability, though it would be helpful.
– By: Stephen Calogera
Source: CNN Money
Filed under: Concept Cars, Geneva Motor Show, Crossover, Nissan, Design/Style
If you thought Nissan was joking with its barmy Qazana at last year’s Geneva Motor Show, think again. The same basic form that had us likening the concept crossover to something French or a vehicle “reverse-engineered from a Paris-Dakar rally special,” is evident in this first teaser shot of what Nissan is now calling Juke.
The Juke will be unveiled in Geneva this March, and is expected to moon bounce roll onto European dealer lots this autumn. However, it is rather unlikely that the Juke will make its way to North America, as the compact crossover will be built in the UK.
From what we can see, the major styling elements of the polarizing Qazana concept have made it into this production-ready vehicle, including the wacky fluted front lighting, tapered greenhouse and cartoonishly oversized wheel arches – the latter of which appear to have been minimally toned down. From the teaser point’s vantage, we can’t see if the Juke will retain the Qazana’s 370Z-inspired boomerang taillamps, let alone its motorcycle seat-and-tank aping center console, but we hear that both are in the mix.
Yes, it’s bizarre, and no, it isn’t pretty. But we still kind of want one. Will the Juke be a sensation, or will it go down in bizarrely shaped flames like the Isuzu Vehicross, Patron Saint of Eccentric Quasi-Offroaders? Official Nissan press release viewable after the jump.
Gallery: Geneva 2009: Nissan Qazana
[Source: Nissan]
Nissan’s Qazana-based Juke shucks and jives its way out of the darkness, headed for Geneva originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
In a departure from his normal discussion on soverign debt and commodities, analyst Dennis Gartman today addresses the market rally that’s been in play since March ’09. Essentially, going long U.S. equities is a great bet, but make sure you properly hedge.
The Gartman Letter: Share prices have fallen from their highs and as we write stock index futures here in the US are trading lower, led downward by the sharp decline in Chinese stocks following the decision by the People’s Bank to tighten monetary policy, as discussed at some length above.
We are bullish of shares here in the US, but we’ve “hedged’ that bullishness by buying dollars against them, and for now we are quite happy to sit tight, but we are “antsy” in light of the weakness in Chinese shares. It is reasonable “antsy-ness:”
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Wade Roush wrote:
MicroCHIPS, the Bedford, MA-based startup developing wireless medical implants containing chemical sensors or drug reservoirs, has raised $16.5 million in Series C venture funding, according to a company announcement today. Existing investors Polaris Venture Partners, Novartis Venture Fund, Flybridge Capital Partners, Medtronic, Saints Capital, Intersouth Partners, Care Capital, and CSK Venture Capital were all on board for the new round, which also included new investor InterWest Partners.
Diabetes is the first health condition the company hopes to target. The company says it will begin initial clinical tests this year of an implant designed to monitor blood glucose levels and deliver the data wirelessly to a mobile device. Such a system could help diabetes patients maintain blood sugar levels more consistently. A second implantable device in development would treat osteoporosis by delivering doses of a bone-building hormone directly to the spine, freeing patients from pills, patches, or self-injections.
MicroCHIPS founder and CEO John Santini formed the company in 1999 around technology developed in the laboratories of MIT professors Robert Langer and Michael Cima. We profiled Santini in 2007; this month he’s heading to Davos, Switzerland, for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, which recently named MicroCHIPS and five other Boston-area companies as “Technology Pioneers.”
Jive Software has acquired Filtrbox, a Boulder-based startup that monitors the social Web to help clients understand and better participate in online conversations.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Jive sought a social media monitoring company to bring into its Social Business Software (SBS) platform. The goal is to extend the social footprint of the Jive platform. Jive sees the market becoming far more oriented around conversations on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. These conversations affect everything from product development to sales strategies. Monitoring is critical to following and capitalizing on the conversation flow.
Sponsor
Jive looked at several companies in the space before deciding to approach Filtrbox. The choice came down to the Filtrbox user experience; its collaboration features; the scalable architecture and the social intelligence baked into the product.
The Filtrbox architecture may be the greatest value to Jive. Filtrbox Founder Ari Newman said its architecture is a hybrid that leverages the cloud. He would not say much more about it though its business model reflects a cloud based approach.
Services that leverage the cloud effectively let users scale up and down, depending on demand. Many charge on a per use basis. Newman said Filtrbox charges $10,000 per year for up to six users. Customers get unlimited use of the platform.
How companies leverage the cloud will determine how they fare in the market. The ability to crunch large amounts of data is vital for understanding the real-time nature of how conversations flow. Jive seems to understand this and appears to be moving more toward a cloud-based strategy.
Initially, Jive will market Filtrbox through its Jive Market Engagement solution along side Radian6. Jive and Radian6 formed a partnership back in September. Here’s what Jeremiah Owyang and his colleague, R “Ray” Wang had to say about the partnership.
Radian6 and Filrtrbox are essentially in the same space. it is unclear how the relationship between Jive and Radian6 will be affected by the Filtrbox purchase.
Filtrbox will be fully integrated into the Jive SBS platform in the second quarter of this year.
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Whatever the pegged yuan-dollar rate may be, have little doubt that a $65 billion company like McDonald’s does its own homework on currencies. The Chinese yuan is now a whopping 50% undervalued according to the latest Big Mac Index.
Economist: The most overvalued currency against the dollar is the Norwegian kroner, which is 96% above its PPP rate. In Oslo you can expect to pay around $7 for a Big Mac. At the other end of the scale is the Chinese yuan, which is undervalued by 49%. The euro comes in at 35% over its PPP rate, a little higher than half a year ago. (Via Abnormal Returns)
It’s interesting to see the Danish Kroner and Swiss Franc significantly over-valued. Viewed as a safe haven currencies these days, perhaps they’ve become too much so.
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