Here are ten blasphemous 2010 trade ideas that spit in the face of conventional wisdom.
You can be the judge whether each idea is genius or just really dumb.
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We all know that it’s quite common for the DMCA takedown process to be abused to suppress content that the takedown sender did not hold the right to, or which was clearly covered by fair use. Technically, the DMCA has section (f) which makes the notice issuer liable for misrepresentations, and could force them to pay legal fees. But it’s difficult to think of many cases where this has been actually used successfully. Often, those caught abusing the DMCA just say “sorry, it was a mistake” and get away with it. Funny, of course, that the same doesn’t work in the other direction for those caught infringing on copyrights under the DMCA. Say “sorry, it was a mistake” and you still might owe thousands of dollars.
Eric Goldman highlights a case where an ISP tried to use section (f) to go after a bunch of folks who issued questionable DMCA takedowns that were clearly designed to harass a couple of websites (and, at one point, were used to try to take down the entire ISP). The details are a bit convoluted, but basically, a group of people critical of what was being said on a website issued a series of DMCA takedowns to keep the site down every time it came back up following a counternotice. This seems like a perfect case where the takedown issuers should be hit with sanctions of some sort, but the case was dismissed on procedural grounds instead, which seem to be based on a misunderstanding of the DMCA itself.
But, more important is how this case demonstrates how the DMCA is abused not to prevent copyright infringement, but to try to silence speech that someone doesn’t like. We’ve had plenty of discussions about the conflicts between the First Amendment and copyright law, but here is a case where Congress has made a law that is all too often used to stifle speech.
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Here is something to help kick off your Monday. The following is video that contains two guys racing to hump hug an Aston Martin Cygnet. Weird? Bad attempt at viral marketing? Waste of time? All of the above? We think so.
Refresher: Based on the Toyota iQ, the Aston Martin Cygnet will be powered by a 1.3L engine making 97-hp, allowing it to hit a top speed of 105 mph. Aston Martin will make around 2,000 units and will sell them for around £20,000 (about $35,000 USD) a pop. The Cygnet is only available to those who currently own an Aston.
Click through for the video.
Aston Martin Cygnet:
– By: Kap Shah
Prions, which cause diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob and BSE (commonly called mad cow), are pretty scary stuff. They don’t have any genetic material; instead, they’re made from a protein that’s normally produced by the brain. Like something out of science fiction, they adopt a distinct conformation, and then induce all the other proteins around them to adopt the same structure, gradually creating a tangle that’s fatal to brain cells. Expose a healthy animal to the prions of a sick one, and the diseased form will gradually take over.
As if that weren’t scary enough, evidence has been building that there are different strains of prions, presumably caused by slightly different protein structures, that vary in their ability to attack different hosts, the speed at which they progress, and their sensitivity to drugs that alter protein processing. New research published in Science shows that it’s possible to convert one strain to another.
So, for example, the researchers were able to take a strain that was sensitive to a drug and grow it for a number of generations in the presence of the drug. A small fraction of the prions appear to be drug resistance at the start, and these become the majority after a number of generations. In the same way, it’s possible to shift a population so it grows in better on different cells, or even better in cultured cells instead of the brain.
If all of that sounds familiar, it should—this is precisely the behavior we call evolution when it happens to a living organism or virus.
The researchers propose that there are a number (possibly more than a dozen) of low-energy potential prion structures that are separated by higher energy barriers. When a prion converts a normal protein, it typically forces it into the same structure as itself, but at a low probability, other variant structures result. The population of these variants can then expand or contract based on selective pressures.
Science, 2009. DOI: 10.1126/science.1183218
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In a desperate attempt to maintain some sort of enthusiasm for perhaps the most over-hyped vehicle since the 2010 Camaro, Chevrolet’s marketing department assembled a rag tag group of dancers to perform what appears to be an epileptic fit. While the dance/cheer/cluster successfully accomplished Chevy’s larger objective of bringing the Volt to the forefront of popular conversation, it also garnered a fair amount of criticism for brilliant lyrics such as “…V for Chevy Volt you see, it’s so simple like a dimple, plug it in and see.”
Unfortunately, contrary to what one would logically assume, the marketing team responsible for this gem was not under the influence of any illicit substances and was subsequently mildly offended by the negative feedback. According to a story published by the Detroit News this morning, Chevy claims the Volt Dance was never intended to appeal to the audience of automotive press professionals or adult car buyers, but rather to the children.
Apparently, Chevy reached the (correct) conclusion that those members of society capable of processing complex abstract thought lost interest in the Volt months ago, and the only remaining marketing group still susceptible to the gimmick would be children. So, given that the bar was set pretty low to begin with, Chevy is chalking the entire disaster up to a quasi-success and will continue their quest to appeal exclusively to middle schoolers – presumably because said group will likely be in their mid-20’s by the time the Volt reaches production.
Source: DetNews
Irish singer Van Morrison is taking legal action against a British tabloid over claims that he fathered a child with his tour manager Gigi Lee. For the second time in a week, the “Into The Mystic” musician has denied the paternity rumors and announced he’ll sue the Mail on Sunday for publishing the report despite his repeated denials.
Morrison was forced to deny claims he had become a dad at 64 after a false birth announcement, claiming he fathered a son named George Ivan Morrison III, appeared on his official website last week. The reclusive legend strongly refutes the allegations, calling them the work of a cyber hacker.
In a statement obtained by Sky News Online, Morrison says he felt “reluctantly compelled” to speak out following the Mail’s report.
“There is no truth in the suggestion that I have recently become a father,” reads a statement obtained by Sky News Sunday. “The Mail were notified in advance that there was no factual basis for suggesting otherwise. I have instructed my solicitors to institute immediate legal proceedings against the Mail on Sunday and will take all appropriate action to prevent repetition of these allegations.”
Article Tags: Climate Protest, Joanna Nova, Peter Spencer
Over 300 people have rallied in support of Peter Spencer outside Parliament House today, and the ABC* have covered it (at least on their website).
Click source to read FULL article
Source: joannenova.com.au
Gov. Pat Quinn today announced the appointment of fire service veteran and administrator Larry Matkaitis as Illinois State Fire Marshal.
Matkaitis currently serves as the northern regional administrator in the Office of State Fire Marshal, a position he’s held since 2005, and prior to that spent over 30 years in the Chicago Fire Department.
“The Fire Marshal is dedicated to protecting our wellbeing from fire safety and prevention to elevator inspection and review,” said Gov. Quinn.
“Larry brings a wealth of experience and dedication to this important role.”
In addition to being northern regional administrator in the Office of State Fire Marshal, Matkaitis served for over three decades within the Chicago Fire Department, rising from paramedic to chief paramedic and later assistant deputy fire commissioner for emergency medical operations. (Background Information)
Matkaitis has supervised numerous training programs for first responders and hazardous materials incidents.
He is also a member of the Illinois Terrorism Task Force, was the deputy commander of the unified flood response command team during the summer of 2008 and has previously served as Chairman of the Emergency Medical Services Committee of the Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois.
“I am honored to have the opportunity to serve the people of Illinois as the State Fire Marshal,” said Matkaitis.
After attending Northern Illinois University, he served in the United States Army for six years before being honorably discharged in 1975. He has also been a FAA-certified pilot since 1969.
The office of the Illinois State Fire Marshal works together with the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA), Mutual Aid Box Alarum System (MABAS) and local departments to respond to man-made and natural emergencies.
The agency also works closely with local fire departments to teach and regulate fire safety and prevention through inspections and setting personnel and education standards for Illinois fire fighters.
In addition to coordinating arson investigations throughout the state, it collects data and analyzes trends, helping to better response times and procedures. It also provides fire safety materials to schools at no cost.
For more information on the Illinois State Fire Marshal, please visit: state.il.us/osfm.
Following several months of uncertainty and one change in management, GMAC Financial Services announced it has received an infusion of $3.7 billion from the US Treasury, in the form of capital actions. The Treasury will purchase $2.54 billion of trust preferred securities, with a coupon of 8 percent, and $1.25bn of mandatory convertible preferred securities (MCP), with a coupon of 9 percent, just-auto.com reported.
The support given by the Treasury will help GMAC improve its finan… (read more)
Taking root. That’s the goal that Square Enix president Yoichi Wada has in mind for 2010. As the big boss of one of the top publishers in the industry, we’d like to know what that means for
The chart below comes courtesy of Morgan Stanley analyst Teun Draaisma. It takes a look back at the last few recessions, and then the timing of three subsequent economic events: non-farm payroll growth, the peak in ISM new orders minus inventories, and then finally the first rate hike. As you can see, we haven’t even had the first two, and in the recent recessions, the rate hike (as shown by the green bar) comes significantly after the recession is over.
Seeing as many suspect Bernanke will be uber-accommodative this time around — he practically promised his lack of desire to prick bubbles through rate hikes in his speech this weekend — it seems safe to say that a rate hike is nowhere on the horizon.
Source: Morgan Stanley Equity Research: The Defining Feature Of 2010
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Filed under: Motorsports, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Earnings/Financials, Ferrari, Renault
Melbourne, Australia newspaper The Age has a story on the break-even point for automakers in Formula One. The numbers are based on research done by Formula Money, a company devoted to detailing the financial goings-on in F1 – however, they don’t make much sense at first glance. According to The Age, F1’s manufacturer-backed teams “Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Renault and Toyota spent €608 million ($970 million) on Formula One racing” last year. To recoup that total investment they needed to sell at least 25,000 cars, combined, at an average price of $38,800.
The questions arise when it is claimed that Ferrari “makes €275,000 ($393,643 U.S.) per car sold, and so only needs to sell 153 vehicles to break even on its €42 million ($60 million U.S.) investment in F1.” We can hardly believe Ferrari spent just $60M on F1 last year; if so, that would have left the other four teams to spend an average of $227.5M apiece based on a total spend of $970M.
According to F1 Fanatic’s team budget numbers for 2008, Ferrari spent $414.9 million, and going by F1 Network’s numbers for 2009, Ferrari spent $365 million last year. We don’t know where the truth is among the numbers in The Age‘s report. What we do know, however, is that no matter what the real numbers are, they never added up for BMW, Renault or Toyota.
[Source: The Age]
Report: ’09 F1 participants needed to sell more than 25,000 cars to break even on investment originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 09:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The Nuclear Cowboyz freestyle motocross tour kicked-off this weekend at Pittsburgh’s Mellon Arena, the first of the fifteen stops. Nuclear Cowboyz is a collection of the world’s greatest FMX riders performing to a scripted storyline where two tribes, Soldiers of Havoc (led by freestyle great Nate Adams) and the Metal Mulisha (led by Jeremy "Twitch" Stenberg), battle for supremacy in a post apocalyptic setting.
"It felt awesome doing the show in front of the hometown… (read more)
We arrived back at the office this morning to find a bunch of holiday cards (thanks!). The one we enjoyed the most came from a hedge fund called CapitalistPig Asset Management:
To celebrate the holidays, we’ve decided to give cash to our clients and friends, the cover read.
Inside was what appears to be an actual ONE HUNDRED TRILLION DOLLAR note from Zimbabwe.
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Article Tags: Met Office, UK Winter Forecast 2009/10, World Temperatures
When Britain woke up on the first day of the New Year it was met with freezing cold temperatures, feet of snow in places and the promise of travel chaos.
And now, three days into 2010, forecasters have warned to expect continued snowfall for the next 10 days – bringing with it added stress for commuters heading back to work after a festive break and children returning to school tomorrow.
Yet as Britain struggles to cope with the freezing weather conditions, other countries throughout the world are also finding themselves in the same predicament.
Source: dailymail.co.uk
Michael Schumacher joining the Mercedes GP outfit just before Christmas led everyone to assume that Nico Rosberg will become the 41-year old’s new lieutenant in Formula One. However, the son of former F1 champion Keke Rosberg insisted that he will not play second fiddle to Schu, and his statements are clear evidence of that.
Before publicly saying that he will not play the lieutenant role within the Mercedes lineup for no one, he had pointed at Schumacher for the careless driving … (read more)
DULUTH, Minn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Minnesota Power, an ALLETE company (NYSE: ALE – News ), has finalized the purchase of a 465-mile transmission line, signaling a new era of renewable energy transport and development for the Company. For approximately …
Everyone was obsessed with gold in 2009, as remnants of the financial crisis and the gigantic sovereign debt binge pushed investors to seek out the world's longest-lasting form of money.
If the world goes to hell, the thinking goes, you want gold.
But, if the world really goes to hell, what use are your gold eagle coins, really?
Wouldn't you rather have more useful commodities like cotton and rubber to trade?
And indeed, those two were among the 11 surprising commodities that kicked gold's ass in 2010.
(Image via Flickr user wwhyte1968)
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Auto sales in 2010 could be a lot worse than in 2009, as most of the sales from last year were supported by scrappage incentives. A decision from different governments to stop offering the scrappage incentive could do serious damage to sales.
Renault decided to take matters in their own hands and announced that they will keep the 1,000 Euro scrappage subsidy. The French government decided to cut down the scrappage incentive by 30 percent, from 1,000 Euros per car to only 700 Euros… (read more)
