Author: Serkadis

Filed under: Etc.

With 2009 nearly in our rearview mirror, MotorTrend has put together its annual list of 50 top automotive execs and their fortunes for the coming new year, and it’s a good primer on the industry’s movers and shakers.

It’s unlikely that 2010 will be as tumultuous as 2009, what with two of the world’s largest automakers under the fed’s control and storied marques being killed off faster than a topless chick in a slasher flick, but 2010 has the potential to be a another truly newsworthy year and MotorTrend’s Power List gives you a glimpse into the people behind the action. Make the jump for the top ten entrants and hit up MT for the full list with individual analysis of each exec.

[Source: MotorTrend]

Continue reading Motor Trend uncorks its yearly industry Power List

Motor Trend uncorks its yearly industry Power List originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 29 Dec 2009 08:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Volvo, Geely

Prior to Ford Motor Company’s statement that it had agreed in principal to sell Volvo to China’s Geely, some former Volvo executives wrote a letter to Bill Ford voicing their collective concern with the deal. The former execs felt Geely didn’t have the cash or products to keep Volvo competitive and there was also a sense that Geely would somehow change how Volvo was run.

Reuters reports that Volvo has nothing to worry about, at least according to the head cheese at Geely. Geely founder and chairman Li Shufu reportedly told the official Xinhua news agency “if the deal succeeds, nothing will change for Volvo, except the boss turns to Li Shufu,” adding that Volvo and Geely will be “independently-managed brands.” Besides showing that CEOs can be as good at referring to themselves in the third person as any pro athlete, Shufu also insisted that Volvo’s production, research and development facilities, union agreements and dealer networks will all be left intact.

Reuters estimates that acquiring Volvo will cost Geely about $1.8 billion dollars, though Shufu adds that the complications over intellectual property were much more costly than the final price tag. The Geely chief added that Volvo could help the Chinese automaker move more upscale, including helping the company build what he calls an “energy-powered vehicle.” We’re guessing he’s referring to electric vehicles.

Shufu making such a public statement is likely welcome news to the many workers at Volvo, but there will likely be at least some changes in store for the storied Swedish automaker. For example, Shufu mentioned that Geely could help Volvo lower production costs, which could mean that parts that are currently produced in Europe could instead be made in China where labor is considerably cheaper. Beyond that, who knows what future lies ahead of Volvo. Shufu may be saying all the right things now, but his actions over the next few years will show whether he means what he says.

[Source: Reuters]

REPORT: Geely says it will continue to let Volvo be Volvo originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 29 Dec 2009 07:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AT&T is apparently not alone in struggling to cope with the demand that data hungry devices like the iPhone have placed on its network. Ronan Dunne, CEO of O2 UK, has publicly apologized to Londoners for the poor performance of its network over the past 6 months, blaming the explosion of demand for data by smartphones such an Apple’s iPhone for its woes. Londoners on O2 have struggled with intermittent data outages and occasional periods where they could not make or receive phone calls,  a scenario all too familiar for AT&T customers in the US. To cope with this surge in usage, O2 UK has dumped30 million pounds ($48 million USD) into its network and has added 200 mobile base stations. O2 is also working closely with Nokia Siemens to help better equip its network infrastructure and is in talks with both RIM and Apple to help identify data-intensive applications, a strategy which sounds a bit troubling. With a bit of good news, Mr. Dunne claims O2’s London network has shown improvement in the month of December and that any  “short-term blip” in their network reputation will be ameliorated by these efforts.Read

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MF Global has put out one of the more interesting 2010 predictions reports we’ve seen. Among its calls: A jobless recovery, an easing of investor demand for commodities, sovereign debt worries, and the peak of US liberalism coinciding with the official passage of healthcare reform. Thanks to ZeroHedge for posting the document.

MF Global 2010

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See Also:

• Left-Wing Frustration Over Healthcare, Wall Street, And Afghanistan Leads To Shocking Internal Anger At Obama
• RBC: Here’s How To Make A Killing In Emerging Markets In 2010
• Morgan Stanley: These 10 Trades Will Make You Rich In 2010

After discovering that Apple had registered iSlate.com in late 2006 (we dug a little deeper and found trademarks had been filed for ‘ISLATE’ in both the United States and Europe by a company that was most likely a dummy corporation set up by Apple), MacRumors has now discovered another possible name for the upcoming Apple tablet.

MacRumors bases its report on the filing for a US trademark for ‘IGUIDE’ by another Delaware-registered company called iGuide Media LLC, which can be linked to Cupertino by means of signatures on the documents coming from Apple’s Senior Trademark Specialist, Regina Porter.

Let’s dig a little deeper, once again.

Domain names

There’s no indication that Apple owns any domain name that contains the term ‘iguide’. The identity if iguide.com is shielded from public WHOIS records, but not by Mark Monitor, the brand protection firm Apple usually works with. The domain name iguide.net belongs to a company called iGuide Media, a marketing and design firm started by Jon Warren back in 1997 and led by a Brian Noon from 2002 to 2006, when the company was sold.

I checked a couple of other TLDs (.ca, .fr, and more) and found no indication that Apple owns any of those.

Trademarks

Two trademarks were filed for ‘IGUIDE’ by iGuide Media LLC (through a James Johnston) in the United States: a principal and a service mark, both on 18 December 2007. The description of goods and services given to iGuide Media is very similar to the one given to Slate Computing, the supposed shell company set up by Apple used to register the trademark for ‘ISLATE’, although it leans a bit more to a focus on software and services than hardware.

On the exact same day, iGuide Media LLC filed for a trademark in Europe as well: search OHIM for ‘iguide’ and you find a trademark filing that has all the Apple marks on it: the legal representative is ‘EDWARDS ANGELL PALMER & DODGE UK LLP’ (the same as for ‘ISLATE’ and ‘MACBOOK’, among others), and the priority country is Trinidad & Tobago, the same as when Apple filed for the ‘iphone’ trademark in Europe.

Noteworthy: the status history suggests that the community trademark application was registered (not filed) in February 2009, and that the full examination of the CTM application has been completed very recently, on the 18th of December 2009 to be exact.

Final thoughts

If I were betting man, I’d still be putting my money on the name iSlate for the tablet, Magic Slate for a possible peripheral, and iGuide for a service linked to the hardware device(s).

Here’s why:

– Apple doesn’t seem to own, directly nor indirectly, any ‘iguide’ domain names
– The ‘ISLATE’ and ‘MAGIC SLATE’ US trademarks were not filed for separately as a service trademark, unlike ‘IGUIDE’
– The ‘ISLATE’ US trademark was filed earlier than ‘IGUIDE’, by a different shell corporation (and the same as ‘MAGIC SLATE’)
– NYTimes editor Bill Keller’s mention of an ‘Apple slate’ device in a past speech
– According to Trademarkia, the ‘ISLATE’ trademark application was extended a second time last September, to show use in commerce
– The slightly different description for ‘goods and services’ for both Slate Computing and iGuide Media

Or, of course, we’re all wrong, and none of these names will ever be actually used by Apple. I would deem that unlikely, but we can’t know for sure.

Besides, has Apple announced that it’ll be selling a tablet computer yet?

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

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Egad. We had such high hopes for the Camangi WebStation, but as with a few other non-phone devices that have attempted to use Android, it seems as if this 7-inch slate falls a bit short in practice. The gang over at Laptop was able to corral a unit for a brief sit-down, and while they admired the exceptionally light and portable hardware, they kvetched about the lowly 800 x 480 screen resolution, sluggish performance when opening applications and the limited / confined feel of the Camangi Marketplace. They also barked about the resistive screen’s inability to accurately recognize finger presses, and while they’re still holding out some hope that this thing could be useful in at least a few scenarios, it’s fairly clear this piece isn’t for everyone. Peek the source link for the full skinny.

Camangi WebStation gets a few first impressions: ’sluggish’ and ‘confined’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Dec 2009 08:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s little sense in resisting the obvious: Google is slowly but surely taking over your life, but rather than get indignant and discombobulated, we’d suggest letting go and appreciating how much easier things are with the folks in Mountain View squarely in control. Take Google Goggles, for instance, which aims to convert cameraphone images into useful search results on its own Android platform. Up until now, we’ve been shown stock demos and videos of it running on conventional handsets, but seeing the Goggles hard at work on Sony Ericsson’s not-yet-released Xperia X10 is another thing entirely. Hop on past the break for the frames you’re craving, but don’t bank on this making the wait for said phone any simpler to stomach.

Continue reading Google Goggles gets video demo on Sony Ericsson Xperia X10

Google Goggles gets video demo on Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Dec 2009 07:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fannie Mae reported today that the rate of serious delinquencies – at least 90 days behind – for conventional loans in its single-family guarantee business increased to 4.98% in October, up from 4.72% in September – and up from 1.89% in October 2008.

“Includes seriously delinquent conventional single-family loans as a percent of the total number of conventional single-family loans.”

Read the whole story at Calculated Risk — >

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See Also:

• Obama Terrified Of Another Leg Down In Housing, As Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac Are Set To Go In Dramatic New Direction
• Here’s The Secret Reason We Eliminated The Bailout Caps On Fannie And Freddie
• Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac Warn About Dangers At Their Mortgage Insurers

Filed under: Etc.

With 2009 nearly in our rearview mirror, MotorTrend has put together its annual list of 50 top automotive execs and their fortunes for the coming new year, and it’s a good primer on the industry’s movers and shakers.

It’s unlikely that 2010 will be as tumultuous as 2009, what with two of the world’s largest automakers under the fed’s control and storied marques being killed off faster than a topless chick in a slasher flick, but 2010 has the potential to be a another truly newsworthy year and MotorTrend‘s Power List gives you a glimpse into the people behind the action. Make the jump for the top ten entrants and hit up MT for the full list with individual analysis of each exec.

[Source: MotorTrend]

Continue reading Motor Trend uncorks its yearly industry Power List

Motor Trend uncorks its yearly industry Power List originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 29 Dec 2009 08:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So you are bored of the same black high gloss finish speakers. The Rock-It portable vibration speaker system takes music from your device and sends those vibrations through the Rock-It “pod” onto any object you choose. So basically you can stick your “pod”onto a juice carton, a box of cereal, or a Barbie and you’ll have music “pumping” out of it. Just press play on your device be it a iPod, MP3 player, or mobile phone. Basically any device that has a headphone jack and Rock-It will work with it. Besides being a unique way to hear your music, your pals will think you are technological genius for turning your sour milk carton into a speaker system.

This Bloomberg graphic taken from The Research Puzzle gives a nice snapshot of where treasury yields have gone over the last two decades. Yields for different maturities of U.S. treasuries are shown by each color, with 30-year bonds in light green.

First, it's clear that the longest-term 30-year bonds have rarely been fooled for long by short-term cuts to interest rates. Furthermore, while 30-year yields momentarily collapsed during the credit crisis, no doubt due to safe-haven panic buying of the times, they snapped back pretty fast and today yields are back near 2006 and 2007 levels, and arguably near the levels we've seen since 2001.

For 30-year bonds, everything is essentially back to 'normal', expecting moderate inflation rates and the Fed to raise interest rates back to the previously expected long-term run rate. Summed up in a sentence: We're riding the same long-term road as before, even if it's a bit bumpy at times. There are neither long-term deflation nor hyper-inflationary expectations baked into 30-year bonds.

(LInk via Abnormal Returns)

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See Also:

• Treasuries Are King Ever Since The Crisis Started
• Japan Denies Reports About It Dumping Treasuries
• Traders Freaking Out Over Rumors That Japan May Dump $100 Billion In Treasuries

By Yun-Hee Kim, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

Computer-memory chip makers expect to see their fortunes improve next year after two tough years, allowing them to boost capital spending to improve their technology.

Industry heavyweights and observers see the notoriously up-and-down industry turning positive this year. Weak capital investments over the past two years have led to a gradual decrease in global supply of dynamic random access memory chips, which are the main chips used to store data in personal computers. The decrease in supply, coupled with improving demand, has led to a recovery in prices of DRAM chips in recent months.

The launch of the new Windows 7 operating system from Microsoft Corp. may also prompt consumers and corporations to replace their aging computers with new ones that require more memory storage next year, providing a much needed demand boost for DRAM makers.

The recovery in the DRAM market, while a sign that demand in the electronics supply chain is improving, could put pressure on PC manufacturers to trim their component costs to maintain margins.

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A tax payers revolt is brewing in the Highlands after the Taxpayers Alliance discovered, after a Freedom of Information Request, that local councils were spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on RIM Blackberrys.

Aberdeenshire Council was the worst offender, with more than £117,000 spent on contracts this year.

The total annual bills for Blackberrys and mobile phones rose from £150,000 in 2007 to £261,000 last year and up to £346,000 this year.

Describing the figures as “staggeringly high”, the TA complained the gadgets were an unnecessary luxury.

An Aberdeenshire Council spokesman however responded that: “Blackberrys allow us to offer more flexibility to staff who need to respond to e-mails and keep in touch with what’s going on, without having to travel large distances back to an office. They are an invaluable tool in a modern business environment.”

Susie Squire, of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, was unimpressed.

“They’re out of touch with economic reality,” she said. “These Blackberry costs are staggeringly high and will shock and disgust a lot of taxpayers.

An alternative which could lead to significant savings however exists, in the form of Windows Mobile handsets, which in studies have been shown to have a lower total cost of ownership of between 20 to 40%. 

In the current economic climate, and with costs being passed on automatically in increased council fees, tax payers need to be holding their elected representatives accountable for feeding their crackberry habit when better, cheaper alternatives already exist ready to be deployed.

Read more at PressandJournal.co.uk here

That longtime “perma-bear” Jim Grant had turned bull late this summer was one of the year’s big surprises.

He wasn’t early to the rally by any means, but his public conversion didn’t “ring the bell at the top” as some had assumed.

In the latest NYMag, Hugo Lindgren has a nice profile of the newsletter author and economic philosopher. In it Grant reiterates his belief that the economy is basically a bouncing ball, which flies of the cement at roughly the same velocity it hit.

What makes Grant refreshing is his unwillingness to say how the recovery will work. Take, for example, the unemployment situation:

In a worrying climate of dying professions, it’s hard to get a grip on what takes their place. “Though we humans do our best,” he wrote, “we usually underestimate the capacity of market economies to reinvent the nature of work.” How exactly it will work this time, says Grant, we don’t know. We never know until after the fact.

Lindgren also captures another sub-story playing out, which is Grant’s failure to account for the big rally in the 80s, right after the economy was mired in a deep recession.

Over a quarter-century in which the economy mostly boomed, Grant stayed mostly gloomy. His view has been that the economy is a Frankenstein creation of cheap credit that drove up prices and instilled a false sense of prosperous stability.

At critical moments, such as the great collapse of the eighties boom, this analysis proved brave and useful, swelling Grant’s subscriber rolls and turning him into a star of sorts. But it also led to him advising caution and restraint as some of the most vigorous bull markets in history commenced. Indeed, the nineties was not kind to pessimists. “In this business,” he says, “everything is cyclical, including one’s evident IQ. One goes from genius to moron all too quickly. And so I went from being regarded as one of the brighter people on Wall Street to being, let’s see, a perma-bear, and there was truth in that. I wasn’t supple enough, wasn’t flexible enough. I was in love with our story, which had been so successful, and didn’t see the world change.”

Having made this mistake more than once, Grant is determined never to make it again.

Read more at New York Magazine  — >

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See Also:

• Jim Grant: Ben Bernanke Is Lucky He Hasn’t Been Hanged
• Jim Grant: Here Comes A ‘Zippy’ Recovery That Will Blow Away Expectations
• Jim Grant: It Will Be A V-Shaped Recovery

When you manufacture the best impact sockets in the industry, you also want full control over all critical production steps. Swedish Momento needed greater capacity and wanted to prepare production for future products. The first step toward a successful future included bigger facilities and a new press cell with an AP&T press.

The impact sockets used in the assembly industry, power industry or by your car mechanic are in all likelihood manufactured in Momento’s factory in Flen. The company was established in the early 1950s and manufactures impact sockets with a width across flats ranging from 3 to 300 millimeters. Memento knows what pros expect from a socket.
“When an assembly line in the automotive industry has to stop because a socket in a robot spindle is broken, it doesn’t take long to understand that product quality is a deciding factor for our customers,” says Momento production manager Torbjörn Lund.

Great demand
With increased demand for Momento sockets, production capacity soon reached its limits – even though production continued around the clock. Capacity had to increase for the company to be able to offer fast and reliable deliveries.
“In addition to standard sockets, we also manufacture special sockets with just a few weeks of lead time. That’s why we need security in the form of a little overcapacity,” explains Torbjörn Lund.
Momento also wanted the ability to form even larger impact sockets with the help of the heat pressing method the company uses for smaller sockets.

Heat pressing vital
An important benefit of the heat pressing, a type of forging method, is that the structure of the metal is maintained, which in turn generates a more durable socket. The solution was a completely new automated press cell with a hydraulic press from AP&T that is served by a six-axis robot with gripper. The blanks are heated in an induction oven and are fed into the press tool by a robot that also picks the hot socket out after forming.
“Heat pressing is the heart of socket production since this step is vital to the properties of the end product,” says Torbjörn Lund.

Power with precision
Heat pressing requires high press forces in combination with fine tolerances. The AP&T press has 630 tons of press force. Its combination of load-sensing hydraulics with servo hydraulics together with the other three hydraulic cylinders gives Momento the ability to achieve fine tolerances without complicated press tool solutions.

Jay Leno recently got behind the much-anticipated 2011 Chevrolet Volt extended range electric vehicle and has now posted a video of his take on the upcoming vehicle that has everyone at GM so excited.

The best thing about Leno’s 13 minute video is that he asks Andrew Farah, Chief Engineer on the vehicle, almost every question that would concern an everyday Volt driver. Want to know whether your overall range will drop if you’re driving the Volt with the AC and radio on? Find out in the video posted after the jump.

Click here for more news on the Chevrolet Volt.

Hit the jump for the video.

2011 Chevrolet Volt:

2011 Chevrolet Volt:

– By: Kap Shah

Source: Jay Leno’s Garage