Author: Serkadis

We’ve noticed plenty of sports leagues really fighting against the internet, and assuming it’s a “problem” or a “challenge” that needs to be stopped, rather than a great tool that needs to be embraced. A prime example of this is the way the Premier League has gone on the attack against online video, even as it refuses to offer many customers any other way to watch the matches. It looks like Formula 1 racing is taking a very different approach. Paul Rodriguez alerts us to an article about how Formula 1 is looking to really embrace the internet and avoid the mistakes that others have made in the past. At first, I was a bit nervous, because the article mentions that Formula 1 wants to “follow the example of the music industry…” in embracing the internet (it’s news to me that the music industry has actually embraced the internet), but further down in the article, it does appear that they realize what’s really happening:

“It doesn’t make sense to try to charge people for something that they will figure out how to get for free. F1 will be available on the internet and you need to be prepared for that. The challenge is not in deciding what you give away for free but in deciding what sort of value you’re going to provide on top of that — elements that people are actually willing to pay for.”

Bingo. It’s exactly what we’ve been saying about so many industries, but too many of them focus on the core content and assume it must be sold. Instead, Formula 1 seems to realize that the core content is going to be free, so you need to focus on providing additional scarce value on top of that which is worth paying for.

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  << click for youtube video

great article

Debtor’s Dilemma: Pay the Mortgage or Walk Away – By JAMES R. HAGERTY and NICK TIMIRAOS – In Down Real-Estate Market, Homeowners Are Deciding to Abandon Their Loan Obligations Even if They Can Afford the Payments  – PHOENIX — Should I stay or should I go? That is the question more Americans are asking as the housing market continues to drag. … – Wall Street Journal

Filed under: Fitness, Healthy Eating, Ask a Fitness Expert

Canadian fitness expert Brendan Brazier, author of Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimum Performance in Sports and Life, is a big fan of a eating a plant-based diet. Here, he fills us in on some of the benefits of cutting out animal … Read more

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Filed under: Fitness, Ask a Fitness Expert

As the holiday season gets busier and busier we neglect ourselves, skipping after-work workouts for holiday shopping and morning workouts because we were out at a holiday party too late, with one too many cocktails. Sound familiar? Here are three … Read more

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Details may have been scarce for Take-Two Interactive’s third-person shooter, Mafia 2, but at least we’re now given the opportunity to narrow down the window for its release. It’s not much, but at least we finally heard

Earlier today, we got new details about Koei’s Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce 2 for the PSP. Now, it’s time to have a little something for the console offering of the franchise, with this new gameplay trailer for Dynasty

Reader Eileen writes in to alert us that the NCAA — known for its overly restrictive views at times — is trying to bully the owner of the discussion website NCAAbbs.com into handing over its domain names. The NCAA is, not surprisingly, complaining that any domain name that includes NCAA automatically should belong to the NCAA. Of course, it’s not so simple. While the NCAA does have a trademark on its name, that doesn’t mean it gets automatic control over any site that uses NCAA in its domain name. The NCAAbbs site is clearly not associated with the NCAA and is pretty clearly just a fan discussion site. The owner of the site says that he’s planning to fight the demand, and hopefully he can succeed. While the domain dispute process can be a bit arbitrary, the courts have often realized that a trademark holder does not get full control over every domain that mentions them. Hopefully, that will be the case here as well. Of course, the one area where it’s pretty clear that you can keep such a domain name is in cases of “sucks sites.” So perhaps if the NCAA wins this, the owner can simple relocate to NCAAreallysucks.com.

More to the point, however, you have to wonder what the NCAA thinks it’s doing here. You have a site that has been set up to promote the NCAA and all of the various sports teams within the NCAA. This is an incredibly useful promotional tool that the NCAA should be celebrating and helping rather than attacking. Why do so many organizations think it’s smart to threaten, attack or sue their biggest fans?

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ScienceInsider: Obama backs bigger rocket, more $ for NASA
Planetary Society: Saturn orbiter spots a shining lake on Titan
Science @ NASA: Colliding auroras spark explosions of light
Ars Technica: Two events hint at dark matter detection
Gizmodo: The physics of future space battles …(read more)

Japan, Asia | Unusual Monuments

This giant Buddha is a unique one, being an effigy of Yakushi Nyorai, the Buddha of Healing, known as Bhaisajyaguru in Sanskrit. The immense image of Yakushi was carved out of Mt. Nokogiri, named for the saw-tooth appearance of the mountains in the range of the same name.

The temple itself dates back to 725 CE, and the Great Buddha and 1500 other statues and carvings were created by the master artisan Jingoro Eirei Ono and his army of twenty five plus apprentices in the 1780s. So large is the Buddha of Nihonji that it appears on Google maps, (the circle in the upper right hand corner) and a comparison with the nearby parking lot gives a good sense of its massive size.

Quick question. If a conference runs simultaneous tracks on "Enterprise Search," "Document Management," and "Company XYZ’s project to replace the intranet with microwikiblogging," which will have the largest audience?

I’d venture a guess that most people are drawn to the the experimental and innovative, rather than to the mundane reality of complicated enterprise tools. That’s only natural, certainly at a conference. You go there to be inspired, not to be reminded of that system designed to do essential, but relatively boring stuff; a system which, on top of that, is still exhaustingly difficult to get right. Call it content technology escapism, if you will.

All that social, collaboration, networking, and community software may appear as green fields where traditional impediments don’t apply, if only because of the perceived limited risk to essential business processes. You wouldn’t use your e-mail server or ERP software for something new without going through a formal testing procedure. But with blogging, wikis, collaboration, you could be more agile, and get around some of those stagnating requirements, right? Well, don’t be so sure.

About a year ago, I reviewed a community software product for our Enterprise Collaboration & Community Software Report and, within the first day of checking it out, found several technical issues. (I’m not going to name names here, since it seems the vendor has since then worked hard to fix the problems.) It was a SaaS solution, suffering from problematic architecture (things like a shared user directory that meant you had to have a separate email address for each community you wanted to sign up for) and potentially serious security holes (like an API key stored plain text in publicly accessible Javascript). I found it ironic when I saw a presentation by the CTO of one of their customers, lauding the SaaS nature of it, since "It means we didn’t need to have the technical resources in-house." He was obviously blissfully unaware of the risks he was taking.

And I was reminded of this a couple of weeks ago, when I read a blog post by one of The Next Web’s founders. His personal blog was hacked, and he decided to interview the young Turkish hacker that did it. He also offered the 17-year old some advice. "Sounds like you could learn a lesson in marketing if you ask me. If I would hack 50,000 blogs a week I would make sure to have a multi-language message there, a link to my website and a cool design."  Of course, this was a personal blog.  If you’re running a public corporate blog, you’ll want to make sure to find out how to prevent script kiddies from changing your cool design to a blank page with a Turkish flag. Reading up on vendor patches and updates is as important with blog software as it is with your document management system.

This is just anecdotal, and I’m not saying it to fault the SaaS vendor and the CTO, or to blame WordPress. But however much you’d like to avoid the mundane, boring, and technically complicated aspects, don’t forget social software is still software. And often, it’s some of the most publicly-exposed software you’ll have around. So take that foundation seriously — or you risk creating Fail 2.0 instead.

XCOR Aerospace

Click for video: The Lynx Mark I rocket plane, shown in this artist’s conception, would serve as a test bed for a higher-flying Lynx Mark II. Click on the image to watch a video from XCOR’s March 2008 announcement about the Lynx.

XCOR Aerospace and Yecheon Astro Space Center today announced a deal that would eventually provide rides to the edge of outer space from South Korea, in a rocket plane made in the U.S.A.

The $30 million project calls for the development of a suborbital spaceport at Yecheon, which would serve as the Asian base of operations for California-based XCOR’s Lynx Mark II rocket plane. Today’s announcement didn’t provide a flight timetable, but if XCOR sticks to its hoped-for schedule, the first Mark II plane could be flying in the 2012-2013 time frame.

The deal is dependent on approvals from the U.S. government for export arrangements, as well as from the South Korean government for launch operations.

This machine come from hongsbelt company,it is a PVC belt processing machine,it could procee 6mm thickness belt,general size is 1810*730*1650mm,the useful power is 220V.of course,we will also comply different power according different clients requirement.for the more parameters,welcome to inquiry from us.

Forensic Mortgage Auditors Expands Audit Focus to Include “Option Arms” and Reverse Mortgages. Serving Borrowers and Law Firms Nationwide – … With one in four US borrowers underwater, this company can provide the compliance review needed to determine if a residential mortgage was originated in compliance with the applicable federal laws. Improperly originated mortgages may be subject to modification or recission. … – Press Release at PR Web

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Mortgage Modification Applications Decline in November – Posted by Larry Doyle – … The Obama administration’s attempt to stabilize the housing market has been an abysmal failure.  … Homeowners will not gain the benefits of a mortgage modification without processing an application. … What would be the heavy artillery? Principal reduction via mortgage cram-downs. … has link to 24 page B of A research report – Sense on Cents

Failed Deals on Wall Street – Posted by Larry Doyle –  … Let’s review a recent story from American Banker, Ellington Mortgage Bond Pool’s IPO Fails: … I view these failed transactions as a precursor to what may occur in our markets as the Fed withdraws stimulus and support for housing specifically and the markets in general in 2010. … – Sense on Cents 

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Property Values: Four More Years To Fall – Michael David White – New
Observatrions.net

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Investment Funds Find Profits by Reducing Mortgage Balances – Reverse Mortgage Daily

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securitization interview starts 40% down the page – The Institutional Risk Analyst: Fixing Securitization: Interview with Michael Krimminger – In this issue of The Institutionl Risk Analyst, we feature a discussion with Mike Krimminger of the FDIC about the new draft regulations governing bank securitizations that the agency will shortly be issuing for public comment. – The Institutional Risk Analyst 

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FDIC proposes rules on securitization sales – By Jody Shenn and Theo Francis – … In its “sample” rule, the FDIC suggests, among other things, blocking for home-loan bonds any more than 80 percent of the compensation for lenders, securitization sponsors, credit raters and bond underwriters from being paid upfront, with the rest due over five years and based on asset performance. – Risk Retention – It also proposes requiring sponsors to retain 5 percent of credit risk of all securitizations, as well as barring from securities any home loans less than a year old, or that don’t rely on documented borrower income. … – Bloomberg

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4 Big Mortgage Backers Swim in Ocean of Debt – By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH – … And the total risk they (4) pose to the taxpayer far exceeds that of the big banks. … – NY Times

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House Committee Gauges Covered-Bond Interest – BY JOHN CLAPP – Expert witnesses testifying before the House Financial Services Committee this week suggested that covered bonds, long-standing debt instruments in European markets for more than two centuries, should have a home in the U.S. – MortgageOrb

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Housing Won’t Collapse in 2010, says Radar Logic – By JON PRIOR –  The US housing market could be in for some serious trouble in 2010, but predictions of a second collapse are “exaggerated,” according to a report from Radar Logic, a real estate data and analytics company. – HousingWire

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Default Risk to Linger in 2010 – Maturities may be stretched out, but many companies are still saddled with too much debt. – High-yield bond defaults in the United States fell in the second half of 2009, according to a report released this week by Fitch Ratings, and are projected to decline substantially by the end of 2010. But there’s still plenty of risk that many noninvestment-grade firms will default on debt next year and the year after, especially if the U.S. economy does not make a strong recovery, Fitch says. – CFO.com

As a few folks sent in, Nicolas Sarkozy has pledged to spend approximately $1.1 billion scanning books. Does this sound familiar? It should. Five years ago, French officials freaked out about Google scanning all those books, and declared they were going to spend $2.5 billion on its own project, called Quaero. And what happened? Well, it turned into a huge boondoggle with a bunch of companies claiming the money, but nothing of substance ever coming from the project, which has now been mostly abandoned.

So, now we’ve got Sarkozy — defender and mass infringer of copyrights — who recently warned that Google’s book scanning project was somehow a threat to French culture. So, now he’s going to spend $1.1 billion more on a project that we hope will be at least marginally more well defined than Quaero. In the meantime, France’s national library is apparently all set to have Google scan its collection of books. Seems easier. In fact, the report notes that the $1.1 billion will go to private companies to scan books, and it’s entirely possible that Google could be one of those companies. After all, it’s pretty good at book scanning.

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Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Japan, Subaru, Toyota

It should come as no surprised that Subaru — a brand that’s made its name in the States for offering rugged, all-wheel drive vehicles — is a little wary about bringing its own version of the RWD Toyobaru to the U.S.

Speaking with Wards Auto, Subaru spokesperson Michael McHale said, “We’re an all-wheel drive brand,” going on to say that, “If it doesn’t affect the core of the brand, maybe we’d bring it in as an interesting option.”

Although we’ve yet to seen the Subaru variant of the Toyota FT-86, the rebodied version is expected to debut sometime in 2010, with both examples going on sale in Japan later next year or in early 2011. Power is supposedly supplied by Subaru-sourced, Toyota-tweaked flat-four, putting out around 200 horsepower in naturally aspirated guise.

For Toyota to make a business case for putting the FT-86 into production, it’s been all but assumed that the RWD coupe would go on sale in markets outside of Japan — specifically in Europe and North America. However, the Subaru version’s fate isn’t quite as clear. If earlier reports are any indication, offering an AWD coupe could be a possibility given the coupe’s underpinnings. But if it’s strictly RWD, McHale hopes consumers can, “forgive us a one-off exception.”

[Source: Wards Auto]

REPORT: Subaru spokesman concerned that RWD Toyobaru could dilute brand identity originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Review: 2009 BMW X5 xDrive35d delivers obsolescence to gasoline-powered sibling

The X5 has always been a competent handler, but even with BMW-esque agility, it lacked something in the efficiency department. With the introduction of the new diesel-powered xDrive35d, one of its biggest downsides has finally been addressed.

VIDEO: How not to behave during a traffic stop

One roadside siren was none too happy about the ticket she received and she made her distaste all too clear to her husband, the arresting officer and the guy with the video camera. You’ve got to see it to believe it.

Top 10 Forward-Thinking Vehicles of the Decade

Trend-setting. Far-reaching. Record-setting. In a word: Important. Use whatever descriptors you’d like, what we’re looking are some of the most forward-thinking cars of the last decade. Is your pick on the list?

Also of interest:

• Four-cylinder Buick LaCrosse arrives Q1 next year, to be priced from $26,995*
• Detroit 2010 Preview: Volvo C30 EV evolves for road trials
• VIDEO: Valet vigilante vandalism visualizes very vunerable vehicles
• GMC reveals gussied-up Acadia Denali for 2011
• VIDEO: Lamborghini’s Valentino Balboni drifting a Lamborghini Valentino Balboni

Browse our archive of Daily U-Turn posts or subscribe to the RSS feed

Daily U-Turn: What you missed on 12.17.09 originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Spring-energized seals are single-acting sealing elements primarily used for sealing reciprocating pistons and rods as well as being suitable for use in rotary, swiveling and static applications.

The seal comprises two components:
an outer sealing element made of high-strength plastic (e.g. PTFE, PE-UHMW) an integral stainless steel spring.

To cover an optimum range of pressures and temperatures, two basic versions have been developed, differing in terms of outer geometry, but especially in terms of spring design and characteristic curves of the springs.

The U- and C-type designations are based on the respective shape of the seal.