The LG eXpo was set to launch on Monday, but to the consternation of many of our readers the Snapdragon-powered device was nowhere to be seen.
WMExperts have now revealed the smartphone has been delayed a few days due to shipping issues, but is still expected soon.
Hopefully when it does arrive it will be with a bit more bang that its low-key launch so far.
Read more at WMExperts here.
Filed under: Classics, Coupe, Performance, Europe, BMW
Audi has the mid-engined R8 (now available with a 525-horsepower V10). Mercedes-Benz now has the AMG SLS (with more power than the R8 – 563 horses). BMW has… a 500-horsepower V10 in a 4,000 pounds M6. Not exactly competitive in the supercar department these days. Well, according to everyone’s favorite British Buff Book (EVO), BMW will be releasing a new supercar. Probably something resembling a mashup between the M1 Homage Concept and the Vision EfficientDynamics Hybrid Concept. However, it might not be called M1. Or, it might be.
Here’s the thing – BMW is also believed to be working on a buffed out, super version of the 135i (based on the Tii Concept) that semi-logically could be called the M1. Check out the supposed stats on this little puppy: a reworked twin-turbo 3.0-liter motor good for 400 hp and 370 lb-ft of torque, a 150 pound weight reduction, seven-speed dual-clutch tranny, the M3’s suspension and torque-vectoring rear end. Where do we sign up?
The issue is that some people within BMW feel the semi-sacred M1 moniker should be reserved only for a car that replaces the 1978 M1, the first car BMW’s Motorsports Division ever made (even if Lamborghini played a roll). They do have a point, as among us gearhead types the M1 is a pretty reverential piece of machinery. However, what would you call an M-caliber 1 Series?
Autoblog’s advice is this: nothing’s sacred. Call the hopped-up 135i the M1. No one cares except for a few old timers within BMW and a few fanatics on the outside. Besides, the aforementioned old timers have sat idly by as the fabled M Division has arguably diluted its once lofty rep by releasing the X5 M and X6 M. It’s all water (and money) under the bridge anyhow. And by freeing themselves from this false dilemma (because really, who cares?), BMW is free to name the new supercar the M8.
Failing that, just name the mighty 1 Series the Tii (confusing almost everyone) and reserve M1 for a proper supercar. We don’t really mind, as long as both cars go on sale. And no matter the name, it sounds like the range-topping 1 Series should see the light of day in 2011 and the new supercar – which will pair BMW’s 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 with two electric motors – should come online around 2012. Color us excited.
Gallery: BMW Concept 1 Series tii
Gallery: BMW M1 Hommage
[Source: EVO]
REPORT: More details on BMW’s rumored M1(s) originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Obama’s mortgage approach doubted – (Source: Tulsa World)By KYLE ARNOLD – The former Tulsa banker who was brought in to run Freddie Mac during its financial crisis late last year says mortgage- modification programs won’t rescue the housing market and that problems are likely to mount again. “It’s a classic asset bubble,” said the ex-banker, David Moffett. “We’ve had them before and we’ll have them again.” – iStockAnalyst
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Why Treasury Needs a Plan B for Mortgages – By GRETCHEN MORGENSON – thanks Ira Artman – … the Treasury Department conceded last week that the Home Affordable Modification Program, its plan to aid troubled homeowners by changing the terms of their mortgages, was a dud. … the program doesn’t account for all of a borrower’s debts — the first mortgage, second lien, credit card debt and automobile payments. … As a result, what may look like an affordable mortgage payment under the Treasury plan quickly becomes onerous when other debt is added. ... – NY Times
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Congress Is the Drunk at the Fed’s Punch Bowl: Roger Lowenstein – … But here’s the thing. The changes that Congress is urging would make things worse. If anything, the Fed has been too sensitive to public opinion. And in the recent past, it was too eager to satisfy the public with an easy-interest-rate and easy- mortgage policy. … – Bloomberg
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Bernanke Confirmation? – David Kotok – … Our conclusion: whatever comes out of this Congress will limit the Fed’s powers and transfer some its ability to set an independent monetary policy. That transfer will shift control to the executive branch. That means more of the policy will be made by the President and a very few people around him, like the Treasury Secretary and his chief advisers. … – Cumberland Advisors
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U.S. cuts estimate of bank bailout costs – Glenn Somerville – The projected long-term cost of the U.S. government’s bailout of the nation’s big banks is going to be at least $200 billion less than previously thought, a Treasury Department official said on Sunday night. – Reuters
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Why the Fed loves inflation – By Bill Fleckenstein – Chairman Ben Bernanke has some radical ideas about pumping money into the economy to keep prices up. This is no way to kick an economy when it’s down. – MSN Moneycentral
S&P says up to 75 Western European companies could default on debt in 2010 – … representing a default rate of between 8.7% and 11.1%, according to Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services. “While the annual default rate is likely to have peaked at 13.1% in the third quarter of 2009, we expect it to continue to run at more than double its historic average throughout 2010, as the slow pace of economic recovery is likely to be insufficient to save many highly leveraged and poorly performing companies.” … – Research Recap
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And Fed Fund Futures Awake – Submitted by Tyler Durden – Major move in Fed Fund futures today, with the implied probability of a rate hike to 1.25% by November 2010 nearly doubling to 14% from 8.1% – Zero Hedge
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Dollar Carry Trade Remains in Vogue – Posted by Larry Doyle – … What does all this mean? Lots of questions remain, including:
1. Will the cheap source of funding from a 0% Fed Funds rate continue? How long?
2. Will the Fed extend its quantitative easing program via its purchases of mortgage-backed securities beyond Q1 2010? How would the market react if it does not?
3. What happens to the train wreck that still encompasses our commercial real estate markets?
4. Will retail sales confirm the labor statistics reported today?
5. Will the markets begin to trade based on fundamentals instead of the technical support provided by the Fed and Treasury? Can Ben and Tim carefully let the air out of the bubble created over the last 8 months? – Sense on Cents Blog
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counterpoint to peak oil – Cheap Oil is Here to Stay; Forget “Peak Oil,” We Now Have “Peak Demand,” We’ll Never Run Out – Mark Perry Carpe Diem Blog
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Asset-Backed Bond Market Must Embrace Stricter Rules, Bair Says – By Dawn Kopecki – Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair said the market for bonds backed by consumer debt won’t be weaned from government assistance until banks embrace stiffer guidelines for issuing the securities. “Nobody has any confidence in the securities,” Bair said – Bloomberg
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READ THIS: America Without a Middle Class – Elizabeth Warren – Huffington Post
There are lots of pet adoption promotions going on right now. I talked about Iams Home 4 the Holidays earlier. Found Animals Foundation is also having a big pet adoption drive called “Save a Stray for the Holidays” in 14 Los Angeles shelters on December 19.
For some people, this is a fine time to adopt a pet. If you have ample time during this holiday season to properly introduce your new pet into the home, including training, then why not?
My husband and I picked out a cat for Christmas from a rescue six years ago. We decided to adopt him the first week of December to have even more time to get him settled in before Christmas. And we weren’t planning on traveling much for the holiday, so it all worked out. And that cat is still with us now. However, if your home is super high energy over the holidays with lots of parties, or if you’re going out of town for several days, it may not be the best time to adopt. That doesn’t mean you can’t delay the adoption until January though.
Giving Pets as Gifts
If you’re surprising someone with a new dog or cat for Christmas, you need to ask yourself a couple of questions. Are you really sure this person wants the responsibility of a new pet right now and for the next 15 or 20 years? That’s probably not your decision to make. Also, wouldn’t you rather pick out your own pet?
If you’re a parent who’ll be taking care of the pet, that’s different. Yet, I do think that the pet bond may benefit from a child being able to select his or her own dog or cat.
The magic of receiving a pet for Christmas doesn’t depend on the surprise element. I still say that the cat my husband and I picked out together for Christmas was the best gift I’ve ever received. And we agreed on the cat together before taking him home.
Are you introducing a new pet into your home this month?
(Image via stock.xchng)
Post from: Blisstree
What better way to do business than to combine two segments of the economy that are hurting? Either land got cheap, or Bentley’s got cheap, so some combination thereof, because here in Northern California, near San Jose, there’s a development giving away Bentley’s to anyone who will buy one of their lots! READ MORE
A news story broke about CitiGroup’s possible plan on paying back their TARP monies. READ MORE
Count your blessings that the SEC is not accusing you of misleading investors (or that you didn’t buy gold $100 an ounce higher than where it is now). This is where three former top executives of New Century Financial find themselves: accused of fraud and misleading investors as the company’s subprime loan business was failing in 2006. New Century’s former CEO and co-founder Brad Morrice, former chief financial officer Patti Dodge and former controller David Kenneally are the names to watch, and probably not hire if you have stockholders since the SEC also wants the three barred from serving as officers or directors of any public company and reimbursement of their bonuses or stock option awards. READ MORE
Be careful what you charge for FHA loans. The FHA kicked Equitable Trust Mortgage (Baltimore) out of its program yesterday, claiming they overcharged borrowers, particularly minorities, for FHA loans.
This post is part of the IT Innovation series, sponsored by Sun & Intel. Read more at ITInnovation.com.
Of course, the content of this post consists entirely of the thoughts and opinions of the author.
There’s a new, massively detailed, study coming out on the secrets to being a great innovator, and the key finding really stands out:
“What the innovators have in common is that they can put together ideas and information in unique combinations that nobody else has quite put together before.”
Notice that one of the key components of all of this is seeing ideas and information that are already out there, and then doing the useful part of putting them together in a different way. This is something we’ve noted time and time again when it comes to innovation. Often, the actual “idea” isn’t new — but it’s that it is put together in a better or different way than before, and that new way works better for people. Yet, when you have something like patents on the basic ideas (and, before some patent lawyer shows up to say patents aren’t on ideas but inventions, let’s all just agree how ridiculous that claim is), it makes this much more difficult and expensive. The classic example of this is RIM. The idea of wireless email was hardly new. Lots of folks had been trying to do it right. The technical issues behind providing email wirelessly were not difficult either. What RIM did was put it all together in a compelling way — by recognizing how to package it all in a manner that was significantly more usable than previous attempts. And yet, another firm, NTP, who had failed to innovate and had failed to actually figure out a way to make wireless email useful, came along and sued, because it held patents on the very concept of wireless email. After a long legal battle, RIM was eventually forced to pay over $600 million to NTP.
Those sorts of situations should really bother anyone who believes in the importance of innovation. As this study has shown (yet again), real innovators need to be free to combine different ideas and experiment to see what actually works. The problem, as it appears to be so often, is the faulty belief that the “innovation” is in the idea itself. That’s almost never the case. The innovation is in figuring out the right combination of factors that packages it up the way the market wants things. And now we’ve got another study showing this, though it seems unlikely to actually impact policy decisions, and that’s a huge shame if you’re a supporter of innovation.
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Filed under: Motorsports, Europe, Japan
Germany’s DTM series is presently contested by just two automakers, Mercedes-Benz and Audi. In an effort to increase manufacturer participation, global reach, and television audiences, Autosport reports that DTM’s overseers to be talking to Japan’s Super GT series organizers about a tie-up. The GT500 class includes Honda, Lexus, Nissan, and a single Aston Martin DBR9.
The talks are centered around letting the cars race together, not DTM and Super GT actually coming together. The hurdles would be rationalizing the specifications: GT500 racers employ a different construction, as the series doesn’t mandate spec electronics, tire, gearbox, differential, fuel, and brake suppliers as in DTM. However, Super GT does have its own way of creating parity and close racing, using restrictor plates and pit stop regulations.
If the two can find a way to come together, it might encourage BMW to join the series and bring its American Le Man M3 to the party. The Munich marque has resisted DTM, saying it isn’t interested in a series so heavily focused on Germany. Don’t get any hopes up, though – the Super GT management said they don’t see the link-up as “a matter for the very near future.”
[Source: Autosport | Image: Alex Grimm/Bongarts/Getty]
DTM cars to run in Japan’s SuperGT series? originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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To Our Clients, Colleagues and Friends,
· During the crazy times, everyone used to get Lucites when a deal was done. No more. Coffee mugs with the banks name and logo are the thing now, and we actually like collecting them from clients. A white mug with your name and logo stands out the most. We have some from bank mugs which are dark, and no matter what the color of the lettering, it just doesn’t stand out. Keep this is mind next time you place an order.
· New York Community Bank took over Amtrust (i.e. the old Ohio Savings Bank), and we’ve always been intrigued by the former’s lending strategy. Almost all their lending is first lien mortgages against New York City apartment buildings that are rent controlled. Their theory is that if a building is rent controlled, its rents are low enough to make certain the building is always fully occupied. And if the loan has a good DSC ratio to start with, full ongoing occupancy makes that loan good as gold.
Why did they want Amtrust when they’re almost totally focused on New York City ? Well, they got $4 billion in cash, zero construction loans, zero non-performing loans, plus $4 billion in ultra cheap money market deposits. We know some good people at Amtrust, and we hope things work out for them.
· There’s no question that there are many banks that need to be shut down, but there are also banks being forced into failure by overly harsh regulatory orders. Some banks being seized might survive if only management were given time to work through their problems. Not many, but some! Rather than being overly punitive on banks now, shouldn’t they have done that a few years ago when real estate lending got out of hand? You don’t take the punch bowl away after everyone’s passed out or tossing their cookies, you do it before the party gets too wild.
Regulators should have been tougher a few years ago, and for those who’ve proven their past ability to work through problems, they should loosen up a little bit now. Consent Orders can make it difficult or impossible to turn a bank around, and aren’t there some banks where you want to make it easier and not harder for them to succeed?
· An experiment was done with Cal ’s library program to lend framed art for undergraduates to hang in their dorm rooms. One group was told that they could exchange any print they weren’t happy with, with unlimited exchange rights. The other group was told that there were no returns at all, and whatever they chose, they had to keep all semester. At the end, both groups were surveyed as to their satisfaction with the program. Which group do you think liked it better? In a bit of a surprise, the ones given no choice were much, much happier with the program.
We think about this experiment from time to time when we look at various programs offered by banks. When Garrett, Watts opened its first checking account way back when, we were offered an endless number of account types, with every combination and permutation of fees, number of checks permitted and so on. We remember asking, “Don’t you have just a basic business checking account?” People seem to want multiple choices in supermarkets and when dating, but this may not be the case with bank offerings.
· In 1979 General Motors had over 618,000 employees. Today it’s about 75,000, for a 87.9% shrinkage in the workforce. Can someone look up GM’s market cap at its peak versus what it is today? It would be fascinating in a sort of morbid way.
· Thirty years ago, GM had a 50% market share of all auto sales in the U.S. Today it’s struggling to stay at 20%. If you’re in a bookstore (remember those?), there’s a bazillion books on how to succeed in business without really trying. But there are very, very few books that study the colossal failures. We consciously don’t read books like The One Minute Manager or the ridiculous Who Moved My Cheese, but we might read a book that explores the commonalities among companies that fail.
· Freddie Mac demanded re-purchases of $2.7 billion of single-family mortgages to lenders for the first nine months of the year, and our clients are getting more and more of those scary re-purchase letters! The past year or so, we hear that when FNMA takes back a property, they make the seller of the loan repurchase it in about 25% of the cases.
· Just because you don’t sell to FNMA, you don’t get to ignore the buybacks mentioned above. If you sell to Chase, BofA, Wells, or Citi,they sell your loans to FNMA, and if they have to buy them back from FNMA, they’re going to make you buy them back from them, or at least make them whole. But you already knew that.
Do you care about your community and do you buy a lot online? Totally unrelated, right? Wrong! In the typical city, of every $100 spent in independent stores, $68 returns to the community through payroll taxes, sales taxes and other expenditures. If you spend it at a national chain store located in your city, only $43 will stay in your town. And if you spend it online, $0 comes back. Happy Christmas shopping.
Can you believe it’s only three weeks or so till Christmas? Oy vey!
Helping mortgage lenders increase revenues, control costs, and better manage risk.
Our northern neighbor’s free-speech rights
Editor, The Times:
Amy Goodman’s most recent column in The Times should not elicit any wide-eyed responses [“Detained at the B.C. border in Canada’s Olympic crackdown,” Opinion, syndicated column, Dec. 4], especially from Goodman herself.
Any reporter with experience would know that Canada’s free-speech rights are more limited than in the U.S. Books can be challenged in Canada, and many have been. A quick look at www.freedomtoread.ca will show people the current list of challenged books in Canada. The attempt to bring certain types of printed material into the country can be met with confiscation.
What has played out at the border with Goodman should not be taken as some sort of travesty. It should be seen simply as Kabuki theater between the press and the Canadian government.
— Dave Riggs, Seattle
The same as the U.S., only colder?
Americans assume Canada is like the United States, only colder. There are many other differences too.
Speaking as someone who was held under the Emergency Powers Act, I can attest to the differences in the British justice model. The minister of justice can hold someone for 30 days on his own signature. The detainee has no charges filed, has no attorney assigned, never has go to court, is not allowed communication in or out, and the Ministry of Justice does not have to respond to inquires about the detainee.
You just drop off the planet.
And the really cool part is that the detention order can be renewed monthly, forever. Two of the main reasons I was able to get out were the efforts of Amnesty International and my mom.
The police in Canada can tap your phone, read your mail and monitor your Internet usage because they feel like it. There is no judicial oversight. The police can detain you, search you and interview you without any sort of probable cause.
Rights are something you have here. Not there.
— Douglas Kerley, Lynnwood
Inheritance tax can be paid slowly, over many years
The Seattle Times editorial on inheritance tax was not completely accurate [“Repeal or reduce the death tax,” Opinion, Dec. 7].
The IRS allows terms in which inheritance tax can be paid over many years, rather than all at once, so that small businesses don’t have to be sold to pay the tax, all at once.
Inheritance taxes help restrain America’s tendencies in favor of an aristocracy, and I’d favor increasing them. With higher taxes on inheriting anything that isn’t a family business, there would be a lot of revenue from those who can afford it most, which could translate into less of a tax burden for everyone else.
— Tony Formo, Seattle
Tragedy for small businesses to change hands?
The heirs of a small business should not need to be protected from inheritance tax. It is a transfer of assets, every much as a transfer of cash, stock, gold, etc. There are other options for paying taxes than selling the business or having insurance, such as savings, inherited cash, a loan against the business, etc.
Or include one’s heirs in the business ownership at an earlier time — exercise foresight.
Taxes are not the only issue. One or more heirs might prefer the cash, and dividing the inheritance might force a sale.
It happens. Do we protect them from that also?
Selling does not automatically mean a loss of a small business to a large one. It could be an opportunity for some other person who wants a small business. The editorial seemed to assume it’s a tragedy for small businesses to change hands.
Sure, make some adjustments to the law. Sure, consider allowing people with businesses — or stock, or other noncash inheritances — to pay the tax in installments or defer some of it until the asset is sold. But inheriting a small business is still a transfer of monetary value to one or more people who didn’t previously have it.
— Judi Edwards, Bremerton
Winning the genetic lottery
The Seattle Times should quit the demagogic rhetoric of mislabeling an unearned windfall to the heirs of the extremely rich a “death” tax, and return to some thoughtful unbiased reporting on the issue.
Though imperfect, the basic philosophy of our current tax system is to tax individual accessions to wealth. For most Americans, that means we pay taxes on the earnings of our hard work. But does The Times point out the unfairness of this work tax? Even if an average American is lucky enough to win the lottery, that person will pay high taxes on the windfall. Does The Times complain about the wrongness of a luck tax?
How, under any concept of fair taxing, should most Americans to be taxed on non-discretionary income generated by our labor or even a lottery winning, but then not tax the recipients of more than a $2,000,000 unearned windfall of genetics?
The Times bemoans that inheritance taxes supposedly break up small businesses, but then provides no statistics on any businesses destroyed by heirs who could not borrow or insure against the taxes on their multimillion-dollar inheritance. If this tragedy happens so often, one wonders why The Times provides us with not one example.
Perhaps the tax system should be changed completely, but as long as it taxes the labor of most Americans, it should also tax the unearned windfalls of the extremely few Americans already fortunate enough to be related to multimillionaires.
— J. Anthony Salmon, Burien
Filed under: Motorsports, Europe, Hatchback, Renault, Specialty
For such a tiny car, Renault’s punchy little Twingo RS sure has been getting a lot attention lately. First came the launch of the Twingo Gordini edition, reviving a long-dormant racing nameplate for the French automaker. Then Jeremy Clarkson took it for a ride (and a swim) around (and under) Belfast. Now Renault’s motorsport division has released the a pair of entry-level rally machines based on the pint-size hot hatch.
Called the Twingo Renaultsport R1 and R2, these are Renault’s latest offerings to aspiring rally drivers getting in at the bottom. They pack 1.6-liter 16-valve four-bangers pumping out a substantial 160 horsepower – 27 over the standard RS – driving the front wheels through a five-speed sequential gearbox with a slip-resistant dog clutch and wheel-mounted shift paddles. There’s little to distinguish the rally machines from their street-going counterparts, but inside, the interior has been stripped out and fitted with a roll cage.
Upgrading from the R1 to the R2 (which can be performed at any later point, helpful if your team is dependent on prize cash to re-invest into the car) gains Sabelt buckets with six-point harness and a few more bells and whistles. The best part? They’re apparently still street legal (in Europe at least) so you can drive it home after the rally instead of loading it onto a truck. A fully equipped Renaultsport Twingo R2 will set you back €38,980, or the equivalent of $58k in American greenbacks…if only it were actually available here. You know the drill: details in the press release after the jump, high-res photos in the gallery below.
Gallery: Renaultsport Twingo R2
[Source: Renault]
Continue reading Street Legal Racer: Renaultsport launches entry-level rally-spec Twingo
Street Legal Racer: Renaultsport launches entry-level rally-spec Twingo originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Solution would disproportionately affect the poor
Finally, officials in Olympia wake up to the reality that this budget crisis can’t be solved by endlessly slashing services [“Gregoire, Dems say tax package will be in budget fix,” page one, Dec. 4].
It also shouldn’t be solved by raising the sales tax or property taxes, or instituting other regressive taxes that disproportionately affect the poor.
Currently, Washington state has one of, if not the most, regressive tax structures in the United States. The poorest 20 percent of the population pay more than 17 percent of their income in taxes, while the richest 1 percent pay less than 3 percent of their income in taxes. It’s outrageous. One way to fix this disparity is to replace the sales tax with a steeply graduated income tax.
The grass-roots campaign to save Washington state’s Basic Health Plan has already collected thousands of signatures on a petition calling for a fully funded Basic Health Plan and a change in the tax structure, including a tax on the income of the wealthy and the profits of large corporations.
Clearly these ideas are not nearly as taboo as politicians would like to believe. It’s past time to change the tax structure in this state.
— Margaret Viggiani, Seattle
Several ways to cover the deficit, with ease
It was interesting to see in The Times that after last year’s devastating cuts to social services and state employee benefits, Gov. Chris Gregoire is finally talking about raising taxes instead of axing more state services.
But that will only mean more hardship for many, unless Democrats finally correct our punitive tax structure. Repealing the sales tax and levying reasonable corporate taxes and an income tax on the rich would cover the deficit with ease.
It would also boost the economy, since those of us on the bottom put our money right back into circulation, unlike those who get all the tax breaks now.
— Megan Cornish, Seattle
We dropped the shovel, but our governor showed courage
I am ashamed Gov. Chris Gregoire must go hat in hand, apologetically, to the Legislature to close tax loopholes and raise needed revenues, because she wants to avoid cutting essential state programs. I am doubly ashamed of Republican promises, in turn, to attack her for her courage.
Filling this budget hole was our job, and we’ve dropped the shovel.
Washington state is being eroded by an archaic tax system. Our support for public education has dropped on a per-capita basis from 24th to 46th in the nation over the past 17 years. Our proportion of personal income spent to support our roads, schools, police and fire departments, our clean air, water and public health has dropped a similar 17 percent.
Washington has the most regressive tax system in the nation — dead last.
We need an immediate fix for the $2.6 billion hole in our budget. Longer term, we need a fairer, more adequate tax system that supports essential services and lifts the special burden we are placing on our poor, the elderly and small businesses.
Our governor has shown courage. It’s our turn to help fix this mess.
— Timothy W. Keller, Seattle
Agricultural runoff most likely caused bird deaths
The article “Trying to crack an ocean mystery” [page one, Nov. 29] didn’t include one important piece of information about the similar bird deaths from algae bloom in Monterey Bay.
Grebes, cormorants and numerous other local birds clotted our beaches after we had just been sprayed with pesticides involuntarily by the state of California.
The state had hoped to exterminate an apple moth. Coincidentally, thousands of sea and shore birds died. Their deaths were caused, we were told, by this type of algal bloom The Seattle Times article mentioned. So while sunlight has something to do with blooms, the levels of nitrates in the water have much more of an impact on blooms.
Runoff is a major mover of fertilizers and pesticides into the water system. The unknown chemicals in the aerial spraying also may have caused the bloom.
I would hope the scientists investigating this also check for any agricultural practices that add nitrates or other chemicals to water along the shoreline. That is where the most damage was done.
— Cecile Mills, Watsonville, Calif.
More than five years ago, we wrote about a ridiculous lawsuit that involved a lawsuit against Cingular (now a part of AT&T) seeking to pin liability on Cingular for an accident caused by a driver who was talking on his phone. That lawsuit was tossed out as ridiculous (and again on appeal) with the court noting that the mobile phone operator was not at all responsible for what a driver did. Apparently, some folks are unaware of this case. Broadband Reports alerts us to the news that Sprint is being sued in a similar lawsuit. In this case, a woman was killed by a driver on the phone, and the woman’s daughter is claiming that Sprint should have warned people of the risks of driving while talking on the phone. Nice try, but chances are, this lawsuit is going to get tossed just as fast as previous ones.
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We tend to feel better when we get exercise, but could physical activity also help stimulate the brain? Newly published study results reveal a clear association between good physical fitness and better IQ test results.
The strongest associations were for logical thinking and verbal comprehension. And researchers noted that the key to the link with the IQ test was physical fitness, not strength. Plus, since researchers analyzed twins as well, they found that the link isn’t based on genes, but on environmental factors like exercise. The people in the study who were fit at 18 were more likely to go to college and secure better jobs.
Researchers noted that being fit means you have better heart and lung capacity, which gives your brain plenty of oxygen. Another mental advantage of exercise is that it reduces stress and anxiety.
The study, carried out at the Center for Brain Repair and Rehabilitation in Gothenburg, involved 1.2 million Swedish men in the military. The results were published in December in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
More advantages of being physically fit
In addition to the possibility that being fit will may help make you smarter, being fit has some impressive physical advantages as you might have guessed. Studies have shown that people who are physically fit are less likely to suffer from heart disease or to die from other illnesses. Physical fitness can be determined by an exercise stress test, which measures your heart responds to exertion, such as walking on a treadmill.
Do you consider yourself physically fit?
(Image via stock.xchng)
Post from: Blisstree
While most of the other “gurus” preach about danger on the horizon, hedge fund manager John Paulson continues to defy conventional wisdom.
Reuters: Today our net long exposure is perhaps the highest it has ever been in our portfolio,” Paulson said during a luncheon presentation at the Japan Society.
“We still find a lot of compelling long investments on the equity side,” he said, citing specifically Bank of America, U.S. cable-television giant Comcast Corp, and Germany’s HeidelbergCement AG.
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Global trade declined last month, with total shipments dropping 9% from October.
This bad news could undermine the notion that we are in the midst of an economic recovery.
In fact, the number is higher than it was at the depth of the crisis last year—when shipments to the US dropped 7% from October to November.
The news jibes with data from JPMorgan, released last week, that global economic activity stalled out again in November.
Of course, some seasonal decline is expected at this time of year. Last year, however, the fall off in shipping just got worse and worse. Cross your fingers and hope that we’re not back on that sinking ship.
(source:Panjiva.com)
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As much as he doesn’t want people to pirate games, Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello concedes that there’s a sizeable pirate market out there, and he wants to turn them into paying customers. How? By selling them
The HTC HD is one of the best known Windows Mobile phone and was the first to break the big screen phone barrier. The HTC Eris is one of the Droids that Verizon Wireless is offering, so a battle between the two is, I think, needed. I like to keep things short and sweet, so this will only touch on 3 rounds: hardware, software and user experience.
Hardware
The HTC HD was released over a year ago with the high end technology of its time. The Eris was recently released with the high end compressed technology of these times, but can the past beat the recent?
-Processor
Both devices sport the same timeless 528Mhz QUALCOMM processor, but the Droid feels a bit snappier than the HTC Touch HD.
-Camera
Both devices have 5MP in the bank and they both use it very well. The HD has slightly older technology with no flash, but still looks good and take decent videos. The Eris is more recent and the software makes the hardware a lot better.
-Size
These two devices have a very nice and slim shell. The HD has a both slim and sexy long device with a huge screen in front of it. The Eris has a nice little slim design going for it and that is great for people that don’t have much pocket room to spare like me.
-Screen
The HD was one of the first devices to go over the 3.5" phone screen limit, but only with resistive, not capacitive. The Eris kept it simple with a nice and elegant 3.2" capacitive screen that does the job while still keeping it small.
-Fin
Both devices have great hardware going for it and this one is a tie because they have the same camera and their sizes are really similar, but the Eris uses its processor slightly better and the HD’s screen is bigger, not always better. HD-5, Eris-4.5
Software
The Droid Eris was released with the fastest growing and best looking OS Android. The HD was released last year with TF3D which is the best and most useful UI Windows Mobile phone’s have, mine is updated to Windows Mobile 6.5.1 with TF3D 2.5.
-User Interface
The Droid comes with HTC’s new sense UI that was made just for sexiness and usability. The HD that I am currently using has Windows Mobile’s version of sense UI called Manilla 2.5 that is made also very sexy, usable and is very informative. The Eris’s Sense has an added feature that allows you to switch settings from social to work and your own custom version. The Sense has everything you need from a twitter feed, message, weather and all the information you need. The Windows Mobile Sense version has everything the Android version has including all the settings. In the UI section the devices are fairly equal.
-Applications
This section of the review is a little hard to judge because even thought Android has more app available in their store, Windows Mobile has more available elsewhere. I will have to make this short- WM has 20K+ applications all spread around, Android has 10k+ in their app store.
-Fin
This section, I wanted to keep it short. The Eris and the HD in terms of software, is pretty similar, but I would have to say this is also a tie. The HD gets 4.5, because even though the User Interface is not really as good compared to the Eris, it still has a huge community behind it and thousands of applications. The Eris also gets a 4.5 also because even thought its User Interface is stellar, it still does not have as much applications available at the moment, but that will change very soon.
User Experience
A phone is nothing without having a great user experience. The Eris has a nice and very consistent users experience, so you will not have a problem. The HD is also a very elegant device, but you will not always have a very constant experience.
-Out of the Box
The HD is well know for the software that HTC adds to it when it ships and that makes for a great out the box experience. The phone when you receive it, you get everything you will need for a normal use, you also get their very famous TF3D.
The Eris also has a very good out the box experience. It comes with everything you need except some essential programs like file explorer and some other things that make installing your applications easy.
-Installation
This will be a very short comparison. The Eris is a lot easier experience to get applications and install them than the HD. The Android Application store is one of the easiest way of getting all your applications and installing them in good time. I took me about 30 seconds of searching for the exact application I needed and all I did then was press install then while on VZW’s 3G network it took 10seconds to download and 5 seconds to install. The HD was a little more complicated, I opened the application, then MS wanted me to install some update, then they asked me to sign into my live account and then I had to wait while it searched for the App I wanted then waited for it to load and finally install. The experience was clearly not as nice.
–Fin
The out of the Box experience has to go to the HD, because it has everything I need from file explore to Mobile Word and more. The Installation has to go to the Eris, because it does make downloading the application a pleasant and smooth process. HD-4 Eris-4
Conclude
This one was close going with what was mention in the comparison. There is a lot more I could have covered on this comparison, but I like things short. The HD has to win on this one, because it just has it all from sexiness to usability. The Eris is a really good device, I love the screen and how smooth it works, but it still has some things it needs to add before it can go against the HD, and next time it will be the HD2, so it really will not be fair.
Read my full review of the Eris at MobileOSNews
