Author: Serkadis

We’ve discussed in the past why we think that the cable companies’ “TV Everywhere” strategy is destined to fail. If you don’t recall, it’s the way the cable companies are looking to respond to the rise of competition in the form of Hulu, Netflix, Redbox, Boxee and others — not by offering something more compelling, but by putting up a giant wall around content and forcing you to keep your cable subscription (which fewer and fewer people seem to want) if you want to access TV shows online. Reid Rosefelt has a nice rant explaining why this won’t work, pointing out (quite accurately) that all those competitors are winning because they deliver what people want, and locking things up doesn’t make customers want cable any more:

Why do we enjoy free-with-ads sites like Hulu and Crackle? THEY HAVE FEWER ADS! And we can watch what we want whenever we want to.

What do we like about Netflix? For a fraction of the cost of cable, it gives you DVDs by mail plus the ability watch a lot of movies instantly, either on your computer or with their many compatible set-top boxes.

What do people like about Redbox. One buck! Pick it up and return it to the supermarket!

What do we like about cable?

Ummm, cable is a monopoly. You only get one store. You may only want a pair of socks and a shirt, but you are forced to buy a Yankee cap (even if you are a Mets or a Sox fan), cufflinks, perfume, towels, ladies underwear, two ties, a bedspread, low-slung hip-hop shorts, and a lamp. The kicker is that the price goes up all the time and the Calvin Klein shirt you actually came to buy costs extra. And of course LOTS AND LOTS OF ADS!

It’s not that we don’t like cable any more–we’ve always hated it!

But the key insight in the piece is how this, combined with Comcast’s attempt to buy NBC Universal, show the backwards thinking of industry execs:

There’s one tiny hitch though. Every single TV show and movie from NBC and Universal is available for free to anybody who has ten seconds to look for them. So what exactly is Comcast locking up? This isn’t 1995, you know. Either you just shrug your shoulders about file-sharing or you start offering some alternatives that have benefits that people are willing to pay for like Hulu, Netflix, Redbox, and iTunes. Or maybe you work a little and come up with something new? Bill Maher said recently that the Republicans looked into the future and saw… radio. These entertainment giants are looking into the future and they see… cable.

Bingo. It’s yet another case of execs looking to lock up content and block value, rather than providing additional value to users. It’s people thinking about the way things used to work and trying to recreate it with a digital facelift, rather than looking to actually take advantage of what the new technology enables. That’s only a snippet of Reid’s analysis, so go read the whole thing.

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Geolocation is quickly moving from a hyped up concept to reality as various services are beginning to add location features. Twitter has just rolled out support in its API very recently and now Google is implementing a new method of providing location information inside the search results. The search engine announced that it would begin to add a location indicator in some specific circumstances for sites with top level domain names like .com or .net.

“Country-code top-level domains (or ccTLDs) can provide people with a quick and valuable clue about the location of a website—for example, “.fr” for France or “.co.jp” for Japan. However, for certain top level domains like .com, .info and .org, it’s not as easy to figure out the location. That’s why today we’re adding region information supplied by webmasters to the green address line on some Google search results,” Piyush Prahladka, a software engineer at Google, wrote.

The feature will only show up for a few searches, where it would really make a difference. Google exemplifies with a search for “capital city boxing” which yields several results for several underrated boxing clubs in different regions. With the regular search there’s no way to know which is which as they all have a .com domain name. Normally users would either have to refine their search by adding the region … (read more)

If you believe AuthenTec the best feature of the LG eXpo is not its Snapdragon processor, but the fingerprint reader ensconced below its screen.

The above 3 minute video takes us through its various functions, and it does seem like a useful piece of kit.  In my experience with fingerprint sensors however it is usually not as smooth as easy as they make it out to be, but who knows, they may have gotten it right this time.

Of note is that this video shows the screen rotating while in the browser, confirming yet again the device does come with an accelerometer.

The LG eXpo should be available today in AT&T stores.

In this brief interview, Jim Rogers expresses amazement that everyone didn’t know there was a bust coming in Dubai, and he argues, the bust presents a great opportunity for other Arab players that have remained solvent. (via MidasOracle)

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See Also:

• JPMorgan: Forget Dubai, Stay Long Stocks, And Keep Hammering The Dollar
• Marc Faber: Dubai Was Just The Tip of The Sovereign Default Iceberg
• Dubai Teaches Us How Capitalism Works

	LA Preview: HH2 will be back to tout onboard hydrogen generation. Can you believe it? Some things never change.		Viridian Joule picked as winner of Chevy Volt Paint Color Contest Millions of Americans will reach for the dictionary on this one.
	LA Preview: CMT-380 plug-in diesel hybrid supercar uses microturbine, li-ion batteries It’s unlike any other hybrid, that’s for sure.	Other news: Hydrogen cars + math. Worth the trouble? An adventurer and his Brammo Enertia Spy Shots: Smart ForTwo+2 in the works?

AutoblogGreen for 12.02.09 originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 02 Dec 2009 06:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The new, intrinsically safe Temposonics IS position sensors by MTS assure a safe working environment where ignitable mixtures of materials occur. Developed for the linear position or level measurement in hazardous areas they meet all the requirements of equipment group category II. Along with the corresponding certified safety barriers they can be used directly in hazardous areas of instrument category 1/2G and 2D and in order to that can even be mounted to zone 0.

The IS sensors come along with the dimensions of the product range’s standard transducers. Thus the advantages of absolute, non-contact position measurement are now also available without any additional housing for an environment with high explosion risk. Voltage and current supply is limited so that no ignitable energy arises and potential spark formation cannot trigger any explosion. The surface temperature of the sensors will not rise above 135°C, which makes them applicable almost everywhere.

The intrinsically safe sensors by MTS offer a direct analogue current or voltage interface and additionally feature a signal output inside the sensor head. At measuring ranges of 50-2500 mm they work with an infinite resolution, a repeatability better ± 0.05 mm and 1 ms cycle time. Customer specific programming of set points is possible. The IS sensors are available as profile version for external mounting to the motion axis, as rod model for in-cylinder installation or together with a float as level sensor.

Along with the surging interest in gold, there’s been a lot of talk about so-called “peak gold,” this idea that the world has, or will soon near, its maximum level of annual gold production, and then enter a permanent downward slope.

The whole idea of any “peak” substance started in oil, but believers in it — many of whom are resource pessimists or Malthusians — see the same phenomenon elsewhere.

See the evidence it’s happening in gold >>

Over at The Oil Drum: Europe, Louis de Sousa has put together an fascinating presentation on peak gold, and the evidence that gold production is on a permanent decline globally.

He writes:

For long, I thought that gold production was different from fossil fuel production, because gold exploration has no energy limit, only cost. Gold concentration can vary largely. The contours are uncertain and the limit (cutoff) is an economic cutoff, whereas crude oil deposits are discrete and the concentration is either almost 100% (forgetting water produced with the oil) or 0%. However, oil supply (to satisfy oil demand) includes much more than crude oil or bitumen: natural gas liquids, refinery gains and other liquids from coal or biomass. Unconventional oil is more limited by the size of the tap (speed of extraction) than by the size of the tank (amount of resources).

Gold is extracted in mines at about 4000 meters deep, while coal reserves for instance are limited to about 1800 meters deep and onshore because of EROI constraints (waiting for a breakthrough on in situ gasification). But looking at the problems in South Africa (which for long was the main producer), it appears now that diminishing grade and high energy needs will set the limit. The world’s main gold mine is gold in the sea and no one is even thinking of that!

As a retired oil and gas explorer (geologist/geophysicist), I am very interested in minerals, but I know very little about gold mining. (I did try to pan for gold in Australia.) I have gathered all that I could find on the web, to present the main facts about the main producing countries.

I found that little reliable historical data exists. The main source of production information since 1933, on a country-by-country basis, seems to be the annual yearbooks of the USGS. Unfortunately, some of the amounts shown are not correct even in more recent editions, because past wrong estimates (especially for the FSU) were not corrected. Data for China is not considered as certain as the data from other countries. However, the USGS provides good maps of the country’s gold mines.

Now, see the evidence >>

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See Also:

• 11 Ways To Cash In On Gold

Google Maps is great for practical information, and satellite imagery can be very useful and fun in many cases. Adding a third dimension though can make things a lot more exciting, so Google is pushing to get more 3D models for Google Earth with a new competition dubbed “Model Your Town.” The name says it all, Google wants people to recreate their towns or villages in 3D for a chance to win some money for the local school system and international recognition for the town and modelers.

“We’re pleased to announce the first-ever, international Google Model Your Town Competition. You’re invited to use our free tools — SketchUp and Building Maker — to make sure your community is represented on the world’s biggest 3D stage,” Allyson McDuffie, SketchUp for Education program manager and Aidan Chopra SketchUp evangelist wrote.

“Every town that participates has the chance to be included in Google Earth’s 3D Buildings layer where millions of people can see it. The winning town (as decided by a popular vote) will win money for its schools, a Google-sponsored party for its modelers and plenty more,” they added.

Google Earth already has an impressive amount of 3D buildings, but they’re mostly for well-known places and large cities. Adding models for most o… (read more)

(This guest post originally appeared at the author’s blog)

The latest portfolio strategy from JP Morgan continues to favor the bullish side of the trade.   They see the Dubai dip as an opportunity to buy into some emerging market names at a discount.   Dubai does little to change their outlook as the risk of contagion remains very low.  This means the risk trade lives to fight another day.  Thus, they continue to favor a broad overweight of emerging market bonds, credit, equities and currencies.  In other words, they like the highest of the high beta.   They are now forecasting the S&P 500 at 1,160 by year-end.  They continue to believe money managers will chase performance into the end of the year and that positioning for strong Q4 earnings could provide a further boost to the market.  Our expectation ratio confirms this belief.

JP Morgan also remains very bearish on the dollar, which we all know is the tail wagging the dog these days.  They maintain that the dollar will be weak for three reasons:

• The Fed is proving more comfortable with a zero rate environment than almost every other G-10 or EM central bank but the Bank of England
• cash positions (domestic and cross-border) remain too high for the 2010 interest rate environment
• and reserve diversification has accelerated to a record pace. Although the structural

“arguments for a dollar collapse (even crisis) are less credible than the alarmists claim, cyclical dynamics are powerful enough to drive this overshoot of fair value, much like in the late 1980s and 2007/early 2008.”

What do they not like?  They like a tactical short hedge position in oil.   These guys have been uncannily accurate over the last year.  Ignore their strategy updates at your own peril….

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See Also:

• Morgan Stanley: Here Comes A Brutal 2010
• Five Reasons A Sell-Off Is Coming
• Goldman: This Is What A Sub-Par Recovery Looks Like

Good news on the geopolitical front:

UKPA: The families of five British sailors detained after their yacht apparently strayed into Iranian waters have spoken of their delight after the men’s release was confirmed.

And Foreign Secretary David Miliband, speaking outside his home in London, welcomed the announcement that the five men, held since last week, had been released and were now heading towards international waters.

Oliver Smith, 31, from Southampton; Oliver Young, 21, from Saltash, near Plymouth; Sam Usher, 26, from Scarborough, North Yorkshire; Luke Porter, 21, from Weston-super-Mare; and Bahrain-based radio presenter David Bloomer, thought to be in his 60s, were on board.

Read the whole thing >

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See Also:

• Iran Seizes British Yacht, Oil Soars
• Got Balls And A Gold Fetish? Head To Afghanistan, And Start Smuggling To Iran (GLD)
• Iran: We Made $5 Billion Shorting The US Dollar

The whole news publishers versus Google debacle keeps on going and, for the most part, Google is sitting on the sidelines. Once in a while it responds, indirectly, to the accusations by underlining the benefits it provides news sources. And to show that it’s not completely deaf to the criticism, Google is now changing the way the First Click Free program works by allowing news outlets to limit its use to just five clicks.

“[W]e’ve updated the program so that publishers can limit users to no more than five pages per day without registering or subscribing. If you’re a Google user, this means that you may start to see a registration page after you’ve clicked through to more than five articles on the website of a publisher using First Click Free in a day,” Josh Cohen, senior business product manager at Google wrote.

Through the program, users coming from Google News or the search engine are able to view articles that are otherwise behind a paywall. Google implemented the program as a way for paid content websites to get around the company’s policies against ‘cloaking’, the practice of feeding the crawler a version of the page and the users a different one. It’s obvious why Google doesn’t like this, but it posed a problem for publishers who wanted their content indexed … (read more)

Combining power with ease of cabling

Two new brushless motor series with integral driver circuitry
Supplied with an M8 connector cable to simplify wiring.
– Standard version –> Series 50XE (Ø50mm), 57XE (Ø57mm) and 60XE (Ø60.5mm)
– High torque version –> Series 50XP (Ø50mm), 57XP (Ø57mm) and 60XP (Ø60.5mm)

These two new models deliver high performance and offer simplified wiring.

We also offer speed adaptors to adjust the fixed speed of the motorised roller.
With only one type of motor you can achieve a wide range of speeds.

Click on the link below to see the technical datasheets:

24V DC Brushless motorized rollers

For more information, we remain at your disposal.

Two years ago, a US judge ruled that a guy with an encrypted hard drive did not have to hand over his encryption key to the police, as it would be a violation of the 5th Amendment (the right not to self-incriminate). The argument there is that the encryption key is a form of “speech.” This is quite a reasonable ruling — but it appears that over in the UK they view encryption keys quite differently. Last year, we wrote about a UK court ruling interpreting the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) to mean that people could be required to hand over encryption keys, since encryption keys were not “speech” but an object that could be demanded. Unfortunately, this has now resulted in a schizophrenic man being jailed for refusing to decrypt his files. As many are noting, this seems to be an abuse of law enforcement, as the purpose of the RIPA law was supposed to be about stopping organized crime and terrorism, not dumping the mentally ill in prison.

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The web seems to be converging on several companies, like Facebook and Google, which are becoming more powerful and increasingly unrivaled. Yet, even these companies can’t afford to close off everyone else and have a very healthy ecosystem of companies and services developed around them. Still, there are those that are more reluctant to sharing their data and Craigslist is again proving to be one of these companies. The site didn’t really like a project, called Flippity, which took listings and plotted them on a map, so it decided to block it along with everyone else who was using Yahoo Pipes to access the data.

Developer Romy Maxwell, one of the people behind Flippity, had several email exchanges with founder Craig Newmark, the Craig in Craigslist, to get his opinion on the way the project used and accessed the data. Initially, Newmark gave the project the thumbs up and it looked like everything was in the clear. He replied to one of the developer’s emails “as a rule of thumb, okay to use RSS feeds for noncommercial purposes,” which is what Flippity did.

A few days ago, the developer sent Newmark a link to the project which was at that moment in alpha stage. He didn’t receive any reply to that email, like he did for all the others, instead Craigslist essentially blocked the project f… (read more)

It’s been a horrible decade for the Dow Jones, the worst since the 1930’s.

Moreover, according to the chart below from Bespoke Investment Group. decade-timing seems to be pretty important, as most of the Dow’s returns have been concentrated, particularly during 1980 – 2000.

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See Also:

• The Biggest Market Call of the Decade
• The Epic Decline Of Magazine Advertising Through The Decade
• Japan Preparing To Launch Quantitative Easing; What Are Three Lost Decades Among Hyperdeflationary Friends?

Societe Generale uses the following chart to support their uber-bullish case for gold. By their metrics, apparently gold has only been fairly valued in 2 out of the last 40 years. And that was during a short-lived spike.

Thus according to their valuation, markets have been completely wrong for 38 out of 40 years. Which makes one wonder what their definition of ‘wrong’ is. It seems pretty rich to expect markets to suddenly become sustainably ‘right’ should they historically have always been ‘wrong.’

Markets are frequently mis-priced, but if you find they always are then you need to re-check your assumptions.

(Via the Big Picture and an astute BP)

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Richard Bernstein: Gold Prices Have Gotten Silly (GLD)
• Rosenberg: Gold Going To $2600 Thanks To China
• Gold Soars To Within An Inch Of $1200

We’re ending 2009 with a phenomenal monthly giveaway from The Refined Feline! One lucky reader is going to receive a Catemporary Cat Corner climbing tower and shelf! This combo will have kitty climbing in style.

To enter the monthly giveaway, make sure you’re signed-up to receive Moderncat updates via email. If you’re already getting the updates but you’d like an EXTRA chance to win this month, please leave a comment on this post. The drawing will take place on December 31. Complete details on the monthly giveaway here.

Watch this video to learn more about the Catemporary Cat Corner and Shelf from The Refined Feline (if you can’t see the video below in your email, click here to watch it on the site):

Facebook is still growing at a huge pace, not that it’s surprising anyone at this point. The company’s cofounder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote an open letter, or rather blog post, to Facebook users to talk about the privacy changes which are about to become a reality after being announced several months ago but also to make a quick note on the fact that Facebook is now at 350 million users.

The social network managed to add 50 million users in about two and a half months. That’s the size of a decent-sized social network in its own rights, further proof, if it was even necessary, that Facebook is in a league of its own. What’s even more interesting is that it went from 300 million to 350 million slower than it grew from 250 million to 300 million, perhaps a sign that it may finally be slowing down. It’s still got some ways to go though. When you add the fact that Facebook started out the year with 150 million users in total, it’s clear that it’s doing something right.

However, its size is becoming a problem in certain areas and Facebook has to make some changes to features that can’t really scale to a service with hundreds of millions of users. “Facebook’s current privacy model revolves around “networks” — communities for your school, your company or your… (read more)