A new Reuters poll of 49 major investment firms around the world found that they were cutting back stock market exposure in November. Globally, major institutional portfolios now appear to have the same percentage of equity exposure as they had way back in May.
Furthermore, funds around the world piled into cash positions since October.
Join the conversation about this story »
See Also:
The TOUCHSWITCH is a type of stainless steel sensor that has been designed to solve the problem of belt misalignment detection in zone 20 on conveyors and especially on elevators. The Touchswitch reacts to the pressure exerted on its front cover by the misaligned belt or pulley. The sensor communicates with a relay contact which triggers an alarm or stops the machine.
The sensor is easy to adjust and can be used with pressures between 2 and 5 kg. It has got a test button which allows to create an error to test the efficiency of the security system.
The Touchswitch is ATEX certified for zones 20, 21 and 22 Ex II 1D T125°C without internal cabling.
Laser-compact group introduces advanced pulsed and CW lasers in unified design. Besides the same dimensions and power consumption, modernized DTL-series represents superior energy/power characteristics, high quality laser beam and outstanding industrial reliability.
These lasers will be available for purchasing since January, 2010.
Key features:
Modern design – same form, size and functions for all DTL-series lasers, Advanced reliability, Cost effectiveness, Excellent beam quality, TEMoo.
Stabilized average pulse energy/output power, RS-232 and remote control, RoHS compliance,OEM & end user configurations
Superior unit-to-unit consistency, CDRH compliance.
This is unique: Endress+Hauser now provides its customers with a convenient all-round package for verifiable steam invoicing. It consists of four parts:
1) Application-optimized measurement technology
2) Real-life calculation of total accuracy for the
entire measuring point
3) On-site calibration to guarantee verifiable
measurement results
4) Verification without removing the measuring
device
Everyone’s desire is to pay only for what they get without ongoing discussions on steam balancing and invoices. Endress+Hauser can help.
The rotating electrical slip ring is an electromechanical device that allows the transmission of electrical signals side to side in rotary conditions.
It is composed of a complete slip ring with brushes and armbrushes and its own cover that guarantees IP55 or IP65 (on the base of customers requirements). If required it is possible to combine with a fluidic swivel that could
guaranty the passage of air, liquids or gas.
The rotating slip rings are executed in the base of customer requires and various are the applications, esemple: machine tools, robotic, aerogenerators, and other.
Sirius Electric informs that this year will be present as an exhibitor to PLAST EURASIA ISTANBUL 2009 trade show that will be held in Istanbul from 19.11 to 22.11.2009.
Together with our partner SONICTURK, we will present some of the machines of our production such as:
Ultrasonic Welder model USP ENERGY
Ultrasonic Welder model US SLITTING
Spin Welder model SWP06
Ultrasonic generators 400 and 2500W power
Dont’ miss this occasion, you will find us booth no. 6 – stand 609C.
We are waiting for you!
If you want to arrange an appointment you may contact Mr. Lalla at +39-0381-325610.
Guard Against Unplanned Downtime! Alarm in Real Time! … with the unique Ultrasonic UE Ultra-Trak 750.
Ultra-Trak is ready to guard against unplanned downtime and product loss the minute it is installed.
Ultra-Trak passively monitors ultrasounds produced by operating equipment. It can be readily connected to alarms or recorders for datalogging, thanks to its 4-20 mA current output, coupled with a pure demodulated output.
Housed in stainless steel, the rugged Ultra-Trak 750 is water resistant and dust proof which means it can be externally mounted in some of the most challenging environments.
Couple this with an extraordinarily wide dynamic range of 120 dB and sensitivity adjustment, this sensor is ready to meet your most demanding sensing needs.
Ultra-Trak 750:
Provides early warning of: mechanical failure
Valve leakage
Flow disruption
Arcing by detecting changes of ultrasonic amplitude
ORing Industrial Networking Corp (ORing or the Company) announces the addition of new members to its industrial wireless access point product series today. IAP-120/120+ are reliable IEEE802.11b/g WLAN Access Point (WAP) with 2 LAN ports. The devices can be configured to operate in AP/Bridge/Repeater/AP-Client mode easily.
Users are able to configure IAP-120/120+ by Web interface via LAN port or WLAN interface. IAP-120/120+ provides dual Ethernet ports in switch mode, hence it enables the users to use Daisy Chain to reduce the usage of Ethernet switch ports. It is worth to mention that IAP-120+ equipped with PD (Power Device) feature on ETH2, which is fully compliant with IEEE802.3af PoE PD specification.
ORing is also proud of the devices X-Roaming capability. X-Roaming capability enables the devices to feature less than 100ms handover time across WLANs, and make seamless communication possible. “IAP-120/120+ are optimal networking solutions for wireless industrial network applications and the joining of IAP-120/120+ surely enhances ORing’s competitiveness in the wireless industrial networking market,” stated Bruce Chang, PM Director at ORing.
In practical operation of wireless AP devices, Windows utility (AP-Tool) is supported. This utility is very helpful for you to search and configure IP of access points in an industrial network. Furthermore, since IAP-120/120+ support various kinds of operation modes include AP/ Bridge/Repeater/ AP-Client mode, plus IAP-120+ supports PoE PD feature to extend the network layout up to 100 meters. It is very easy for users to establish their wireless networks.
Key Features :
•High Speed Air Connectivity: WLAN interface support up to 54Mbps link speed
•Support X-Roaming < 100 ms
•Support wireless load balance
•Highly Security Capability : WEP/WPA/WPA-PSK(TKIP,AES)/ WPA2/ WPA2-PSK(TKIP,AES) 802.1X Authentication supported
•Support AP/Bridge/Repeater/AP-Client Mode
•Switch Mode Supported: Daisy Chain support to reduce usage of switch ports
•Dual redundant Ethernet port support redundant mode (Recovery time < 10ms)
•Redundant Power Inputs : 12~48VDC on terminal block
•Fully Compliant with IEEE802.3af (Power Device at ETH2, IAP-6002-WG+)
•Secured Management by HTTPS
•Event Warning by Syslog, Email, SNMP Trap, Relay and Beeper
•Rigid IP-30 housing design
•DIN-Rail and panel mounting enabled
Eco-Friendly Point-of-Sale Systems
Global warming and other environmental concerns are changing the way people live and do business. EBN and Intel are working together to offer cost-effective green retail solutions designed to help retailers to achieve their environmental goals and build customer loyalty for its brand image improvement in a fiercely competitive industry. Featured with the low power consumption technology, EBN X-POS 752 is designed as a valuable, steady and efficiency POS solution.
Space is not the limitation
There are so many issues to be concerned for POS installation site and the space efficiency is the crucial one. X-POS 752 is the best solution for the space efficiency ever you can get. With ultra compact footprint (364.9×228.5×332.3mm) and VESA mounting compatibility, X-POS 752 is the one and only choice for space-limited applications.
Shorten your trial running
Just plug and play. Selecting packaged POS technology which your new employees can quickly learn how to use and which offer industry standard connections With EBN POS solutions, With EBN you get a wide selection of rugged and user friendly hardware platforms which are pre-certified to deliver the full capabilities of your specific POS application.
Time is money. More time you spend on employee training and trial running means that more cost and expense you have to bear. X-POS 752 is an intuitional plug-and-play device which conforming all industry standards and is compatible with all X86-based hardware. With X-POS 752, no more costly employee training and POS system maintenance.
Flexible, scalable, upgradeable
You need a flexible, scalable and upgradeable POS system to handle your business which grows day by day. X-POS 752 is featured with smart design for future changes in load demands, and could satisfy all your POS requirement through the entire lifecycle.
EBN’s Solution
Highest performance with eco-friendly is the ideas EBN holding on POS design and development. Powered by Intel ATOM 1.6GHz CPU and cooled by the fanless thermal solution, X-POS 752 offers you powerful performance and cost-saving efficiency.
For more information about X-POS 752, please contact at:
EBN Technology Corp.
10F,No.90,Sec.1,Sintai 5th Rd., Sijhih City,Taipei County 221,Taiwan
TEL: 886-2-26969292 FAX: 886-2-26969393
E-Mail: [email protected]
Whether you operate a public truck weighing facility or a private business scale, one thing remains the same – your need to provide drivers with around-the-clock scale access, but without paying for around-the-clock staff.
The Avery Weigh-Tronix AVS-7 provides drivers with full-automated 24/7 scale access. This access maximizes facility use and lowers costs, since a scale operator is not needed. It can be used as a standalone system for strictly unattended weighing situations, or in a staffed weigh station during off-hours as an added convenience to the drivers you serve
The AVS-7 consists of an automated control console – an advanced E1310 indicator and thermal printer inside a NEMA 4X enclosure. For more flexibility, options such as an ID card reader, QWERTY keyboard, vehicle detection and intercom can be added. The AVS-7 is one component of an integrated unattended truck scale system from Avery Weigh-Tronix.
Avery Weigh-Tronix is a world leader in weighing systems and integrated solutions. We’ve got a weighing solution to meet every one of your needs, but in particular, we specialize in truck scales, forklift truck scales, floor scales, bench and shipping scales, counting scales, railroad scales, indicators and application software.
Please use this site to find the best solution for your needs. For more detailed information, please contact us at +1 877 888 1646 or use the distributor locator below to find the weighing professional nearest you.
The semiconductor industry has never been so competitive before. There is this need to reduce cost so as to remain competitive or face being knocked out of the market. The semiconductor test industry has always been very capital intensive and this is due primarily to the very costly test equipment that were used to do final test.
The functional testers with AC timing that has been dominating the market cost in excess of US$200K upwards. The cost of maintaining such a tester is also exorbitant. Ultimately, this increase the final cost of the product.
Qmax’s latest innovative product, the “No Foot- print” QT2216 Full Functional mixed signal tester is designed to help the semiconductor companies doing final test be more competitive in the following ways:
Cost effectiveness in terms of capital and maintanance.
No Foot Print means less space needed on test floors
Functional Flexibility
Lo and behold: If you don’t panic, rush into a bailout, and ream taxpayers at the first sign of trouble, capitalism actually works the way it’s supposed to.
Bloomberg: Dubai World began talks with banks to restructure $26 billion of debt, including $3.5 billion owed by property unit Nakheel, and said the remainder of its liabilities are on “a stable financial footing.”
Debt from subsidiaries including Infinity World Holding, Istithmar World and Ports & Free Zone World will be excluded from the negotiations, Dubai World, one of the emirate’s three main state-related holding companies, said in a statement. The cost to protect Dubai debt against default fell to the lowest since Nov. 25. Dubai’s main equity index dropped 6.6 percent.
Join the conversation about this story »
See Also:
Google, M.I.T, and Umberto Eco are teaming up to build a cloud, literally. The Cloud is, to be precise, an ambitious architectural undertaking which they hope to have ready in time for the London Olympics in 2012. And here’s the interesting part, the ‘cloud’ will be “fed by real time information from all over the world.” The project comes from M.I.T.’s Senseable City Lab and is now looking to secure funding, with micro-payments from the public, and sorting out other small details like building permits.
“The lightweight transparent tower, composed of a “cloud” of inflatable, light-emitting spheres, would create a spatial, three-dimensional display in the skies of London, fed by real time information from all over the world,” a statement issued by the project reads.
“The size of the Cloud will not be set in advance, but it will evolve based on the level of contributions received. The global “cloudraising” effort will be supported by platforms such as Facebook and Twitter; Google will provide advertising on YouTube and in search results.,” it continues.
The project certainly sounds impressive and the photos look great, but can they really pull it off by 2012? Just raising the money, if they rely solely on what are basically donat… (read more)
The commercial real estate carnage isn’t bad news for everyone. Slurpee-slinger 7-11 is ready to take over New York City.
The Real Deal: At a time when many chains are contracting, Dallas-based 7-Eleven is taking advantage of low entry costs and aggressively taking on Manhattan, where the company, which is currently operating six stores, plans to tack on an additional 100 locations over the next five years.
The latest in its business conversion program will be at 535 Eighth Avenue at 36th Street, Margaret Chabris, a company spokesperson, told The Real Deal. The site is the former location of Arnold Hatters, one of the city’s oldest hat stores, which went out of business last spring.
The Slurpee creators are “open to just about any location in Manhattan,” Chabris said, but noted that Midtown was particularly attractive because of the high level of traffic.
Liquor stores should be especially worried if 7-11 pushes hard on its house brand of wine.
(Picture via Flickr user CstrzRock)
Join the conversation about this story »
See Also:
Every so often we see a similar article to the one penned recently by Ashlee Vance in the NY Times, bemoaning the lack of “open source business model” success stories. Now, Vance is a top notch reporter and does great work for the NY Times (as he did for The Register before), but these kinds of articles seem to miss the point. They go looking for “open source” company success stories, and find that most open source software companies don’t end up doing very well, and the few that do okay end up selling out to other companies (MySQL, XenSource, SpringSource) and conclude that, outside of perhaps RedHat, “open source” isn’t a very good business. But that misses the point. Open source software, by itself, shouldn’t be much of a business. Just as music isn’t much of a business by itself, but it can be a huge component of a larger business, open source software is part of what helps many other businesses.
So, while Vance dismisses the fact that companies like Google and IBM rely tremendously on using open source software to be the foundation of their multi-billion dollar businesses, it’s time to recognize that those are open source business models. Just as we talk about how the new music ecosystem involves using music to make other things much more valuable, the “open source business model” is using open source software to make other things much more valuable. The companies that haven’t gotten very far trying to sell open source software are in that spot because they don’t understand open source business models themselves, and seem to think that the focus should remain on selling software, rather than using the software to make other things more valuable. While Vance dismisses companies like Google and IBM using open source software as “pawns,” it’s time to recognize that that is the most reasonable way to build a business on open source work. And there’s nothing wrong with that at all. It’s helping build tremendous businesses that have a huge impact on the world economy.
Permalink | Comments | Email This Story
Ingredients:
* 1 small cooked rotisserie chicken, or approx. 1.5 pounds cooked boneless skinless chicken breast
* 1 cup milk
* 8 ounce cream cheese
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 3/8 teaspoon garlic salt
* 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese
* 10 ounce package of frozen broccoli, cooked
Directions:
1. Use a knife or your fingers to shred the chicken into small pieces.
2. Blend milk, cream cheese, salt and garlic salt in a double boiler (or a saucepan over low heat if you’re very careful) until smooth and thoroughly heated. Stir in half cup of Parmesan cheese.
3. Arrange broccoli in 2 quart casserole dish; cover with 1 cup of cheese mixture. Top with chicken slices; cover with remaining cheese mixture. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes. Remove, let stand 5 minutes.
Jonathan Wilmott, chief global strategist at Credit Suisse, is guest-blogging for the day over at FT Alphaville, and has already produced a number of gems.
Here for example is some good analysis of the latest from the Bank of Japan.
In this post, he takes on the overly-accepted conventional wisdom, that the US consumer remains massively overleveraged, and has years and years of deleveraging yet to go through, before returning to health.
First he notes this well-traveled debt-to-GDP ratio, which ostensibly shows the great consumer leveraging
But the kicker is that it was mainly the poor — the bottom 20% — that really leveraged to the hilt:
If you exclude the bottom quintile, things don’t look quite so ridiculous.
Wilmott concludes:
One could usefully get a lot more granular than that, but the more interesting point is why we find it so emotionally satisfying to believe that US consumers have become irrationally and fecklessly over-borrowed when the facts don’t really live up to the caricature.
The debt story is really about the cyclical vulnerability of consumer spending, not a structural obstacle to future spending that matters even when income grows. The distinction is critical. Full recovery of consumer spending can occur with house price stabilisation and a return of income growth. It has little to do with getting the savings rate or debt-income ratio to certain levels.
Follow his full blogging at FT Alphaville all day >>
Join the conversation about this story »
See Also:
Laptop computers examined by border guards looking for pirated software. IPods seized at airport security lines on mere suspicion of containing illegally downloaded music. Home Web users hit with the Internet death penalty — cut off from access — by Internet providers acting at the direction of other U.S. corporations. All because of secret trade negotiations being conducted now by dozens of nations, led by U.S. officials.
That's the doomsday scenario being painted by online civil liberties advocates who say they've been shut out of discussions that could radically alter the way consumers use technology. Supported by firms that want to protect their intellectual property rights to movies, music, books and software, the talks are designed to create an international agreement that would make stopping and prosecuting offenders much easier.
But among the most likely outcomes, warns Rashmi Rangnath of advocacy group "Public Knowledge," is a new legal regime that requires Internet service providers to become an extension of law enforcement, acting as judge and jury while punishing alleged digital pirates.
"You would have Internet providers substituting their own decisions for law enforcement decisions," she said. "The result will be an agreement … that pushes the boundaries of what (Internet users) can't do."
Secret negotiations on what's known as the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA, began during the Bush administration but continue under President Obama, with the most recent meeting taking place Nov. 4-6 in Seoul, South Korea. The European Union and Canada, Japan and many other nations are participating in the talks. The U.S. Trade Representative’s office, which is leading the talks for the U.S., has argued that secrecy is standard in any international negotiation.
Legally, the Obama administration can conduct the talks without consulting Congress. While international treaties require congressional approval, trade agreements can be approved directly by the White House.
Advocacy groups are hardly alone in their concerns with the talks. Controversy around ACTA began to swell last year, when a draft proposal was leaked on the Internet. It included several controversial provisions, including the possibility of a "three strikes" rule modeled after French law, which requires ISPs to cut off Net users found to be engaging in copyright-infringing activities three times.
The steady drumbeat of opposition to the process reached the U.S. Senate last week, when Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., issued a statement urging Obama to open up the process.
"The public has a right to monitor and express informed views on proposals of such magnitude," the two senators wrote in a letter to the president. "We firmly believe that the public has a right to know the contents of the proposals being considered under ACTA, just as they have the right to read the text of bills pending before Congress."
While efforts to enhance intellectual property law enforcement are supported by many large firms in the music, software and video industries, corporations are not unanimous in their support. On Monday, a trade group for European Internet Service Providers issued perhaps the most vocal repudiation yet of the negotiations. EuroISPA issued a statement (PDF) indicating its concern that the dramatic enforcement measures being considered would attack civil liberties without denting piracy much.
"Such heavy-handed measures would create a serious danger of undermining and restricting the open innovative space that lies at the very heart of the Internet's success," said the statement, signed by EuroISPA's president, Malcolm Hutty. "This agreement would have a negative impact on Internet users without having an appreciable impact on fighting illicit use of copyrighted material."
Experts consulted, sworn to secrecy
Earlier this year, the U.S. Trade Representative made efforts to open up the process, releasing some meeting notes and inviting a small group of U.S. experts to see the proposed new rules and offer commentary.
But underscoring the secrecy of the discussion, the experts were forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Then, the U.S.T.R. refused requests to reveal the identities of the participants, saying that releasing the names would compromise national security. The list was released only after a Freedom of Information Request filed by advocacy group Knowledge Ecology International.
The vast majority of participants in the review represented large corporations such as Google and News Corp., or corporate interest groups like the International Intellectual Property Alliance. Six participants represented civil liberties interests were also invited.
Rangnath and her Public Knowledge colleague Sherwin Siy were two of the six. In an interview with msnbc.com, they were severely limited in their ability to answer questions. Rangnath said she was shown a portion of the draft agreement during a one-hour meeting with U.S. officials, but wasn't allowed to copy any of the documents and was told a subsequent version would likely differ from what she was shown.
Asked if the experience made her more or less concerned about the implications of the agreement, she said only, "I don't think I can answer that."
Web users could be cut off
While Siy said some doomsday concerns, such as manual border searches of laptop computers and MP3 players, were likely impractical, Internet death penalties were a real possibility. U.S. law currently offers broad protection for Internet providers when illegal activity occurs on their networks outside their knowledge. But an international agreement could lead to additional "third-party" liability for companies that handle Web traffic. The mere threat of increased liability from such a trade agreement could be enough to have a severe chilling effect on Internet users, he said.
"An ISP coming under real legal pressure, a change that makes it easier for someone to plausibly sue (an ISP) for billions of dollars … what risk-averse company is going to risk a 2 percent chance of a $100 billion suit?" he said. Instead, ISPs would readily side with rights holders over users, he said.
There is already disturbing precedent for blunt use of copyright enforcement tools, he said, with outcomes that should give negotiators pause. Just last month, an entire Ohio city's free municipal WiFi was shut down after Sony Pictures complained that the network was used by someone to download a pirated movie.
It's unclear if such enforcement would be continued, or enhanced, by ACTA, because so little is known about the content of the draft agreement. But based on the leaked document, Kimberlee G. Weatherall, a professor at the University of Queensland in Australia, issued a paper last year summing up the provisions (PDF).
Among the possibilities she inferred from the leaked document:
1. An extension of criminal liability by redefining what counts as copyright infringement on a "commercial scale." Most nations’ laws treat possessors of pirated goods differently than those who pirate for profit. A broader definition could land more consumers in criminal, rather than civil, courts.
2. The imposition of "deterrent-level" penalties, which could ratchet-up punishments.
3. Provisions in the agreement that would require ISPs in to actively police copyright infringement on their services
4. Additional burdens on ISPs, such as use of filters that would prevent sharing of copyright-protected materials.
5. Possible seizure and destruction of intellectual property rights “infringing goods" such as tools to mass-produce movie DVDs. This section, she writes, has given rise to fear that border guards will have the authority to seize and destroy laptops and iPods.
Weatherall writes that inclusion of such measures in the agreement could effectively create new laws outside of member nations’ legislative processes, she said.
"Such provisions have not been enacted internationally, they do not represent a consensus approach; they have been actively opposed in many countries," she wrote. "This would, in fact, be lawmaking by treaty-making."
Siy and Rangnath said the U.S.T.R.'s office assured them that nothing in the agreement will go beyond powers already afforded to authorities and it won't "change U.S. law." But the vagaries that already exist in provisions like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act — thorny issues involving emerging new technologies that are constantly being decided by U.S. courts — could mean ACTA would end up extending U.S. law anyway. Worse, future changes to digital U.S. law might not be possible without consulting nations that sign the ACTA.
International agreements are also poor tools for enforcing copyright law, which requires a great deal of “finesse,” Siy argued. For example, possessing child pornography is illegal. But possessing an electronic copy of a movie, song or book is often legal – its use determines its legal status. While a second copy of a book for personal use might be allowed, for instance, a second copy e-mailed to a friend might not.
So far, intellectual property rights holders and U.S. courts have yet to demonstrate the ability to consistently employ such finesse, he said. International agreements governing such situations would likely exacerbate the problem. That's why all interested parties should be able to debate potential impact of ACTA in the open, Siy said.
"Nuances with internet infringement should be taken into account as we try apply copyright laws," he said. "That's why transparency is goal number one here, but it's not the final goal. We want to roll up our sleeves and get into the muck of dealing with this. That's the important work."
Become a Red Tape Chronicles Facebook fan or follow me at http://twitter.com/RedTapeChron.
 |
Nissan expects to double battery energy capacity by 2015 Ghosn’s strategy makes sense, if the company can pull this off. |
 |
Quick Spin: 2011 Chevrolet Volt charges toward production Driving the Volt: everything it’s cracked up to be. |
 |
eBay Find of the Day: Messerschmitt KR200 Hawt. |
Other news: | |
AutoblogGreen for 12.01.09 originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 01 Dec 2009 05:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Economist Menzie Chinn summarizes the latest report from the CBO on the stimulus.
From CBO’s just released Estimated Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on Employment and Economic Output as of September 2009 :
…Economic output and employment in the spring and summer of 2009 were lower than CBO had projected at the beginning of the year. But in CBO’s judgment, that outcome reflects greater-than-projected weakness in the underlying economy rather than lower-than-expected effects of ARRA.
In other words, the continued deterioration of the economy through the first few months after the passage of ARRA was not due to the stimulus package; rather underlying conditions had deteriorated, and the economy would have been in a worse state in the absence of the package.
Join the conversation about this story »
See Also:
