Author: Serkadis

Today’s PHP lesson is about data types. Although PHP can work with many different data types, we divide them in two different categories: scalar data and composite data.

Scalar data

Scalar data can hold only one value at a time. PHP knows four different types of scalar data:
Boolean: possible values are TRUE or FALSE
int: can be any signed (so both positive and negative values are possible) numeric integer value
float: can be any signed (so both positive and negative values are possible) floating-point value
string: can be any collection of binary data

Numeric values
Numeric values can be both of the type integer as floating point, and can be annotated in decimal, octal (identified by leading zero) or hexadecimal (identified by leading 0x), and for floating-popint numbers, they can be annotated in decimal and exponential (2E7, 2.3E5).
A very important thing to note when working with numbers i s that the precision and the range of your data types depends on the machine you are working on. For instance, & 64-bit system will have a wider range than a 32-bit system. Also, PHP doesn’t track overflows. So stuffing your variable with too much data will NOT throw an error, but will result in a truncated value.
Another thing to keep in mind is that floats are not always storing their value the way you would think. For example, if you execute the statement

integervar (int) (0.2 + 0.4) * 10);
print integervar;

The printed result will not be 6 as you would expect, but it will be 5. This is because the result of 0.2 and 0.4 is not stored as 0.6 in the float, but as 0.59999999, and times ten, this gives 5.999999
When this float is conversed to an int, it simply truncates everyting behind the fraction, resulting in 5.
These things are not necessarily a disaster, but are limitations you should be aware of when doing calculations in your PHP code.

Strings
When talking about strings, most programmers immediately think of text. This is indeed the case. In some languages. Not in PHP, oh no. In PHP, a string is an ordered collection of binary data. This data can be text, but can also be an image, an office document, or a mp3-file.
Due to the extended character of strings, and all that is possible with them in PHP, we will get back on them later.

Booleans
Booleans are the easiest of all variables, as they can only hold one of two values: true or false, and are therefor mostly used in logical operations.
There are some important things to know about booleans and conversions though:
When you convert any number (no matter if it is an integer or a float) to a boolean, the boolean will always be true, except when the value of the number is zero.
When you convert a string to a boolean, the boolean will always be true, except when the string is empty (null), or contains a single digit 0 (zero). When there are multiple zeros in the string (00000), the boolean will convert to true.
When you convert a boolean to a string, integer or float, the value will be 1 if the boolean was true, and 0 if the boolean is false.

Composite Data

PHP doesn’t only support the scalar data types we discussed above, but also supports two compound or composite datatypes. The name compound or somposite comes from the fact that they are in essence containers of other data.

Arrays
Arrays contain data of other datatypes in an ordered way. Arrays can contain any of the abovementioned scalar data. We will digg deeper into arrays in a future lesson.

Objects
Objects contain both data and code. Objects are the cornerstones of Object Oriented Programming (OOP) (who would’ve thought, right?), and are also dugg into in a future lesson.

Special Data Types

Besides the two data types we mentioned above, there are also two very special data types:

NULL
Null indicates that a variable has no value. A variable can get the NULL value by getting it specifically assigned, or by not yet having been assigned any value at all.

Resource
The resource data type is used when dealing with external resources that are not part of PHP, but are used inside your code, for example a file.

Converting between data types

PHP is very easy when it comes to converting data types, as it does all the work for you, for free! However, if you really want to convert a variable to another data type yourself, you can do this by putting the name of the data type you want to convert to between parentheses, and place it in front of the expression or variable you want to convert. Check it out, it was already there in the example we used before:

integervar (int) (0.2 + 0.4) * 10);

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How important is seasonality in our understanding of human health? In last week’s nuts post, I referred to the seasonality and intermittence of nut availability in the wild, implying that because they weren’t available to our ancestors on a year-round basis, excessive daily nut consumption may not be in our best interest. Regular, consistent, high-volume nut ingestion may not make sense in the light of human evolution, but does that necessarily make eating nuts – or, really, any food – in anthropologically unrealistic amounts detrimental to our health?

What about seasonal behavioral patterns, or seasonality of access to sunlight? Does it make sense to view our every move, our every tradition, in the light of the seasons? What do we mean by “seasons,” anyway – aren’t the seasons different depending on several factors, like proximity to the equator? Or is there an ideal seasonal cycle all humans should strive to follow, regardless of location or background?

To establish whether or not an ideal human seasonality even exists, it would help to establish what we know about our earliest stomping grounds. What was the climate like where and when we evolved? What were the seasons like? Humans evolved in East Africa, with modern Homo sapiens first appearing around 200-250 thousand years ago. It’s popular to suggest we evolved in a stable, constant Edenic landscape: lush forests, grasslands teeming with wild game and edible vegetation, steady rainfall, predictable seasons. The reality wasn’t so neat and smooth though (is it ever?). In fact, the region has seen major topographical and climate changes over the ages, beginning with the clash of the Indian and Asian tectonic plates 40 million years ago, which set into motion both the uplift of the Tibetan plateau and massive volcanic activity in East Africa. The growing Tibetan plateau deflected moist air away from East Africa, while the volcanic activity coincided with rifting in Ethiopia. The newly formed rift valley and accompanying rift shoulders, or mountain ranges, led to even more deflection of moist air, and what began as a uniformly flat plain covered in rainforest became a landscape of plateaus, mountains, and valleys featuring both cloud forests and desert scrubs.

Temperature was fairly constant, tending toward the warmer side of things, but the seasons were characterized by intense bouts of rain and drought. A wet period might last thousands of years, only to be followed by centuries of brutal drought. Enormous lakes could dry up in a hundred years (a blink of an eye), rapidly changing an established people’s way of life and spurring innovation. Seasonal cycles no doubt followed the wet/dry dynamic, and this is where and how we evolved – in a constant (on the large scale) state of flux. It was a tumultuous, highly variant environment, and some anthropologists think it had the effect of producing the most adaptable species on the planet: us. Good thing, too, because if we were going to successfully migrate to every corner of the globe, we had to be prepared to make quick adaptations.

Based on that ability to adapt, I lean toward the absence of a cut-and-dry seasonal mentality that applies to all humans. I mean, just look around. We see and hear examples of humans surviving, even thriving, in any locale, under any climate, and exposed to any environmental pressure. We live where it rains 3/4 of the year, and we live in bone-dry, arid deserts.

Before I sat down to write this, I was planning a fairly basic examination of seasonal foods. Once I began digging around, things became a little more complicated (as they always do). I think I’d be shortchanging the topic and over simplifying a complex issue if I stuck with what I imagined the script to look like. It’s not so much that there isn’t a single seasonality that we can all adhere to; it’s that there are multiple cycles that “work” with our respective physiologies. That’s the whole point of being human, really! We adapt, we conform, and we mold.

I have a feeling this will be a broad topic, and I won’t be able to cover everything, but I’ll try in a series of upcoming articles: The relationship between Vitamin D and fructose consumption, spring and winter fats, egg, meat, and tuber availability, intermittent fasting, the remarkable similarities between the climate of the modern Hiwi tribe of Venezuela and that of our early human ancestors in East Africa (found the free full text of a fascinating study) and what they all indicate about our ancestral seasonal diet.

In the meantime, leave me your thoughts in the comments section, and stay tuned!

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Related posts:

1. The Question of Seasonality in Fructose Availability
2. In Defense of Meat, Part 2: Animal and Human Well-Being
3. The Importance of Cooking in the Evolution of the Human Brain

Just when you thought the iPad might be able to breathe some life back into the failing print industry, the industry itself seems dead set on making sure that doesn’t happen. Well, certain parties within the industry at least, like maybe News Corp. for instance, if a recent report appearing in the Wall Street Journal about planned iPad subscription pricing is any indication.

The report, which, you’ll remember, appeared in the WSJ itself, cited “a person familiar with the matter” as the source of the information that the Journal would be charging $17.99 per month for iPad subscribers when the device launches next month. No, that’s not a typo where I accidentally switched “per month” for “per year.”

I realize that the Wall Street Journal is among those choice few who’ve been given a pre-production piece of iPad hardware upon which to develop its app, but I doubt very much that anything it can put together, no matter how spectacular, will make me want to pay $18 a month for the privilege of using it. People switched to online news sources because they were cheaper, not significantly more expensive than traditional paper outlets.

While the WSJ seems to have gone well off its rocker regarding iPad pricing, other companies are offering more sane and reasonable deals. Esquire, for instance, which is the magazine the furthest along in the Hearst family with regards to iPad development, plans to offer its iPad issues for only $2.99 an issue. That’s $2 off the standard newsstand price, which is cheaper, as one might expect.

Men’s Health, on the other hand, is going the route of equally priced digital and print editions, and will be charging $4.99 per issue, and other offerings like Time and People are said to be priced close to the newsstand editions. Advertisers are reportedly flocking to the magazine publishers in droves in order to be part of the first wave of iPad editions, owing partly to the marquee value of the highly anticipated launch, and partly to the innovation in interactive ads possible thanks to the new medium.

So the question is, what’s the pricing sweet spot for iPad users when it comes to magazine content? Personally, I wouldn’t pay any of the prices I’ve mentioned, but that’s only because I’m not interested in the content. If National Geographic or Popular Science offered iPad apps priced the same as their print editions, I’d go for it, even though I don’t buy those in print now. I wouldn’t pay $17.99 a month for anything, even a magazine for which I was the sole target audience called “Darrell Monthly.”

Related GigaOM Pro Research: Forecast: Tablet App Sales To Hit $8B by 2015

Filed under: Safety, Videos, Toyota

Click on the image above to watch the video after the jump

We’ve seen demonstrations that show how to stop a vehicle experiencing unintended acceleration before, but this newest video from Consumer Reports demonstrates just how crucial a brake override function can be in stopping a throttle gone wild. CR engineer Jake Fisher lines up a pre-recall 2010 Toyota Avalon and a post-repair Camry to compare and contrast the amount of time it takes to bring a vehicle at full throttle to a stop. Hint: There’s a big difference.

The Avalon went first, and at 60 mph with the throttle open, it took over 500 feet to come to a complete stop – nearly four times the distance of a normally operating vehicle. Even worse, when the brakes were pumped, the ability to stop the Avalon diminished greatly. Pump the brake two or three times and CR shows that you might as well be driving downhill on a sheet of ice.

Next comes the Camry, which has been retrofitted with a brake override system courtesy of Toyota’s recall. The Camry stops at wide open throttle as though the gas pedal is totally disconnected. The result of CR’s little video shows that vehicles equipped with brake override can quickly come to a stop even when the throttle is pegged, making unintended acceleration a non-issue. Hit the jump to watch the six-minute video for yourself and let us know if you think all automakers should adapt this technology in the post-jump comments.

[Source : Consumer Reports]

Continue reading Video: Consumer Reports makes the case for brake override for all

Video: Consumer Reports makes the case for brake override for all originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 25 Mar 2010 11:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Another day, another abusive bullying attempt. This time, it’s Facebook, which is apparently trying to bully the maker of a Greasemonkey script that cleans up your Facebook live feed by removing annoying app notices (such as all the crap your friends are doing in Farmville and Mafia Wars). It sounds quite useful. Originally, the script was called Facebook Purity, and Facebook complained about the trademark issue (a stretch… but perhaps you could see the company’s point). So the guy changed the name to Fluff Busting Purity. No trademark issue at all. But Facebook is still complaining. The thing is, this is a Greasemonkey user script — meaning that everything happens in the user’s browser — which Facebook has no claim over. If you tell your browser to ignore certain things on a website, that should be your choice. This add-on is there to help people who want it, such that it makes Facebook more useful to them. It’s too bad that as Facebook gets bigger, we’re hearing more and more stories of this kind of bullying activity.

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(This post appeared at The Pragmatic Capitalist.)

Another earnings season is around the bend and it’s shaping up to be another good one.   As we’ve repeatedly mentioned over the last 6 quarters the environment is and remains particularly ripe for profit outperformance.  The trends that have been in place for the last 6 quarters remains largely intact.  Analysts remain woefully behind in terms of raising their estimates (see here) and corporate profits remain a margin story.

Figure 1 shows the corporate profit margin over the last 40 years.   Most important in the last few years is the turnaround in margins since Q4 2008 when enormous cost cutting campaigns kicked in.   The one remarkably positive sign during this recession has been the ability of corporations to remain lean and mean.  They have done a superb job in cutting costs and maintaining a fairly robust bottom line.  As you can see, profit margins are surging in recent quarters and should continue to trend higher as unit labor costs remain low (see figure 2) and revenues begin a slow rebound (the extent of this revenue rebound will be the key driver of any future market performance).  This trend has continued this quarter and should help power another quarter of “better than expected earnings”.

Figure 1

Figure 2

While revenues have certainly bottomed it remains the key missing ingredient in the recovery.  In order for stocks to continue their record breaking trajectory we must begin to see revenue growth.  According to recent jobs data it looks like the labor market is beginning to firm.  This is a clear sign that companies are beginning to see more stability in their top-line growth.  This also means companies are beginning to incur extra costs and the margin story will cease to be the primary driver of earnings without equal or greater revenue expansion.  One bright sign here is that revenues significantly lagged the equity market rebound during the 2003 recovery.  As you can see in Figure 3 revenues didn’t substantially recover until 2004.  We’re seeing the same thing occur with this recovery although the extent of the rebound in revenues remains questionable as consumer balance sheets remain underwater and the global economy continues to drag itself out of recession.

Figure 3

Perhaps most important in all of this, however, is expectations.  As we mentioned earlier, analysts have been woefully behind the earnings recovery.  This is best reflected in our expectations ratio which had been trending higher since just before the market bottomed last year and only recently began to roll over.  This shows that analysts estimates are becoming increasingly in-line with actual earnings and could create an environment that is not quite so friendly to the usual “beat and raise” environment we have all become accustomed to.  If a strong revenue rebound fails to materialize in the back half of the year analysts estimates will prove too high and stocks will respond negatively.

Figure 4

Based on my analysis, I believe we are in for one more quarter (Q1 2010) of easy analyst comparisons and then the heavier lifting begins as estimates ratchet up in Q2 2010 and even higher in the back half of the year where analysts estimates are very optimistic.  If we don’t see a stronger rebound in revenues in the next two quarters companies will not match these optimistic outlooks.

Currently, the market appears to be front-running the current earnings season and is pricing in another very strong earnings season.  Don’t be shocked to see another quarter of very high percentage earnings beats and tepid revenue performance.  Whether that is enough for an already optimistic market remains to be seen.  My guess is we will see another “sell the news” earnings season.  Companies are running out of tricks to pull from the cost cutting bag and revenues haven’t quite stabilized to the extent that would make most executives highly confident in their full year earnings.  If we don’t start seeing a pick-up in top-line growth this market is not going to be celebrating for long and the recent optimism in stocks will be proven wrong.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Once Again, Proof The Market Is Unstoppable

Saudi Arabia has arrested 113 people accused of plotting attacks on police and oil installations.

The arrests mark the biggest security swoop in years. They are part of an ongoing battle in the Kingdom against al-Qaeda, which has led to thousands of arrests since 2003.

It’s a not-so-fun reminder that the America’s favorite ally is under daily attack. The only thing protecting 15% of world oil exports is a very active police force.

There’s no word on which oil installations were being targeted and whether they were foreign or Saudi-owned, according to Al-Jazeera.

See also: The 15 Oil And Gass Pipelines That Are Changing The World’s Strategic Map >

Join the conversation about this story »

Ford has announced that it plans on shipping its Ford Edge crossover from Canada to China as a part of an effort to strengthen up its image in one of the world’s fastest-growing automotive markets. The 2011 Ford Edge will make its regional debut at the 2010 Beijing International Auto Show on April 23 and will go on sale shortly after.

Ford plans on shipping the 2011 Ford Edge from Oakville, Ontario, where it is built. Spokesman Mark Schirmer declined to say how many Ford hopes to sell or how much it will charge for the Edge in China.

According to Tim Dunne, director of global automotive coordination for J.D. Power and Associates, even with shipping costs and a steep import duty of as much as 25 percent, Ford should still make a little profit by selling the vehicle to the Chinese market.

Currently, Ford ships the E-Series van from North America to China but builds the rest of its six-vehicle lineup in China.

2011 Ford Edge:

– By: Kap Shah

Source: Free Press

It’s funny, it’s got a movie coming up, and it looks a lot like Ultimate Alliance. The trailer (qjnet/news/this-is-a-kick-ass-trailer.html), though amusing, didn’t seem as kick-ass as its name. Let’s take another look shall we?
 
 

Summary:

“B is for Butterfly Fish, C is for Camouflage, D is for Dolphins.” The ABCs of Oceans by Bobbie Kalman is a half dictionary, half storybook that provides children and adults about the different types of animals and plants that thrive in the spectacular world beneath the ocean. I absolutely adore the ocean and with this book, myself and anybody else who picks it up will learn that there is a lot more beneath the ocean than people think. The book talks about common sea creatures like whales, dolphins, sharks and sea turtles but it also provides definitions and ocean facts as well. Who knew that such creatures as “Nudibranchs” and “Leafy Sea Dragons” actually existed? (”Nudibranchs are mollusks” and “The leafy sea dragon is a relative of sea horses.”) This book is an amazing 32 pages of facts about sea life and is the perfect book for any ocean lover to pick up and read.

Curriculum Connections:

This book provides young children with a lot of information about ocean animals but it also helps students understand relationships among plants and animals in an aquatic environment. The book talks about how some animals in the ocean are predators/consumers and how others are prey. But the book also does a phenomenal job in classifying ocean animals and plants as well. It talks about how animals are classified as things like cartilage fish, mollusks, mammals, plants, etc. It also provides students with a brief glance into parents, babies and offspring and how usually the offspring aren’t identical to their parents. Overall, the book provides lots of information about ocean animals and plants but it does so in a fun way that is enjoyable to learn (Virginia SOLs LS 4, 5, K.6, 1.5, 3.5 and 3.6)

Additional Resources:

Ocean ABCs:  This website will provide children with the opportunity to create their own ABC book of the oceans. Each student will contribute something different for one letter of the alphabet and the finished product will be a masterpiece.

Ocean Activities for Kids:  With this website, teachers and students will get the chance to construct numerous ocean animals using simple art materials. A fun and wonderful way to learn about what lies beneath the ocean.

Ocean Alphabet Pages:  These fun color printout pages are a must for children who enjoy coloring and are also a great learning tool for teachers to hand out to their students in order to provide a more interesting look at the glorious animals that dwell in the ocean.

General Information:

Book: The ABCs of Oceans

Author: Bobbie Kalman

Publisher: Crabtree Publishing

Publication Date: 2007

Pages: 32

Grade Range: K-2

ISBN: 0778734323

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Ford

We just wrote about the report that General Motors is developing a 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 to challenge Ford’s 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6, and that the GM version might – just maybe, possibly, perhaps – go into the Camaro. Ford, on the other hand, apparently has no immediate plans to put its powerful and frugal turbo V6 into its pony car, the Mustang.

The 3.7-liter V6 currently in the Mustang makes do with Ti-VCT technology, or twin independent variable camshaft timing, delivering 305 horsepower and 30-plus miles per gallon with a six-speed auto tranny. Ford hasn’t forsaken a turbocharged V6, though – The Blue Oval is simply leaving it to tuners to do, and encouraging them in the process. And with that kind of leg up, our guess is that those aftermarket efforts will probably be seen in three, two…

In the meantime, Ford is working on an EcoBoost turbocharged four-cylinder that Mustang purists can thank the Madonna of Lourdes will not be appearing in the engine bay of said coupes any time soon. Cooler heads realized that when you can do burnouts like the one above and get good mpg, we don’t need no stinkin’ four-cylinders.

[Source: Motor Authority]

Report: EcoBoosted Ford Mustang not in the cards… for now originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 25 Mar 2010 11:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Seguindo os novos planos da Fiat, agora em parceria com a Chrysler para aumento da participação de mercado, pode incluir efeitos colaterais. Segundo a resportagem da agência Automotive News, o conglomerado italiano pode fazer uma demissão em massa de mais de 5.800 empregados nas suas instações na Itália até 2014, com parte da produção sendo transferida para os EUA e outros países da América.

O Grupo Fiat planeja produzir com essa parceria, modelos das marcas Alfa Romeo e Lancia (além dos Fiat) para o mercado norte-americano e exportação para o mercado europeu. Essa medida pode fazer com que a Fiat reduza seus custos de produção, uma vez que os produtos comercializados seriam por euro, moeda que é mais valorizada que o dólar.

Para reduzir custos de frete e exportação, a Fiat pode começar a produzir na Itália os modelos do Grupo Chrysler. Outro plano da parceria que está chamando a atenção é a produção do Fiat 500 no México a partir de 2012, para os mercados norte-americano e brasileiro.

Via | Carro Online

We cling to the familiar because it’s safe – but the only way to get something different/better is to leave the land of the familiar!

Wishing you all happy traveling into the land of the unknown!

xoKaren

WARNING: KEEP IN MIND THIS IMPORTANT TRAVELING TIP!!

When traveling into the exciting world of the unknown, please leave all your emotional baggage behind!

Feeling challenged, stressed or depressed? Check out my book – THE BOUNCE BACK BOOK – which offers many proven, empowering resiliency psychology techniques – and has been praised by Anthony Robbins! Just click this line, right here right now!

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The Bugatti 16C Galibier concept is poised to be given the approval for production by this summer and if all goes well, the four-door Bugatti should go into production around 2013 after production of the Veyron ends in 2012.

Originally, a decision to build the 16C Galibier had been expected this spring, but with Bugatti being the smallest of the Volkswagen Group’s brand it has had to wait its turn for funds.

“It will be made one way or the other,” said one insider. “We’re the smallest VW Group member and there’s a recession on so we’ve not been a priority. But we can expect to announce something by the summer; it looks good, people like it and it wouldn’t be a great financial commitment in the context of the Group.”

There are 300 Galibiers earmarked for production, each carrying a price tag of around $1.4 million.

Refresher: The Bugatti 16 C Galibier was one of the several concepts which the company is considering for a future model. Power comes from a 8.0L 16-cylinder engine that features two-stage supercharging. The engine is flex-fuel compatible, meaning it can run on ethanol. The Bugatti Galibier rides on a four-wheel-drive system and features ceramic brakes and a new suspension design that enables “agile, always-sure handling of a saloon of this size.”

Bugatti 16C Galibier Concept:

– By: Kap Shah

Source: AutoCar

It was a bad day for huge websites today, as both Wikipedia and YouTube experienced problems that made them unavailable for plenty of users for more than an hour. The issues at Wikipedia have been linked to an overheating problem at one of the European data centers, while Google has yet to clarify the YouTube issue.

“Due to an overheating problem in our Eu… (read more)

EJI staff with honoree Diane Jones, second from left.

On March 23, 2010, EJI honored George Kendall, Director of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey’s Public Service Initiative, and Thomas Sager, general counsel of the DuPont Company and DuPont’s legal department, with its Equal Justice Award. The second annual award event celebrated the triumph of Diane Jones, the first woman in Alabama to be released from Tutwiler Prison after being sentenced to life in prison without parole.

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A lot of the Super Street Fighter IV videos released so far have been a real treat for the eyes. This next one, though short, features yet more of the design and effects that make those vids

I’ve talked about hydrogen powered lift trucks and forklifts a dozen times over the past few years. And, I’m about to add to this total, making it a baker’s dozen.

A company called Genco was awarded $6.1 million as part of the U. S. government’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to purchase 25 hydrogen fuel cell lift trucks from Plug Power. The lift trucks will be equipped with Plug Power’s GenDrive fuel cell system.

The H2 lift trucks will go to the Kimberly-Clark plant in Graniteville, SC. The government stimulus money, however, will create jobs and be used to deliver 350 total GenDrive units to Kimberly-Clark and other companies.

With all the talk about hydrogen cars and the difficulty of building a nationwide hydrogen highway refueling infrastructure, the U. S. warehouses are quietly shifting to their own internal hydrogen highway systems.

Companies are starting to see the wisdom of cutting down on indoor air pollution and that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles provide quick refueling, zero emissions and longer hours of operation between refuelings than do their battery-electric counterparts.

According to Spyker Cars CEO Victor Muller, Saab is in talks with possible partners about exchanging technologies as it tries to cut cost and hit profit by 2012. Muller said that Saab is talking to a large number of serious players. He said that he wanted to make sure that Saab had the technologies it needed to be profitable and self-supporting.

“Nobody sees us as a threat so everybody wants to talk with us,” Muller said. “And there are good chances that we will be supplying our technology to third parties, we’re not going to be just on the demand side of things.”

Money-losing Saab was acquired by Spyker from General Motors for $400 million last month. Saab said earlier this month that it has plans to sell more than 100,000 cars annually to break even. Sales in 2009 plunged below 40,000.

Saab will keep its focus on three to four models, including the 9-3 and the new 9-5.

– By: Kap Shah

Source: Reuters