Category: News

Just a quick PSA: The PlayStation Network will be going under maintenance today, January 12th. Worry not, though, this maintenance won’t be interfering with your online play. If you’ve got downloads in your plans today, however, you’ll

This post originally appeared on the author’s blog, Financial Armageddon

For months now, there’s been considerable debate about whether the U.S. economy is on the road to recovery.

Bulls point to the massive monetary and fiscal stimulus that’s been pumped into the economy, the sharp rebound in share prices, and the relative improvement in certain indicators as a reason for optimism.

Bears — like me — note the persistent negative sentiment on Main Street and in many corporate boardrooms, the steady increase in foreclosures, personal bankruptcies, and the ranks of the long-term unemployed, and the numerous imbalances — including still-very-high levels of public and private debt — that remain unresolved.

So who’s right?

Chances are that we won’t know the right answer for some time. Historically, sustained economic recoveries have not been fully recognized until well after the fact.

But one way to get a sense of where things stand is to look at how things are playing out relative to the past. On that basis, the notion that the economy is back on track leaves a lot to be desired.

See how history tells us we should be bearish –>

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Michael Panzner: Commercial Real Estate Is A "Tsunami Unfolding"
• The Good Jobs Data Was All Temporary Workers And The Public Sector
• Now See The Real State Of Collapsing State Tax Revenues

I love watching all the different home shows on HGTV and DIY, but they usually have big redecorating budgets. Design on a Dime, for example, doesn’t redo a room for ten cents. It redoes it for a thousand dollars. If you are just making ends meet, you don’t usually have a thousand dollars to redo just one room in your house. $250 is a bit easier to come up with. So, I’m happy to see a lot of companies are realizing that people have limited redecorating funds and are giving them the tools to make over a room on a budget.

Sure Fit Furniture Solutions has created a recession friendly line of products designed to help people redo their living rooms for less than $250 and has some great  tips on creating a fresh new look while spending very little:

Rearrange furniture: Moving furniture may be the easiest way to change the look of your space. Try rearranging a room, or trading out furniture from one room to the next. That unused rocker could look great by the front window, it just needs to get brought up from the basement!

I love to do this. It can really make a room look completely different and it is free to do. If you hate it, you just have to put it back the way it was.

Pick a Focal Point: Adding an exciting focal point can punch up the look of any room. If you aren’t quite ready to paint a wall blazing red, try displaying photos in frames of assorted shapes and sizes, or utilizing wall decals – easy on easy off “stickers” that will complement any décor.

I love wall decals. I also like to display a group of mirrors on a wall. Since mirrors reflect light, you get a focal point and a brighter room at the same time.

Cover Up: Keep decorating expenses to a minimum by dressing up your furniture. Sure Fit has a seemingly endless variety of slipcovers for every personality, whether you’re looking for a punch of color, a classic update or just covering up worn out furniture. Now available in a variety of colors and materials (including stretch “leather”) for couches, chairs, recliners, futons, ottomans and more, you can update your entire set of furniture for less than the cost of a new couch. (Hint: Try mixing and matching “separate seat covers” for a great color-blocked look.)

As long as your sofa and chairs still are in decent shape, why not keep using them with slip covers instead of spending a thousand or so on new pieces? The new faux leather covers seem like a great idea to update a room without tossing out a perfectly good plaid sofa that no longer fits your decor.

Subtle “Ac-scents”: A smell can bring on a flood of memories, influence people’s moods and even increase efficiency. Give your nose something new to smell by adding seasonal candles, flowers, or aromatherapy diffusers for a subtle update.

I think most people will agree that a smell can really set the tone. Need more help with choosing some spring smells? I recently wrote about Slatkin & Co.’s tips for using spring floral scents in the home.

Add Artwork: You might not be able to afford the Picasso you’ve always dreamed of, but adding artwork to walls can make a huge difference in contributing interesting and uplifting elements to your space. Affordable artwork is easy to find, you just have to look for it! Check out thrift stores, flea markets, yard sales and auction websites, or create your own by simply framing fabric swatches or enlarging photos for a personal touch.

Photo via SureFit.com

Post from: Blisstree

Redecorate Your Living Room for Under $250

the whole avatar script has surfaced the internet for all fans to download and read! it looks like 20th century fox is pushing avatar to fetch as many awards as possible to crown their billion-dollar movie! now for your consideration, please head over to avatar screenings and download the script for your viewing pleasure. alternatively you can also download it from here. Eywa ngahu. (may Eywa be with you)

Speaking of The Bachelor, the second episode of the show’s 14th season aired Monday, and fans got a firsthand look at the alleged “sex scandal” between a series producer and contestant Rozlyn Papa. Despite the 28-year-old single mom’s insistence that she did not have an inappropriate relationship with the show staffer, in a new blog about the series, Bachelor host Chris Harrison disputes that claim and offers to explain “what exactly happened.”

“You heard me say in the episode that Rozlyn and one of our staffers entered into an inappropriate relationship. I realize this is somewhat vague and open to interpretation, so let me be more specific. It was an inappropriate relationship that got physical,” Chris writes.

“This was not just about one person’s “feelings” for another. We would never go to such extremes because of a schoolyard crush. After extensive research and doing our homework we came to the conclusion without a shadow of a doubt that an inappropriate relationship had occurred. Now the million dollar question: How do we know this? First of all, several girls in the house independently witnessed the inappropriate behavior firsthand, and they came forward and told producers what was taking place. Second, the staffer came forward and confessed everything himself. He told executive producers everything about his inappropriate physical relationship with Rozlyn. As I clearly stated on the show last night, we took what happened very seriously and this staffer was let go immediately. With what you saw last night and with what I just told you there should now be no doubt or questions whatsoever as to what really happened during Rozlyn’s short time on the show. I can also tell you here that since Rozlyn left the show she and the staffer have continued their relationship and have seen each other several times.”

Yesterday, Hillenbrand (HI) announced that it was buying K-Tron (KTII) for around $435 million or $150 a share. Given that K-Tron closed at $113 a share on Friday, one would think there would be lots of celebrating, given the 32% appreciation in the stock.

But that’s not exactly the case. Indeed, by the end of the day, at least three law firms had already put out press releases announcing that they were investigating a breech of fiduciary duty by K-Tron’s board (here’s a link to one release). Several other law firms quickly threw up web pages (see here and here) — fueled by strategically placed Google ads (just do a search for K-Tron) — encouraging K-Tron investors to get in touch with the various firms.

Granted, K-Tron stock peaked at just over $160 a share in August 2008. But things have changed dramatically since then. And while we don’t have a particularly strong opinion one way or the other on whether this deal makes sense, unlike some of the other deals we’ve seen recently (think Xerox and ACS, for example), it seems hard to argue — at least on the surface — that ordinary investors are getting the shaft here.

Singapore, Asia | Unique Collections

Flanked by office buildings and a coca-cola vending machine, the Singapore Philatelic Museum has a distinct colonial flair and a unique way of preserving some of Singapore’s cultural and physical history. With five permanent exhibits and a variety of traveling and themed temporary galleries, the Museum boasts files of every Republic of Singapore stamp issued, all available for the perusal of visitors.

Their mission is to help promote the use of philately (the collection and study of stamps) for educational purposes, as stamp design is often a great historical indicator of how the public, government, and culture as a whole related to internal and external events of the given time period.

The Museum was opened on August 19, 1995, housed in a building that was once part of the Anglo Chinese school dating back to 1906. Designed by Tomlinson and Lermit Architects, the building was commissioned by the Trustees of the Anglo Chinese School as an addition to the 1897 Oldam Hall. It was then used as a Methodist Book Room from 1970 until its restoration as the Singapore Philatelic Museum in 1995. The Museum is currently a fully owned subsidiary of the National Heritage Board.

Not just for stamp buffs, the Museum offers a view into the traditions and cultures of a multi-ethnic Singapore as captured on stamps throughout the decades, as well as demonstrates the process of stamp production through guest-interactive activities and exhibits. The main collection is the Straits Settlements Collection, displaying stamps and other postal archival material as early as 1854. Other exhibits include the importance of stamp collecting, the secrets behind folded letters and stamp designs, 18th century philatelic rarities, and a Heritage Room providing insight into lifestyles past.

Here’s a take I hadn’t considered on NBC’s Jay Leno/Conan O’Brien debacle: Good news for Time Warner!

So says JP Morgan’s (JPM) Imran Khan. He predicts that Jeff Zucker’s screwup is good news for Jeff Bewkes, since Time Warner  makes a lot of “scripted programming”, and that’s what NBC will need to replace Leno at 10pm.

The whole point of moving to Leno to 10pm, recall, was to save money on “scripted programming” — what you and I call “shows that aren’t reality shows”.

But it’s not as if NBC stopped running scripted shows altogether — at max, it’s going to need an additional 5 hours a week. Khan says this will represent “incremental spending” for Time Warner (TWX), but it’s not as if NBC’s pressure to save on programming costs is going to go away. And even if the network buys all of 5 of its hours from Time Warner, it’s hard to see how that does much for a company that generated revenues of $6.3 billion last quarter (not counting AOL).

Khan also thinks that the same logic means bad news for Disney (DIS) and News Corp.’s Fox (NWS), because increased demand for non-reality shows “could result in higher talent and production costs”.

Again, that also seems like a stretch: It seems like the lesson to draw from all this isn’t that expensive programming is good, but that bad programming is bad.

And as ad dollars inevitably leach out from TV to the Web, the pressure on all the networks will be to keep their eyeballs while spending less on content. The real winners will be the ones who figure out how to make good stuff, cheap.

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Read Original Article

By Pui-Wing Tam, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

Late last week, Lawson Software announced it would pay $160 million to buy Healthvision Solutions, a healthcare software maker owned by parent Quovadx Holdings and backed by venture-capital firm Battery Ventures. While the companies aren’t well known and the sums involved aren’t huge, the deal exemplifies how some venture capitalists are profiting by deviating from investing in young companies and instead doing buyout-type deals with more mature companies.

In this case, venture firm Battery has been making a push into more later-stage buyout-type deals for the past several years. At first glance, however, its return from pursuing this strategy with Healthvision doesn’t look so stellar. Battery originally took then publicly-traded Quovadx (later rebranded as Healthvision) private in 2007 for $136.7 million. Against that number, a $160 million sale yields barely any profit at all.

But Battery partner Dave Tabors says there’s more to the deal than that. He says Battery garnered about a 3.5 times return on its investment in Quovadx/Healthvision in less than three years.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Read Original Article

Filed under: Detroit Auto Show, Performance, Europe, Hatchback, Chrysler, Fiat, Electric

The tiny Italians are coming! That’s right gentle readers, Fiat has dropped two little baby 500s off inside COBO Hall – and one of them’s electric. Let’s start with that one, the uninspiringly titled Fiat 500 BEV (background). The suffix stands for “Battery Electric Vehicle.” Let’s call it truth in advertising. The powertrain is carried over from the work Chrysler’s now defunct ENVIgroup had been working on for the past couple years. We can’t say too much more (hint, hint), but rumor has it that this sucker is fast. Also, no tail pipe(s).

Fast is good, however, and the Cinquecento that sets our hearts all a flutter is (obviously) the 500 Abarth SS. Or as they say in Italy, Abarth Esse Esse. That last part of the name is significant, as it indicates this particular 500 doesn’t have 133 horsepower, but rather 160 hp. The beauty part? After standing next to the Abarth for a few moments it becomes uncomfortably obvious that its much smaller than the Mini. Meaning… all sorts of wonderful things.

Other than that, the Abarth SS has five-point harnesses tied into racing seats and perhaps the best badging in the industry. Scorpions are every where. Take a close look at the shot of the wheel. Not only does the center cap sport a scorpion, but the valve-stem cap does, too. It’s all about sweating the small stuff. Lusting over it, too. No specific information is available on the time line/likelihood of either car ever showing up in a Chrysler dealer near you.

Detroit 2010: Fiat 500 BEV and Fiat 500 Abarth SS are in the house originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 12 Jan 2010 10:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Read Original Article

Filed under: Convertible, Performance, BMW

We’re not sure why BMW is reticent to put forth a new Motorsports model of its Z4 folding hardtop convertible, but it has effectively introduced such a model in all but name here at the Detroit Auto Show. Inscrutably dubbed Z4 sDrive35is (we’re guessing you can hit extralegal speeds by the time you successfully spit out its name), the new model features a revised twin-turbo 3.0-liter inline-six that spits out 340 horsepower and 332 pound-feet of torque, with an overboost function capable of a momentary bump up to 369 torques. Paired with BMW’s seven-speed Sport Automatic dual-clutch transmission, the drivetrain is good for 0-62 miles-per-hour in in 4.8 seconds.

Additional alterations include a ride height that’s lowered by 10 millimeters thanks to the adaptive M suspension, a revamped front fascia with matte aluminum trim bars, Oxide Silver mirror caps, and 19-inch alloys among other niceties – you can check out the complete roster of changes by checking out the press release after the jump.

M badges or no, we want one.

[Source: BMW]

Continue reading Detroit 2010: BMW Z4 sDrive35is looks far more entertaining than its name

Detroit 2010: BMW Z4 sDrive35is looks far more entertaining than its name originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 12 Jan 2010 10:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Read Original Article

Northern Ireland, U.K. | Mazes

The world’s second largest permanent hedge maze was designed to commemorate the peace and reconciliation efforts of Northern Ireland over the past century.

The hedge is comprised of 6,000 yew trees, many of which were planted by people all over Northern Ireland during December of 2000. It covers 2.7 acres (11,000 square meters) with a hedge length of over 2 miles (3,550 meters), a path length of 3,147 meters, and a hedge height of 1.5 meters, which is lower than the usual hedge maze height, done so to facilitate communication and interaction between visitors in different areas of the paths.

Planning for the maze began in 1998, the attraction officially opening on September 12, 2001. The original concept was created by anthropologist and landscape designer Beverly Lear, though input from nearly 4,000 schoolchildren was taken into account as part of an effort to encourage a sense of common ownership. The entire construction heavily reflects the steps being taken in order to help uphold the peace brought about by ending ‘The Troubles’, a period of harsh ethno-political conflict in Ireland during the late 1960s-1990s, strife which most say ended with the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, also known as the Belfast Agreement.

This is most strongly recognized by the maze’s two distinct halves, which must be crossed in order to escape the maze. In the center lies the Peace Bell, which visitors ring to indicate they have solved the puzzle. There is no specific monument denoting who planted which tree or where, as the Yew was specifically chosen for its connotations of peace and natural longevity; the physical maze and its message of peace will outlast those who planted it and exist for future generations.

The maze cost roughly 570,000 pounds to build, 75% of which was funded by the European Union Support Programme for Peace and Reconciliation in Northern Ireland, with the remaining 25% coming from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, as well as the Down District Council. The Peace Maze held the record of Largest Permanent Hedge Maze until 2007, when the Pineapple Garden Maze in Hawaii expanded to a total path length of nearly 4,000 meters.

The average completion time is 40 minutes, and the ringing of the center bell is encouraged upon finishing.

Filed under: Etc., Celebrities

Getting the latest episodes of Top Gear on the revolutionary side of the Atlantic has always been a bit of a misadventure. Some episodes were aired on the Discovery Channel. BBC America ran a few as well. And of course there was the ill-fated NBC project to Americanize the program, much as they did in Australia, which never panned out. But with all these ups and downs, the internet has been the only reliable way of watching the show enjoyed by car nuts world wide.

Now reports indicate, however, that the show will be returning (hopefully on a permanent basis) to BBC America. FinalGear, the online clearing house of all things related to British car shows, reports that Series 13 – the show’s previous season – will begin airing on Monday, January 25 at 8 pm. Once 13 has run out, the Beeb’s Yankee channel will immediately commence showing the 14th season that’s currently on the air back in the Isles. That ought to start on March 15. And to sweeten the deal, each episode will be made available on iTunes for $2 apiece 24 hours after they’ve been shown on BBC America. So whether your cable box or your iTunes is your chosen purveyor of visual entertainment, you’ve got your options laid out for you.

[Source: FinalGear]

Top Gear returning to BBC America this month originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 12 Jan 2010 09:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Read Original Article

Mobile analytics firm Flurry said today it has raised $7 million in a second round of funding to fuel its services expansion.

The deal comes off last month’s announcement that the San Francisco-based company would merge with Pinch Media, a New York media analytics firm. InterWest Partners led the round and was joined by existing investors Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Union Square Ventures, First Round Capital and Draper Richards.

InterWest general partner, Doug Pepper, also joins the Flurry board of directors. Flurry launched its analytics service for mobile platforms such as the iPhone in January, 2009. The company now tracks over a billion end user app sessions per month on the iPhone, iPod Touch and Android cell phones. It has more than 15,000 developers.

The company is monetizing its analytics information through AppCircle, a platform that analyzes the tastes of an app user and recommends other relevant apps. If the user purchases a recommended app, Flurry gets a share of the revenue. This platform is important because its easy for developers to go unnoticed on the iPhone, where there are more than 100,000 apps available. The company says 130 developers are using AppCircle.

Simon Khalaf, chief executive, said in an interview that the company will use the money to build new services that increase its revenues. It will hire new employees and expand its infrastructure. Khalaf said the company started raising money in August, 2009. But it put that on hold as it merged with Pinch Media.

Previously, Flurry had raised $1.5 million and Pinch Media had raised $1.8 million. The company has 18 employees and it plans to add eight to 10 people in two months. Rivals include Medialets and Mobclix.

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Read Original Article

With today’s launch of its Template Store, PBworks wants to make it easier for businesses to use its wikis and other collaboration tools.

The San Mateo, Calif, company describes its new feature as an “app store for collaboration templates.” Specifically, these are templates for PBworks workspaces — pages where you coordinate a project or team using PBworks’ different tools. The word “template” might make suggest that we’re talking about superficial customization, but the company is aiming for something richer here, because the design and structure of a workspace can shape how your company works together.

For example, the template for a management team workspace includes meeting agendas, monthly objectives and tracking, weekly department status reports, and more. By using the template, the customer doesn’t have to build the wiki themselves, and in fact can even spend less time thinking about how to structure all that communications. This  should be particularly useful for companies that are new to PBworks and to online collaboration in general. Instead of wondering, “Gee, what can I do with a wiki?” PBworks gives you a basic template to start with.

The templates can include wikis (where you can embed multimedia content), files and documents, folders, and project milestones and tasks. The Template Store is starting out 25 templates built by PBWorks, its customers, and consultants. They include a deal room, an intranet for a legal firm, and a handbook/FAQ workspace.

For now, templates are free to business and legal edition customers, but PBWorks says it wants to work with template creators to turn this service into a real store, where they can charge for templates.

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Read Original Article