Category: News

Robin Hood in reverse: looting the fed

Hopefully the story in Sunday’s Seattle Times about Goldman Sachs was just the start of more press coverage about the outrageous theft that has occurred from the American people into the coffers of the huge financial institutions [“Goldman Sachs builds on benefits,” Business, Jan 3].

My only criticism of your article is that it was not strong enough. Goldman Sachs would likely not exist today if it were not for the transfer of billions of dollars of taxpayer money into private hands.

This started with the AIG bailout in 2008 and continues today with the federal government dramatically overpaying for more than $1.1 trillion dollars in mortgage securities. By overpaying for these securities, the fed is allowing the financial institutions to make billions in loan fees, permitting them to overstate assets on their books and funneling the firms an estimated $200 billion under this mortgage purchase program so far. As a result, a share of Goldman Sachs stock that was trading below $50 about a year ago is now above $160 a share.

Your article should have made the point that instead of merely keeping the financial institutions from going out of business, we gave these institutions many billions more than what was needed for survival. The Goldman Sachs and JP Morgans have not just survived but have flourished, raking in billions of dollars of undeserved profits, putting them now back into bonus payout mode less than a year after facing possible insolvency.

2009 should go down as the year Wall Street looted Main Street. Call it Robin Hood in reverse. Good investigative reporters need to expose the real truth behind the bailouts, the real cost to taxpayers, and the actual cash infused into each of the for-profit institutions. Goldman Sachs is just the tip of the iceberg.

U.S. citizens should become outraged about this wealth transfer and insist that Congress conduct a thorough investigation and make public the accounting at the fed. My hope is that 2010 becomes the year that Main Street takes control back from Wall Street.

— Joe Curiel, Vashon

Here’s the idea: speakers that hide in your light bulbs. And no, you don’t see how ugly they are once they’re installed.

Screwing in to any normal Edison socket, the Klipsch LightSpeakers fit seamlessly into a can-style light. OR—and this is the more geeky proposition—they can just screw into any old lamp. Yes, you’re reading that right, friends. Every lamp in your house could, in theory, be a speaker.

I was surprised, examining various means of installation, how practical the hefty but not-too-huge LightSpeakers could be.

Each unit sips on 10W of power while putting out the equivalent of 65W of light. (In person, the LEDs are blinding without their opaque cover.) But what about the sound? Honestly, it was tough to tell in the crowded, noisy room. But my 5-second impression is boombox-quality. Given that the system was cranked over cranky journalists, maybe a high-quality boombox would be a fairer assessment.

For more info on price/avail, go here: [Gizmodo]

An abdominoplasty, or sometimes referred to as a tummy tuck, is one of the most common plastic surgery procedures available. An abdominoplasty is able to remove excess skin and fat and can also tighten the abdominal muscles to create a smooth, tight, better contoured waistline. In most cases it can also restore separated or weakened muscles. A good candidate for a tummy tuck will have excess or loose skin due to pregnancy, weight loss, or loss of skin elasticity from aging or stretch marks. The surgery is often combined with liposuction to the love handle areas to provide a better contour to the entire waistline. Also, it is commonly performed along with a breast augmentation procedure and liposuction. This set of procedures is often referred to as the “Mommy Makeover.” Your decision to have an abdominoplasty performed is extremely personal and you will have to decide if the benefits of surgery will achieve your goals and if the potential complications and risks are acceptable.

Strip searches violate dignity

In the aftermath of the Northwest Flight 253 incident, The Seattle Times has joined the headlong rush to embrace virtual strip searches as the latest quick fix to enhance in-flight security [“Forget blushing and fly safely,” Opinion, Jan. 3]. Quaint though they may seem, when core values like privacy, modesty and the dignity of the human body are so lightly abandoned in pursuit of the war on terror, you sometimes have to ask yourself: Who’s winning?

— Jeff Wagnitz, Olympia

Full-bodied X-ray machines invade privacy

This is one more privacy law that our government is going to take away from us.

Little by little the government is taking away our right to privacy. They want us to stand in an X-ray full-bodied machine and let somebody check to make sure we aren’t carrying any explosives before we are allowed to board our flights.

Come on fellow Americans. Are we really needing to bare it all just because our security failed? Do you really think that baring it all to some X-ray machine in an international airport is equal to having a trained technician in a doctors office X-ray parts of your body that may have cancer?

— Pat Gee, Federal Way

The CO2 Lie Investor’s Business Daily As it turns out, there may be no carbon to offset. A major tenet of the global warming religion, straight from the Book of Gore, has been that the ability … and more »

Daily U-Turn: What you missed on 1.5.10 originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 05 Jan 2010 19:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Accessories, Audio, Hardware, iPod Family, iPhone, iPod touch

The audio wizards at Blue Microphones have wowed Mac and iPod fans with their Snowball, Snowflake, and Mikey microphones. Now, just before the start of CES 2010, Blue has announced the US$99.99 second generation Mikey Portable Recorder for iPod and iPhone.

While the new Mikey hasn’t yet achieved iPhone certification, it promises to be a powerful professional recording solution for iPhone owners when it arrives in the spring. Mikey still features two Blue mic capsules for pro-quality stereo recording, but now has improved acoustic circuitry for better recordings of loud events such as concerts.

The new Mikey also has a 3.5mm line input for those times that you want to plug in a sound source like a guitar or mixer. There’s also a USB pass-through connection for charging and syncing. A newly designed case makes Mikey usable with most iPhone cases, and the mic can be adjusted to seven fixed positions within a 230-degree range for optimum positioning. But wait, there’s more! Blue is also throwing in a soft carrying pouch for Mikey, along with a headphone extension cable for playback monitoring with the iPod touch and nano.

Blue has also put a high-fidelity field recording app for iPhone and iPod touch into the App Store. Blue FiRe [Free, iTunes Link] has been out for a few months and is optimized for the second generation Mikey. The combination of the high-quality mic and free software produces a complete mobile recording experience.

Expect to see the new Mikey at Apple Stores, Guitar Center, and Amazon.com this spring.

[via Engadget]

TUAWSecond-generation Blue Microphones Mikey announced, uses free app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 05 Jan 2010 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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by Steph Larsen

A local grocery store in Pleasantville, Iowa.Wikimedia Commons

These days it seems the most popular person to be in the food system is the “local farmer.” Farmers markets are popping up everywhere, and their size and popularity grow all the time. Local food is trendy—even the First Family is in on it.

But as anyone who has ever raised grain or livestock can tell you, the farmer is not the only person in the chain of players from her farm to your fork. In addition to producers, your food chain includes processors, distributors or transporters, and retailers.

In other words, to have a truly local food system, we also need local butchers, bakers and millers, local truck drivers, local grocers, and a community that supports them in all their efforts.

In the world of farm and food policy, we’ve paid a lot of attention to production end of the food system. It’s an obvious place to start. We have programs within the Farm Bill to develop new or “beginning” farmers, help them secure loans and down payments, and transition to organic agriculture. But most products aren’t made to eat directly out of the field. Even salad greens or apples, things we typically eat raw and straight from the field, must be washed and sorted before your local farmer will sell them.

As Tom Philpott pointed out in early November, the infrastructure for small-scale processing is woefully inadequate, having suffered decades of atrophy and consolidation—to the point where an otherwise profitable farmer can be driven out of business because she has no where to take her pigs for slaughter, her grain to be milled, or her tomatoes to be “sauced.”

Small-scale, certified community kitchens, like this one in Montana or this one in Tennessee, are beginning to fill some of this need. There are a few mobile slaughter facilities gaining traction, but not enough to meet demand and too new to measure their long term viability. Not many community colleges offer classes on how to humanely kill and butcher an animal anymore. In the Midwest where I live, there used to be a local “meat locker” in every small town—now there are hardly any. How will we supply the food system with local meat or local flour if there the nearest facility is too far away or doesn’t exist at all?

I believe the answer lies in the example we have set for ourselves with beginning farmers. Society is beginning to see farming as a dignified and profitable profession again, and with that comes market demand for good farmers, respect for the profession, government programs to encourage new farmers, and training and educational opportunities. We need similar opportunities for small-scale butchers, millers, bakers, and other types of processors.

Local food distribution has received even less attention than processing, and it is a complex piece of the food chain we’ll have to get creative about if local food will be available in grocery stores. In Nebraska, where I live, the distributor serving most of the rural grocery stores has a weekly buying minimum. A grocer won’t even consider buying produce from a local farmer if it will put them below their minimum because the distributor levies a fine.

Challenges like buying minimums and aggregating products from multiple farms crop up when dealing with local foods. Some models are attempting to overcome these challenges, but we’ll need more ideas to fit the diversity of situations in which they arise.

Retailing healthy, affordable food has also gained attention lately in the term “food desert,” but it’s an issue worth repeating. We all need a grocery store nearby, unless you are one of the few that produce all your own food. Without a grocery store, people will not want to live in our communities and neighborhoods, which makes them less vibrant and more vulnerable to failure. Grocery stores are more than food retail, however—they are often the focal point of a town or neighborhood where people go to see friends, swap recipes, and catch up on local gossip.

Local ownership of a grocery is critical so that food dollars continue to circulate within the community. Additionally, a locally owned grocery store is more likely to purchase from a local farmer than a store owned by an impersonal, profit-driven corporation. In order to have more local grocers, we need to teach young people entrepreneurship in addition to community pride and loyalty. Again, our treatment of beginning farmers gives us a good example of policy solutions to encourage more young people to enter the grocery business.

I used to think there were four distinct pieces to a local food system: production, processing, distribution, and retail. Now I realize there is a fifth: community. Without an involved community of customers who believe in what the local farmer, miller, distributor, and grocer is doing, none of them will last very long.

Community is important in another sense as well. Most of the farmers who grow our food live in rural places, and they want to live in active, thriving communities too. Therefore, if we care about local food systems, we should all be concerned with the survival of rural communities regardless of where we live. Rural development is often the red-headed stepchild of the Farm Bill, receiving little attention and even less funding. For local food to expand, we need to give respect and resources to rural communities and their residents.

If growing a local food system is our goal, it must begin with vibrant communities, then follow with genuine opportunities for careers everywhere in the food chain. Expanding our policy solutions beyond producers will help the idea of local food move forward from a trend to a permanent fixture of our food system.

Related Links:

Ask Umbra on water bottles, gas dryers, and tea lights

Russ Parsons on launching a civil, inclusive food-system debate

Ask Umbra on judging greenness

After many rumors and a mini-campaign for the job, former Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville arrived in Lubbock today and will meet with Texas Tech officials Wednesday about the head coach position made available after the controversial firing of Mike Leach. Although interim coach Ruffin McNeil, who coached the Red Raiders in the Alamo Bowl, appears to have the most fan support early on, Tuberville seems to be the only other candidate seriously being considered for the job and is certainly the more marquee name. TTU AD Gerald Myers is on the record as saying that a decision could be made by this weekend.

Tuberville, 55, spent 10 years at Auburn where he compiled a 85-40 record. Before that, he was at Ole Miss for 4 years and went 25-20 there while under NCAA probabtion for two years. An Arkansas native, Tuberville has family in the area and experience recruiting Texas, as he was a former DC at Texas A&M. Although the offensive philosophies of TTU and Tuberville don’t seem to jive, he did have this to say: “It’d be crazy to change it. That’s a trademark of Texas Tech now. It’s helped put them on the map. It’s helped in recruiting, I’ve noticed. Mike’s had a good chance of getting quarterbacks and receivers to come there–in the past, (Tech) wasn’t able to get them. We’ve run a lot of the spread over the years and I’m very familiar with it”

The heart of the matter is if Texas Tech is ready to pony up the kind of money that it’s going to take to land Tubs. Leach was a home-grown project and brought the Raiders virtually all of their success. With so many rumors going on about the distaste that the university had for shelling out so much money for a mere football coach, it’s hard to imagine that they’re going to ante up for a big name off the open market. Perhaps they may prefer the farm system approach and bring McNeil along at a leisurely pace. I’m not sure that’s going to work. After last season’s success and a solid showing this year, TTU officials should consider how quickly their name might fade from the bright lights of the CFB world.

I’m sure Tuberville’s price has come down quite a bit since the days of Hog-hunting raises bumped up by uber-agent Jimmy Sexton, but there could be more to it than that. It’s been oft-rumored that Tubs wants to make it back down to College Station–remember the innuendo two years ago that he was going to run off there and replace Franchione. Some are saying that Tuberville’s real motive is to force the hand of A&M. Mike Sherman’s demise is being mentioned more and more often, and Tuberville’s plane touching down in Lubbock might cause ATM to move forward any plans for a coaching change–mainly for the sole purpose that TTU doesn’t get him.

Texas and Oklahoma are the perrenial powers in the Big 12, but the position of big dog for the second tier of teams in the conference is wide open. Landing a proven winner like Tuberville in Lubbock might designate the Aggies to the middle of the pack for quite a while, and it might be too much for them. Personally, I don’t see TTU hiring Tuberville, but it will certainly be interesting to see how the conference shakes out after his visit.

© fanblogs.com

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Filed under: Europe, Hatchback, Toyota

When a model has moved two million units in 10 years, you want to tread lightly when considering changes. This explains why despite the ballyhoo, we don’t see a whole lot different with the 2010 Toyota Yaris. The small, efficiently packaged Yaris is Toyota Europe’s best seller, so it’s certainly understandable that changes for 2010 amount to new bumpers and tweaks to the exterior lamps. There are new wheels, matte-finished door handles and a two new colors, as well. Inside, the refresh includes new gauges, standard air conditioning and… not much else.

However, more has gone on under that stubby little hood, with every Yaris now available with one of three engine options. Two gasoline engines, 1.0- and 1.3-liter fours, and a 1.4-liter diesel, all tweaked-up for efficiency and to reduced carbon dioxide emissions. The 1.3-liter gets stop/start, while the diesel uses piezo injectors, a variable-nozzle turbocharger, and a generator that can decouple. Can you smell the excitement now?

Still, the results of the fiddling will make the Yaris more attractive on the fuel-consumption tip, while also keeping after its looks like a 40 year old that still dates. North American buyers can rest assured that the D-4D and its fuel economy equal to roughly 57 miles per gallon will never land on these shores. In fact, what’s most likely is the powertrains will stay put while the cosmetic upgrades head our way. After all, the U.S. market Yaris is a veritable hot rod with its 1.5-liter four-pot. Hit the jump for the press release.

[Source: Toyota]

Continue reading Toyota refreshes Euro Yaris range for 2010… will we get the upgrades?

Toyota refreshes Euro Yaris range for 2010… will we get the upgrades? originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 05 Jan 2010 18:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Etc., Hyundai, Kia

It was bad enough when Somali pirates decided to hijack an American ship, but now they’ve gone too far. The scallywags have now gone after a boatload of cars – Hyundais and Kias to be specific. On New Year’s Day, a group of Somali pirates hijacked the Asian Glory, which was bound for Saudi Arabia with 2,388 Kia and Huyndai vehicles aboard.

While Hyundai and Kia have asked for the prompt and safe return of the crew, the cars, apparently, are of little concern. It’s not that the Korean companies don’t care about their product, it’s that they aren’t their responsibility anymore. It seems that once a cargo ship leaves port, the cars are the responsibility of the distributor. The vehicles have already been paid for and they are insured, so the only loss is to the insurance companies.

By the way, be careful when Googling “Asian Glory.” Let’s just say it was an eye opener.

[Source: Bloomberg News]

Arrrrrgh! Ship carrying Hyundai and Kia cars attacked by Somali pirates? originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 05 Jan 2010 18:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Concept Cars, Budget, Sedan, Hatchback, Toyota, Misc. Auto Shows, India

It doesn’t take a MENSA member to understand that small, inexpensive and reliable transportation is a big thing in India. On one side, you’ve got the diminutive Tata Nano. On the other, Honda’s New Small Concept. And right in the middle is this: the Toyota Etios concept.

Due to be available in both four- and five-door variants, the Indian-market Etios is yet another inexpensive, easy to maintain runabout for India’s burgeoning middle class. Amenities are minimal and so are the engine choices -a 1.2-liter in the hatch and a 1.5-liter in the sedan. But basic transport is each models reason for being, and when the Etios goes on sale in India later this year with a price well below $10,000. Toyota expects to sell around 70,000 units annually and plans to export the Etios in markets outside of India in the near future. But don’t expect the either model to arrive in the States anytime soon. Hit the jump for the press release and thanks to Indianautosblog for the pics.

[Sources: Toyota; IndianAutosBlog | Live Images: Shrawan Raja]

Continue reading Auto Expo 2010: Toyota Etios Concept strikes a balance

Auto Expo 2010: Toyota Etios Concept strikes a balance originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 05 Jan 2010 18:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As geo social networks gain some traction, we are beginning to see novel forms of marketing and advertisements triggered by people’s location.  On Foursquare, for instance, you can get a discount if you check into a restaurant or even get a free meal if you become the mayor. GowallaIncase messenger bags, computer backpacks, and iPhone sleeves. Collect all the badges and you get a chance to win a real Incase product.

Gowalla is doing the promotion in partnership with Incase. Apple has nothing to do with it, but because the location of Apple Stores is known, Gowalla can trigger the promotional badges whenever someone enters a store. The badges serve as a virtual product placement. The hope is obviously to raise awareness of Incase products at the point of purchase. “Our experimental goal is simply to encourage people to visit a real world location where they can actually find and sample the Incase products,” says Gowalla founder Josh Williams.

It is very much an experiment, which is in keeping with Gowalla’s focus on virtual goods. In this case, there is a link between the virtual goods and real-world goods. Gowalla will be tracking impressions, check-ins, number of badges collected and other metrics to figure out how best to charge for such promotions in the future. It seems that one easy way to charge is to tie a coupon to each virtual good and then simply track purchases. Or maybe if you collect all the badges, then you get a discount.

But there’s a line between cool virtual goods and spammy ads. The key is to keep it fun and make it seem like a game.

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

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Add another reason to the list of why iPhone users in particular may want to consider switching to the Nexus One, the new Android phone built by HTC and sold directly by Google: Like other Android phones, and unlike the iPhone, Nexus One owners should eventually be able to view Flash content in the phone’s browser.

Flash is Adobe’s platform for web video and other media — Adobe says Flash powers 75 percent of web video and 70 percent of online games. Last fall, Adobe announced that Flash would be coming to pretty much every smartphone except the iPhone. While Flash developers will be able to export their content as an iPhone app, most of the web’s Flash content won’t show up on the iPhone.

And now Adobe’s Adrian Ludwig has posted a video demo of Flash in the Nexus One’s web browser. It’s always risky to judge without playing with this stuff in-person, but I was impressed with how fast it all worked, even when playing a browser-based action game.

To be clear, Flash isn’t available yet on the Nexus One. Adobe has said it plans to make Flash available on Android early this year, and in the video Ludwig adds:

We’ve got a lot more work to do to get this ready. But if you go out there right now, you can buy a Nexus One, begin using it, and as Flash Player becomes available we’re going to push it to you over the web.

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Seagate is showing off a portable USB 3.0 drive that it says is three times faster than its predecessor.

The hard disk maker is unveiling the BlackArmor PS110 USB 3.0 portable external hard drive kit for laptops at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas today. The package includes a 500-gigabyte hard disk in a 2.5-inch-wide housing, a power cable and PC express card.

You need all that stuff now because there are no USB 3.0 ports on computers yet. They’re mostly the older USB 2.0 ports. But with the kit, you can plug an express card into your PC. Then you plug the USB 3.0 cable into the express card. And finally, you plug another USB 2.0 plug into a spare USB port to get power for the external drive. It’s complex, but that’s the way it has to be until more USB 3.0 ports are built into gadgets and computers in the next couple of years, said Jon van Bronkhorst, vice president at Seagate, in an interview today. 

The extra speed comes from taking an older, existing hard drive and packaging it with a faster universal serial bus (USB) interface. Theoretically, USB 3.0 is 10 times faster than USB 2.0. In theory, USB 2.0 can transfer 480 megabits a second and USB 3.0 can transfer 4.8 gigabits a second. But in practice, the actual gain is more like three-fold. Western Digital also announced its own USB 3.0 solution for desktop computers in a 3.5-inch wide package today. 

The storage device is aimed at making it easier to store digital content, from movies to photos, as consumers collect more and more digital assets in their daily lives. The USB 3.0 interface allows for the easy transfer of large files at a rate of 100 megabytes a second, or three times faster than USB 2.0 devices that have been around for years. That means you won’t have to wait as long for data transfers or backups to finish. For video fans, that is very important, especially if you’re shooting high-definition video with your camcorder.

The kit costs $179.99 and is available now from Seagate.com.

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Throwing cold water on hopes for a powerful tech recovery, economists are predicting that the worldwide consumer electronics market sales will be flat at $681 billion in 2010. That compares to a 2 percent decline in 2009, according to the forecast and sales report by the Consumer Electronics Association.

The forecast is surprisingly pessimistic, coming from the industry’s own trade group, considering the fact that the stock market has risen largely on assumptions that a recovery is well under way. But the growth in 2010 will be nowhere near the growth of 2008, when the industry grew 14 percent. 

The good news is that certain regions are growing strong, such as Japan, China, and the rest of Asia. But the gains in those areas aren’t enough to offset a decline of 12 percent in North America and a smaller expected decline in 2010. In 2010, North American sales are expected to fall 3 percent, while China will grow 10 percent. Asia and Africa will grow 6 percent each. Western Europe is expected to be in the doldrums in 2010, down 9 percent.

Laptops, netbooks and cell phones are growing fast in North America, while LCD TVs are growing fast in Asia. The drivers of growth are personalization, mobility and connectivity, said Steve Koenig, director of industry analysis at the CEA, speaking at a press preview event at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The biggest positive contributors to global consumer electronics revenue are laptops, LCD TVs, and Blu-ray movie players.

The CEA estimates that the U.S. recession ended in July. Over time, the North American and Western European markets will become a smaller and smaller piece of the global pie. Asia, South America and other regions will become bigger pieces of the pie.

“Our days of dominance our over in North America,” Koenig said.

Laptop units are expected to be 68 percent of overall PC sales, or 110 million units, in 2010. Average laptop prices are under $800, compared to $1,200 in 2005. Blu-ray is expected to hit 34 million units sold worldwide in 2010, up from 14 million in 2009. DVD players are expected to decline in sales from 92 million in 2008 to 80 million in 2009.

One of the brightest spots is wireless handsets, which fell 2 percent to 1.142 billion units sold in 2009. That is expected to grow to 1.169  billion, up 2 percent, in 2010.

In 2009, the big trends for the consumer electronics industry were growth in digital cameras, smart phones, netbooks, laptops, green products, Ethernet-connected TVs, high-definition camcorders, LED TV players, eBook readers and Blu-ray players. As for the top trends of 2010, CEA analysts said that they expect big growth

For the coming year, the analysts believe that the world will move beyond high-definition video on TVs to web-connected TVs. Mobile TV is expected to take off on tablet computers and mobile devices. Ben Arnold, an analyst at CEA, believes that 3-D TV will see broad and strong growth across a lot of categories in 2010, from camcorders to Blu-ray players to laptops and TVs. There is skepticism about 3-D viewing in the home, but Arnold said that reminds him of the skepticism about the now-pervasive HD TV.

The trend toward web connected TVs will be stronger if manufacturers figure out how to make the experience simpler. Right now, 89 percent of Americans watch TV through a service such as cable TV or satellite. But only 8 percent watch TV on the Internet. And a full 65 percent have not yet linked a TV to the Internet.

The analysts said there is a gap in the market for devices with screens ranging from 5 inches to 15 inches. Smartphones occupy the lower end of the range, and laptops are in the 15-inch range. This 5-inch to 15-inch territory is a key battleground at the show, with manufacturers launching all sorts of smart books, eBook readers, and netbooks to try to fill the gap. Netbooks are now breaking into the mass market; of those using them, 93 percent view web pages.

The fastest-growing products of 2010 are expected to be LED displays (up 256 percent), OLED displays (up 236 percent), Ethernet-enabled TVs (up 129 percent), eBook readers (up 127 percent), Ethernet-connected receivers (up 95 percent), and 3-D TVs (up 95 percent).

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GoToMyPC is probably the most popular software for connecting from a laptop on the road to a PC back at the office or home. But what about us Mac-addicted members of the media?

Next week, software maker Citrix — known for its online meeting and Webinar software — will officially take the Mac version of GoToMyPC out of beta and declare it ready for business use. The new version will connect from a Mac or PC, to a Mac or PC. (Apple has a Back to My Mac feature, but it’s only for Mac-to-Mac connections.)

The bad news is the Mac version won’t be free anymore, once it’s out of beta. You’ll need to

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Même scenario aux USA que dans beaucoup d’autres pays pour les ventes de voitures neuves; un début d’année très dur, et un redressement en fin d’année, in extremis ici. Au final, le bilan reste négatif avec une baisse globale de 21%.

–> Voir les autres bilans 2009 déjà publiés: Allemagne, Italie, Espagne,Grande Bretagne.

La barre des 10 millions de véhicules a été sauvegardée grâce à un mois de décembre en hausse de 15%. Il faut dire qu’un an auparavant le marché américain était revenu sur ses niveaux de 1981!… mais n’en est toujours qu’à des chiffres équivalents à ceux de 1982… A titre de comparaison, la moyenne de 2000 à 2007 était de 16,4 millions de véhicules vendus par an.

Au cours de ce dernier mois, Toyota, Subaru et Ford sont en hausse de 33% environ, alors que Hyundai avance de 42%. Décembre reste négatif pour presque toutes les autres marques.

Au bilan de l’année, Toyota sauve sa première place de justesse face au retour de Ford (seulement de quelques dizaines de voitures sur décembre). Sur 2009, GM perd presque 1 million de ventes et Chrysler passe sous le million, confirmant qu’il est nettement le plus malade des 3 américains. Le groupe continue d’ailleurs de baisser sensiblement en fin d’année. (–> Retrouvez le Fil News Chrysler/Lancia ici)

Pour 2010, les constructeurs espèrent un marché situé entre 11,5 et 12 millions de ventes.

 

MARQUE	2008	2009	VARIATION
Acura	144 504	105 723	– 26,84%
Audi	87 760	82 716	– 5,75%
BMW	249 113	196 502	– 21,12%
Buick	137 197	102 306	– 25,43%
Cadillac	161 159	109 092	– 32,31%
Chevrolet	1 801 131	1 344 629	– 25,35%
Chrysler	335 108	177 105	– 47,18%
Dodge	784 113	522 686	– 33,34%
Ford	1 687 731	1 445 742	– 14,34%
GMC	376 996	259 779	– 31,09%
Honda	1 284 261	1 045 061	– 18,63%
Hummer	27 485	9 046	– 67,09%
Hyundai	401 742	435 064	+ 8,29%
Infiniti	112 989	81 089	– 28,23%
Jeep	333 901	231 701	– 30,61%
Kia	273 397	300 063	+ 9,75%
Lexus	260 087	215 975	– 16,96%
Lincoln	107 295	82 847	– 22,79%
Mazda	263 949	207 767	– 21,29%
Mercedes	225 128	190 604	– 15,34%
Mercury	120 248	92 299	– 23,24%
Mini	54 077	45 225	– 16,37%
Mitsubishi	92 257	53 636	– 44,85%
Nissan	838 361	689 014	– 17,81%
Pontiac	267 348	178 300	– 33,31%
Porsche	26 035	19 696	– 24,35%
Saab	21 368	8 680	– 59,38%
Saturn	188 004	72 660	– 61,35%
Smart	24 662	14 595	– 40,72%
Subaru	187 699	216 652	+ 15,43%
Suzuki	84 862	38 689	– 54 %
Toyota	1 957 575	1 554 174	– 20,61%
Volkswagen	223 128	213 454	– 4,34%
Volvo	73 102	61 435	– 15,96%
TOTAL	13 245 718	10 431 509	– 21%

 

GROUPE	2008	2009	VARIATION
BMW Group (BMW,Mini,Rolls Royce)	303 634	242 087	– 20%
Chrysler Group LLC (Chrysler,Dodge,Jeep, RAM)	1 453 122	931 402	– 36%
Daimler AG (Mercedes,Smart, Maybach)	249 750	205 199	– 18%
Ford Motor Company (Ford,Volvo,Lincoln, Mercury + Jaguar & Land Rover jusque 05/2008)	2 002 279	1 677 234	– 16%
General Motors (Chevrolet,Cadillac,Saab Buick,GMC,Hummer, Pontiac,Saturn)	2 954 819	2 071 749	– 30%
Honda (Honda,Acura)	1 428 765	1 150 784	– 19%
Hyundai Group (Hyundai,Kia)	675 139	735 127	+ 9%
Isuzu	4 758	165	– 97%
Tata Motors (Jaguar,Land Rover; à partir de 06/2008)	23 229	38 261	+ 65%
Maserati	2 509	1 273	– 49%
Mazda	263 949	207 767	– 21%
Mitsubishi	97 257	53 986	– 44%
Nissan (Nissan,Infiniti)	951 350	770 130	– 19%
Porsche	26 035	19 696	– 24%
Subaru	187 699	216 652	+ 15%
Suzuki	84 862	38 689	– 54%
Toyota (Toyota,Scion,Lexus)	2 217 660	1 770 147	– 20%
VAG (Volkswagen,Audi, Bentley)	313 581	297 537	– 5%
Autres (Aston Martin,Ferrari, Lotus,…)	5 321	3 651	– 31%
TOTAL	13 245 718	10 431 509	– 21%

 

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