Category: News

CEO Shuffle at Opera Comes at a Critical Time

Jon von Tetzchner

Opera Software has named Lars Boilesen as the company’s new CEO, replacing Jon S. von Tetzchner, who co-founded the Norwegian company in 1995 and has served as its head ever since. Opera will retain von Tetzchner for strategic help, but the shift to his role marks the end of an era for the company.

Long-time Opera CEO von Tetzchner announced the change himself:

“My decision to assume a new role in Opera is based on a lengthy consideration process. As outgoing Chief Executive, I leave confident in the company’s continued leadership in key markets, our strong management team, our ongoing commitment to innovation, and our robust financial foundation.”

Boilesen has held various management, sales and marketing positions at companies including Alcatel-Lucent, Tandberg Data, and Lego and was previously Opera’s chief commercial officer and a member of Opera’s board. He played a key role in positioning Opera as a cross-platform browser.

“We provide browser technology not only to nearly 100 million consumers worldwide, but also to the major players in the industry: Vodafone, T-Mobile, Nintendo, KDDI, SKT, Nokia, Samsung, Toshiba and Sony Ericsson to name but a few,” said Boileson, in a statement. He added that Opera will continue to work with OEMs and industry players to continue to push the adoption of Opera and the Opera Mobile and Mini browsers.

Opera faces more competition than ever in the browser market. Google has recently released beta versions of its Chrome browser for Mac and Linux, solidifying its cross-platform strategy. Mozilla’s Firefox browser is also available for Windows, the Mac and Linux, and many feel that these two open-source browsers are leading browser innovation. Net Applications’ most recent browser market share data shows Chrome in third place — ahead of Apple’s Safari — with 4.6 percent global share. Firefox accounts for 24.6 percent of the market, while Microsoft’s Internet Explorer has 62.7 percent. Opera, meanwhile, has only 2.6 percent share.

Going forward, Mozilla and Google have their eyes squarely set on encouraging healthy ecosystems of extensions for their browsers, and both Opera and Internet Explorer have ground to make up in that area. Opera Mobile is also likely to face competition from Mozilla’s Firefox Mobile browser, now out in a release candidate version. Without a doubt, Opera’s greatest challenges will come from Google’s and Mozilla’s open source competitors.

January 5, 2010
Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

Half the Sky is a remarkable, life-changing book. It should be required reading for all adults (and more mature young adults), but especially for us overprivileged, lucky-solely-by-chance-of-birth citizens of the West. If there is ONE book you read this new year, let it be this one.

Using a Chinese proverb attributed to Mao – “Women hold up half the sky” – Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn (the first married couple to win a Pulitzer; WuDunn was the first Asian American to garner a Pulitzer while Kristof has since won a second) seek to rescue women and girls worldwide by “focusing on three particular abuses: sex trafficking and forced prostitution; gender-based violence, including honor killings and mass rapes; and maternal mortality, which still needlessly claims one woman a minute.”

Most of us are probably at least vaguely aware of the gender inequalities throughout the world. But laid out in this book in black and white, the numbers are beyond staggering: “…more girls have been killed in the last fifty years, precisely because they were girls, than men were killed in all the battles of the twentieth century. More girls are killed in this routine ‘gendercide’ in any one decade than people were slaughtered in all the genocides of the twentieth century.” And lest you think slavery is a thing of the past: ” … far more women and girls are shipped into brothels each year in the early twenty-first century than African slaves were shipped into the slave plantations each year in the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries.”

What Kristof and WuDunn miraculously accomplish here is to move beyond the mind-numbing numbers and present you with individual stories that will haunt and inspire you. Reading the experiences of actual women who have suffered unbearable atrocities will make you gasp, and hopefully shock you into real action. Balanced with the specific stories of child prostitutes in Cambodia and India, victims of gang-rape in Pakistan and the Congo, abandoned women in too many places left to die from pregnancy complications, are the phenomenal accounts of women who fought back and reclaimed their lives. Additionally, Kristof and WuDunn weave in the successful experiences of individuals and organizations that have empowered and rescued women throughout the world. From a working woman in New York whose $27 a month provides small miracles for a single mother on the other side of the world, to a wealthy donor whose funding changed the future of an entire village, Half the Sky is not about victimization, but about taking concrete steps to create substantial change.

Kristof and WuDunn’s personal mission is clearly stated up front: “We hope to recruit you to join an incipient movement to emancipate women and fight global poverty by unlocking womens’ power as economic catalyst.” By book’s end, Kristof and WuDunn offer “Four Steps You Can Take in the Next Ten Minutes” filled with near-instant ways you can make a difference. “This is a story of transformation. It is change that is already taking place, and change that can accelerate if you’ll just open your heart and join in.” How can you possibly just sit by?

Readers: Adult

Published: 2009

January 5, 2010

BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY: News release from Warren Buffett on Kraft share issue

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 5, 2010

Omaha, NE (BRK.A; BRK.B)—Berkshire Hathaway has voted “no” on Kraft’s proposal to
authorize the issuance of up to 370 million shares to facilitate the acquisition of Cadbury.
Berkshire, taking into account both its own holdings and those of its pension funds, believes that
the 138,272,500 Kraft shares it owns – 9.4% of the total outstanding – make it the company’s
largest shareholder.

The share-issuance proposal, if enacted, will give Kraft a blank check allowing it to change its
offer to Cadbury – in any way it wishes – from the transaction presented to shareholders in the
proxy statement. And we worry very much that, indeed, there will be an additional change from
the revision announced this morning.

To state the matter simply, a shareholder voting “yes” today is authorizing a huge transaction
without knowing its cost or the means of payment.

What we know with certainty, however, is that Kraft stock, at its current price of $27, is a very
expensive “currency” to be used in an acquisition. In 2007, in fact, Kraft spent $3.6 billion to
repurchase shares at about $33 per share, presumably because the directors and management
thought the shares to be worth more.

Does the board now believe those purchases were a mistake and that Kraft’s true value is only the current price of $27 per share – and that it is therefore fine to structure a major acquisition based upon that price? Would the directors use stock as merger currency if the price were, say, $20 per share? Surely the true business value of what is given is as important as the true business value of what is received when an acquisition is being evaluated. We hope all shareholders will use this yardstick in deciding how to vote.

Our understanding is that Kraft must announce its final offer for Cadbury by January 19th. If we
conclude at that point that the offer does not destroy value for Kraft shareholders, we will change our vote to “yes.”

At this time, however, we believe no shareholder should vote “yes” when he can’t possibly know
what he is voting for.

Berkshire Hathaway and its subsidiaries engage in diverse business activities including property
and casualty insurance and reinsurance, utilities and energy, finance, manufacturing, retailing
and services. Common stock of the company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, trading
symbols BRK.A and BRK.B.

— END —
Contact
Marc D. Hamburg
402-346-1400

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January 5, 2010

FINANCIAL TIMES VIDEO: Buffett warns Kraft on bid for Cadbury

By Adam Jones in London, Haig Simonian in Zurich and Alan Rappeport in New York

Published: January 5 2010 08:21 | Last updated: January 5 2010 15:51

Kraft Foods has suffered an unexpected setback in its pursuit of Cadbury after encountering opposition from Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett’s investment vehicle.

Berkshire, which has a 9.4 per cent stake in Kraft, announced on Tuesday that it had voted “no” to a proposal to authorise the issue of up to 370m Kraft shares to fund its £10.7bn hostile bid for the UK-headquartered confectioner.

In an unusually-public expression of misgiving, Berkshire claimed that the measure would give the US-based food multinational a blank cheque to change its offer “in any way it wishes”.

“To state the matter simply, a shareholder voting ‘yes’ today is authorising a huge transaction without knowing its cost or the means of payment,” it said in a statement.

But even though Berkshire described Kraft stock as an expensive form of bid currency, it held out the possibility of withdrawing its opposition if it gauged that the final offer did not destroy shareholder value.

Berkshire’s intervention came just hours after Kraft announced that it had increased the cash element of its bid for Cadbury after agreeing to sell its North American frozen pizza business to Nestlé for $3.7bn.

At the same time, Nestlé declared that it would not make or participate in a rival offer for the British multinational, removing one potential source of competition to the Kraft bid, whose overall value remained unchanged.

Kraft, the maker of Oreo cookies, Philadelphia cream cheese and Milka chocolate, had originally offered 300p plus 0.2589 Kraft shares for each Cadbury share.

Using the proceeds of the frozen pizza business sale, Kraft said it would offer Cadbury shareholders the option of receiving an extra 60p per share in cash instead of some of the Kraft shares.

Kraft argued the move to increase the cash element of its offer was in response to requests from Cadbury investors.

It also said that it reflected pressure from Kraft shareholders to “be more sparing” with its own stock – a statement that gained added resonance with Berkshire’s subsequent intervention.

Cadbury’s response to the Kraft move was dismissive. “Kraft has once again missed the point. Despite this tinkering, the Kraft offer remains unchanged and derisory with less than half the consideration in cash,” it said.

Shares in Cadbury were trading 3.5 per cent lower at 776½p in late afternoon trading, still well above the 756p offer price. Kraft shares were trading 3 per cent higher at $28.25 in early US trading.

Full details of the revised offer from Kraft have not yet been announced but will be published on or before January 19, the last date upon which Kraft can amend the terms of its bid, assuming another party does not trump its offer.

Hershey, the US chocolate maker, and Ferrero International of Italy have both said that they were considering whether or not to enter the bidding for Cadbury.

Nestlé had until Tuesday declined to comment on its intentions, but analysts had speculated that the Swiss multinational could have participated in some form of counterbid for Cadbury – possibly in conjunction with Hershey.

Such speculation was aided by Monday’s announcement by Nestlé that it would receive more than $28bn for the second tranche of its shares in Alcon, the US eyecare company being sold to Novartis, the Swiss pharmaceuticals group.

However, its statement on Tuesday said: “After discussions with the UK Takeover Panel regarding the potential for further speculation… Nestlé confirms that it does not intend to make, or participate in, a formal offer for Cadbury.”

Martin Deboo, an analyst at Investec Securities, said this removed the possibility of Nestlé aiding Hershey in a bid for Cadbury. “Their [Hershey’s] most obvious friend has left the playing field,” said Mr Deboo.

However, he added that the extra cash element did not “fundamentally change the smell of Kraft’s offer”.

Nestlé said that buying Kraft’s North American frozen pizza business would significantly boost its strategy of growing in premium convenience foods.

Additional reporting by Jenny Wiggins

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January 5, 2010

Christina Aguilera “Bionic” Album March 2010

Christina Aguilera’s eagerly-anticipated fourth studio album, Bionic, is scheduled for release in March, MTV News reports.

When quizzed in the February issue of Marie Claire, Christina confirmed that the follow-up to her 2006 hit Back To Basics is about the “future” and was inspired by her two-year son Max, who motivated the young mother “to want to play and have fun.”

Bionic is expected to feature collaborations with Goldfrapp, Ladytron, M.I.A, Linda Perry, Tricky Stewart, and The Neptunes.

Christina’s first film is also in the pipeline. The movie musical Burlesque, starring Cher, Stanley Tucci, and Kristen Bell, debuts later this year.

January 5, 2010
COS – Spring/Summer 2010 Collection

COS, which is a part of the H&M brand has some great things in store for the summer season. With better quality and construction, COS looks to offer their male customers a very sharp and linear look for Spring/Summer 2010. There’s influences from established brands with the same minimal approach, but COS brings a more consumer friendly range to the table. The trousers are cut well and the tops are very clean and subtle. If you’re a frequent H&M shopper, then COS is a great alternative.

Continue for more images.

Source: Slam

January 5, 2010

FINANCIAL TIMES: Lombard Live: Exchanging pizza for chocolate

By Andrew Hill

Published: January 5 2010 16:52 | Last updated: January 5 2010 16:52

Paid for with pizza. That could be Cadbury’s epitaph if the UK confectioner succumbs to Kraft’s hostile bid.

The US group’s sale of its substantial North American pizza business to Nestlé for $3.7bn, allows Kraft to plough $1.3bn into improving the proportion of cash in its offer for Cadbury. But unless the value of the whole bid is increased, this is rather like putting more mozzarella on your 12-inch margherita: it may make the pie more attractive to cheese-lovers, but it doesn’t (yet) increase the diameter.

EDITOR’S CHOICE

Buffett warns Kraft on bid for Cadbury – Jan-05

FT Alphaville: Cadbury gets creamed by Buffett – Jan-05

Video: Kraft sweetener still ‘derisory’ – Jan-05

If you’re a flag-waving Cadbury loyalist, of course, it makes no difference. The Kraft offer remains anathema.

But less committed Cadbury investors also have reason to pause before January 19, the last date Kraft can amend its bid terms, and consider the consequences of the US bidder’s latest move, and the implications of Warren Buffett’s worries about Kraft’s determination to issue shares.

Institutional and private shareholders will have the option to receive more cash as a proportion of the offer, it’s true. But the US group has sold one of the fastest-growing parts of its business. That ought to fuel two concerns with Cadbury shareholders. Kraft is already committed to spending an estimated $1.2bn in restructuring costs, in order to reap annual savings of $625m from a takeover. By definition, if Kraft has to increase its bid (with cash, to placate Mr Buffett) and make up for the loss of the pizza business, it will have to squeeze further savings out of the Cadbury combination.

Even if you dismiss concerns about Kraft’s commitment to preserving Cadbury’s culture, that raises a question of whether future savings are better milked by the UK group’s existing managers, with their focus on the confectionery business, or by their more thinly spread counterparts at Kraft.

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January 5, 2010

Another job post by Microsoft speaks of upgraded media player and gaming experience

We are now pretty used to Microsoft’s press releases as job posts, and the latest one again confirms Microsoft’s aim to bring the Windows Mobile media and gaming experience up from its current dismal experience.

The job, which is for a senior software engineer, speaks to cutting edge user experiences in music and video, killer photo capture and sharing experience and a great gaming experience in the next release of Windows Mobile (presumably 7), and also asks for XAML experience, which is usually associated with a Silverlight-based UI.

The job post is below:

SENIOR SDE(706388 -External)
Job Category: Software Engineering: Development
Location: United States, WA, Redmond
Job ID: 706388
Product: Windows Mobile
Division: Entertainment & Devices Division
The Windows Mobile Phone Entertainment team is looking for a Software Development Engineer to help us through our next big release.

We are looking for an experienced UI developer to work on the next-generation of Windows Phone products.
Responsibilities will include (but are not limited to) developing features for the phone that drive the joy and fun of using the device. This role will work on cutting edge User Experiences – touching everything from music and video experiences to killer photo capture and sharing experiences to great mobile gaming experiences. Feature development includes designing, coding and unit testing for one of the technical areas as well as ensuing that the end to end solution is complete and fantastic.

If you feel that mobile computing is the future for our industry – come help us win!!
Qualifications: Strong analytical, design and C++ programming/debugging, Win32 UI, and COM required, Mobile (CE) development skills are desired as well as XAML experience.

At least unlike other posts, this one speaks of existing projects rather than initiating new ones, which gives hope that this important work is already underway.

See the job listing here.

January 5, 2010
Chicago Cubs, Outfielder Marlon Byrd Agree to Three-Year Contract

The Chicago Cubs and outfielder Marlon Byrd today agreed to terms on a three-year contract.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Byrd, who reunites with hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo in Chicago, batted .283 (155-for-547) and established career highs with 155 hits, 43 doubles, 20 home runs and 89 RBI in 146 games last season with the Texas Rangers.

The right-handed batter and thrower tied for eighth in the American League in doubles, tied for first in the league with 10 sacrifice flies and led the Rangers in RBI, game-winning RBI (12) and games played.

He made 100 starts in center field, 35 in left field and six in right field.

In 2009, Byrd, 32, was one of only 14 players in baseball with at least 20 home runs and 40 doubles and one of only three outfielders to accomplish the feat, joining Colorado’s Brad Hawpe and Los Angeles’ Andre Ethier.

During the last three seasons under the tutelage of Jaramillo in Texas, Byrd batted .295 (402-for-1364) with 88 doubles, 40 home runs, 212 RBI, a .352 on-base percentage, a .468 slugging percentage and an .820 OPS in 377 games.

He has averaged 29 doubles and 71 RBI per season during that stretch.

Following his first season in Texas, Byrd was voted the winner of the 2007 Harold McKinney Good Guy Award by members of the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Byrd is a career .279 hitter (744-for-2666) with 154 doubles, 60 home runs and 335 RBI in 785 major league games with Philadelphia (2002-05), Washington (2005-06) and Texas (2007-09).

He has batted .273 (208-for-762) in his career vs. left-handed pitching and .282 (536-for-1904) vs. right-handed pitching. Last season Byrd was particularly strong with runners in scoring position, turning in a .333 batting average (45-for-135).

The five-foot-11, 235-pound Byrd has seen considerable action at all three outfield positions, including 528 games (472 starts) in center field, 142 games (119 starts) in left field and 109 games (86 starts) in right field.

Last season, Byrd turned in a .991 fielding percentage (three errors in 341 total chances), the 12th-best mark among American League outfielders. He recorded a 72-game errorless streak from September 19, 2008-June 29, 2009.

A native of Boynton Beach, FL, Byrd was originally selected by Philadelphia in the 10th round of the 1999 June Draft. Marlon, his wife, Andrea, and their two children reside in Swedesboro, NJ.

January 5, 2010
Pico Projector From Light Blue Optics Throws Up a 10-inch Touchscreen Laser Projection [Projector]

Light Blue Optics has been showing off their cool projection wares since 2004, so it’s great to hear they’re close to turning that “holographic laser projection technology” into a viable product, albeit as an OEM.

The Light Touch pico projector throws a laser WVGA image out to the size of 10-inches, turning any available surface into a touchscreen. The angle is a pretty decent wide throw, which means the projector can be quite close to the surface.

Running on Adobe Flash Lite 3.1, the Light Touch projector has 2GB of flash memory and a microSD card slot (with support up to 32GB) for storing media on, and also has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for hooking up with a laptop or device. It supposedly has a 2 hour battery life, which unfortunately seems to be the norm with these little projectors, though kudos to Light Blue Optics for throwing in a bunch of other features that could make this actually useful, for consumers as well as businesses (as the pic below shows). [Light Blue Optics via BusinessWire]

January 5, 2010

BBC NEWS: Kraft’s Cadbury takeover plans dealt blow

Kraft Foods’ plans to buy Cadbury have been hit by news that one of its key shareholders is wary of the bid move.

Berkshire Hathaway, the holding firm of US billionaire Warren Buffett, said it had voted against Kraft’s plans to sell new shares to help fund the takeover.

It said the share sale gave Kraft a blank cheque allowing it to change its offer “in any way it wishes”.

However, the company said it may change its vote if the final bid “does not destroy value for Kraft shareholders”.

BBC business editor Robert Peston said Kraft’s plans to buy Cadbury were now in jeopardy.

Cadbury shares fell on the news, closing 3.2% lower in London at 779 pence.

Kraft has until 19 January to announce its final offer for Cadbury.

Change fears

Roger Carr, chairman of Cadbury, told me: ‘In essence Kraft’s offer is limited by powerful Kraft shareholders restricting what they can offer’

Robert Peston, BBC business editor

Read Robert’s blog in full

Kraft is planning to issue 370 million new shares in order to help finance its takeover of Cadbury.

But Berkshire Hathaway – which says it owns 9.4% of Kraft, making it the firm’s largest shareholder – says this plan will allow Kraft to alter its bid however it wishes.

“And we worry very much that, indeed, there will be an additional change from the revision announced this morning,” the firm said in a statement.

“To state the matter simply, a shareholder voting ‘yes’ today is authorising a huge transaction without knowing its cost or the means of payment.”

More cash

Earlier on Tuesday, Kraft announced it had sold its North American pizza business – which sells brands including DiGiorno and California Pizza Kitchen in the US and Canada – to Nestle for $3.7bn (£2.3bn).

KRAFT BID TIMELINE

7 Sept: Kraft tables offer for Cadbury, valuing the company at about £10bn. The bid is immediately rejected by the Cadbury board

9 Nov: Kraft goes hostile with its takeover bid, and Cadbury again rejects the offer

4 Dec: Kraft details offer aimed at Cadbury shareholders, setting 5 January deadline

14 Dec: Cadbury publishes its defence document, urging its shareholders to reject the Kraft offer

31 Dec: Deadline for shareholders to accept the Kraft bid is extended to 2 February

5 Jan: Kraft announces revised offer with higher cash proportion

15 Jan: Deadline for Cadbury to issue trading update

19 Jan: Deadline for Kraft to publish details of revised offer

2 Feb: Deadline for Cadbury shareholders to accept Kraft bid

See Cadbury’s share price

It said it would use the money raised to increase the proportion of cash in its offer to Cadbury shareholders in order to make its bid more attractive.

The sale means Kraft will be able to offer an extra 60p per share in cash, though the overall value of the offer is not being increased.

Kraft’s original bid was £3 plus 0.26 new Kraft shares for each Cadbury share – a deal that analysts said would be unlikely to tempt shareholders.

The Cadbury board responded by again calling the offer “derisory”.

“Despite this tinkering, the Kraft offer remains unchanged and derisory with less than half the consideration in cash,” it said in a statement.

Few rivals

In addition to buying Kraft’s pizza business, Nestle also ruled itself out of the running to buy Cadbury.

Nestle had been linked to a possible offer, and on Monday, that speculation was fuelled when Nestle sold its remaining stake in eye-care group Alcon to Novartis for $28.1bn – a deal perceived as freeing up cash for a Cadbury bid.

In a statement, Nestle said its decision not to make, or participate in, a formal offer for Cadbury followed discussions with the UK Takeover Panel – the body in charge of regulating takeovers.

That means Kraft remains the only current bidder for Cadbury, although US confectioner Hershey has previously expressed its interest in a possible bid.

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January 5, 2010

Dark Void demo filling online stores this week

Take to the skies a la Rocketeer this week with Dark Void to fill that void of jetpacks and mid-air action. The demo for Capcom’s high-flying new title is well on its way so you can try

January 5, 2010
Looking Way Up: Ford posts 33% sales gain in 2009, 15% market share
Filed under: Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Earnings/Financials

We’ll have our monthly By the Numbers post ready lickity split, but here’s a little tidbit worth sharing ahead of the full data download. While automotive sales have been almost universally down in 2009 compared to 2008, Ford has a legitimate reason to crow about its December figures, which are up a third over December of ’08 and an impressive 50 percent over November.

Ford boasts that its market share is up to 15 percent – one full percentage point higher than in 2008 and the first time since 1995 that the Blue Oval has gained on its competitors. Ford, Lincoln and even Mercury sales were improved in December. Here are a few of the highlights:
- Ford Fusion: Posted a December sales increase of 83 percent and set new December (18,852) and full-year (180,671) sales records.
- Ford Taurus: Sales totaled 7,256 for the month, up 110 percent versus a year ago. Since the introduction of the 2010 model in August, Taurus sales are nearly 90 percent higher than a year ago.
- Ford Escape: Set a December sales record (19,156), up 75 percent versus a year ago. For the full year, Escape sales totaled 173,044, the second-best sales year ever.
- Ford F-Series: America’s best-selling truck for 33 years in a row. Best sales month since March 2008. F-Series sales in December were 48,209 (up 16 percent), bringing the full-year total to 413,625. In 2009, F-Series increased its leadership position among full-size pickups with a 4 percentage-point gain in segment share.
- Ford Hybrids: December sales of hybrid vehicles totaled 2,843, up 147 percent versus a year ago. Sales totaled 33,502 in 2009, a new record and up 72 percent versus a year ago.
Ford’s full-year sales totaled 1.62 million vehicles, down 15 percent from 2008. Even that, though, is a mild ray of sunshine considering that the industry was down about 20 percent overall. In the mood to crunch the numbers even more? Feel free to hit the jump for the full press release.

[Source: Ford]

Continue reading Looking Way Up: Ford posts 33% sales gain in 2009, 15% market share

Looking Way Up: Ford posts 33% sales gain in 2009, 15% market share originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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January 5, 2010
Sarkozy wants French carbon tax to take effect in July

by Agence France-Presse

PARIS—The French government decided Tuesday that a new carbon tax to fight global warming will go into force in July, a week after the constitutional court struck down a previous version of the measure.

President Nicolas Sarkozy told the council of ministers that the revamped tax would be presented to the cabinet later this month and that it would go into force on July 1, government spokesman Luc Chatel told reporters.

The Constitutional Council last Tuesday declared the tax illegal, just days before it was to kick in, dealing a severe blow to Sarkozy, who had championed the measure aimed at encouraging French consumers to stop wasting energy.

The court ruled that too many exemptions to the tax on carbon dioxide emissions created inequalities and unfairly placed the burden of cutting down wasteful energy use on a minority of consumers. The Council said more than 1,000 of France’s top polluters would have been able to dodge the tax and that the legislation did not apply to 93 percent of emissions from industrial sources.

Under the first law, the new levy on oil, gas, and coal consumption had been set at $25 per tonne of carbon dioxide emissions.

Finance Minister Christine Lagarde suggested on Tuesday that industry could be subjected to the carbon tax, but at a separate rate, to ensure companies are not penalized with a heavy tax burden.

The new bill will be drafted following consultations with industry, which was exempt from the first version, and submitted to parliament, where Sarkozy’s party holds a majority, Chatel said.

“The president raised the issue of the carbon tax,” said Chatel during a press briefing after the cabinet meeting held at the Elysee palace. “The government reaffirmed its conviction that a carbon tax is necessary to change behavior toward the environment. I am announcing that a new carbon tax will go into force on July 1.”

The government had anticipated revenues of $5.9 billion from the tax in 2010, but the funds were earmarked for redistribution in the form of tax breaks and “green checks” to families that cut down consumption.

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U.S. car fleet shrank by four million in 2009

January 5, 2010

THE GUARDIAN: Warren Buffett’s public attack on Kraft is out of character

When Buffett wants a strategic change, he generally wields his influence behind closed doors

Andrew Clark
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 5 January 2010 17.13 GMT

US investor Warren Buffett has slammed Kraft board over its revised bid for Cadburys. Photograph: Andrea Comas /Reuters

The world’s second richest man, Warren Buffett, is among the most powerful figures in the American business world but it is rare for the Nebraska-based billionaire to pick a fight in public with the management of one of his favoured companies.

Renowned for his witty homilies of homespun wisdom, Buffett, whose personal fortune is estimated at $37bn (£23bn), has chunky stakes in a list of blue-chip corporations ranging from Goldman Sachs and General Electric to ConocoPhillips, Tesco, Johnson & Johnson and Swiss Re.

For all its billions of dollars of weight, his Berkshire Hathaway investment empire adopts a policy of minimal interference in boardroom decisions. Unlike an activist hedge fund, Buffett stresses that he is an investor, rather than a manager, and on the rare instances where he wants a strategic change, he generally wields his influence behind closed doors.

Justin Fuller, a Chicago investment manager who edits a website, Buffettologist, says Buffett’s public attack on Kraft‘s use of shares to bid for Cadbury is a sign that the so-called Sage of Omaha feels he is being ignored by Kraft’s board – and that his money could be misused.

“He probably would have said something privately to Kraft’s leadership and board,” said Fuller. “The fact that he went public with this is significant – it’s a shot across their bows.”

Back in 2000, Buffett was instrumental in halting a move by Coca-Cola to splash out $15.7bn on food firm Quaker Oats. As a Coke board member and investor, he argued that the move would raise competition issues and was poor value. But his behind-the-scenes opposition only emerged after Coke abandoned the takeover, clearing the way for rival Pepsi to pick up Quaker.

At his annual gathering of Berkshire Hathaway investors in Omaha, Buffett has routinely refused to intervene in corporate decisions including the construction of ecologically controversial Oregon dams by a Berkshire company, Pacificorp. Two years ago, he declined to speak out on links between PetroChina, in which Berkshire had a stake, and a parent firm that did business in war-ravaged Sudan. And he has stood firm as a shareholder in the credit rating agency Moody’s despite criticism that it spectacularly failed to see the risks inherent in mortgage-backed securities.

When it comes to matters beyond his own portfolio, Buffett is more outspoken. He demeaned Bank of America‘s former boss, Ken Lewis, as an “ironic hero” of the global financial crisis. And he threw his weight behind the US government’s programme of bank bailouts, warning that the credit crunch was an “economic Pearl Harbour” and that turmoil in the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers would “look like Nirvana” without congressional action.

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Recommended Amazon Reading

	Warren Buffett and the Interpretation of Financial Statements: The Search for the Company with a Durable Competitive Advantage by Mary Buffett Buy new: $16.47 / Used from: $15.70 Usually ships in 24 hours
	The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America, Second Edition by Warren E. Buffett Buy new: $26.10 / Used from: $33.05 Usually ships in 24 hours

From Amazon – Apple iPod touch 32 GB (3rd Generation) NEWEST MODEL

January 5, 2010

Does an Apple Tablet Replace the Kindle?

Our own Derek Thompson thinks it does. As longtime readers know, I’m a huge afficionado of gadgets in general, and the Kindle in particular. And I don’t think that the still-mythical Apple tablet in any way replicates the key features of a Kindle.

For me, the benefits of a Kindle are that it’s extremely lightweight, is not backlit (meaning it’s both easier on the eyes, and can be read in full sunlight), and has an extremely long battery life. I can charge up my Kindle at home, take it on vacation, and unless I’m using the wireless, have it all week on one charge. If my experience with other Apple products is anything to go by, the Apple tablet will not even survive a moderate plane ride. I’m certainly not going to sling it in my purse, the way I do my Kindle, and whip it out in odd moments.

I’m not exactly an Apple tablet skeptic–maybe the thing will turn out to not only exist, but also be awesome. But like Matt Yglesias, I’m having a hard time figuring out how I’ll use it. Unless I’m going out somewhere social, I basically have a laptop with me at all times. I don’t need another computer that is less powerful and harder to type on. Nor am I seeing any benefit to replacing my Kindle, which already fits comfortably in my purse or laptop bag, and does exactly what I need it to do, which is carry around large amounts of text in a compact space. How much extra would I be willing to pay to be able to read Vanity Fair in glorious full color? Not much, especially since the print magazine is available on newstands everywhere–and, like my Kindle, has excellent battery life.

But perhaps I’m missing something.

January 5, 2010
Google Nexus One Live Coverage

We’re on the ground at Google’s campus in Mountain View waiting for that not-so-secretive Nexus One event to start. We’ll be updating this page live with coverage of the event.

09:47AM: We’re seated and ready to go.

09:49AM: Andy Rubin, king of the Android bots is here.

09:52AM: The small venue is filling up and everyone is getting seated. It’s supposed to start in around 7 minutes.

09:53AM: Black Eyed Peas are playing. Save. Us.

09:57AM: We’ve spotted HTC CEO Peter Chou. Why oh why would HTC be here?

09:58AM: The dude next to us just said, “BGR kicks ass.” Thanks, guy.

10:00AM: Said guy who likes BGR is John Siracusa from Ars Technica.

10:01AM: Looks like the event might be running a tad bit late but almost everyone is seated.

10:06AM: Music is down, about to start!

10:07AM: Google VP Mario Carlos is on stage talking about the Open Handset Alliance. Members like NEC, China Telekom and Freescale. He’s also going into the history of the T-Mobile G1.

10:08AM: The myTouch 3G was released a little while after, furthering innovation.

10:09AM: There’s now 20 Android devices on 59 carriers in 48 countries in 19 languages.

10:10AM: Four major software releases from Android in 2009.

10:11AM: “Android is contributing to more and more users getting to the web through their mobile phones. We all know this is happening, we’re doing it ourselves. We see Android users searching the web up to 30x more than they do on a featurephone.” Also, Google has has seen an increase in mobile searches 5x.

10:13AM: From the beginning, they’ve been developer-friendly and have had an open source license, giving the freedom to innovate. He said it enables lower manufacturing costs, and it’s faster to market. “Android architecture allows ‘always on’ applications to run in the background.” Open and free.

10:15AM: The next step in the Android evolution… uh oh, here we go.

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January 5, 2010
What is GFR ?

I’m just looking at the referral letter for my endo and it says my GFR is 99.89. That looks bad. The doc didn’t even mention it to me. Is this due to diabetes itself or the meds I’m on ? Why didn’t she say anything ? 😡

I need to read these papers cover to cover…

January 5, 2010

BBC BLOG: Will Cadbury remain independent?

Robert Peston | 17:14 UK time, Tuesday, 5 January 2010

Kraft’s plans to buy Cadbury are in jeopardy, following the decision of Berkshire Hathaway to vote against its plan to issue 370m new shares to pay for the confectionery company.

Berkshire, founded by Warren Buffett, owns 9.4 per cent of Kraft. It is also probably the most respected investor in the world.

So it is embarrassing for Kraft that Berkshire will not authorise the transaction.

Berkshire has two concerns. First it says that Kraft should not be issuing shares at the current price of $27, because it sees this as a “very expensive ‘currency’”.

Second it is concerned that if it were to authorise the issue of the shares, it would in effect be authorising “a huge transaction without knowing its cost or the means of payment”.

There is a paradox here of course.

Berkshire fears that Kraft would be paying too much for Cadbury.

Whereas Cadbury’s board fears that the offer from Kraft is inadequate.

Roger Carr, chairman of Cadbury, says: “In essence Kraft’s offer is limited by powerful Kraft shareholders restricting what they can offer in stock and is constrained by Kraft’s rating agency limiting what they can offer in cash.

The so-called discipline of Kraft [in not wanting to pay more for Cadbury] is a smokescreen to justify an attempt to steal the Cadbury from its shareholders”.

Hmmm.

Unless you are a conspiracy theorist who believes that Berkshire is in cahoots with Kraft’s management to secure Cadbury at a knockdown price, you’d have to assume that the game is up – and that Cadbury will remain independent.

But would “friends” of Kraft’s board point out – as Berkshire has done – that this company spent $3.6bn on its own stock at $33 per share in 2007, presumably on the basis that $33 was too cheap for the stock, and now wants to issue shares when they are even cheaper.

These are the observations of a shareholder who doesn’t appear to have huge respect for the judgement of management.

It is therefore reasonable to assume that Berkshire really doesn’t like the look of the Cadbury takeover.

So Kraft now has till January 19 to persuade Berkshire that its price for Cadbury represents very good value and to persuade Cadbury shareholders that they are getting a fabulous price.

Those two ambitions don’t look altogether consistent.

In other words, there must be a pretty good chance that Cadbury – against prevailing opinion – will remain independent.

That said, I am not sure the penny has dropped in the market place, because if it had surely Cadbury’s share price would have fallen by more than today’s 3 per cent.

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Recommended Amazon Reading

	Warren Buffett and the Interpretation of Financial Statements: The Search for the Company with a Durable Competitive Advantage by Mary Buffett Buy new: $16.47 / Used from: $15.70 Usually ships in 24 hours
	The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America, Second Edition by Warren E. Buffett Buy new: $26.10 / Used from: $33.05 Usually ships in 24 hours

From Amazon – Apple iPod touch 32 GB (3rd Generation) NEWEST MODEL

January 5, 2010

Boxes and Cranes

Construction site, Paris (near bibliothèque François Mitterand)

Late entry to competition…appreciate the feedback
D40, 10mm Sigma, F11, 1/500
Light HDR

January 5, 2010