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Category: News

  • Another Way to Look at Those Health-Spending Numbers

    PigThe headline on that health-spending report in the news today is “Health-Spending Growth at a Historic Low in 2008.” That’s true as far as it goes — growth increased at a rate of 4.4%, the slowest rate in the past 48 years.

    But an arguably more important figure to keep an eye on is national health-care spending as a percentage of total GDP. If health-care spending rose at the same rate as GDP, we could leave the current system in place and be fine (at least in a macroeconomic sense). But because health-care spending is rising faster than GDP, we are spending an ever-larger portion of our national income on health care.

    So what happened with health-care spending as a percentage of total GDP in 2008? Not only did it rise — it rose at a faster rate than in recent years. In 2005, health-care spending accounted for 15.7% of GDP. It rose to 15.8% in 2006, and 15.9% in 2007. Then, in 2008, it jumped to 16.2% of GDP.

    That happened because, even though the growth of health-care spending slowed in 2008, overall GDP growth slowed a lot more. This is typical during economic downturns: The paper notes that “larger increases in the health spending share of GDP generally occur during or just after periods of economic recession.” (The authors are based at CMS, the government agency that runs Medicare and Medicaid.)

    This makes sense on an intuitive level, because people may keep paying for health care even when they cut back on other spending. What’s more, the federal government — always a big payer via Medicare and Medicaid — upped its contribution as well. Federal spending for health services and supplies grew sharply in 2008, up 10.4%, according to the paper, which was published in the journal Health Affairs.

    One final note: Most of the increase in 2008 was due to higher prices, not due to population growth or more use of health-care service, according to the analysis.

    Image: iStockphoto


  • Jamao al Norte | Espaillat | Imágenes e Información

    Jamao al Norte


    "Destino del clima más saludable del mundo"

    "Tierra de frescos bosques y caudalosos ríos, que abre sus brazos para el disfrute del clima más saludable"

    Municipio de la provincia Espaillat, ubicado a media hora de Cabarete ( costa Norte ), por Moca, despues de la loma del Mogote, como media hora, este lugar esta lleno de gente linada y hospitalaria, las que estaran muy agradecidas que les visiten sus balnearios: La Represa y El Chorro.

  • Skype Goes 720p, Jumps Onto LG and Panasonic HDTVs [Skype]

    Big news from Skype: They’re making a push for better video quality, with both new HD webcams and software support, but that’s not the biggest deal here. They’re also partnering with LG and Panasonic for Skype-enabled HDTVs.

    The new Skype 4.2 beta can achieve better quality video than ever before: 1280 x 720 resolution at 30fps. They’ve also got a line of HD webcams (hardware from faceVision and In Store) that pack video encoding and processing onboard, so as not to confound your grandma’s crappy old computer. There are two versions from each manufacturer: FaceVision has one with and one without a microphone ($100 and $70, respectively) and In Store has the Freetalk Pro at $120 and the presumably ever pro-er Freetalk Pro Plus at $140.

    Now for those HDTVs. LG and Panasonic are the hardware partners here, and they’ve integrated both a webcam and Skype software into their HDTVs. They’ll have just about every Skype feature the computer software has—voicemail, landline and mobile calls, free Skype-to-Skype, all that—as well as a 720p webcam and microphones specifically designed to pick up sound at couch distance. Want to say hello to your kid, niece, nephew, grandkid, whatever, but he or she won’t sit still in front of a computer? Let ’em run around in front of the TV! We’ll get more info from Skype on specific pricing and availability for these TVs this week. [Skype]







  • EMC Makes Bold Move into ‘GRC’ Market With Archer Acquisition…But Is It the Last?

    RSA and Archer Technologies Logos
    Wade Roush wrote:

    It turns out regulation and government mandates aren’t always bad for business.

    A generation of new software companies is emerging to serve businesses who need to comply with a skein of regulations put in place over the last decade to fight financial and accounting fraud, prevent database breaches, and generally make businesses more transparent and accountable. These software companies are offering big businesses more efficient ways to keep track of governance, risk management, and compliance—a set of mandates that’s come to be known as “GRC.”

    Boston is home to a major cluster of GRC companies, with names like eIQ Networks, Lumigent, and OpenPages leading the list. But Hopkinton, MA-based EMC, one of the leaders in data storage, has decided to reach well beyond the local area—all the way to Overland Park, KS, in fact—to acquire enterprise GRC specialist Archer Technologies.

    The acquisition, which was announced Monday and is expected to be completed before April, will turn privately owned Archer into a part of RSA, EMC’s security division. It’s a sensible pairing, since many of RSA’s products, such as technologies for authenticating computer network users and documenting security incidents, generate reams of reporting data that Archer’s metrics, analytics, and documentation software can make more comprehensible.

    Many customers use both companies’ systems, and the software will presumably now be integrated in a way that makes it unnecessary to, for example, manually cut and paste information from RSA’s enVision, a security log management system, into Archer applications. Todd Graham, a senior technologist in the office of the chief technology officer at RSA, cited this practice in a blog post Monday explaining how the Archer acquisition willl help RSA customers.

    According to Graham’s post, the Archer acquisition is the outcome of a two-year effort within RSA to define how the division should help customers manage their IT-related GRC needs—everything from defining policies for dealing with hacker attacks to tracking how computer passwords are issued and revoked to demonstrating compliance with privacy and accounting regulations. RSA apparently concluded that Archer’s tools for documenting company policies, tracking incidents, and the like—which are already used by one-fourth of the Fortune 100 companies—are better than anything EMC has built internally. And when EMC lacks a technology in-house, it’s well known for its willingness to acquire it.

    The fact that Archer is landing inside RSA, rather than some other part of EMC, brings more clarity to EMC’s overall GRC strategy. Back in June, when I asked RSA president Art Coviello whether he viewed GRC software as an important market for EMC, he sounded somewhat dismissive of the category. “It’s a big, amorphous term that could mean anything to anyone,” he said. “You could stick a ham sandwich under the umbrella of GRC.”

    It was so amorphous, in fact, that different divisions of EMC were vying to be known as the company’s main providers of GRC software and services. “Even within EMC, you’ve got our resource management group saying, ‘We are the GRC of EMC,’ and you’ve got the content management and archiving group saying, ‘No, we’re the GRC of EMC,’” Coviello said.

    Well, it turns out that RSA is going to be the GRC of EMC. Coviello hinted in that June interview that …Next Page »

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  • 2010 Venture Capital Oscar Predictions

    Michael A. Greeley wrote:

    Even though Oscar buzz is not yet in the air, it is pretty clear what film titles will rule in 2010. So sit back, grab your popcorn…the envelopes please.

    Precious: The statuette goes to this film about the Greenback, which continues to be really hard to come by. The venture industry weathered a swift-yet-painful contraction in 2009, which shows little sign of letting up. In 2008, the U.S. venture capital industry raised nearly $30 billion; although the 2009 data are yet to be compiled, it appears that last year the industry will have raised less than $15 billion—which may be the new annual reality. For entrepreneurs, this contraction will continue to make capital precious and hard to access.

    New England-based companies raised nearly $3 billion in 2008; my guess is that this number will look closer to $2 billion in 2009. The New England Venture Capital Association, which I currently chair, had 138 dues-paying members two years ago; right now, we have 108 members. Fortunately for New England, more than 20 percent of all venture capital is managed by firms based in Massachusetts.

    It’s Complicated: The star of this film: the local business environment, which will continue to be tricky to navigate. While there is abundant innovation and a number of high-quality entrepreneurs in the market, it is hard to handicap which compelling and profitable investment themes will emerge. Last year investors thought 2009 was going to be the “year of cleantech,” but instead of (global) warming, that investment theme seemed to have cooled. I continue to see great opportunities in the convergence of the IT and life sciences sectors, which New England is uniquely positioned to exploit. There are also wonderful opportunities in cloud computing and with new advertising technologies, but all of this is complicated by the absolute dearth of liquidity.

    2012: And the Academy is pleased to recognize this blockbuster, which unfortunately may portend that the real economic recovery is still a few years away. All of us are desperate for predictable, sustainable, and meaningful liquidity. Many of our portfolio companies are at a point of maturity, where in more normal times they would either go public or be sold at attractive M&A prices. Average holding periods have extended to more than eight years, which is unprecedented; normally VC’s expect this to be between four and six years. There will be around a dozen venture-backed IPOs in 2009; this would be closer to 100 in more normal years.

    And honorable mentions go to….

    In the Air: This flick recognizes that all of us will have to work much harder this upcoming year just to stay in place!

    Blind Side: Although this title better describes how we all felt (blind-sided, to be more exact) in the fall of 2008, we should expect that there well may be additional economic shocks as we collectively crawl out of this turmoil.



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  • Iomega v.Clone App Portable-izes Your Entire PC [Virtualization]

    It’d be easy to get knotted up in jargon describing v.Clone, so let’s stick with the concept for now: It’s a syncable, complete image of your PC, which you can boot run from basically any other PC. And it’s free.

    To anyone who’s used mainstream backup software, this probably sounds too good to be true. In a way, yes, it is. But the tradeoff is minimal, and the payoff is more than worth it. Here’s the deal:

    v.Clone EMC owns Iomega, which makes portable hard drives. EMC also owns VMWare, which makes virtualization software around. v.Clone is essentially a portable installation of VMWare, meaning that you can plug your v.Clone-loaded Iomega portable HDD into most any Windows computer, run the app, and boot into your saved virtual machine. The secret, though, lies in what you’re booting into—namely, a perfect copy of your main PC.

    In other words, v.Clone lets you make a full copy of your primary PC—including apps, media, settings, etc—to a VMWare image, run said copy from other Windows-based computers, and upon reconnection with the primary PC, sync any changes you made while running the virtual machine back to your main PC. Likewise, any changes you’ve made on your host PC can be synced to your virtual machine, so your v.Clone image is more or less a virtualized, up-to-date clone of your main PC. We haven’t been able to try it out yet, but Iomega assures us that the whole system isn’t as ass-slow as it sounds like it could be, because the syncing process is incremental—if you only change a few things on your virtualized image, syncing it with your host PC won’t take more than a few minutes.

    There are a couple of catches here: the software may be called v.Clone, but it’s not creating a traditional, raw image clone. If your main PC faceplants and destroys itself, your v.Clone image will let you salvage your data, but it won’t let do a full restore, like Norton Ghost or Time Machine. And despite the fact that portable HDDs are all exactly the same, this software will only work with Iomega drives. But still, kinda genius! (If you happen to this particular brand of totally commodified product!)

    v.Clone is available for owners of Iomega USB portable hard drives, including the full eGo and Prestige lines. [Iomega]







  • Netbook Tablets Get Capacitive Multitouch With the IdeaPad S10-3t [Lenovo]

    A convertible netbook tablet that sports a capacitive multitouch screen has been a long time coming. Now it’s here, and at a surprisingly competitive price.

    Lenovo’s IdeaPad S10-3t still has netbook guts, which means a wimpy Atom N450 or N470 processor and only 2GB of DDR2 RAM. But it’s the first convertible netbook tablet to have a screen that supports capacitive multitouch instead of the firm press a resistive screen requires. And its starting retail price of $499 when it goes on sale this month is well within range of the Asus EEE T91, a resistive screen convertible netbook tablet that debuted last year with Windows XP and a 16GB SSD, compared with the S10-3t’s Windows 7 configuration with up to 320GB HDD storage.

    Lenovo is also introducing the 14″ IdeaPad Y460 and 15.6″ Y560, two multimedia notebooks that feature up to an Intel Core i7 processor and up to 500GB HDD storage. Some models will also feature Lenovo’s RapidDrive technology, which purportedly lets the Y560 book up in just 15 seconds. Both will start at $850, with the Y460 available in February and the Y560 not hitting stores until March.







  • Lenovo IdeaCentre 300A All-In-One Is Just 18.5mm-Thick [Lenovo]

    Last year at CES, Lenovo debuted a one-inch thick all-in-one that was the slimmest in the world at the time. It was a fatty compared to this year’s 18.5mm-deep IdeaCentre 300A.

    While Lenovo was busy carving out a super-skinny niche for themselves with the 300A, they didn’t forget to pack in some decent specs too: up to a Core 2 duo processor, a 21.5″ full HD (1920×1080) widescreen LED display, up to 4GB DDR3 RAM and 500GB HDD storage, and HDMI in (which is something last year’s IdeaCentre 600 sorely lacked). The 300A will be available in February starting at $600, but expect to dole out a chunk more for optional add-ons like an optical drive and integrated TV tuner.

    Other additions coming to the IdeaCentre line-up in February include the C310, Lenovo’s first multitouch all-in-one, and the K320, a high-performance gaming desktop. The C310 features an Atom 330 processor, a 20″ screen, and up to 640GB HDD storage starting at $650, while the K320 can be customized up to an Intel i7 processor, DirectX 11 graphics, and up to 1TB of storage with prices ranging from $600 to $2000 for a fully tricked-out rig.







  • Lenovo’s Skylight Is the First ARM-Based Snapdragon Smartbook [Lenovo]

    The Skylight is Lenovo’s entrant into the nascent smartbook category, and with Qualcomm providing its ballyhooed 1GHz Snapdragon chipset, it may well be an important evolutionary step in mobile computing.

    The device will have a 10.1″ screen but will weigh less than two pounds, and according to Lenovo gets a very impressive 10 hours-plus of active battery life. Lenovo has also confirmed earlier reports that Skylight will be paired with AT&T for 3G connectivity, along with its own built-in Wi-Fi.

    Other features include a full keyboard and a custom interface that uses “web gadgets” that give direct access to services like Gmail and Facebook. Skylight will be available in the US in April, retailing at $499 with no contract—though there may be a subsidy to go along with a two-year AT&T data plan.

    Lenovo Skylight Lights Up The Web with Industry’s First ARM-Based, Qualcomm Smartbook All Day Use, Always Connected Device Heightens Mobile Internet Experience, Connects with AT&T 3G Mobile Broadband Service in the U.S.

    RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC – January 5, 2010: Lenovo today announced the Lenovo Skylight, the first ARM-based smartbook based on Qualcomm’s SnapdragonTM chipset platform. Skylight harnesses the best of smartphones and netbooks to create a new mobile consumer device. With a stunningly sleek and slim design, all day battery life, robust wireless connectivity and custom interface with live web gadgets, Skylight is designed to transform the mobile Internet experience. The Skylight smartbook connects with AT&T 3G mobile broadband service in the U.S.

    “The web has become the window to the world for more and more people, helping them connect with friends and family across town or thousands of miles away,” said Peter Gaucher, executive director, Mobile Internet Product Management, Lenovo. “Skylight combines the long battery life and connectivity of a smartphone with the full web browsing and multimedia experience of a netbook to create one of the first devices in this developing smartbook category. Consumers want choices. They can now choose from a full portfolio of Lenovo mobile consumer devices including netbooks, smartbooks and laptops.”

    “Now more than ever, consumers are looking for devices that will keep them connected virtually anytime and anywhere,” said David Haight, vice president, business development, AT&T Mobility. “The Lenovo Skylight is slim and attractive with extraordinary battery life, and when paired with the nation’s fastest 3G network and AT&T Wi-Fi service, it gives consumers a great web and media experience on the go.”

    Skylight brings users a brand new way to enhance their mobile web experience:

    Beauty and Brains – Thinner than many smartphones, Skylight’s sleek and lightweight design is a technological combination of beauty and function. Skylight is being introduced in two new vibrant colors, glossy lotus blue and earth red models. Skylight’s clamshell design opens to reveal a brilliant high definition 10.1 inch screen designed for watching high definition videos or viewing photos. Tote it in a purse, backpack or bag. Weighing less than two pounds, Skylight is extremely mobile and lightweight enough for the user to tote it in a purse, backpack or bag. Unlike many netbooks, Skylight’s full size keyboard makes typing easy.

    No Power Cord? No Problem – Skylight has over 10 hours of active battery life,1 enough to allow the user to watch two movies or more back to back on the next plane flight. Simply plug it in at night to charge like a mobile phone. On the next plane flight, enjoy watching two movies or more back to back.

    Wireless Freedom – Skylight has built-in WiFi and 3G connectivity to give users a web connection nearly everywhere they go, and Skylight will seamlessly handoff between the WiFi and 3G. With the purchase of an AT&T DataConnect plan, users get 3G data but also access to AT&T’s nationwide Wi-Fi network, including more than 20,000 Hot Spots in the U.S. for fast and easy web access on the go.

    Web Optimized Interface – Skylight’s unique custom interface lets the full capabilities of the web shine through with live web gadgets. Users can check Google GmailTM, update their FacebookTM status, see what’s new on YouTubeTM or browse the Internet. simultaneously without having to continually refresh or log in. There are more than 18 preloaded web gadgets including Amazon MP3 to download digital music favorites and Roxio CinemaNow to buy and download digital movies. Powered by the Qualcomm 1GHz Snapdragon chipset platform and featuring 20 GB of standard flash and 2 GB of cloud storage, Skylight delivers the performance needed for mobile users unwilling to compromise their mobile experience and the flexibility to store their data wherever they like – in the cloud or on the device.

    Qualcomm’s Snapdragon platform offers a powerful combination of mobile processing performance, optimized power consumption, ubiquitous connectivity and powerful multimedia in a single chip.
    “Snapdragon-based smartbooks like the Lenovo Skylight will change the way we connect to the world, and enjoy the web and media on the go,” said Luis Pineda, senior vice president of marketing and product management for Qualcomm CDMA Technologies. “Lenovo is leading the way for innovation in this space by utilizing the groundbreaking capabilities of our Snapdragon platform. We are excited for consumers to enjoy the new mobile experiences, such as extended battery life and increased connectivity that the Skylight will deliver.”

    Pricing and Availability

    The Lenovo Skylight smartbook will be available starting in April in the U.S. It will be available in China and in Europe later this year. In the U.S., it will be sold through www.lenovo.com, www.att.com and AT&T retail stores. Pricing will start at $499 at full retail price. AT&T offers two- year AT&T DataConnect service plans, as well as Data Connect Pass – a pay-as-you-need it data service available by the day, by the week or by the month.







  • Iomega Enters the 1080p Video Fray with CinemaNow-Equipped ScreenPlay Director Line [Hd Media Players]

    The world was rocked by the infinite format war, but hardware makers answered with HD media players that can read damn near everything. Iomega’s newest ScreenPlay Director players decode a vast array of 1080p video—and serves CinemaNow movies.

    There are two devices, the $250 ScreenPlay Director HD, which comes with a built-in 1TB hard drive and its slimmed down hard-drive free sibling, the $130 ScreenPlay TV Link Director. Unless you want to spend $120 for a limited-purpose hard drive, I’d say focus on the TV Link, as it’s essentially the exact same thing. Iomega says it’s DivX-certified, and handles H.264, WMV and MKV at 1080p, which is a good sign. Better still is that the newly posted notice on the site says it can read DVD disc images and AVCHD (meaning video yanked from Blu-ray discs).

    In addition to YouTube, Flickr, Shoutcast Internet radio, RSS feeds and podcasts, there’s also CinemaNow. It may not be as cheap as Netflix or as sexy as Vudu, but CinemaNow is holding its own as a major video-on-demand service, and its prospects are only looking better and better. It’s DLNA certified, so it will play well with Windows 7 out of the box, and should take streamed video from many sources (and work with PlayOn). We haven’t seen shots of the interface, however, so that’s a mystery.

    Bottom line: There’s a lot of these devices out there already—as you well know. This year, this week even, the field of HD media players is going to get even more crowded. Syabas’ new PopBox player has Netflix (but no pay-per-view VOD service). Lord knows it’s just a matter of time before there’s something with Netflix, a movie channel like Vudu or CinemaNow and the ability to decode a bajillion other video formats. That’s a tricky mix for some reason, but I can feel it coming. Maybe this week. Iomega had to come out with a new ScreenPlay that was fully HD and compatible with the latest formats, because their previous players didn’t hack it. Still, until we check it out, we’ll have to wait to say whether the ScreenPlay Director devices are worth ranking. [Iomega]







  • 2011 Cadillac CTS-V Coupe muscles in with a quickness and a thickness

    Filed under: , , ,

    2011 Cadillac CTS-V Coupe – Click above for high-res image gallery

    Back in 2008, Cadillac threw down the gauntlet against its German competitors in an attempt to show that it could build the best high performance mid-sized luxury sedan. The result was the CTS-V. Even if the recent CTS-V Challenge proved to be somewhat less than authoritative in establishing the current car’s dominance, it did show off its capabilities. Now Cadillac is expanding its CTS-V range by adding all of the V goodness to the coupe bodystyle that was revealed last month at the LA Auto Show.

    The CTS-V coupe will debut at the Detroit Auto Show next week with everything that makes the CTS-V one our favorite super-sedans, albeit in a sexy new two-door shell. Aside from the sleek yet thick-of-beltline new suit, the only other real difference from the existing V is the one-inch wider track at the rear axle, which may or may not be noticeable when driving, and a marginally lower mass. The 556-horsepower supercharged LSA V8 engine and the choice of a manual or automatic six-speed gearbox carries over. We highly recommend that anyone considering a V regardless of bodystyle check the option box for the Recaro seats, they are worth every penny.

    Carryover or not, we can’t wait for a crack at the V coupe this summer. Now if only Cadillac would hurry up and build a V-wagon.

    Gallery: 2011 Cadillac CTS-V Coupe

    [Source: Cadillac]

    Continue reading 2011 Cadillac CTS-V Coupe muscles in with a quickness and a thickness

    2011 Cadillac CTS-V Coupe muscles in with a quickness and a thickness originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 05 Jan 2010 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • The U.S. Biodiesel Industry in 2010

    Given a bleak year in 2009, where is the biodiesel industry headed in 2010?


  • 10 Free Apps Make Sure Droid Still Does

    10 Free Apps Make Sure Droid Still Does

    I’ve been rocking my Motorola Droid since the first day it was available to the public.  Although it is still a little rough around the edges, the Droid is a different animal from the iPhone and offers an equal amount of impressive and useful features.  This list of ten free apps includes a variety of tools that will help improve your overall Droid experience.  As Android becomes more mainstream, it’s nice to see many new apps being released.  A phone will only be as successful as the apps that are available.  While these apps may also work on other Android handsets, these are must-haves to ensure that you’re taking full advantage of your Droid.

    via gottabemobile.com

    The thing I like about this list of Android apps is that it specifically mentions camera/photo-related apps right from the start. Yes, I know that Android has lots of the usual cadre of apps to handle e-mail, social networks, and the like, but not much is said about camera/photo apps. I use a ton of photo-related apps on my iPhone most of the time, so this is of great interest to me, since I haven’t personally had a chance to check out the Android app store.

    If you have any other fun camera/photo apps that you use on your Android device, please let me know.

  • Green Trash Bag Choices

    Trash bags are ultra boring to ponder, but if your goal is green living, it’s smart to give trash bags some thought.

    green trash bags

    The EPA estimates that the average person creates 29 pounds of trash per week so when you add up an entire household of trash then bag it, well, that’s a considerable amount of trash bags. Plastic trash bags pose large threats to the environment. One, that’s a ton of plastic left to linger in our landfills and two, the manufacturing of said bags uses energy and nonrenewable resources. Some plastic trash bags will break down a little while hanging in the landfill, but most don’t, especially if they’re stuck at the bottom of a trash pile, unexposed to the rain, snow, sun, and so on.

    Your choices:

    Plastic trash bags – not great (see above).

    Paper bags in my opinion are a little better than plastic, but only because they break down. Manufacture wise they take a lot of energy to make, and plus, you shouldn’t have excess laying around. You should be taking reusable bags to the grocery store. Also paper bags suck when it comes to holding wet stuff. If you do go with paper look for 100% recycled paper bags.

    Recycled plastic bags are a decent choice, with many containing as much as 80% or more recycled plastic content. They cause less pollution to manufacture then do new plastic bags plus use less petroleum.

    Your best bet is a combination of recycled paper or plastic and creating less waste to begin with. Buy less stuff to start with. Hold a trash audit and see what you could be recycling vs. tossing. Compost what you can or grind up leftovers in the garbage disposal.

    [image via stock.xchng]

    Post from: Blisstree

    Green Trash Bag Choices

  • UK Sets Up A Panel To Review Libel Laws

    For quite some time, we’ve been noting how ridiculous UK libel laws are (and, by the way, we still have not been sued by the person in the UK who insisted we had libeled her), and there have been ongoing efforts to change those laws. While it’s not much, it’s a start to find out that the UK government has set up a panel to review the law. Hopefully this isn’t just a panel to make the issue go away. It does sound like a fairly comprehensive review, however. The panel is expected to present its findings in early to mid-March, with a plan to try to implement any recommendations relatively quickly.

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  • The Canadian Automotive Guide To Weathering The Recession

    red-green-makes-apple-juice

    The Red Green Show officially went off the air in 2006, but the indelible legacy it left on DIY gearheads lives on and to this day, duct tape is second only to Bondo as the destitute crowd’s favorite repair tool. Among those most heavily influenced by Red Green’s jury rigging is a member of RideLust’s own staff (who shall remain nameless) that attempted a half-assed repair job of their own on an aging Volvo. Hilarity later ensued at the inspection station (followed immediately by a rejection sticker) and in honor of the laughs they elicited we’ve assembled an assortment of our favorite moments in Possum Lodge engineering.


  • Buenos Aires Forum Baf

    Hola bueno,este es mi 1er. thread,y se que habia ya uno abierto con este tema pero entre y no se puede dejar ni un comentario,ni nada..por lo cual abro este nuevo..

    He aqui la noticia que he encontrado hoy :

    Buenos Aires Sueña con el Rascacielos mas Alto del Mundo

    En el marco de la inauguración de la torre más alta del mundo en Dubai, en Buenos Aires el grupo Torcello, presidido por el arquitecto Julio Torcello, propuso construir el Buenos Aires Forum (BAF), un edificio que tendrá un 1 kilómetro de altura, superando a los Emiratos Árabes.

    El BAF será un Centro Internacional de Negocios y Comunicación sería construido como homenaje al Bicentenario, con seis plataformas de 55 hectáreas y una torre de 1000 m de altura en el Río de la Plata, que costaría 3330 millones de dólares y generaría 20.000 puestos de trabajo.

    Momento24 habló con el arquitecto Julio Torcello y adelantó que actualmente el proyecto está muy avanzado en materia financiera y también respecto del lugar donde se ubicaría definitivamente la torre. Según sus palabras “Todo está listo para el arranque”. Sin embargo, el arquitecto fue muy prudente con la información por “razones exclusivamente políticas”.

    Años atrás Torcello había dicho que esta propuesta tiene como objeto “colocar a la Argentina en el centro de las inversiones internacionales a partir de un cambio de paradigma en el pensamiento. Sería entonces la primera obra pública nacional con endeudamiento privado externo”, y para tal fin prevé la creación de la Agencia de Desarrollo Nacional (ADN).

    “La idea es vender la marca Buenos Aires, que simbolice lo que puede ofrecer, atraer inversiones a gran escala para crear una ciudad de negocios y producir una nueva ola inmigratoria que genere un gran mercado interno”, afirmó Torcello en una nota realizada por el diario La Nación en el 2006.

    BAf se ubicaría a cinco kilómetros río adentro (entre los canales de navegación Emilio Mitre y norte) y albergaría a 120 mil habitantes. Contaría además con un sistema de transporte multimodal subfluvial integrado en el punto de encuentro del Aeroparque y el puerto de cargas.

    Desde el punto de vista técnico La Nación publicó: “Centrada en una planta de 160 m de diámetro, la macroestructura de hormigón armado es un mástil central telescópico de sección circular (1000 m de alto, 60 m de diámetro), y para hacer posible la rigidez en las alturas, el sistema de fundaciones es del tipo tap-root, que continúa el núcleo principal dentro del suelo, afinándolo como un tarugo hasta llegar a la roca. Este mástil vertical de sección circular contiene una estructura de transición de hormigón armado cada 25 niveles, totalizando 8 bandejas circulares de donde cuelgan 25 entrepisos metálicos. El curtain wall de alta perfomance se identifica como una malla periférica estructural, cuyo aerodinámico diseño desintegra los vórtices del viento, obligando al edificio a centrarlo sobre su eje, eliminando toda oscilación en la punta”.

    Julio Torcello imaginó la torre como la “imagen geométrica del genoma humano”. Y según sus palabras: ”Primero fue un gran rulero de ADN en altura y luego se transformó en un cono para dar la idea de proyección infinita hacia el cosmos”.

    Fuente:http://momento24.com/2010/01/04/buen…nde-del-mundo/

    Sera esto una muestra de que el BAF no es solo un mito,como algunos dicen…

  • Paul Krugman Sings Song of Economic Gloom

    Princeton University economist and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman made his bones as a scholar of international trade issues.

    Unfortunately, what he has gleaned from the interactions of currencies and international capital flows makes him decidedly pessimistic about what lies ahead for the U.S. economy. Against a climate where most expect a recovery and where policy makers are laying the groundwork for an eventual unwind of the unprecedented stimulus of the last two years, Krugman reckons the odds are good that years of moribund activity lie ahead for the U.S.

    “I’m deeply worried about what comes from here,” Krugman said, speaking at the American Economic Association’s annual conference in Atlanta Monday. Recoveries caused by an unwinding of excessive financial sector borrowing are typically “slow and painful” but they also usually are joined by a currency devaluation that helps drive up exports.

    In this experience, the U.S. is also facing a deleveraging crisis. While the dollar has been under pressure, it has done so in an environment of weak global growth. As a result, Krugman said, the U.S. is unlikely to get the sort of export growth that traditionally is the engine of recovery. That’s true even with a currency under pressure, he said.

    Looking across financial history, Krugman said, “we don’t really have a lot of role models” for a positive outcome. One can look to Japan, which is not a heart-warming story, he said, adding “the only other role model is the Great Depression, which was ended by a very large fiscal stimulus project called World War II.”

    Krugman’s pessimism is further rooted in what he believes was an insufficient government reaction to the crisis. The economist said “radical” spending action beyond 2009’s $800 billion fiscal stimulus was needed. He said some of the banks saved by government capital injections should likely have been nationalized and forced to lend to businesses at higher levels.

    Krugman also said the Federal Reserve should have been even more aggressive with its asset purchases, especially since interest rate policy has largely become ineffective. The asset-buying effort is set to wind down in the first quarter of this year, and many in markets are worried about rising mortgage rates once there is an exit by the central bank, currently the largest buyer in this hard-hit sector. Krugman said the Fed should also be willing to tolerate a higher level of inflation.

    What’s more, Krugman said, a further drop in the dollar would be a good thing, and he even welcomed China selling the currency, all as a way to help rebalance and stimulate the economy.

    Krugman’s views count as particularly grim amid a community of economists who generally expect some sort of growth this year. While many of the most well-known economists attending the AEA meeting this year were gloomy — Harvard University’s Martin Feldstein worried about a drop back into recession — most forecasts see growth moving along at a modestly positive course over this year and next.

    Krugman’s warnings came on a day where a key report on factory activity in December expanded at its fastest pace in more than three years. Hiring data for the last month of the year comes on Friday, and many are expecting a further moderation in job losses, which is itself welcome relative to the huge job declines seen over most of last year.

    Time will tell if Krugman or the consensus view of forecasters prevails. But if the Princeton economist is right, 2010 will be a tough year, and the Fed will be forced to abandon the start of a normalization of policy that officials have been laying the ground work for over recent months. And that will be a tough thing for financial markets.


  • lap band surgery

    Anyone hear of anything with diabetics and lap band surgery?

  • Lenovo Combines Laptop With Tablet, Using Two Chips – Digits – WSJ

    By Don Clark

    Thinking about a tablet computer instead of a laptop? Lenovo is offering to sell you both at the same time.

    The China-based computer maker is using the Consumer Electronics Show this week to announce an unusual hybrid product called the IdeaPad U1 that covers the two categories. It can function as a conventional clamshell-style laptop, which runs Microsoft Windows, uses a microprocessor from Intel and weighs in at about 3.8 pounds.

    Lenovo
    Lenovo’s new IdeaPad U1 hybrid laptop

    Alternatively, a user can detach the 11.6-inch, 1.6-pound screen and use it like a tablet, Lenovo says. The display includes all the features of a computer, including a Linux-based operating system and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chip, which is not based on the x86 technology used in most PCs but a design licensed from ARM Holdings.

    via blogs.wsj.com

    Interesting take on the combo laptop-tablet. The HP TC1100 was a similar device, but it was more of a slate with a detachable keyboard than this laptop with detachable slate. I’m curious to see how this works in person.