Category: News

Reddit commenter icallthebigspoon posted an ad on Craig’s List trying to swap his camera for a usable AT&T phone. I sincerely doubt that he expected this offer, but he’d be one cruel man if he didn’t take it.

Click on the image for a bigger version.

According to icallthebigspoon, he posted this simple, unremarkable Craig’s List ad:

I have a pink Casio Elixim 7.2 Megapixel digital camera that needs a new battery and maybe a new charger as well. I am selling it for $30 OR I am willing to trade it for a useable cell phone that works on the ATT network. Email me if interested.

and received this response:

Hello,
I am very interested in trading with you. I have a barely used att i-phone that my ex-wife gave me. I don’t like to use it because it reminds me of her ugly face. I also have a camera just like yours except that the screen is cracked (I have the battery and charger). I need a camera bad because I have a new girlfriend and she is hot and is willing to let me take pictures of her!!!!! Lets make a deal straight up?

There’s no word on whether he made the trade yet, but how could he not when it would make the other man’s life oh-so-much more fun? [Reddit]

What child has not sat starry-eyed around the fire, dreaming of the goodies to come on January 1—Public Domain Day? The thought of new books and movies and music coming out from copyright is enough to send sugarplums dancing through heads, unless you live in the US in 2010. In which case, you have nothing to celebrate, since nothing is entering the public domain this year.

Thanks to various copyright terms extensions over the last four decades, the US is living in the midst of a public domain “donut hole” under which no important works will come out of copyright protection. Before the 1976 Copyright Act reforms, copyright in the US lasted for 28 years, with another 28 if an extension was applied for. Under the old regime, works from 1953 would have entered the public domain this week, works like C.S. Lewis’ The Silver Chair and Saul Bellow’s The Adventures of Augie March.

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

Article

Say Cheese! Who knew the high-dysfunctional fomer First Family of Reality TV were besties with The Kardashian Klan? The Kardashians celebrated the holidays with Sharon and Kelly Osbourne at the Kardashian’s surburban L.A. home on Christmas Eve.

Kim and her mom Kris, stars of E!’s Keeping Up With The Kardashians, posed for a mother-daughter photo with Kelly and Sharon — who appeared on a family reality hit of their own with MTV’s The Osbournes –during last month’s festives.

“I had the best Christmas Eve this year! The whole family gathered at my mom’s house, which she had beautifully decorated, as she does every year,” Kim blogged Monday. “It was so great to have everyone together… all of us sisters, Rob, baby Mason, Brody, Burt and Brandon, Lamar… just perfect! We had so much fun messing around together and catching up!”

Fourteen-Week Weight Loss Challenge Begins Today

Seattle Sutton’s Healthy Eating (SSHE), the premier meal replacement company in the country, kicks off today its weight loss contest called Seattle Sutton’s 2010 Slim Down.

Seattle Sutton’s 2010 Slim Down contest is the first of its kind for the nearly 25-year old company that provides freshly prepared, portion-controlled meals to thousands of people from coast-to-coast each week.

The contest is a 14-week weight loss challenge beginning today through April 12, 2010 and will provide 10 lucky contestants with the 1,200-calorie SSHE meal plan.

Meals included in the contest are every breakfast, lunch and dinner for the contestants, a total of 294 meals in all, for the entire 98 days of the contest.

ACL Labs will measure contestants’ glucose (blood sugar), cholesterol and triglycerides at the beginning of the contest and at the conclusion to measure their improvement of health. Blood pressure will also be recorded at the beginning and end of the contest.

Contestants will be monitored weekly and weigh-in each week at their distributor locations when they pick up their SSHE meals.

The contestant who loses the most weight based on percentage of body weight loss will win the challenge. The two contestants who lose the second and third most weight based on percentage of body weight lost will also win prizes.

The 10 Seattle Sutton’s 2010 Slim Down finalists competing for improved health and great prizes are:

• Andrea L., 46 years old from Flossmoor, Ill.
• Denise A., 50 years old from Hazlecrest, Ill.
• Donna N., 64 years old from Bloomingdale, Ill.
• Heidi W., 23 years old from Chicago, Ill.
• Linda R., 50 years old from Palatine, Ill.
• Martha I., 61 years old from Chicago, Ill.
• Michael K., 41 years old from Spring Grove, Ill.
• Paul Q., 40 years old from Westmont, Ill.
• Phil P., 39 years old from Chicago, Ill.
• Tim G., 51 years old from Aurora, Ill.

The 10 finalists were chosen from thousands of entries accepted from October 5, 2009 through October 26, 2009 from web and mail entries. To learn more about the contest visit seattlesutton.com and read the official rules.

Or, follow along with the contestants, go to chicagonow.com/seattlesutton for up-to-date progress.

Prizes for the Seattle Sutton’s 2010 Slim Down contest for those who lose the most weight based on percentage of body weight lost are:

• Grand prize is a trip to Orlando for 4 days/3 nights to Universal Orlando Resort. The grand prize is for 4 people and includes roundtrip coach class airfare, ground transfers, hotel accommodations at the Hard Rock Hotel at Universal Orlando Resort and passes to Universal Studios Florida.
• First place prize is $1,000 cash.
• Second place prize is 5 weeks of SSHE 1200-calorie meal plan.

Seattle Sutton, founder and president of Seattle Sutton’s Healthy Eating said, “I’m overjoyed at the possibility of helping these 10 people change their lives for good. Healthy eating is essential in overall good health. Good health is the most important asset one has in life, without it, nothing else matters…your car, home or material possessions mean nothing without good health.”

“Taking on a weight loss challenge like this is very courageous, since habits can be difficult to break. But habits are breakable and health can be re-gained through healthy eating. I’ve seen it time and again through helping people with our freshly prepared meals and as a registered nurse,” Sutton said.

Sutton continued, “I’ll be rooting each and every one of our 10 finalists on. I want each of them to succeed and live a healthier life for them and their families.”

Seattle Sutton’s 2010 Slim Down contest is sponsored by SSHE in cooperation with the Tribune Media Group, and ACL Laboratories.

About Seattle Sutton’s Healthy Eating

Seattle Sutton’s Healthy Eating (SSHE), a family-owned, Illinois-based healthy meal replacement company offers a no-gimmick approach to convenient, healthy eating nationwide.

The meal program is scientifically designed and taste-tested. Founded by Seattle Sutton, RN, BSN, in 1985, SSHE helps to address patients’ desire to lose weight and improve overall health.

Seattle Sutton’s dedication to health continues today, since all SSHE menus are analyzed on an ongoing basis and adhere to recommended dietary guidelines.

SSHE prepares thousands of fresh meals weekly and its innovative approach has helped thousands of people achieve and maintain weight loss without planning, shopping or cooking for themselves.

For more information, seattlesutton.com or 1-800-442-DIET (3438).

For business-related inquiries, 1-888-442-DIET (3438).

Northbrook, Illinois firm purchases The Arbors of Brookdale in Naperville

Prime Property Investors, Ltd. Co-CEOs, Barbara J. Gaffen and Michael H. Zaransky announced the purchase of The Arbors of Brookdale in Naperville, Illinois, a 281 Unit, full amenity luxury Class A Garden Style Apartment Complex.

The fully stabilized property was 96% occupied at closing.

Gaffen stated, “This acquisition provides a significant opportunity to purchase a rarely available highly stable quality asset, in an excellent community, at a price level significantly below replacement cost.”

Zaransky added, “Emerging demographic trends coupled with unique market conditions have created a significant opportunity for increased cash flow and future appreciation in values for Class A suburban garden style apartment complexes.

The Chicago suburban MSA, and Naperville in particular, provides considerable upside due to a lack of new construction, significant barriers to entry, and projected growth in renter demand.”

Arbors of Brookdale is a thirty five building, plus club house and garages, complex, with a combined 281 separate private entrance apartment units. The total building square footage is approximately 317,705 square feet and the site lot size is 26 acres.

The property grounds are set in a unique arboretum of trees and fountain ponds and include 359 recently fully repaved surface parking spaces and 138 enclosed private parking garages with remote controlled overhead doors.

All apartment units feature highly desirable separate private entry doors, two exposure views, and triple pane double hung windows.

The 5,100 square foot Club House includes the on site management and leasing office, great room with fireplace and bar area, a business center, and a newly renovated and equipped full service fitness center and locker rooms with sauna.

The common areas are free Wi-Fi access equipped. Community amenities include an outdoor pool and large sundeck, heated indoor pool and hot tub, 2 tennis courts, a sand volleyball court, and two outdoor gazebos.

With a population of over 145,000, Naperville is located 25 miles west of downtown Chicago in DuPage County, Illinois. During the past two decades, DuPage County has been widely recognized as the fastest growing county in the Midwest.

The DuPage County estimated population of 931,533 represents a 19% increase over 1990 figures. Growth in DuPage County is projected to remain strong for the foreseeable future.

In three of the last four years, Naperville was ranked in the top three by Money Magazine’s Best Places to Live in America edition.

Prime Property Investors, Ltd., based in Northbrook, Illinois, is a leading multi-family property investment firm with a specialized niche in Garden Style Conventional Suburban Apartment Complexes and Student Housing properties.

The nationwide Student Housing portfolio properties are branded as Prime Campus Housing and the Garden Style Conventional Apartment Complexes are branded as Prime Residential Communities.

Due to Prime’s tremendous growth, the company was recognized by Inc. Magazine for placement on the Inc. 500 list of the fastest growing private companies in America.

Additionally, Prime was ranked one of the 50 best companies in the nation to work for in the residential property industry in an independent survey by Professional Builder Magazine.

Filed under: Aftermarket, Hybrid, Hatchback, Honda, Toyota, Design/Style

Hybrids aren’t exactly known for being the sportiest vehicles on the road, but that doesn’t mean their owners don’t want to look as good as possible behind the wheel. As such, perhaps it shouldn’t be too surprising that Japanese tuning companies are jumping on the gas-electric bandwagon almost as quickly as the automakers themselves.

Chief among those hybrid tuners is Tommy Kaira, which has released a slew of new bodykit bits, suspension upgrades and wheel options for both the 2010 Toyota Prius (which we saw teasers of previously) and Honda Insight. We’ll leave it up to you to decide if the add-ons add up to an improvement in the wedge-shaped hybrid hatchbacks. In any case, click here to see the whole kit and caboodle for the Prius and here for the Insight.

[Source: Tommy Kaira]

Mean Green: Tommy Kaira slams Toyota Prius and Honda Insight originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 19:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

I’ve been watching home shows today and saw the same thing over and over. A realtor would come in and be horrified by all the individuality showing through and they’d make the house nice and plain. Then, in the next show, decorators would come in and say the house was bland and not individual enough. They’d add tons of color and pattern. So, what do you do if you don’t plan to stay in a home long term?

• Paint a big canvas with bold colors and hang it on a wall.
• Screw a piece of drywall onto a 2×4 frame that you attached to a wall with a few screws to keep it secure. Paint your fake wall as vibrantly as you want. When you move, it is just a matter of unscrewing the false wall and the frame and patching and touching up the screw holes.
• Hang fabric. There are some beautiful textiles in the home decor section. You can tack fabric across an entire wall to really add a ton of texture and color. Just be sure you take it down a few times a year to clean it or you will get insane allergies!

How have you added color to your walls without painting the whole room?

Photo: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

Adding Color When You Don’t Plan to Stay in a Home

First read this.

Scratch(ed) and Dent(ed) RMBS – Posted by Tracy Alloway – Here’s something that might have escaped your radar during Christmas week — a mass downgrade of so-called `Scratch and Dent’ RMBS deals by ratings agency Fitch – FT Alphaville

Here are additional thoughts from MNC reader, Nom De Plumber …

Implications, especially for whole-loan portfolios:

1.  Seasoned cohorts have been converging with newer cohorts, as negative equity and strategic borrower behavior trump all.  

2.  Seasoned mortgages are really just failed extensions/modifications.

3.  Cure rates for even seasoned mortgages will continue to decline – meaning that 30-day delinquencies are increasingly just inevitable defaults.

4.  Historical roll-rate default modeling is an insufficient credit predictor, as economic policies create incentives for borrowers to game for cheap or free home usage.

5.  Scratch-and-dent loans should be priced heuristically per observable severities, not econometric projections of eventual re-performance or refinancing/sale prepayments.

Nom De Plumber is a Nom De Plume.

Quick Spin: Mr. Norm’s Super Cuda is retro to the extreme

Most Challenger tuners slap on a supercharger, a few exterior elements and call it a day. Mr. Norm’s Super Cuda stands apart, from its retrolicious makeover to its 600+ hp blown V8.

Mopar introduces Performance Appearance Package for Dodge Challenger

The Challenger’s design is not but simple. So Dodge has released a new Appearance Package to make the muscle-bound coupe stand out from the crowd.

Video: Top Gear takes on the Lexus LFA

In Top Gear’s best review of the season, Richard Hammond takes the Lexus LFA to the track to see if Toyota’s first foray into supercardom lives up to the hype… and it’s lofty price tag.

Also of interest:

• Ford completes transfer of retiree healthcare to VEBA, makes extra $500M payment
• 2011 BMW 1 Series to get DCT
• 2011 Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupe coming with turbo power, possible hybrid
• BMW releases free M Power app for the iPhone
• U.S. Volvo dealers interested in selling Geely models?
• Porsche planning two new engines for Boxster?

Browse our archive of Daily U-Turn posts or subscribe to the RSS feed

Daily U-Turn: What you missed on 1.4.10 originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 19:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

This was one of the first traditional Italian meals my not-so-traditional Italian husband cooked for me back in our courtin’ days, and it remains one of my favorites. If you’ve been hankering after the heaps of local escarole at the market this time of year, this recipe is a great way to put them to use. Best part: This satisfying one-dish meal can be made in about 45 minutes.

Read Full Post

Loose fabrics that highlight a comfortable collection is evident in Kolor’s Spring/Summer 2010 range. Pieces such as trousers, blazers, light jackets, button downs, and sweaters are very relaxed and all drape the male form in a soft way. There’s a lot of crumpling and oversized items in the collection, but are well put together to maximize the look and feeling of comfort. The color range is also appropriate for the collection with light blues, yellows, dark greys, black, olive greens, and tans. There’s an earth tone to the range that is quite unique.

Continue reading for more images.

Source: Selectism

If there was any hope that launching on Verizon could be a major boon for Palm’s unit sales, Boy Genius Report has stepped in to throw some ice cold water on it. According to their contacts inside Verizon, both phones are now appearing in Big Red’s inventory systems, and Verizon has apparently only order 200,000 each of the Pre and the Pixi (so 400,000 total). Previously we heard that Palm had cut their Pixi orders for the quarter by 200,000, leaving them with 600,000 units, though we were not certain how they would be distributed amongst carriers.

For what its worth, Palm managed to sell just 573,000 units to end consumers last quarter, so while 400,000 more would be a significant increase, it also doesn’t speak well of Verizon’s expectations for the webOS phones – assuming the report is accurate. Unless Palm is having trouble producing enough devices, it does raise fears that there may not be a large push from Verizon behind the Pre or Pixi. Verizon’s marketing muscle was put big time behind the Motorola Droid and the phone is thought to have sold over one million units in a matter of a couple months [corrected]. With only 400,000 rumored to be available between two models we wouldn’t expect Droid-level results.

Could you disconnect, even if you wanted to? – Nick Gogerty – Here is an interesting map from William Easterly’s site AidWatch. It shows the distance from major cities as a function of geography and time.  Most of us are a few hours away from each other.
A few things to consider when looking at a network diagram like this:

People and things spread fast
Ideas spread faster
Feedback loops amplify and intensify certain things
Individuals can’t really opt out of this process easily   Designing Better Futures
————

A Ponzi scheme that works –  The greatest strength of America is that people want to live there – The Economist
————

Deflation – Larry Doyle – Although the American consumer is much more accustomed to inflation and the threat of inflation, I am increasingly convinced that the threat of deflation remains the greater challenge. This battle between macroeconomic deflationary forces versus governmental supported inflationary programs is THE ultimate issue facing our economy in 2010 and beyond – has logic – Sense on Cents
————

Stimulating By Saving – John Tamny – Consumers aren’t spending as much this holiday season, and that’s a good thing. – … Most economists place consumption at the center of all economic activity, but it seems in doing so that they ignore what truly drives economic advances. Consumption is always going to occur–it is one reason we work–but we truly stimulate the economy when we save. … – Forbes

————

James Grant: Let the Good Times Roll – Why James Grant Thinks the Economic Recovery Might Be More Robust Than Widely Expected – New York Magazine

————

Bubble-onomics: 10 Predictions for 2010 – Andrew Butter -` 1: S&P 500  2: Oil   3: Gold   4: U.S. House Prices   5: U.K. House Prices   6: U.S. 10-Year and 30-Year Treasury Yields.   7: U.S. Commercial Property   8: Hong Kong Housing   9: Dubai Freehold   10: Shanghai Stock Market – Seeking Alpha
————

FACTBOX: 10 big U.S. financial scandals of 2009 – The year of the Ponzi scheme will be followed by heightened regulation and more aggressive prosecutions, experts say. As 2010 approaches, regulators and prosecutors are scrambling to uncover and pursue more fraudsters, while lawmakers seek to close regulatory gaps and give officials more resources. – Reuters
————

The economic statistic of the decade – Felix Salmon – Mike Mandel has four nominees for his “Economic Statistic of the Decade” award, including home prices (obvs), Chinese growth, and global trade. But the most startling one, for me, is US household borrowing … – Reuters Blogs

New Mexico regulators have given the state’s largest utility another three weeks to turn in a filing that spells out how it will incorporate renewable energy into its portfolio. Public Service Company of New Mexico was supposed to file its plan …

Filed under: Apple, Apple History

As we mentioned a few days ago, CNBC will air Welcome to Macintosh tonight at 9:30Pm Eastern/6:30 Pacific time. Welcome to Macintosh is an indie documentary that provides an intimate look at Apple’s history. It’s been shown at different times and places over the past year, and you can also buy it from iTunes [link], but now you can watch the documentary for free.

Then tomorrow night, Tuesday January 5 at 10PM, CNBC will be airing another Mac documentary, MacHEADS, a film that explores the fanaticism and loyalty of Apple users.

Finally, don’t forget to set your DVRs for CNBC’s third Mac feature, Planet of the Apps, airing on January 7th at 10PM ET/PT, the only CNBC original of the three where they take a look into the “app-economy.”

Is it just me, or does January 2010 seem to be Apple’s month?

TUAWReminder: Welcome to Macintosh airs tonight on CNBC, more docs to follow originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

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

Read Original Article

While 2009 continued a downward trend as one of the worst recessions in U.S. history, the decline for venture-backed mergers and acquisitions has not been as severe as the dot-com bust in 2001 and 2002.

New figures from the National Venture Capital Association show that in the last quarter of 2009, M&A hit $7.8 billion, up from the previous year’s mark of just over $2 billion. Overall, 2009’s total of $12.6 billion could not equal 2008’s $13.6 billion total.

Sponsor

Mergers and acquisitions totaled over $68 billion in 2000, only to fall below $8 billion by 2002 following the bursting of the dot-com bubble. In contrast, 2007’s M&A total of $29 billion has declined to just over $12 billion in 2009 – a much more smooth rate of decay which has begun to flatten out.

Mark Heesen, president of the NVCA, says they expect to see continued improvement throughout 2010. “Clearly, we have a long way to go towards a full recovery but we are encouraged by the increasing acquisition values and the number of companies that have filed a registration with the SEC to go public,” he says.

A late boost in the fourth quarter of 2009 has helped startups from reliving the experiences from earlier in the decade, the largest of which came from Amazon’s July purchase of Internet shoe seller Zappos for $930 million. This acquisition helped internet specific purchases climb to $2.2 billion in Q4 2009 – a near seven-fold increase from 2008’s final quarter.

Discuss

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

Read Original Article

Intranets are becoming a higher priority for organizations. Intranet teams are growing in size, and the best of them are embracing new trends such as mobile accessibility and social networking.

These are some of the findings from Jakob Nielsen’s annual report on the top intranets for 2010. Companies that made the list this year include General Electric, Trend Micro Devices and Walmart.

Nielsen is recognized as one of the world’s foremost usability experts. His findings appear solid, though it is apparent that Intranet development is just on the verge of becoming a central communication environment for enterprise collaboration.

Sponsor

This year, Nielsen says, top companies on the list had a median size of about 6,300 employees, which continues a year-to-year trend toward smaller businesses. He attributes it to the increase in availability of small-company-friendly intranet technology.

In addition, intranet teams are growing, up to 14 people, 27% higher than the average team size in 2006. This is not a big surprise. The need to develop the best possible internal communications environments now cuts across multiple platforms, ranging from the web to mobile devices. More resources are required to keep these platforms synced and accessible to the employees in the organization.

Mobile Intranet Sites

The best intranets had a separate mobile site for its employees. Of the companies polled, only 30% actually had a dedicated mobile site. Expect this to change in the year ahead. People are still getting to know how to use smart phones. It’s still rare for companies to launch application environments for users, but at least one company did: an iPhone web app. Soon, though, users will expect to have access “anytime, anywhere,” to their organization’s network.

Social Features

The social Web is finding its way into intranets. Nielsen cites two trends:

• social features for employees as individuals
• workgroup support and other features that encourage work-related connections

He cites Walmart for its discussion and profile pages and Trend Micro’s TrendSpace, which includes the capability for employees to create their own content. Trend Micro goes as far as offering an elaborate system of reward points that accrue to employees when they contribute to the intranet’s community features.

It’s noteworthy that social features are still just emerging in intranet environments, especially with the advent of enterprise collaboration services. Companies still have the chance to be recognized as innovators in this space, especially if they implement real-time update capabilities and mashup environments.

Intranet Design is Maturing

Overall, Nielsen comes to the conclusion that intranet design is maturing. In many respects, the Intranet has come of age.

In the year ahead, intranets will change even more. Mobile usability and social networking features will continue to evolve, especially as teams begin to experiment with the wide variety of enterprise collaboration services now available.

Discuss

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

Read Original Article