Category: News

The Discover Small Business Watch index is the most up-to-date poll on conditions in the sector which has accounted for the vast majority of employment growth in all the economic recoveries of the past thirty-five years. The DSBW Index collapsed in November, to 76.5 from 88 in October. December remains unchanged. But fewer small business owners expect the economy to improve.

December Highlights:

The number of small business owners who think the economy is getting worse was down to 49 percent from 53 percent in November; while 24 percent of small business owners see the economy staying the same, up from 16 percent in November; 25 percent see the economy getting better, down from 28 percent in November; and 2 percent are not sure.

Read the rest at Inner Workings –>

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See Also:

• Small Business Bankruptcies Shoot Up 81% In California
• The Small Business Carnage That Shows The Real Reason Jobs Aren’t Being Created In America
• Small Business Optimism Swoons

I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about actual asteroid impacts — I think about them, but the odds of a big impact are too low to panic about. We should be concerned, and absolutely we should take steps in case we find The Big One headed our way. But I sometimes wonder if I should worry more about our reactions to potential impacts. Or, more specifically, Russia’s reaction.

Apophis is an asteroid, a chunk of rock over 200 meters across orbiting the Sun. The problem is, the orbit of Apophis crosses that of the Earth. If the two are in the same place at the same time, well, bang! It’s big enough to blow up with the force of several of hundred megaton bombs. That’s not enough to wipe out life on Earth, but it’s certainly enough to do a whole lot of damage, and if it happens over a city… well.

In April 2029 Apophis will pass within a few thousand kilometers of the Earth’s surface. It won’t hit, but Earth’s gravity will change the orbit of the asteroid. If the asteroid passes us at just the right distance — in a region of space a few hundred meters across called the keyhole — it’ll swing back in seven years and hit us.

We don’t know the exact orbit of Apophis well enough to know for sure how close it’ll pass in 2029; we can only assign probabilities. The odds of it hitting the keyhole are pretty low, though: about one in 250,000 (downgraded from 1:45,000 recently as better orbital determinations were made).

Enter the Russian space agency. Anatoly Perminov, the head of the agency, was recently quoted in an AP news article that he wants to consider putting together a mission to move it out of the way, making sure it doesn’t hit. I’m all for that! What worries me is this quotation:

Without mentioning NASA findings [of downgraded odds of an impact], Perminov said that he heard from a scientist that Apophis is getting closer and may hit the planet. “I don’t remember exactly, but it seems to me it could hit the Earth by 2032,” Perminov said.

Now, I know he’s not an astronomer, but he does run a national space agency. I’d feel a whole lot better about his organizing a meeting to deflect this rock if a) he had the date right (it cannot hit before 2036, and the odds then are very low), and 2) he could actually, y’know, name his source.

Yikes.

Now, maybe he was misquoted by the AP. Or maybe it was out of context. And again, I don’t expect the head of the space agency to be on top of every detail; it could simply be an honest mistake with the date. But I am not particularly happy when someone in that position bases a decision at least partly because he heard it from some guy he knows but can’t remember who or when.

Did I say yikes before? Yeah.

I do think governments should take this seriously. I also know that as of right now, NASA is not taking this seriously enough. Perhaps if Russia gets this ball rolling, and other countries (like India, China, and Japan) join in, then NASA will be forced to take a better look at this situation. I know I was being a little snarky above (this is a blog, after all), but in the end some good may come of this. We just don’t know enough about asteroids and how to push them out of the way. We need to set up and fly missions to a few near-Earth asteroids to understand them better and add to our knowledge of their composition, structure, and behavior.

Theory is all well and good, but nothing beats some good practical experience. And while I dread the day when an announcement of a statistically significant likelihood of impact for a rock is announced, I’d be a whole lot happier and more comfortable if we had a dozen missions to asteroids already under our belt when that happens. Even if they got their start with this sketchy quote from the head of the Russian space agency.

Read more about this on Discover Magazine’s 80 Beats blog.

Definir con tres palabras tan dispares a este experimento aerodinámico, quizás sea un poco arriesgado. Pero transmite cada una de las sensaciones que sentí al ver el video por primera vez. De la sorpresa de fabricar una “trasera aerodinámica” para un GEO Metro canadiense, a lo ridículo de su fabricación tan improvisada, llegando a la sorpresa de que este experimento hecho con cartón saca resultados comprobables.

La idea era reducir el consumo de combustible del poco gastón Geo Metro, uno de los coches predilectos de quienes practican el Hypermilling, consumir la menor cantidad de carburante posible empleando diversos métodos de conducción.

Y parece que tan singular aditamento dió resultado. Extendiendo la trasera del coche en casi dos metros, el dueño de este Metro (Pontiac Firefly) logró aumentar la eficiencia del consumo de combustible en un 15% a 90 km/h.

Vía | Eccomoder

Just when China seems unbeatable in terms of technology and growth, something like this happens.

A passenger set off an alarm while smoking a cigarette, and the world’s fastest train stopped abruptly.

Authorities spent the next two-and-a-half hours searching the train for the rule-breaker — and were unable to find him.

How long does that three hour trip from Wuhan to Guanzhou take now?

Reuters: Managers of the bullet train, which debuted on Saturday, were unable to catch the smoker who fled the scene before the alarm sounded, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday.

“Smoking is strictly forbidden on the Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed train, even in the toilet,” a spokesman with the Guangzhou Railway Group Corporation was quoted as saying. “It could trigger the alarm and even cause equipment failures.”

Read the rest at Reuters –>

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• China Launches World’s Fastest Train That Blows Away Anything We’ll Ever See Here
• Amtrak Restores Power To Trains But There Are Still Huge Delays And Some Trains Still Halted
• Terrorism Possible In Russian Train Derailment That Killed Dozens

Filed under: Government/Legal

When the U.S. government conducted bank stress tests earlier in the year, one of the financial institutes that didn’t pass the mid-term exam was GMAC. At the time, the government told GMAC that it would need another $5.6 billion to weather another economic calamity, but the Detroit Free Press reports that the final number will be actually be $3 billion (The Wall Street Journal is reporting $3.5 billion). The money will reportedly come courtesy the $700 billion TARP fund that kept Chrysler, General Motors and many banks afloat during the worst days of the recession. GMAC has already received $12.5 billion from the federal government.

GMAC, which is now 35-percent owned by the federal government, now controls financing for both GM and Chrysler. GMAC spokesperson Gina Proia declined to discuss any cash infusion due to the fact that the government hasn’t officially announced anything, but she did add that the financing company “has been conducting a strategic review of its business and evaluating options to address the challenges in its mortgage operation.” An official announcement is expected later today or sometime Thursday.

[Sources: Detroit Free Press; The Wall Street Journal]

Reports: GMAC close to getting $3B+ cash injection from U.S. government originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 30 Dec 2009 13:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The US e-reader market is about to get one more player when Dulin’s Books brings its Boox 60 reader to the States in the middle of January. But even though it packs a lot of tech into its shell like W-Fi, Wacom technology, and a Webkit browser, chances are it won’t ever make it mainstream thanks to the Kindle, Nook, and Reader.

Even still, the Boox 60 demands respect with an impressive spec list: microSDHC slot, Wi-Fi, 512MB of memory, 1,600mAh battery, MP3 playback, 6-inch touchscreen, text-to-speech and a dozen different support file formats. Nice, eh? You can get all this for only $349 — or $90 more than the Kindle or Nook.

ulin’s Books Announces Launch of Boox 60 ereader in the U.S.

A Wacom enabled touch tablet Boox 60 allows for note taking and more with included stylus. WiFI and Webkit browser optimized for the E-ink Vizplex display enables surfing your favorite news, blogs and wiki sites as well as content download.

Portland, OR (PRWEB) December 29, 2009 — Dulin’s Books, an independent ereader retailer from the Pacific Northwest, announces the newest addition to its lineup of innovative digital readers, the Boox 60 by Onyx International.

The Boox 60 ($349) is available now for ordering and deliveries will begin in 2 weeks. International shipping is available.

The Boox 60 is the first effort from new ereader company Onyx International. First exhibited at Cebit 2009, Boox boasts a 6” inch VizplexTM e-ink display, 532MHz processor, up to 16 shades of gray, 512mb of memory expandable with SD/SDHC cards up to 32GB. The replaceable 1600mAh battery allows for 8000+ page turns.

Support for a wide variety of formats including EPUB and PDF, MOBI, HTML, TXT, PDB and CHM for reading. Image formats JPG, BMP, PNG, GIF and TIFF. MP3 for listening to music or audio books and Text To Speech capability. DRM EPUB and PDF support is via Adobe Digital Editions.

Advanced PDF support includes zoom and reflow. Using the included stylus, you can select specific sections or images within the PDF to zoom. Boox supports Table of Contents and internal Hyperlinks.

Wacom touch technology embeds the touch layer below the e-ink screen so readability is not affected. The included stylus allows you to sketch and make notes, select and highlight text, select areas for zooming and much more.

WiFi and a Webkit browser optimized for the e-ink screen allow you to surf the web, read the latest news and blogs and download content. To increase battery life the WiFi can be easily disabled.

Boox 60 comes with white leather cover, USB 2.0 cable, Wall charger, and a quick start guide

For more information or to order the Boox 60 visit www.dulinsbooks.com.

Dulinsbooks.com was formed in 2009 with the idea of showcasing well-designed, innovative ereaders that are easy to use and aren’t locked to one book seller. In 2010 dulinsbooks.com will expand by adding eBook content and new devices. http://www.dulinsbooks.com/

Onyx International is a group of dedicated designers and engineers whose goal is to bring exceptional reading experience to the consumers, to enable new business models for the publishers, and to revolutionize the publishing industry, by creating state-of-the-art e-readers and distribution platform with the newest display and communication technologies. Visit Onyx at CES Booth 12402. http://www.onyx-international.com/

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By most measures, 2009 has been an outstanding year for Apple. Quarter after quarter, the company posted strong earnings and sales regardless of the econalypse, which has knocked the stuffing out of so many of its peers. Apple is poised to do so once again for the three-month period ending December, says Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu.

With its core businesses all performing well, Apple (AAPL) will likely blow the doors off Wall Street’s already heightened expectations. “Despite continued difficult macroeconomic conditions and ever rising investor expectations, we anticipate Apple could still post material upside to recently raised consensus estimates, not to mention its conservative guidance, driven by strength in all three major product lines, particularly its iPhone business,” Wu wrote in a research note distributed today.

Given the strong momentum in Apple’s Mac product line, Wu expects the company to ship 2.9 million Macs, a bit more than the consensus of 2.85 million.

Wu also expects iPhone shipments to hit a new record: “We believe Apple could ship 9.5 million iPhones (consensus at 8.8 million), a new quarterly record, beating its previous record of 7.4 million iPhones set last quarter….Our sources indicate continued strong momentum in the U.S., a more material contribution from Asia-Pacific (China and Korea); and a stronger-than-expected uptake in Europe due to multiple carriers and more attractive prepaid service plans.”

That estimate, 9.5 million iPhones, is quite a number and one that, as Wu notes, would put Apple impressively close to Research in Motion (RIMM), which shipped 10.1 million BlackBerrys in its last quarter.

For the December quarter, Wu expects Apple to earn $2.15 per share on sales of $12.4 billion, significantly more than consensus estimates of $2.04 per share on sales of $11.9 billion and a far cry from Apple’s typically conservative guidance of $1.70-$1.78 per share on sales of $11.3 billion to $11.6 billion.

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By Marisa Taylor, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

Despite the buzz surrounding electronic readers as the go-to holiday present on everybody’s list, the iPod Touch was a dark horse gift item that evidently made it into a whole lot of Christmas stockings.

The number of apps downloaded for the iPod Touch surpassed those downloaded for the iPhone for the first time on Christmas, by a whopping 172 percent, according to the mobile applications analytics firm Flurry.

While app downloads for the iPod Touch usually lag behind those for the iPhone, according to Flurry’s metrics, iPod Touch 3G downloads increased by more than 900 percent on Christmas day in comparison with the average numbers of downloads on all the other Fridays in December. The following day, iPod Touch downloads still exceeded those for the iPhone by 104 percent.

“It appears that an influx of new iPod Touch devices has flooded the market over Christmas, and that users of the handset, primarily pre-teen and teen audiences, are voracious downloaders,” wrote Peter Farago, Flurry’s vice president of marketing.

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Casey Mulligan, writing for the New York Times’ Economix blog, pushes a theory that’s gathering momentum: We can juice employment if we lower the minimum wage.

Some would say that high real wages are part of the problem — that
employers would be hiring more if labor were cheaper. If that’s right,
public policy so far in this recession seems to have gone in exactly
the wrong direction by raising the minimum wage and otherwise increasing employment costs.

The Wonk Room’s
objection is simple: The current minimum wage already supports a nearly
unliveable salary of only $16,000. Paul Krugman’s objection traces the
impact of broadly lower wages: Lower wages means a lower overall price
level, which juices demand but also raises the real value of debt. Tyler Cowen pushes back.

I’m of two minds here. On the one hand, we want to make it as easy and
desirable as possible for employers to hire, and a minimum wage is a
marginal barrier to cheap hires. There are certainly some
people collecting unemployment benefits from the government that would,
with a lower minimum wage, get scooped up in the private sector. At the
same time, my sense is that a lower minimum wage might not contribute
meaningfully to employment or aggregate demand. When I imagine myself
as an struggling employer with a X dollars in compensation that I split
between Y workers, some of which are paid at the minimum wage, a lower
MW might encourage me to reduce X, the compensation pool, rather than
Y, the number of workers. After all, times is tough, and I’m still not convinced that aggregate demand will support a sustainable recovery. The opportunity to reduce the compensation pool would essentially be a short- and
long-term transfer of wealth from employees to employers, which would
hurt aggregate demand.

In short, I think the effects of reducing the minimum wage would be mixed, and I prefer other job-spurring ideas.

We were very late with our 2009 donation to CARE.ORG. I just got it done.

We donate to CARE, and very little to anywhere else, for four main reasons:

by Agence France-Presse

PARIS—French President Nicolas Sarkozy faced an embarrassing setback Wednesday after the high court struck down a planned carbon tax to fight global warming, just days before it was to kick in.

The constitutional 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.

Sarkozy had fiercely defended the measure in the face of strong public opposition, calling it a “revolutionary” approach in the fight against climate change and making it a pillar of his 2010 budget.

The court ruling was seen as a severe blow for the French president, coming less than two weeks after world leaders failed to reach a binding deal on climate change at the Copenhagen summit.

The right-wing government was forced to quickly go back to the drawing board and Prime Minister Francois Fillon announced that a new bill on the carbon tax would be submitted to cabinet next month.

“France has shown that it is a leader in the fight against climate change and it will remain at the forefront by presenting new legislation on Jan. 20,” said government spokesman Luc Chatel.

In its ruling Tuesday, the Constitutional Council said the “large number of exemptions from the carbon tax runs counter to the goal of fighting climate change and violates the equality enjoyed by all in terms of public charges.”

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.

The new levy on oil, gas, and coal consumption set at 17 euros ($25) per ton of carbon dioxide emissions was aimed at encouraging French consumers to adopt good green behaviour and stop wasting energy.

The legislation did not apply to electricity, which in France is produced mostly from nuclear reactors that are not a major source of greenhouse gas emissions.

France would have been the biggest economy to have applied a direct carbon tax when it was to come into effect on Jan. 1, mirroring measures that exist in Sweden, Denmark, and Finland.

Socialist opposition leader Martine Aubry called the court decision a “major setback” for Sarkozy and said the government must now “draw the necessary consequences from this fiasco” before presenting a new bill.

The Socialists, who had asked the court to rule on the legality of the carbon tax, had argued that the flat levy on fuel unjustly penalized low-income families, especially those in rural areas who have no choice but to use cars.

The Greens, who had argued from the outset that the measure did not go far enough, applauded the court decision, saying it had confirmed that the entire scheme was a “fraud.”

Consumer groups had complained that the new tax would have hit rural households harder along with cash-strapped families who are unable to afford the energy-saving home renovations that could make a difference.

In practice, the tax would have raised household heating bills by up to 174 euros a year and pushed up the cost of petrol at the pump by about 4 euro cents per liter.

Polls showed two-thirds of French citizens opposed the carbon tax.

The government had anticipated revenues of 4.1 billion euros from the tax next year, but the funds were earmarked for redistribution in the form of tax breaks and “green checks” to families that cut down consumption.

“France poorly prepared the carbon tax,” acknowledged Jean Arthius, a centrist lawmaker and president of the Senate finance committee.

“Before the Copenhagen summit, we tried to be pioneers … but this is an issue that must be dealt on a supra-national level. We should have held talks with neighboring countries,” he said.

Related Links:

Electric car Think to be assembled in U.S. in 2011

Sarkozy wants French carbon tax to take effect in July

James Hansen vs. cap-and-trade

It’s a sad fact that congenital heart disease, the most common group of birth defects, affects 35,000 to 40,000 U.S. infants born annually. Currently, most congenital heart defects have no known cause.

But researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston and Brigham and Women’s Hospital hope to change that. They were recently awarded a large, 6-year grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to probe the genetic causes of congenital heart disease. The $4.19 million grant is part of the Pediatric Cardiac Genomics Consortium (PCGC), which seeks to identify genetic and epigenetic causes of human congenital heart disease and to ultimately find preventive strategies, targets for treatment, and better diagnostic and prognostic information for families.

Although a few genetic causes of congenital heart disease are already known, the researchers hope to zero in on novel, undiscovered genes. Because gene discovery research requires a high number of patient samples, a collaborative consortium such as the PCGC will aid research by allowing scientists to share patient samples, data and technology.

London Telegraph
Wednesday, Dec 30th, 2009

US security services received intelligence suggesting “a Nigerian” in Yemen was planning a terrorist attack weeks before a passenger jet was targeted on Christmas Day, it has been reported.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, is being held at a federal prison in Michigan on a charge of trying to destroy an aircraft.

He allegedly attempted to ignite explosive stored in his underpants as the flight from Amsterdam, carrying 280 passengers, made its final descent into Detroit on Friday.

US network ABC News reported that information had been received by US authorities suggesting an attack might be imminent.

Full article here

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AFP
Wednesday, Dec 30th, 2009

US officials are keeping mostly mum on what they have
gleaned from a Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a
Detroit-bound airplane despite criticism that they are leaving a
frightened public in the dark.

Experts said Tuesday that the paucity of public pronouncements will
help investigators track down his associates and build a stronger
criminal case.

“They don’t want to reveal all that they know and they
don’t want Al-Qaeda to know what it is that this guy is actually
saying and how much he’s cooperating,” said Stephen
Saltzburg, a former top prosecutor who teaches law at George Washington
University.

“They want Al-Qaeda to be guessing about what they don’t
know and they do know and — depending on what he’s saying
— there may be some retaliatory moves they might make that might
not be as effective if people knew they were in the offing.”

Full article here

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Today, many people experience from hair loss and there are quite a lot of reasons for hair loss. This term is also known as alopecia, which is caused by genetics. However, a number of other conditions are also responsible of hair loss, like medicines and environment.  Before beginning of any treatment, it is important to discover the reason of the hair loss, which is the primary step for discovering a triumphant hair loss remedy. After knowing the cause of your hail loss, there are countless remedies, which are medicinal, superficial and natural. Now a day’s, medical treatment of hair loss has developed enormously. A superficial remedy has also become a fashionable mode for people to fight against hair loss. However, cosmetic hair substitution is relatively luxurious and classy. A lot of people have initiated natural remedies for their hair loss. There are several types of natural hair loss remedies, which includes, exercise to boost flow of blood, the use of natural herbs and massaging the scalp. The principle behind natural hair loss remedies is that hair loss is a natural state and can easily be reduced by the use of natural remedies.

Henna is used for conditioning and maintaining strong hair. Henna is a traditional herb that is helpful to reduce the chances of falling hair. Aloe Vera is another customary aromatic plant which is helpful in the deterrence of hair loss. Aloe Vera with coconut milk and wheat germ oil is helpful in curing the scalps. Jojoba Oil is another effective remedy, which is used for psoriasis, eczema, and to eliminate dandruff from hair. Horsetail is another effective herb that is used to motivate hair follicles and this herb is helpful to promote hair growth and it also strengthens weak hair.

There are several causes of hair loss. One of the most common causes for hair loss is hormonal problem. Due to the thyroid glands under activity or over activity, the problem of hair loss occurs. However, clinical treatment of hormone inequity can end your hair loss. During pregnancy, pregnant women also become aware of hair loss problems. However, after delivery the normal growth of hair starts and loss cycle stops. Fungal infection is another cause of hair loss but it can easily over come by the use of antifungal medicines. The root cause of hair loss may be due to food, water or shampoo. However, in order to start re growing lost hair, you can do several things like nutrients must be an important ingredient of your hair growth and stay away from shampoos that lead to hair loss. Genetics has a very unimportant part in losing hair and there must be harmonic balance for proper growth of hair.

Reuters
Wednesday, Dec 30th, 2009

The path toward rolling out wider use of whole-body security scanners in U.S. airports runs through the White House.

The failed Christmas Day attack aboard a Detroit-bound U.S. airliner
has created congressional calls for greater use of body scanners that
advocates say would have detected non-metallic items such as the
explosives an Islamic militant from Nigeria is accused of smuggling on
board.

Dutch authorities said on Wednesday Amsterdam’s Schiphol
Airport, where the Nigerian suspect made a connection, will begin using
full-body scanners within three weeks.

U.S. President Barack Obama could expedite such a deployment because
the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Transportation Security
Administration (TSA) don’t need legislation from Congress to
start using the devices at any of the 560 U.S. airports with scheduled
airline service.

Full article here

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Every weekend we bring you a meditation or reflection, a small piece that moves away from the strictly practical and into the mindful, the thoughtful, the inward. Dana has given us reflections on the power of pie, the merits of lingering, and the coming of winter. We love these small, quiet posts, and so here at the end of our 2009 review, we’ll leave you with a look back at some of our favorites.

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