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While those who recently graduated may be missing their Apple discount, those who are going to be heading back to school this fall can take advantage of Apple’s standard college student discount with the added bonus of a free iPod touch.

Similar to “Back to School” promotions offered by Apple every summer, college students as well as faculty and staff members of any K-12 school or college in the U.S. are eligible for the promotion. Simply head into an Apple Store, purchase any Mac (except a Mac mini or refurbished Mac) and buy an iPod at the same time. The rebate is for $199, so even if you are coveting that awkwardly classic 160GB iPod or a larger iPod touch, you can still get it, though you’ll only get $199 back. Unfortunately, the offer doesn’t apply to iPhones or iPads.

The promotion runs from May 25, 2010 through September 7, 2010. Traditionally, these promotions have served as an effective way for Apple to clear out its remaining inventory of iPods, so you can pretty much plan for new iPods to be released around the first week of September. These promotions also tend to move a lot of Macs and iPods out the door, so this quarter for Apple will probably look pretty rosy.

If you’re considering the switch to Mac, this is one of the best times to save the most money on switching. From the lucrative discounts on hardware (ranging from $50 on the entry-level MacBook to $200 on the MacBook Pros) to the $100 rebate that you get when buying an eligible printer with your Mac, you can seriously save some cash. Add in a MobileMe subscription for $30 off retail and a free iPod touch ($199), why wouldn’t you switch? Oh, by the way, if you were wanting iWork with your new Mac, you can get that for $30 off too.

For those looking to learn more about their Mac, including iWork and iLife, check out our 101 series of screencasts (subscription required).

However, there are a few disclaimers. Unfortunately, the Back to School promotion is only available to U.S. customers. If you are wanting to buy a new Mac, but will require some custom configurations, such as different graphics cards or hard drives, you’ll need to complete your entire purchase online instead of in the store. For more details on any of these promotions, visit Apple’s promo website.

Even if you already have an iPod touch or printer, if you’re in the market for a new Mac, find a college student and go save some money. If you end up selling your printer or iPod touch on eBay, you’ll still come out ahead. Have you been waiting for this promotion to switch to the Mac or upgrade your current setup? Do you really need one more iPod or Mac in your family? Tell us your thoughts!

This week the Marshall Independent started a series of “stories that looks at where Marshall and the area stands when it comes to broadband Internet service, where it could go in the future, and what that future holds for businesses and residents alike.”

Yesterday’s story starts with a definition of where they are today…

A survey of local Internet services shows seven different Internet providers in Marshall, several offering download speeds greater than one Megabit per second (Mbps). A recently-enacted Minnesota law calls for broadband download speeds of 10 Mbps by 2015.

… and looks at the concerted effort it took to get there…

The first steps toward better Internet service in the Marshall area were taken more than 10 years ago, said DeCramer and Marshall Community Services Director Harry Weilage. It took a lot of community education and teamwork to build network infrastructure when the Internet was just starting to gain prominence, they said.

And the efforts have paid off; the area around Marshall (think Windom) is one of the best wired areas in the state. It’s interesting to hear the historical perspective. They didn’t get fiber because they were lucky, they got it because they planned. No accident there. It will be fun to read the rest of the series.

What that did strike me was the impact of the Minnesota Broadband Bill on communities that are currently well poised to be broadband powerhouses – as seen in the first quote from the article. In the spirit of planning ahead – maybe focusing on the 10 Mbps in 2015 isn’t the right goal for them. I think that goal is better reserved for folks who have nothing now. The folks who are doing well should reach higher.

Over the weekend Mike Horwath from ipHouse sent me an article that puts our speed goals in perspective – the title says it all “US happy with 4Mbps baseline; Europe demands 30Mbps for all”. Maybe Marshall needs to follow the European standard – or shoot for the US premium plan of 100 million U.S. homes have affordable access to actual download speeds of at least 100 Mbps and actual upload speeds of at least 50 Mbps by 2020. In some ways I do see Marshall doing just that. Southwest Minnesota received an ARRA grant to boost broadband and I know Marshall is slated for DOCSIS 3.0.

Maybe it’s a good time to take a page from Marshall’s history and go for it!

Quick update- the University of Michigan has released it’s decision regarding self-imposed sanctions for it’s football program this morning, including a request for two years probation, a loss of quality control staffing, and a letter of reprimand for coaches, including Coach Rodriguez.

Details are here, Coach Rodriguez’ response is here.

More reflection, commentary, and schadenfreude forthcoming.

After North Korea threatened to take military action against its southern neighbour, some large banks as well as industrial stocks fell over concerns that a conflict with N. Korea might halt the global economic recovery.  The Neo-Stalinist country’s threat comes after an alleged North Korean torpedo attack on a South Korean vessel, which spurred the South along with the United States to take part in some naval muscle flexing close to North Korean waters.

Among those firms and institutions which saw drops amid the tense situation were Bank of America Corp, which fell by 3.1 percent; and Alcoa Inc., which fell by over 5.1 percent.  According to Art Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co in New York, the situation sits as such:  “We have got another round of taking off the risk trade going on around the world, and we’re doing it in pretty dramatic fashion.”

Furthermore, fears over a conflict with North Korea have also led to similar financial troubles in South Korea; the South Korean government apparently held an emergency session to discuss ways of soothing the fears of investors.

Related posts:

1. South Korea Accused North Korea for Firing Torpedo that Killed 46
2. South Korean-, North Korean situation from the point of view of the U.S.
3. Clinton warns North Korea that the attack will have its punishment

Well, the recent ban on naked short-selling so well, so… guess what: the ban is being expanded.

ForexLive cites Reuters headlines saying that a blanket ban on naked short-selling in Germany is coming.

We don’t think any further comment is necessary.

Join the conversation about this story »

2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee

A key reason why Chrysler added a second shift at its Jefferson North Assembly Plant was because dealer orders for the redesigned 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee have exceeded expectations by about a third.

“Initial orders are 30-40 percent higher than initial expectations,” Jeep brand CEO Michael Manley said on the sidelines at the ceremony. However, the Auburn Hills automaker refused to say what their volume expectations were for the vehicle.

Click here to get prices on the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee.

At the launch of the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee production on Friday, Marchionne said a total of 1,080 employees will staff the second shift with nearly all new hires.

Chrysler sold a total of 50,328 Jeep Grand Cherokees in 2009, down 32 percent from 2008. The vehicle’s sales peaked at 300,031 in 1999.

Refresher: The 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee will go on sale next month and will be available 3 models: Laredo, Limited and Overland. The 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo 4×2 model starts at $30,995, while the 4×4 Grand Cherokee Laredo model starts at $32,995. Prices for the 2011 Grand Cherokee Limited 4×4 start at $39,995, while the Overland 4×4 model start at $42,995. All models will be powered by a 3.6L Pentastar V6 unit making 290-hp delivering up to 23 mpg and over 500 miles on one tank of gas. Optional features include a 360-hp 5.7L V8 and a Trailer Tow Group.

2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee:

– By: Omar Rana

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

The company behind the broadband speed testing site Speedtest.net is ready to go beyond testing broadband quality and into the data game. Ookla, the three-year-old company based in Seattle that’s behind the online speed service, introduced a broadband index today that tabulates the results from the more than 1 million speed tests done each day around the world. The global broadband speed is 7.69 Mbps while the U.S. speeds average out at 10.12 Mbps.

Mike Apgar, co-founder and managing partner of Ookla, said the indexes will measure broadband speeds, ping times and jitter [COULD WE HAVE A DEFINITION OF JITTER?]. His goal is to move the testing beyond the tech-savvy market (we use it!), so as to get a better sense of how broadband speeds really play out across the world. The FCC is encouraging consumers to use the sites (Ookla also runs a site that tests jitter and packet loss at pingtest.net) as part of its nationwide testing goals, and many of Ookla’s ISP customers also offer the test to their customers and host Ookla’s servers.

Providing tests for ISPs is actually most of Ookla’s business. The next plank of the business strategy is the index data: Ookla hopes to provide the information for free to academic researchers, but it also plans to charge ISPs, analysts and governments for it. Ookla has no debt or venture capital, and is profitable.

The company also today released a list of the top worldwide and U.S. cities based on their broadband speeds. It measured only cities with more than 75,000 people connecting for more than three months using a 30-day rolling average. The results are subject to change, and given that no place in the U.S. ranks in the global Top 10 (the first U.S. city is San Jose, which is ranked 18), I hope the results do shift.

Here are the top 10 U.S. cities and their corresponding 30-day average speeds:

1. San Jose, Calif. 15.02
2. Saint Paul, Minn. 14.53
3. Pittsburgh, Pa. 14.18
4. Oklahoma City, Okla. 12.12
5. Brooklyn, N.Y. 12.10
6. Tampa, Fla. 12.05
7. Bronx, N.Y. 12.01
8. New York, N.Y. 11.85
9. Denver, Colo. 11.68
10. Sacramento, Calif. 11.34

The global top 10:

1. Seoul, South Korea 34.49
2. Riga, Latvia 27.88
3. Hamburg, Germany 26.85
4. Chisinau, Republic of Moldova 24.31
5. Helsinki, Finland 20.58
6. Stockholm, Sweden 19.97
7. Bucharest, Romania 19.68
8. Sofia, Bulgaria 18.99
9. Kharkov, Ukraine 18.15
10. Kaunas, Lithuania 17.46

Related GigaOM Pro Research (sub req’d): Big Data Marketplaces Put a Price on Finding Patterns

Ford has released these two videos of the 2011 Shelby GT500 Mustangs. The 2011 GT500’s come with a 5.4 liter all-aluminum supercharged V8 that pours out 550 horsepower and a massive 550 ft lbs of torque with a 10 horsepower increase compared to the 2010 model.

The engine loses a 102 pounds in weight and will deliver a better power-to-weight ratio, improved fuel economy, acceleration, handling and steering precision.

Hit the jump to see the coupe model and better yet, listen to more of that magical sound that will send shivers up and down your spine.

So described one viewer after watching the video below, which was shot at the futuristic Müller Schiess Zentrum facility in Germany. It has 3D hunting simulators! A restaurant! Shops! And enough white-washed walls and stark interiors to make Apple jealous. More »










Recreation – Guns – Apple – Range Facilities – Germany

Adapted from “Set off a Chain Reaction,” by Michael Wheeler (professor, Harvard Business School), first published in the Negotiation newsletter.

Artful sequencing in negotiation means lining up deals so that each agreement increases the odds of nailing down the next one. A hedge fund manager might find that certain investors will decline to put their money in a new fund if approached early on, for example, yet gladly jump on board once others sign up. When embarking on a linked negotiation, start by probing the changing state of the market, the interests of key parties, the nature of important relationships, and the presence of potential spoilers.

Consider how this principle played out in the site acquisition of the Citicorp Center in midtown Manhattan. The sharply angled tower is now a feature of the New York skyline, but, for many years, the block on Lexington Avenue between 53rd and 54th streets was occupied by much smaller residential and commercial buildings, as well as an old Gothic church. More than a dozen different organizations, trusts, and individuals owned the various properties. How these separate parcels were acquired and assembled was recounted in instructive and entertaining detail by Peter Hellman in a 1974 article for New York magazine.

In 1968, Don Schnabel, a real estate broker, was hired by St. Peter’s Lutheran Church to appraise what its 15,000-square-foot plot might fetch in what was then a hot real estate market. Disappointed by Schnabel’s estimate, the church’s governing board decided not to sell. That would have been the end of it, but Schnabel’s research convinced him that, even if there couldn’t be a satisfactory sale of the church property in its own right, a handsome deal might be made if all of the Lexington Avenue parcels could be acquired. In a win-win-win outcome, the current owners would get a premium over market value, a major corporation could erect a landmark building, and-oh, yes-whoever brokered the deal would make a very handsome commission.

Schnabel began by probing his options. First, he quietly elicited from First National City Corp. (as Citicorp was then called) what its interest would be in buying the entire block, if he could assemble it. Next, he tested the market. Rather than pounce on key corner parcels, Schnabel researched three properties on a cross street. He was shocked to discover that another real estate operator had snapped them up just days earlier. With the bank’s encouragement, Schnabel paid a premium to buy out the new owner. He also wangled security to keep the competitor from popping up elsewhere on the block.

Schnabel learned what it would take for longtime owners to sell their properties. For a restaurant owner, it was assurances that employees would be retained for at least a year. Elderly apartment dwellers needed help in moving to California. Doctors who owned a medical arts building weren’t interested in selling until Schnabel crafted a stock-swap deal that minimized taxes.

Schnabel couldn’t have foreseen the specifics of these transactions; he had to get into the trenches to learn what was important to different people. Getting all the parcels took creativity, patience, and hard bargaining. The total cost of the 1973 land acquisition was $40 million-then the highest real-estate sale in New York’s history. The process wasn’t easy, but each puzzle piece taught the developer more about how they all could fit together.

The Providentia psychology blog has been a consistently good read for as long as I can remember and if you’ve never checked it out a host of great articles have been posted online recently.

Just in May along there have been pieces on how a barking woman was declared unfit for trial, how the panic about ‘subliminal advertising’ started in the ’50s, why adolescents drink and whether the Spanish monarch Joanna the Mad was really mad.

It’s written by Toronto-based psychologist Romeo Vitelli and is well worth a visit.

Link to the Providentia blog.

The awesome ASIMO humanoid robot does have a heart, a green one that is. The Honda creation recently waved the flags, at Honda’s Green Car Challenge in Romania. And that’s not all! ASIMO also cheered on the competitors, tirelessly throughout the competition and when all was done, the robot handed out the awards too! The Honda competition was a 300-mile long event with 18 finalists. To be awarded by ASIMO, cars were required to perform an exercise on conserving fuel.

To win, the competitors had to complete the entire distance on as little fuel as possible, in the shortest amount of time. The competition had Honda supplied vehicles, the Honda Jazz 1.4, Insight Hybrid and Accord 2.2-liter i-DTEC and little ASIMO to do the honors. Maybe robots are taking over the world, starting with green vehicle events.

[Autobloggreen]

It seems the left hand doesn’t always know what the right hand is doing on the diplomatic front, apparently. Late last week, the US and Chinese patent offices signed an agreement promising cooperation, including sharing information and best practices between the two. At the same time, however, it appears the Chinese government is pretty steamed about being included in the USTR’s silly special 301 report (which is basically mocked by everyone outside of the the USTR and the entertainment or pharma industries). To make matters worse, last week’s announcement by a group of elected officials in Congress under the banner of the “anti-piracy caucus,” which blamed China for not stopping file sharing on Baidu, seems to have pushed gov’t officials over the edge. China is pissed off and accusing the USTR of blatant lies:

“The involved U.S. Congress members should respect the fact and stop making groundless accusations against China.”

While it’s difficult to take the word of Chinese officials on this matter seriously, we again have to wonder if US politicians (and industry reps) have any idea what they’re setting themselves up for. As we noted recently, under pressure from US companies and politicians, China has begun cracking down on infringement, but has done so almost exclusively against foreign companies. Ticking off China even more on this issue doesn’t seem like a particularly wise strategy.

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Smarting from losses in the stock market? Buy more shares says Bank of America’s David Bianco.

He’s particularly focused on the tech sector, which he believes has shown substantial strength during the economic rebound and which is the most exposed to the global growth via foreign sales.

Bank of America:

We believe the best way to feel better during a correction is to buy some shares. We recommend using the correction to buy the S&P 500 broadly with a preference for mega-cap stocks, especially big-cap Tech stocks.

Tech is trading at a PE of 14x and 13x on our 2010E and 2011E EPS, in line with the S&P 500. Our 2011 Tech earnings estimate is about 10% lower than bottom-up analyst estimate and assumes an average EUR/USD of $1.23 in 2011.

We believe investors are over estimating the negative impact of the strong dollar and weaker Europe on Tech. Although Tech is the sector with highest foreign sales, much of Tech’s European exposure is to corporate technology spending. Multinationals globally have strong balance sheets and the rebound in tech spending is mainly from upgrades and spending to take advantage of new initiatives like cloud computing. This particularly benefits the Tech conglomerates. The Tech conglomerates are gaining market share, have little to nil direct competition from Europe, and benefit from multinationals’ desire to deal with a single tech provider globally. The Tech conglomerates also showed much better earnings resilience during the 2008/09 downturn.

(Via Bank of America, ‘Self-induced correction’, David Bianco, 21 May 2010)

Join the conversation about this story »

Materials: Lack, Broder

Description: My son finally deserved a desk. He’s a Transformer fan, and I had some Lack shelves to be recycled. The structure is made of Broder rails and cantilevers, the desk itself with the shelves, silver and red, in perfect “transformer style”. The height of the working surfaces can be changed following child growth.

I bonded the shelves toghether with a screw bar tightened by nuts. Note how the bar fits in an existing channel (if you ever mounted a Lack you know what it’s for), so you don’t have to drill much. Then I screwed the shelves to the cantilever. The result is sturdy enough, I climbed on the desk just to check. The front edge has capped nuts, and it looks pretty neat.

See more here.

~ Andy War

So everyone’s freaking out today. What’s gold doing? Not much.

But, we wouldn’t be surprised if in fact gold bulls were heartened by the move, because it’s not getting dumped. In some of the recent big swoons, investors dumped gold along with everything else for the “safety” or at least liquidity of dollars and yen. Today, they’re not doing that.

Join the conversation about this story »

If you’ve been patiently waiting for the BlackBerry Pearl 3G to launch in North America, trust me you are not alone. The good news is while you wait, you can stock up on accessories for the new Pearl. The BBSync Store now has several Case-Mate cases, including the SmartSvkin, Signature Leather Case, and Hipster Holster. We should also point out that the BBSync Store also now has the OEM BlackBerry FM-1 Battery in stock (which works with the Pearl 9100 series).

Don’t forget you also can get $5.95 fast shipping to most destinations in the United States with your order! So visit the BBSync Accessory Store today.

You’re reading a story which originated at BlackBerrySync.com, Where you find BlackBerry News You Can Sync With…

This story is sponsored by the new BlackBerry Sync Mobile App Store. Grab your free copy today at www.GetAppStore.com from your BlackBerry.

BlackBerry Pearl 3G (9100) Accessories Now Available in BBSync Store!

Related posts:

1. BlackBerry Pearl 9100 Caught with T-Mobile/WIND 3G Bands? The original BlackBerry Pearl series was a crazy popular…
2. BlackBerry Pearl 3G Accessories Now Listed on ShopBlackBerry.com While I’ve been on the hunt for the actual BlackBerry…
3. Rumor: 3G BlackBerry Pearl 9100 Heading to TELUS? We just received a tip that the BlackBerry Pearl 9100…

Republicans get right on this!
Combining the free market and the Second Amendment explosively.

I submit to you it has become clear what must be done to preserve the ‘Murican Way’ of life for at most the next generation and a half (note: “way of life” not available south of 31 degrees latitude).

Several experts have suggested that the way to end the flow of oil from the sea floor, is not junk shots or fashionable hats, but dropping the BIG ONE on the true evildoer — the Gulf of Mexico. First, it took out the dinosaurs, now it wants us!

The Russians have set off a nukes on bad wells before…and I ask you who this side of Union Carbide has a better environmental record?

Also, the government has proclaimed that regardless of how ineffective BP’s efforts have been to this point, the latter possesses more technology for the task than the government.

More technology available for the task, except one, that is.

Michelle Bachman, you know what to do.

Introduce a bill allowing, in the name of the free market, to allow a true American success story – British Petroleum– to have its own stockpile of nuclear weapons.

And then you can put in a rider, mandating that we immediately begin preparations for bombing Iran, or maybe Citgo. Ah hell, why not both?

?

British Petroleum—Here to Help You

By Monte Wolverton, Cagle Cartoons

Related Entries

• May 20, 2010 ‘Australia Loses Freedom Points’ Edition
• May 17, 2010 ‘60 Minutes’ Investigates BP’s Blowout