Blog

WASHINGTON–President Obama is in Quincy, Ill. today to deliver a speech on Wall Street reform–where he will probably beat up Senate Republicans for blocking the Democratic financial reform bill. To push back, Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.) who represents a neighboring district, will be part of a conference call to comment on Obama’s Illinois visit.

Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee on Wednesday released an Illinois-specific memo (click below) slamming the impact of Obama policies.

Below, release from the Republican National Committee….

JUST A GLIMPSE AT WHAT WHITE HOUSE TO MAIN STREET REALLY MEANS

JOB LOSSES
Since The Stimulus Was Passed, Over 187,000 Jobs Have Been Lost In Illinois. (U.S. Bureau Of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, Accessed 4/26/10)

Since The Stimulus Was Passed, Unemployment Has Increased By Over 32 Percent In Illinois, From 8.7 Percent To 11.5 Percent. (U.S. Bureau Of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, Accessed 4/26/10)

WASTE, FRAUD AND ABUSE
Cost-Of-Living Adjustments Are Being Counted As Jobs In Illinois. “Hilary Freeman, vice president of quality and performance at the society, said 34 employees got cost-of-living adjustments from stimulus funds. But that’s been counted as 34 jobs created or saved.” (James Janega, “Billions In Stimulus Cash For Illinois, But Jobs Harder To Quantify,” The Chicago Tribune, 11/24/09)

Biden Held Chicago Factory Up As “Poster Child” For Green Stimulus Jobs, But Few Jobs Have Been Created. “Vice President Biden visited the factory in April, holding it up as a poster child for green jobs created by the $787 billion stimulus act. … But months after Serious Materials chief executive Kevin Surace planned to be churning out windows, the factory still has very few customers and has hired back fewer than 20 workers. In fact, Surace said the company is spending $100,000 a week just to keep the factory open.” (Kari Lydersen, “Stimulus Funds Yet To Open Many Windows,” The Washington Post, 10/18/09)

A HEALTH CARE AGENDA THAT WILL CRUSH ILLINOIS JOBS
Peoria Based Caterpillar Inc. Said Obama’s Bill Would Increase Their Costs By $100 Million In First Year, “Place [Them] At A Disadvantage Versus [Their] Global Competitors.” “Caterpillar Inc. said the health-care overhaul legislation being considered by the U.S. House would increase the company’s health-care costs by more than $100 million in the first year alone. … ‘We can ill-afford cost increases that place us at a disadvantage versus our global competitors,’ said the letter signed by Gregory Folley, vice president and chief human resources officer of Caterpillar. ‘We are disappointed that efforts at reform have not addressed the cost concerns we’ve raised throughout the year.’” (“Caterpillar: Health Care Bill Would Cost It $100M,” Dow Jones Newswires, 3/19/10)

Chicago Based Exelon Corp. Expects $65 Million Hit In Q1 As A Result Of Obama’s Government-Run Health Care Experiment. “Exelon Corp., the largest operator of nuclear plants in the United States, expects a non-cash charge of about $65 million in the first quarter of 2010 due to the recently passed healthcare reform law. The reduced income tax deductions are also estimated to increase Exelon’s total annual income tax expense by about $10 million to $15 million, the company said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.” (“Exelon To Take $65M Hit From Healthcare Reform,” Reuters, 4/1/10)

Moline’s John Deere, Is Losing $150 Million This Year Because Of Dems’ Government-Run Health Care Law. “Deere & Company, Iowa’s largest manufacturing employer, said in a statement this morning that the recently-passed health care legislation will cost the company $150 million after tax this year… Golden said Deere and other companies warned congress in a letter last December that the imposition of a tax on the prescription costs would force publicly-traded corporations like Deere to publicly account for the extra costs. Deere said the impact of the legislation had not been included in its forecast for a profit of $1.3 billion for this year…” (Dan Piller, “Deere Says Health Care Bill Will Cost It $150 Million,” The Des Moines Register’s “Green Fields” Blog, 3/25/10)

“Instead of travelling half way across the country on a ‘Main Street’ tour, maybe the President should have stayed home and thought about some new initiatives to get Americans back to work instead of the same old tax and spend policies that Americans reject.” – Ryan Tronovitch, RNC Spokesman

Ana Caistor Arendar visits the Corail re-settlement camp just outside Port au Prince, where Oxfam’s water and sanitation programme is providing essential services to thousands of people.

Carlos Mansilla and a camp resident using Oxfam water facilities at Corail resettlement camp, Port au Prince. Photo: Ana Caistor Arendar

The humidity in Haiti is intense. Along with the gathering clouds, it signals the coming storms as the rainy season begins in earnest here. It’s really difficult to know exactly how many people have been left homeless by the 12 January earthquake – there is an official figure of 1.3 million but unofficially people think as many as 2 million people might be living in settlements in and around the capital, Port au Prince. For these people the rain means added misery as the fear of landslides and flooding in the camps threatens to cause even greater suffering and loss of life.

A few weeks ago the government identified a temporary relocation site for those most vulnerable to the rain in the settlement camps. The site is a dusty, desert-like plain about 40 minutes drive from the capital city. Last week people began to be relocated there. The camp now houses 5,000 people.

I went to the site on Friday. Rows of white tents are lined up in blocks, with people beginning to personalise what have become their new temporary homes by hanging colourful patterned materials from the tents and sticking leafed branches into the dusty gravel to add some greenery amidst the dust.

Aimee Ansari, Policy, Advocacy and Communications Manager, and a camp resident hold an Oxfam bucket with water at Corail resettlement camp in Port-au-Prince. Photo: Ana Caistor Arendar

Oxfam had been given just one week to prepare the site for the new residents by equipping it with latrines, showers and drinking water. All are now operational and providing the essential services needed for the camp to function. Oxfam has also set up a free telephone helpline for those living in the camps, through which they can report any faults with the services and provide any feedback.

As we were walking through the camp, a little girl no older than four came up behind me, put her arms around my waist and grabbed onto my hand tightly. She held on to me while we toured the camp. As we left I was told that young girls often cling on to female visitors in this way, these usually being the girls who lost their mothers in the earthquake.

As we drove back through Port au Prince there were signs throughout the streets of how economic activity has begun to spring back into life. The pavements are lined with makeshift vending stalls, as people lay out any goods they have to sell to generate some form of income. You can find anything here, from clothes and shoes to car parts and bits of scrap metal. Most striking are the hundreds of paintings on sale by local artists – depictions of romantic coastal landscapes painted before the earthquake are exhibited alongside a growing number of fresh paintings of houses crumbling into the ground.

Oxfam has begun working with a group of local artists in one of the biggest camps, the Golf Course, where up to 25,000 sleep (including Hollywood film star Sean Penn, who is managing the camp!). These artists work with a group of children in the camp, using art as a way of teaching them about public health and recycling issues. The children were also given a small canvas and invited to paint whatever they wanted. The overwhelming majority of the pictures they painted were of houses. One of the girls, Melissa, 11, explained that she had painted “an earthquake proof house” unlike the one she had lived in, which collapsed.

Where we work: Haiti

This is something that not many people have seen: A close up of the fiery engines of the Saturn V rocket starting up July 16, 1969. The eight apocalyptical minutes in HD are simply awesome. More »

It smashed Box Office records worldwide to become the highest grossing film in history, now James Cameron’s Avatar is setting new benchmarks in the Blu-ray market. Around 1.5 million Blu-ray discs were snapped-up on the first day of release in the U.S. – more than previous record holder The Dark Knight – and that’s just the 2D version, without special features. The Blu-ray release also triggered an avalanche of illegal downloads, with the sci-fi epic now well on its way to becoming the most pirated Blu-ray film ever.
..
Continue Reading Avatar sets two Blu-ray records: most illegal downloads, most bought discs

Tags: Avatar,
Blu-ray

Related Articles:

• Six-month anti-piracy strategy delays Dark Knight piracy for just 38 hours
• Batman Begins now available on Blu-ray
• The Godfather Collection gets release date for Blu-ray
• UK retailers create logo for promoting DRM free MP3s
• Windows 7 Release Candidate available to the public
• Sony PSX details revealed at CEATEC

Act One: Obama and the the Middle East

Cohen – Beating the Mideast’s Black Hole – NYTimes.com

…. That meeting concluded with Mitchell saying: “You asked if I think Netanyahu is serious. They ask the same question. You are an expert on Palestinian and Israeli politics. They are the same. But no one in the world knows American politics better than me, and this I will say. There has never been in the White House a president that is so committed on this issue, including Clinton who is a personal friend, and there will never be, at least not in the lifetime of anyone in this room.” …

Act Two: Obama: Transportation and transparency

In the Obama administration, there’s an official blog from the Department of Transportation with with a post about bike and pedestrian infrastructure highlighting a March 15 policy statement on bicycle and pedestrian accommodation:

… The establishment of well-connected walking and bicycling networks is an important component for livable communities, and their design should be a part of Federal-aid project developments. … transportation agencies should plan, fund, and implement improvements to their walking and bicycling networks, including linkages to transit…

… transportation agencies should give the same priority to walking and bicycling as is given to other transportation modes. Walking and bicycling should not be an afterthought in roadway design

… children should have safe and convenient options for walking or bicycling to school and parks..

… DOT encourages bicycle and pedestrian accommodation on bridge projects including facilities on limited-access bridges with connections to streets or paths… 

..Current maintenance provisions require pedestrian facilities built with Federal funds to be maintained in the same manner as other roadway assets. State Agencies have generally established levels of service on various routes especially as related to snow and ice events…

… The Secretary shall not approve any project or take any regulatory action under this title that will result in the severance of an existing major route or have significant adverse impact on the safety for nonmotorized transportation traffic and light motorcycles, unless such project or regulatory action provides for a reasonable alternate route or such a route exists.” 23 U.S.C. 109(m)….

There is a difference between Obama and the GOP alternative. A vast, huge, multifaceted, every day in every way difference.

Anyone who thinks otherwise is a willing servant of Rupert Murdoch, owner operator of the Wall Street Journal and Fox news.

Harbinger Capital partners has reportedly hired Sanjiv Ahuja, the former chief executive of Orange — the wireless unit of France Telecom — to run its proposed Long Term Evolution wireless network, according to the Wall Street Journal. Harbinger, a private equity firm, wants to construct a next generation wireless network using both satellite and terrestrial components. SkyTerra, a Harbinger portfolio company, would provide the satellites, but Harbinger still needs a partner or billions of dollars to build out the terrestrial network.

According to the WSJ, Harbinger is in talks with potential investors such as Qwest Communications International and SK Holdings, and is attempting to raise between $1 billion and $2 billion to fund the venture, but there have been disputes over how much equity each partner will get in the entity. Harbinger has spent four years and more than $2 billion on the venture so far, and wants to keep as large a stake as it can, the Journal said. But without backing from industry partners, it is unlikely that Harbinger’s ambitious project — estimated to require at least $6-billion — will get off the ground.

It’s not clear whether Qwest’s impending merger with CenturyLink would make it more or less likely to be a partner in the project. The deal creates a giant telecom company, but one without a wireless division to backstop its existing wired business. Getting access to wireless from Harbinger’s proposed LTE network would be one way of filling that gap, but CenturyLink’s CEO has said the company has no plans to get into wireless.

Harbinger has said that it plans to use its combined satellite and terrestrial network to offer wholesale wireless that telecom and cable companies can use to bolster their high-speed offerings in areas their existing networks don’t cover. In addition to the satellite network and all that entails, the plan would require a phone and data card that supported the service, as well as a terrestrial cellular network to handle the calls.

If Harbinger has hired Ahuja, a former IBM executive who ran the Orange mobile network from 2004 to 2007, it would help to show investors and potential partners that the venture has some operating experience at the helm. One of the biggest hurdles for Harbinger is the perception of satellite wireless as a money pit with a history of failure: the 1990s saw two companies — Iridium and GlobalStar — soak up billions of dollars trying to build satellite networks.

Post and thumbnail images courtesy of NASA

I am on record as saying that I think that the Constellation rocket program should be axed, and replaced with a system that is more cost-effective and less likely to run overbudget as Constellation has. President Obama’s speech recently made it clear that Constellation’s days are numbered, and that he is urging NASA to look into a better heavy-lift vehicle.

Not everyone agrees, of course. Jeff Hanley — the manager of the Constellation Program — has apparently sent out an email that is an attempt to save at least part of the current system. I have not seen this email, but it’s alleged to try to use Obama’s idea of continuing with the Orion space capsule concept to save even more of Constellation.

Obama wants NASA to keep developing the Orion capsule as a lifeboat for the space station (and, I assume, a crew capsule for future deep space missions). Of course, to test such a capsule it has to be lofted to orbit. How do you do that? This is where Hanley’s email comes in: the best way to get Orion into space is aboard the Ares 1 rocket, the first such vehicle to be built under Constellation.

As schemes go, that’s pretty clever. Hanley is leveraging Ares — which will be canceled under Obama’s plan — using Orion. In other words, the Ares 1 rockets will have to continue to be developed and built if we are to get Orion up and running. That way, even if Constellation is canceled, at least part of it will live on.

It may be clever, but is it wise? I’m not sure. The Ares 1 has been tested once, and a lot of folks outside of NASA took a very dim view of it… Buzz Aldrin essentially called it a fraud, saying it was nothing more than a dog-and-pony show by NASA to make it look like progress was being made, when in reality it was a failure. That doesn’t make me hopeful that Ares 1 is what we want to throw our support behind.

I’ve been pretty clear on this: Constellation is basically a good idea, but is off to such a rocky start that it may be best to stop throwing money at it. NASA needs to do these things, in this order:

1) Figure out what its Next Giant Leap is — asteroid rendezvous, Moon base, mission to Mars;

2) Figure out just what is needed to not only accomplish this goal, but to sustain it with an eye toward the next big goal;

3) Start cutting metal.

The problem, as usual, is in Step 2. Sure, that first step (ironically) is sometimes fuzzy and vague, but Obama laid out at least a place to start in his speech last month (even if I disagree strongly with him about the Moon). But politics, public relations, whatever — NASA always stumbles (with plenty of help from Congress) at that dreaded Step 2, drawing up plans that seem to over-reach and not be realistic in terms of budget, goals, and timelines. That’s why we have the Shuttle, the space station, and no future plans.

Before I get the usual anti-Obama comments, remember that it was the Bush Administration that called for the retiring of the Shuttle before we had a working follow-up vehicle. So no matter what we have to rely on other countries and private industry until we get that next-gen rocket. But what happens next is perhaps the most critical thing NASA has ever done since the Apollo program was first announced. Political maneuvering and white-elephant saving are the last thing NASA needs.

What NASA needs is a clear goal, a clear vision, and a clear way to make those happen.

Joseph says Time Warner Cable can’t get his service working again because it’s too difficult to access his house. He needs cooperation from a neighbor but can’t get it.

He writes:

Long story short I’ve had numerous issues with my cable for the last 3 years, and it has just keeps getting worse. Repairmen are here constantly, we’re on our 4th cable box. Most recently my box just turns off and on in a continuous cycle, the repair men that came to fix this issue told me that they had what they called a “Access Issue” and they need to go into my neighbors back yard, another house 3 doors down from my own to fix the problems.

I’ve spoken with my neighbor and he won’t let them in apparently he’s had issues with them before, and is just flat out refusing to let them in end of story. Time Warner has said they can’t do anything until they get into the yard but since that isn’t going to happen what can I do?

It’s really bugging me and I hate to cancel the cable as I work in media and kind of need it.

What should Jeff do?

At the Fiscal Summit in Washington DC, noted deficit scold Peter Peterson made something of a Kinsley gaffe: saying the truth in a way that sounds like a mistake. “We must unencumber ourselves of promises,” he said.

On Tuesday, Apple announced that late last month, they closed a deal to acquire Intrinsity — the Texas-based chip maker responsible for the A4 chip used in the iPad.

Word has it that Intirinsity cast the voodoo that allowed the A4 chip in the iPad to clock up to 1Ghz without destroying battery life.

This dark magic is obviously attractive to other mobile device manufacturers, so it makes business sense for Apple to acquire this company.

Having wizards like this working for Apple would obviously help Apple develop chips in the future, too, and also helps keep future hardware developments “in house” and under the watchful eye of The Apple Secret Police.

This isn’t the first time that Apple have purchased a chipmaker: Apple purchased PA Semi in 2008. And with rumours of Apple considering purchasing ARM, it probably won’t be their last.

A more detailed dissection of the issue is over at TechCrunch.

[via The New York Times]

The health-care reform bill signed by President Obama on March 23 continues to leave its (so far) modest imprint on corporate filings. A few of the sightings over the last week or so illustrates the wide range of responses by companies in different circumstances:

• Intuitive Surgical (ISRG), a surgical-equipment maker, warned in its April 20 10-Q filing that a 2.3% sales tax on medical devices in the legislation “does apply to all of the Company’s products and product candidates” and “may result in decreased profits to us, lower reimbursements by payors for our products, reduced medical procedure volumes, all of which may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations, possibly materially.”
• In the 10-Q Centene Corp. (CNC) filed on Tuesday, the company bemoaned the fact that the legislation would increase competition for the company: “Subject to limited exceptions by federally approved state applications, the federal government requires that there be choices for Medicaid recipients among managed care programs. Voluntary programs, increases in the number of competitors and mandated competition may limit our ability to increase our market share.”
• Several more companies disclosed the first-quarter impact of the health-reform law’s change to the tax treatment of federal subsidies under Medicare for companies that provide prescription benefits to retirees — an issue we looked at more closely in Footnoted Pro at the beginning of this month (that report is here for subscribers). Among them: Abbott Laboratories (ABT) said in the earnings release it filed April 21 that it would take a $53 million charge for the change — or 4 cents a share, less than the $115 million, or 7-cent-a-share, charge it took for the devaluation of the Venezuelan Bolivar. Other companies reporting charges included Kimberly-Clark (KMB) at $20 million; The New York Times (NYT) at $10.9 million; PepsiCo (PEP) at $40 million; Altria Group (MO) at $12 million; United States Steel (X) at $27 million; and Johnson Controls (JCI) at $18 million.
• By contrast, AMR Corp. (AMR), the parent of American Airlines, was more equivocal, concluding in the 10-Q it filed April 21 that “the extent of [the] impact, if any, cannot be determined until regulations are promulgated.” Among other uncertainties are rules that “include the elimination of lifetime limits on retiree medical coverage.” Like AT&T, the company warned that “the Company may consider plan amendments in future periods that may have accounting implications.”
• Then there’s Microsoft (MSFT), which spent 117 words in the 10-Q it filed April 22 to conclude that:

“We do not expect any short term impact on our financial results as a result of the legislation. One provision that will impact certain companies significantly is the elimination of the tax deductibility of the Medicare Part D subsidy. This provision does not affect us as we do not provide retiree health benefits.”

Image source: Andres Rueda via Flickr.

[JURIST] The UN Security Council on Tuesday unanimously approved Resolution 1918, calling on member states to criminalize piracy under their domestic laws and urging Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to consider an international tribunal for prosecuting piracy. In the resolution, the Security Council noted its previous resolutions regarding piracy, particularly piracy off the coast of Somalia, as well as the continuing security issues posed by piracy. The ineffectual nature of past resolutions, combined with the lack of action by the Somali government and the difficulties faced by Kenya, one of the few African nations to attempt to prosecute piracy, may have led to the inclusion of the request that the secretary-general investigate options for UN prosecution of piracy. Russia, a permanent member of the Security Council, had previously proposed that the UN establish a special court for Somali pirates. The resolution asks that the Secretary General’s report on prosecutorial options be completed within three months.
The Security Council resolution comes the same week the UN announced that a trust fund established to combat piracy will be funding five projects aimed at piracy committed in the waters around Somalia. The same day, unsealed indicments revealed that the US had filed charges against 11 Somali pirates in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Earlier this month, Kenya announced that it would no longer accept referred piracy cases, which have overburdened its judicial system, an announcement that may have spurred the Security Council to act. In January, the International Chamber of Commerce released a report indicating that maritime piracy had reached its highest levels since 2003.

GUANTANAMO BAY — Only two reporters actually got into the courtroom where Omar Khadr’s pre-trial hearing will take place to suppress his statements to interrogators. (I wasn’t one of the reporters: my lottery for the pool coverage had me heading over this afternoon.) But Army Lt. Col. Jon Jackson, one of Khadr’s military lawyers, just ventured forth to tell the press corps not to bother: the hearing is delayed.

How come? Because of yesterday’s late-breaking release of the Manual for the military commissions. Col. Pat Parrish, the judge hearing the case, ordered a delay until 1 p.m. so that prosecution and defense counsel (and, perhaps, he himself) can familiarize themselves with the Manual’s prescriptions for the commissions’ rules of evidence and procedure.

I’m in the afternoon pool to sit in the courtroom. There’s no way to communicate with the outside world inside the super-secure courtroom. (I can’t even tweet!) So I’ll have to update you from the hearing after the session concludes, probably in the early evening.

In early February I asked for reader ideas about how we might reengineer the MPEP, and I was pleased to see how many thoughtful suggestions you all made.  With this post I want to let you know that your ideas have been heard, and we are acting on them. 

Many people suggested that additional information be provided alongside the current content, including:

·         Examples of cases showing both sides of a rule

·         Examples of reasons to combine that are sufficient to support obviousness

·         Examples with case citations including active links to decisions

·         Guidelines for when requirements are satisfied

·         Definitions

People also suggested that we re-organize content to reduce redundancy, provide links from sections to other related sections, and provide better indexing and search tools.

In terms of wikis and online collaboration with the public, there was broad consensus that the USPTO should be the keeper of the official version of the text, but that it would be useful to have outside contributions to the content, in several different forms.  These included:

·     Encouraging readers to post comments about the current text, on a section-by-section basis, to point out errors, make clarifications, and add examples of interpretations and links to case law and other materials.

·     Posting preliminary content and then encouraging the community to comment on this new content before it becomes official.  This might include a wiki section for adding additional content.

·     Periodically summarizing and following up on the comments on each section, both to ensure those with merit are acted upon, and to keep the comments on each section from becoming too cluttered.

·     Providing a way for the community to discuss and debate topics such as how to interpret recent court decisions.

We are now fully engaged in converting the contents of the MPEP into a more modern set of tools and are looking at collaboration tools to support the suggestions we have received.  Watch this space for further developments. Thank you again for your input, and keep it coming!

Filed under: Car Buying, Hybrid, Sedan, Ford

For about the first 110 years of the automobile, the gold standard of eco-thriftiness was a car’s miles-per-gallon rating. With the rise of hybrids, plug-ins, biofuels and the like, cost-per-mile might be the better measurement of road-going value. The idea is simple: if a car is powered by a Mr. Fusion or Dilithium crystals or the laughter of children and only costs $.01 per mile to operate but it carries a sticker price of $500,000, its efficiency is never going to balance out its initial cost.

Well, the San Francisco Chronicle has compiled a list of seven popular hybrids along with estimates of how long it would take for each car to pay for its higher cost compared to non-hybrid models in gasoline savings. The winner by a long shot is the Ford Fusion Hybrid at a mere 5.6 years. Which car fared worst? The Nissan Altima Hybrid at a whopping 21 years. We have to wonder, 21 years from now, will they still be making batteries for a 2010 Altima Hybrid?

In short, if you’re going by gas savings alone, hybrids don’t really pay in the short term. Then again, if gasoline taxes shoot up or peak oil really is right around the corner, the cost per mile of these vehicles could very quickly tip in their favor. Read the full article here.

[Source: San Francisco Chronicle]

Report: Ford Fusion Hybrid pays off quickest originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 28 Apr 2010 08:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Cisco Systems Inc. shares have been upgraded to Top Pick from Sector Outperform by RBC Capital Markets.

"Strengthening trends across all major business segments combined with consistent execution may enable Cisco's stock to break its relative inline trends with large tech peers," analyst Mark Sue said. 

Mr. Sue said the biggest factor driving his upgrade is the conviction that Cisco has strengthened its position and may be gaining a larger share of corporate
IT spend and carrier capex budgets.

He also raised his 12-month price target to $33 from $30, representing a multiple of 19x his calendar year 2011 earnings per share of $1.75. The current industry mean is 14x.

"We believe CSCO deserves a premium multiple because of its strong cashflow, balance sheet and industry position," the analyst said. 

David Pett

The Economist has an interactive chart, where you can compare housing trends for countries around the world.

The example we built below shows how Australian property prices have doubled in a pretty short period of time and are way ahead of U.S. property over a twenty year period.

It’s shocking, the Australian price rise, in dark blue, appears to make the American property bubble look tame in comparison. Two indices of American prices are shown, in light blue and gray.

We’ve loved the little bit of Australia we’ve seen, the quality of life looks quite high there. The country is also surely levered to China’s strong growth right now. But would you buy into a property rise such as below in dark blue?

Much more can probably be done with it, use the interactive chart here >> 

Join the conversation about this story »

A very early look at the upcoming Firefox Mobile “Fennec” browser is now available to Android users thanks to one the developers behind the project.  Before you go running off to download the app, there are a few things you should know.  This should be considered “pre-alpha” and is by no means a 100% stable client.  In fact, this should actually be classified as simply usable.  There are known bugs and issues with the software that will likely frustrate the average user.

Check out a few of the bullet points from developer Vladimir Vukićević’s blog:

• We’ve only really tested this on the Motorola Droid and the Nexus One.
• It will likely not eat your phone, but bugs might cause your phone to stop responding, requiring a reboot.
• Memory usage of this build isn’t great — in many ways it’s a debug build, and we haven’t really done a lot of optimization yet.  This could cause some problems with large pages, especially on low memory devices like the Droid.
• You’ll see the app exit and relaunch on first start, as well as on add-on installs; this is a quirk of our install process, and we’re working to get rid of it.
• You can’t open links from other apps using Fennec; we should have this for the next build.
• This build requires Android 2.0 or above, and likely an OpenGL ES 2.0 capable device.
• This build must be installed to internal memory, not to a SD card.

We’d also like to add that Fennec is a 10MB download that expands to over 31MB upon installation.  If you’re running low on system resources, you might want to skip this app altogether.  No sense in choking your phone out just to play with a buggy web browser.

We know you’re going to ignore us and download it anyway so here’s how to do it.  Point your Android phone to bit.ly/fennec-android or scan the barcode below and you’ll be able to grab it directly.

Might We Suggest…

• Early Build of Firefox Mobile (Fennec) Sneaks Out [VIDEO]
  A member of the AndroidForums named MartinSchirr has released a very early look at the forthcoming Fennec web browser for Android. Admittedly slow and buggy, it still gives users a little bit of insi…

General Motors signed an MoU with Reva Electric last year, to produce electric car models in India. General Motors showcased the Chevrolet Spark Electric model at the Delhi Auto Expo 2010. The model was designed for Indian customers. According to a recent statement from General Motors India, the Chevrolet Spark Electric will be on schedule.

Chevrolet Spark Electric will be available to customers by the end of 2010 or early 2011. The all new Chevrolet Spark Electric would be the first electric four- door car in the country. Speaking on the launch, Reva deputy chairman Chetan Maini said “The GM Chevrolet Spark Electric project is on schedule and we are likely to be ready with a pilot version of the e-Spark by the end of 2010.” On the sidelines of the All India Management Association awards in New Delhi, he added, “General Motors will initially produce 5000 units of Chevrolet Spark Electric”.

Speaking on the launch, Karl Slym, GM India president & managing director said, “I am sure other models would end up having alternative proportions eventually whether it’s the Beat or Chevrolet Volt. It’s (e-Spark) not just a test exercise. I can assure there will more and more electric vehicles on the road eventually and we (GM) will have to be amongst that.”

In addition to the launch of the Chevrolet Spark Electric, General Motors is also contemplating to upgrade its hatchbacks and sedans to electric platform. Based on the response to the Chevrolet Spark Electric next year, it would finalize the course of action for the next generation of electric models.

Chevrolet Spark Electric Photos:

By: Amrith K.A.

Source: Auto News India